The chiefs of Grant - Electric Scotland

171C.] PKuMiNENT ^rrpuirriiK of tiii; riiixcE of oi;a.\G!:. 309
probable that the Clrants remained altoi^'etlier neutral. No otlier basis for
tliis tradition can bo found tlia.n thai the Grants wore directed by the
Privy Council to concur \vith Mackintosh.
J>ut if the Laird's participation in tliis tribal feud is doubtful, he wa.s
soon i-;.lled upi.'U to }>lay ;• part in a wid-,- sphere, and ti. incur greater
responsibilities, from whii.li he did not shi'ink. Towards t^e end of the
year 1G8S, in the month of Octw.'ier, wliile tlie Prince of Orange was
making ready to come over to England, and the mind of the nation was
ripe for the Ptevolution, the Laird of Freuchie was sunnnoned to Edinljurgli
to receive the commands of the Privy Council.' This letter was followed
on 2d November by a letter from the Duke of Gordon, then Governor of
Edinburgh Castle, desiring the Laird to raise a company of men for the
service of King James the Seventh, the men to be sent to Stirling." It i.s
not known whether the Laird at tliat time responded to either recpiisition,
but he was certainly a member of that Convention of Estates called together
by the Prince of Orange, which began its sittings on the 14th March 1G8'J,
and in his place among the barons he subscribed the minute which declared
the convention to be a "free and lawful meeting of the Estates," and their
resolution to " continue undissolved until they settle and secure the J^ro-
testant reli^'ion, the Government, laws, and liberties of the kino-dom.''
This declaration was made before openuig a letter addressed to the Estates
by the self-exiled monarch, which was believed to contain instructions
likely to impede the Convention.'"'
On the 18th Miirch, John Graham, Viscount of Dundee, made his
famous exit from Edinburgh, clind)ing the Castle rock on his way, to urge
the Dtike of Gordon to hold the fortress for King James. On the same
day the Laird of Fretichie was nonn'nated as one of a committee to consider
the condition of the Highlands, and repoi't."* At a previous meeting he
had been appointed with others to consider what was tit for securing the
peace.^ On the "iod March he signed a congratulatory address to King
William," and on the 'JGth he was one of those cliosen by vote to act as a
committee for settliiiii- the Government.' The Laird was therefore one of
o
1 Vol. ii. of this work, \i. 20. - Ibid. \i. 27. * Acts of tin- I'uilianieiits of Scot.lauJ, vol. ix. p. I'2.
' Acts ut the Farliaments of ScotlanJ, vol. ix. jj. 'J.
^ Ibid, ji, lU. ' Ibid. p. 20. ' Ibul. ji. 22.