[From Train's History, 1844]

[note a few minor typographical errors have been silently corrected]

CHAPTER IX.

LORDS AND GOVERNORS OF MAN OF THE HOUSE OF ATHOLL FROM A.D. 1736 TO 1830.

Genealogical Sketch of the Family of Tullibardine - John second Duke Of Atholl succeeds to the Lordship of Man-Visits the Island - His enactments - The Lords of the Treasury empowered by Parliament to purchase the Royalties of the Island-Negotiations on that subject long protracted-Sale of the Island by John the third Duke-Act of Revestment-Royal Proclamation-Consequences of the Revestment -Exertions of the Duke of Atholl to obtain further Remuneration in lieu of his vested Rights-Commissioners appointed by Parliament to enquire into the validity of the Duke's claims- Obtains a grant by Act of Parliament-The Manks become loyal subjects of Great Britain-The Duke of Atholl accepts the Office of Captain General of the Island-Becomes unpopular-His measures strongly opposed by the People-Finally disposes of all his interests in the Island.

From an early period of. Scottish History the family of Murray is found to have possessed great feudal influence in the North of Scotland. They derive their origin Friskin, who lived in 1123, and was a descendant of old Moravij¹. Friskin was the great grandfather of William de. Moravia, who was Baron of Tullibardine in 1292. The Jure Uxoris, ancestor of William Murray, of Tullibardine, who died in 1509, whose son William was great grandfather of Sir John Murray, created Earl of Tullibardine, anno 1604. William, the son of this peer, in 1629, obtained the ancient title of Earl of Atholl, in right of his wife, Lady Dorothea Stewart, in whose father it had become extinct. William was a zealous royalist, as, was his son John, the second Earl of Atholl, who raised a body of two thousand men for the service of Charles I. In 1642, John was succeeded by his son, who added greatly to the power of his family by marrying Lady Amelia Sophia Stanley, third daughter of James, the great Earl of Derby, who, by her mother Charlotte de la Tremouille², was related to most of the reigning³ families of Europe. When only eighteen years of age he took up arms in defence of Charles II, and proved of such advantage to the royal cause that his majesty, after the restoration, made him justice-general, lord privy-seal, captain of his guard, and one of the extraordinary lords of session. creating him, also, Marquis of Atholl. He died in 1703, and was succeeded by his son John, who in the same year was created first Duke of Atholl.

In 1706, when the twenty-two articles of the proposed union between England and Scotland came to be debated, John, Duke of Atholl, protested against the number of representatives to be allowed for Scotland in the parliament of Great Britain as being quite insufficient and unreasonable.⁴

By his wife, Lady Catherine Hamilton, daughter of William, Duke of Hamilton, he had six sons and one daughter. The eldest, who was Marquis of Tulllibardine, was a colonel in the Dutch service, and fell at the battle of Malplaquet, in 1709. The second son, William, who succeeded his brother as Marquis of Tullibardine, was attainted in 1716 for being a party in the rebellion of that period; and being taken again in the rebellion of 1746, was sent to the tower of London, where he died in the following year. James, the third son, on the death of his father in 1724, succeeded to the family titles and estates; and twelve years afterwards he also became Lord of the Isle of Man, in right of his grandmother, on the decease of James, tenth Earl of Derby⁵, as stated at the close the preceding chapter.

A.D. 1736. Soon after his accession to the lordship Man, the Duke visited the Island with a numerous suite of gentlemen, and was joyously received by the natives. His first public edict is dated Castle Rushen, 12th Aug 1736, by which he gives his assent to no less than fourteen acts of Tynwald.⁶

From a regard to the happiness of his people, as stated in the preamble of these acts, he allowed many of the old laws to be revised, and some which had become obsolete, to be completely abrogated. One credible witness was thenceforth to be considered sufficient to convict a malefactor of Larceny ; but the punishment of "burning in the hand, or whipping in the different market towns" for that offence, was continued.

