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<DATE>2012-08-09</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
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<HEAD><HI>ANSWERS</HI> For the Free-men Fle&s;hers of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> to the Petition pre&s;ented to His Maje&s;ties high Commi&s;&s;ioner, and the Honourable Estates of Parliament, by <HI>Alexander Milne</HI> and <HI>VVilliam Lau&s;on, Andrew Brown, Archibald Dougla&s;s, Janet Car&s;e</HI> Relict of &V;n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|quhile <HI>Thomas VVright</HI> Fle&s;hers of the &s;aid Burgh, again&s;t them.</HEAD>
<P>THe Incorporation of Fle&s;hers was E&s;tabli&s;hed by a Seal of Cau&s;e in their Favors granted by the Magi&s;trats of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> above two hundred Years ago, and continued in the Exerci&s;e and Po&s;&s;es&s;ion of the Liber|ties and Priviledges thereby granted to them ever &s;ince that time, as well as a|ny Incorporation of the &s;aid Burgh, and obtained the&s;e Priviledges particular|ly e&s;tabli&s;hed, again&s;t the Inva&s;ions and Incroachments made upon them by the Un-free-men of the &s;aid Burgh, after hearing of both Parties; by an De|creet of Council, dated the &s;eventh day of <HI>June,</HI> 1595 years, under the Hand of Mr. <HI>John Skeene</HI> Clerk Regi&s;ter, as the &s;amen herewith produced bears. And &s;icklike by an Act of the Magi&s;trats and Town Council of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> dated the 20 of <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI> 1656 years, the &s;undry Priviledges, mentioned in the &s;everal Acts therein &s;pecified, are of new Ratified and Approven to them, and ordained to be made u&s;e of by the &s;aids Free-men Fle&s;hers, in all time co|ming; and particularly that the Un-free-men Fle&s;hers in Burgh and Land|ward only &s;ell their Fle&s;h in open Mercat upon the Mercat Days, either by whole Carca&s;&s;es, or at lea&s;t Quarters, and no otherwi&s;e: All which Privi|ledges are Ratified in the Parliament 1681, As al&s;o by Decreet of the Lords of Privy Council, dated the twentieth &s;ixth day of <HI>November,</HI> 1685. The Un-free-men Fle&s;hers are expre&s;ly di&s;charged to bring in, or hang any Beef, or o|ther Fle&s;h in the Fle&s;h Mercat of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> but upon the three common Weekly Mercat Days, and re&s;erved the point of Right to be di&s;&s;cu&s;&s;ed by the Lords of Ses&s;ion, as the &s;aid Decreet bears; all which Priviledges are again Ratified by Act of Parliament, dated the fifteenth day of <HI>June,</HI> 1693 years: and particularly the fore&s;aid Act of the Town Council, in <HI>anno</HI> 1656, where it is &s;tatute and ordained, that the whole Un-free-men Fle&s;hers, keep only three Mercat Days in the Week, <HI>viz. Tue&s;day, Thur&s;day</HI> and <HI>Saturnday,</HI> as the &s;aid Ratification likewi&s;e beart.</P>
<PB N="2" REF="2" MS="y">
<P>The Free-men Fle&s;hers of <HI>Edinburgh</HI> being thus founded by the Seal of Cau&s;e, and other particular Rights above-mentioned, it is humbly conceived their &s;aids Rights cannot be &s;ummarily taken away by a Petition, but the &s;amen are on|ly competent to be quarrelled of reduced before the Judge Ordinary, as the privat Rights of particular Parties, or Incorporations and Societies are in u&s;e to be. <HI>Secundo,</HI> If this Method be allowed of, to quarrel the Incorporation of Fle<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ers, then all the Incorporations within the &s;everal Burghs of <HI>Scotland,</HI> may <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e brought in que&s;tion that &s;ame way: And as it would be thought, both a Novelty and great In<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters">a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ment upon the Liberties and Priviledges of the Burghs Royal, to have the Rights and Priviledges of their &s;everal Incorpora|tions brought in que&s;tion, and infringed by extranious Per&s;ons; So it is hoped, His Maje&s;ties High Commi&s;&s;ioner and Honourable E&s;tates of Parliament, will not open &s;uch a Door, by &s;ummarily de&s;troying the Priviledges of the Free-men Fle&s;hers, and thereby breaking their Incorporation. <HI>Tortio,</HI> The Act of the Town Council of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> founded upon in the Petition, can no ways be Relevant to infer the Conclu&s;ion and De&s;ire, in favours of the Un-free Fle&s;hers, in re&s;pect: <HI>Prinio,</HI> It is evident, the &s;amen has never been intended for a perpetual Rule or &s;tanding Law in the Burgh, being only an Article &s;ubjoyned to a Table of Pryces for