I won't repeat what I spoke to you last Harvest, about getting the Custom house of Hornwa brought to Glenelg; but I tell you, that in spite of me a deal of Brandy is run over this Iland and neighbourhood, wh I assure you vexes me; & to shew my good inclination for the quick sale of Ferintosh, procure in the mean time (wh I'm informed can be got) a Warrant from the Commissioners of the Customs to me, & whom I appoint, to seize Vessels w Counterband goods anie where about Sky or Glenelg ; & I'll warrant you ane effectual stop shall be putt to that mischievous trade; & Wout it, I can do little. Nota. The people I employ will expect the same advantages by seisures that Commissioned officers have. The word in this house for the time is, Bumper to Culloden & his Clans. When I do not, to the utmost of my power, assist toothless John Forbes, may I be incapable of serving his My Dear Laird of Culodin, No. CLXVII. NORMAND MAC LEOD. Lord Lovat to Mr. John Forbes. I HAVE been very ill this last night; and my La Advocat did me ye honour to come and see me this morning, and stay an hour w' me. He told me odd stories of those he has most obliged; I likewise let him see something y' did surprise him, which he bid me tell you at meeting, since it cannot be writ, for reasons. Duncan has directed me how to writ my answer to my Cusin M'Leod; which I will follow and send you ye letter with a flying seal. Duncan and I are now as we were in 1715; y' is, whout reserve to each other; and I know y' there is few things will please you more. I own y1 when I believed y' he forsook me for y° Mackenzies, I would have seen him at ye Divel; but he has fully satisfied me as to all y; and I am persuaded their never will be ye least mistake or jealousie betwixt us. It is certainly to my Dear John Forbes yt this re-union is oweing; for in mids of all these mistakes, I found Culodin still y same friend to me; and I can freely declare, y' I always loved & honoured you as in gratitude I ought; having receaved singular marks of your frdship in my greatest distress. My L Advocat & My La Grange are speaking about my affairs w' Fraserdale; if my Cusin M'Leod designs to interpose and make use of his interest, I think this is y tyme. My breast is so sore, y' I am not able to hold down my head. I must conclude w assuring you, y' I am while I breathe, w Passion & Respect, Edin' 29th Dec 1732. My Dr Laird of Culodin, Your affectionat & faithful Slave, LOVAT. I earnestly beg y' what passes betwixt us be entirely to ourselves. Adieu, my most Dear friend. No. CLXVIII. Lord Lovat to Mr John Forbes. My Dear Laird of Culodin, I HAD this afternoon ye honour of your letter by express; for which I give you my most sincere thanks. It is a singular proof of your frdship to me and to my family, which S which I never will forget to you or to your Successors; tho' in the mean tyme I see no great appearance of Success. I have to do with very extraordinary fools, that refuse a better estate from me than ever Prestonhall had free in his Life; tho' they are now but in a miserable situation, and in danger never to get a sexpence. But who can make madmen wise? it is only y Supreame Being y' can do it; and I must have patience till Providence open their eyes. My Cusin the Laird of Macleod is mighty kind in his letter to me; it is most certainly to you y' I owe his good intentions to serve me, and live in great frdship w' me; but he desires y' nobody but you and your brother should know it; otherwise, y' it will put him out of Condition to serve me, because of the weakness and jealousies of those he has to do with. Macleod is really a sweet-blooded young fellow, and has good sense and writs pretiely. I wish w' all my soul y' this great affair were ended, y' we might live in an affectionat and strict frdship together; sinc I am ye nearest relation he has of his father and mother's kindreds. D' Clark having told me y' they opened letters at y Post house, I would not expose myself in writing to my La Advocat. However, y Doctor having told me ye other day yt ye President was worn out and going, I have ventured to writ a long billet in French to Duncan, and I give it to y' Cusin Willy to put under his Cover. I have told him in that billet what passed betwixt ye unmannerly fool and me; and I have written a long letter to ye Earle, in which I have told nothing but ye truth; and yet no more could be said of y most abominable fellow in y Kingdom: he deserved it all at my hands. I have taken care to blow him up w' ye young laird of Grant; and I have acquanted his father of his insolency towards me, and y' he had as little reason as I had to be pleased wt him. Capt: George Grant and Dalrahny came 2 days ago here, and I dined w' them yesterday at young Grant's; and I let those two Gentilmen know how little they are obliged to the monster. In short, we all agreed yt Grant should give you the Shire of Inverness, and take Moray to himself, and leave ye beast to his shyr of Nairn; and in the Parlement y' will come after yR next, he will be quit out, which would be a happiness for him y he does not deserve. If my L Advocat take my advice, he will triomphe over him and all his enemies; and it is very easy for Duncan to make up w' Grant, who is a good-natured man; and I will do all I can to bring this about: nothing can hinder it but y Earle, and I have most earnestly begged of your brother to lay asyde his humour at this tyme, and to make up w' y Earle, who I know will be glad to receive him; and by this means he will get ye better of all his enemys; he will most certainly be made President; an Illustration y' would do honour to any family in Scotland, and put him in condition to do good to his family and