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This is a reproduction of a book from the McGill University Library collection. 
 
 Title: Case of the honourable the baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia : shewing their 
 
 rights and privileges, dignitorial and territorial 
 Author: Broun, R. (Richard), Sir, 1801-1858 
 
 Publisher, year: Edinburgh : W. Blackwood and Son ; London : J. Mortimer, 1836 
 
 The pages were digitized as they were. The original book may have contained pages 
 with poor print. Marks, notations, and other marginalia present in the original volume 
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 of pages may be noticeable. 
 
 ISBN of reproduction: 978-1-77096-148-7 
 
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 re-published, or re-distributed commercially. For further information on permission 
 regarding the use of this reproduction contact McGill University Library. 
 
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CASE 
 
 OF THE HONOURABLE 
 
 THE BARONETS 
 
 OF 
 
 SCOTLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA, 
 
 SHEWING THEIR RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES, 
 DIGNITORIAL AND TERRITORIAL. 
 
 “ Retinens vestigia famae 
 Virtutis praemium Avorum.” 
 
 EDINBURGH r 
 
 W. BLACKWOOD AND SON, 
 
 LONDON, J. MORTIMER, 2 WIGMORE STREET, 
 CAVENDISH SQUARE 
 
 M DCCC XXXVI. 
 
PROCEEDINGS at a Meeting of the Honour- 
 able the BARONETS of SCOTLAND and 
 NOVA SCOTIA, held in Gibb’s Royal Hotel, 
 Princes’ Street, Edinburgh, 21st of October, 
 1836. 
 
 Sir JOHN CAMPBELL, Bart, of Ardnamurchan, 
 
 in the Chair. 
 
 On the Motion of Sir James Stuart, Bart. Sir John Campbell, 
 the Baronet of Senior Creation present, took the Chair. 
 
 The names of the Baronets present, personally or by proxy, 
 having been read over, with the list of those (twenty-nine in all) 
 who have concurred in the proceedings of the standing Commit- 
 tee of Baronets in London ; 
 
 R. Broun, Esq. the Hon. Secretary of the Order, rose and ad- 
 dressed the Meeting : — 
 
 Your Honours, 
 
 As the proceedings of this day will necessarily take up a 
 considerable time, I shall occupy the attention of the Meeting 
 with very few preliminary observations. From Circulars, which 
 have been sent to every Baronet whose address is ascertained, you 
 are aware that a Meeting of Baronets was held in London on 
 the 26th of May last year, at which Sir Francis Shuckburgh, 
 Baronet of Shuckburgh presided, when I had the honour of 
 submitting a Case, shewing the dignitqrial rights and privileges 
 of the Baronetage; 250 copies of which were subsequently 
 printed, and distributed amongst the Members of the Order. — 
 On the same occasion, resolutions were unanimously adopted to 
 institute measures for the revival of such of the rights and privi- 
 leges in question as had fallen into disuse ; and a Commitee 
 was appointed to conduct the proceedings, to which I had the 
 honour to be requested to act as Hon. Secretary. Since the 
 
4 
 
 period referred to, the Committee, (which by the resolution 
 of a special General Meeting of the Order, held last season, is 
 now a standing or permanent Committee, comprising forty mem- 
 bers of the various creations of Ulster and Nova Scotia,) has met 
 frequently ; five General Meetings of the Order have been held ; 
 and those proceedings have been adopted, which, from time to 
 time, have been reported by the Committee to the Members ge- 
 nerally. Upon these points it is therefore necessary for me to 
 delate. The Baronets who have become parties to the proceed- 
 ings of the Standing Committee, now amount to upwards of 
 three hundred, including His Grace the Duke of Northumber- 
 land, the Most Honourable the Marquess of Ely, the Earls of 
 Buckinghamshire, and Ferrers, Viscounts Hereford, and Comber- 
 mere, and twenty-six other Baronet-Peers ; the premier Baronets 
 of Ireland, Scotland, and the United Kingdom; and many of the 
 oldest and most influential members of the Order. In addition 
 to these, the invitation to this day’s proceedings has procured 
 the adhesion of the noble Baronets whose names I have submit- 
 ted. Under these circumstances, and considering the character 
 of a reign in which all classes of His Majesty’s subjects are as- 
 serting their ancient rights and privileges, a more opportune 
 moment never can arrive for reviving the claims of the Baronets 
 of Scotland and Nova Scotia, than that under which this Meet- 
 ing is assembled. For this purpose, I have embraced the oppor- 
 tunity of being for a short time in Scotland to convene this 
 Meeting y thereby exercising a descretionary power vested in 
 me by the resolution of a General Meeting of the Order, ot 
 adopting such steps as I shall consider best calculated to forward 
 the general objects in view. Not having the advantage of being 
 personally acquainted with any of the Baronets resident in Edin- 
 burgh, the arrangements of this day’s proceedings have devolved 
 entirely upon myself, — and I must, therefore, throw myself upon 
 the indulgence of the noble Members present, for the manner in 
 which they shall be- conducted. To relieve the tedium of the 
 voluminous papers through which I have to wade, I may here 
 mention that the paper of business may be divided into five sec- 
 tions . — 1st, The reading of a Case which I have drawn up, set- 
 ting forth the rights and privileges, dignitorial and territorial, 
 of the Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia ; — 2nd, The sub- 
 mitting some heraldic drawings, illustrative of certain claims- 
 
5 
 
 advanced in the Case; — 3d, A correspondence with the Secretary 
 of State for the Home Department, on the subject of the rights 
 of the Eldest Sons of Baronets to Knighthood ; — 4th, A few re- 
 marks on the Report made by the Officers of Arms in England 
 on the Claims of the Ulster Baronets ; — and 5th, A series of reso- 
 lutions, with a few concluding observations. Having got through 
 these items, if I shall succeed in putting the claims in question 
 in the light before the Meeting which I am hopeful to do, I 
 shall then trust that some noble Baronet will propose the reso- 
 lutions seriatim, for adoption. Whilst I go over these matters, 
 which, perhaps, will not occupy less than three hours, I shall 
 hope to be favoured with the patient and attentive audience of 
 the Meeting. 
 
 Mr Broun then read as follows: — 
 
 CASE of the Honourable the Baronets of Scotland and 
 Nova Scotia, shewing their Rights and Privileges, 
 Dignitorial and Territorial. 
 
 The Baronetage, which forms a distinct estate of Nobility 
 in the British empire, intermediate between the Peerage and 
 the Knighthood, was erected by His Majesty King James 1. 
 by Charter under the Great Seal, on the 22d of May, 1611, nine 
 years after his accession to the throne of the United Kingdom. 
 
 The Peerage, the highest degree of hereditary nobility, was 
 erected for political objects ; the Knighthood, the highest de- 
 gree of personal dignity, was erected for moral objects ; the 
 Baronetage, which combines and partakes of both, — being a 
 union of Baron-et, or Lesser Baron, which is hereditary and en- 
 nobles, and of Eques-Auratus, or Knight, which is personal and 
 dignifies, — was erected for social objects. ‘ As never had Order,’ 
 to use the language of an ancient heraldic writer, ‘ a founder so 
 ‘ great, so happie, so absolute, — neither was ever anie grounded 
 ‘ upon consultations and considerations more weightie, more ne- 
 ‘ cessarie, more religious. 1 
 
 The noble order of Baronet, or Lesser Baron, consists of five 
 different branches: — 1st, The Baronets of England , erected in 
 1611, and terminating at the Union of England and Scotland in 
 1707 ; 2d, The Baronets of Ireland , erected in 1619, and ter- 
 minating at the Union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 ; 
 
6 
 
 Sd, The Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia , erected in 1625, 
 and terminating at the Union of Scotland and England in 1707 ; 
 4th, The Baronets of Great Britain , commencing in 1767? an d 
 terminating at the Union of Great Britian and Ireland in 1801 ; 
 and 5th, The Baronets of the United Kingdom, commencing in 
 1801, and continuing to the present day. 
 
 The Baronets of England, and the Baronets of Ireland, are 
 called Ulster Baronets, these two branches of the order having 
 been instituted by King James I. for the plantation of Ulster, 
 which at the time comprised all of the Kingdom of Ireland which 
 was within the English pale ; and ‘ to establish that so great a 
 ‘ province of the Empire should more and more flourish, not 
 ‘ only in the true practice of religion, civil humanity, and pro- 
 ‘ bity of manners, but also in the affluence of riches and abun- 
 4 dance of all things which contribute either to the ornament or 
 ‘ happiness of the commenwealth.’ The Baronets of Scotland 
 and Nova Scotia are called Nova Scotia Baronets, this branch 
 having been instituted by King Charles I. for the plantation of 
 Nova Scotia in North America; and the honour and weal of his 
 ancient Kingdom to which it was annexed. The Baronets 
 created since the Union have been raised to the dignity on ac- 
 count of their merits and services, without respect to any specific 
 object ; and by that event, which gathered together under the 
 sceptre of the House of Stuart the illustrious realms of England, 
 Scotland, and Ireland, the Baronets of the various erections are 
 collectively Baronets of the United Empire. 
 
 The noble Order of Baronet which, considering the brilliant 
 character of his reign, and the enlarged relations of society, ‘ the 
 4 Rycht Excellent, Hie, and Mychtie Prince James, by the 
 ‘ Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, &c.’ 
 erected to promote and consolidate the Union of his Crowns, and 
 to attach by a new bond of allegiance to the monarchial institu- 
 tions of the State, such as should best effect the nation’s good and 
 glory, is defined in His Majesty’s Letters Patent, to be a Title, 
 Style, Dignity, and Degree of Dignity, hereditary, mean in place 
 betwixt the degree of a Lord of Parliament, and the degree of a 
 Knight ; with all and singular the privileges and pre-eminence 
 which such a Title, Style, Dignity, and Degree of Dignity here- 
 ditary, implies. By a Royal Decree the year subsequent the 
 Order was ampliated with the addition of the privileges, the pre- 
 eminences, and the ornaments of Knighthood ; — and, farther, by 
 a Final Decree in 1616, it was granted and appointed, that 
 should any questions arise concerning the rights, privileges, and 
 insignia of the Baronetage, such questions should be decided by, 
 and according to, the usual rules, custom, and laws for place, 
 'precedency, and privilege, by which the other degrees of herit- 
 able Dignity (viz. the Barons, Earls, &c.) have had their rights, 
 privileges, and insignia, ordered and adjudged. 
 
7 
 
 The Baronetage having realized in Ulster, from its erection 
 in 1(5 1 1 to 1620, in an eminent degree, the objects proposed by 
 its Royal Founder, and which with justice may be considered as 
 the master policy of a reign that will ever be conspicuous in the 
 national annals as a period of domestic happiness and peace, 
 King James in the latter year, intended to extend the order to 
 Scotland, as 4 a means of expressing his affection towards his 
 ancient Kingdome,’ and at the same time of promoting the 
 plantation of Nova Scotia which he had annexed to its crown. 
 With this view he addressed a letter to the Lords of his Privy 
 Council, dated from his Court at Beauvoir, the 5th of August 
 1621, in which after greeting he says, ‘ having ever been ready 
 4 to embrace any good occassion whereby the honour or profit 
 ‘ of that Our Kingdome of Scotland may be advanced, and 
 4 considering that no kynd of conquest can be more easie and 
 4 innocent than that which doth proceede from plantations, &c. 
 
 4 Our pleasure is, after due consideration, if you finde this course 
 4 as We have conceived it to be for the good of that Our King- 
 4 dome, that you graunt unto our trusty and weill-beloved 
 4 Counsellour, Sir William Alexander, who hath a purpose to 
 4 procure a forraine plantation, and to his heirs, and assignees, 
 
 4 or to anie other that will joine with him in the whole or any 
 4 part thereof, a Signatour under Our Great Seale of such lands 
 4 lying between New England and Newfoundland as he shall 
 4 designe more particularly unto you, to be holden of Us from 
 4 Our Kingdome of Scotland as a part thereof united therewith 
 4 by anie such tenure and as freely as you shall finde Us to 
 4 have formerly graunted in the like case here, or that you 
 4 shall think fitt for the good of the said plantation, with as 
 4 great privileges and favours for his, and their benifite both by 
 4 sea and land, and with as much power to him, and his heirs, 
 
 4 and their deputy es, to inhabite, governe, and dispose of the 
 4 said lands as hath at anie tyme beene granted by Us hereto- 
 4 fore to anie of Our subjects whatsoever for anie forraine plan- 
 4 tation, or that hath been granted by anie Christian Prince of 
 4 anie other kingdome for the like cause,’ &c. 
 
 Immediataly consequent to the receipt of this Letter Sir 
 William Alexander obtained by Royal Charter under the 
 Great Seal of Scotland, bearing date the 10th of September 
 1621. a grant of the whole of the country of Nova Scotia, with 
 the hereditary Government thereof as the Locum Tenens of the 
 British Crown. The Charter farther invests Sir William Alex- 
 ander, his heirs, and assignees, with plenary power to colonize 
 the country, erect towns, appoint officers, coin money, administer 
 justice, &c ; reserving however to King James 1st, his heirs and 
 successors, 4 all places, privileges, prerogatives, pre-emiennces and 
 4 precedencies whatsoever, given, granted, and reserved, or to be 
 4 given granted and reserved, to the said Sir William Alex- 
 
8 
 
 4 ander, and his heirs, and assignees, Lieutenants of the said 
 ‘ country of Nova Scotia, on behalf of the Knight Baronets, and 
 ‘ remanent portioners and associates ef the said plantation.’ 
 
 On the passing of this Charter under the Great Seal, Sir 
 William Alexander took seisen of Nova Scotia, and thereafter 
 proceeded to found and establish a colony in it. With refer- 
 ence to the interest which King James I. took in the plantation, 
 and the intention entertained by him of erecting for its further- 
 ance, the Order of Baronets in Scotland ; he addressed the fol- 
 lowing letter to the Lords of the Privy Council : — 
 
 ‘ James R. 
 
 6 Right trustie and weill-beloved Counsellours, right 
 4 trustie and weill-beloved Cousens and Counsellours, and trustie 
 4 and weill-beloved Counsellours, — We greate you weill. The 
 ‘ letter you sent, giving us thanks for renewing of the name of 
 * that our ancient Kingdome within America, intreating our 
 4 favour for the furthering of a plantation there, wes verie accep- 
 4 table unto us, and reposing upon the experience of utheris of 
 4 our subjicts in the like kinde, We are so hopefull of that enter- 
 4 prise, that we purpose to make it a worke our owne. And as 
 4 We were pleased to erect the honour of Knight Baronets within 
 4 this our Kingdome of England, for the advancement of the 
 4 plantation of Ireland, so We doe desire to conferr the like 
 4 honour within that our Kingdome of Scotland,* upon suche as 
 4 are worthie of that degree, and will agree for ane proportoun 
 4 of ground within New Scotland, furnishiug furth such a nom- 
 4 ber of personis as shall be condescended upoun to inhabite 
 4 there. Thus shall bothe these of the cheife sort, (avoyding 
 4 the usual contentions at publick meetings,) being by this here- 
 4 ditarie honour preferred to others of meaner qualitie, know 
 4 their owne places at home , and likewyse shall have their due 
 4 abroad from the subjects of our other countryis, according to 
 4 the course appointed for that our ancient Kingdome ; and the 
 4 mentioning of so noble a cause within their Patents, shall both 
 4 serve the more by suche a singular merite to honour them, and 
 4 by so goode a ground, to justifie our judgment with posteritie. 
 4 But though the conferring of honour be merely regall, and to 
 4 be done by Us as we please, yet We could proceed in no mat- 
 
 * Note It is quite an error to suppose that the Nova Scotia Baronets are an Order 
 
 different from the Ulster Baronets. The whole Baronets, of whatever creation, are 
 branches of the institution erected by King James I., and his Charter of 161 1 is the 
 foundation Charter of the Order. The printed work referred to in this letter, is 4 three 
 Patents concerning the Honourable Degree of Baronet,’ which was published in 
 1616 by King James’ command. It is a highly distinguishing circumstance for the Barone- 
 tage which cannot be said of any other dignity in the Kealm, that it was instituted by a 
 Jiloparch (and that the first,) of the British Empire. 
 
9 
 
 4 ter of suche moment without your advyce. Our pleasure is 
 4 haveing considered of this purpose, if ye find it as We conceave 
 4 it to be, both fitt for the credit of that our Kingdome, and for 
 4 the furtherance of that intended plantation, that ye certifie Us 
 4 your opiuione, concerning the form and conveniencie thairof, 
 
 4 togither with your farther advyce what may best advance this 
 4 so worthie worke, which We doe very much affect, but will 
 4 use no means to induce onie man thereunto, farther then the 
 4 goodnes of the business, and his owne generous dispodtione shall 
 4 perswade. Neither do We desire that onie man shall be sent 
 4 for, or travelled with by you for being Baronet, but after it is 
 4 founde fitt, will leave it to their owne voluntarie choice, not 
 4 doubting (however, some for want of knowledge may be averse) 
 
 4 but that there will be a greater nomber than We intend to 
 4 make, of the best sorte, to embrace so noble a purpose ; whereby, 
 
 4 bothe they in particular, and the whole natione generally, may 
 4 have honour and profite. And We wishe you rather to thinke 
 4 how remedies may be provyded against onie inconveniences that 
 4 may happin to occur, then by conjecturing difficulties to loose 
 4 so faire and unrecoverable occasion, which other nations at this 
 4 instant are so earnest to undertake. And for the better direct- 
 4 ing of your judgement, We have appointed ane printed copie 
 4 of that order quilche was taken concerning the Baronets of this, 
 4 our Kingdome (of England,) to be sent unto you, as it was pub- 
 4 lished by authorise frome Us. So, desiring you to haste back 
 4 your answere, that We may signifie our further pleasure for 
 4 this purpose, We bid you fairweill. From our Courte at 
 4 Koystoun, the 18th day of October, 1624.’ 
 
 To this letter, the Lords of the Privy Council made the fol- 
 lowing reply : — 
 
 4 Most Sacred Soverane, 
 
 4 We have considerit Your Majestie’s letter concern- 
 4 ing the Baronets, and do thereby persave Your Majestie’s great 
 affection towardis this your ancient Kingdome, and Your 
 4 Majestie’s most judicious consideration, in making choice of so 
 4 excellent meanes, both noble and fitt, for the good of the same. 
 4 Wherein, seeing Your Majestie might have proceidit without 
 4 our advyce, and unaquainting us with Your Majestie’s royall 
 4 resolution therein, we are so muche the more boundin to ren- 
 4 der unto Your Majestie our most humble thankes for Your 
 4 gracious respect unto us, not only in this, but in all other things 
 4 importing this estate, either in credite or profite. And we hum- 
 4 blie wisse that this honour of Baronet should be conferrit upoun 
 4 none but upoun Knights and Gentlemen of cheife respect for their 
 4 birth, place, or fortunes ; and we have taken a course by proela- 
 4 mation to mak this your Majestie’s gracious intention, to be pub- 
 4 licklie known, that none hereafter pretending ignorance, take 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 * occasion inwardlie to compleyne as being neglected, but may 
 4 accuse themselffis for neglecting of so fair ane opportunitie. 
 4 And whereas we are given to understand that the countrey of 
 4 New Scotland being dividit in twa provinces, and eache pro- 
 4 vince in severall diocesies or bishoprikis, and each diocese in 
 4 thrie counteyis, and eache countey into ten baronyis, everie 
 
 * baronie being thrie myle long upoun the coast, and ten myle 
 4 up into the countrie, dividit into sex parocheis, and eache 
 ‘ paroche contening sax thousand ackars of land, and that everie 
 4 Baronet is to be ane Barone of some one or other, of the saidis 
 ‘ baroneis, and is to haife therein ten thousand aikeris of pro- 
 4 pertie besydis his sax thousand aikeris belonging to his burgh 
 4 of baronie, to be holdeu free blanche, and in a free baronie of 
 
 * your Majestie, as the Barones of this Kingdom, for the onlie 
 4 setting forth of sex men towardis your Majestie’s Royal Colo- 
 4 nie, armed, apparelld, and victualld for two years ; and everie 
 4 Baronet payeing Sir William Alexander Knight ane thousand 
 4 merkis of Scottis money, only towards his past charges and en- 
 ‘ devoiris. Therefore oure humble desire unto your Majestie is, 
 4 that care be taken by suirtie, actit in the bookis of Secret Council, 
 4 as was in the plantation of Ulster, that the said number of men 
 4 may be dewlie transported thither with all provisions necessar ; 
 
 4 and that no Baronet be maid, but onlie for that cause ; and by 
 4 some suche ane particular course onlie as your Majestie shail 
 4 appointe. And that articles of plantation may be sett forth 
 4 for encouraging and inducing all others who have habilitie and 
 4 resolution to transport themselffis hence for so noble a purpose. 
 
 4 Last, we so consave, that if some of the Englishe who are 
 4 best acquainted with such forrein interpreises, wald joyne with 
 4 the said Baronet’s heir, (as it is liklie the syker condition and 
 4 proportion of ground wald induce them to doe,) that it wald 
 4 be ane grite encouragemeut to the furtherance of that royall 
 4 worke quhilk is worth of your Majestie’s care. And we doubte 
 4 not, sindrie will contribute ther help heirunto. So exspecting 
 4 your Majestie’s forder directions, and humblie submitting our 
 4 opinione of your Majestie’s incomparable judgement, we hum- 
 4 blie tak our leave, praying the Almightie God to blisse your 
 4 Majestie with a long and happie reigne. From Edinburgh 
 4 the 23d of November, 1624, (sic subscribitur,) Geo. Hay, 
 
 4 Mar, St Androis, Mortoun, Linlithgow, Melros, Lauderdaill, 
 
 4 L. Airskine, Carnegie, B. Dumblane, A. Neper, S. Oliphant.’ 
 
 Four months after the date of this letter, the Lords of the 
 Privy Council received another anent Baronets, to the following 
 purport, apparently from Prince Charles : — 
 
 4 Right trustie, and right wel-beloved Cosens and Counsellouris, 
 
 4 and right trustie and wel-beloved Counsellouris, — Whereas it 
 4 it hathe pleasit the Kingis Majestie, in favour of the planta- 
 4 tion of Nova Scotia, to honour the undertakeris, being of the 
 
11 
 
 4 ancientest gentrie of Scotland, with the honour of Baronets ; 
 
 ‘ and therein haif traisted and recommendit Sir Williame Alex- 
 4 ander of Menstrie to his Counsell to assist him by all lawfull 
 4 meanis, and to countenance the bussienes by thair authoritie. 
 
 ‘ In like manner, We do recommend the said Sir Williame, and 
 4 the business to your best assistance. Hereby declairing, that 
 4 We favour bothe the business, and the person that followeth 
 4 it, in suche sort that your willingnes to further it in all you 
 4 can, shall be unto Us v’erie acceptable service. So We bid 
 4 you hartelie farewell. From the Court at Theobalds the 17th 
 4 of Marche, 1625. 1 
 
 Six days after the date of this letter, and more especially in 
 answer to the Lords of the Privy Council of the 23d November, 
 as before recited, His Majesty King James I. addressed them as 
 follows : — 
 
 4 James R. 
 
 4 Right trustie and wel-beloved Counsellour, right trustie and 
 4 wel-beloved Cousins and Counsellours. We greete you weele. 
 
