Some LETTERS OF PatTrRiIcK MILLER. 131 
When Mr Blair wrote the letter (which I do not recollect 
anything of) he [was] not acquainted with the real 
character of these men, concluded they would be happy to 
have the opportunity of testifying their friendship to him 
by declaring openly for you. . . . Now I maintain, 
after giving you a true and full account of all that I know 
of our politics, that if the Johnstones should persevere in 
their Petition after being acquainted with the facts, they 
are mad.’’2! 
Meanwhile Captain Miller had taken his seat and received 
paternal advice as to how to conduct himself :— 
‘You will have taken your seat in the House as 
Independent a Member as anyone in it. Knowing this, 
consult your prudence on any occasion and act with the 
manly confidence that it should inspire, never, however, 
forgetting that Modesty belongs to Youth.’’2!4 
In spite of the pending Petition, the young M.P. set out 
for a tour with Mr Coutts in France, where he loitered. His 
father engaged Mr Cullen (afterwards Lord Cullen) as 
counsel, as Mr Douglas was representing the Duke, and urged 
his son to return—‘‘ The best cause may be lost by indolence 
and inattention.’’2? 
The same letter contains a reference to an election 
echo :— 
‘“ The people concerned in carrying off Mr Weils have 
been tryed by the Justiciary Court. Those absent are 
fugitive. Those of them found guilty are sentenced to be 
whypt and banished 7 years. Lindsay the writer to 3 
months imprisonment and a fine of £50, and_ others 
banished. ’’?5 
While the Election Petition was still pending, the Duke 
performed another political quick-change turn. Formerly a 
Tory, he was dismissed from his position in the Royal Bed- 
chamber by Pitt. He at once threw himself into the struggle 
over the Regency Bill, leading the minority, and at the 1790 
elections revenged himself on Pitt by obtaining the return of 
Captain Miller. But by February, 1792, the Duke earned all 
the scornful allusions of Burns by again changing his politics, 
