I. THat the ſaid Counteſs is the Eldeſt Daughter of David late Earl of Weymſs, who died in the year 1679. without Male Iſſue; whereby the ſaid Counteſs hath undoubted legal Right for ſucceeding in the Eſtate and Honours of her ſaid Father the Earl of Weymſs, according to the Laws and Cuſtoms of the Kingdom of Scotland, which allows not a Father to Diſinherit his Eldeſt Lawful Child, and to prefer a Younger to their Inheritance, unleſs the Eldeſt were proved a Fool, or a Perſon groſly Vitious, or Profligate, or had Married Diſhonourably, to Diſgrace the Family, and contrary to Will of their Parents; none of which can be alledged againſt the ſaid Counteſs, who is not accounted a Fool, nor hath done any thing which will ſpeak her Vitious or Profligate: And for her Matches, firſt and laſt, the Family hath no Diſhonour by them, and ſhe engaged in them, by the ſpecial command of her Father.

II. It is to be conſidered in the 2 d. place, that the late Earl of Weymſs did not Purchaſe his Eſtate himſelf, but received it from his Anceſtors for ſeveral hundreds of years: So that by the Ancient Cuſtoms of the Nation, he had no Right to diſpoſe of that Eſtate, or put it by his Lawful Heir, ſince it was none of his own Purchaſe.

III: Thirdly, It is to be conſidered, that the ſaid Earl of Weymſs did in June or July 1649. Diſpone all his Eſtate and Honours (failing of Lawful Heirs of his own Body) to the ſaid Counteſs, without any Clauſe of Revocation; and Entailed it not only to her, but to any Child of hers, Son or Daughter (the Eldeſt being firſt in the Proviſion) upon condition they aſſume the Name, and hear the Coat of Arms belonging to the Family of Weymſs: Yet in a little time after, the ſaid Counteſs her Mother being Sick, and on her death Bed; did at the ſaid Earl's deſire, requeſt her Daughter (upon the ſaid Earl of VVeymſs his Importunity) to give up to his Cuſtody the ſaid Diſpoſition and Entail, made in the ſaid Counteſs her Favours, becauſe he did ſolemnly Swear, that he ſhould never deſtroy the ſame, but kept it intire for the behoove of the ſaid Counteſs, and her Children failing of his Lawful Sons, of whom he had then two alive. The ſaid Counteſs being loath to diſoblige her Father, or diſobey her then dying Mother, brought the ſaid Entail and gave it into her Mothers hands, who ſaid to the ſaid Earl of VVeymſs, My Daughter and I Truſt you with this Evident of hers, upon condition you will not deſtroy it, nor do any thing in prejudice of it: That in caſe you have no Male Iſſue at your Death, ſhe and hers may be vertue of this Deed ſucceed to you in your Eſtate and Honours; to which the ſaid Earl anſwered, and Swore, That as he ſhould anſwer to God, he would perform it; and wiſhed, that if ever he ſhould make a Right, or other Entail to any other perſon in prejudice of the ſaid Counteſs, he wiſhed the perſon might be Accurſed, and the Family might Periſh: This was done in the preſence of the late Lord Burlie, the late Lord Ruthvan, and the Laird of Feyngies, Mr. Hooper, and divers others, My Lady Ruthvan and Mrs. Law, who are yet alive, were alſo preſent: So the ſaid Earl Thanked his Daughter for her Confidence in him; and anſwered her, That he would not abuſe his Truſt.

Notwithſtanding of this, the ſaid Earl having Married twice after the Deceaſe of his firſt Lady; and having by his third Lady ſeveral Sons and one Daughter, was prevailed with by his third Lady, after the death of all her Sons, to make a new Entail to his Daughter by her, in the year 1671 or 1672. by which he cut off his Eldeſt Daughter the ſaid Counteſs and her Poſterity (as if they had been Baſtards) from having any Right Title or Claim to ſucceed in his Family; which which was a Deed ſo contrary to the Law and Cuſtoms of the Nation, and to Equity, Reaſon, and his ſolemn Oaths; which it ſeems he had forgotten, it being more then twenty years, from the time he made thoſe Oaths and Promiſes, to that year in which he broke them, by making this new Entail to his youngeſt Daughter Lady Margaret VVeymſs, whom he gave in Marriage to Sir James Weymſs, who by the Duke of Monmouth's Moyen with the King, was afterwards made Lord Bruntiſland.