Butcher-meat, Wild-fowl, and other Vi|vers, made by the Magi&s;trats of <HI>Edinburgh</HI> for the year 1688, and which be|ing only made for one year, and by the con&s;tant Cu&s;tom altered yearly, ac|cording to the &s;carcity or plenty of the &s;aid kind of Vivers: That Article could be of no more la&s;ting or dureable Force, than the other Articles &s;ubjoyn|ed to that Table of pryces: and as it were ab&s;urd to pretend now, that the Wine &s;hould be &s;old at eighteen <HI>&s;hill. per Pynt,</HI> as it is appointed there, &s;o it is no le&s;s ab&s;urd, to pretend that the Article about the Unfree-men Fle&s;hers &s;hould be of perpetual Continuance. <HI>Secundo;</HI> There being an Act of Parliament made a little before that time, appointing Fle&s;h to be &s;old by Weight, the Magi&s;trats of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> for bringing the Fle&s;hers to the Obedience of that Act of Parliament, did indulge the Unfree-men to &s;ell by Weight upon all days of the week, to the effect they might con&s;train the Free-men Fle&s;hers to Ob|&s;erve the fore&s;aid Act of Parliament more readily: But that Act of Parliament falling in de&s;uetude, and proving in practicable, and the Unfree Fle&s;hers being the fir&s;t that left off to &s;ell their Fle&s;h by weight, upon pretence of their be|ing re&s;tricted to &s;ell Carca&s;&s;es, or at lea&s;t Quarters. There was no rea|&s;on they &s;hould enjoy that Article, as a perpetual Right which they had only been indulged the favour of for a particular time, for Ends and Cau&s;es they had never an&s;wered nor ob&s;erved. In Con&s;ideration where|of, the Magi&s;trats of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> by their Act dated the <HI>4th.</HI> of <HI>September,</HI> 1689 years, did of new again re&s;trict the Unfree-men to the &s;aid three Mercat-days, conform to the Gifts and Priviledges conceived in favours of the Free-men, as the Act herewith produced will te&s;tifie. <HI>Quarto,</HI> It were a great prejudice, not only to the particular Incorporation of Free-men Fle&s;hers within the Town of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> to admit the Unfree-men to the equal Privi|ledges with the Free-men, but al&s;o to the whole other Incorporations and Land-Lords within the &s;amen, in re&s;pect, if this Incorporation be broken, and no di&s;tinction be made betwixt Free men and Unfree-men, then the Free-men can never bear Scot and Lot of the Burgh, but their Proportions of Ce&s;&s;es, and all other publick Burdens which they did bear within Burgh, mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily fall
<PB N="3" REF="2">upon the other Incorporations and Land-lords, to the great prejudice of the Burgh, which it is hoped, His Maje&s;ties High Commi&s;&s;ioner, and the E&s;tates of Parliament does no ways intend, for gratifieing only two or three ob&s;cure in|con&s;iderable Per&s;ons, who pre&s;umptou&s;ly a&s;&s;ume the general De&s;ignation of Un-free-men; and albeit three or four of the Petitioners have had the pre&s;umption to give in the Petition in Name of the Un-free-men in general, yet the Ge|nerality and under&s;tanding Men of that Number, con&s;idering how much it would tend to the prejudice of the Inhabitants of the Burgh, have for mo&s;t pregnant Rea&s;ons di&s;claimed the fore&s;aid Complaint, and taken In&s;truments a|gain&s;t the turbulent Movers thereof, as an Extract of the In&s;truments, here pre|&s;ent to &s;how bears. <HI>Quinto,</HI> The Magi&s;trats of <HI>Edinburgh</HI> can ea&s;ily rectifie any Abu&s;es, that the Free-men Fle&s;hers may happen to Commit, and accor|dingly every year, with Concurrence of the Lords of Se&s;&s;ion, do &s;et Rates upon, and Rules for the Sale of all kinds of Vivers within Burgh: But they can no ways be an&s;werable for Un-free-men, who are not &s;ubject to their Juri&s;dictions. And farder, His Maje&s;ties High Commi&s;&s;ioner, and E&s;tates of Parliament are humbly intreated to take into their Con&s;ideration, of what Evil Con&s;equence this pretended Advantage would be, by tollerating Un-free-men, as is deman|ded in their Groundle&s;s Petition, for be&s;ides what is above Repre&s;ented, which makes the Freedom of Incorporation as &s;ecure as Law can make it, yet if Un-free-men were tollerat to come in &s;ix days in the Week, then they may Combine among&s;t them&s;elves to keep up their Fle&s;hes from &s;ale one day, un|le&s;s they get what Pryces they plea&s;e, becau&s;e they know they can expo&s;e it the immediate next day thereafter, and &s;o have advantage over the Inha|bitants. Whereas, when they are re&s;tricted to three days in the week, they are obliged to &s;ell at a rea&s;onable Rate, becau&s;e Fle&s;hes will not keep uncor|rupted until an other Mercat Day: And be&s;ides that, it is pre&s;umed, that the Country Fle&s;hers would rather &s;ell at ea&s;ie Rates, than to carry back their Fle&s;hes to the Country again, and they are in no wor&s;e condition than the Free-men are, for the Free-men are re&s;tricted from coming to the <HI>Land-mer|cat,</HI> except upon the &s;ame days that are already allowed to Un-free-men.</P>