 4 We persave, by your letters directed unto Us, what care you 
 4 haif had of that bussines whiehe We recommendit unto you 
 4 concerning the creating of Knight Baronets within that Our 
 4 Kingdom of Scotland, for the plantation of New Scotland ; 
 
 4 and are not onlie weele satisfied with the course that you haif 
 4 taikin thairin, but likewayes it doth exeeedinglie content Us, 
 4 that We haif so happiely fund a meanis of expressing of Our 
 4 affection towardis that Our ancient Kingdome as We find, by 
 4 the consent of you all, so muche tending to the honour and 
 * proffite thairof. And as We haif begun so, We will continue 
 4 requiring you in like rnaner to persevere for the further- 
 4 ing of this royall work, that it may be brought to a 
 4 full perfection. And as you haif done weele to warne 
 4 the auncient gentrie by proclamatioun, assigneing thame a day 
 4 for comeing in ; and that ye are carefull to secure that which 
 4 thay sould perform, Our pleasure is, to the end that this 
 4 business may be caried with the lesse noice and trouble, that 
 4 everie ane of thame that doeth intend to be Baronet give in his 
 4 name to Our trustie and wel-beloved Sir William Alexander, 
 4 Knight, Our Lieutennant for that enterprize; or in case of his 
 4 absence, to Our trustie and wel-beloved Counsellour, Sir John 
 4 Scott, Knight. That one of thame, after the tyme appointit 
 4 by the proclamatioun is expyred, may present the names of the 
 4 whole number that ar to be created, unto thame whome We 
 t sail appoynt Commissionaris for marselling of thame in due 
 4 order. And because it is to be the foundation of sogrite a 
 4 work, bothe for the goode of the kingdome in general, and for 
 4 the particular enterest of everie Baronet who, after this first 
 4 protectionarie colony is satled for securing of the country, may 
 
12 
 
 4 the rather thairafter adventure for the planting of their owne 
 4 proportioun, whiche by this meanis may be maid the more 
 4 hopefull. That the sinceritie of Our intentioun may be sein, 
 4 Our further pleasure is, that if any of the Baronets shall chuse 
 4 rather to pay twa thousand merkis than to furnishe forth sax 
 4 men as is intendit, that then the whole Baronets mak choice of 
 4 some certain personis of their nomber to concurr with Our said 
 4 Lieutennant ; takeng a strict course that all the said money be 
 4 only applied for setting furth of the nomber intended ; or at 
 4 least of so many as it can convenientlie furnishe. And as We 
 4 will esteeme the better of suche as ar willing to embrace this 
 4 course, so if ony do neglect the samine, and sue for ane other 
 4 degree of honnour heirafter, We will think that thay deserve it 
 4 the lesse, since this degree of Baronet is the next steppe unto 
 4 a farther. And so desirring you all to farther this purpose als 
 4 far as convenientlie you can, We bid you farewell. From our 
 4 Court at Theobaldes the 23d of Marche, 1625. 1 
 
 This was the last letter which His Majesty James I. wrote to 
 his Privy Council on the subject of the Baronets, for he died on 
 the 27th of March following, without having been able to 
 complete his intention. On the 28th of May, however, in the 
 same year (1625), his son and successor, King Charles 1. elevat- 
 ed to the Baronetage, 
 
 Sir Robert Gordon of Gordon, 
 
 Sir Alexander Strachan of Strachan, and 
 Sir William Keith of Earl Marischal. 
 
 On the 29th of May he created, 
 
 Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenurchay Campbell, 
 
 Sir Robert Innes of New Innes, and 
 Sir John Wemyss of New Wemyss. 
 
 On the 30th of May, 
 
 Sir David Livingston of D unipace Livingston, and 
 Sir William Douglas of Douglas. 
 
 On the 14th of July, 
 
 Sir Donald Macdonald of Macdonald, and 
 
 On the 19th July, 
 
 Sir Richard Murray of Cockpool. 
 
 Of this last date His Majesty addressed a Letter from Wind- 
 sor Castle to the Lords of the Privy Council, in which, after 
 greeting them, he says: — 4 Understanding that Our late dear 
 4 Father, after due deliberation for furthering the plantation of 
 4 New Scotland, and for sundrie other goode considerationes, did 
 « determene the creatting of Knight Baronets thair, and that a 
 4 proclamation wes maid at the Mercat Croce of Edinburgh to 
 4 gif notice of this his royall intentioun, that those of the best 
 ‘ sort knowing of the same might haif tyme to begin first and be 
 
13 
 
 ‘ preferred unto otheris, or than want the said honour in their 
 ‘ awne default ; and understanding likewise that the time ap- 
 ‘ pointit by the Council for that purpose is expyred, We, being 
 ‘ willing to accomplishe that whiche wes begun by Our said deare 
 ‘ Father, haif preferred some to be Knight Baronets, and have 
 ‘ granted unto thame signatures of the said honour, together with 
 ‘ three miles in breadth, and sex in length, of landis within New 
 ‘ Scotland for their severall proportionis. And now that the saidis 
 4 plantations intendit there, tending so muche to the honour and 
 ‘ benefite of that our kingdome, may be advanced with diligence, 
 ‘ and that preparationis be maid in due tyme for setting furth 
 4 a colonie at the next spring, to the end that those who are to 
 ‘ be Baronets, and to help thereunto, may not be hindrit by com- 
 ‘ ing unto Us for procuring their grants of the saidis lands and 
 4 dignitie, bot may haif them there with lesse trouble to them- 
 4 selves and Us, We haif sent a Commission unto you for accept- 
 4 ing surrenderis of lands, and for conferring the dignitie of Ba- 
 4 ronet upon suche as shall be found of qualitie fitt for the same, 
 4 till the number appoynted within the said Commission be per- 
 4 fected. 1 
 
 This Commission, which His Majesty in the letter just quoted, 
 desires the Lords of his Privy Council to expede with all dili- 
 gence through the Seals, bears date, 4 Holyrood House, 25 July 
 1625.’ It is addressed to the Chancellor Mar, Huntly, Marshall, 
 Murray, Wyntoun, and Linlithgow, and it empowers them, or 
 any six of thePrivy Council, with 4 full authority, and commission 
 4 to meet at such times, days, and places, as they shall think 
 4 expedient, and there to hear the petitions of His Majesty’s 
 4 subjects who intend the said plantation, and are willing to 
 4 embrace the same, and to confer, make, and thereupon con- 
 4 elude with them to receive resignations of all lands lying 
 4 within the country of New Scotland which shall happen to be 
 4 resigned in their hands as His Majesty’s Commissioners, by 
 4 Sir William Alexander, or his lawful procurators in his name, 
 4 in favour of any person or persons, and to give and grant new 
 4 heritable infeftments under the Great Seal of His Majesty’s 
 4 said Kingdom, (viz. of Scotland,) to those to whom the said 
 4 resignations are granted of the said lands, and of the degree, 
 4 state, order, dignity, name, honour, title, and style of Knight 
 4 Baronet, with such like privileges, prerogatives, immunities, 
 4 liberties and others, whatsoever, which are granted, and to be 
 4 granted, in the Charters already passed to the Baronets of the 
 4 said Kingdom, made by His Majesty to be enjoyed and pos- 
 4 sessed heritably as an especial token of his royal favour.’ 
 
 The Charters of the constituent members of the Order, were 
 thus made the general Charters of the Baronets of Scotland and 
 Nova Scotia. These constituent members were the ten senior 
 Baronets created from the 28th of May to the 19th of July 
 
14 
 
 1625, whose names have been mentioned. The Charters, with 
 the exception of names, dates, and places, are nearly word for 
 word the same ; and farther, they are similar in all respects to 
 the Charters of the Baronets created down to the 31st of July 
 1637 ; after which the rights and privileges of the Order were 
 conferred in general, and shorter terms.* 
 
 Between the erection of the Order in 1625, and the end of 
 1628, sixty Baronets had been created. On the 18th of Novem- 
 ber in this latter year, the following letter was addressed to 
 King Charles I., by the Lords of his Privy Council : — 
 
 ‘ Most Sacred Souerane, 
 
 ‘We have beene petitioned in name of some interested 
 ‘ in New Scotland and Canada, holden of Your Majestie’s Croune 
 ‘ of this Kingdome, humblie shewing, that by vertue of rights 
 ‘ of lands made unto theme by Your Majestie, or by Sir Wil- 
 ‘ liam Alexander, Your Majestie’s lieutennant of these boundis, 
 ‘ they have alreadie adventured somes of money, for setting 
 ‘ furth a colonie to plant there, and intending, God willing, to 
 ‘ prosecute the same. And that they understand that by reason 
 
 ‘ of a voyage made by ane Captain thither this last 
 
 ‘ sommer, there are some making suite to Your Majestie for a 
 ‘ new Patent of the said landis of Canada, and of the trade there- 
 ‘ of, to be holdin of Your Majestie’s Croune of England, which, 
 ‘ in our opinioun, will prove so derogaterie to this Your ancient 
 ‘ Kingdome, under the Great Seal whereof, Your Majestie hes 
 ‘ alreadie granted a richt to the said bounds, and will so exceed- 
 ‘ inglie discourage all undertakers of that kynde, as we cannot 
 ‘ but at their humble suite represent the same to Your Majestie, 
 
 ‘ humblie intreating that Your Majestie may be graciouslie 
 ‘ pleased to take this into Your Princelie consideratioun, that no 
 ‘ richt may be hereafter graunted to the said landis, contrarie to 
 ‘ Your Majestie’s said preceding graunt. But that they may 
 ‘ be still holdin of the Croune of this your ancient Kingdome, 
 
 ‘ according to the purport and true intentioun of Your Majestie’s 
 ‘ said former graunt. And we are verie hopefull that as the said 
 ‘ Sir Williame Alexander has sent furth his sonne with a colonie 
 ‘ to plant there this last year, so it sail be seconded heerafter by 
 ‘ manie other undertakers of good worth, for the advancement of 
 ‘ Your Majestie’s service, increase of your revenewis, and honnour 
 ‘ of this, your said ancient Kingdome. And so, with the con- 
 
 * Of the date 12th of July 1625, His Majesty King Charles 1st, was pleased by a 
 Charter of Novo-damus , under the Great Seal, to confirm to Sir William Alexander the 
 grant of Nova Scotia made by his late Royal Father ; reserving in it all the rights and 
 privileges made in favour of his associates in the Plantation, and remanent Portioners of 
 it, the Baronets 
 
15 
 
 ‘ tinuance of our most humble services, and best prayeris for 
 ‘ Your Majestie’s health and happiness, we humblie take leave, 
 
 ‘ as Your Majestic's most humble and faithfull servants. (Sub- 
 ‘ scribed) Mar, Menteith, Hadintoun, Wintoun, Lenlithgow, 
 
 ‘ Lauderdaill, Tracquair, A. Carre, Arch. Achesoun, Advocate 
 ‘ Clerk Register, Sir George Elphinstoun, Scottistarvett. Haly- 
 ‘ ruidhous, 18th November 1628.’ 
 
 What reply His Majesty made to this letter does not appear, 
 but on the 17th of November in the year following, His Majesty 
 addressed a letter from Whitehall to the Lords of his Privy 
 Council, in which, after mentioning that Sir William Alexander 
 his lieutenant, had now in end settled a colony at Nova Scotia, 
 where his eldest son, Sir William, was then residing, he adds: — 
 
 ‘ And We being most willing to afford all possible meanes of 
 ‘ encouragement that convenientlie We can, to the Baronets of 
 
 * that our ancient Kingdome, for the furtherance of so good a 
 ‘ worke, and to the effect they may be honored, and have place 
 ‘ in all respects according to their patents from Us, We have 
 ‘ been pleased to authorise, and allow, as by these presents for 
 ‘ Us and ouPsuccessors We authorise and allow, the said lieu- 
 ‘ tenant and Baronets, and everie one of them, and their heirs- 
 ‘ male, to weare and carie about their neckes in all time coming, 
 
 ‘ ane orange tannie silke ribban, whereon shall heing pendant 
 ‘ in a Scutcheon argent , a saltoire azur, thereon ane scutcheon 
 ‘ of the Armes of Scotland, with ane imperiall Croune above the 
 ‘ scutcheon, and encercled with this motto, Fax Mentis Honestce 
 
 * Gloria ; which cognizance our said lieutenant shall dely ver now 
 ‘ to them from Us, that they may be the better known and dis- 
 ‘ tinguished from other persons. And that none pretend ignorance 
 ‘ of the respect due unto them Our pleasure therefore is, that by 
 ‘ open proclamation at the Marcat Croices of Edinburgh, and all 
 ‘ other head boroughs of our Kingdome, and such other places 
 e as you shall thinke necessar, you cause intimate Our royall 
 ‘ pleasure and intention herein, to all our subjectis. And if any 
 ‘ persoun out of neglect or contempt, shall presume to tak place or 
 e precedence of the said Baronets, their wives or children, which 
 ‘ is due unto them by their patents, or to weare their cognoissance, 
 ‘ We will, that upon notice thereof given to you, you cause 
 ‘ punishe such offenders by fyning and imprisoning them as you 
 ‘ shall thinke fitting, that others may be terrified from attempting 
 
 < the like. And We ordain, that from time to time, as occasion 
 ‘ of granting and renewing their patents, or their Heirs succced- 
 
 < ing to the said dignitie, shall offer, that the said power to them 
 ‘ to carie the said ribban and cognoissance, shall be therein par- 
 ticularly granted and insert. And We likewise ordaine these 
 ‘ presents to be insert and registrat in the books of Our Council 
 
 * andExchequer; and that you cause registrat the same in thebooks 
 
 < of the Lyon King at Arms and Heralds, there to remain ad 
 
16 
 
 4 futuram rei memoriam ; and that all parties having interesse 
 4 may have authentik copies and extracts thereof. And for your 
 4 so doing, these Our letters shall be unto you, and everie one 
 4 of you, from time to time, your sufficient warrant and discharge 
 * in that behalffe. Given at Our Court of Whythall, the 17th 
 4 of November, 1629.’ 
 
 On the 31st of July, in the year following, (1630) the Char- 
 ters of King James 1. and King Charles I. erecting the Baronets 
 of Scotland and Nova Scotia, and all the acts and proceedings 
 of the Privy Council thereanent, were approved and confirmed 
 by the Parliament of Scotland. The following is a copy of the 
 act in question : — 
 
 Apud Holyrood House ultimo die mensis, Julii 1630. 
 
 4 The Estates presentlie convened, all in one voice, ratifies, al- 
 4 lows, approves, and confirms the Dignity and Order of Knight 
 4 Baronets, erected by His Majesty, and his late deare Father 
 4 of blessed memorie, and conferred by them on sundrie gentle- 
 4 men of good qualitie, for their better encouragement and retri- 
 4 bution of their undertakings in the plantation of New Scot- 
 4 land ; with all the acts of Secret Council and Proclamations fol- 
 4 lowing thereupon, made formaintainingof the said dignity , place, 
 
 4 and precedencie due thereto, to continue and stand in force in 
 4 all time coming ; and that intimation be made hereof to all 
 4 His Majesty’s lieges by open Proclamation at the Mereat Cross 
 4 of Edinburgh, and other places needful. 
 
 4 The Estates presentlie convened, having dulie considered 
 4 the benefit arising to this Kingdom by the accession of New 
 4 Scotland, and the successful plantation alreadie made there by 
 4 the gentlemen undertakers of the same. In regard whereof, 
 
 4 and that the said lands and territories of New Scotland are by 
 4 the patent thereof made in favour of Sir Williame Alexander 
 4 of Menstrie, Knight, His Majesty’s Secretary, annexed to the 
 4 Croun, therefore the said Estates, all in one voice, have con- 
 4 eluded and agreed that His Majesty shall be petitioned to 
 4 maintain his right of New Scotland ; and to protect his sub- 
 4 jects undertakers of the said plantation in the peacable posses- 
 4 sion of the same ; as being a purpose highlie concerning His 
 4 Majestie’s honour, and the good and credit of this His ancient 
 4 Kingdom.’ (Acts of Pari. vol. 5th, p. p. 223 and 4.) 
 
 The Charters of the constituent Baronets of Scotland and 
 Nova Scotia, thus ratified and confirmed by the Parliament of 
 Scotland in 1631 , and which, by King Charles I.st Royal Com- 
 mission of the 25th July, 1625, for the admission of Baronets, 
 are constituted general instruments for erecting the institution 
 on the basis of the original Charters and decrees of King James I. st 
 in 1611, 1612, and 1616, contain clauses conferring upon each 
 and all of the members of the Order the following rights and 
 privileges. 
 
17 
 
 I. Dignitorial : — The hereditary title of Baronet, which is 
 a name, state, rank, stile, dignity, and honour, mean in place 
 betwixt the degrees of a Baron of Parliament, and a Knight ; 
 with all and singular the privileges, insignia, &c. which, by the 
 usual rules, custom, and laws for place, precedency, privilege, &c. 
 to such a name, state, rank, stile, dignity, and honour, appertains.* 
 The following are the operative words in the Royal Charters 
 of King James 1. and King Charles I. conferring these privi- 
 leges : — 
 
 “ Yolentes, et per Presentes concedentes, pro nobis Ha?redi- 
 bus, et Successoribus nostris, quod predictus A — 11 — et Haere- 
 ries sui masculi praedicti, Nomen, Statum, Gradum, Stilum, 
 Dignitatem, Titulum, Locum, et Praecedentium praedictum 
 Baronetti, cum omnibus et singulis privileges, et casteris, prae- 
 missis succcessive gerant et habeant, et eorum quilibet gerat et 
 habeat ; quodque idem A — B — , et Hseredes sui praedicti, 
 successive, Baronetti in omnibus teneantur, et ut Baronetti 
 tractentur, et reputentur.” 
 
 (Cha. Jacobi, 22 Mai. 1611 ) 
 
 ‘And Our will and pleasure is, — And We do for us, our 
 * heirs, and successors, hereby further grant and appoint, that 
 4 if any doubts or questions not hereby, nor by any of our re- 
 4 cited letters-patents cleared and determined, doe or shall arise 
 concerning any place, precedency, privilege, or other matters, 
 touching or concerning the same Baronets, and the heirs-male 
 4 of their bodies, and their wives, their eldest sons and their wives, 
 4 their daughters, their younger sons, and their younger son's 
 ‘ wives, or any of them, such doubts or questions, shall be decided 
 4 and settled by and according to such usual rules, custome, and 
 4 lawes, for place, precedency, privilege, or other matters, cn- 
 4 cerningthem, as other degrees of dignity hereditary, are order 
 4 ed and adjudged.” — (Final Decree and Establishment of King 
 James, 1616.) 
 
 Further, the Charter of the premier Baronet of Scotland and 
 Nova Scotia, made by King Charles I. Royal Commission of the 
 25th July, 1625, for the admission of Baronets, the basis of the 
 rights and privileges of the Order generally, after the following 
 recital : — 
 
 44 Considering that virtue and industry at first promote to 
 4 honours and pre-eminences’ and thereafter tnat generous 
 4 minds are animated and excited to attempt and pursue noble 
 4 actions and designs, and that all splendor of honour and dig- 
 4 nity has its origin and increase from the King as the first 
 
 * The Charteis of the constituent Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia, contain clauses 
 that they shall “ have rank and precedence before all Baronets whatsoever at any time 
 coming, to be made by King Charles I. his Heirs and Successors.’’ 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 4 fountain, to whose majesty and pre-eminence it properly be- 
 4 longs to erect and institute new titles of honours and dignities, 
 
 4 as that from which primarily honours originally emanated, and 
 4 willing from that consideration, that our most noble progeni- 
 4 tors and predecessors, worthy of eternal memory, be imitated 
 4 who had the power, and reduced it to practice, of creating and 
 4 erecting new dignities and degrees among their subjects wor- 
 4 thy of such honours ; We of our royal power and authority, 
 
 4 have erected, created, appointed, constituted, and ordained, 
 
 4 and by our present Charter for us, our heirs, and successors, 
 
 4 out of special grace, favour, certain knowledge, proper mo- 
 4 tive, and deliberate mind, with advice and consent of our well- 
 4 beloved cousin and councellor, John Earl of Mar, Lord Ers- 
 4 kine and Gareoch, &c., High Treasurer, Comptroller, Collec- 
 4 tor and Treasurer of our new augmentations of our Kingdom 
 4 of Scotland, and of our beloved and familiar Councellor, Sir 
 4 Archidald Naper of Mershingtoun, Knight, our Deputy in the 
 4 said offices, as also of the Lords of our Privy Council of our 
 4 said Kingdom of Scotland, make, erect, constitute, create, and 
 4 ordain a certain hereditary state, degree, name, order, dignity, 
 
 4 and style of Baronet, now and in all time coming, within our 
 4 said Kingdom of Scotland and region of Nova Scotia, to have 
 4 and enjoy to such persons as We, our heirs and successors, for 
 4 the increase and extending of the plantation of Nova Scotia, 
 
 4 and otherwise for their worth and merit, are about to make 
 4 Baronets, and prefer to such degrees and styles. 1 
 
 Contains a clause as follows, — 
 
 4 And further, — if any doubt or question not resolved in these 
 4 presents, arise concerning any place, precedency, or preroga- 
 
 4 tive, due to the foresaid A B , and his heirs male, 
 
 4 wives, sons, daughters, and son’s wives, respectively, or any 
 4 one of them, at whatsoever time to come, that such doubts and 
 4 questions shall be determined and decided by the use and 
 4 practice of custom and law, as other hereditary degrees of 
 4 dignity are ordained and directed concerning place, preroga- 
 4 tive, and precedency. 1 
 
 From these Charters then, Baronets, like the other degrees of 
 hereditary dignity, are entitled to have 
 
 1st, An honorary style ; viz. 44 the Honourable which by 
 parity of right, and sequence of gradation, is the appropriate 
 style of the sixth degree of dignity hereditary,* that of 4 Right 
 
 * A Barony of Regality entitled its possessor anciently, to the style of 44 The Honour- 
 able the Baronets, therefore, of Scotland and Nova Scotia, could claim this style in 
 virtue of their grants in Nova Scotia, which were each erected into free Baronies of Rega- 
 lity. Independent of this right, they could claim the style of 44 The Honourable , ’ as 
 lesser Barons. At the period of the erection of the Order, 44 Right Trustie ,” which is 
 equivalent to 44 Right Honourable” now, was the style given by the Crown to Earls and 
 
19 
 
 Honourable being the style of the fifth, fourth, and third de- 
 grees of dignity hereditary ; “ Most Honourable' 1 '' that of the 
 second ; and “ Most Noble ” that of the first.* 
 
 2d. Personal ornaments; — viz. a Coronet or Cap of Dignity , 
 for the head, with a Robe and Dress of Estate for Court, and 
 other State, occasions ; with a difference correspondent with those 
 which prevail amongst the other degrees of hereditary dignity. 
 
