Detection of infamy

12
the other Ambassadors of his Britannic Majesty, for rea-
sons which are well known.
This second branch, who were favored at the Court of
France, took advintage of the retirement of the Duke of
Melfort, the present Duke's father, while residing at his
Castle of Lussan in Languedoc, in a remote seclusion
from the Court, to assume the character of the first repre-
sentative of the family of Perth ; and one Viscount Mel-
fort, son of the Count, being- protected by the said Court,
came to Britain with fuHpowers granted to him by the late
Duke of Melfort, the Claimant's elder brother (in the year
1787) and having obtained possession of the family papers
which had been deposited in Scotland, and were delivered
to him in virtue of a power of attorney granted by the Duke,
took upon him to challenge the possessions of the late
James Drumjiokd Earl of Perth, and claimed the estate as
having better right, not in the name of his constituent, but
in his own name. He brought letters of recommendation
from the Queen of France, and orders were sent to Count
D'Adhemar, then Ambassador from the French Court, to
introduce and support him ; he was also assisted by some
branches of the Drummond family. — But after due inves-
tigation, and the expenditure of a great deal of money, it
was found that his grandfather, Lord Andrew, having been
born at Rome, as aforesaid, he was an alien. — The Vis-
count (afterwards Count De Melfort) dropped his claim,
made private arrangements, obtained money, and return-
ed to France, after having betrayed the Duke, who was
in fact the true and undoubted heir of the family of
Perth, and most likely would have acquired the estate
preferably to the late Lord Perth, had he not listened
to false insinuations, which prevented his coming to
England in order to assert his right at the time when
the estate was on the eve of being restored.
The qualification of alien was from that period given
indiscriminately "to all persons of the name of Melfort ;
which is the chief reason alleged by the adverse party
for supporting the preference given to the late Lord