Former restrictions as to the holding of fairs and markets were repealed; and " for the better enabling the people to pay their rents, dues, and fines to the Lord," all fairs and markets were to be "as free to strangers to natives to buy, sell, or barter." For preventing, also, "the many notorious instances of discord and animosity among the people, occasioned by slanderous words and defamation," the old law of gagging and whipping in the stocks was deemed insufficient, and it was accordingly repealed, and one of greater severity imposed. The statutes of 1422 and 1664 anent persons leaving the Island without license, were repealed, or, at least, the penalty against masters of vessels taking such persons was restricted to ten pounds. All goods of the growth, product, or manufacture of the Island, were permitted to be exported free of duty; but as the former impost added ten pounds per annum to the revenue of the lord, certain other dues were to be raised: and it was therefore "provided and reserved that if the duties advanced did not amount to ten pounds per annum, the same should. be made good on the part of the people to the lord and his successors." Wheat and barley were allowed to be imported under certain restrictions ; " but the importation of-malt was prohibited to all intents and purposes."

By the same set of enactments it was provided that "any person prosecuted in this Island for a foreign debt by any act of arrest in the Court of Chancery, shall for the future be held to bail only for his personal appearance to such action, and for the forthcoming of what effects he hath within this Island, to answer the judgement of the same."⁸ This was the law which rendered Man for nearly a century afterwards, the sanctuary of the unfortunate and profligate of the surrounding nations, who flocked thither in such numbers as to make it a common receptacle for the basest of their kind.

It had ever been the true political interest of Great Britain to render every part of the empire as flourishing as possible, without omitting any means which might contribute to turn the industry of the inhabitants to the advantage of the state. With a view therefore of bringing the Isle of Man into closer connection with the generall system of our government, and for the purpose of curbing the pernicious practice of smuggling in which the natives were engaged, an act was passed by the British Government so early as the year 1726, authorizing the Earl of Derby to dispose of his royalty,and revenue of the Isle Man, and empowering the Lords of the Treasury to treat with him for that purpose.⁹

Many proposals had been made to Lord Derby and, to his successor, the Duke of Atholl, by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury appointed by Government; but various obstacles continued to be thrown in the way of effecting the purchase, and the object of government was in consequence not attained for many years.

The Duke of Atholl, evidently with the intention of putting off the sale to a distant day, conveyed the entrail to trustees by a deed of feoffment executed on the 6th April, 1756, whereby they were empowered to make absolute sale of the Island after his death, with the consent of the lord proprietor-his heir. The money arising out of this sale was to be laid out in the purchase of land in Scotland, which were directed to be entailed in the strictest manner according to law, on the heirs male of his body, whom failing, to the line of Murray, in preference to the line of heirs from James, seventh Earl Derby.¹⁰

In fulfillment of the tenure by which the Island had for upwards of three centuries been held by the chiefs of the house of Stanley, the Duke of Atholl appeared at the coronation of George III, 22nd Sept., 1761, in the station assigned to the Kings or Lords of Man on similar occasions, at his Majesty's left shoulder holding the sword of Lancaster ; and by presenting to the King two falcons at the close of the ceremony, he did liege homage for the franchise, liberties, advowsons, and patronages of the Isle and lordship of Man. These personal services being accepted by the King, the Duke thereby became entitled to hold and exercise all the rights, and receive all the immunities thereto pertaining, as fully and freely as any former Lord of Man did, or might have done.¹¹

In 1764, James, Duke of Atholl, died, leaving only one child, Charlotte, Baroness Strange," who was united in marriage with her cousin John, the male heir of the dukedom, who, in right of his wife also became possessed of the Isle of Man. Scarcely, however, was he settled in his new possessions when the question of the revestment was again revived by the Lords of the Treasury.

On 25th July, 1764, they wrote to his Grace in the following terms:-

MY LORD,-We think proper to inform your Grace that in. pursuance of the powers vested in us by the 12th Geo. I, Cap. 28, we are willing to treat with you for the purchase of the Isle of Man, or by such parts of the rights as are claimed by your Grace, in the same Island, as shall be found expedient to vest in the crown for preventing the illicit and pernicious trade, which is at present carried on between that Island and other parts of his Majesty's dominions, in violation of the laws and to the diminution and detriment of the revenues of this kingdom. But if your Grace is not inclined to enter into treaty with us upon the subject, we beg to be informed of it that we may pursue such other methods as we shall think our duty to the public requires."