 3d. Armorial insignia ; — viz. Supporters , with a Coronet or a 
 Cap of Dignity surmounting the shield.*J* 
 
 Barons ; and instances occur of Letters from King Charles I. to the Baronets of Scotland 
 and Nova Scotia, in which he styles them “ Trustie which is equivalent to “ Honour- 
 able” The most satisfactory evidence can be produced from deeds, commissions, Leases, 
 receipts, monumental inscriptions, dedications, and other writings, shewing that the Baro- 
 nets, whether of Ulster or Nova Scotia, enjoyed the style of “ The Honourable ,” during 
 the 17th and 18th centuries. 
 
 * The appropriate mode in addressing a Baronet either in speaking or writing, is 
 “ Your Honour ,” — in the same way that in addressing a Baron, the style is “ Your 
 Lordship.” In speaking of a Baronet in a debate in Parliament, or at any public 
 meeting, or occasion, he ought to be spoken of not as “ the Honourable Baronet ” who 
 spoke last, &c , — but as “ the Noble Baronet ” who spoke last, — a Baronet being a 
 Nobleman as much as a Baron, Earl, or Duke. 
 
 + Supporters, &c The right of Baronets, of all creations, to bear Supporters, and a 
 
 Coronet, or Cap of Dignity, a Robe, &c. is their Charter as a degree of hereditary nobi- 
 lity, next in place to that of a Baron of Parliament. It would have been infra dip. the 
 crown to particularize, in a Charter passing under the Great Seal of the nation, every little 
 et cetera which was to form the paraphernalia of this new order. These were matters for 
 heralds, tailors, and others, to determine. Accordingly, the order of Baronet, like the 
 order of Viscount, was declared to be a degree of Hereditary Dignity in the Realm, leav- 
 ing it (as expressly enjoined in King James First Royal Charter of 1616, and especially 
 set forth in every diploma of the Nova Scotia Baronets) to the usual rules, custom, and 
 laws by which, in such matters, the five first degrees of nobility have been regulated, to 
 regulate the sixth. Nevertheless, the heralds (of England at least) contend that Baronets 
 are not entitled to Supporters, Coronets, Robes, &c. Can they produce any tenure under 
 which Viscounts have had Supporters, Comets, and Robes, &c. assigned to them except 
 their Charter as the fourth degree of Hereditary Dignity ? It is said by some that the 
 Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia are not entitled to bear Supporters, but only such 
 as were Barons. This is denied. Barons never were a degree of Hereditary Dignity in 
 Scotland ; they never had rank above Knights of the Thistle ; they never had rank above 
 Knight-Bannerets of the secondary creation ; they never had rank above Equites Aurati 
 or Knights ; they never had rank above Milites, or Bachelors. Baronets have rank above 
 these five degrees ; and three of them Knights of the Thistle, the Knights-Bannerets of 
 the secondary creation, and the Equites Aurati, have, from time immemorial, borne Sup- 
 porters, Robes, and Cinguli, or open Circulets of Gold, which latter, as worn by Barons, 
 Earls, &c. and since closed on the top with crimsom velvet, are now called Coronets. To 
 assign Supporters, therefore, as was done two months ago in the case of Sir William 
 Houston, Bart, on the pretence that he was entitled to them on the ground that his an- 
 cestors were Barons of Scotland, is to postpone the right that he had to them as a Baronet 
 of the Realm, to pretension* founded on a rank five degrees under that of hi* hereditary 
 
20 
 
 The Patents of many Baronets contain grants of particular 
 Supporters, others have clauses to the following effect : — ‘ Cum- 
 ‘ que generalitate Presentium omnibus ritebus et solemnitatibus 
 ‘ simili occasione propriis usitatisque, per Presentes dispensamus, 
 4 Ueom porro Armorum Regi, ejusque fratribus feciali'bus, ut 
 
 ‘ prefaio A B ejusque haeredibus masculis antedictis, 
 
 6 Insignia Armoria, seu prioribus insignibus additamenta, quse 
 4 hae occasione convenientias redebantur, dent et prasscribant 
 4 pariter imperamus.’ In addition to which the Patent of each 
 Baronet confers the dignity with the same privileges and prero- 
 gatives respectively, as any Baronet in former times have enjoyed 
 them, or in any future time may enjoy them. 
 
 Upon the strength of this particular clause the Baronets of 
 Scotland and Nova Scotia are privileged to have for clasps on 
 their Robes of Estate two silver pigeons, with imperial crowns, 
 and the simbol, 4 Candoris premium Honor ,’ their Majesties, 
 King William and Mary, having conferred the right of wearing 
 the same on a member of the Order, Sir James Dunbar, Bart, of 
 Mochrum, in the year 1694; the following being the clause 
 in question, — 4 St atuimus et ordinamus dictum Jacobum Dun- 
 , bar, ejusque antidict. habere omni tempore futuro pro susten- 
 . tatoribus sui Paludamenti,* duas columbas argentei coloris, im- 
 
 dignity of Baronet, and two degrees under that of his personal dignity of Eques Auratus, 
 in virtue of both of which dignities he was privileged to hear them. Many Baronets of 
 Scotland bear their Supporters by what is called pot law or tenure ; that is to say, they 
 got them from the Lord Lyon at an entertainment given to celebrate their 1 creation, with- 
 out incurring the dues of office for matriculating them ; — others bear the Supporters worn 
 by their ancestors prior to their elevation •, — and all are entitled to assume what Support- 
 ers they please. In a word, and once for all, the Baronets created under the Great Seal 
 of Scotland, as regards dignitorial insignia, or territorial prerogatives, are each and every 
 one entitled to be assimilated to one another ; whilst the order as the sixth degree of 
 hereditary dignity is entitled to be assimilated to the other five degrees of hereditary dig- 
 nity, with reference to Supporters, Coronets, Robes, &c. &c. The English heralds con- 
 tend, because the Baronets created under the Great Seals of England and Ireland, are 
 privileged to charge their coats-armorial with the Royal Arms of Ulster, they were not 
 intended to have any other heraldic insignia, whilst some heraldic writers suppose that 
 the Ribbon and Badge of Nova Scotia, granted in 1629, was intended to supersede the 
 privilege given to the Baronets created under the Great Seal of Scotland, of augmenting 
 their coats-armorial with the Royal Arms of Nova Scotia,. Both of these suppositions are 
 absurd. The Baronets are entitled to add to their paternal arms the • additamenta ' suit- 
 able to their dignity ; which word additamenta is a plural word, comprising all the insig- 
 nia which, by the laws, custom, and rules of place, precedency, privilege, &c. to hereditary 
 honours belong. The Baronets, after death, may lie in state, and have two supporters of 
 the body at their funerals, with a train of attendants to bear up their Pall or Robe. But 
 doubtless, the heralds will maintain, that there is no analogy between these privileges and 
 walking in state, while in life, having Supporters to the Arms, or wearing a Robe ! 
 
 * The English Heralds, in their Report on the Claims of the Ulster Baronets, deny 
 that their Charters entitle them to Robes of Estate, or that there is any analogy estab- 
 
21 
 
 4 periali corona, proprie coloris, conspica rediuntur, cum hoc 
 * simbolo, 4 Candoris premium Honor .’ 1 
 
 In addition to the armorial insignia above mentioned, the 
 Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia are privileged, in order 
 to commemorate the objects of the institution, to charge their 
 coats-armorial with the arms of Nova Scotia, to be borne either 
 on a canton or inescutcheon at option 5 the following is the clause 
 granting this distinction : 
 
 4 And that the said A B , and his heirs-male, shall, 
 
 4 and forever henceforth, may have and carry on a canton in their 
 ‘ coat of arms, or inescutcheon at their pleasure, the arms of the 
 4 Realm of Nova Scotia ; which are Argent , the arms of our 
 4 Kingdom of Scotland, on a cross of St Andrew Azure , support- 
 ‘ ed by the Royal Unicorn on the dexter side, and by a Salvage 
 4 proper on the sinister ; and for crest, two hands conjoined, the 
 4 one naked, the other mailed, with a Laurel branch and Thistle 
 4 issuing between ; and the motto, ‘ Munit hcec , et altera viu- 
 4 cit : ’ 
 
 In addition to the rights and privileges above enumerated 
 which the Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia are privileged 
 to enjoy and possess quo Baronets, or lesser Barons, they are 
 also entitled by the Charters of the institution to be created 
 Equites Aurati, or Knights, and to possess and enjoy the privile- 
 ges, the pre-eminences, and the ornaments of that ancient and 
 splendid degree of personal dignity. 
 
 One year subsequent to the erection of the Baronetage, on 
 the occasion of a controversy of precedence between the young- 
 er sons of Peers and Baronets, King James 1st by a royal de- 
 cree (1612,) arranged the order of precedence, and at the same 
 time decreed as follows : — 
 
 4 And now though the precedent declaration doth clearly rid 
 4 all questions arising upon the letters patents, yet His Majesty 
 4 having upon the occasion of this controversy, and hearing of 
 4 some of the Baronets grievances propounded out of their own 
 4 mouths, considered more maturely upon all points the latitude 
 4 of their patents, His Majesty being resolved (as out of his 
 4 own royal mouth it pleased him to declare unto them,) to 
 4 ampliate his favour, especially where it meets with those so 
 4 well-born, and well deserving gentlemen, (this dignity being 
 4 of His Majesty’s own creation, and the work of his hands,) 
 4 His Majesty is therefore graciously pleased, (not content with 
 4 those marks of his favour which already they enjoy by the 
 
 lished between them and the other degrees of hereditary dignity in this respect. The 
 above degree clearly establishes that Baronets are entitled to Robes ; and this is farther 
 proved from an ancient heraldic drawing in the Advocates Library, Edinburgh, in which 
 Sir Robert Sinclare, Bart, and Sir Charles Aresken, Bart, are pourtrayed in Robes. 
 There is also a print of the first Baronet of Pinkie, in a Cap of Dignity adorned with jewels, 
 not much dissimilar to the ancient Cap of Maintenance, which the Baronets wish to have 
 assigned to the Order instead of a Coronet. 
 
22 
 
 4 words of their patent, which layeth such a mark of dignity 
 4 and precedence upon them and their posterity,) farther, to 
 4 strengthen and adorn His Majesty’s gracious favour with the 
 4 addition of the privileges, pre-eminences, and ornaments en- 
 4 suing, 1st, His Majesty is pleased to Knight the present 
 4 Baronets that are no Knights ; and 2d, His Majesty doth also 
 4 by these presents of his mere motion and favour promise and 
 4 grant for him, his heirs, and his successors, that such Baronets, 
 4 and the heirs male of their bodies, as hereafter, shall be no 
 4 Knights, when they shall attain, or be of the age of twenty- 
 4 one years, after knowledge thereof given to the Lord Cham- 
 4 berlain of the household, or Vice Chamberlain, for the time 
 4 being, or in their absence, to any other officer attending upon 
 4 His Majesty’s person, shall be Knighted by His Majesty’s 
 4 Heirs and Successors.’ 
 
 His Majesty King Charles I. when he extended to Scotland 
 the Order of Baronets, erected, to quote the Act of Convention 
 of Estates ratifying the dignity, 4 by His Majesty, and his late 
 4 dear Father of blessed memory, and conferred by them upon 
 4 sundrie gentlemen of good qualitie, for their better encourage- 
 4 ment and retriution of their undertakings in the plantation of 
 4 New Scotland,’ he based it, as has already been shewn, upon the 
 Charters of 161 1, and the Royal Decrees of 1612 and 1616, insti- 
 tuting the Baronetage. Accordingly, the constituent Baronets of 
 Scotland were created Knights and Baronets, the operative words 
 in each diploma being in terms similar to the following: — 4 Damus, 
 4 concedimus et conferrimus, in dictum A — B — et hasredes mascu- 
 4 los, titulum, dignitatem, gradum, et honorem Militis Bakon- 
 4 etti,’ &c. The diplomas of each of the Baronets, as will after- 
 wards be shewn, contain clauses rendering these conjoint dignities 
 and degrees descendable in the Order for ever. 
 
 All Baronets, therefore, in virtue of their secondary title, are 
 entitled to have and enjoy, in addition to all the privileges and 
 pre-eminences of their higher dignity, the following rights, orna- 
 ments, and insignia : — 
 
 1st Personal : — A dress of estate, consisting of a suit of green ; 
 a scarf, of the colour of the family livery, semee with the prin- 
 cipal figures of the coat-armorial in gold; a similarly ornamented; 
 
 a sword ; gold spurs ; a thumb ring ; a cap and plume for the 
 head, &c. 
 
 Also the ancient Collar of S.S., a decoration which was first 
 conferred upon the Order of Equites Aurati, by King Henry 
 V., at the Battle of Agincourt, and is specially permitted to be 
 worn by Knights, by the statute made by King Henry VIII. 
 in the 24th of his reign, cap. 13, entitled 4 an Act for the Refor- 
 mation of Apparel.’ 
 
 2d Armorial : — The privilege of surmounting the coat-armo- 
 
23 
 
 rial with an open helmet ; of exteriorly surrounding it with the 
 collar ofS.S ■ ; and the pennon of the National Saint. 
 
 The rights and privileges of the Order of Equites Aurati, or 
 Knights, which is the most ancient degree of Knighthood in 
 Christendom, were formally recognised by King James I. on his 
 accession to the throne of England. In a special commission 
 granted by him for the creating of Knights of the Bath, and 
 Knights at his coronation, on which occasion 300 were created, 
 it is provided as follows : — 
 
 James, by the Grace of God, King, &e. to all men greeting, 
 know ye, &c, that ‘ every person advanced or made Knight by 
 ‘ Our Commissioners, shall have hold and enjoy the. said Order 
 ‘ of Knighthood, with the name, dignity, and all the prerogatives 
 ‘ thereunto belonging, in as large and ample a manner as any 
 c other Knight or Knights of like degree, being made in the time 
 ‘ of any of our progenitors, have, and of right ought to have had, 
 ‘ or enjoyed. In witness whereof, witness Ourself at Westmin- 
 c ster, this 22d of July 1603d* (Nichol's Royal Progresses of 
 James I., Vol. 1st.) 
 
 By the Royal Decree of King James I. in 1612, by which the 
 Baronetage was amplicated, and the Letters-Patent of the Baro- 
 nets of Scotland and Nova Scotia, which contain corresponding 
 clauses, the Baronets further enjoy the privilege of having * place 
 ‘ in the King’s Armies, in the centre near and about the Koyal 
 ‘ Standard, for the defence of the same,’ and are allowed ‘ two 
 6 assistants of the body to support the pall at their funerals, a 
 ‘ principal mourner and four assistants, being the mean between 
 c a Baron and a Knight.’ 
 
 Baronets also, in virtue of their hereditary dignity, enjoy at 
 the Universities, by their statutes, much the same privileges as 
 the other degrees of nobility ; they are privileged to the entree 
 at Court, and to walk in their place, between Lords of Parlia- 
 ment and Knights, in all Coronations, and other Royal or State 
 procession s.*f* 
 
 The dignity of Baronet being a hereditary degree, also en- 
 nobles the families of the members of the Order : 
 
 * This Commission is given in Rymer’s Foedera, Vol. xvi page 533. 
 f It is recorded by Sir William Dugdale in his History of St Paul’s Cathedral, that in 
 a Royal Procession made by King James I., on the 22d of March, 1620, the Baronets 
 were ranked in the ceremonial as under : — 
 
 Knights of the Bath •, 
 
 Knights Embassadors ; Lord President, and Deputy ; 
 
 Vice-Admiral ; and Knight-Marshal ; 
 
 Treasurer of the Exchequer ; and Master of the Jewel TIoree ; 
 
 Baronets ; 
 
 Baron’s and Viscount's Younger Sons ; 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
£4 
 
 The wives of Baronets are Baronetesses, and are entitled to the 
 style of Lady, Dame, or Madam, respectively, according to the 
 mode of writing or speaking ; and they have rank and prece- 
 dence before the wives of Bannerets of the royal creation, and 
 the wives of all other Knights of whatsoever degree.* 
 
 The Eldest Sons of Baronets are entitled to Knighthood after 
 attaining the age of twenty-one, which was the age in former 
 times at which a person was considered capable of bearing arms, 
 and doing Knight’s service. 
 
 The operative words in the Charters conveying this right are 
 these : — 
 
 1st. 4 His Majesty doth also, by these presents of his mere 
 6 motion and favour, promise and grant for Him, his Heirs, and 
 { Successors, that such Baronets, and the Heirs-male of their 
 ‘ bodies as hereafter, shall be no Knights, when thev shall attain, 
 
 ‘ or be of the age of twenty-one years, after knowledge thereof 
 ‘ given to the Lord Chamberlain of the Household, or Vice- 
 ‘ Chamberlain, for the time being, or in their absence to any other 
 ( officer attending upon his Majesty’s person, shall be Knighted 
 c by His Majesty’s Heirs and Successors.’ (King James I. 
 Royal Decree, 28th May, 1612 ) 
 
 2d. 4 Insuper ex specialibus nostris gratia favore, certa scien- 
 4 tia, mero motu, et animo deliberato, tenore Praesentis Cart® 
 
 4 Nostrse pro Nobis, Heredibus, et Successoribus nostris, cum 
 4 avisamento Privii Concilii, Volumus, Concedemus, Ordenamus 
 4 Declaramus, et Promittimus, quod quocunque tempore, et 
 4 quamprimum Filius natu-maximus, et apparens Haeres-mascu- 
 
 4 lus, dicti A B Baronetti, vel Filius natu-proximus, 
 
 4 ant Haeres apparens masculus quorumeunque Haeredum Mas- 
 4 culorum ipsi succedentium, venerint ad aetatem viginti-unius 
 4 annorum, quod ipsi, et unusquisque eorum respective, per Nos, 
 
 4 Haeredes, et Successores nostros, Milites inaugurabuntur, quan- 
 4 docunque ipsi, vel eorum aliquis hujusmodi Ordinem requisi- 
 - verint, absque solutione mereedum et expersarum quarum- 
 ' cunque.’*f* 
 
 * The Baronetesses of Scotland and Nova Scotia are privileged to attach to their arms 
 ■whatever ornaments or badges belong to the dignity, as the Baronetage is an hereditary 
 ■nour. Further, they may not only surround their arms with the Orange Riband and 
 idge, but may also wear thorn on their person, in the same manner as Peeresses wear 
 a” ensigns belonging to their dignity. 
 
 r The Eldest Sons of such of the constituent Baronets as happened to be of age when 
 : r fathers were created, were Knighted. Sir Robert Gordon in his Genealogy of the 
 ■i-,se of Gordon, at page 395, remarks, — ‘The Lairds of Clunyand Lesmore were creat- 
 ''onets ; and Janies Gordon (Lesmore’s Eldest Son) was Knighted according to the 
 • of his father’s patent, whereby the Eldest Sons are to be Knighted at the age of 
 ■lity-one.’ Prior to the Act of Union in 1707, His Majesty’s Commissioner to the 
 vention of the Estates used to Knight the Sons of such Baronets as applied for it. 
 
25 
 
 The younger Sons and Daughters of Baronets have respec- 
 tively rank and precedence above the younger Sons and Daugh- 
 ters of all Knights of whatever degree ; before the grandchildren 
 of Peers ; and all Commoners. 
 
 In addition to all the dignitorial rights, privileges, and insig- 
 nia bestowed by King James I. on the Baronetage, the Baronets 
 of Scotland and Nova Scotia have the special privilege of wear- 
 ing an Orange Riband and Badge, in terms of the Royal War- 
 rant of King Charles I. of the date 17th November, 1629, which 
 has already been recited. This privilege, which partakes of the 
 splendid prominence of the most noble Order of the Garter, and 
 which, with the exception of that Order, was, at the period of the 
 grant, the only decoration of the kind worn by any degree of 
 dignity in the Realm, fell to the ground during the Revolution. 
 From that period till the year 177^, it remained in disuse; when 
 it was revived by the resolution of a General Meeting of the Or- 
 der, held at Edinburgh on the 14th of June in that year. 
 
 II. Such are the rights, privileges, and insignia which the 
 Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia are entitled to enjoy and 
 possess in virtue of their hereditary dignity as Lesser Barons, 
 and their personal dignity as Equites-Aurati. We now come to 
 consider the rights and privileges annexed to their Territorial 
 grants in Nova Scotia. 
 
 ls£, Territorial ; — A grant of sixteen thousand acres of land 
 to be incorporated into a full, entire, and free Barony and Re- 
 gality for ever, to be held of the Kingdom of Scotland in blench 
 farm for payment yearly of one penny, if asked only ; the said 
 Regality to extend three miles in length alongst the sea coast, 
 and six in length inland, with gifts of benefices, patronage of 
 churches, fisheries, huntings, minerals, mines, pearls, jewels, 
 offices, jurisdictions, and power of pit and gallowes as plenary 
 as had ever formerly been enjoyed by whatsoever noblemen under 
 the Crown of Scotland; also with express power of planting the 
 said Regality, and of transporting thence from Scotland, or any 
 other parts, persons, goods, and chattels ; with liberty to such 
 persons, their children, and posterity, to have, hold, acquire, en- 
 joy, and possess, all, and whatever, the liberties, privileges, and 
 immunities of children, and natural born subjects of the King- 
 dom of Scotland, and the other dominions thereunto belonging, 
 as if they had been born in the said Kingdom or dominions. 
 
 From Nesbit’s Heraldry it appears, that in that day some of the Eldest Sons of Baronets 
 assumed Knighthood without making application for it, which is properly designated as 
 t a mistake.’ Of late no Eldest Sons of Nova Scotia Baronets have exercised their right 
 to he Knighted ; hut there are several existing instances of the Eldest Sons of Ulster 
 Baronets who have claimed and obtained Knighthood. 
 
26 
 
 2 d, Seigneurial ; — The right and liberty to erect cities, towns, 
 villages, corporations, burghs of Baronv, &c. ; of making and 
 appointing captains, commanders, leaders, governors, mayors, 
 provosts, baillies, justices of the peace, constables, &c. ; of mak- 
 ing such particular laws, ordinances, and constitutions as shall 
 be deemed expedient for the good order and police of the Re- 
 gality, with the heritable justiciary and sheriff-ship of the same ; 
 the power of judging and decerning in all causes as well civil as 
 criminal, within the bounds; of holding Courts of Justiciary, 
 Sheriff Courts, Courts of Free Regality, and Baron, and Barony 
 Courts ; also of appointing their officers, and of exacting and 
 appropriating all escheats, amercements, &c. ; also of imposing 
 and levying tolls, customs, anchorages, Sec. Sec. 
 
 3d, Commercial : — The right of erecting free ports, harbours, 
 naval stations, Sec., of building ships, craft, vessels. Sec. as well 
 for war as merchandise ; of importing and exporting from and 
 to Scotland or any other country, wares, merchandizes, and com- 
 modities of whatever description, for payment of the sum of five 
 pounds Scots money of custom for every hundred pounds only, 
 ■without payment of any other custom, impost, or duty of any 
 kind ; also of imposing and exacting five pounds for every hun- 
 dred, on all goods imported into Nova Scotia by the colonists, 
 and ten per cent on all imported by foreigners. 
 
