Paper on the Mar peerage

Buchan, which weut with Mar, is now held by a
branch of the Erskines, who, as we shall
see, hold the title of Mar under a new creation.
We see then that had Mr Goodeve made out
his case, viz., that the old grand earldom was
restored fully and wholly by Queen Mary, and that
he was heir to it, Mar would have been the only
great provincial Earldom left of all the seven. He
would have held a title more ancient ard more
noble than any peer under a Royal Duke, for he
would have been Mormaor of a vast province. But
the task was impossible ; the Royal Stuarts had
taken good care to break up for ever a body of men
who, having once had the power of electing their
Sovereign, were likely to regard it as their just
prerogative to control his policy, and, if needful,
do violence to his person. The sev;n territorial
Earldoms are extinct or dormant — so dormant,
indeed, that it is not likely their slumbers will ever
be broken. (See Appendix B.)
Though the old Murmaorship of Mar was by some
before the recent decision said to be only dormant,
this (act has been finally settled that Queen Mary
failed to revive it, whatever her wishes, or the wishes
of Lord Erskine, may have been, and we can hardly
expect that in the 19th century any steps will be
taken to unravel a network of difficulties, or clear
away clouds of confusing evidence, especially
after the wording of the Decision which
you will presently hear. The only result
of such a course would he that heirs would
spring up to all the other Earldoms, and we should
have 7 Mormaors without an acre of that territory
which alone gave them their rank. The present
Earl of Mar has been adjudged the title, because
Queen Mary created bis ancestor, John Lord
Erskine, an Earl of Mar, and not because he has
in his veins the blood of the old Mormaors.
It is no easy task for one who is only a layman,
as far as law is concerned, to put into brief form a
long and intricate law suit. All the more as it
affects the question of pedigree,- which I find is a
very puzzling one to many persons. The question
raised in the suit was this, who was Earl of Mar