[1704/7/102]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Prayers said. Rolls called and the absent members marked.
Minutes of the last sederunt read.
Act for an additional representation of commissioners of barons to the parliament, read and, after reasoning, it was put to the vote, mark a first reading thereon or lie on the table, and carried mark a first reading, which was ordered accordingly and the draft ordered to be printed.
Act for securing free voting in parliament, read and a first reading ordered to be marked thereon and that it be printed.
[1704/7/103]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Petition of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Campbell of Finnab craving payment of arrears due to him, read and ordered that £200 sterling be paid to him out of the first and readiest of the tack duty due by Sir William Menzies [of Gladstains] on the account of his said arrears and good service in Caledonia.
[1704/7/104]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Anent the petition given in and presented to his grace her majesty's high commissioner and the right honourable the estates of parliament by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Campbell of Finnab, showing that where the petitioner, having served at home and abroad in [Archibald Campbell], duke of Argyll's and [David Colyear], earl of Portmore's regiments, there was due to him during the time these regiments were on the Scots establishment the sum of £150 sterling of arrears and, seeing all the officers who went to Caledonia got payment of their arrears except the petitioner himself, who has yet got nothing, therefore, craving his grace and the right honourable the estates of parliament to take these matters and the petitioner's other services to their consideration, and to take such remedy and order for his payment and satisfaction as his grace and the estates should think fit, as the said petition bears. Which petition and desire thereof, being this day read in the presence of his grace her majesty's high commissioner and the said estates of parliament and they, being therewith well and ripely advised, they have ordained and hereby ordain £200 sterling to be paid to the said Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Campbell, petitioner, for his arrears and good service in Caledonia out of the first and readiest of the funds due by Sir William Menzies. Extract.
[1704/7/105]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Petition of [John Lindsay], earl of Crawford craving relief of his engagements for the public for clothing his regiment and payment of arrears due to him, read and ordered that Sir William Menzies [of Gladstains], out of the first and readiest of the sums due by him, pay to the petitioner what he is engaged in for clothing as shall be instructed before the treasury or commission to be named for auditing the public accounts, whereupon an act was extracted as follows.
[1704/7/106]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Anent the petition given in and presented to his grace her majesty's high commissioner and the right honourable the estates of parliament by John, earl of Crawford, showing that where the petitioner was necessitated to engage his private credit and contract with Sir George Home and his partners, and with Alexander Bruce and Patrick Chambers in the year 1695, for clothing the regiment of foot then under the petitioner's command, and on that account he became personally engaged to pay them a very great sum and whereof he has been since obliged, by legal diligence, to make payment of a considerable part, and it is perfectly known that, since his regiment was disbanded, he has never been able to recover payment nor relief of his engagements nor to procure payment of his arrears, which extend to no less than thirteen months' retention and clearance and which, for his whole regiment, amounts to a very considerable sum, whereby his grace and their lordships will plainly see the great hardships and inconveniences which the petitioner lies under on this public account and how just and reasonable it is that he should not only be reimbursed of what he has advanced, but likewise that he should be paid of his arrears and relieved of what he stands engaged for and, for payment whereof, he is daily molested and threatened with the utmost rigour of all legal diligence, so that at present his whole effects are arrested and he shall be no longer able after rising of this parliament to protect either his person or his effects from the diligence of these persons to whom he stands engaged on the foresaid public account. And albeit, upon his late application, her majesty has been graciously pleased to recommend his present case most favourably to the right honourable the lords of her majesty's treasury, yet hitherto there is nothing effectually done for his payment or relief, but he is left exposed to the greatest hardships unless his grace and their lordships timeously prevent the same. And, therefore, craving his grace and their lordships seriously to consider the pressing and urging circumstances of the petitioner's present case and seeing the difficulties he is afflicted with arise from his engagements for the public, therefore, to provide such effectual remedies and give such certain orders that he may not only be reimbursed of what he shall instruct he has truly advanced and paid, but also that he may obtain payment of his whole foresaid arrears which are now resting these six years bypast and full relief of his said engagements on the foresaid public account, as the said petition bears. Which petition and desire thereof, being this day read in the presence of her majesty's high commissioner and the estates of parliament and they, having considered the same and being therewith well and ripely advised, they have ordained and hereby ordain Sir William Menzies, in the first of the sums due by him, to pay to the petitioner what he is engaged in for clothing as shall be instructed before the treasury or commission to be named for auditing the public accounts. Extract.
