Volume 1 - Electric Scotland

MAKES A TOUR OX THE COXTINJiNT, 1712. cccxiii
Annaiulale on his conduct in the assembly.' A lew niontlis afterwards, the
Earl of Oxford proflered to Aunandalc the position of chamberlain and chief
commissioner on trade. liiit the ofTer was declined on the ground that he
knew nothing of the business of these ofllccs, and lliat he would never
engage in any part of the queen's service in wliich he was so little capable to
serve licr. He said he had been summarily turned out of office the year
before the union, and so ill used by tlie late ministry that he had to refuse
the post of president of council, and lie could not be useful to the queen
nnlcss he were in some settled and fi.xcd post in her service."
If reports current at tlie time are to be trusted, Annandale was again, in
1712, offered the office of commissioner to the assembly. Eut he declined it,
at the same time usiiig the freedom to tell the queen wlieu she spoke tn him
upon it that he would willingly serve her in that capacity, but when he last
did so, he had so assured the ministers of absolute security to their constitu-
tion that he was ashamed to look them again in the face, considering the
encroachments which had since fallen out upon them.^ Tiie patronage bill
which had just passed in parliament is no doubt the principal encroachment
which Annandale has here in view. It was now found difiicult to get any
one to accept of the ofiice. The Duke of Atholl, and the Earls of Eglinton
and Dunmore, were successively offered it, and refused it. The Duke of
Atholl was, however, ultimately appointed.
As no suitable post could be obtained for Annandale, his lordship
determined to make a tour on the Continent. For this purpose, he received
a pass from Arnold J uste, Comte d'Albemaiie, Yicomtc Bury, etc., governor
of Tournay, with an order for an escort to protect him against robbers in his
journey to Aix-la-Chapelle.*
From a letter of his marchioness, written in July of this year, it appears
' 24tli June 1711, vol. ii. of thia work, 3 Woilrow'a Aiialecta, vol. ii. p. S-5.
p. 259. * Origiii.-il I'ass, dated CamiirVAucliin, 2Cth
2 Letter, November 1711, iliid. p. 2.32. May 1712, in Aunaudale Chartcr-cliest.
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