On the 20th of August following the Duke returned for answer:-

MY LORDS,-I have the same idea with regard to the sale of the Island with the late Duke, who always declared that no temptation of gain could induce him to give up so ancient, so honourable, and so noble a birth-right-such as no subject of the crown of England now has, or ever had, and which has been in our family for four centuries; and that he thought nothing could be an equal equivalent to one of his rank and circumstances, for so great a patrimony. At the same time, my duty and attachment to the king obliges me to say, that if it were esteemed, upon a full consideration, an important point for his Majesty's service, and for the good of the public ; in that event, I am willing to enter into treaty for the disposal of it, but these are the only reasons that could induce me to do the same.

"I have been but a few months in possession of the Isle of Man, and never in the least turned my attention towards the sale of it, therefore it is impossible for me, uninformed as I am, to fix upon what I should think an adequate price; but I will always be ready to receive, with respect, any proposal that may come from your Lordships."

On the Duke still refusing to point out the amount of the compensation that, would be required, a bill was brought into Parliament in January, 1765, " for more effectually preventing the mischiefs to the revenue and commerce of Great Britain and Ireland from the clandestine and illicit trade carried into and from the Isle of Man" ¹³ A petition was presented against the bill by the Duke and Duchess of Atholl, who, receiving intimation that a treaty might still be entered into for the purchase of their chartered rights, resolved, lest they should be stripped of the whole without any remuneration, to accept of the sum of £70,000 sterling, as a compensation for an absolute surrender "of the Island, Castle, and Peel of Man, with all the Lordships thereto belonging, together with the royalties, regalities, franchises, liberties, and sea-ports appertaining to the same, and all other hereditaments and premises therein particularly described and mentioned as holden under the several grants thereof, or any other title whatsoever, reserving only their lands, inland waters, fisheries, mines, mills, minerals, and quarries according to their present right therein, felon goods, deodands, waifs, estrays, and wrecks at sea, together with the patronage of the bishopric and of the other ecclesiastical benefices in the Island, to which they were entitled."

The purchase of the Island was consequently concluded, and the sum of £70,000 was paid into the Bank of England in the names of the Duke and Duchess of Atholl; but in consideration of the Duke's retaining the holdings just enumerated, the honorary service of his rendering to his Majesty and his successors two falcons at, every coronation was perpetuated, and he was requested to pay likewise a yearly rent of £101 15s. 2d. for the Abbey lands, and £20 17s. in lieu of mines and quarries.^14*

In addition to the purchase money the Duke and Duchess of Atholl were to receive an annuity of £2,000 per annum, to be paid out of the Irish revenue, which had suffered as well as Great Britain by the clandestine trade with the Isle of Man. It was, therefore, judged reasonable, that some compensation should be made by Ireland, since both kingdoms were to be alike benefited by the suppression of the growing evil.¹⁵

A royal proclamation, founded on the Act of Revestment, was issued at St. James's announcing the appointment of a new governor and captain-general of the Island, and continuing in office the clerk of the rolls, the attorney-general, deemsters, and all other persons duly vested in any civil employment; but excepting therefrom such officers as were appointed by the late proprietor to collect his revenues.¹⁶ Under the Lords of Man all the civil officers had been entitled to certain fees from the inhabitants as a compensation for the performance of their official duties. The Lord himself had various perquisites, amongst which was a fee for every action at law.¹⁷ In the estimate of the revenue of the Island made out by the Duke of Atholl for the Lords of the Treasury, no deduction was made for the support of the established government. The deemsters alone received a small salary of £13 6s :8d from the Lord. In some instances also the Lord superior himself received from official persons a certain fee called office silver.

When Sir John Stanley received a grant of the Island from Henry IV, the whole revenue did not exceed £400 per annum¹⁸. In the time of the last Earl of Derby, who was Lord of Man, the customs were farmed to an English merchant at £1000¹⁹ per annum.' The Duke of Atholl, however, annually received a surplus revenue nearly £6,000, as appears in the schedule to the act 5th Geo. Ill, cap. 26.²⁰

When the sovereignty of the Island became vested, by Act of Parliament, in the British King, the inhabitants were so much alarmed at the change of affairs, which they, considered must necessarily ensue, that the ruin of all classes was prognosticated. Insular property sunk to a very low state of depreciation; and many, who had the means of removal, left the Island. Nor was the appearance of Lord John Murray's Freicudan Dhu, or Black Watch, as the 42nd regiment was then called, who were sent by the British government to maintain the peace, much calculated to allay the discontents of the people, who found their houses and magazines, which had been let for the purposes of smuggling, left empty on their hands, and themselves subjected to other inconveniences necessarily resulting from a revolution so sudden.

