Excerpt from The Beauties of England and Wales, or Delineations, Topographical, Historical and Descriptive, Vol. 3 The same kind of disgraceful policy which still suffers the piratical states of Algiers, Tunis, and Morocco, to exist, appears to have guided the councils of the English and Scottish kingdoms at the times we are now describing; for it cannot rationally be supposed that a petty district, situated between two powerful nations, and inhabited by clans of banditti, should have been able to preserve its independence, without the concurrence of both its neighbours. The conduct of states, like that of individuals, seems often inexplicable; but unfortunately for mankind, the impolitic conventions of the former are the most destructive. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.