 4th, Legislative . — The right, either personally or by deputy, 
 of a suffrage and vote in framing all and sundry the laws to be 
 made concerning the public state, good, and government of the 
 Realm of Nova Scotia, in all assemblies, parliaments, synods, 
 councils, and conventions, to be called together, convened, or 
 held for that end ; and that no person or persons whatsoever, 
 who shall not be heirs of the said Baronies of Regality, shall have 
 vote or suffrage in whatsoever laws concerning the said Realm, 
 without the advice, counsel, and consent of the Baronets. 
 
 5th, Personal: — Freedom from arrest, and exemption from all 
 penalties and execution of the laws. 
 
 In addition to these rights and privileges, the said Charters 
 empower the Baronets, 1st, if furth of the Kingdom of Scotland, 
 to sit in the Scottish Parliament by deputy ; 2d, gives to them, 
 and those who colonize their Regalities in Nova Scotia, to be 
 judged, ruled, and governed, in all time coming, in all cases, civil 
 and criminal, by the laws of the said Realm of Nova Scotia only, 
 and not by others ; 3d, to have all and whatsoever privileges, 
 liberties, permissions, commodities and immunities, profits, pre- 
 rogatives, dignities and casualities, generally and particularly, 
 that are specified and expressed in the original infeftment grant- 
 ed to Sir William Alexander and his heirs, and that in as full, 
 free, and ample manner and form, as if the said privileges, pre- 
 rogatives, immunities, liberties, permissions, dignities, commodi- 
 ties, Sec. with all the clauses and conditions, had been inserted at 
 
27 
 
 full length in their patents ; 4th, dispenses with non-entry, and 
 taking seisen in Nova Scotia, and grants authority to have seisen 
 and instruments of possession taken on the Castle Hill of Edin- 
 burgh, because the said Realm of Nova Scotia, and original in- 
 feftment thereof, is holden of the ancient Kingdom of Scotland, 
 and forms part of the county of Edinburgh ; 5th, promises 
 that the said Charters, with all and sundry privileges, liber- 
 ties, clauses, articles, and conditions as specified, should be 
 ratified, approved, and confirmed, by the Parliament of Scotland, 
 in order that they should have the strength, force, and effect of 
 a decree and sentence of that supreme and pre-eminent tribunal ; 
 and lastly provides, that 4 the said Charters are and shall be valid, 
 
 4 sufficient and effectual, in all time coming, in all parts thereof, 
 
 4 as set forth for ever to the said Baronets, their wives, sons, 
 
 4 daughters, and son’s wives respectively, and each of them, in 
 4 law against King Charles I. his heirs and successors, and against 
 4 all other persons whatsoever, in all His courts, and those of his 
 4 heirs and successors, and in all other places whatsoever, at all 
 4 times and occasions, notwithstanding whatsoever law, custom, 
 
 4 prescription, practice, ordinance, or constitution hitherto made, 
 
 4 ordained, or published ; or hereafter at whatsoever time to be 
 4 made, ordained, and published, or provided, and notwithstanding 
 4 any other matter, cause, or occasion whatsoever.’ 
 
 Such are the rights and privileges dignitorial and territorial, 
 conferred upon the Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia, by 
 the Charters of King James I. and King (Charles I. 
 
 Up to the date 31st July, 1G37, all the Baronets created by 
 King Charles I., or under his commission of the 25th of July, 
 1625, had their grants of land and their boundaries, fully defin- 
 ed in their diplomas; and out of this number, 111 in all, 66 had 
 seisen of their Baronies. From this latter date to the Union in 
 1707, all the Baronets created, whether during the reign of King 
 Charles 1. or by his successors, of whom nearly 100 representa- 
 tives exist, had no grants of land in Nova Scotia given per ew- 
 pressum, but the rights of the institution were conveyed to them 
 in shorter, and general terms. 
 
 There seems to be an impression that the Baronets created 
 after 1657, stand on a different foundation from those created 
 before that date. This is an error. The Baronetage was ex- 
 tended to Scotland for a specific object — the plantation of New 
 Scotland, and King Charles I. bound himself, his heirs and suc- 
 cessors, never to elevate any one to that dignity, except for this 
 purpose. Every Baronet, therefore, created under the Great 
 Seal of Scotland, whether before or after 1637, is entitled to the 
 rights and privileges of the institution, whether dignitorial and 
 territorial, in their complete extent. The only difference between 
 the senior Baronets and the junior, is this, that the former got 
 their grants of land, whilst the latter have still to get them. 
 
£8 
 
 With regard to grants of land, as far as the British Crown is 
 concerned, it is a matter of importance to it, rather thaft 
 otherwise, that the baronets should have them. The whole 
 of Nova Scotia was granted to the Stirling Family, subject 
 to the condition that it should be portioned out amongst the 
 Baronets, who, on the resignation of the Stirling Family, 
 were to hold their Regalities of the British Crown. What inte- 
 rest then had, or has, the British Crown to alter, supposing that it 
 was possible to do so, the constitution and objects of the institu- 
 tion ? But this query can be answered equally by argument and 
 by facts. Prior to this time the French had availed themselves 
 of the circumstance, that Port Royal, for the perfecting of the 
 agreement between King Charles I. and the French King, had 
 been put into the state into which it was before the beginning of 
 the war, to usurp Nova Scotia ; Sir William Alexander, the 
 first Earl’s eldest son, who had visited the Colony, and reside 
 for some years there in charge of it, had died; the first Earl, 
 worn out with losses and disappointments was labouring un- 
 der the malady which shortly carried him off ; and the Revolu- 
 tion in England was rapidly coming to a head. Under these 
 circumstances, the work of planting Nova Scotia was suspended, 
 but there was no extinguishing of the rights of the Baronetage, 
 nor any abandonment of its objects. As proofs of this, the di- 
 plomas of all the Baronets created after 1637, whether by King 
 Charles I. or his successors, contain clauses conferring all, and 
 singular, the prerogatives, privileges, and conditions, whatsoever, 
 with no less extent of right in all respects, than those enjoyed 
 by the Baronets created before 1637, under whatsoever law, cus- 
 tom, constitution, or commission. The following is a copy of 
 the precepts of all the Baronets created by King Charles 1. sub- 
 sequent to 1637, with extracts from the diplomas of Baronets 
 created in the years 1671, 1687, an d 1694. 
 
 Preceptum Cartae fact, per S. D. N. Regem A B , 
 
 suisque Haeredibus Masculis super statu, gradu, dignitate, no- 
 mine, ordine, titulo, and stilo, Baronetti ; cum omnibus et singu- 
 lis, prerogativis, privilegiis, precedentiis, conditionibus, aliisque, 
 ad diet, statum, gradum, dignitatem, nomen, ordinem, titulum, ac 
 stilum, Baronetti, pertinen; cum prioritate et precedentia ante om- 
 nes Equites Auratos vulgo knights; Milites Bauehallaros, anglice 
 Batchelors; Barones minores vulgo Lairds; etanteomnes Armige- 
 ros vulgo Esquires ; et Generosos, Gentlemen appellat ; except. 
 Locum Tenens S. D. N. Regis, suosque Haeredes Masculos. Et 
 quod Nati et Natae dicti A — B — habebunt precedentiam ante 
 natos et natas omnium personarum antequos dictus A — B — , 
 suique Haeredes Masculi, locum et precedentium sumere possunt. 
 Quodque Filius natu-maximus, vel apparens Haeres Masculus, 
 dicti A — B — aetatem viginti et unius annorum, ac ingente, Equi- 
 tes Aurati creabuntur, quandocunque aliquis eorum desidera 
 
29 
 
 bit, absque ullis sumptibus. Et quod dictus A — B — , suique 
 antidict. arma Novae Scotiae portabunt. Et quod dictus A — B — 
 appellabitur Dominus A — B — Allies Baronettus ; et ejus uxor 
 Lady, Madame et Dame, cum quibusdam aliis privilegiis et 
 conditionibus in dicto precepto content. Apud Stirling secundo 
 die mensis Martii anno Domini millesimo sexcentesimo trigesimo 
 octavo, et regni nostri anno decimo tertio. 
 
 Per Signetum. 
 
 ‘ We, Charles II. by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, 
 
 4 France, and Ireland, &c. — give, grant, and confer on A 
 
 4 B , and the Heirs-male of his body, the title, honour, pre- 
 
 ‘ cedence, and dignity of Knight Baronet ; with all the privileges, 
 
 4 liberties, immunities, and advantages thereunto, belonging ; 
 
 4 ivith no less liberty and extent of right in all respects , than 
 4 any oyier Knight Baronet of our foresaid Kingdom of Scotland, 
 
 4 at whatsoever time past they have obtained or enjoyed, and 
 4 still possess, and enjoy, a similar title and dignity, or at any 
 4 future period can, or may obtain, possess, or enjoy it.’ — &c. 
 (Dip. of Sir James Cockburn of that Ilk.) 
 
 4 Jacobus II. Dei Gratia, &c. Constituimus et creamus pre- 
 
 4 fatum A B ac Haeredes masculos, Milites Baronettos 
 
 4 in perpetuum, cum singulis aliis priviligiis, immunitatibus, et 
 4 honoribus, quibuscunque eo spectans, aut quae per quascun- 
 4 que Leges, Statuta, Consuetudines, Commissiones, aut Consti- 
 4 tutiones quasivis in Dominiis hisce nostris eo spectare dignos- 
 4 cuntur, uti, postin', et gaudere Ordinamus,” &c. (Dip. of Sir 
 Arch. Stewart of Barrow, 4th November, 1687-) 
 
 4 Gulielmus et Maria Rex et Regina, &c. Damus, eoncedimus, 
 
 4 et conferrimus in dictum A—— B et Heredes Masculos 
 
 4 de ejus corpore, titulum, dignitatem, gradum, et honorem Mi- 
 4 litis Baronetti, atque adeo ilium et illos, eodem titulo frui et 
 4 gauderi, Ordinamus cum precedentia toto aliisque privilegiis, 
 
 4 et immunitatibus, Militibus Baronettis, virtute quorumeunque 
 4 Actorum, Statutorum, Diplomatum, seu Consuetudinum in 
 4 Dominus nostris debitis.’ (Dip. of Sir James Dunbar of Moch- 
 rum, 1694.) 
 
 From these extracts, then, it is clearly apparent that under the 
 Letters-patent of King James I. and Charles I. the Baronetage 
 was extended to Scotland for a specific object, viz. the planta- 
 tion of New Scotland. In addition, the Charters of the consti- 
 tuent Baronets contain a clause, promising that the number 
 should never exceed 150; — and the commission for admitting 
 Baronets, empower the Lords of the Privy Council to create to 
 that extent. It is certain that the said Commissioners, from the 
 troubles that arose in the Kingdom, did not complete this num- 
 ber ; but it was completed, and more than completed, under 
 subsequent Monarchs. That nothing was said of grants in the 
 
30 
 
 Charters of the latter creations, is easily to be accounted for 
 from the circumstance, that these Baronets were created either 
 during the usurpation of Nova Scotia by the French, or pend- 
 ing the negociations which led eventually to its restoration. 
 That these latter Baronets were, however, created under the 
 original institution of Nova Scotia Baronets, is clearly proved 
 by the extracts just quoted , in which the liberties , immunities, 
 and advantages of the institution are bestowed with no less 
 liberty , and extent of right in all respects than had ever been 
 conferred by any laws, statutes, customs, commissions, or con- 
 stitutions. It is true the number of Baronets originally intend- 
 ed, 150, was exceeded, — but this is a matter by which the King’s 
 Locum Tenens, and the Baronets alone are aggrieved, — if the 
 enlargement of the Baronetage can be reckoned such : but it 
 would be a very ungracious act in the part of either of these 
 parties to impugn the power of the Crown, to enlarge an order 
 which was founded for purposes that consulted the honour and 
 the weal of the Kingdom. 
 
 The country of New Scotland, or, as it is called in the Char- 
 ters, the Realm of Nova Scotia, which was thus given to Sir 
 William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Stirling, and his fellow 
 portioners the Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia ; com- 
 prises, 1st, Nova Scotia proper, 2d, New Brunswick, 3d, Gaspe, 
 4th, the Islands of Cape Breton, Prince Edward’s, and Anti- 
 costi, &c. A territory situate between the 43d and 49th degrees 
 of north latitude, and the 60th and 68th degrees of west longi- 
 tude, and containing an area of upwards of sixty thousand 
 square miles ; being about 400 miles from north to south, by 
 from 150 to 300 from east to west. It was annexed to the 
 Crown of Scotland, as has already been shewn by King James I. st 
 “ out of the royal care which he had for the honour and weal 
 of that his ancient Kingdom, that the use and benefit of it 
 might arise to the same and it was further made a part of the 
 County of Edinburgh for the greater ease and facility of taking 
 seisin of it by infeftment. 
 
 From the erection of the Baronetage of Scotland and Nova 
 Scotia in 1625 to the year 1631, the constituent members en- 
 joyed their rights and privileges, dignitorial and territorial, 
 according to the stipulated terms and conditions of the institu- 
 tion. Sir William Alexander having obtained a Charter of 
 Novo-damusfrom KingCharles I. on the 12th of July 1625, was 
 vested and seised on the 29th of September following, and had 
 forthwith taken possession of the country, and begun to settle a 
 colony at Port Royal where he built a Fort. Up to the 10th of 
 July in this latter year, seventy-seven Baronets had been creat- 
 ed, who had each complied with the conditions of the Plantation, 
 which was to furnish 2000 merks towards the undertaking, and 
 they had each had grants assigned to them, some in Nova Scotia 
 
31 
 
 proper, others in New Brunswick, and Anticosti, the bounderies 
 of which can still be defined. 
 
 In the mean while favoured by the indolence of the English, 
 and their want of attention to the improvement of their American 
 acquisitions, the French in 1604, under the conduct of Cham- 
 plain, a naval officer, had stolen up the gulf and river St Law- 
 rence, and having settled at, and abandoned by turns, several 
 places, they at last in 1608 founded Quebec, and obtained pos- 
 session of the country thereafter called Canada. In 1627, two 
 years after Sir William Alexander and his associates, the Bar- 
 onets, had commenced planting Nova Scotia, King Charles I. 
 having engaged to support the Huguenots, entered into a war 
 with France, which continued to 1629. During this war, Sir 
 David Kertk, of Dieppe, a Calvanist, having received the com- 
 mand of three English ships, sailed on, an expedition against 
 the settlers at Quebec, and compelled them to capitulate on the 
 1 9th of July 1629. In consequence of this aggression on the 
 part of the English, the King of France detained 400,000 
 crowns, part of the Queen of England’s dowry, and a misunder- 
 standing arose which occasioned the following letter from King 
 Charles I. to the Lords of his Privy Council : — 
 
 ‘ Whitehall, 3d July 1630. 
 
 4 Right trustie, &c. There being at this time some controversie 
 4 between Us and the French, concerning the title of lands in 
 4 America, and particularly New Scotland, it being alleged that 
 4 Port Royal, where the Scottish colony is planted, should be re- 
 4 stored as taken since the making of the peace by reason of the 
 4 articles made concerning the same. As We are bound in dutie 
 4 and justice to discharge what We owe to everie neighbour 
 4 Prince, so We must have a care that none of our subjects do 
 4 suffer in that which they have undertaken, upon just grounds, 
 4 to do Us service, neither will We determine in a matter of so 
 4 great moment till We understand the true estate thereof. 
 4 Therefore our pleasure is, that you take this business into your 
 4 consideration. And, because We desire to be certified how far 
 4 We and Our subjects are interested therein, and what argu- 
 4 ments are fit to be used when any question shall occur coneern- 
 4 ing the same, or the defence thereof, that after due information 
 4 We may be furnished with reasons how We are bound to main- 
 4 tain the Patents that Our late dear Father and We have given. 
 4 So expecting that having informed yourselves sufficiently of 
 4 this business, you will return Us an answer with diligence. 
 4 We bid you farewell,’ &c. 
 
 On the 31st of July following the receipt of this letter, the 
 dignity and order of Baronets was ratified and confirmed by the 
 Parliament of Scotland ; and upon the same occasion it was un- 
 animously agreed, considering the benefit that would arise to 
 
32 
 
 Scotland by the accession of New Scotland, and the successful 
 plantation there begun, that His Majesty should be petitioned 
 to maintain his right of New Scotland, and protect his subjects, 
 undertakers of the said plantation in the peaceable possession of 
 the same. On the 9th of September following, the Privy Coun- 
 cil, in reply to the letter of King Charles I. as above , addressed 
 His Majesty as follows : — 
 
 4 Most Sacred Souerane, 
 
 4 We have understood by vour Majestie’s letter of the title 
 4 pretendit by the Frenehe to the lands of New Scotland, which, 
 4 being communieat to the Estaits at thair last meeting, and 
 ‘ they considering the benefite arysing to this kingdome by the 
 4 accessioun of these lands to the Crowne, ancTthat your Majestie 
 ‘ is boundin in honnour carefullie to provyde that nane of your 
 4 Majestie’s subjects doe suffer in that whiche for your Majestie’s 
 4 service, and to their great charge they have warrantable un- 
 4 dertaken, and successfullie followed out ; we have thairupon 
 ‘ presoomed, by order from the Estaits, to make remonstrance 
 4 thairof to your Majestie. And on thair behalffe to be humble 
 ‘ supplicants to your Majestie that your Majestie would be gra- 
 
 * tiouslie pleased seriouslie to take to heart the maintenance of 
 
 * yourroyall right to these lands ; and to protect the undertakers 
 4 in the peaceable possessioun of the same, as being a business 
 4 which touches your Majestie’s honnour, the credite of this your 
 4 native Kingdome, and the good of your subjects enteressed 
 4 thairin. Remitting the particular reasounis fitt to be used for 
 4 defence of your Majestie’s right to the relatioun of Sir William 
 ‘ Alexander, your Majestie’s Secretarie, who is intrusted thair- 
 4 with, We humblie pray the Almightie, &c. Holyruidhous, 
 4 9th September, 1630. (Subscribitur) Mortoun, Wintoun, Lau- 
 4 derdaill, Hamiltoun, Sir Thomas Hope, Scottistarvett.’ 
 
 Notwithstanding the petition of the Scottish Parliament re- 
 ferred to, and the ratification of the Order of Baronets, probably 
 in consequence of the retention by the French of the half of the 
 Queen’s dowry, Sir William Alexander (now Viscount of Stir- 
 ling) received the following instructions from King Charles I. 
 on the 10th of July 1631, the year following: — 
 
 4 Right trustie, &c. Whereas, there is a final agreement made 
 4 betwixt us, and Our good brother the French king, and that 
 4 amongst other particularities for perfecting thereof, We have 
 4 condescended that Port Royal shall be put in the state it was 
 4 before the beginning of the late war, that no partie may 
 4 have any advantage there during the continuance of the same, 
 4 and without derogation to anie preceding right or title, by vir- 
 4 tue of any thing done either then, or to be done by the doing 
 4 of that which We command at this time, it is Our will and 
 4 pleasure, and We command you hereby, that with all possible 
 
33 
 
 4 diligence you give order to Sir George Home, Knight, or any 
 4 other having charge from you there, to demolish the Fort which 
 * was builded by your son there, and to remove all the people, 
 ‘ goods, ordinance, munitions, cattle, and other things belonging 
 ‘ unto that colonie, leaving the bounds altogether waste and un- 
 4 peopled as it was at the time when your son landed first, to 
 ‘ plant there by virtue of our commission.’ 
 
 (Earl of Stirling’s Register.) 
 
 \ r 
 
 In consequence of this letter, orders were transmitted by the 
 Viscount of Stirling, for the removal of the colony from Port- 
 Royal, and the dismantling of the fortifications, which was ac- 
 cordingly done, but as a proof that there was no intention on the 
 part of King Charles I. to abandon the objects for which he had 
 erected the Baronetage of Scotland and Nova Scotia, two days 
 after the date of the above letter, He addressed one to the Lords 
 of His Council, in which he says, 4 Seeing We have seen by a 
 4 letter from you, the Order of Baronets, erected by Our late 
 4 dear Father and Us, for furthering the plantation of New Scot- 
 4 land, was approved by the whole Estates of our Kingdom at 
 ‘ the last convention, and that we understand, both by reports 
 ‘ that come from thence, and by the sensible consideration and 
 4 notice taken thereof by our neighhour countries, hoiv well the 
 4 work is begun , Our right trustie and well-beloved Counsel- 
 ‘ lor, Sir William Alexander, our Lieutenant there, having 
 4 fullie ; performed \ what was expected from him for the benefit 
 4 which was intended for him by the creation of these Baronets. 
 4 Being very desirous that he should not suffer therein, but that 
 ‘ both he and others may be encouraged to prosecute the good 
 ‘ beginning that is made, as we heartilie thank all such as have 
 4 contribute their aid by contracting with him for advancing of 
 ‘ the said work alreadie, Our pleasure is, that you seriouslie 
 ‘ consider, either amongst you all, or by a committee of such as- 
 4 are best affectioned towards that work, how it may be best 
 4 brought to perfection, for we are so far (whatsoever controversie 
 4 be about it ) from quitting our title to New Scotland and Ca- 
 ‘ nada, that we will be verie careful to maintain all our good 
 4 subjects who do plant themselves there , and let none of the 
 4 Baronets any way be prejudiced in the honour and privileges 
 4 contained in their patents, by punishing of all that dare pre- 
 4 sume to wrong them therein, that others may be encouraged to 
 4 take the like course.’ In this letter His Majesty further says, 
 
 4 If the said Sir William, as our Lieutenant of New Scotland, 
 
 4 shall convene the Baronets to consult together concerning the 
 4 plantation, We hereby authorise him, and will you to authorise 
 4 him, as far as is requisite for that effect, willing that Procla- 
 4 mation be made of what We have signified, or of what you 
 4 shall determine for furthering that work, whereof we recorn- 
 
 F 
 
34 
 
 * mend the care to you, as a matter importing speciallie our 
 ‘ honour, and the good of that our ancient Kingdom. 1 
 
 At a meeting of the Privy Council, held at Holyrood House, 
 on the 28th of the same month, (July 1631) for the better for- 
 derance and advancement of the plantation of New Scotland, 
 the Lords gave and granted ‘ Commission, to Thomas Earl of 
 ‘ Haddington, Lord Privy Seal, George Earl of Wintoun, Alex- 
 
 * ander Earl of Linlithgow, Robert Lord Melvill, John Lord 
 ‘ Traquair, Archibald Lord Naper, David Bishop of Ross, Sir 
 ‘ Archibald Acheson Secretar, Sir John Hamilton of Magdalens, 
 ‘ Clerk of Register, Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, Knight Ba- 
 ‘ ronet Advocat, Sir George Elphinstoun, Justice Clerk, Sir 
 ‘ John Scot of Scotistarvet, and Sir James Baillie, or anie five of 
 ‘ them, without excluding of anie others of the Council who shall 
 ‘ be present, to convene and meet with William Viscount of 
 ‘ Stirling, and the Knight Baronets, at such times and places 
 ‘ as the said Viscount should appoint, and to confer with them 
 ‘ upon the best means for the fordering of the said plantations, 
 ‘ and to make and set down overtures thereanent ; and to pre- 
 ‘ sent and exhibit them to the said Lords, to the intent they 
 
 * may allow or rectifie the same as they should think expedi- 
 ‘ ent. 1 — On the I9th of February, the year following, (1632) His 
 Majesty transmitted to the Lords of Council and Exchequer, a 
 signature of <£*10,000 Sterling, in favour of Viscount Stirling, for 
 compensation for the expenses incurred by dismantling Port Roy- 
 al; and in a letter inclosing the warrant, His Majesty says, ‘Lest 
 ‘ any mistaking should ensue thereupon, we have thought it 
 
 * good to declare unto you that (as it may appear by itself) it is 
 
 * no ways for quitting the title right and possession of New 
 ‘ Scotland, or of any part thereof, hut only for satisfaction of 
 
 * the losses that the said Viscount hath, by giving order for re- 
 
 * moving of his colony , at our express command, for performing 
 
 * of ane article of the treatie betwixt the French and Us. And, 
 
 ‘ We are so far from abandoning of that business, that Wedo hereby 
 ‘ require you, and everie one of you, to afford your best help 
 ‘ and encouragement for furthering of the same, chief ie in per- 
 
 * suading such to be Baronets as are in qualitie ft for that dig- 
 e nity ' SfC. His Majesty further in a letter to the Lord Advo- 
 cate on the 14th of June following, writes, ‘ Whereas, upon 
 ‘ the late treatie betwixt Us and the French King, We 
 ‘ were pleased to condescend that the colonie which was latelie 
 ‘ planted at Port Royal in New Scotland, should be for the 
 ‘ present removed from thence, and have accordingly given 
 
 * order to our right trustie, the Viscount of Stirling, our prin- 
 ‘ cipal Secretarie for Scotland. Although by all our several 
 ‘ orders and erections concerning that business, W 7 e have ever 
 ‘ expressed that We have no intention to quit our riyht, and 
 ‘ title , to any of these bounds ; yet in regard, our meaning per- 
 ‘ chance will not be sufficiently understood by those our loving 
 
35 
 
 ‘ subjects who hereafter shall intend the advancement of that 
 ‘ work, for their satisfaction therein, We do hereby require you 
 4 to draic up a sufficient warrant for our hand , to pass under 
 4 our Great Seal , to our right trustie the Viscount of Stirling , 
 
 4 to go on in the said work ivhensoever he shall think fitting , 
 
 4 whereby for the encouragement of such as shall interest 
 4 themselves with him , and he may have full assurance from 
 4 Us, in verbo principis, that as we have never meant to re- 
 4 linquish our title to any part of that country which he hath 
 4 by patents from Us, so We shall hereafter be readie, by our 
 4 gracious favour, to protect him, and all such as have, or shall 
 4 herea fter at any time concur with him for the advancement of 
 4 the Plantation in these bounds aforesaid." 1 — (Earl of Stirling’s 
 Register.) 
 
