SCOTLAND

Collection of four documents pertaining to the settlement and administration of Scotland after the accession of William III, 1691-1692

Collection of documents pertaining to the settlement and administration of Scotland after the accession of William III, comprising (i) Letter (seemingly original) by the third Duke of Hamilton, as President of the Council, concerning Scottish shipping and trade ("...Ther are also many complaints mad to us by the Merchands of this kingdom that their shipps are stopped in Ingland, and the seamen necessarie for navigating therof are pressed & Seazed on..."), 1 page, rodent-damage in upper margin, damp-staining to the lower, folio, Edinburgh, 15 December 1691; (ii) Original petition to William III (headed: "May it please your sacred Majestie"), signed by "Ard: Mure" [?Sir Archibald Muir of Thornton], issued "by warrand of the convention of Royall borrowes", complaining of "the project for setling a Linning manufactorie in this Kingdom by English hands" which "does threatten the prejudice of Our state"; with integral address-panel ("To The King") and closure seal, 1 page, dust-staining, folio, Edinburgh, 19 April 1692; (iii) Letter signed twice by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury of Scotland, the Earls of Tweeddale (Chancellor), Drumlanrig, Breadalbane and Linlithgow, addressed "for your selve" and superscribed "My Lord", the first part communicating papers concerning Lord Raith, the Deputy Treasurer ("...wee judged it not proper for us to communicat them to him, (altho of our number) it not being to be expected that he would concurr in many of them, wee belive that it will be obvious that they are for the good of his Majesties service..."), also enclosing the account of Sir Patrick Murray [Receiver of Customs], and seeking instructions as to bishops' rents; with a signed postscript on conjoint leaf; address panel, 2 pages, dust-staining where folded and exposed, minor wear at folds etc., folio, Edinburgh, 29 June 1692; (iv) Commission issued to Colonel John Hill, signed by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury of Scotland, the Earls of Tweeddale (as Chancellor), Linlithgow and Breadalbane, and by Lord Raith (signed again by Tweeddale in the margin), issued in pursuance of the royal warrant of 24 November "to have the laws exercut in their full extent against the Captaine of the Clanronald" and that the Lords of the Treasury grant, warrant and commission "Collonell John Hill Governour of ffort william at Innerlochie to uplift the Rents & Dewties of his [the Captain of Clanranald's] estate"; written on two sheets of paper pasted together (with Tweeddale's second signature authenticating the upper portion); contemporary docket, 1 page, minor wear at folds, dust-stained where exposed, long folio (580 x 29mm.), Edinburgh, 24 December 1692

'THE LAWS EXERCUT IN THEIR FULL EXTENT AGAINST THE CAPTAINE OF THE CLANRONALD' ? William III's government of Scotland in the year of the Massacre of Glencoe, targeted against the Clan Macdonald, as a supposedly exemplary measure. Orders for the massacre had been given to Colonel Hill (to whom the last of these documents is directed) in January 1692; with Hill authorising the measure the following month. Allan, 14th Chief of the Clanranald branch of the Macdonalds, had led 500 of his clansmen on the right wing of Dundee's army at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, with his principal seat, Castle Tioram, being garrisoned by the English after the battle. He was spared Glencoe, which his branch did not attend, but was to be killed at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715.

All of these documents bear the small paper collection seal of the 'Scot. Arch. & Hist./ I.E.G.' and inscribed in ink "No 121/ 2" [for the International Exhibition Glasgow, 1901].