John, third Duke of Atholl, died on the 5th of November, 1774, in the forty-fifth year of his age, and was succeeded in his titles and estates by his son of the same name, born 30th June, 1755. His claims in the Island being, no longer backed by sovereign authority were resisted by every species of opposition, till he was induced in 1781, to present a petition to parliament stating, among other complaints, "that many parts of the act, 5th Geo. III, cap. 26, required explanation and amendment, and that proper remedies or powers were omitted to be given thereby to the Duke and Duchess of Atholl, their heirs, or assigns, seneschals, or stewards, and moars, and bailigs, for obtaining of their several rights and interests, or for the exercise or enjoyment of such as were intended to be reserved, and therefore prayed that leave might be given to bring in a bill to explain and amend the said act, to enable him and his heirs to exercise certain powers."²¹

He alleged, that prior to the revestment, the revenues had not been fairly collected²² ; and that the annual amount, to which the purchase-money had been proportioned, had consequently been too small; that with the consent of the council and keys his father had the power of increasing the duties, and that some rights, not intended to be so, were vested in the crown, such as herring-customs, salmon-fisheries, and treasure-trove. While others meant to be retained, have, by the operation of the act of 1765, been rendered nugatory by being left in a, mutilated and unprotected state, the protection which they enjoyed under the former government of the Island having been destroyed, and no new or adequate protection substituted in their room.²³

A counter petition, from John Cosnahan of the House of Keys, as agent for that body, was laid before parliament against the passing of this bill, on the ground that it contained many provisions opposed to the of the Island, and injurious to its inhabitants. Counsel having been heard on both sides, the bill, somewhat amended, passed the House of Commons. In the House of Lords it was opposed by the Lord Chancellor, who stated in his speech, that what the public had purchased of the late Duke of Atholl seemed to him of very little importance, no more, in his apprehension, than certain rights and privileges incident to the proprietor for time being, as first magistrate and lord of the soil, which his majesty's servants in the year 1765, wisely deemed "to be improper to be longer vested in the hands of a subject who exercised those rights independent of and uncontrolled, by, the British parliament. 'There were many instances to prove that the Lords of Man the inhabitants were amenable and controllable by the British legislature. One instance only he should mention. In the reign of Henry the Eighth an act of parliament passed for abolishing all monasteries and abbeys, and vesting the lands which belonged to them in crown. In this bill were included those of Man; and the Earl of Derby so far from exclaiming against the usurpation, or complaining against the injustice or oppression of such a stretch of foreign power, actually became a lessee for them under the king. Much had been said about manorial rights, whereas they appeared to have no. real foundation whatever; these rights, which had been thus claimed, having at different times and upon various occasions been granted to the lord of manors, and, of. course, divested out of the lord-paramount."

The Duke of Atholl wished to have every paragraph examined by their lordships with the minutest attention, being persuaded that the more pains there were taken to develope the real purport of the object of the bill, the more supporters it would have.²⁴ The measure, however, was lost by a great majority.

The Duke, dissatisfied with this result, renewed his application in 1790 ; but, after a spirited discussion in the House of Commons, it met with a similar fate. Still unwilling to relinquish his object, he, in 1791, presented a petition to the privy council, containing such strong allegations, that it was deemed prudent to appoint commissioners to visit the Island, and make a thorough investigation, not only as to the particulars in dispute, but also into the general state of the revenue and commerce of the Island.

This commission, appointed by parliament in 1792, consisted of five persons; a commissioner of the English board of customs, a commissioner from the board of customs at Edinburgh, two eminent English barristers, and a member of parliament. On their arrival in the Island, these gentlemen were voluntarily assisted in their investigation by a committee of the House of Keys, whose aid they warmly acknowledged in their report to parliament.