 These Letters of King Charles I. sufficiently testify his Majes- 
 ty’s anxiety that the Baronetage of Scotland and Nova Scotia, 
 should realize the objects for which it was erected. This is 
 further testified by the following Letter from His Majesty to 
 the Baronets, dated from lfeaulie, the 15th of August lf)32. 
 
 4 Trustie, &c. — Whereas our late dear Father, out of his pious 
 4 zeal for advancement of religion in the remote parts of his do- 
 * minions, where it had not been formerlie known, and out of 
 4 His Royal care for the honour and weal of that Our ancient 
 4 kingdom, was pleased to annex to the Crown thereof, the do- 
 4 minion of New Scotland in America, that the use of it might 
 4 arise to the benefit of that kingdom ; We being desirous that 
 4 the wished effects might follow by the continuance of so noble 
 4 a design, were pleased to confer particular marks of our favour 
 4 upon such as should voluntarilie contribute to the furtherance 
 4 of a plantation to be established in these bounds, as appeared 
 4 by Our erecting of that Order of Baronets, who with you are 
 4 dignified: whereunto We have ever since been willing to add 
 4 what farther we conceived to be necessarie for the testifying 
 4 our respect to those that are alreadie interested, and for encou- 
 4 raging of them who shall hereafter interest themselves in the 
 4 advancement of a work which We so reallie consider for the 
 4 glorie of God, the honour of that nation, and the benefit that is 
 4 likelie to flow from the right prosecution of it. But in regard, 
 4 that, notwithstanding the care and diligence of our right trus- 
 4 tie, the Viscount of Stirling, whom We have from the begin- 
 4 ning entrusted with the prosecution of this work, and of the 
 4 great charges already bestowed upon it, hath not taken the root 
 4 which was expected ; partlie, as We conceive, by reason of the 
 4 incommodities ordinarilie incident to all new and remote begin- 
 4 nings, — and partlie, as we are informed, by want of the timelie 
 4 concurrence of a sufficient number to assist in it ; but, especial- 
 4 lie, the Colony being forced of late to remove, for a time, by 
 4 means of a treatie we have had w ith the French. Therefore, 
 4 having taken into our Royal consideration by what means again 
 
36 
 
 ( may this work be established ; and conceiving that there are 
 
 * none of Our subjects whom it concerns so much in credit to be 
 
 * affectioned to the progress of it, as those of your number, - for 
 ‘justifying the grounds of our Princelie favour, which you 
 ‘ have received by a most honourable and generous way, 
 ‘ we have thought fit to direct the bearer hereof, Sir Wil- 
 ‘ liam Alexander, Knight,* unto you, who hath been an ac- 
 ‘ tor in the former proceedings, and hath seen the country 
 ‘ and known the commodities thereof, who will communicate un- 
 ‘ to you such propositions as may best serve for making the right 
 ‘ use hereafter of a plantation and trade in these bounds, for en- 
 ‘ couraging such as shall adventure therein. — And We doubt not, 
 ‘ but if you find the grounds reasonable and fair, you willgive 
 ‘ your concurrence for the further prosecution of them. And as 
 ‘ We havealreadie given order to Our advocate for drawing such 
 ‘ warrants, to pass under our Seals there, whereby our loving 
 ‘ subjects may be freed from all misconstruction of Our proceed- 
 ‘ ings with the French anent New Scotland, and secured of Our 
 ‘ protection in time coming in their undertakings with it, so We 
 ‘ shall be readie to contribute what We shall hereafter find We 
 ‘ may justlie do for the advancement of the work, and the encour- 
 ‘ agement of all that join with them to that purpose. Which 
 ‘ recommending unto your care, We bid you farewell. 1 Eight 
 months after the date of this letter Bis Majesty wrote to the 
 Lords of Council (24th April, 1633.) signifying his pleasure that 
 whensoever any of his subjects of England or Ireland should take 
 lands holden of Him in New Scotland, their patents should be 
 passed at as easy a rate as if they were natural subjects of Scot- 
 land; and saying that ‘ hearing there was a rumour given out 
 
 * by some that We have totallie lost our purpose to plant in Nova 
 ‘ Scotia, as having surrendered our right thereof, lest any further 
 ‘ mistaking should arise thereupon, We think good hereby to 
 
 * clear our intention thereon, which is, that our said Viscount, 
 ‘ with all such as shall adventure with him, shall prosecute the 
 ‘ said work, and he encouraged by all lawful helps thereunto, as 
 ‘ well by completing of the intended number of Knight Baronets 
 i as otherways.’’- f* (Earl of Stirling’s Register:) 
 
 His Majesty being in Scotland in the month of June following, 
 (1633) on the 28th, the Parliament passed an Act, of which the 
 following are clauses ; — 
 
 ‘ Our Sovereign Lord, and Estates of this present Parliament, 
 
 * This was the Earl of Stirling’s son, who was for several years in Nova Scotia. 
 
 ■{■Asa proof of the integrity of the King’s intentions, and the fact that he had not 
 abandoned his rights in Nova Scotia, from the 10th of July, 1631, when he wrote to the 
 Viscount of Stirling ordering the demolition of the fort at Port Royal, and the removal of 
 the colony from it, to the date, 1637, several Baronets were created, to wham were 
 given grants of land in Anticosti and Cape Breton. 
 
37 
 
 * ratifies and approves the Act of General Convention of Estates 
 ‘ at Holy-rude House the sixth day of July, in the year of God, 
 ‘ 1630, whereby the said Estates have ratified and approved of 
 ‘ the Dignities and Order of Knight Baronet, with all the Acts 
 ‘ of Secret Council and Proclamations following thereupon, made 
 ‘ for the maintaing of the said Dignity, Place, and Precedencie 
 ‘ thereof.’ 
 
 ‘ And his Majestie and Estates aforesaid Will, Statute, and 
 ‘ Ordain, that the said Letter s-patent and Infeftments, and the 
 ‘ said Dignity, Title, and Order of Baronets, and all Letters- 
 ‘ patent and Infeftments of Lands and Dignities granted there- 
 
 * with to any persons whatsoever, shall stand and continue in 
 ‘ force, with all liberties, privileges, and precedencies thereof, 
 ‘ according to the tenor of the same, and in as ample manner as 
 ‘ if the bodies of the said Letters-patent, Infeftments, &c. were 
 ‘ herein particularly ingrost and exprest, and ordain intimation 
 ‘ to be made thereof by open Proclamation to all his Majestie’s 
 « lieges at the Market Crosse of Edinburgh, and other places 
 ‘ needful, that none pretend ignorance.’ 
 
 On the 14th of September in the same year, (1633) His Ma- 
 jesty, after his return to London, granted a Commission unto 
 George, Earl of Kinnoull, Lord Hay, &c. Chancellor, William, 
 Earl of Morton, Lord High Treasurer, and Thomas, Earl of 
 Haddington, Lord Privie Seal. William Earl Mareshall, Robert 
 Earl of Roxburgh, John Earl of Annandale, Sir John Hay, 
 clerk of 'His Majesty’s Registers, and Sir Thomas Hope of 
 Craighall His Majesty’s Advocate, for possessing of infeftments 
 of New Scotland ; which commission, as appears from a minute 
 of council, they took upon them on the 15th of February 1634. 
 At this sederunt the Lords of the Council farther ordained let- 
 ters to be direct, charging officers of arms to pass and make 
 publication by open proclamation, at the market crosses of the 
 head burghs of the Kingdom, and other places needful, an Act 
 embodying the Letters of King Charles I. above quoted, express- 
 ing His Majesty’s intention to prosecute the work of the Planta- 
 tion of Nova Scotia, and to encourage it by all lawful helps 
 thereunto, as well by completing the intended number of Baron- 
 ets as otherways. 
 
 In conseqence of the renewed ratification by Parliament in 1633, of the rights and 
 privileges of the Baronets, the appointment of the Commission for passing infeftments of 
 land in Nova Scotia, and the Proclamation consequent, between 1633 and the 31st July 
 1637, twenty- three Baronets were created, each of whom had grants of land, one in 
 Anticosti, the rest in Cape Breton, and eleven out of the number had seisen to their grants, 
 The only other Baronetcies created by King CharleB I. were 
 1638, Slingsby ofScriven. 
 
 Peirs of Stoneypitts. 
 
 Longueville of Wolner. 
 
 Crawford of Jordanhill. 
 
38 
 
 1638, Cooper of Gogar. 
 
 1639, Turing of Foveran. 
 
 1C40, Meredith of Henbury, 
 
 1641, Pretyman of Loddington. 
 
 1642, Gordon of Haddo. 
 
 1646, Hamilton of Silvertonhill. 
 
 1648, Seton of Culbeg. 
 
 and they had the rights and privileges of the institution conferred in shorter and general 
 terms. They do not appear to have obtained their locations, probably from the circum- 
 stance that the first Earl of Stirling died in 1640, when he was succeded by his grandson, 
 who was at that time a minor. 
 
 Whilst the Baronets, numbering in all (from the premier Sir Robert Gordon, created 
 May 28th, 1625, to Seton of Cu'.beg, the last created by King Charles I., in 1648,) 
 one hundred and twenty-two, of whom one hundred and eleven had grants, and sixty-sixhad 
 seisen of the same, were thus secured in their rights and privileges, by repeated acts of the 
 Crown and the Parliament of Scotland, during the period of twenty-three years ; nevertheless 
 shortly after Port Royal had been put (in compliance with Charles lst’s commands,) into 
 the state in which it was before the beginning of the war, and on the assurance that no 
 derogation to the rights and titles of those interested under the Charters to Sir William 
 Alexander, should insue therefrom, the French from Quebec, and the district surrounding 
 it, suddenly broke into the country of Nova Scotia, on the pretence of an unsupported 
 right to the possession of it, by the treaty of St Germain, whereby it was not ceded at 
 all, but only Port Royal commanded to be given up. The troubles of England, however, 
 by which King Charles I. was beset from this period, till the termination of his reign in 
 1649, prevented his breaking with the French Court ; and from the continuance of these 
 troubles for many years, it is to be accounted for, why the French for so long a period were 
 little molested in the occupation they took of the country, nor any effectual remonstrance 
 made against their aggression. 
 
 The French maintained their usurped possession of Nova Scotia, with little or no mo- 
 lestation, until 1654, when, by command of Cromwell, military re-occupation of the 
 country was taken by Col. Sedgwick. King Charles II., however, again in 1662, with, 
 out the consent of Parliament, commanded it to be re-delivered to them, and under the 
 treaty of Breda, in July 1667, the French alleged they were actually put again in pos- 
 session of Acadia, comprehending Nova Scotia. The Settlers in New England, however, 
 seized the first opportunity of a rupture, to force every place in their possession out of 
 their grasp. In 1689, Great Britain declared war against France, when Sir William 
 Phipps, on the 11th May 1690, reduced the garrison at Port Royal, which the French 
 had rebuilt, and left the country in the possession of those who remained behind. On the 
 7th of October in the year following, (1691) King William and Queen Mary, by Charter 
 to the inhabitants of the Province of Masachutt’s Bay, granted to them all the lands and 
 hereditaments lying and being in the country and territory commonly called Acadia, or 
 Nova Scotia, for the purpose of asserting, keeping up, and preserving the right of the 
 British Crown to the sovereignty of the country judging, which this act of sovereignty 
 evinced, that the country had not been validly ceded by the treaty of Breda, but that the 
 possession had by the French was deemed a violent, usurped, and vitious possession. 
 
 During the usurpation of Nova Scotia by the French, the territorial rights and privi- 
 leges of the Baronets fell into abeyance. But that these rights and privileges were deem* 
 ed valid and effectual is proved by the charters of the Baronets created by King Charles 
 2d. and James 2d. respectively, containing clauses granting * all the privileges, liberties , 
 t immunities, and advantages belonging to the Order , with no less liberty and extent 
 * of right, in all respects, than those possessed by the other Baronets at whatsoever time 
 
39 
 
 past created, or by whatsoever Laws, Statutes, Customs, Commissions, or Constitutions 
 held or obtained.’ 
 
 By the treaty of Ryswick, of the 20th September 1697, it was agreed between Great 
 Britain and France, that matters should be placed in the same state as before the declara- 
 tion of war. The sense which the British Crown entertained as to what was compre- 
 hended in the Treaty in respect to the country of Nova Scotia, was left by no means 
 doubtful. King William created various Baronets, giving them all the rights and privi- 
 leges possessed by the Order in virtue of whatever bygone Acts, Statutes, and Diplomas ; 
 and on the 27th of June, 1 698, He re-granted and confirmed to Sir Robert Gordon, grand- 
 son of the patentee, and to a new series of heirs, the Barony of Gordon in Nova Scotia ; 
 for doing which the King could have had no pretence, if the country had been considered 
 as having passed from under his right of feudal superiority or sovereignty, in consequence 
 of the French usurpation, or had the rights of the Baronets to possessions in Nova Scotia 
 been deemed lost. 
 
 At length the time arrived to fix the possession of Nova Scotia according to its original 
 and inviolate title. The country, wheresoever it was occupied by the French, was reduc- 
 ed by Col. Fr. Nicholson; and the treaty of Utrecht, 11th April, 1713, confirmed to the 
 crown of Great Britain for ever, ‘ Nova Scotia, comprehended in its ancient limits,’ as 
 also ‘ the city of Port Royal, (now called Annapolis Royal), and all other things in these 
 parts which depended on the said lands.’ 
 
 After this treaty it became a matter of dispute between Great Britain and France, what 
 were the ancient limits of Nova Scotia. This, at the treaty of Aix la Chapelle in 1748, 
 was referred to Commissaries, and was settled on the sole ground of the Charters to the 
 first Earl of Stirling, which were produced, and contained in them the proofs of what 
 property was in the Scottish crown at the time they were granted. Pending this discus- 
 sion, a plan for the better peopling and settling of Nova Scotia was proposed to the Privy 
 Council in England, and approved of by an order in Council, 7th March, 1749. But the 
 French having renewed their encroachments in 1730, from which they refused peaceably 
 to desist, it was totally reduced to obedience to the British crown in June 1755, by the 
 late Governor, Major Charles Lawrence. 
 
 By the treaty of Paris, 10th February, 1763, the French finally renounced all preten- 
 sions to Nova Scotia, and guaranteed the whole of it, with all its dependencies, to the 
 King of Great Britain. Its sovereignty was thus re-acquired by the British crown ; arid 
 in like manner all the rights of the Stirling Family and the Baronets, the grantees of the 
 British crown revived ; for the possession of Nova Scotia by the French having been a 
 usurpation, it created only a suspension of the property, and not an extinguishment 
 of it. 
 
 At the peace of Paris in 1763, the rights of inheritance to the first Earl of Stirling was 
 in the person of his great-great-grandson, John, 7th Earl. He died three years thereafter, 
 and was succeeded by his brother Benjamin, 8th Earl. This nobleman did not live to 
 institute proceedings for his rights in America, but died in 1768, when his titles devolved 
 on females till 12th September, 1814, when Alexander, the present Earl of Stirling and 
 Dovan, succeeded by the decease of his mother. His Lordship completed his Titles in 
 1831, when having been proved heir to the property, he obtained a precept from His Ma- 
 jesty, as overlord, for giving him seisen of Nova Scotia. This precept was directed to the 
 Sheriff of Edinburgh, who, on His Majesty’s behalf, gave the Earl hereditary state and 
 seisen of Nova Scotia, with its dependencies, on the 8th of July, 1831, ac the Castle of 
 Edinburgh, in the manner prescribed by the foundation Charters of the province. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the present Earl of Stirling having 
 adopted proceedings for the restitution of his rights in Nova 
 
40 
 
 Scotia and Canada, and the Baronets of Ulster having taken 
 measures for the purpose of restoring the Baronetage to the 
 original excellence of its institution, it is thought that the pres- 
 ent time is peculiarly suitable for trying the question, whether 
 the existing Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia have lost 
 their rights of inheritence in the latter country ? 
 
 From the previous statments then the following points may be 
 considered as established : — 
 
 1st. That the Charters and Commissions of King Charles I. 
 erecting the constituent Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia, 
 entitles each member to a grant of sixteen thousand acres of land 
 in Nova Scotia, to be erected into a free barony or regality ; to- 
 gether with the most important rights and privileges, seigneurial, 
 commercial, and legislative. &c. 
 
 2d. That the Baronets created from the erection of the Order 
 in 1625 to 1637, have each their grants defined in their Letters- 
 patent. 
 
 3d. That the Baronets created from 16*37 to the union in 
 1707 , have each the rights and privileges of the institution, 
 territorial and dignitorial, conveyed in general terms, by their 
 Letters-patent, 
 
 4th. That of the whole members of the institution, sixty-six 
 have had seisen of their grants, and been thus legally vested in 
 their property. 
 
 5th. That the Charters of the constituent members of the 
 Order, which by King Charles I. Royal commission are made 
 the general Charters of the institution, contain special causes 
 that the grants, dignitorial and territorial, shall be ‘ valid, suffi- 
 ‘ cient and effectual in all time coming, in all points in law, 
 ‘ in all the Kings courts, and in all other places, notwith- 
 ‘ standing any law, custom, prescription, practice, decree, or 
 4 constitution before made, decreed, or published, or afterwards 
 ‘ at whatever time, to be made, decreed, and published, ordain- 
 ‘ ed, or provided. 1 
 
 6th. That the said Charters, Commissions, and Letters-patent, 
 &c. have been unanimously ratified, allowed, approved, and con- 
 firmed by two Parliments of Scotland ; the first held at Holy- 
 rood House on the 30th of July 1630, the second held at Edin- 
 burgh on the 28th of June 1633, His Majesty King Charles 1. 
 being himself present. 
 
 Considering the lapse of time that has occured since the terri- 
 torial rights and privileges of the Baronets of Scotland and 
 Nova Scotia have fallen into desuitude, and that their grants of 
 land have been occupied in the interval by settlers, we proceed 
 to remove some of those objections which are supposed to inter- 
 fere with their re-apropriation. 
 
 The 1st objection seems to be, that King Charles I.st by the 
 treaty of St Germain, signed the 29th of March, 1632, ceded 
 
41 
 
 the territory of Nova Scotia to the French, and that with the 
 said cession, the Baronets lost their territorial rights. This ob- 
 jection falls, however, to the ground when we consider that three 
 months afterwards, King Charles I. st addressed a letter to the 
 Lord Advocate of Scotland, informing him that ‘ although by 
 ‘ all Our several orders and erections concerning the removal for 
 4 the present of the Colony lately planted at Port Royal in New 
 ‘ Scotland, We have ever expressed that We have no intention 
 4 to quit Our right and title to any of these bounds ; yet, in re- 
 4 gard our meaning, perchance, will not be sufficiently under- 
 4 stood by those our loving subjects who hereafter shall intend 
 4 the advancement of that work, for their satisfaction therein, 
 
 4 We do hereby require you to draw up a sufficient warrant for 
 4 our hand, to pass under Our Great Seal, to our said right 
 4 trustie the Viscount of Stirling, to go on in the said Work 
 4 whensoever he shall think fitting, whereby, for the encourage- 
 4 ment of such as shall interest themselves with him, he may 
 4 have full assurance from Us, in verbo Principis, that as we 
 4 have never meant to relinquish Our title to any part of that 
 4 country which he hath by patents from Us, so We shall ever 
 4 hereafter be ready, by Our gracious favour, to protect him, 
 
 4 and all such as have, or shall hereafter at any time concur with 
 4 him for the advancement of the plantation in these bounds 
 4 aforesaid.’ One twelvemonth after the date of the pretended 
 cession of Nova Scotia, His Majesty in open Parliament, as 
 above shewn, ratified and confirmed all the Charters and grants 
 to the Baronets of lands in Nova Scotia ; and on the 14th of 
 September following, (1633) he appointed a Commission under 
 the Great Seal, for passing of infeftments of lands in New Scot- 
 land. The fact was, that His Majesty having agreed, by the 
 treaty of St Germain, to retrocede to the French, Quecbec and 
 other territories in Acadia , (the then general name of all that 
 part of America) the French, under pretence that Nova Scotia 
 formed part of Acadia usurped the same, and King Charles at 
 the time was too weak in power, and encumbered with internal 
 difficulties, to maintain the rights of his Crown, or of his sub- 
 jects, against the foreign enemy. But a further proof that the 
 Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia lost none of their terri- 
 torial rights by the treaty of St Germain in 1632, is to be found 
 in the patents of the Baronets, subsequently created by King 
 Charles I. the greater number of whom had seisins to their 
 respective grants, and by the various letters and instruments 
 of King Charles I. above quoted, shewing his determination to 
 prosecute all lawful helps, to carry into effect the whole of 
 the objects for which the Baronetage had been instituted. Fur- 
 ther, the rights and privileges of the Order in their amplest ex- 
 tent were conferred by His Majesty’s Successors upon those 
 who were raised to the Baronetage, down to the period of the 
 
 F 
 
42 
 
 Union ; and there is a Charter of King William III. dated at 
 Kensington the 27 th of June, 16*98, and passed under the Great 
 Seal of Scotland, confirming a grant of lands in Nova Scotia 
 that flowed from the Charters to the first Earl of Stirling, with 
 the title and dignity of Baronet, which with the lands as an- 
 nexed thereto, &c. were resigned for the granting of this confir- 
 mation to a new series of Heirs. This is nearly a century from 
 the first grant, and is a formal, official, and unquestionable re- 
 cognition of the force and validity of the Charter originally 
 granted. 
 
