THE COPY OF A LETTER Written by a Friend, to the Laird of BLAIKWOOD, and his Answer, With the COPY of My LORD ANGUS' LETTER, From UTRECHT, 21/11 January 1692. To My LORD MARQUESS OF DOWGLAS HIS FATHER, Edinburgh, 16th: August 1692.  
SIR,  
MY Lord Angvs' Death is generally Regretted by all, which occasions some that are better acquaint with his Circumstances to Reflect a little more freely on his going to this Campaign to serve under King William; And on that part you are supposed to have had in it: For they say, that my Lord Marquis and his Family were particularly obliedged by King Charles the Second, and King James his Successor: For such was King Charles his Concern and care of that Noble and Ancient Family, that in the year, 1682. He wrote to the Lord Chancellor, and Theasurer of Scotland to know its present condition, showing that in regard of many signal services performed by that Family to his Royal Predecessors, he would not only see to its standing, but to its continuance, in a splendid and plentiful condition. And that in the mean time he would take care of the breeding of the Marques' Son: For which effect in the Year, 1684. There was realie granted to my Lord Angus a Pension of two hundred Pound Sterling▪ And this pension King James in the Year, 1686. Was pleased to continue, and also to order all the Arrears thereof to be paid, with two hundred pound Sterling more, by way of advance: Which were certainly singular marks of the Royal Bounty of these two Kings: And a very promising earnest of far greater things, that my Lord Marquis might have expected from them. To this it is also added, That my Lord Angus himself was not so forward to have gone to this Campagne, but did rather incline, to prosecute his Travels; and that he wrote to you to obtain his Father's leave: Which as the Event hath happened, had been indeed his wiser and better Course. However, these things do a little burden both the Marquis and you: And some are pleased to express themselves more freely, by declaring that they cannot comprehend what could have moved the Marquis to be so forward in this Affair; seeing that notwithstanding of the eminent Character of his Family, and that he himself was amongst the first to advance King William's Interest in Scotland, and did both venture his Son to the Army, and put himself, without regard to the low condition of his Fortune, to a considerable expense for his Equippage: Yet it is visible enough, that since the late Revolution to this day, the Marquis hath been acknowledged in nothing, and neither Place nor Pension conferred upon him. It's like the Marquis may be unwilling that this last part should be noticed, as knowing, That King William, a Stranger, cannot be blamed for this Omission: And that the distribution of Favours depends often as much upon the Ministers, as upon the Prince. But seeing these things do furnish discourse, I should be content to hear from you such a clear and satisfying Account, as might enable me to do my Lord and you the service in this occasion, that you may very justly expect from,  
For the Laird of BLAIKWOOD.  
SIR, Your humble Servant, M. T: S:  
Edinburgh, 26th: August 1692. SIR  
I Take it very kindly, that you do so far concern yourself in this Affair, touching my Lord Angus, his Loss, if he be lost, (which you may be sure we are loath to believe) is indeed irreparable, and never enough to be regretted: And thence you and all Equitable Men, may very well conclude, That my Lord, his Father, had never ventured him, if the thing could possibly have been evited: But as he was the only Son, and hope of the Family, and had from his Father's extreme Care and Tenderness, received a suitable Education; So you see that his Ripening years, with the concurrence of other things, did present to him this occasion, which not only he himself, but all acquainted with the condition of his Family judged very proper, to recommend him to the King's Notice and Favour, And to introduce him to those Advantages, which his Family stands so absolutely in need of. The only demur that stood in his Father's way, was the hazard of his Person; And that did weigh so much with him, and the principal Friends of the Family; That though my Lord Angus was exceedingly earnest to have made the last Summer's Campaigne; Yet his Father did restrain him: But as that Restraint could not be made effectual without some insinuation of Hope for the ensuing year, from those that were employed to deal with him: So both together wought so powerfully upon his boiling Spirit, Aspiring so Vehemently to show himself worthy of his Noble Progenitors, That at the Return of this Campaign, it was utterly impossible to make him defer any longer. And I am persuaded, that had the severest of his Friends known his Earnestness in this matter, as well as his Father and I did, They would this day have been very far from adding to his Father's affliction, the least censure of his proceeding. I cannot tell you all particulars, But here is one, I think may answer for all, Which is the copy of the Letter he wrote to his Father with his own hand, in January last, which indeed broke his Father to a consent, and without which it is probable, he had never been broke. This Letter I do therefore transmit to you, Not doubting, but since it was so powerful upon a tender Father, and all that see it, to prevail for their consent; it will now be satisfying, to answer all the murmuring that may arise on so sad an Event. I could acquaint you with other Letters and Passages, whereby you might be convinced, that his Desire, if not complied with, had certainly broke out into some more desperate Resolution: But this Letter alone was too persuasive to need any other support. It hath pleased GOD, in his high Sovereignty, to Dispose otherways nor was hoped: But this only requires our Submission. And I am persuaded, when all things shall be considered, all Men will conclude, That my Lord Angus' Conduct in this whole Affair, was so Rational in every Respect; That it remains only to be lamented, That so fair Appearances should have been prevented by a Death, which, though most Honourable, could never be too late. And thus I leave you, to peruse his Letter herein enclosed;  
