Transactions. 91 



be taken for the. defence of the County. A letter was also sent 

 from the Home Secretary asking them to ascertain the amount 

 of live and dead stock in the parishes within ten or twelve miles 

 from the sea, and to consider the methods by which such could 

 be removed inland in the event of an invasion. The Deputy- 

 Lieutenants, in reply, wrote to the Duke of Queensberry in 

 regard to the suggestion made by the Home Secretary, and stated 

 that, " with great submission, we beg here to state it as our 

 opinion to your grace tliat we think such a measure at present 

 unnecessary, because from the situation of the Firth on the 

 Border of this country the navigation is so very dijfficult and the 

 water so shallow that no vessels of force or any considerable 

 burden can possibly approach this county. In the next place, 

 we are really apprehensive that taking such an account would be 

 productive of dangerous consequences, and we are unwilling to 

 increase the alarm which has already been given to credit and 

 paper currency, but should the measure directed by the Duke 

 of Portland afterwards seem necessary, it shall be instantly 

 carried into effect." The Deputy-Lieutenants further stated that 

 in their opinion th(; best method of defence would be the raising 

 of volunteer corps on a similar plan to the one adopted in the 

 Lothians and other counties, and in order to carry this proposal 

 into effect they suggested a great County meeting. A meeting 

 of this kind was held on March 4tli, 1797, and was attend(id by 

 85 gentlemen, of whom 16 are still represented in the list of 

 Dumfriosshire landowners. The meeting proposed that all 

 between 15 and GO years of age should be enrolled, clothed, and 

 trained to arms under the authority and terms of the Volunteer 

 Act. They also desired to express their confidence in the credit 

 of the banks, and ordered that it sliould be known that they were 

 willing to receive in payment the notes of the banks. 1000 

 copies of the resolutions of the meeting, with declarations 

 appended as to the terms of service, and 1000 copies of a certifi- 

 cate to be given to the volunteers, were afterwards printed, and 

 parcels of these were sent to the Deputy-Lieutenants who had 

 cliarge of the nine districts into which tiie County had been 

 divided for the purpose of military administration by the Deputy- 

 Lieutenants. 



These preparations for a further enrolment of volunteers appear 

 to have been interrupted or abandoned by the necessity of carry- 