By the act 7th Geo. Ill, cap. 45, see. 8, any quantity of British spirits, not exceeding 50,000 gallons, was allowed to be imported annually at a duty of one shilling the gallon; but brandy and Genevas could only be imported on,: payment of the English duties. The commissioners found that no part of the British spirits had been imported since., the year 1784, that brandy and Geneva were in common use, and that smuggling into the Island was carried on to a great extent, although revenue cruisers were stationed, on the coasts.

With a view to prevent this illicit traffic, the commissioners recommended that a limited quantity of British spirits should be allowed to be imported on payment of moderate duties. This recommendation was adopted, and an act was passed 38th Geo. III, cap. 63, to regulate the trade of the Island, in the spirit of which all the subsequent acts, respecting the trade of the Island, have been made.

For the convenience of the inhabitants, as well as to encourage them to engage more extensively in legal commerce, the commissioners likewise recommended that a government warehouse should be erected at Douglas for the reception of foreign European goods; but this plan seemed to the king's government so big with innovation that it was not deemed expedient to adopt it, though the testimony of the revenue officers tended to establish the fact that illicit practices continued to prevail to a great extent, by running into Great Britain and Ireland, articles either wholly prohibited or which had received bounty or drawback on exportation, or were liable to duty, without payment of the same.²⁵

The commissioners stated the loss to the king's revenue by this illicit trade to amount to about £350,000 per annum, and the value of seizures made on the coast of Ireland from the Island to be about £10,000 annually.

The result of this inquiry tended to prove that a great part of the Duke's allegations were well founded, the commissioners finding that the sum given for the cession of the Island had been proportioned to a revenue ill managed and partially collected, and consequently falling much short of what, under a better system, might have been produced.

During the administration of Lord Sidmouth in 1802, the Duke presented a memorial to his majesty, which was referred to the privy council. After consulting the law officers of the crown, they came to the unanimous conclusion that no grounds existed for conceiving the former compensation inadequate. Soon after the change in the administration, however, a similar petition was again presented to the privy council, and they came to a conclusion exactly the reverse of the former.

In consequence of this favourable opinion, another bill was presented to parliament by the Duke in 1805, on which the former contentions were renewed in both houses, but being supported by government, the affair was at length decided by an additional grant of £3,000 per annum to the Duke and his heirs for ever, out of the consolidated fund.²⁶ The revenue, however, continuing to increase, a definitive sum was at length paid by government for this commuted annuity.

The first act of Tynwald passed after the revestment was in 1776. From the records of that meeting we learn that his majesty had been pleased to grant permission to the customary legislature of the Island to enact such laws as might be found necessary for the interior good government and police of the Isle. Every enactment of the Insular legislature must now be sanctioned by the king before it can be published at the Tynwald court as the statute law. And to show what scrutiny these Insular enactments undergo in London, before receiving the royal assent, I shall transcribe a letter on that subject to the Duke of Atholl, who, in 1793, had accepted the office captain-general and governor-in-chief of the Island:-

" TO THE DUKE of ATHOLL. " Whitehall, 15th July, 1796.

My LORD,-I have had the honour of receiving your Grace's letter of the 8 inst., transmitting me three different acts passed by the legislature of the Isle of Man entitled, 'An Act for the better regulation of the Courts of Common Law', 'Act for the better regulation of the Herring Fishery,' and 'An Act for the punishment of Forgery and Perjury, and Swindling Practices;' and having laid the same before the king, I am directed to inform your grace that the said acts have be taken into consideration : that the two former are thought well calculated to promote the interests of the Island, as well from their contents as from the sanction given them by his majesty's attorney general and solicitor general. I am therefore directed to return the said acts to your grace, and to signify to you his majesty's approbation thereof; but it appearing to his majesty's law officers in this country, that the last mentioned 'Act for the punishment of Forgery and Swindling Practices' is conceived in terms so general, that persons acting without any criminal intent may be liable to criminal persecution, and punished by fine, imprisonment, and corporal punishment, attended in some cases with personal disabilities: and particularly it is observed that the unlawful disposing of the goods of other persons, without authority so to do,is liable to such punishment without any distinction, whether the act is done with a criminal intention, or is a mere civil trespass. It will therefore be necessary to give the said act a more serious attention before his majesty can be advised to give consent thereto.²⁷ PORTLAND

Since the British government acquired the power of enacting laws for the government of the Isle of Man, those enacted laws have hitherto been confined to the customs or port-dues, and the regulation and prohibition of the manufacture of articles which might affect the revenue. The act 25th Geo. III, grants to the House of Keys,the discretionary power of permitting the importation of cured herrings in times of scarcity,- thereby acknowledging the House of Keys in a British act of parliament.

