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<DATE>2009-07-06</DATE>
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<NAME>Pip Willcox</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="petition">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>UNTO HIS GRACE HIS MAJESTIES HIGH COMMISSIONER And the Right Honourable E&s;tates of Parliament.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">The Petition of Sir <HI>Robert Chie&s;ly</HI> pre&s;ent Lord Pro|vo&s;t of the Burgh of <HI>Edinburgh, John Robert&s;on, George Home, Archibald Rule,</HI> and <HI>Adam Brown</HI> pre&s;ent Baillies thereof, <HI>Hugh Blair</HI> Dean of Gild and <HI>Patrick Thom&s;on</HI> The&s;aurer. For them&s;elves and in name of the whole Council and Commu|nity of the &s;aid Burgh.</HEAD>
<OPENER>Humbly Sheweth</OPENER>
<P>THAT where by the old Cu&s;tome and Con&s;titution of the Brugh, and which is certainly mo&s;t agreeable to the good Goverment and quiet of all Burghs, the Town Clerks of <HI>Edinburgh</HI> as being the Townes Servants were only <HI>durante beneplacito,</HI> untill at fir&s;t the decea&s;t Sir <HI>William Thom&s;on,</HI> obtained from the then Magi&s;trates and Council by his extraordinary influence, a gift of the Clerk|&s;hip <HI>ad vitam,</HI> and then upon his being deprived, and &s;ome other Contenti|ous changes, that afterwards fell out to the Towns great Vexation and Expenc|es. The decea&s;t Sir <HI>James Rochead</HI> did impetrate and elicite from them, an Act dated the 30 of <HI>August</HI> 1678 years, whereby upon a &s;pecious narrative of Right, and the &s;ecurity that Men ought to have for the &s;ame, he prevailed with the then Magi&s;trates and Council to &s;tatute and ordain in his favours, that no Clerk of <HI>Edinburgh</HI> for hereafter &s;hould be challenged or removed from their office, whatever may be their demerit, but by a certain &s;olemn form of proce&s;s of his de|vy&s;ing, and wherein he was to have a &s;ub&s;cribing An&s;wer, and all the proces to be carried on both <HI>Scripto</HI> and <HI>viva voce</HI> by Advocats if he thought fit, and by &s;uch Intervals and periods, as that it was to la&s;t at lea&s;t four Weeks. By which Act, wherein there is no provi&s;ion made for the &s;aid Good Town, either for debarring Advocation, or excluding Su&s;pen&s;ion, as might well have been ex|pected
<PB N="2" REF="2">after &s;o Cautious a Contrivance for &s;ecuring of the Town Clerk: The Towns Power and Liberties were in effect &s;tollen from them, and the Clerks who are and ought to be their Servants made more than half Ma&s;ters, And this when the &s;aid Sir <HI>James</HI> with the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas</HI> came to be admitted and in&s;talled in the &s;aid office, they were not only admitted Conjunctly, and with a &s;urvivance to the longe&s;t liver, which is al&s;o Injurious to the Liberties of the Burgh, but in their Act of Admi&s;&s;ion of the date the twenty one of <HI>January</HI> 1687 years, the &s;ame provi&s;ion of a formal and &s;olemn proces in the Terms fore&s;aid is repeated as a condition, whereby it is evident, that for the Magi&s;trates and Town Council to offer to bring their Servant the Town Clerk to a Tryal before them&s;eves, were only to engage them&s;elves in contentious Pleas &amp; Advocations, &amp; Su&s;pen&s;ions, to the great Charges, &amp; di&s;order and Conu&s;ion of the Burgh, during &s;o long a dependence: And therefore the Magi&s;trates and Town Council of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> having not only the fore&s;aid Incroachment to complain of. But al&s;o a charge of &s;everall Malver&s;ations again&s;t the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas Mcleod</HI> their pre&s;ent Clerk, do in all humility addre&s;s them&s;elves to this High and Honour|able Court of Parliament, to who&s;e care and Protection the good order and quiet of all his Maje&s;ties Royall Burghs, doth mo&s;t properly pertain. And as to the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas</HI> they complain.</P>
<P N="1"><HI>1mo.</HI> That he entered into the &s;aid Office of Clerk as conjunct with Sir <HI>James Rochead,</HI> and now injoyes the &s;ame by the &s;ole benefice of an unwarantable &s;urvivance, which was granted by the then Magi&s;trates to the prejudice of the true liberties of the Brugh.</P>
<P N="2"><HI>2ly</HI> During his being Clerk he has neglected the Regi&s;ters &amp; Records of the Brugh which are for the mo&s;t part left be hind unfilled up &amp; &s;ome of them for &s;o long a time, that they are in hazard to fall in di&s;u&s;e: as fir&s;t the Dean of Gilds Regi&s;ter of the locked Book which was begun in the 1487 Years, and ever &s;ince continued untill the Twenty fourth of <HI>February</HI> 1669. hath &s;ince that time been altogether neglected, &amp; tho' there be Scroll Books &amp; Minus made by the under-Clerkes from the &s;aid 24. of <HI>February</HI> 1669. to this day Yet the fore|&s;aid Regi&s;ter and locked Books are not filled up, but have been at a &s;tand &s;ince the &s;aid year 1669. And the&s;e &s;croll Books are altogether vitiat, and can|not make faith, being all interlined, and many things written upon the Margin.</P>