[1704/7/107]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Petition of [John Murray], duke of Atholl and the officers of his late regiment; petition of [William Kerr], marquis of Lothian and the officers of the regiment of dragoons under his command; petition of [Thomas Livingston], viscount of Teviot; petition of Lieutenant General [George] Ramsay and the officers of her majesty's regiment of foot guards; petition of Colonel George MacGill; petition of Sir William Douglas; and petition of Lieutenant Colonel John Hepburn, craving relief of their engagements for the public for clothing their regiments and payment of the arrears due to them; and petition of Captain [John] Slezer, craving relief for clothing the artillery company, all read, and the several petitions to be considered when the accounts come in.
Petition of Mr Charles Campbell craving payment of arrears due to him, read, and ordered that £100 sterling be paid him to account, as follows.
[1704/7/108]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Her majesty's high commissioner and the estates of parliament, having heard the petition of Captain Charles Campbell, humbly showing to them that the petitioner had the honour to command a troop of dragoons in [Robert Kerr], marquis of Lothian's (then [Robert Kerr], lord Jedburgh's regiment and afterwards [William Forbes], lord Forbes's) at the disbanding whereof there was about £100 sterling of arrears due to the petitioner, besides that month's pay in which they were disbanded at Inverness, he having furnished subsistence to his troop out of his own pocket. That the petitioner, during his service in the said regiment, did supply his troop with twenty good and sufficient horses at his proper charges worth £200 sterling, of which he might have been reimbursed if the regiment had continued in service. As also, there is £150 sterling due to the petitioner as his share of the retention for clothing. That being ambitious to embrace every occasion to show his zeal and affection to the government, the petitioner was persuaded to give a gratification of £200 sterling for his commission. This the petitioner does only mention to show his grace and their lordships that he has sustained great loss and as yet received little or no benefit in the public service, which has reduced the petitioner to several difficulties and can only be repaired by their favour and justice. Craving, therefore, his grace and their lordships to take what is above represented to their serious consideration and for the petitioner's relief to grant a precept out of the readiest funds for such a sum as their goodness and wisdom should think fit, to make up the petitioner's losses and disappointments, as the said petition bears. And her majesty's said commissioner and the estates of parliament, having this day fully considered the said petition, and being therewith well and ripely advised, they ordained and hereby ordain £100 sterling to be paid to the petitioner.
[1704/7/109]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Petition of Captain Robert Taylor craving that a sum of money advanced by him for supplying the garrison of Cambusmore may be repaid him, with interest, read, and remitted to the commission to be named for auditing the accounts to inquire thereupon and to report.
Petition of [William Hamilton], lord Bargany craving a decreet of the commission of parliament anent the poll to be suspended, read, and Sir John Cochrane appointed to see and answer at the next diet of parliament, but the parliament refused to suspend execution in the meantime.
Petition of Sir William Menzies craving detention of a sum of money for clothes furnished by him to [John Murray], duke of Atholl, then earl of Tullibardine, his regiment, read.
Petition of Frances [Herbert], countess dowager of Seaforth, craving an aliment, read, and after reasoning, it was put to the vote, grant the desire of the petition yes or no, and carried in the affirmative, and £500 sterling granted to her of yearly aliment out of the estate of Seaforth during the dependence of the process before the lords of session, in manner following.
[1704/7/110]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Anent the petition given in and presented to his grace her majesty's high commissioner and the right honourable the estates of parliament by Frances, countess dowager of Seaforth, showing that when in the year 1684 the petitioner was married in England to the late [Kenneth MacKenzie], earl of Seaforth, she brought with her for portion £6,000 sterling really and truly paid and, by an article of their marriage contract, her lord and she were to be entertained for three years in her father [William Herbert], marquis of Powis's house, where indeed they were entertained for five years both freely and honourably, and on the other part the earl of Seaforth and his friends did agree in articles that the petitioner should have a jointure of £1,000 sterling by way of annuity payable in London, Paris or Brussels, for implementation whereof there was a disposition of a jointure annuity drawn up in Scotland, by the advice of the best lawyers, to be granted to the petitioner by the countess of Seaforth, elder, in whose person the nine preferable apprisings of the estate, all mentioned in the said disposition, were settled and upon this disposition duly subscribed the petitioner was infeft under the great seal. But a few years thereafter her lord, coming to die, leaving a son and a daughter of their marriage, when she thought to have entered into the possession of her jointure she found there was none to answer, or so much as to regard her for more than the space of two years after her lord's decease, in which time all the petitioner received out of the estate for herself and children was just £15 sterling. And further, when being thus constrained she raised actions of poinding the ground and for mails and duties before the lords of session, she had two interests as they call them thrown in, one by my lord justice clerk and another by Mr Robert Blackwood, merchant, who both alleged that the petitioner could be answered in nothing because her right did flow from a person that had no right, so that proceeding a not having (as they speak) they affirmed it to be null, and repeated their reduction prepared to fortify the allegation. The surprise of this demur was so much