Some Lretrers or Parrick MILLER. 138 
this war that if I could raise money and get free of property 
in this country, I would think it right to invest more in 
America. I have little doubt that from climate and soil in 
process of time the banks of the Ohio and the Miseysippie 
(sic) will become the best populated parts of America and in 
time the centre of Power and Consequence. ’’*! 
To this subject he frequently returns. He had already 
sold the colliery of Pitnacree, in which he was interested :— 
‘‘T must borrow everything, and I am in debt for the 
price of the lands in Kentucky. The price of Pitnacree is 
not paid till Whitsunday, 1794, and this is not a time for 
borrowing.’ 
Again he returns to the subject in another letter :— 
‘¢ Tf we are to persevere in the war it is impossible to 
say what may be the consequences to the credit and in- 
dustry of Great Britain. My fears are so great that I would 
be pleased to have some more of my property transferred 
from this to the other side of the Atlantic. It would be 
wise to secure something in that quarter. . . . I feel 
much inclined to lay out four or five thousand pounds more 
in America.’ 
Every letter, indeed, takes a darker view of public 
affairs :— 
‘* Our affairs on the continent wear a gloomy aspect, 
and every day I wish more and more that our governors 
may see, before it is too late, the small chance there is of 
conquering such a people as the French have on many occa- 
sions shewn themselves tobe. . . .¥4 
To a thoughtful and active-minded man like Miller, his 
rustication at Dalswinton must have been a constant cause of 
irritation to one accustomed to take a leading part in any- 
thing that attracted his energetic interest. His worthless son 
was merely a Parliamentary cypher — “‘ a creature of the 
Duke,’’ Burns called him in 1790. It does not surprise us, 
therefore, that Miller should have longed to have been in 
Parliament—an ambition never gratified :-— 
‘* Was a seat to be obtained without difficulty I should 
like to be in Parliament for one year or two, as an Indepen- 