 A second objection is suggested, viz. that the grant to 16,000 
 acres of land to be erected into a free Barony or Regality, con- 
 veyed by the constituent Charters to each member of the insti- 
 tution, has become forfeited by the failure of the grantees to ful- 
 fil the condition which is supposed to have been impliedly an- 
 nexed to their grants, of locating the same, and of defending 
 and maintaining them under the Royal authority. This objec- 
 jection, however, is nugatory : the plantation at Port Royal was 
 abandoned in 1631, at the express command of King Charles 1. 
 himself ; His Majesty allowed the first Earl of Stirling <£*10, 000, 
 “ in no ways for quitting the title, right, or possession of New 
 Scotland, or of any part thereof,” but only for satisfaction of 
 the losses which had been sustained at his request by the re- 
 moval of the colony ; and he further ordered the Lord Advocate 
 to draw up a warrant to pass under the Great Seal to empower 
 the first Earl of Stirling “ to go on with the work of planting 
 Nova Scotia whensoever he should think fitting ,” assuring him, 
 in verbo Principis, that as he never meant to relinquish his 
 title to any part of the country which the Earl had by patents 
 of the Crown, so he should ever be ready, by his gracious favour, 
 to protect him, and all such as had concurred, or should at any 
 time concur with him for the advancement of the plantation 
 of Nova Scotia. That the first Earl of Stirling, and the 
 Baronets, his associates and portioners in the colony would 
 have gone forward with the work, and that King Charles I. 
 would have fulfilled his promise of encouraging the plantation 
 ‘ by all lawful helps thereunto, as well by completing of the in- 
 ‘ tended number of Knight Baronets as otherways, 1 connot be 
 doubted, had the state of his Kingdom remained tranquil, and 
 his life terminatedby the usual dispensation of providence. During 
 the revolution which shook, and eventually overturned for a sea- 
 son the throne, the power of implimenting the conditions of 
 their institution was taken away from the Baronets of Scotland 
 and Nova Scotia. On the restitution however by the French, in 
 the year 1709, of the possessions in North America belonging to 
 the heirs of the first Earl of Stirling and his associates the Ba- 
 ronets, it was the part of the British Government to have cal- 
 led upon these parties to have fulfilled the terms and conditions 
 
4 8 
 
 stipulated in their respective Charters. This, the government 
 of that day did not do, but their neglect of it forms no hinder- 
 ance to the Baronets of the present day, resuming the rights 
 and privileges vested in them by the Charters erecting their 
 Order. The failure of the Constituent Baronets to realize the 
 conditions of the institution, was a consequence of the failure 
 of the crown to afford them that assistance and protection which 
 had been promised 4 in verbo principis' ; and which under hap- 
 pier circumstances would have been punctually performed by 
 that Soveriegn, who, to use his own words, had ever been will- 
 ing to add to the Baronetage what he considered to be necessary 
 for testifying his respect to those that were already interested, 
 and for encouraging of them who should thereafter interest them- 
 selves in the advancement of the work. 
 
 A third objection is interposed that the claims of the Baron- 
 ets of Scotland and Nova Scotia to their territorial rights and 
 privileges have become antiquated by the neglect, or the omission 
 of the grantees to act upon their grants from the date thereof 
 to the present time. It was not till the year 1763, when by the 
 treaty of Paris, Nova Scotia was restored to Great Britain, in 
 its full plenitude of extent and rights, that the Baronets were in 
 a position to have implemented the conditions of their Charters ; 
 and it was then the duty of the crown as much as of the Baron- 
 ets, to have carried them into force. Whether any proceedings 
 were then adopted for this purpose does not appear, but the 
 Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia, in virtue of the Charters, 
 revived 177 ^> ipso jure, their right to wear the orange riband 
 and badge conferred on the order by His Majesty King Charles 
 I. in 1629, to commemorate the objects of the institution. 
 Meetings of the Baronets, and their representatives in right of 
 their lands in Nova Scotia, were called at Edinburgh for the 
 1st July and the 1st October 1783, by public advertizements, of 
 which the following are copies : — 
 
 < Meeting of Nova Scotia Baronets , and Bepresentatives 
 4 in right of their Lands in Nova Scotia. 
 
 ‘ As measures are taking in London which may materially 
 < affect their interests in the estates granted to them in Nova 
 * Scotia, a meeting of the Baronets, and of those who are in 
 4 right of their grants of lands, is desired at Fortune’s Tavern 
 4 at Edinburgh on Tuesday 1st July next at 2 o’clock. 1 — 
 
 Edin. Evening Courant 1783. 
 
 4 Nova Scotia. 
 
 4 The Baronets of Nova Scotia, or those who have rights as 
 4 their representatives to lands in that province, are requested to 
 
44 
 
 ‘ meet at Fortune’s Tavern, 1st October at 12 o’clock, when a 
 ‘ memorial to the Lords of the Treasury will be submitted to 
 ‘ their consideration.’ — Edin. Advertiser 1783. 
 
 And since that period various measures have been adopted by 
 the Earl of Stirling for the restitution of his rights in North 
 America. It might therefore with justice be contended that 
 no prescription has taken place in the case of the Baronets to 
 lands in Nova Scotia ; but it is wholly unnecessary to instruct 
 on these isolated proceedings any definite conclusion, seeing 
 that the Charters never can be considered to have lost their 
 force, as they have been homologated during the whole period 
 of the usurpation of Nova Scotia by the French, by the Baron- 
 ets enjoying under them the dignitorial rights and privileges 
 annexed to their grants, and that the Charters of the constitu- 
 ent Baronets contain special clauses which declare that ‘ the 
 ‘ grants shall be valid, sufficient and effectual in all time com- 
 ‘ ing in all points in law, in all the Kings courts, and in all 
 ‘ other places, notwithstanding any law, custom, prescription, 
 * practice, decree, or constitution before made, decreed, or pub- 
 ‘ lished, or afterwards at whatever time to be made, decreed, 
 ‘ and published, ordained, and provided.’ 
 
 As it may be taken for granted that the length of time of non- 
 user, and a conclusion therefrom of voluntary abandonment of 
 their claims, will be strongly urged against the restoration of the 
 territorial rights of the Baronets, it is important to be observed, 
 that the clauses in the charters of the constituent members of the 
 Orders, just quoted, directly excludes the Scottish prescription 
 then recently introduced by the Act 1617> c. 12. The law of 
 England could not apply ; whilst the American law is favourable 
 to the Baronets — for by a recent decision in the United States, it 
 has been determined and affirmed, upon appeal to the Supreme 
 Court at Washington,* that a grant, originally well and suffi- 
 ciently made, remains indefeasible, whether acted upon or not ; 
 and that no laches, however long continued on the part of the 
 grantee or his heirs, affect the same. Indeed, with regard to 
 the objection of prescription, it may not be irrelevant to observe, 
 that the right of prescription has never been held to be so essen- 
 tially a principle of natural justice that it might not be set aside 
 by law. Two very important maxims of English law are direct- 
 ly opposed to it, viz. the rules ‘ nullum tempus occurrit RegiJ 
 and ‘nullum tempus occurrit Ecclesise ;’ i. e. to say, no adverse 
 possession of however long standing can be a bar to a prior right 
 of the King or of the Church. The docturine of prescriptive 
 right formed no part of the old common law of England, but was 
 first introduced by Statute of the 32, Hen. 8th, so that far from 
 
 * Case of the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ver- 
 sus the Town of Newhayen, Vermont, February 1823. 
 
45 
 
 being a fundamental principle of natural equity, it has been al- 
 together excluded by some laws, and certainly requires the aid 
 of positive enactment to give it any binding force or validity 
 whatsoever. By the special clause in the patents of the consti- 
 tuents Baronets above quoted, the inference of a non-user even vo- 
 luntarily continued cannot avail, for the charters must all be 
 interpreted and expounded according to their letter, and the 
 principle of the true consideration which induced the granting 
 of them. But indeed, in the present instance of claim against 
 the crown, it would be rather bearing too much upon excessive 
 prerogative to take away property by virtue of a nullum, tempus 
 exception, and yet refuse to restore it by not allowing the same 
 exception to those whose claims were derived from the crown it- 
 self. 
 
 In the year 1731, the Opinion of the Attorney and the Solici- 
 tor Yorke and Talbot was taken, whether the King’s right to 
 the lands of Pemaquid remained in the crown, which corroborates 
 in the strongest manner the view that we have taken of the claims 
 of the Baronets. It is given in Chalmers Opinions of Eminent 
 Lawyers, London, Reed and Hunter, Lincoln’s Inn, 1815, vol. 
 1st, page 73 — 1 10 ; and is as follows : — 
 
 CASE concerning the right to a Tract of Land lying 
 between the rivers Kennebeck and St Croix. 
 
 By the Massachusetts Charter the territories and colonies commonly called and 
 known by the name of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, and Colony of New 
 Plymouth, the Province of Main, the territory called Acadia or Nova Scotia, and all 
 that tract of land lying between the said Nova Scotia and the said Province of Main, 
 are ordained to be erected, united, and incorporated, and they are thereby erected, 
 united, and incorporated into one real Province, by the name of the Province of the 
 Massachusetts Bay in New England, and all lands, &c., to be holden of their Ma- 
 jesties as of their manor of East Greenwich, &c. yielding, therefore, yearly, one fifth 
 part of all gold and silver ore, &c. 
 
 Upon a representation to His Majesty (King George the Second) in Council, that 
 some Prostestants from Ireland and from the Palatinate were desirous to settle upon 
 the tract of land lying between the rivers St Croix and Kennebeck (Sagadahock), ex- 
 tending about one hundred and eighty miles in length on the sea coast, his Majesty 
 directed that his Surveyor of the lands of Nova Scotia should assign them lands ac- 
 cording to their desire, which he accordingly did about a year ago ; and several fami- 
 lies are now settled thereon, and improving the same, which were afterwards to be ra- 
 tified to them. 
 
 The inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay, who till this time always neglected the said 
 tract of land, as very inconsiderable and not worth their notice, claim not only a right 
 to the government, but also to the lands in the said tract ; and the government there 
 threatens to drive the families (now settled there) immediately out of the same. 
 
 QUERIES. 
 
 1st. Whether the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay (if they ever had 
 any right to the government of the said tract of land, lying between 
 
46 
 
 St Croix and Kennebeck or Sagadahock,) have not, by their ne- 
 glect and even refusal to defend, take care of, and improve the same, 
 forfeited their said right to the government ; and what right they 
 had under the Charter, and now have, to the laqds ? 
 
 2d. Whether by the said tract being conquered by the French, and after- 
 wards re-conquered by General Nicholson in the late Queen’s time, 
 and yielded up by France to Great Britain by the treaty of Utrecht, 
 that part of the Charter, relating thereto, became vacated ; and 
 whether the government of that tract and the lands thereof arc not 
 absolutely revested in the Crown ; and whether the Crown has not 
 thereby a sufficient power to appoint governments, and assign 
 lands to such families as shall be desirous to settle there ? 
 
 OPINION. 
 
 Upon considering the said Case and Petitions, and the evidences laid before us, and 
 what was alleged on all sides, it appears to us that all the said tract of lands lying 
 between the rivers of Kennebeck and St Croix is (amongst other things) granted by 
 the said Charter, to the inhabitants of the said Province, and that thereby power is 
 given to the Governor and General Assembly of the said Province to make grants of 
 lands within the said limits, subject to a proviso, that no such grants should be of 
 any force until their said late Majesties, their heirs or successors, should have signified 
 their approbation of the same. 
 
 It appears also by the said Charter, that the right of government granted to the said 
 Province, extends over this tract of land. 
 
 It doth not appear to us that the inhabitants of the said Province have been guilty 
 of any neglect or refusal to defend this part of the country, as can create a forfeiture 
 of that subordinate right of government of the same, or of such property in the soil 
 as was granted to them by the said Charter ; it being sworn by several of the said affi- 
 davits, that a fort was erected there, and for some time defended at the charge of the 
 Province, and that Magistrates and Courts of Justice have been appointed within this 
 district, and that one of the Counsel for the Province hath always been chosen of this 
 division ; and though it is certain that this part of the Province hath not been improv- 
 ed equally with other parts thereof, yet considering the vast extent of country granted 
 by this charter, and the great improvements made in several parts of it, we conceive 
 that will not create a forfeiture, because, in such cases, it is not to be expected that the 
 whole should be cultivated and improved to the same advantage ; and whether there 
 hath been such a neglect or non-user of any part, as may amount to a forfeiture, must 
 be judged of not upon the particular circumstances attending that part only, but upon 
 the circumstances of the whole. 
 
 And, if the Province had incurred any forfeiture in the present case, no advantage 
 could be taken thereof, but by a legal proceeding, by scire facias to repeal their Char- 
 ter, or by inquisition finding such forfeiture. 
 
 As to the question stated in the case, upon the effect of the conquest of this tract of 
 country by the French, and the re-conquest thereof by General Nicholson, we conceive 
 that the said country not having been yielded by the Crown of England to France by 
 any treaty, the conquest thereof by the French, created, according to the law of na. 
 tions, only a suspension of the property of the former owners, and not an extinguish, 
 ment of it, and that, upon the re-conquest of it by General Nicholson, all the ancient 
 
47 
 
 rights, both of the Province and of private persons, subjects of the Crown of Great 
 Britain did revive, and were restored jure poslliminii. This rule holds the more 
 strongly in the present case, in regard it appears by the affidavits, that the Province 
 joined their forces to those which came thither under the command of General Nicholson, 
 in this service. 
 
 For these reasons, we are of opinion that the said charter still remains in force, and 
 that the Crown hath not power to appoint a particular Governor of this part of the 
 Province, or to assign lands to persons desirous to settle there ; nor can the Province 
 grant those lands to private proprietors, without the approbation of the Crown, accord- 
 ing to the Charter. 
 
 As to the Case of the petitioners in the two petitions referred to us, who insist up- 
 on particular titles in themselves to certain parcels of lands lying within the district in 
 question, we have examined into their claims, and find by the above mentioned copies 
 of deeds and writings produced by them, that several of the petitioners and those un- 
 der whom they claim, have had conveyances made to them of several of the said 
 parcels of land, some from the Council of Plymouth, which was constituted by Char- 
 ter, in the reign of King James the First, and whose grants are confirmed by the 
 Charter of King William and Queen Mary, and others from Indians pretending to 
 be owners thereof, under which large sums of money appear by the said affidavits, 
 lo have been laid out in endeavouring to settle and improve the lands therein com- 
 prised. several of which sums were expended not many years ago, particularly a sum 
 of £2000, by Sir Bibye Lake, in the year 1714, and other sums of money, by others 
 of the petitioners, in the years 1719 and 1720. And though these settlements and 
 improvements have been in great measure interrupted and defeated, by frequent wars 
 and incursions of the Indians, yet several of these petitioners, or their tenants, appear 
 to be still in possession of some parts of the said tract of land. 
 
 Some objections were made before us to the nature of the grants and conveyances 
 under which the petitioners claimed, and the manner of deducing down their titles ; 
 but we conceive, that in questions of this kind, concerning rights to lands in the 
 West Indies, and upon inquiries of this nature, the same regularity and exactness is 
 not to be expected as in private suits concerning titles to lands in England, but that 
 in these cases, the principal regard ought to be had to the possession, and the expen- 
 ses the parties have been at in endeavouring to settle and cultivate such lands. 
 
 Therefore, upon the whole matter, we are of opinion that the petitioners, their ten- 
 ants or agents, ought not to be disturbed in their possession, or interrupted in carrying 
 on theii settlements in the lands granted to them, within the district in question. 
 
 (Signed) P. YORKE. 
 
 1KA Aug. 1731. C. TALBOT. 
 
 On this point, with a very striking analogy of non-user and 
 voluntary abandonment, there has been lately decided before the 
 Lord’s Committee for Privileges, (Lord Chancellor Brougham 
 maintaining the docturine) a case of claim made by the Viscount 
 Courtenay to the Earldom of Devon. This honour was con- 
 ferred on Henry Courtenay, who was created Earl of Devon by 
 Queen Mary by Letters-patent, in which the words of limitation 
 are ‘ Sibi et haeredibus suis masculis,’ without the farther words, 
 < de corpore,’ or * quibuscunque.’ He died shortly afterwards 
 unmarried, and consequently without legitimate issue. The 
 
48 
 
 Crown, considering the title vacant, conferred it afterwards, in 
 the reign of King James I. upon the Lord Montjoy, who enjoy- 
 ed it about three years, when he died without lawful issue, and 
 it again fell to the Crown ; whereupon the King once more re- 
 vived the title, and created the then Lord Cavendish Earl of 
 Devonshire, in whose family it now remains. 
 
 From the period of the death of Henry Courtenay, Earl of 
 Devon, till the year 1830, the heir-male of his family never 
 claimed the dignity, but allowed it without objection or preten- 
 sion, to be granted to strangers. The several heirs-male in suc- 
 cession continued commoners, till at last raised to the peerage 
 dignity in 1762 by the infei'ior title of Viscount Courtenay. But 
 on a sudden the late nobleman, (a person of overmuch notoriety) 
 thought fit to come forward and claim the Earldom of Devon, 
 asserting that the limitation 4 hseredibus masculis,’ without ad- 
 dition, meant heirs-male collateral, and was not confined to heirs- 
 male of the body ; and cited, as a precedent for such construc- 
 tion, the claims pending before the House of Lords in the An- 
 nandale Peerage. The Lords decided in his favour , and though 
 length of time is certainly not a bar to the inheritance of a title 
 of honour, yet in this instance it is apparent there was a volun- 
 tary abandonment, with a voluntary approval of other families 
 to take the dignity now re-demanded. The rule, however, laid 
 down by the Lords was a conformance to the exact words of the 
 Letters-patent conferring the Earldom. 
 
 In addition to the opinion of the Solicitor and Attorney Yorke 
 and Talbot, and the case of the Earldom of Devon, may be recit- 
 ed the proceedings in the claim for the Hon. John Hamilton to 
 the Regality of Drem, comprehending the lands of the Knight 
 Templars within the Kingdom, recorded in the Heritable Ju- 
 risdiction Papers in the Advocate’s Library. In the year 1614, 
 these lands were resigned into the hands of the Crown, when a 
 new Charter was granted, erecting them into a Barony and Re- 
 gality, which was confirmed by Act of Parliament in 1617- In 
 1748, one hundred and thirty-four years afterwards, all heritable 
 jurisdictions were done away in Scotland, when it was appointed 
 that any one lawfully possessed of any justiciary, Regality, &c. 
 should receive compensation for the same on proper application. 
 In consequence of this, the Hon. John Hamilton, heritable pro- 
 prietor of the Barony and Regality of Drem, presented a claim 
 to the Court of Session for <P3000 as the value thereof. The 
 Crown Officers opposed this claim, on the grounds that it did not 
 appear from the claimant’s writs what his territory was, or whether 
 he had any at all; that the Charter of 1614, ratified in Parlia- 
 ment in the year 1617, did not seem sufficient to establish a valid 
 right of Regality, for the Act of Parliament 1633, annulled all 
 Regalities of erections ; and that the claimant could not be 
 entitled unless he supported his right by the positive prescrip- 
 
49 
 
 tion. The Court having,' considered the condescendence put in 
 for the Hon. John Hamilton, sustained his right to the heritable 
 office of the Lordship and Jurisdiction of the Regality of Drem, 
 and allowed him £500 as a suitable remuneration. (Acts of 
 Sederunt, p. 428.) 
 
 In reviving after such a length of time, a claim on the part 
 of the Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia, to grants of land 
 and other interests in New Scotland, it is to be borne in mind, 
 that the rights in question fell to the ground, notin consequence 
 of a voluntary abandonment of them by the constituent mem- 
 bers of the Order, but in consequence of the acts of King 
 Charles I. himself. It was at the very moment that the 
 erection of the Baronets for furthering the plantation of Nova 
 Scotia had been approved by the whole Estates of the King- 
 dom of Scotland, and when, to quote King Charles I. letter, 
 of the 12th of July, 1631, to the Lords of Council, ‘he un- 
 ‘ derstood, both by the reports that came from Nova Sco- 
 ‘ tia, and by the sensible consideration and notice taken thereof, 
 ‘ by the neighbouring countries, how well the work was begun , 
 ‘ Sir William Alexander, his Lieutenant there, havin g fully per- 
 
 * formed what was expected from him, for the benefit which was 
 ‘ intended for him by the erection of the Baronets,’ that His 
 Majesty issued his commands to the Viscount of Stirling, in 
 writing, dated from Greenwich, 10th July 1631, that ‘ he would 
 6 not fail, as he would be answerable to His Majesty, to demolish 
 6 the fortifications at Port Royal, — remove all the people, goods, 
 ‘ ordinance, munition, cattle, and other things belonging unto 
 
 * the Colony, leaving the bounds altogether waste and unpeo- 
 
 * pled, as it was at the time when his son, Sir William, first 
 4 landed to plant there, by virtue of his commission.’ It was in 
 consequence of these orders that the work of plantation was 
 suspended in 1632 ; and it was not till one hundred and thirty 
 years afterwards, upon the final restoration to the British 
 Crown of Nova Scotia, by the treaty of Paris in 1763, that 
 an opportunity was ever presented to the heirs of the first 
 Earl of Stirling, and the representatives of his fellow por- 
 tioners the Baronets, to avail themselves of the Royal War- 
 rant, (directed to be prepared by the Lord Advocate of Scotland, 
 and passed under the Great Seal, by King Charles’ letter) of the 
 1 4th of June 1632, ‘ to go on in the work of planting Nova Scotia 
 4 whensoever they should think fitting When, however, after 
 the lapse of the time mentioned, the British Crown became re- 
 established in its rights in North America ; the rights of the 
 grantees of that Crown, or of their heirs representative, as a mat- 
 ter of course, returned to them. The validity of the grants and 
 Charters to the first Earl of Stirling, were the very documents 
 by which the conflicting claims of the French Crown were oppos- 
 ed, and finally disallowed ; and if they were found in the various 
 
 & 
 
50 
 
 treaties between England and France, valid and available for this 
 purpose, they certainly cannot be deemed invalid or unavailable 
 in a case where the interests of the possessors of the said grants 
 and Charters are concerned. Neither can documents which were 
 held sufficient to establish the rights of the British Crown in 
 1763, after they had been in abeyance one hundred and thirty 
 one vears, be held insufficient to establish in 1836, the rights of 
 the grantees of the British Crown, after an abeyance of only 
 seventy-three years. Considering that the constitutent Baronets 
 of Scotland, one hundred and eleven in number, each paid 
 their quota, 2000 merks, towards the plantation of New Scotland, 
 — that in most instances seisen was actually taken of the 
 grants, — that their rights and privileges have been ratified by two 
 Scottish Parliaments, — and that proclamation thereof was 
 made in all the head boroughs of the Kingdom, it cannot be 
 doubted that the rights and privileges of the Baronets remain 
 good and effectual, as when bestowed by the Royal Founder of 
 the institution. 
 
