[A1704/7/30]*[print] [email] [cite] [preceding] [following]
Our sovereign lady, considering that by a clause of the act for the security of the kingdom passed in this present session of parliament it is statute and enacted that the whole Protestant heritors and all the burghs within the same shall forthwith provide themselves with firearms for all the fencible men who are Protestants within their respective bounds, and those of the bore proportioned to a bullet of fourteen drop weight running, therefore, and that the expense in arming may be the more insensible and less burdensome than otherwise it would be if made all at once, her majesty, with advice and consent of the estates of parliament, statutes and ordains that between now and Whitsunday [15 May] next in the year 1705 the whole Protestant heritors and all the burghs within the kingdom shall provide themselves with so many firelocks of the aforesaid bore, with bayonets and suitable ammunition pouches, as they were wont to equip militia men, both horse and foot, and it shall be lawful for them to provide themselves with such arms at their option, either within the kingdom or to import them, with a suitable quantity of powder from Holland, declaring that whoever shall hinder or interrupt the sending for, buying or bringing home such arms and ammunition, or shall under any pretext seize or detain them, shall be reputed enemies to her majesty and the liberties of this kingdom. And to the effect this first provision of arms may be more surely made, her majesty, with advice and consent aforesaid, does appoint that on the first Tuesday after the said day of Whitsunday, all the Protestant heritors and burghs do produce the said arms at the head burgh of every shire, before the commissioners of parliament of the said shire and burgh, who, for every firelock that shall be wanting or found not to be sufficient and of a bore according to the act of parliament, shall fine the said heritors and burghs in £3 Scots for each, to be bestowed for the benefit of the poor, and make report of their diligence in this particular to the next session of parliament. And to prevent the nation being abused by the making or importation of insufficient arms, it is further statute and enacted that no firelocks shall be made and sold within this kingdom but such as shall be tried and marked by [...], nor any imported but such as shall be marked by [...], who are to transport themselves into Holland, and there see to the providing such arms for those of our merchants who will trade in bringing them home as are good and sufficient. Certifying all those who shall do in the contrary, or counterfeit the mark of the said [...], they shall be fined in 50 merks for each firelock.