The Manks, ere long aware of the absurdity of the fears which they had entertained at the revestment of the Island, at length became loyal subjects of Great Britain. In 1796, an act of Tynwald was passed, whereby persons circulating seditious books or speaking seditiously are subjected to a penalty of £100 and one year's imprisonment.²⁸ During the late French war, the Island furnished two battalions of fencibles, which served with credit in Ireland during the rebellion in 1798, besides a corps of volunteers and a squadron of yeomanry. At the close of the eighteenth century, too, when subscriptions were set on foot in every part of the empire to assist in carrying on the war against France, the House of Keys manifested their attachment to the British Government by subscribing one hundred and seventy five pounds, which was sent to the Treasury with the following, neat observation:-

House of Keys, March 13, 1798.

MY LORD,-The Keys of the Isle of Man, the constitutional representatives of the people, warmly attached to them and to the constitution of Great Britain, offer this, their mite in aid of their cause; and they feelingly regret that, in tendering so small a sum, there is so great a disproportion between their wishes and their abilities-having no public funds at their disposal."²⁹

In 1793, I have said, the Duke of Atholl had accepted the office of captain-general and governor-in-chief of the Island. The acceptance of this situation, considered so far below his former rank in the Island, together with his subsequent defeat in parliament, induced the islanders to consider him a fellow-sufferer with themselves, by the act of revestment, and trusting that his interest would still be exerted in behalf of his natural dependants, they, on his arrival at Douglas, to enter on his new office, flocked. around him, and taking the horses from his carriage drew, him to his usual place of residence, amidst the loudest. acclamations.²⁹ These friendly demonstrations, on the part of part of the people, were evidently aided by their belief that the Duke, after his recent defeat, would not again think of renewing his manorial claims in parliament; for when the purport of his memorials to the king, the privy council, and to parliament became successively known in the Island, his popularity declined, and the former grudge of the islanders against the House of Atholl, was kindled anew.³⁰ Even the clamorous odium which, the Duke had incurred in the year 1783, of having sold, the Atholl highlanders, a regiment raised by him, to the East India Company, after the term of their service had expired,³¹ was now revived against him; and in addition to this, the maintenance of his private rights, by the exercise of his power as governor, in appointing to all the different departments, to which either his patronage or: influence could extend, persons connected with or depending on his family, generally to the exclusion of the natives, furnished a theme of jealousy and indignation for the islanders at large.

In the year 1814, it was enacted that debts contracted, in Great Britain or Ireland became recoverable in the: Isle of Man, in like manner, to all intents and purposes, as if such debts had been contracted between the same parties within the limits of the said Isle.³² The Protection Act, as it was termed, being thereby repealed, the stigma thrown on the Island, as being an asylum for unprincipled fugitives, was wiped away;. but the protection afforded to such individuals being removed, many withdrew from the Island to seek protection elsewhere, carrying with them unjustly acquired wealth which otherwise might have found its way into the pockets of the Islanders. As this was an event which had been totally unexpected, a sudden panic struck the greater part of the native inhabitants, and a stagnation of trade followed, similar to that which took place at the revestment ; all indulged in the most gloomy apprehensions as to the future prospects of the community.

Although the Non-Protection Act had been passed by the insular legislature at the instigation of the British government, the Duke of Atholl was blamed by the Islanders for being the chief promoter of the unpopular enactment. All his measures were viewed with great suspicion by the insular legislature, and by the people at large; and most of them experienced considerable opposition, on the ground of their being calculated to promote the interest of his family at the expense of the Islanders.

On the promulgation of a law in 1821, restraining the importation of foreign corn, the population of Peel rose and fairly drove out of the town a troop of yeomanry whom the deemster had sent from Castletown to quell the riot.³³ In Douglas, also, disturbances occurred, and great depredations were committed on the property of the dealers in corn.