 Mr Broun, having read the Case, next submitted to the Meet- 
 ing a sketch of a Baronet in the robes of estate appropriate for 
 the members of the Order to wear upon Coronation, or other 
 solemn State, occasions ; a design for an Ulster Badge corres- 
 pondent with the Nova Scotia Badge, granted to the Baronets 
 of Scotland and Nova Scotia by King Charles 1. in 1629 ; and 
 a blazon of the Arms of a Nova Scotia Baronet charged with 
 more heraldic correctness than what is now in use amongst the 
 members of that branch of the Baronetage. These sketches, Mr 
 B. mentioned, he had had the honour to submit to His Majesty 
 at a private audience with which he had been favoured after a 
 levee in August, last year ; they had been made after consider- 
 able research; and were based, the former, on the analogy per- 
 vading the higher degrees of dignity hereditary, according to 
 which the Baronets, by their Charters, (as he had shewn in the 
 Case just read) are privileged to have their insignia regulated ; 
 the latter, on certain clauses in their patents, which appear hi- 
 therto not to have been properly understood. 
 
 In the order of business, Mr Broun had next to advert to a 
 circumstance of a personal kind, but which involved a question 
 of privilege that affected the rights and honour of the whole 
 Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia, and their families. He 
 
51 
 
 referred to a claim which he had lately made, as the Eldest Son 
 of a Baronet, for the dignity of Knighthood, and which ha;l 
 been refused. Considering that the proceedings on the part of 
 the Order had, in a great measure, originated from himself, he 
 had considered that it was only fair towards the Baronets with 
 whom he had the honour to act, as well as towards the Order gene- 
 rally, to assert in his own person such of the claims as were more 
 immediately connected with the degree of Eques Auratus. For 
 this end, in compliance with the mode pointed out in the Royal 
 Decree, in 1612, of King James I. ampliating the Baronetage 
 with the privileges, the pre-eminences, and ornaments of Knight- 
 hood, he had, on the 20th of July last, addressed a letter to the 
 Lord Chamberlain, reciting the promise and grant made by 
 King James I. for himself, his Heirs, and Successors, ‘ that such 
 4 Baronets, and their heirs-male, as thereafter should be no 
 4 Knights, when they should attain, or be of the age of twenty- 
 4 one years, after knowledge thereof given to the Lord Charnber- 
 4 lain of the Household, or Vice-Chamberlain, for the time be- 
 4 ing, or in their absence, to any other officer attending upon 
 4 His Majesty’s person, shall be Knighted by His Majesty’s 
 4 Heirs, and Successors,’ and requesting of his Lordship to lay 
 before His Majesty his (Mr B.’s) intention humbly to present 
 himself, as the Eldest Son of a Baronet of ancient creation, at 
 an early levee, for the dignity of Knighthood. Alongst with 
 this application, continued Mr B., I sent to the Lord Chamber- 
 lain a certified copy of the patent conferring upon my ancestor, 
 Sir Patrick Broun of Colstoun, and his heirs-male for ever, the 
 con-joint dignities of Knight Baronet ; also a certified copy of 
 the retour to Chancery of my father’s special service to these 
 titles, baptismal certificates of my own identity, and that I was 
 of the legitimate age. Further, alongst with the application I 
 also transmitted a case which I had drawn up, containing the 
 clause from King James lst’s Royal Decree of 1612, above re- 
 ferred to, and also from the Commission and Letters Patent of 
 King Charles I. in which he specially provides (as 1 have shewn 
 in the Case), that 4 the Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia, 
 4 and their Eldest Sons, or apparent heirs-male of whatsoever 
 4 heirs-male succeeding to them, shall each of them respectively, 
 4 by Us, (King Charles I.) our Heirs, and Successors, be inau- 
 
52 
 
 ‘ gurated Equites Aurati ;’ and having annexed to it the Opi- 
 nion of an able Herald, the learned Standing Counsel of the 
 Committee of Baronets, (which corresponds with a similar Opi- 
 nion given by Sir William Follett) as follows : — 4 I am of opi- 
 ‘ nion that the Royal Decree of King James I., in 1612, confers 
 ‘ upon every Ulster Baronet, and his Eldest Son, on attaining 
 4 majority, the right to claim Knighthood at the hands of the 
 c Sovereign. It also appears to me that the same right is con- 
 4 ferred upon the Baronets of Scotland created by virtue of the 
 * Royal Commission of King Charles I. in 1625 ; and I have 
 ‘ seen in Heraldic Works of high authority (Sir Robert Gordon’s 
 4 Genealogy of the House of Gordon, page 395 ; Nesbit’s Her- 
 4 aldry, Vol. 11, p. 132 ; Markhame, &e.) instances enumerated 
 4 of Knighthood having been conferred upon the Eldest Sons of 
 4 Baronets, in consequence of their acknowledged right under 
 4 their father’s patents. The report of the Heralds recognizes 
 4 the right of Baronets, and their Eldest Sons created previously 
 4 to the 8th of George 4th ; besides which, modern instances 
 4 might be adduced where this right was successfully maintained, 
 4 and indeed 1 am not aware of its having ever been questioned. 
 4 (Signed William Crawford, 50 Chancery Lane, 15th July, 
 ‘ 1836.)’ 
 
 To my application I received, the day following, a letter from 
 the Lord Chamberlain acknowledging the receipt of my letter 
 and accompanying documents, and that he had transmitted them 
 to the Secretary of State for the Home Department. On the 5th 
 of the following month, I received a letter from one of the Un- 
 der Secretaries of State, dated Whitehall , 4th August, informing 
 me that 4 he was directed by Lord John Russell to acquaint 
 me that the application which I had made to the Lord Chamber- 
 lain of His Majesty’s Household, claiming the honour of Knight- 
 hood in consideration of my being the Eldest Son of a Baronet, 
 had been referred, by his Lordships directions, for the considera- 
 tion of the Kings at Arms, who had reported that inasmuch as 
 the Patent granting the dignity of Baronet to my ancestor, did 
 not contain any clause authorizing his Eldest Son to claim the 
 honour of Knighthood, they were of opinion, that I had no claim 
 to that honour upon the ground set forth in my application, and 
 that Lord John Russell therefore had directed him to express his 
 
53 
 
 regret that he could not recommend to His Majesty to accede to 
 my request.’ On the receipt of this answer to my application, I 
 addressed the following letter to the Secretary of State : — 
 
 4 Clarendon Hotel, 6th Aug. 1836. 
 
 ‘ My Lord, 
 
 4 I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 ‘ Lordship’s letter, of the 4th inst. informing me, in reply to 
 4 my application to the Lord Chancellor for the honour of 
 4 Knighthood, in consequence of my being the Eldest Son of a 
 4 Baronet, that my application was referred for the consideration 
 4 of the Kings of Arms, who have reported, that, inasmuch as 
 4 the Patent granting the dignity of Baronet to my ancestor 
 4 did not contain any clause authorising his Eldest Son to claim 
 4 the honour of Knighthood, they are of opinion that I have no 
 4 claim to that honour, upon the grounds set forth in my appli- 
 4 cation. 
 
 4 There has been a mis-conception of the grounds of my claim, 
 4 1 conceive, both on the part of your Lordship, and of the Kings 
 4 of Arms, as your Lordship will find upon reference to my let- 
 4 ter — in which I rested my claim not merely upon the phraseo- 
 4 logy of my ancestor’s patent, however ample, but upon the 
 4 Royal Charters erecting the dignity, and specifying and con- 
 4 ferring the privileges which are to be enjoyed by all future 
 4 Baronets, as well as those of original creation. The words 
 4 used in conferring the dignity upon my ancestor, were prospec- 
 4 tive and retrospective, and gave him and his successors all rights 
 4 and privileges which then were, or thereafter should be, enjoyed 
 4 by any Baronet ; and 1 need not inform your Lordship, that 
 4 one of these acknowledged privileges and rights is — to claim 
 4 Knighthood in the mode which I have adopted, under what 
 4 I conceive to be competent advice. 
 
 ‘If, on further consideration of this subject, your Lordship 
 4 should still be of opinion that the Kings of Arms have suffici- 
 4 ently reported upon this claim, and that they have not altoge- 
 4 ther allowed the strongest ground of claim to pass unnoticed, 
 4 I shall not regret that the opportunity has been thus incautious- 
 4 ly afforded me, of co-operating with the Baronets of Scotland, 
 4 in the vindication of rights withheld solely from themselves — 
 4 on grounds which, I conceive, fully warrant me in immediately 
 
54 
 
 ‘ seeking a judicial decision of the Privy Council on behalf of 
 ‘ myself, and the Scottish branch of the Order; a remedy to 
 ‘ which I am advised, I have an indisputable right, and to the 
 ‘ successful assertion of which, I shall look with the fullest con- 
 * flndence. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 
 To the Hon. the Sec. of T ‘ ]\Jy Lord, 
 
 State for the Home Dept. C t 
 
 &c. &c. lVc. \ k Your most obedt. humble Servant, 
 
 ‘ R. BROUN.’ 
 
 To this letter on the 10th of August, I was acquainted by a com- 
 munication from the Home Office, that the Secretary of State for the 
 HomeDepartment,had nothing to add to his Lordship’s directions, 
 on the 4th of the month. Thus the matter stands at present. It is 
 almost superfluous for me to remark that this result of my applica- 
 tion, was just what was to have been expected. It tallies, in every 
 respect, with the view taken by theOfficers of Arms, in their report 
 on the other claims advanced by the Baronets, and is preferred 
 on grounds equally tenable. This imports little, the Heralds’ 
 College is a register of arms, but it is a Court neither of law nor 
 equity. With regard to the opinion of the Kings of Arms, 
 Lord Brougham, during his chancellorship, remarked from the 
 bench, that the opinion of a Herald, on a question of privilege, 
 was, in his estimation as a lawyer, of no greater weight than 
 that of a ticket porter’s. I will willingly, however, acquit the 
 heads of the Herald College, as regards the point at issue, of a 
 degree of ignorance as to the rights and privileges of the Nova 
 Scotia Baronets and their Eldest Sons, which would render the 
 opinions of the three Kings of Arms in matters of honour, just 
 as valuable as the opinions of the three tailors of Tooley Street, 
 in matters of government. I will not, however, so acquit that 
 party who lays the yoke upon these respectable officers, of stul- 
 tifying themselves in the eyes of society. But, however, this 
 may be, the Heralds will take nothing by their rejection of my 
 application, — nor, in the long run, will those who are better en- 
 titled to be considered the authors of it. Justice will prevail : 
 — the rights of the Baronets rest upon Charters which cannot be 
 shaken by any tribunal in the land ; and the opposition which 
 is developing itself to the revival of those rights, will only stir 
 up the more the zeal of those members who feel for the dignity 
 of the Baronetage, and are determined to preserve its privileges en- 
 
55 
 
 tire. It forms a feather in the dignity of the highest Peer of the 
 Realm, that, by the courtesy of society, his Eldest Son bears nomi- 
 nally his secondary title. The Baronets then may well be proud 
 that, from the grace of the Royal Founders of their Order, their 
 eldest sons, on coming of age, are entitled to a degree which was 
 once an object of ambition to the greatest princes ; and before 
 the reception of which, in former times, even the heirs apparent 
 of the English Crown were not permitted to sit at meat with their 
 fathers. This privilege is one, therefore, which, I hope I am 
 correct in thinking, the Baronets of Scotland and Nova 
 Scotia, shorn as they are of their ancestorial immunities of sit- 
 ting in the Supreme Legislature of the Kingdom, will not wil- 
 lingly allow their heirs-male to be deprived of. This I the more 
 confidently reckon upon, as the Nova Scotia Baronets cannot be 
 denuded of this dignity, without thereby losing the status which 
 they hold of free equality with their Ulster Brethren ; and in 
 fact, of sinking into a species of demi- Baronets, which would 
 place them on a grade inferior to every branch of the Baronetage 
 of the Empire. Whether, therefore, I shall adopt proceedings 
 before the Privy Council of England, or raise an action of decla- 
 rator of right before the Court of Session, I shall equally look to 
 the Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia, and to their eldest 
 sons, for their co-operation and support in asserting this claim. 
 
 Mr Broun then submitted to the Meeting a drawing exhibit- 
 ing the dress of estate, and the various ornaments which pertain 
 to the degree of Eques Aaralus, of which it is sufficient to in- 
 stance the Collar of S.S., the scarf, belt, sword, gold spurs, &c. 
 
 I have next, continued Mr B.,to advert to the subject of a Chap- 
 ter of Baronets for the regulation of the Order. The Meeting is no 
 doubt aware, that the Order of Baronet is the only estate of dig- 
 nity in the Realm, which has not the power of regulating its own 
 affairs. This is, perhaps, the jreal cause why so many valuable 
 rights and privileges of the Baronetage have never been asserted, 
 or allowed to fall into abeyance. In consequence, also, of this 
 circumstance, many irregularities and abuses. have crept into the 
 Order. It has formed, therefore, an object of special anxiety 
 with the Standing Committee of Baronets, and with all the Mem- 
 bers of the Order who have concurred in these proceedings, that 
 the Baronetage should be constituted a capitular institution. 
 Accordingly, it formed a prayer in one of the petitions presented 
 
56 
 
 to His Majesty in the course of the last year, ‘ that His Majesty 
 4 would be most graciously pleased to approve of the formation 
 ‘ of a Chapter of Baronets, for the Regulation of the Order, by 
 * Statutes to be prepared by His Majesty’s petitioners, and after- 
 ‘ wards submitted for His Majesty’s royal approval and sanction.* 
 Had this prayer been acceded, it was proposed as an effectual 
 means of purging the Baronetage of all surreptitious titles, and 
 of shutting the door in future against false assumptions, to have 
 made it, by statute, compulsatory upon any person not an Eques 
 Auratus , succcding to a Baronetage, to present himself at Court, 
 either personally, or by proxy, for Knighthood ; and that this 
 dignity should be conferred by the Sovereign upon none but 
 such as should have their applications certified as correct by the 
 Chapter of Baronets. Considering that the Peers, by a Com- 
 mittee of their body, exercise a control in all matters of privilege 
 relating to their dignities, and that each of the Royal Orders of 
 Knighthood, by the favour of the Sovereign, have Chapters for 
 regulating their affairs, it was confidently hoped that His Ma- 
 jesty would have granted this prayer of his Petitioners. It was, 
 however, with the other objects sought, referred to the Officers 
 of Arms, who, shutting their eyes upon the notorious abuses ex- 
 isting in the Order, as well as the whole circumstances which had 
 conspired to render the presentation of the said petition necessary, 
 reported it ‘ to be their humble opinion that the Baronetage being 
 ‘ a hereditary dignity, whose privileges are already clearly de- 
 ‘ fined and established by the several letters patent, and other 
 ‘ acts of the Crown by which they are governed, as well as set 
 4 forth in every patent conferring the honour, there did not ap- 
 4 pear to them to be any necessity for assimilating the Baronets 
 6 to the Royal Orders of Knighthood, by constituting them a ca- 
 4 pitular body.’ 
 
 Notwithstanding this unfavourable opinion of the Heralds, the 
 Standing Committee of Baronets, supported as they are, by 300 
 Members of the Order, do not abandon the hope that His Ma- 
 jesty will still grant a Chapter to the Order. In connection with 
 this subject, I may mention, that it is proposed to found a Bar- 
 onets’ Club or Chapter House in London, and that already a 
 very considerable number of Baronets and their sons have sub- 
 scribed their names for this purpose. Though it may perhaps 
 be deemed a little out of place, I shall at this stage advert to a 
 
57 
 
 matter, in which, individually, I take not a little interest, and 
 by which, if I am instrumental to accomplish, I consider I 
 shall do the state some service. In these various proceedings in 
 which I have taken an active part for the restoration of the Baro- 
 netage to its ancient status, I hope I have been actuated by 
 higher motives than any that simply belong to the wish of seeing, 
 to use the language of King Charles I., when he conferred on the 
 Nova Scotia branch a part of the splendid prominence of the 
 Order of the Garter, 4 the Baronets honoured and have place in 
 4 all respects according to their patents.’ As a Scotchman, I 
 hope I may say with a just pride, in which the highest and the 
 lowliest of my county men may alike join me, that I cherish the 
 memory of that Great Prince who first extended the sceptre 
 of the ancient, but unimportant, land of our nativity over 
 so many splendid portions of the globe, and that I venerate 
 an institution which was founded by him for the noblest and 
 most important of all purposes,— the social improvement of 
 the nations gathered under his rule. In seeking to revive 
 the privileges of the Baronetage, I seek also to revive the 
 objects of the Baronetage. I should be happy to see in a period 
 of national difficulty like that in which our lot is cast, when the 
 pillars of society are daily shaking, the Baronets assert their right 
 to put themselves at the head of the institutions in the state 
 founded for the furtherance of social amelioration. That they 
 should not only individually, and isolatedly, in their respective 
 localities, emulate the conduct of those ancestors 4 whose proffer 
 4 to their sovereign, of their persons and fortunes, to promote 
 4 his royal undertaking for the good of his people, moved him 
 4 with the desire of accomplishing the same, and caused him, 
 4 fondly regarding such generous inclinations, and minds so 
 4 addicted to his service, and the public good, to reward new 
 4 merits with new ensigns of dignity,’ — but that, considering their 
 patents of nobility as a retaining fee for collective exertions, 
 they should as a body apply their wealth, their influence, and 
 their example, to cultivate the vast domain of economic exist- 
 ence in the British Monarchy which has never as yet received 
 the attention its imporance deserves. Struck with the want 
 that excited in the metropolis of a national institution for social 
 objects, I have for several years past, co-operated with others of 
 the most enlarged philanthropy, who consider, like myself, the 
 
 H 
 
58 
 
 plough to be that instrument by which the prosperity of the 
 great mass of the people can most effectually be wrought out, to 
 form a national association for the protection and encourage- 
 ment of the interests connected with the soil. These labours, I 
 am happy to say, after much discouragement, were last Decem- 
 ber crowned with success ; and already 4 the Central Agricul- 
 tural Society of Great Britain and Ireland,’ enrols 15 
 Peers, 46 Baronets, 71 Members of Parliament, 64 Local associ- 
 ates, and several hundred members. In connection with this 
 powerful body, it is proposed to have a Club House ; and con- 
 sidering that the objects of this association like that of the Ba- 
 ronetage, may be considered to be, 4 to establish that the nation 
 4 shall more and more flourish, not only in the true practice of 
 ‘ religion, civil humanity, and probity of manners, but also in 
 4 the affluence of riches and abundance of all things which con- 
 4 tribute either to the ornament, or happiness of the common- 
 weal,’ the idea has suggested itself to my mind, that a building 
 to contain a Baronets Chapter House in one wing, and an Agri- 
 cultural College in the other, united by a Club House, com- 
 mon to both, might eventually attain the character of a nation- 
 al institution worthy of such influential parties, and of an 
 interest combined on which rests the greatness, the happiness, and 
 the stability of the British Monarchy. To illustrate my idea, I 
 have called in the assistance of a rising architect, (Mr Dews- 
 bury,) who has made the design, which I now lay upon the 
 table. To carry it into execution would require nearly <£100,- 
 000, a large sum abstractly considered ; but no great matter 
 amongst a body which counts in its number not a few whose 
 annual income approximates to the amount. 
 
 Mr Broun then submitted a very elegent design for a nation- 
 al building, comprising in the right wing a Baronet’s Chapter 
 Hall, Library and other apartments, and in the left, a corres- 
 ponding Hall for the General Meetings of the Central Agricul- 
 tural Society, Committee rooms, Museum, Library, &c. ; with a 
 centre building for containing all the usual conveniences of a 
 modern Club House. 
 
 I have now, continued Mr B.. come to the 4th section of the 
 paper of business, viz. to make some observations on the report 
 made by the Officers of Arms on the claims preferred by the Ba- 
 ronets in the petitions presented to His Majesty in July last 
 
59 
 
 year. This is a subjects of a delicate nature, and it is one upon 
 which I could have well wished to have been spared. In the 
 case which I drew up, and read to the meeting of Baronets who 
 originated these proceedings, I gave it as my opinion, (an 
 opinion founded on the precedent set by the Baronets of Scot- 
 land and Nova Scotia when in the year 177^, after an Abeyance 
 of 126 years, they resumed suo jure their right to wear their 
 riband and badge,) that no other steps were necessary for the 
 revival of the rights and privileges in question, than a resolution 
 of the Baronets, as a privileged body, to resume the same. This 
 opinion being unanimously concurred in by the Committee, a 
 General Meeting of the Order was convened for that purpose 
 on the 22nd of June 1835, and a series of resolutions declaratory 
 of the intention of the Baronets to revive the said rights and 
 privileges, were prepared in Committee for the adoption of the 
 meeting. When however the meeting was held, the Baronet 
 who was invited to move the 1st resolution, instead of doing so, 
 suggested that, from a proper respect for the crown, it would be 
 better to petition His Majesty to recognize the rights of the 
 Order in question, than to assume them in the first instance, 
 breve manic. Upon consideration it was thought preferable to 
 adopt the suggestion of the noble Baronet than divide the meet- 
 ing on the subject. Accordingly two petitions to His Majesty 
 were agreed upon, the one praying as a boon, that His Majesty 
 would be graciously pleased to put the Ulster Baronets onthesame 
 footing as the Nova Scotia ones as regards a badge ; the other 
 setting forth the dignitorial claims of the Order as treated in my 
 case, and praying that His Majesty wonld be graciously pleased 
 to direct his proper officers to report upon the evidence produced 
 in support of the claim of the Order to the style of the Honourable, 
 and to assign the insignia to the Baronets, in terms of King James 
 Ist’s Royal Decree of 1612, whereby the sixth degree of 
 hereditary dignity is to be assimilated to the other five degrees 
 of heriditary dignity. These petitions were presented to 
 His Majesty, at his levee, on the 8th of July last year, by 
 a deputation of Baronets, on which occasion His Majesty 
 was graciously pleased to say, that ‘ He received with plea- 
 ‘ sure the petition of the Baronets, — that they should be 
 ‘ duly considered, — that if on all points he should not be able 
 * to accede them, there were those which he considered entitled 
 
60 
 
 ‘ to receive his favourable support, — that he would take a per- 
 ‘ sonal interest in the matter, — and do all he could.’ In conse- 
 quence, a case was drawn up, setting forth the grounds upon 
 which the various matters claimed in the petitions were made, 
 which was transmitted to the Secretary of State for the Home 
 Department, by him referred to the Earl Marshall, and by him 
 referred for the opinion of the Officers of Arms. Thus, a body 
 wholly incompetent to act in a judicial capacity came by a series 
 of official references to sit in judgment upon the claims of the 
 Baronets instead of the Privy Council, who were the ‘ proper 
 officers’ alluded to in the petitions. This indeed would have 
 been a matter of little consequence, for the claims of - the Baro- 
 nets are so based in equity and justice, that they might have 
 been left to the arbitration of any other equal number of men 
 in the Kingdom, but the Heralds sat in judgment on these 
 claims with shut doors, they reported upon the case setting forth 
 the claims, not on the evidence by which the claims were sup- 
 ported ; and they paid no attention to an express stipulation on 
 the part of the Committee, that if on any point, a view was 
 taken different from the one taken by the Committee, the Com- 
 mittee should be permitted to strengthen that point, and be 
 heard, if necessary, by their Counsel in support of it. Thus, at 
 the end of three months, when the Committee, from not having 
 been called upon further to substantiate their claims in any point, 
 were in daily and confident hope that the expectations raised 
 by His Majesty’s most gracious reception of the deputation who 
 presented the petitions, would have been realized, an official 
 notification was received from the Home Office, that the Officers 
 of Arms had made an unfavourable report on the Baronet’s 
 claims, and that His Majesty, in consequence, had not been 
 pleased to give any further directions upon the subject. 
 
