I. THat the said Countess is the Eldest Daughter of David late Earl of Weymss, who died in the year 1679. without Male Issue; whereby the said Countess hath undoubted legal Right for succeeding in the Estate and Honours of her said Father the Earl of Weymss, according to the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of Scotland, which allows not a Father to Disinherit his Eldest Lawful Child, and to prefer a Younger to their Inheri­tance, unless the Eldest were proved a Fool, or a Person grosly Vitious, or Pro­fligate, or had Married Dishonourably, to Disgrace the Family, and contrary to Will of their Parents; none of which can be alledged against the said Countess, who is not accounted a Fool, nor hath done any thing which will speak her Viti­ous or Profligate: And for her Matches, first and last, the Family hath no Dis­honour by them, and she engaged in them, by the special command of her Father.

II. It is to be considered in the 2 d. place, that the late Earl of Weymss did not Purchase his Estate himself, but received it from his Ancestors for several hun­dreds of years: So that by the Ancient Customs of the Nation, he had no Right to dispose of that Estate, or put it by his Lawful Heir, since it was none of his own Purchase.

III: Thirdly, It is to be considered, that the said Earl of Weymss did in June or July 1649. Dispone all his Estate and Honours (failing of Lawful Heirs of his own Body) to the said Countess, without any Clause of Revocation; and Entailed it not only to her, but to any Child of hers, Son or Daughter (the Eldest being first in the Provision) upon condition they assume the Name, and hear the Coat of Arms belonging to the Family of Weymss: Yet in a little time after, the said Countess her Mother being Sick, and on her death Bed; did at the said Earl's desire, request her Daughter (upon the said Earl of VVeymss his Importunity) to give up to his Custody the said Disposition and Entail, made in the said Countess her Favours, because he did solemnly Swear, that he should never destroy the same, but kept it intire for the behoove of the said Countess, and her Children failing of his Lawful Sons, of whom he had then two alive. The said Countess being loath to disoblige her Father, or disobey her then dying Mo­ther, brought the said Entail and gave it into her Mothers hands, who said to the said Earl of VVeymss, My Daughter and I Trust you with this Evident of hers, upon condition you will not destroy it, nor do any thing in prejudice of it: That in case you have no Male Issue at your Death, she and hers may be vertue of this Deed succeed to you in your Estate and Honours; to which the said Earl answered, and Swore, That as he should answer to God, he would perform it; and wished, that if ever he should make a Right, or other Entail to any other person in preju­dice of the said Countess, he wished the person might be Accursed, and the Fa­mily might Perish: This was done in the presence of the late Lord Burlie, the late Lord Ruthvan, and the Laird of Feyngies, Mr. Hooper, and divers others, [Page 2]My Lady Ruthvan and Mrs. Law, who are yet alive, were also present: So the said Earl Thanked his Daughter for her Confidence in him; and answered her, That he would not abuse his Trust.

Notwithstanding of this, the said Earl having Married twice after the Decease of his first Lady; and having by his third Lady several Sons and one Daughter, was prevailed with by his third Lady, after the death of all her Sons, to make a new Entail to his Daughter by her, in the year 1671 or 1672. by which he cut off his Eldest Daughter the said Countess and her Posterity (as if they had been Bastards) from having any Right Title or Claim to succeed in his Family; which which was a Deed so contrary to the Law and Customs of the Nation, and to Equity, Reason, and his solemn Oaths; which it seems he had forgotten, it be­ing more then twenty years, from the time he made those Oaths and Promises, to that year in which he broke them, by making this new Entail to his youngest Daughter Lady Margaret VVeymss, whom he gave in Marriage to Sir James Weymss, who by the Duke of Monmouth's Moyen with the King, was afterwards made Lord Bruntisland.

