Earls of Cromartie > [NSLBLANK]

1714.] HE SUPPORTS THE UNION, 1707. clvii
stepdaughter, Lady Margaret Wernyss. Lord Northesk himself was also a
strenuous supporter of the Union. In a letter written by Lord Cromartie,
apparently to Lord Northesk, shortly before the Union, he enlarges on his
favourite subject of the prosecution of herring and other fishings. The letter
contains several practical suggestions on the subject, and the views of the
writer are enforced in a variety of forms to show the value of prosecuting the
fishings. It is clear from this letter, and the other productions of Lord
Cromartie, that he had studied the subject very carefully. 1
Besides advocating the Union in his extensive correspondence, Lord
Cromartie also supported it by his speeches in the Parliament of Scotland.
Two of these speeches are preserved in manuscript. They enforce very
earnestly his views for a full and incorporating Union between Scotland and
England, and reprobate a mere Federal Union, which he considered to be
dangerous to both countries. 2
In the first election of the sixteen representative Peers for Scotland after
the Union, Lord Cromartie was not elected. The Government could not
make room for him in the crowd of claimants. He was not well pleased,
as Lord Mar wrote to the Earl of Stair, but he was so generous as to do
the Government no harm. He only named four, whom he called his own
chddren, Mar, Wemyss, Leven, and Northesk ; and because he named not
sixteen, he was protested against, but it signified nothing. 3
1 Original Copy Letter at Tarbat House. s Original Letter, dated 20th June 170S, in
2 Original Copy Speech, ibid. the Mar Charter-chest.