 I shall not consider it necessary to enter at present into an 
 expose of the Herald’s Report. That will form a part of the 
 proceedings on the occasion next season, when Counsel shall be 
 heard at the bar of the Standing Committee of Baronets on the 
 subject of the claims. But I will go the length of pledging my- 
 self to this extent, that upon the occasion referred to, unless in 
 the interval a Declarator of the Court of Session shall render 
 subsequent proceedings unnecessary, the frivolous vexations, 
 and untenable grounds on which the Officers of Arms have ar- 
 
61 
 
 rived at their conclusions, will be put in a light which will ef- 
 fectually stale-mate their report on the questions at issue. As 
 an instance, I shall take the first matter submitted — the style of 
 ‘ the Honourable In this claim, the point for decision was a 
 question of fact, not of right. The Baronets claim this style, 
 not because they can produce Charters conferring it on the 
 Order, but because they can produce evidence that their ances- 
 tors, during the 17th and 18th centuries, enjoyed it by the 
 courtesy of society. What the Heralds therefore had to consi- 
 der in terms of the prayer of the petition, was “ to receive, con- 
 sider, and report to His Majesty upon the evidence to be pro- 
 duced in support of this claim of his petitioners.” Now, in sup- 
 port of the fact, that Baronets were formerly styled e< the Ho- 
 nourable evidence has been collected from ancient writers, 
 heraldic authorities, deeds, legal instruments, letters, leases, re- 
 ceipts, blazons of arms, monumental inscriptions, dedications of 
 books, paintings, prints, &c. proving in the most indubitable 
 manner the fact that Baronets were styled ‘ the Honourable 
 But the Heralds shut their eyes to the facts, they pronounce 
 them of no authority, they hold that the patents of the Baronets 
 limit their designation, and humbly conceive that no other ap- 
 pellation was intended by the Founder of the Order than Sir 
 and Baronet ; and that if the style of Honourable was conceded, 
 it would create confusion, and interfere with, and encroach upon 
 the privilege which courtesy has assigned to the Sons of Peers 
 and Barons of the Coif ! O lame and impotent conclusions ! 
 Why, the Founder of the Order himself in the three patents 
 erecting it, published by royal authority, expressly designates 
 the Order Honourable ; the confusion to be created would be 
 similar to that which now prevails between the styles of Peer’s 
 Sons and the styles of the Barons of the Coif ; and as to en- 
 trenching upon the privileges which courtesy has assigned to 
 the Sons of Peers and others, why, who entrenches upon the said 
 privileges but the Heralds themselves, when they allow it is 
 competent for courtesy to give the style of ‘ the Honourable 1 to 
 the Sons of Peers and Barons of the Coif, but that it is incom- 
 petent for courtesy to give it to the Baronets ! It is not upon 
 such shallow grounds as these that the Baronets of the Empire 
 are to be denuded of a style whieh they hold on equal pre- 
 tensions, not merely with the Sons of Peers but with Peers 
 
62 
 
 themselves. The Sons of Peers are no estate of dignity in the 
 Realm, and they have their honorary titles and styles simply in 
 virtue of the rank of their fathers. But the Baronets, like the 
 Peers, hold patents of honour which ennoble both themselves 
 and their families, and further like the Peers, with few excep- 
 tions, they are the heads of houses and names, who, for antiquity, 
 wealth, and eminence, are not second to any in the Kingdom. 
 Before then, the Heralds presume in the face of analogy and 
 evidence, to decide that the patents of Baronets limit their style, 
 let them produce, if they can, one single patent under which a 
 Baron, Viscount, or Earl, can claim the honorary epithet of 
 Right Honourable, a Marquess, that of Most Honourable , or a 
 Duke, his of Most Noble. The Charter of King James 1. 
 of 1612, which directs that the Baronets shall in all mat- 
 ters be adjudged and assigned, as by the usual rules, custom, 
 and laws for place, precedency, and privilege, the hereditary 
 degrees have been adjudged and assigned, is a better war- 
 rant for Baronets to have the style of The Honourable — than 
 any captious objection which the Heralds can advance against 
 them. But they have a preferable right still — that of custom. 
 Use and wont on this point has regulated for the sixth degree of 
 dignity hereditary, in the same manner that use and wont has 
 regulated for the other five superior degrees : and the right of 
 the former to the style in question cannot be challenged, without 
 shaking the basis on which rests the styles of the latter. On 
 this particular the Heralds are at fault alike in taste and discre- 
 tion ; though I must do them the justice to allow, that it is on- 
 ly of a piece with their findings on the claims of the Baronets 
 generally. 
 
 It does not become me to impute motives to a body of Heralds 
 who are, or ought to be, imbued with the chivalric feelings of 
 their office. Less would I presume to cast reflections on the 
 Officers at Arms of England, some of whom I know to be men 
 of talent, urbanity, and sensitive honour, in their vocation. But, 
 at the same time, they hold subordinate offices, and it appears to 
 me, though I may be wrong, that they at present hold them un- 
 der hard taskmasters It is to my mind, I confess, a matter in- 
 explicable as regards the Ulster Badge, sought as a boon of 
 His Majesty as the sole arbiter in matters of dignity, that 
 it should have been deemed by the Home Office a fit subject 
 
68 
 
 for reference to the Herald College, after His Majesty had 
 declared, in the presence of his Court, to the Baronet who 
 presented the petition, c that he would take a personal inter- 
 ‘ in the wishes of his petitioners .’ From what I know of the 
 etiquette of Court, and the respect due to Majesty, I am 
 free to state it to be my conviction, that the Heralds durst not 
 have presumed in their Report to offer an opinion on this request, 
 which amounted to a veto on the declared and known intention 
 of the Sovereign, unless, for an interference from some quarter, 
 which was exercised alike in contempt of the prerogative of the 
 crown, — the will of the king, — and the dignity of the Baronetage. 
 Considering, however, that the boon sought by the Ulster Baro- 
 nets to be placed on a similar footing with their brethren of Nova 
 Scotia as regards a Radge, is the first favour of the kind sub- 
 stantively sought of the Sovereign since the erection of the Ba- 
 ronetage, — that it is preferred in a reign when many other classes 
 of His Majesty’s subjects are receiving large accessions of rights 
 and privileges, — and that it is made after the lapse of 225 years, 
 during which eight out of the twelve titled orders in the State, 
 have had their decorations and insignia augmented, — this request 
 is one which the Baronets consider they can urge upon their gra- 
 cious Sovereign with equal justice and propriety. As regards 
 the boon sought in the first petition, I trust I may believe that 
 there is not a gentleman in the three kingdoms cognizant of the 
 circumstances, but will join with me in thinking that His Ma- 
 jesty, after what has passed, is bound in honour to grant the 
 Badge. As regards the privileges , which formed the object of 
 the second petition, after what has passed, the Baronets are not 
 less bound in honour to assert them. It is indeed said that had 
 the Baronets in their petitions asked less they would have ob- 
 tained more. In the name of the Baronets, I repudiate the im- 
 putation ! The Baronets, save and except the Badge, have 
 asked nothing but what their Charters give ; less than that, 
 they will not take, — more than that, they do not desire. 
 
 I have to apologize to the meeting for the length of time which 
 I have already occupied ; I now proceed to the last section of 
 the paperof business, and the more agreeable task, of submitting 
 certain resolutions founded on this day’s proceedings. I hope 
 I am not mistaken in thinking that the claims of the Baronets of 
 Scotland and Nova Scotia, as treated in the Case which I have 
 
64 
 
 read, are too valuable to be allowed to remain in abeyance ; the 
 more especially as a few pounds from each of the members of the 
 Order will be amply sufficient to have them adjudicated upon by 
 a Court of Law. The first of the resolutions, then, which I 
 shall beg leave to suggest, is to the effect that a Committee shall 
 be appointed, with power to originate and conduct such proceed- 
 ings for the revival of the rights and privileges in question, as 
 shall appear expedient ; the 2d. is a resolution declaratory of the 
 intention of this meeting to revive the style of the Honourable ; 
 the 3d. regards the raising of the requisite funds by a sub- 
 scription amongst the members of £5 each ; the 4th., that the 
 proceedings of this day shall be printed and distributed amongst 
 those interested ; and 5th., that the thanks of this meeting be 
 tendered to the Standing Committee of Baronets, with an assur- 
 ance from this meeting of co-operation, coupled with the hope that 
 the Standing Committee will not relax their best exertions to 
 secure the general objects in view. 
 
 On the first of these resolutions it is unnecessary for me to 
 dwell. As regards the second, the resumption of the style of 
 the Honourable , by a declaratory resolution of this meeting, there 
 may exist a difference of sentiment. My reason for reviving it 
 by an act of the Order is, that this claim is not one that falls un- 
 der the cognizance of a judicial tribunal. This privilege, as I 
 have already stated, does not rest on charter, but on usage and 
 custom. It was given by society, and it may be withheld by 
 society. It is a matter of fact that the Baronets, in the 17th and 
 18th centuries, enjoyed this style. I have collected a host of 
 concurrent evidence which proves its use and wont beyond all 
 question ; this must meet the personal knowledge of some pre- 
 sent ; it is consonant with the intentions of the Royal Founder 
 of the Baronetage ; and it is supported by the analogy which 
 obtains amongst all the other degrees of Hereditary Dignity. 
 By passing the resolution in question, the meeting cannot com- 
 promise the Order : by not passing it the Baronets of Scotland 
 would omit an opportunity which can never be recalled, of act- 
 ing, on the first occasion of a public kind which has since assem- 
 bled them, up to the noble principle which guided the Order 
 in 1775, when they asserted their right of resuming the de- 
 corations given by King Charles 1. and refused to submit their 
 family honours to the decision of any party. Further, by pass- 
 
65 
 
 ing this resolution, nothing compulsory is intended. On the 
 contrary, the courtesy of society gave, and, in like manner, the 
 courtesy of society may withhold, the style of the Honourable. 
 All is left optional, or rather to the good feeling of the public. 
 The present age is not fertile in courtesies — nevertheless it has 
 not so far declined from the ancient feeling of respect for ances- 
 trial honours as to withhold what is given to the younger sons 
 of Peers, and Barons of the Coif, from those whose ancestors for 
 centuries were free Barons of Parliament, and who were the no- 
 bility of Scotland as much as either Dukes or Earls. The 
 Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia are, moreover, as Barons of 
 Regality in Nova Scotia invested with rights and privileges 
 nearly as ample as those enjoyed by many crowned heads in 
 Europe ; and as the chiefs of families and clans, their names, 
 illustrated by the deeds of those whose merits ennobled their 
 posterity, have, for many generations, been inseparably inter- 
 woven with the most brilliant transactions of their country. 
 
 As regards the other claims, whether dignitorial or territorial, 
 if a Committee of Claims and Privileges is appointed by the 
 Meeting, it will rest with the wisdom and the energy of those 
 delegated with such an honourable trust, to adopt such measures 
 as shall be best calculated for their restoration. Apart from the 
 great interest which the Baronets and their families have in these 
 claims, I am sangnine enough to hope, that the people of Scot- 
 land, and the inhabitants of Nova Scotia, will both see, in their 
 true light, the great benefits that will arise, in a national point 
 of view, from their revival. The institution of the Order of 
 Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia was an admirable means 
 to work out the objects proposed by its Royal Founders j which 
 objects were the mutual benefit of their native Kingdom, and of 
 the Realm which they intended should preserve its name and 
 institutions in the western world. These objects have been in- 
 terrupted, as has been shewn in the Case, by a variety of con- 
 curring circumstances, for which the British Government, and 
 not the Baronets, is to be held responsible. But, apart from all 
 the law of the Case, the intentions of a king for the good of his 
 people, like the intentions of a father, ought to be held sacred. 
 These intentions, like the rights of the Baronets, have fallen in- 
 to abeyance ; but it is never too late to realize plans that con- 
 template the happiness and the greatness of the Empire. The 
 
 I 
 
66 
 
 great aims for the honour and weal of his ancient Kingdom 
 which engaged the declining years of the first British Monarch 
 of the House of Stuart, — of that illustrious prince whose character 
 has never been appreciated as it ought, but of whom it is record- 
 ed, in pages where flattery and falsehood enter not, that his con- 
 duct was such, that it ‘ so bound and firmly knit the hearts of 
 ‘ His loyal and religious people unto him, that His very name 
 * was precious among them, that their eyes did behold Him with 
 ‘ comfort, and they blessed Him in their hearts as that sanctified 
 ‘ person, who, under God, was the immediate author of their 
 4 true happiness,’ — ought to be held, at least by Scotchmen, in 
 grateful remembrance. Let the people of Scotland reflect that 
 the inheritance he left his subjects — for the interests of the Baro- 
 nets and the public in this matter are nearly equal — was a domi- 
 nion greater in extent than his native Kingdom ; and let them 
 take up this matter as a national question. That it was so view- 
 ed by the Meeting of Estates in the year 1630, we find from the 
 act ratifying and approving of the institution of the Baronetage ; 
 for it is recorded that ‘ all, in one voice, concluded and agreed 
 4 that His Majestie should be petitioned to maintain His rights 
 4 of New Scotland, and to protect his subjects, undertakers of 
 4 the said plantation, in the peaceable possession of the same, as 
 4 being a purpose highlie concerning His Majestie’s honour, and 
 4 the good and credit of His ancient Kingdome There can, I 
 think, be little difference of opinion, after the evidence which I 
 have laid before the Meeting, that a Case in Law, as well as in 
 Equity, can be established in favour of the Baronets. And there 
 can be even less difference of opinion still, that the throwing of 
 the unlocated parts of Nova Scotia into the hands of so wealthy 
 a class as the Baronets of Scotland, would do much to give a 
 new and permanent impulse to the industry of Scotland, to ex- 
 tend her trade, to increase her wealth, and to enlarge her 
 happiness.* If, in the year 1709, Queen Anne, in her speech 
 
 * A very large portion of Nova Scotia, and more particularly of New Brunswick 
 the most fertile part of Nova Scotia, is uulocated. In reviving these claims, it is not 
 intended to dispossess the present occupiers of land in Nova Scotia. In this respect 
 an equitable arrangement, satisfactory to all parties, can easily be effected. The 
 government of late has been adopting measures for ‘ appropriating and settling the 
 waste lands in Nova Scotia and it is said, some members of the government have 
 contrived to appropriate for their own use, very considerable tracts. The Baronet* 
 
67 
 
 from the throne, after announcing that France had consented 
 to restore the whole Bay and straits of Hudson, to deliver up 
 the Island of Newfoundland, with Placentia, and to make 
 an absolute cession of Annapolis, (formerly Port Royal,) 
 with the whole of Nova Scotia or Acadia, observed, — 1 Our 
 4 interest is so deeply concerned in the trade of North 
 
 * America, that I have used my utmost endeavours to adjust that 
 
 * article in the most beneficial manner, — well may the Baronets 
 having so great an interest in those possessions and trade, feel, in 
 the present day, when the population and commerce of Nova 
 Scotia has become so expanded, equally concerned, and use their 
 best exertions to have their claims equitably adjusted. But neither 
 Scotland nor Nova Scotia alone would benefit by the restoration 
 of the rights of the Baronets. It is the opinion of an eminent 
 engineer who lately traversed the localities, and published a work 
 on the subject, that through the Lakes of North America may 
 be opened a route for the traffic of the Eastern Hemisphere. 
 That this can be accomplished, in an age when mechanical power 
 is effecting such wonders,— and accomplished in a manner that 
 would bring India, comparatively speaking, to our doors, — I do 
 not doubt. Wealth and enterprise alone is wanting ; — nor can 
 I conceive a circumstance more likely to lead to such a result, 
 than to place the western frontiers of that magnificent line of 
 commerce through which might be poured into Europe the 
 riches of Asia, in the hands of a body so influential as the Baro- 
 nets of Scotland and Nova Scotia. On political grounds also, 
 by the restoration of the Baronetage to its original objects, what 
 mighty benefits would arise ; to spread the aristocratical institu- 
 tions of Britain over our possessions in Northern America, would 
 form a rampart against the spread of those democratic opinions, 
 which threaten, at no distant day, to sever them from the mother 
 country ; by imbuing our trans-atlantic fellow-subjects with those 
 social feelings which has built up the British nation into its present 
 state of greatness and prosperity . I am one of those who firmly be- 
 lieve that the noblest sentiments of human nature can better be de- 
 veloped under a kingly rule, than under that of any other kind of 
 
 and their chief, the King’s hereditary Locum Tenens , only seek to save the govern- 
 ment from the trouble of appropriating what does not belong to it. They are fully able to 
 implement the conditions of their Charters, and to supersede the necessity of Joint 
 Stock Companies, and all other jobbing plans, for the settling of Nova Scotia. 
 
68 
 
 government ; and I would wish to see extended the monarchial 
 institutions of Britain, wherever British subjects exist. By re- 
 viving the Baronetage and its objects, in the western world, the 
 greatest benefits, commercial and civil, would arise, — and the 
 time may come, when the extention of the same Order to the 
 East, (to Austral-asia) may be made instrumental to disburden- 
 ing the energies of the nation of that debt which paralyses it, by 
 enabling the legislature to pay off in honours and lands, those 
 obligations which were chiefly contracted in paper, and which 
 never can be paid, — though made payable, — in gold. Apart, 
 however, from all public considerations, the Baronets by seeking 
 a restoration of their rights in Nova Scotia, will only follow the 
 example of those numerous other classes of His Majesty’s sub- 
 jects, who, during the present reign, have sought and obtained 
 a restoration of ancient rights and privileges. And in doing so, 
 it cannot be said that the Baronets will urge their claims upon 
 unbecoming grounds, since it is only to realize the objects for 
 which their ancestral dignities were bestowed. What those ob- 
 jects were, — what those objects are, I have already stated, and 
 shall conclude by expressing a hope, that, the opinion of King 
 Charles I. in His letter to the Baronets, of the 15th of August, 
 1682, which is embodied in the Case I have read, will be concur- 
 red in by the Meeting, by the Members of the Order generally, 
 and by the public ; viz. ‘ that the continuance of so noble a design 
 may really be considered to be for the glory of God, the honour 
 of the nation, and the benefit of all concerned in the right prose- 
 cution of it.’ 
 
 Mr Broun having concluded, next submitted a series of reso- 
 lutions similar to those adverted to in his address. When, af- 
 ter some observations by Sir J. G. Dalyell, it appearing to be 
 the general sense of the Meeting, that time should be allowed for 
 the Members of the Order, and those having an interest in lands 
 in Nova Scotia, to consider maturely the Case that had been 
 read, prior to entertaining the Resolutions laid on the table, Mr 
 Broun consented to propone them till next meeting, substitu- 
 ting, instead, the following Resolution, which, on the motion of 
 Sir William C. Seton, Bart, was unanimously carried : — 
 
 c That the proceedings of this day be printed, and that this 
 { Meeting, at its rising, do adjourn till after the distribution of 
 
69 
 
 ( the same, amongst the Members of the Order, for their consi- 
 ‘ deration;* and that the Hon. Secretary be requested thereafter, 
 
 ‘ to convene a Special General Meeting of the Order, and of such 
 * as have interest in lands, &c. in Nova Scotia, to consider what 
 ‘ farther measures shall be adopted.’ 
 
 William Muir, Esq. on behalf of Sir William Sibbald, Bart, 
 stated to the Meeting, in reference to what had been said regard- 
 ing the territorial rights vested in the Baronets of Scotland and 
 Nova Scotia by their Charters, that that very question had been 
 raised, and was now in dependence before the Court of Session. 
 He had yesterday sent a copy of the proceedings to the Hon. 
 Secretary, with a view to its being submitted to this Meeting. 
 He also explained that as, agreeably to the Nova Scotia Char- 
 ters, infeftment was appointed to be taken at the Castle of Edin- 
 burgh, Sir William Sibbald at this moment stood vested in his 
 portion of 16,000 acres of the territory of Nova Scotia. On this 
 title and investiture, the Crown had thought proper to raise an 
 action, with a view not only to reduce the title of Sir William to 
 the dignities of Knight Baronet, but likewise to take away all 
 right which he could pretend to any possessions in Nova Sco- 
 tia, by virtue of the charters of his ancestors. Mr Muir further 
 stated, that as the question thus at issue, between Sir William 
 Sibbald and the Crown, embraced in substance the very object 
 which it was the wish of this Meeting to establish, and might 
 be viewed as a trial case, and as that question was nearly ready 
 for judgment in Court, he begged respectfully to submit the Case 
 to the consideration of the Meeting. 
 
 Mr Broun took an opportunity of expressing to the Meeting, 
 the deep obligation which he was under to Ephraim Lockhart, 
 Esq. W.S. for the very valuable information communicated by 
 him ; without which, the Case, at best, must otherwise have been 
 comparatively imperfect. 
 
 A vote of thanks was then passed to Sir John Campbell, Bart, 
 for his conduct in the chair, after which the Meeting adjourned. 
 
 R. BROUN, Hon. Secretary. 
 
 * The non-resident Baronets are requested to communicate their intentions in re- 
 ference to these proceedings to the Hon. Secretary as early after the receipt of the 
 Case as possible. Letters to be post paid , and addressed to Gibb's Hotel, Princes 
 Street , Edinburgh. 
 
 \ 1th November , 1836. 
 

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