the greater that both the petitioner and all her friends and the best lawyers that advised her settlement never doubted but that her disposition and infeftment flowing from the old countess, who was known to have the only preferable right and to be in the entire possession of the estate, was unquestionably good and that her titles and rights were likewise as secure in her hands as the petitioner could wish, seeing that her interest as fiar (besides her near relation) far preferable to the petitioner's of a liferent annualrenter did wholly depend upon them, but so it was that the petitioner was sadly disappointed and necessitated to take a day to produce her authors' rights for to sustain her own. But the more she advanced in her pursuit, still the greater difficulty, for when she had taken out a diligence against the supposed havers and had procured both the countess herself and all others whom the petitioner could suspect to be examined upon oath, she could discover nothing save that probably the apprisings and the infeftments upon them were still extant and that the conveyances thereof to the trustees of the estate might also be found. Nor were their dispositions denuding them in favour of one Kenneth MacKenzie all wanting, but the principal and most necessary mid-couple, namely Kenneth MacKenzie's deed denuding him in favour of the countess the petitioner's author, was denied by all and could not be found by the outmost diligence the petitioner could use, whereupon the petitioner was forced to apply to the lords of session for the interim of an aliment until she might some way extricate herself out of such great and unexpected difficulties. But though it pleased their lordships to ordain her an aliment of £500 for one year, and then an aliment of another £500 for a second year, yet the petitioner may freely own it to his grace and their lordships that the first year, which is all she has received of this aliment, was in a manner wholly exhausted by diligences that she was forced to use before she could recover it. This being her present strait she is forced, being a poor desolate stranger so sadly afflicted and disappointed, to apply to his grace and their lordships for remedy, and thereupon the pursuer has raised an action before the parliament against the said Kenneth MacKenzie and others, hoping that this honourable court will do her the justice to cause the said Kenneth MacKenzie renew his foresaid deed which is abstracted or miscarried and upon which all the petitioner's right and security depends. As also, that the parliament will help her to recover these rights wanting which are so sadly withheld to the frustrating all her expectation. The petitioner shall not complain to his grace and their lordships that, notwithstanding of her great straits, yet by all she can learn the countess, who is her author and from whom she derives right, is still the possessor of the estate and nor shall she offer to obviate some other things that have been very unfavourably alleged against her, specially in order to her son. But this she freely declares to his grace and their lordships, that if she knew but how to subsist him as a gentleman only in this country she would use her outmost endeavours to bring him back, being firmly persuaded there can be nothing more advantageous, both for his interest and the petitioner's. But seeing his grace and their lordships perceive to what difficulty the petitioner is reduced, how she is postponed as to her right and straitened as to any appointment of aliment and, after all she has done, forced to enter into a new process before this honourable court if possibly that may afford her any relief, the petitioner most humbly implores his grace's and their lordships' commiseration and that at least in the meantime she may have an honourable aliment discerned and settled in her favour in such manner as this honourable court shall appoint, and the same to endure until the petitioner may recover her just right and attain to the possession of her jointure, and this the petitioner hoped that the parliament would find both to be just, equitable and favourable and withal such a necessary expedient as she cannot subsist without and has often been granted in the like cases. And, therefore, humbly craving his grace and their lordships to take the petitioner's sad condition into their serious consideration and to ordain her such an aliment as they should find just and in such a manner as may be effectual, specially seeing all parties concerned are sufficiently acquainted with this affair and appointments of this nature are both in use to be and must be summary in regard of the so pressing and visible necessity for it, as the said petition bears. Which petition and desire thereof, being read in the presence of his grace her majesty's high commissioner and the said estates of parliament, they, by their deliverance thereon 3 August instant, allowed the earl of Seaforth's creditors to see and answer the same. And the said petition, being this day again read in the presence of his grace her majesty's high commissioner and the right honourable the said estates of parliament, and there being no answers thereto and they being therewith well and ripely advised, they ordained and hereby ordain £500 sterling to be paid yearly to the petitioner Frances, countess dowager of Seaforth during the dependence of the foresaid process before the lords of session, and ordain letters of horning and other executorials needful to be direct hereupon for that effect against the factors, chamberlains, intromitters with and possessors of the estate of Seaforth. Extract.
[1704/7/111]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Moved that the parliament proceed to the accounts of the public funds, likewise, moved that they proceed to the act anent the wool and, after reasoning thereon, it was put to the vote, proceed to the wool act or to the accounts next diet of parliament, and carried first to the wool act and then to the accounts prior to all other business.
Moved that the act and commission for plantation of kirks and valuation of teinds be read in order to have a first reading marked thereon and, after reasoning, it was put to the vote, proceed or delay, and carried delay.
The lord chancellor, by order of the lord high commissioner, adjourned the parliament until Tuesday next at 10 o'clock.