In 1823, popular feeling ran so high against the duke and his nephew, the Honourable George Murray, then Bishop of Sodor and Man, as to render abortive a plan concocted by them for raising £6,000 annually from the Island in lieu of tithes. In 1825, the bishop having fully established his claim, before the king in council, to a tithe of all green crops in the Island, attempted, to collect the tithe of potatoes, but it created so, much dissatisfaction, that tumults prevailed throughout every parish of the Island, and so numerous were the assemblages of the people, that the regular troops then quartered there were unable to disperse, them; and the disturbances and conflagrations that ensued induced the bishop to abandon his claim. Finding, at length, that the strongest marks of aversion were openly manifested, not only to his own person, but also to his dependants, the duke formed the resolution to dispose of all of his remaining interest in the Island: and having signified his intention to his majesty's Ministers, an act was passed in 1824, "empowering the lords of the treasury to purchase all the manorial rights of the Duke of Atholl in the Isle of Man." To ascertain the true value of these sovereign rights and possessions, persons eminently qualified for the purpose were sent by the lords of the treasury to the Island; and from reports made by these gentlemen, after long negotiations on the subject, they succeeded in bringing the business to a close in 1829, by paying the duke a further sum for a complete surrender into the hands of government, of all his rights "in and over the soil, as lord of the manor, with all his landed property, courts baron, rents, services, and other incidents to such courts belonging; their waters, commons, and other lands; inland waters, fisheries, and mills; and all mines, minerals, and quarries, according to their present rights therein; felons' goods, deodands, waifs, estrays, and wrecks at. sea; together with the patronage of the bishopric, and of the other ecclesiastical benefices in the said Island, to which they were entitled and which they had, since 1765, continued to hold of the crown." , The items of the sum paid by government in round numbers, as follows

Thus, whatever privileges were conveyed to the Stanley family by the patent of the 7th Henry IV, and confirmed by subsequent patents, on the ratification of this long protracted. negotiation, which had lasted for upwards of a century, became unalienably vested in the British crown, and the interest of the house of Atholl in the Island ceased and determined.

The last honorary service of presenting two falcons to the king was rendered on the 19th July, 1821, by the Duke of Atholl,in person, at the coronation of George IV. His grace was an active, liberal, and enlightened nobleman: he possessed considerable interest at court, which he uniformly employed in advancing the real interests of his Island. After a long reign of 56 years, he died at Dunkeld, on the 29th September, 1830, in the 76th year of his age.

Footnotes

1 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, p. 804.

2 Charlotte de la Tremouille, as already mentioned, was daughter of Claude de Tremouille, Duke de Tremouille and Trovers, by Charlotte his wife, daughter of Count William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, by his wife Charlotte de Bourbon of the royal house of France, by which marriage he stood allied to the kings of France, Naples, Sicily, and Spain, the princes of Bourbon and Conde, to the archduke of Austria, to the dukes of Savoy, Angou, and Milan, and other sovereign princes of Europe.-Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 379.

3 Debrett's Peerage of the United Kingdom, vol. ii, p. 514.

4 Smollett's History of England, cap. viii.

5 Peerage of Scotland, edition 1826, vol. i, p. 137.

6 This assent of the Lord of the Isles was given in these words, at Castle Rushen 12th August, 1736: " I do allow and confirm the fourteen acts before written, according to my prerogative within my Isle of Man, and do order that the said acts be published at the next Tynwald Hill, according to the ancient form and customs of my said Isle. (Signed) "ATHOLL",

Which was, as usual, docketed in the following words:-" At a Tynwald Court holden at St. John's Chappell, the 24th day of June, anno Domini 1737 the before written fourteen Acts were this day publickly proclaimed on the Tynwald Hill, according to the ancient form and custome of this Isle; as witness our hands, this day and year above written." Then follow the signatures respectively of the Deemsters, Governor, members of the Council, and of the House of Keys.-See Lex Scripta pp. 263, 281. The Bishop appears to have been absent on this occasion.

8 Statutes, anno 1736; Lex Scripta, pp. 265, 266, 268, 272, 278p 279.

9 Statute, 12th George I, cap. 28, see. 25.

10 Statutes at Large, vol. x.

11 See these particulars more fully detailed in the Scots Magazine for the year 1765, pp. 77-79.

12 He having died on 8th January, 1764, the usual accustomed writs, according to the laws of the Isle of Man, dated at Dunkeld on 9th January, were issued in the name of Charlotte, Baroness Strange, Lady of Man and the Isles, and her husband for proclaiming her accession and for continuing in office the Governor and all other officers of the Island till further orders, which writs were dispatched by express, and published at Tynwald Hill, according to custom, and entered in the public records of the Island.-Scots Magazine for February, 1764.