<P>And whereas it is pretended, that the giving a toleration to Un-free-men, would hinder the Free-men to exact Exorbitant Prices. It is An&s;wered, that three days being allowed to Countrey Fle&s;hers, the Inhabitants may ea&s;ily pro|vide them&s;elves in one day, as much as may &s;erve them two: And if the Free-men &s;hould offer to exact greater Rates than the Un-free-men, then they would ruine them&s;elves, and their Fle&s;hes would ly un-&s;old, and before another Mer|cat day, would be unfit to be pre&s;ented to a Mercat. And as to the pre&s;ent Dearth, it is unque&s;tionably known to the Honourable Court of Parliament that the &s;ame is occa&s;ioned by the bad Sea&s;on only.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, If the Freedom of the Incorporation &s;hould be incroached upon, and Infringed, then this evil doth inevitably follow, as it hath done in for|mer times; that the Free-mens Servants do thereupon quite their Service, and look upon them&s;elves to be as free as their Ma&s;ters, and go to the Countrey, and in their Ma&s;ters Names, do buy Be&s;tial from Gentlemen and other Per&s;ons, and Butcher the &s;amine them&s;elves, without ever paying the&s;e from whom they buy them: So that it may be &s;aid with confidence, that the Countrey hath &s;u|&s;tained thereby the lo&s;s upwards of Fourty thou&s;and Pounds, within the&s;e few Years: And that is not the only lo&s;s, but &s;everal others of the Un-free-men do
<PB N="4" REF="3">buy at the Fourth Hand, and &s;o con&s;equently mu&s;t &s;ell at dearer Rates than the Free-men. By all which the Incorporation is abu&s;ed, and are deprived of Servants, for &s;erving the Leidges; which is occa&s;ioned by the countenancing and tolerating Unfree-men.</P>
<P>And if the Un-free-men Fle&s;hers found upon an Act of the Privy Council, in the year 1687. &amp; &s;hall produce the &s;ame, no Re&s;pect ought to be had to that Act. 1. Becau&s;e it is given <HI>parte in audita,</HI> and without either Complaint or Pro|bation, at the in&s;tance of any Party, of any Abu&s;es or Malver&s;ations done or committed by the Free-men Fle&s;hers 2. This Act was &s;oli&s;ted for, and Im|petrat by <HI>Jo&s;ias John&s;toun,</HI> upon particular Grudge again&s;t the Free-men Fle&s;h|ers, and he obtained it as a Gratification to him for his conver&s;ion to the <HI>Ro|mi&s;h Religion.</HI> 3. This Act was a Deed of the Ab&s;olute Power, in the late Arbitrary Times, infringing the Priviledges of the City of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> and met with the le&s;s Oppo&s;ition that the Magi&s;trats them&s;elves were created by the &s;ame Power, which had &s;wallowed up the hail Rights and Priviledges of the Magi&s;trats of Royal Burghs, &s;o that it was no marvel that they incroached upon one &s;ingle Incorporation: and &s;eing, by the late Revolution, and His Ma|je&s;ties gracious Favour, the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and parti|cularly of the Burghs Royal have been re&s;tored and recovered: It is hoped and expected from the Ju&s;tice of the High Court of Parliament, that the Incorpora|tion of the Free-men Fle&s;hers &s;hall be pre&s;erved in their Rights and Priviledges and Freed from any Inva&s;ions made upon them, in the late Arbitrary time, and not have their privat Right taken from them without any &s;pecial Cau&s;e libel|led: but only on the Clamour and Importunity of three or four Invidious and malicious Neighbours: And it is evident by the very Act it &s;elf, that all that was de&s;igned for them, was the Land-Mercat, that being the &s;eparat place for the Landward Fle&s;hers, and it is notourly knowen that there never was, more than three Fle&s;h mercat days in that place.</P>
<P>In Re&s;pect whereof, it is hoped, His Maje&s;ties High Commis&s;ioner, and Honourable E&s;tates of Parliament, will not cut off the Rights and Priviledges of &s;o ancient an Incorporation, who is the Tenth Deaconry of the Burgh of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> conform to the Sett and Decreet Arbitral, pro|nounced by King <HI>James</HI> the Sixth: But on the contrary, will be plea&s;ed to reject the de&s;ire of the fore&s;aid groundle&s;s Petition; and of new again, to Ratifie and Confirm the Rights and Freedom of the Incorporation, as formerly was done, both in this Current Parliament, and others preceeding.</P>
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