374 HISTORY OK Till* Ol 1'KR 1 1 KHKll >KS. 



is perhaps most likely, merely clet. lined in order to keep 

 him out ot mischief, the fact remains that he was not set 

 at liberty until the Restoration opened his prison d 

 Of his subsequent career little is known. He was Com- 

 missioner of Excise for Inverness-shire in 1001, and Sheriff 

 of Ross in iooj, the hounds of that shire having, in the 

 previous year, been finally delimited. In 1667, he was 

 appointed, jointly with the Earls of Argyll and Atholl, 

 Overseer of the Highlands, with comprehensive powers for 

 the punishment of thieves and the restoration of stolen 

 goods. In the same year, we find him figuring as Com- 

 missioner of Supply for Ross-shire. In 1675, the com- 

 mission of shrievalty was renewed to him and to his 

 eldest son, Kenneth, jointly. The appointment as Sheriff 

 was preceded by a dispute between him and the Karl of 

 Moray, the predecessor of the latter having had a gift from 

 Charles I., in 1647, of the Sheriffdom of Inverness, of which 

 Ross, at that time, formed a part.* This dispute led to the 

 drawing up of the memorandum by Moray to the Earl of 

 Lauderdale, which has been quoted in the preceding pages ; 

 a document marked, not unnaturally, by a strong anti- 

 Seaforth bias. Lord Seaforth, it appears, had presented 

 two petitions to the King, which based his claim to favour- 

 able consideration, on the services rendered by his father 

 and himself to the Crown, and the losses suffered by both 

 in the promotion of the Royal interests. The petitions also 

 complained of the rigid dealings of the Earl's cre^ 

 and sought a remission of past feu-duties payable to the 

 Crown. The Earl of Moray, in reply to Seaforth - 

 ttons, enumerated the charges against father and son, some 

 of which have been noticed. The father, accord i 

 Moray, %% never suffered but by his misgovernment of hi> 

 private estate. And the sone hes been so farr from a 

 sufferer that he hes been a gainer ; for these lands his 

 creditors ought to have been in possession of, accord 



* It wvmld appear that the Act of 1503, providing for the division ot the 

 Sherifidom of Inverness, did not take effect ; or was allowed to become 

 inoperative j or that the Sherifldoiu <* Ross was at first subsidiary to that c 



: .-. ..-.. 



