The manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of ... - Electric Scotland

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England therefore form the complement of the others. They to
some extent furnish details of letters sent to Court by the various
government officials in Scotland, give an insight into the
influences brought to bear upon the King in regard to public
affairs, and contain the sentiments and instructions of the King
and the views of Moray himself upon Scottish affairs. In short
they supply a daily or weekly record of much of what passed
at Court with reference to Scotland.
William, Marquis and Duke of Queensberry to whom the letters
were addressed, was, during the period in which they were
written, Lord High Treasurer of Scotland. The first letter in the
series is dated 11th May 1682. The date of the commission of
the Marquis to be Treasurer is a day later, or 12th May 1682.
Besides holding this important office, the Marquis, now Duke of
Queensberry, was Commissioner for King James to his first
parliament which assembled at Edinburgh on 23rd April 1685.
It was only to be looked for when the Duke became the
representative of the King in parliament, and held the office of
Commissioner in conjunction with that of Treasurer, that the
Earl of Moray, as Secretary of State, should have occasion to write
a greater number of letters to him than when he was only
Treasurer. This accounts for the fact that more than half of the
letters of the Earl of Moray in this Eeport are addressed to the
Duke as King's Commissioner.
Although the period is subsequent to that of the letters in the
Eeport, it may be noticed here that in the second session
of the first parliament of King James, the Earl of Moray
was appointed Commissioner instead of Queensberry. There
was much in common, in disposition and character, between the
Duke of Queensberry and the Earl of Moray. But in
regard to principle the event showed that the Duke had
the advantage of the Earl. Previous to his Grace being made
Commissioner he had intimated to the King that he would not be
a party to any innovation in the church. Moray, on the other
hand, finding it to be the way to preferment, abjured his religion,
declared himself a Eoman Catholic, and was appointed Commissioner
in room of Queensberry. His commission is dated
19 March 1686. It was predicted that as the regent Earl of
Moray had made the penal laws against the Eoman Catholics, the
Earl of Moray, his descendant, should remove them. This, however,
the fourth Earl of Moray did not succeed in accomplishing.
Several of the letters (Nos. 67, 83, 84, 92, 99, 104 and 107)
included in this Eeport either at length or in abstract, were, in
1862, printed in whole or in part by the late Mr. Mark Napier in
his Memoirs of Dundee. ^ Sir William Eraser has already pointed
out in the Third Eeport upon the Drumlanrig Collections that in
printing the letters of Claverhouse in the same work, Mr. Napier
had altered the spelling of the original letter s.^ A collation of
^Vol. I. pp. 347, 348 ; Vol. II. pp. 369n, 424n ; Vol. III. pp. 435-487, 438-440, 441.
^Third Keport p. 166.