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THE ANCIENT EARLDOM OF
MAR.
INTRODUCTION.
page 15
These arguments, however, failed to satisfy the Committee
for Privileges, consisting of Lords Redesdale, Chelmsford, and Cairns, who
decided that the dignity conferred by Queen Mary on Lord Erskine was a new
and personal honour, and is held on the same tenure as the other peerages
possessed by the Erskine family, all of which are limited to heirs male.
This decision has not given universal satisfaction. A considerable number
of influential Scottish peers, including the Earls of Crawford and
Balcarres, Stair, Galloway, and Mansfield, the
Marquis of Huntly, Viscounts Strathallan and Arbuthnot, and Lord Napier of
Ettrick, have repeatedly protested against the Earl of Kellie's claim to
vote as the Earl of Mar, whose name stands fifth on the Union Roll. An
elaborate work in two volumes octavo was prepared by the late Earl of
Crawford and Balcarres to prove that a miscarriage of justice has taken
place in consequence of the decision of the Committee for Privileges on
the Mar peerage case. Mr. Goodeve Erskine, who has at last regained the
title of Earl of Mar and Baron Garioch, asserted that though the Committee
for Privileges had unwarrantably authorised the Earl of Kellie to assume a
title which never had an existence and is a mere figment of their own
imagination, their decision had no bearing on his right to the ancient
earldom of Mar, which is claimed by no one but himself, and of which he is
the undoubted lineal heir.
THE CAMPBELLS OF BREADALBANE.
INTRODUCTION.
page 276
The authority of the Earl to conduct the negotiations was dated 24th
April, 1690, and at the close of the autumn of 1691 the chiefs had not
come to terms. The Scottish counsellors of the King, therefore, resolved
to try the effect of threats as well as bribes, and on the 27th of August
they issued a proclamation promising an indemnity to those who should
swear the oath of allegiance in the presence of a civil magistrate before
the 1st of January, 1692, and threatening with military execution those
who should hold out after that day. There is abundant evidence that the
Master of Stair, the Earl of Linlithgow, King
William himself, and in all probability the [p.276] Earl of Breadalbane
also, expected and wished that some of the Highland chiefs should refuse
to avail themselves of the offer of indemnity within the prescribed
period, and thus expose themselves to the summary vengeance of the
Government. The Earl of Linlithgow, one of the Lords Commissioners of the
Treasury, recommended Breadalbane to 'push the clans to do one thing or
other, for such as will stand it out must not expect any more offers, and
in that case those who have been their friends must act with the greatest
vigour against them. The last standers-out must pay for all; and, besides,
I know that the King does not care that some do it, that he may make
examples of them.' Stair declared to the Earl, on
the 3rd of November, that 'pulling down Glengarry's nest as the crows do,
destroying him and his clan and garrisoning his house as a middle of
communication between Inverlochy and Inverness, will be full as acceptable
as his coming in.' A month later, in a letter to Breadalbane, he refers to
the Earl's 'scheme for mauling them,' probably much such a scheme as was
adopted; and he adds, 'Because I breathe nothing but destruction to
Glengarry, Tarbet thinks that Keppoch will be a more proper example of
severity, but I confess both's best to be ruined.'
THE ERSKINES.
page 114
The Earl accompanied the Prince to Rome, and for some years
continued to manage his affairs, 'the mock minister of a mock cabinet,' in
the French capital, and possessed James's unlimited confidence. He
entered, however, into some negotiations with the Earl of Stair,
ambassador at the French Court, through whom he obtained a pension of £2,000
from the British Government, and £1,500 a year was allowed to his
wife and daughter out of his forfeited estate. Mar, while revealing the
secrets of James to the British Government, still professed to be a
staunch adherent of the exiled family. But he was accused both of
embezzling the money the Jacobites had raised for the promotion of their
cause, and of betraying his master, and in the end James withdrew his
confidence from him, and dismissed him from his service; indeed, he had by
his double-dealing forfeited the esteem and confidence of both parties. He
died at Aix-la-Chapelle in May, 1732, regretted by no one.
THE ERSKINES OF BUCHAN AND
CARDROSS.
page 122
On his return to Europe, Lord Cardross took up his residence at the Hague,
where Lords Stair and Melville, Sir Patrick Hume
of Polwarth, Sir James Stewart of Coltness, Fletcher of Saltoun, and other
Scottish exiles, were at that time settled, anxiously waiting for better
times. He accompanied William of Orange to England in 1688, and in the
following year raised a regiment of dragoons for the support of his cause.
An Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament restoring Lord Cardross to
his estates. He was also sworn a Privy Councillor, and was appointed
Governor of the Mint. He died at Edinburgh in May, 1693, in the
forty-fourth year of his age.
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