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$C<L>. SUS 5? 0 rC*-’ THE ty ?/c PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY VOLUME LVII SCOTTISH FORFEITED ESTATES PAPERS OCTOBER 1909 A SELECTION OF SCOTTISH FORFEITED ESTATES PAPERS 1715; 1745 Edited from the Original Documents, with Introduction and Appendices BY A. H. MILLAR, LL.D., F.S.A.SCOT. EDINBURGH Printed at the University Press by T. and A. CONSTABLE for the Scottish History Society 1909 PREFATORY NOTE THE materials from which this volume has been compiled have been selected from various repositories. The origin of the volume may be briefly indicated. In 1890 the Earl of Rosebery, President of the Scottish History Society, presented to the members of the Society a volume entitled A List of Persons concerned in the Rebellion (1745), founded upon a document in his Lordship’s possession. With the purpose of providing illustrations of the condition of affairs at that period, the late Dr. T. G. Law, then Secretary of the Society, had caused transcripts to be made of certain papers in H. M. Register House relating to some of the principal ‘ rebels ’ mentioned in Lord Rosebery’s volume ; but it was found that to include these would swell the volume to gigantic propor- tions, and the transcripts were laid aside. After many consultations, Dr. Law decided to ask the Council to submit these documents to me for a report as to how they could best be utilised. In May 1893 I reported that the documents would be of great value to students of the political and economic history of the period; but I pointed out that to begin with 1745 would make only a fragmentary story, as the earlier forfeitures in 1715 would complicate the sequence of events, and intensify the exaggerated importance given to the later Rising of 1745, which, in the popular mind, has dwarfed the earlier movement. Hence I suggested that some attention should also be given to the forfeitures in 1715, many of which were merely duplicated thirty years after. It so happened that in this year (1893) Dr. Law had acquired for the Scottish History Society several volumes of documents relating to 1715, which were sold at the sale of viii FORFEITED ESTATE PAPERS Sir Thomas Phillips’s books. Some of these bear the signature of George Chalmers (1742-1825), the antiquary, author of Caledonia and many other standard works. The volumes contain personal and official letters written to Christian Cole, who was secretary to the York Buildings Company, and purchased and administered the properties sold by the Forfeited Estates Commissioners of 1715. Incidentally the valuations of the principal estates are detailed among these documents, and afford absolute proof of the current value of land at the time, while they show why some of the schemes of the York Buildings Company proved abortive in Scotland. On my suggestion, Dr. Law consented to the proposal that a few of these papers dealing with 1715 should be included in this volume. To keep them distinct from the official docu- ments relating to 1745, they have been utilised in the Introduction. Still further to show the unwritten history of 1715, I have quoted from the extremely rare Report from the Commissioners appointed to Enquire of the Estates of certain Traitors in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, printed in 1717, and now in my possession. The documents connected with the Rising of 1745 have been made the chief text of the volume. These were tran- scribed from the originals in H. M. Register House in 1890 by Mr. Walter Macleod; and the text has been carefully collated with the MSS. so as to ensure accuracy in the copies now printed. The nature and scope of the documents are indicated in the Introduction. The editor desires to express his obligations for valuable assistance rendered by W. Macleod, Esq.; Dr. D. Hay Fleming; W. B. Blaikie, Esq.; Rev. Robert Paul; A. Francis Steuart, Esq.; James Duncan, Esq., F.S.A. Scot.; and Dr. J. Maitland Thomson, for revising proofs and for advice in the arrangement of the contents of the volume. A. H. MILLAR. July 1909. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION, xi FORFEITED ESTATE PAPERS:— i. Forfeited Estate of Lovat, .... 1 II. Forfeited Estate of Gordon of Terpersie, Co. of Aberdeen, . .145 in. Forfeited Estate of Farquharson of Monaltry, Co. of Aberdeen. Bundle containing f Orders by Barons of Exchequer on Receiver General for payment of Debts to Creditors, 1770-1771,’ . 147 iv. Forfeited Estate of Adam Hay of Asleid, . l6l v. Decrees sustaining Claims upon the Estate of George Abernethy, Merchant in Banff, 1745-46, 165 vi. Estate of Sir William Gordon of Park, . 172 VII. Forfeited Estate of John Gordon of Glenbucket, Co. Banff, ...... 177 VIII. Estate of William, late Viscount of Strathallan, . 184 ix. Estate of Laurence Oliphant of Cask, . .192 x. Extracts from Decrees sustaining Claims upon Estates, with Instructions of Debt, . 