Ayrshire > Volume 2

n6 HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE
he was appointed by the Duke of Argyll to the Colonelcy
of the Argyllshire Fencibles, and raised the West Lowland
Fencibles, of which he was Colonel. Afterwards he
raised the Glasgow Regiment of Fencibles, which,
however, was reduced in 1795. He was also Lieut. -
Governor of Edinburgh Castle. In 1796 he was again
returned to Parliament as Member for Ayrshire, but the
death of the eleventh Earl, and his accession to the
Earldom, compelled his almost immediate resignation.
He experienced a keen disappointment in 1798, when,
on the landing of 7000 French troops in Ireland to
support the Rebellion, the large majority of the West
Lowland Fencibles refused to leave Scotland. He had
appointed William Mure of Caldwell to the Colonelcy,
and that gallant officer tendered his resignation, refusing
to remain in command of men who " declined going to
where the enemy are, and resolved to await the enemy's
coming to them." In 1798, and again at the General
Election of 1802, his lordship was chosen as one of the
representative Scottish Peers, and in 1806 he was
created a Peer of the United Kingdom, by the title of
Baron Ardrossan of Ardrossan. He was Lord Lieutenant
of the County of Ayr, a State Councillor for Scotland to
the Prince Regent, and a Knight of the Thistle. In
relation to the Green Ribbon, vacant through the death
of the Duke of Queensberry, his lordship showed his
characteristic independence. He put in a claim to it,
and left matters to take their course. " Not the least
interested about it," he wrote, " I made no application
to any man on earth on the subject," and his appointment
came as a surprise to him. He accepted the honour with
gratitude. " I must observe, however, that I would
not have done so had it been on any other footing "
than the free gift of the Crown. " I am no party man.
My attachment was to His Royal Highness' s royal
person, and from His Royal Highness I received it, and
am under no obligation to any Minister or individual
whatever." His reception of the coveted honour was
none the less gratifying to him.