It is also to be considered, That the said Countess did Address her self to her said Father the Earl of Weymss, before this New Entail to her prejudice was com­pleated, or her Sister Married, proferring to his Lordship, That it he would continue the former Entail, and not alter it to the prejudice of her and her Chil­dren, that she would procure for her Sister the said Lady Margaret, one of the Noblest Matches of the Kingdom, who would promote her to greater Honours and Estate than the Family of Weymss could render, and who would be satisfied with the Lordship of Bothwell, which was a part of the Earl of Forfars Estate as a sufficient Portion with the said Lady Margaret, and the rest of the said Earls Estate might go as Addition to the Estate of Weymss; so that the said Countess and he might succeed in that Family. But the said Earl of Weymss told his Daughter. That he behooved to make this New Entail to his Youngest Daugh­ter, else he could not please his Wife nor have peace at Home: Saying also, That he could not contend with his Wife and her Friends, being now broken with Grief for the Death of his Ten Sons, and being Infirm with Old Age, being then Sixty and two Years, and was truly failed both in Memory and Judgement so, that when the said Countess desired him to Remember the Promises and Oaths that he made to her and her Mother when Dying, that it might not trouble him when he came to dye, if he should break these Oaths and Promises: Upon which he knocked upon his Breast and said, Oh Daughter you wound me to the Heart in putting me in mind of those things which I had absolutely forgot; and so run out of the Room in a great disturbance: And he was so prevailed with by his Lady and the said Lord Brunt-Island, who was then present with him, that they would never suffer the said Countess to have access to speak to him any more, lest his Heart should have relented towards her: Yea, they took him sworn that he should not so much as receive a Letter from his Eldest Daughter, who did writ to him & to his Lady, but the Letters were sent back without being opened: And when the said Earl of Weymss went on to pass the Signature he had made to his Youngest Daughter before the Kings Exchequer, notwithstanding that one compeared from the Earl of Forfar and his Friends, requiting up a sight of the said Signature be­fore it should pass, as being the Eldest Son of the Eldest Daughter of the said Earl of Weymss yet contrair to all Law this was denyed him, which made the said Earl of Forfars Agent protest for Remedy in Law, before Session or Parlia­ment: But the Earl of Rothoss, being then Chancellor and Uncle to the said Lady Margaret, would not suffer the said Agent to have the Benefite for the Earl of Forfar, that the Law did allow in such Cases, but hastned the passing [Page 3]of the said Signature before it was three days affixed upon the VVall, accord­ing to the usual Custome. Therefore the said Countess of Sutherland has her Recourse to the Kings Majestie, Commissioner, and to the High Court of Parliament, hoping that by his Princely Goodness and their Justice they will cognoce the matter, so as to remedy the wrongs done to the said Countess and her Childron, and to preserve the legal Succession in the right Line in this Antient Family (being Lineally descended from the second Son of the Famous Mackduff Thaine of Fife, who restored King Malcolme Cram­mone to the Crown of Scotland, and Killed the Usurper Mackbeth) so the said Countess and Earl of Southerland, with the Earl of Forfar and Lord Strath­naver, do humbly Implore the Justice of the said High Court of Parliament in their behalf, it being not Justifiable nor Lawful to suffer a man in his old Age, having then lost his Memory and Judgement, to wrong his Lawful Suc­cessor, contrair to the first Entail made in her Favours, and the Oaths made by the said Earl, to creat a Confidence in his Daughter, to give up the Entail made in her Favours to him: So that this new Entail made to her preju­dice, is an Act of great Rigour and Injustice, and without any Precedent or Ex­ample, since by the said Entail Strangers are preferred to her and her Children, and she and hers totally cut off from succeeding therein: And that by the false Accusations made of the said Countess to her Father.

It is also to be considered, That the said Countess has a Right and Just Claim unto Considerable Sums of Money that were due to her second Brother Alex­ander Weymss and to her Sister Lady Mary, as Bands of Provision made to them and their Heirs, be the Deceas'd Earl of Weymss there Father, who made those Provisions for them before he Married a second Lady, and delivered them to the Custody of Robert Lord Burly their Grandfather, to be kept for the Be­nefite of them and their Heirs, which Bonds will amount to by Principal, and Annual rent to the Sum of 15000 pound Sterling, which the said Countess as Sister German, and Heir to the said Alexander and Lady Mary. Intreats a Sen­tence of Parliament, against her said Sister Lady Margaret Weymss, who pos­sesses the whole Estate of VVeymss: And has given the said Countess no Satis­faction for the saids Bonds; nor any part of her said Fathers Estate; all that she Received being only her Mothers Portion, with a certain Sum, that her Aunt the Deceased Viscountess of Stormont left her, which was payed to the De­ceased Earl of Angus, as Portion with his said Lady, she having Brothers then alive.