friends. I tell him y' I know y Court, and those particularly whom he had to do w'. I am persuaded yt ye first minister will not stand by him against y E.; and I am as sure yt ye Duke will not entirely cast out w' his brother on his account. I therefore beg of him, for Jesus' sake, to put water in his wine, and make a little court for his own advantage and for his friends. If he takes my advice, I am sure he will succeed; and tho' he should not take it, upon serious reflection he will see y' it is a good advice, and y' it flows from ye heart of a true friend; and I do not want hopes but in some measure he will take my advice. I beg y' what I writ to you be betwixt ourselves; for you see there is no trusting to many who eat and drink at Ćulodin. Whatever comes of affairs, I shall be ever thankful and gratful for y' constant and kind friendship to me; and you will find me on all occasions, w much affection & sincere regard, My dear Laird of Culodin, Edin 30 Jan 1733. LOVAT. The The Lairds of Macleod and Grant going on to make a great number of Barons, forc'd me to be at y expence to try the records to see what I could do. I found two Retours in Chancery, by which it appears yt I can make by y Barony of Lovat about 120 Barons. I consulted y affair w' the best Lawiers in Town; and they are positive yt I can make about 120 Barons out of the Baronry of Lovat without objection; besy des several other Baronrys in the Ldsp; so y' I am resolved to make as many as will make some sort of ballance in my family, in case of a disputed election; and as my ancestors made always a good figure in the Shyre, it is but natural I should wish to preserve it. I am ashamed y' you should lay out money for expresses on my business; but I will thankfully pay it at meeting. The Bearer says, he wants ten shillings for his coming here, besydes what you gave him; so I have pay'd him the ten shillings, tho' he only came here scarce one day before the common Post; but I am most sensible of your anxiety to send ye letters. My dear Laird of Culodin, No. CLXIX. Lord Lovat to Mr. John Forbes. I RECEIVED from your Cusin ye honour of your letter of the 2a Feb". I am exceeding glad y' you keep your health in y mids of such a contagious distemper; we are frighted here w' y° dreadful mortality at London. I do assur you, my Dear Culloden, y I have such experience and such strong proofs of your frdship, y' I no more doubt of it than I would do of my Brother's frdship if he was in life.-As to y showing my letters, as I told y° impertinent squire, I did not value if they were printed or published at the Cross; but as he reproached me ye knowing them paragraph by paragraph, I only wrot to you as my intimate frd, y' you may observe hereafter those who had ye ill manners and indiscretion to writ such Chatters to M' Brodie. I dread much y' Moderator, for reasons I'll tell you at meeting: this is a most ingratful World; a true heart and a kind heart is as rare to find, as a black swan in a Lake. I wish I had never put pen to paper or opened my mouth about y Sheriffship; for, you canot imagin how I am used in y' affair; which you will know at meeting, and I hope y' will be y next month. I belive Dun. by this tyme has let you know how y impertinent King of Beasts has brunt his own fingers, by telling y he had orders to keep you and your brother out of Parlement. The E. denys ever giving any such orders by word or writ, as I am assur'd; and I truly belive he is too prudent to give such orders. I am hopeful my letter will extinguish the Beast's interest with the E. I have keep'd a copy of it for several reasons. That ungratful fool has been the only occasion of all our jarrs in the North. God damn him, y' ever I should be acquanted wt him. My gaining ye decreet of the expiration of the Legal makes my enemys think y' it is tyme to agree. Their great Council, who is a prety fellow, Mr. Craigy, has spok to the Solicitor, who is one of my Council. But Fraserdale and his son are such weak, wavering, and unconstant creatures, y' I belive nothing can fix them to an agreement but your frd and mine his holding his assistance from ym; which would be a good service done them, as well as to me. MacLeod setting up seven new barons has made Grant set up as many; but, as Grant is willing to make no Barons if MacLeod makes none, your Brother wrot down to stop MacLeod's Barons; however both are revis'd: but John Hamiltown told me he would not pass y Seals till further orders; and Grant and he have agreed to pass ye Seals at the same time, or make no Barons at all, which in my opinion is best; sinc the one is making as many as ye other. $ 2 other. I have delayed to make any this term, till I know what those Gentilmen will do; for if they pass the Seals, I do assur you that I'll make twenty new barons next term, y' will be entirely unquestionable; for I am resolved to keep a sort of ballance in ye Shire, as my Ancestors have done. I give you a thousand thanks for y' visit to my Dear Babys, and I am while I breathe, w' Love, Zeal, and Regard, My Dear Laird of Culloden, LAST August, before I left this part of the Country, I gave you notice of the state wherein I found myself; and now, upon my return from the North, I cannot help letting you know how I stand. Long letters, on a subject so remote, may be troublesome; but I hope for your forgiveness, because you know I correspond with no one else. I have strickly keeped the resolution I acquainted you with in my last, of not medling directly or indirectly, to oppose or thwart the views of L. I. or any of his friends, in any place whatever, except the Countys of Inverness & Ross, and the Burrows for which I serve. That I have endeavoured to secure my