203 xi. Estate of Alexr. Robertson of Strowan, Co. Perth, attainted, ...... 207 Xu. Reports by Factors, Surveyors, etc., concerning the Condition of the Estate of Strowan (a very Large Bundle), 1752-84, . .214 FORFEITED ESTATE PAPERS xiii. Letters from Factors to Barons of Exchequer and Commissioners of Annexed Estates, 1752-1783, . 219 xiv. Forfeited Estate of Ardsheal, sometime belonging to Charles Stewart, late of ‘ Ardsheall,’ . .271 xv. Estate of Dunipace, which belonged to the de- ceased Sir Archibald Primrose, attainted, . 291 xvi. The Petition of John, Earl of Breadalbane,. 301 Reports on Various Estates, . .301 xvn. Extracts from List of Claims sustained upon Estates forfeited by the Rebellion of 1745-46. Index, ...... 310 xvin. Minutes of Barons of Exchequer. 1753-1766. Index, ...... 324 APPENDIX— Abstract of Act of Parliament, 1 George I., . 337 Abstract of Act, 4 George i., . 339 Abstract of an Act anent Estates of Traitors, 1746, 342 State of the Expences on the Forfeited Estates, . 344 Public Works in Scotland, .... 354 Abstract of the Act for restoring the Forfeited Estates, 1784, . .357 INDEX, 365 INTRODUCTION THE traditional method of dividing history into epochs and centuries, though convenient for purposes of reference, is apt to prove misleading. History is the record of the continuous development of human energy, every successive event being the produce of earlier incidents; and progress cannot be accurately measured by arithmetical divisions of time. The manners and customs which prevail in the concluding years of one century persist for a long time after the succeeding century has begun; and the time-measure when applied to history gives very haphazard results. This may seem a self- evident truism when thus baldly stated, yet the fact is often forgotten, and its influence ignored. Only when the student discards the arbitrary division of events into decades and centuries of time can he hope to attain a proper perspective view of human history. Especially is this the case with the two great Jacobite Risings of the eighteenth century. These are. most fre- quently treated by historians as if they were incidents that could be intelligibly considered apart from each other. But Jacobitism really began when James 11. abandoned the throne in 1688, and it persisted as an under-current from that time till near the close of the eighteenth century, giving evidence of its existence by occasional military outbursts. The Rising of 1715 was not terminated at Sheriffmuir; the torrent broke forth again at Glenshiel in 1719; and the Rising of 1745 was merely one act in the prolonged tragedy. This continuity of purpose makes it difficult adequately to xii FORFEITED ESTATE PAPERS consider the latest Jacobite campaign without reference to its predecessors. Several of the Scottish estates confiscated in 1716 came under a second forfeiture in 1746, as is shown repeatedly in the present volume. The incidents of the two principal Risings (1715 and 1745) may be learned from any history of Scotland. This volume is concerned only with the estates that were forfeited for alleged treason, and with the purposes to which the revenues from these estates were applied. There is a prevalent notion that the estates of the Jacobites were confiscated in an arbitrary manner with the definite intention of ruining the possessors; and that the proceeds passed into the Privy Purse of the reigning monarch. This notion is wholly unfounded. Whatever may have been the moral character of the two sovereigns, George i. and George «., the Hanoverian states- men were too high-minded and patriotic to countenance what would have been selfish tyranny. In the Appendix there will be found {post, pp. 337-343) abstracts of the three principal Acts of Parliament which relate to the Forfeited Estates, and in all of them the distinct purpose is declared to be ‘ to raise money out of them severally for the use of the public.’ This patriotic design was faithfully carried out, as is amply shown by the documents quoted in this volume. An interest- ing Report issued in 1806 (quoted on p. 361) shows how the money was expended in public works and upon projects which were for the amelioration of the Scottish people. The social and industrial progress made in the Highlands during the eighteenth century has been remarked by every writer on the subject, yet few seem to have estimated the great impetus given to civilisation by the wise administration of the Commissioners of the Forfeited Estates. The work of the Commissioners began in 1716, and the Annexed Estates were restored in 1784 to the representatives of the original possessors upon reasonable conditions. It was enacted in 1716 INTRODUCTION xiii that the just debts of the forfeited persons should form a first charge upon the estates; and the surplus was applied, as shown by the documents in this volume, to ecclesiastical, educational, and industrial purposes.

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