SIR, Your humble Servant, WILL: LAWRIE  
Vtrecht, 21/11 January, 1692. MY LORD,  
I Cannot express the Extreme Trouble and Grief it is to me, to be so long without hearing from your Lordship, since it is now near four months, that neither Mr. Cranstoun nor I, have had the honour of one Letter, though we have wrote several times both of us; So I'm assured our Letters must have been miscarried, since the circumstances I am now under, are so difficult, and of so great importance, both to me, and (if I dare say) to your Lordship also, and the Family, I have the Honour to belong to; That if you had got my Letters, you would not have been so long of letting me know your Commands: This made me take the Resolution some days ago, to write to my Lord Drumlangrig, and the Master of Stair, and to entreat that they together with the Duke of Queensberry, Melvil, Tarbat, and Carmichael, being all at Court, would consider upon my Case; And upon what might be the properest course for me to take; Give your Lordship Advice of their Opinion in a Letter. My Lord, I know too well your Lordship's Goodness and Kindness to me, beyond most of Fathers, and much beyond what ever I shall be able in my life to acknowledge, with that dutifulness that becomes me; And therefore can protest to you, that I had no other, neither Design nor Prospect in Writing to London, than simply this, That these Persons being the nearest Relations of our Family, and these whom I have always observed most concerned, both in your Lordship and in me: I was persuaded that being all at Court, they would have a further view of things, and be more able to Judge truly what would be fittest for me to do, then either they themselves, or your Lordship could do, being only in Scotland, where they could not so narrowly see the state of things. I know not whither they will be so good as to do what I desired of them; But I'm sure, my Lord, That all that I can ever expect or pretend to hereafter, my honour in the eyes of all the World, and all that aught to be dear to a Gentleman, are most deeply concerned in my Conduct at this time. I have been assured both by my Lord Drumlangrig, and others, That if I had been in the Campaigne last year, when Lieutenant General Dowglas died, I had gotten the Regiment of Guards: And tho that's a Post more honourable and lucrative, than any I can expect to get in many years to come; Yet, my Lord, if you knew the censures passed upon my absence. I'm persuaded you would believe my missing of that preferment is not the greatest loss I suffer by it. The Mr. of Stair particularly can inform your Lordship, how much to my dishonour, all the General Officers of the Army, all the Court; And I may say, all perhaps that knew me in the Army, spoke of my being here; while others that were both younger, Men of Quality, and only Sons as well as I, were there serving as Volunteers, though they had not half the Obligation to do it that lies upon me, considering my Regiment was there in actual service: And how these Reflections went so far as to be spoken in the King's Bed Chamber, and even in his Majesties own hearing, till the King had the goodness to take it upon himself, and to tell the Company, That he had commanded me for this year to follow my Studies. Tho this was a great goodness in the King to me. Yet my Lord, I may say, it saved but little of my Honour, since even my Lord Portland, the Kings own Favourite; Notwithstanding he both knew at the Hague, the King had discharged me, and heard his Majesty own it again in the Campt; Yet after that spoke seriously of it both to my Lord Drumlangrig, and Sir John Dalrimple, and fell a laughing at their alleging the King's Commands, as a thing either procured expressly by my Friends from the King, or at best commanded by his Majesty out of mere Bounty and Goodness; Because he observed my Relations averse from my serving of him. And Portland told them further, that these sort of Commands were not to be obeyed by a Young Man like me. And that however the King had commanded me not to make the Campaign; Yet to be sure, He would not be ill pleased to see me disobey him, and that I would find it would be my great Interest as well as Honour to do it. Besides when the King spoke to the Master of Staire last Spring, at the Hague, to discharge me from coming to the Fields, he told him expressly, he would not hinder me the next Year; Which coming from the King, any Man will interpret as a positive command, Lieutenant General Dowglas, though but few Days in the Campt, was pleased both to his Nephew, and Sir Robert Dowglas in that time, to show a great concern in me, and spoke of my absence in so strong Terms, that he told them it had been better for me to have been there, though I should have come barefoot, and without a whole Coat; And was pleased to say, that the next year, he would come himself, and pull me from Vtrecht to the Campt, though he should be obliged to seek a Contribution from my Friends that are Officers in the Army for my Subsistence there, since it was the only way I had▪ both to make my own Fortune, and Contribute to the establishing of the Family I belonged to. And Major General Talmash spoke of my absence with great heat to my Lieutenant Colonel, And told him, I would ruin myself and Family by it: Notwithstanding, he knew that the King had commanded me to stay here.  