<P N="3"><HI>3ly,</HI> There is no Regi&s;ter at all keeped of Jedges and warrands for bound|ing of Lands within Burgh, albeit their are &s;everal Acts of the Town Council appointing an Regi&s;ter to be exactly keeped of all the &s;aids Jedges, and warrands granted by the Dean of Gild and his Council.</P>
<P N="4"><HI>4ly,</HI> The Regi&s;ter of Decreets, whereof the Records are extant, and in good or|der from the third of <HI>March</HI> 1569 to the 28 of <HI>August</HI> 1677, have &s;ince that time been altogether &s;lighted, &amp; no Decreet Regi&s;trate &amp; booked as it ought to be.</P>
<P N="5"><HI>5ly,</HI> The Regi&s;ter called, the Council Regi&s;ter, and continued with great care from the 1557 to <HI>December</HI> 1691. is &s;ince that time now by the &s;pace of three or four years unfilled up, and nelected.</P>
<P N="6"><HI>6ly.</HI> The Regi&s;ter of Di&s;po&s;itiones and Bonds is carried on very exactly from the 1561 to the 1690, but &s;ince that time is likwi&s;e unfilled up, and there are al&s;o Books of Di&s;po&s;itions from the fir&s;t of <HI>January</HI> 1678. And to the year 1686. But all of them incompleat, &amp; brought no farther forward than the &s;aid year 1686</P>
<P N="7"><HI>7ly.</HI> There are Acts of Town Council mo&s;t confu&s;edly &amp; indi&s;tinctly, &amp; in ap|pearance fal&s;ely recorded, as particularly, the Act of the Town Council the Day of <HI>July</HI> 1690 years anent a Bond of <HI>three Thou&s;and pound Sterling</HI> granted
<PB N="3" REF="2">anent the Earle of <HI>Melvill,</HI> which is begun with one hand, and continued with another: And neither coherently, or at all agreeable to what was re|&s;olved in the &s;aid Town Council about that Bond. <HI>viz.</HI> That it &s;hould be given for the impo&s;ition which was not then obtained, and not for the pittiful Cau&s;es therein &s;et down. And the &s;aid Act is al&s;o vitiat, and hath words delete in the end, and other words vi&s;ibly added, and which overrun the Provo&s;ts &s;ub&s;cription, all which is manife&s;t to ocular In&s;pection.</P>
<P N="8"><HI>8ly,</HI> the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas</HI> hath not ob&s;erved but broken the Tru&s;t the Town repo&s;ed in him, in &s;o far as Mr <HI>William Stirling</HI> Writer did upon the third of <HI>September,</HI> 1690 Years, give a note under his hand, wherein the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas Mcleod</HI> and his Servant <HI>John Duncan</HI> are witne&s;&s;es, wherein he obliges him&s;elf to make pay|ment to the Tack&s;men of the Towns impo&s;ition of the the two pennies of Exci&s;e owing by Widow <HI>Lawries</HI> Brewarie for the &s;pace therein contained, and de|clare, that a Charter which he got from the Magi&s;trates of <HI>Edinburgh</HI> &s;hould lye con&s;igned in their Clerks hands till he &s;atisfied the &s;ame. And yet the &s;aid Char|ter is given up to Mr <HI>William Stirling</HI> upon the fourth of <HI>September</HI> thereafter as Mr <HI>Stirlings</HI> Receipt te&s;tifies. And the &s;aid impo&s;ition was not by him pay|ed conforme to the fore&s;aid Note</P>
<P N="9"><HI>9ly,</HI> And the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas</HI> hath farther abu&s;ed his Tru&s;t, and tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed the duty of his Office, in &s;o far as he hath given out Decreets of the Town Council without any Sub&s;cribed warrand, &s;uch as a Decreet of the Town Council of the date the twenty firth day of <HI>January</HI> la&s;t by pa&s;t at the in&s;tance of <HI>Maries</HI> Chapple again&s;t <HI>James Buchannan</HI> Wtight, for which there is no &s;ub&s;cribed Warrand.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly what has been lately done by the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas</HI> as to Mr. <HI>Duncan. Robert&s;ons</HI> affair, and how he neglected and de&s;pi&s;ed the order of the Com|mittee of Parliament, is be&s;t known to the Committee before whom that matter is depending. By all which it is manife&s;t that not only the Towns Rights and Liberties are incroached upon and infringed by the fore&s;aid <HI>Aeneas</HI> his pro|vi&s;ion and Act of Admi&s;&s;ion to the &s;aid Office, and by the &s;aid other Act to which the &s;ame Relates, but al&s;o that he has malver&s;ed in his fore&s;aid office of tru&s;t, for which he ought to be removed and deprived, as al&s;o the Towns Liberties ought to be re&s;tored, and the fore&s;aids Acts to their prejudice reduced and re|&s;cinded, and all &s;urvivances for hereafter perpetually Di&s;charged.</P>
<P>May it therefor plea&s;e your Grace, and the Right Honour|able the E&s;tates of Parliament, to grant warrand to cite the &s;aid <HI>Aeneas</HI> upon forty eight hours warning, he being within the Town of <HI>Edinburgh,</HI> to compeat before your Grace and Lord&s;hips, to hear and &s;ee the premi&s;&s;es verified, and proven, and him&s;elf deprived and decerned to remove from the &s;aid office &amp; to deliver up the whole &s;eals Re|gi&s;ters and others that belong thereto, as al&s;o to reduce and re&s;cind the fore&s;aids Acts of Council, and to declare &s;urvivancies and gifts of the &s;aid Office, to be unlawfull, and to di&s;charge the &s;ame in all time coming; according to Ju&s;tice and Your Grace and Lord&s;hips An&s;wer.</P>
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