Note 386 — MEMOIRS OF THE REBELLION IN 1745 AND 1746, SO FAR AS IT CONCERNED THE COUNTIES OF ABERDEEN AND BANFF

‘By the Earl of Ancrum, Aid de Camp to His Majesty, and commanding the forces on the Eastern coast of North-Britain. Whereas arms have been found in several houses, contrary to his Royal Highness the Duke’s proclamation, this is therefore to give notice, That where-ever arms of any kind are found, that the house, and all houses belonging to the proprietor or his tenants, shall be immediately burnt to ashes; and that as some arms have been found under ground, that if any shall be discovered for the future, the adjacent houses and fields shall be immediately laid waste and destroyed.’

[Lord Loudoun’s orders]:—‘Whereas great part of the King’s arms belonging to the regiment commanded by the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Loudon, were taken away by the rebels in Sutherland, and by them distributed to people of different parts of the country; who, notwithstanding the many orders published by his Royal Highness the Duke, still detain them in their possession: These are to advertise such as do not deliver them in to the storehouse at Inverness, or to the commanding officer of any part of his Majesty’s forces who happens to be in their neighbourhood, by the first day of August, that the possessors where-ever they are found, whether civil or military, and of what rank soever, shall be prosecuted with the utmost rigour, as the law in that case directs.’