When these People who are all my Friends have spoke of my being from the Campaign, your Lordship may be pleased to consider, what other persons, both Princes and General Officers of the Allies Army, to most of whom I have the Honour to be known at the least, in a general acquaintance, will say of it; And with what freedom they will pass their Censures on me. I'm not capable to make those deep Reflections upon my own Interest that your Lordship and others of your Relations, who are much wiser than I, can do; But it seems obvious to me, that considering the low Circumstances of our Family, it will be impossible for me ever to raise myself, or indeed to live as your Son ought to do, unless I have the King's Favour, and be able to obtain both His Majesty's Protection, and some Pension or place, to help me, and relieve your Lordship of the burden of maintaing me hereafter. And I find that the wisest of those about the Court, think not only, that the making a Campaign will be the surest way to get some part in his Majesty good Graces; But that unless I do it, I can never have the Face to pretend hereafter at Court to any thing, nor any of my Friends the confidence to solicit for me. And for my own part, if I can make but this Compaign, as I hope it will remove the foul Censures that have passed on my last years absence, So if I do not make it, I do not see, that I can ever without Shame and Confusion look any Man of Honour in the Face hereafter, either at Home or Abroad; And I have reason to apprehend. I'll be looked upon by all Men as a Coward, and one that is a dishonour to your Lordship, and to the Family: And I believe, the only part that will be left fittest for me after it, will be, that your Lordship should call me Home, and let me spend my Life as a private Gentleman in the Country. I hope your Lordship will not condemn me for it, if the sense of this touch me so near, since all that aught to be dear to a Man upon Earth seems to be lying at the Stake with me in it: And when People consider the Race I am come off, and the Illustrious things done by our Predecessors; It will serve to heighten my shame and confusion, and increase the World's contempt of me. Therefore I earnestly beg, my dearest Lord, by all your Lordship's goodness to me, and by all the kind Affection you have been pleased to show to me all my life hitherto; That you would consider on this as a thing concerns your own Honour, and the Honour of the Family of DOWGLAS, as well as mine in particular; And that if it be possible in any way of the World, you would let me wait upon the King this Summer, though I should do it in never so poor and mean a way.  
I know your Lordship's straits, & the difficulty you may have to live, much less to furnish me money upon this Occasion; And I confess I do not see well how it can be done, but if there were any possibility of it, I am persuaded it will be laying out money the most profitable way that ever I can spend it, even in point of interest; And that it will be a fair, if not certain way of giving me Access to obtain things hereafter of the King: that may do much more than make up what has been given out on this Occasion. And besides, I have heard both my Lord Drumlangrig and the Mr. of Stair say, as well since the Campaigne, as last Spring, while we were upon this subject, That if your Lordship consented once freely to my making a Campaign, they were persuaded there might be some sum of money got from the King, to help to put me in a Condition to do it with; And I persuade myself, that both they two, and my Lord Carmichael, would need but to be desired by your Lordship, to do something for me in it. But the Season is now so far advanced, that I know not what to do, since its very like the King himself will be in the Fields before eight or nine weeks at the farthest; And however small an Equippage I have, there will be still many things that will be of an absolute necessity for me, in case you allow me to go, and which I will have but a very short time to prepare. I entreat therefore, your Lordship will let me know your Commands so soon as possible, for there is now no time to lose; And I'm sure you will be satisfied, that it is necessary I be determined to one thing or another before the King comes over here; since if I be not to make the Campaigne, I can neither appear at Court, nor stay at this place, without the Kings knowing himself that I am here: If I am to make the Campaigne, I believe it will not do ill, so soon as your Lordship comes to a Resolution in it, if you should write to the Secretary and Drumlangrig, to see if they can fall upon a way to obtain any thing from the King, to help me to make an Equippage. I only long to hear from your Lordship, I know you will command me nothing but what shall be the fittest for me to do; so I trust to it, and shall strive above all things while I live, to Carry always as becomes,  
My LORD, Your Lordship's most Dutifully Obedient, and most Affectionate Son, Sic Subscribitur. ANGUS.