Burrows will not (I presume) be complained of, because no man will own the having medled with me there; and yet nothing is more certain, than that there have been attempts against me in every one of them, tho' the undertaking made no great noise, because it met with no encouragement. . As to the County of Inverness, I have had the mortification to meet with such Oppression from Power, as some time ago I had no reason to expect. You know, that by the Constitution of Scotland, the Freeholders in each County are to meet annually at Michalmas, to settle the Roll for Election; and that the Sheriff is oblidged to enter into his Books the Roll as settled by the Major Part of the Freeholders to be the Roll by which the election to Parliament is to be made. At last Michalmas there was a compleat muster of all the Barons and Freeholders of the County of Inverness capable of voting: the total number was 16. Sir James Grant attended with his friends, in order to add to the Roll of real Freeholders 13 Ficticious freeholders, who, without having one Shilling in the County, had patched up the last term the show of qualifications, but which really were liable to unanswerable Objections from the words of our statutes; and Culloden and his friends attended to oppose the enrolment of those Strangers, by whom the Rights of the real Freeholders were to be defeated; and tho' no influence was withheld to encrease Grant's party, it could be brought no higher than 5, whereas the other 11 adhered to your friend John; which put it out of all doubt where the interest of the Shire lay, and what must be the fate of the ficticious Voters as to their Admission to the Roll. 5 But Grant's friends had a trick for that: they said, the Meeting for setling the Roll could not consist of 16, all Freeholders present; but only of 5, because no more than had been present at the last Election of a Member to serve in Parliament. And finding, that of those 5, 3, including Sir James Grant himself, were in his interest, these 3 pretended to be the majority of the legal meeting, chose Sir James Grant Preses, and proceeded to enroll all his ficticious votes, and to leave out all the reall votes that were against against them; tho' the other II Barons & Freeholders protested against that proceeding, and required them to join with them the Majority, who had chosen John Forbes to their Preses, in revising & setting the Roll. This Conduct, ridiculous as it seems to be, Grant held; but what is still more extraordinary, the Sheriff was, it seems, properly instructed; for tho' he was present, and saw the 3 acting against the Eleven, and knew that Grant had no more than two good Votes to join his original 3, yet he, without hesitation, accepted of the Roll made up by the 3 (in which all the ficticious Votes are inserted, and from which Nine of the antient Barrons and Freeholders are excluded), and rejected that made up by the Eleven, who had admitted all the good votes, and rejected all the bad, without distinguishing whether they belonged to friend or foe. By this Arbitrary Act, the Sheriff has given the right of determining the Election to meer Strangers in the County, and scored off Gentlemen possessed of by much the largest property in the shire; and has so exceedingly and so justly provoked them, that they have unanimously resolved to prosecute them, and to seek for redress in the Court of Session; hoping that they may be relieved from this Oppression before any new Election come on; I dare say, this step will be imputed to me; but I do assure you, the Gentlemen wanted no prompter; they feel the sore very sensibly; and I confess I, for my own part, think it more eligible to have such a simple proceeding complained of and contested here, than above, where it would not sound to the advantage of those who encouraged it, and might draw allongst with it Consequences that I should be very sorry for. I send you a Copy of the Lybell printed in 'common form. Glancing it over will give you a more perfect idea of this transaction. In Ross Shire I think all the arts & diligence of Col. Munro, and those that stand by him, must come to very little. It is amasing to me, that a Man so well known should be encouraged. I have something more to say on this subject then I choose to trouble you with in this form of Correspondence; but it will keep cold. What description will be made with you of those transactions, or whether any, is more than I can tell. The end of giving you this trouble is, that you may be able to set any false report report that may be propagated to rights. I am heartily sorry that the occupation I have had at home has hindered me to assist in the service of the common cause so much as is required, and as I wished; but I am confident I am in no degree to blame for that misfortune, and therefore I make myself as easy as I can. As you know I had some jealousy before I left London, and as I have no doubt fresh hints will be given to Sir Robert to my disadvantage, I intreat you will be so good to me as to enter with him a little on my subject, and let me know how matters stand. Your abstaining from touching this matter bears with me the construction of unwillingness to say what I should not like to hear; but it will be much more kind to let me know the worst, than to leave me in a state of doubt and suspicion. I have no other apology to make for such an impertinent Letter, but that I am sincerely, &c... Stony Hill, 27th Oct 1733. No. CLXXI. Mt Isabella Sleigh to the Lord Advocate, dated Brodie House, 29th Sept 1735My Lord, I HAVE allways esteem'd you so much, and am so greatly oblig'd to your Lop, that 'twas with the most sensible regret I passed twice by Colloden without doing my |