Transactions. 119 
demanding payment of the arrears of this shire without delay. 
After having settled that matter, the gentlemen turned their 
conversation upon the present situation of the kingdom, and the 
defenceless state of this shire in particular, and agreed to write 
to the Justice-Clerk the good inclinations of the people, and their 
desire to have arms put in their hands out of the public 
magazines, as there were few in the county, and to ask his 
advice how to behave in the present emergency, whether to rise 
or wait orders for raising the Militia. A letter to that purpose 
was sent by express this evening to Edinburgh, and in the mean- 
time it was agreed to make an inquiry without delay what arms 
are in the shire. I thought it my duty to give your Grace the 
above information. I go to Drumlanrig to-morrow, and as the 
post does not go from this till Wednesday, I have left this with 
Commissary Goldie that if anything further occur twixt and then, 
he may add it.” 
The minute of the meeting of the Commissioners of Supply 
referred to by Mr Fergusson is contained in the county minute 
books, from which we learn that both Mr Fergusson and his 
father were present at it, and the above letter seems to have 
been written in Dumfries after the meeting. The letter from the 
Receiver-General is engrossed in this minute. He states the 
arrears of Land Tax due by the County at £1353 4s 9d, and 
presses for immediate payment ; and he adds, “This is the more 
necessary, as it is the fund appointed for paying the Forces in 
Scotland, and, as we are soon to have more with us, unless the 
Commissioners in the different counties exert themselves, I shall 
not have it in my power to furnish them with their subsistence, 
which would be attended with the greatest inconveniences at 
this juncture.” 
Upon the same day (2nd September) we find that a meeting of 
the Town Council also took place, at which a committee was 
appointed “to examine the arms of the town’s magazine, and 
cause mend such of them as are decayed and insufiicient ; and to 
make search through the burgh, and take an account of what 
arms are in the hands of any of the inhabitants, see what 
condition the same are in, and to have such as are decayed or 
out of order repaired, and made fit for service.” It is curious in 
this connection to notice that the burgess oath at this time 
contained a promise “‘ to keep a sufficient gun and sword for the 
defence of the burgh when called for by the magistrates.” 
