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268 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
! —
" That his tack of Excyse wrongs his neighbours, in so far as
he can undersell them, and monopolise the brewing ti'ade.
"That his loss w;is not above a year's rent."
Tn answer Culloden states :—
" That ho understands the meaning of the Act to be for what
grows on his own lands.
" That whatever gi-ain shall be carried from any place into
his land (except it be to eat or sow), shall be lyable to Excyse.
"That the amount of the loss sustained by liimself and
tenants was £54,000 Scotch, as ascertained by regular proof."
After the establishment of a Board of Excise in 1707, frequent
representations were made to the Treasury to buy this
right, in consideration of the great dissatisfaction it created
among the distillers, who did not complain without cause, as in
1782 the duty paid was £22, while according to the cui-rent rate
of duty £20,000 should have been paid. {Owens.) These representations
prevailed, and the Act 26, G. III., cap. 73, sec. 75,
provided for the purchase as follows ;—
" Whei-eas Arthur Forbes of Culloden, Esq., in the county of
Inverness, is possessed of an exemption from the duties of Excise,
within the lands of Ferintosh under a certain lease allowed by
.several Acts of Parliament of Scotland, whicli exemption has been
found detrimental to the Revenue and prejudicial to the distillery
in other parts of Scotland, enacted That the Treasury
shall agree with the said Arthur Forbes upon a compensation to
be made to him in lieu of the exemption, and if they shall not
agree, the barons of Exchequer may settle the compensation by
a jury, and after payment thereof, the said exem])tion shall cease."
In 1784 the Government paid £21,000 to Culloden, and the
exemption ceased after having been enjoyed by the family for
nearly a century. Burns thus refers to the tran.saction in "Scotch
Drink," which was written in the following year
"Thou Ferintosh! O sadly lost!
Scotland laments frae coast to coast
Now colic grips and barking hoast
May kill us a';
For loyal Forbes' chartered boast
Is ta'en awa !"
The miiiister of Dingwall, in his account of the parish, written
a few years after the abolition of the exemption, tells that
during the continuance of the privilege, quarrels and breaches of