13 Campbell's Annals of Great Britain, edition 1811, vol. i, p. 124.

14 Johnson's Jurisprudence of the Isle of Man, p. 13 ; Mills's Ancient Ordinances, Douglas, 1821, p. 530.

* Appendix, Note i, " List of Public Acts of the British Parliament and private Deeds relative to the Isle of Man."

15 Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, vol. ii, p. 546. In a case respecting the validity of the sale of the Isle of Man, as made by the Duke of Atholl, and laid before council in 1788, it is stated " that the sum of £70,000 was paid only for such regalities and other branches of this royal fief as appeared to be convenient for the public, that what was reserved for the Duke did not comprise one-fourth of the yearly revenue of the Island, and that his family by it lost at the rate of £4,000 or £5,000 a-year for twenty-three years successively ; such being nearly the difference between the net revenue from the Island for ten years preceding the sale, the purchase-money and the reserved parts of the Island put together. It consequently became a question, how far Duke James was competent to dispose of the Island at his pleasure, and overturn the order of succession, granted by James I, under which he himself derived." See printed opinion of Mr. Hargrave on this case.-Gough's Camden, vol. iii, p. 700.

16 Appendix, Note ii, Royal Proclamation."

17 Postlethwaite says, revenues of the Duke of Atholl arise, for the most part from small duties and customs paid upon goods entered in the Isle of Man,and afterwards smuggled into England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland."- Commercial Dictionary, article " Man."

18 Mills's -Ancient Ordinances, p. 528, act 5th, Geo. III, cap. 26.

19 Bullock, p. 197.

20 Act 5th Geo. III, cap. 20, ap. Statutes at Large, vol. x. The Act of Revestment. received the royal assent on 10th May, 1765 ; the price paid being far from extravagant, if it be considered the advantages the public were to derive from such a purchase. The clear revenue given up by the Duke amounted to £5,604 per annum "so that the proprietor has not full thirteen years' purchase, whereas a landed estate of that yearly rent would now have sold at thirty years' purchase, amounting to £170, 000 sterling of principal money. "-Scots Magazine, vol. xxviii, p. 304.

21 Journal of the House of Commons, vol. xxxviii.

22 Appendix, Note iii, "Revenue at the Revestment."

23 See Memorial to the King, in Debrett's Parliamentary Register.

24 Parliamentary Register,Debrett, vol, iv, pp. 350, 351.

25 See Parliamentary Commissioners' Report "Illicit Practices."

26 Parliamentary Debates, vol. v, 1805.

27 Lex Scripta, pp. 448, 449. This nice discrimination of the laws, so necessary, the dispensation of justice, forms a striking contrast to the power exercised by the preceding Lord of Man over his vassals in Perthshire. The lord president Forbes travelling from Edinburgh to his seat at Culloden, dined, on his way, at the Castle of Blair Atholl, with the Duke of Atholl. In the course of the evening a petition was delivered to his grace; having read which, he turned round to the president, and said "My lord, here is a petition from a poor man whom my baron-bailie has condemned to be, hanged, and, for various reasons, I am inclined to pardon him." "But your grace knows," said the president, "that, after condemnation, no man can pardon but his majesty." "As to that," replied the duke, "since I have the power to punish, it is but right that I should have the power to pardon ; " and calling on his servant who was in waiting, " go," said he, " send an express to Logierait, and order Donald Stewart, presently under sentence of death, to be instantly set at liberty". Stewart's Sketches of the Highlanders, edition 1825, vol. i, p. 52.

28 Lex- Scripta, p. 442.

29 Jeffery's Account of the Isle of Man, p. 121.

30 Appendix, Note iv, Loyalty of the Manks People."

31 Bullock, p. 199.

32 Stewart's Sketches of the Highlanders, Edinburgh edition, 1825, vol. ii, pr~. 478--480.

33 Lex Scripta, pp. 484, 485. Mills, p. 424.

34 Lord Teignmouth's Sketches, vol. iip p. 269.