It is also to be Considered, That the Estate of the Earledom of VVeymss is considerable enough, to suffer Division betwixt the two Sisters; since the casual Rent of Coal and Salt is Reckened to be sixty Thousand Merks by year: And hath Rendred no less (as is informed) these two years bygone, notwithstand­ing the VVar: So that in a peaceable time, it might render much more. This is over and besides the Land Rent which is considerable enough, as is well known to all the Noblemen and Gentlemen in Fife.

It is also to be considered, That the Delators the said Lady met with from the Lord Chancellor Rothes in December 1679 and June 1680, has done her great Prejudice, for then there was alive the VVriter of the Tailzie and two of the VVitnesses, and several of those persons that were present, and heard the Terms upon which she committed the said Entail to her Fathers Custody; who are all now Dead, save two VVomen. As also the VVriter and three VVit­nesses of the Bonds were then alive, who for any thing she knows now two of them are Dead, and a 3d out of the Country, which makes the Discussing of the said Process more necessary, lest she drop off her self being now Old and In­firm.

It is also to be considered. That Unjust Methods were used to alienat the Af­fection of the said Earl of Weymss from his Eldest Daughter, whom they made him believe had accused him to the King as a Perjured and Unnatural Man, by his breaking his Entail to her, and giving it to his Youngest Daughter: But in ef­fect the said Lady never Addrest her self to the King till after her Father was two Months dead, having still hope that her Father would repent of what he had done to her prejudice before he dyed; which he did by a Writ under his Hand four dayes before he dyed, as the two Bayliffs of the Town of Weymss told the said Countess so soon as she returned from London, after the said Earl his Death; Declaring to her, That he called for them three dayes before he dyed, and told them, That now his Conscience smote him for what he had done to prejudise his Eldest Daughter, who was ever Dutiful and Kind to him: Therefore he de­sired them to shew her, that he had Revocked what he had done against her, and had Reponed her to the Entail made in her Favours, and that he had inclosed This in a Letter to her, which he had Sealled and delivered to a near Relation whom he had taken Sworn that they should not destroy nor open that Letter, but deliver it Safe and Intire into the Hands of his Eldest Daughter, which is not yet done. Yea, the late Lord Brunt-Island and his Friends made the King believe, That the Earl of Weymss had no Daughter alive but the said Lady Margaret, and that the said Countess was only his Sister: So that the King was surprized when the said Countess Addrest her self to him for Reparation; and told her, That he was Mis-informed, and was sorry she was so long a coming to seek Re­dress, for now he heard it was too late.

Another Artifice used by the Adversaties of the said Countess, is, To make the World believe that the Estate of Weymss was so ruined with Debts, that the Lord Brunt-Island and the late Countess of Weymss did recover the same by the great Sums of Money they brought to the Family. Ans: 1. There was not so great Burdens on the Family as is suggested; and whatever was on it of Debt, was brought on by the publick Calamity in the Usurpers time: For which the Coun­tess of Sutheeland should not be punished, for it was in good Condition at her Mothers Death. And as to the Sums of Money brought to the Family by the said Brunt-Island, it is but false Alledgance, which the Earl of Weymss was indu­ced to acknoweldge to give as pretence to the said Lord for his succeeding in the Family to Defraud his Eldest Daughter: For it is nottarly known that the said Lord brought no Money to the Family but thirty thousand Merks, which purcha­sed the Castle of Bruntisland and the Lands about it: For the Leases that the Ge­neral Artillery had in England, did soon expire after the Lord Brunt Island Mar­ried the said Lady Margaret Weymss. And for the Countess of Weymss passing so much Debt of my Lord Weymss- Its Answered, That she did it with his own Rents, and took Assignations blank to all these Bonds; by which she designed to dispose of that Ancient Family to whom she pleased, and to defraud her Lords Eldest Daughter tottally.