Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

ADDRESS OF THE CLUB TO KING 'WILLIAM, 1CS9. cclxv
of Dundee, his ablest general, who fell mortally Nvounded on the field of
battle. I^Iacpherson, of Ossian fame, published a letter piarporting to be
^vritten by Dundee the day after the battle, giving an account of his victory.
But recent investigations have demonstrated that Dundee actually died in
the midst of the battle. Lord Macaulay in his historj'- gives a brilliant
account of the battle of Killiecranl;ie, and states that the alleged letter bj'
Dundee to King James is as impudent a forgery as Fingal.^
Certain subjects which had been agitated in the convention and parlia-
ment were still discussed by the members of the Club and others. These
had reference, first, to the nomination of committees by the estates ; second,
to the act abrogating the act of 1G69 asserting the king's supremacy in
causes ecclesiastical ; third, to those persons not to be employed in public
trust; fourth, to the act about nominating the lords of session : and fifth, to
the act restoring the presbyterian ministers since 1st January ICGl.
Those favourable to these measures prepared a formal address to King
William, in September 1 689, urging him to I'atify the acts voted in the current
parliament. The address, which was signed by eleven peers, including
Sutherland, Morton, Argyll, Annandale, Eoss, and others, and also sixty-one
commissioners to parliament,- was a formidable document, and the king
ultimately gave favourable consideration to several points in it. But he
never consented to the incapacitating act, and he reserved to the crown the
nomination of the lords of session.
A proclamation was issued against members of parliament leaving the
kingdom. But Lords Annandale and Eoss and Sir James Montgomerie
disregarding it hastened to London to present the address to the king. A
rumour had arisen that the king meant to nominate the lords of session,
and this increased their anxiety. They kept pressing Portland upou the
subject, who received them in a friendly spirit, and they so far succeeded
' History of Engl.-ind, 1855, vol. iii. p. 3C3.
- The Melvilles, Earl? of MelviUe, etc., 1S90, vol. iii. pp. 209-213.
VOI,. I. 2 L