It is alſo to be conſidered, That the ſaid Counteſs did Addreſs her ſelf to her ſaid Father the Earl of Weymſs, before this New Entail to her prejudice was compleated, or her Siſter Married, proferring to his Lordſhip, That it he would continue the former Entail, and not alter it to the prejudice of her and her Children, that ſhe would procure for her Siſter the ſaid Lady Margaret, one of the Nobleſt Matches of the Kingdom, who would promote her to greater Honours and Eſtate than the Family of Weymſs could render, and who would be ſatisfied with the Lordſhip of Bothwell, which was a part of the Earl of Forfars Eſtate as a ſufficient Portion with the ſaid Lady Margaret, and the reſt of the ſaid Earls Eſtate might go as Addition to the Eſtate of Weymſs; ſo that the ſaid Counteſs and he might ſucceed in that Family. But the ſaid Earl of Weymſs told his Daughter. That he behooved to make this New Entail to his Youngeſt Daughter, elſe he could not pleaſe his Wife nor have peace at Home: Saying alſo, That he could not contend with his Wife and her Friends, being now broken with Grief for the Death of his Ten Sons, and being Infirm with Old Age, being then Sixty and two Years, and was truly failed both in Memory and Judgement ſo, that when the ſaid Counteſs deſired him to Remember the Promiſes and Oaths that he made to her and her Mother when Dying, that it might not trouble him when he came to dye, if he ſhould break theſe Oaths and Promiſes: Upon which he knocked upon his Breaſt and ſaid, Oh Daughter you wound me to the Heart in putting me in mind of thoſe things which I had abſolutely forgot; and ſo run out of the Room in a great diſturbance: And he was ſo prevailed with by his Lady and the ſaid Lord Brunt-Iſland, who was then preſent with him, that they would never ſuffer the ſaid Counteſs to have acceſs to ſpeak to him any more, leſt his Heart ſhould have relented towards her: Yea, they took him ſworn that he ſhould not ſo much as receive a Letter from his Eldeſt Daughter, who did writ to him & to his Lady, but the Letters were ſent back without being opened: And when the ſaid Earl of Weymſs went on to paſs the Signature he had made to his Youngeſt Daughter before the Kings Exchequer, notwithſtanding that one compeared from the Earl of Forfar and his Friends, requiting up a ſight of the ſaid Signature before it ſhould paſs, as being the Eldeſt Son of the Eldeſt Daughter of the ſaid Earl of Weymſs yet contrair to all Law this was denyed him, which made the ſaid Earl of Forfars Agent proteſt for Remedy in Law, before Seſſion or Parliament: But the Earl of Rothoſs, being then Chancellor and Uncle to the ſaid Lady Margaret, would not ſuffer the ſaid Agent to have the Benefite for the Earl of Forfar, that the Law did allow in ſuch Caſes, but haſtned the paſſing of the ſaid Signature before it was three days affixed upon the VVall, according to the uſual Cuſtome. Therefore the ſaid Counteſs of Sutherland has her Recourſe to the Kings Majeſtie, Commiſſioner, and to the High Court of Parliament, hoping that by his Princely Goodneſs and their Juſtice they will cognoce the matter, ſo as to remedy the wrongs done to the ſaid Counteſs and her Childron, and to preſerve the legal Succeſſion in the right Line in this Antient Family (being Lineally deſcended from the ſecond Son of the Famous Mackduff Thaine of Fife, who reſtored King Malcolme Crammone to the Crown of Scotland, and Killed the Uſurper Mackbeth) ſo the ſaid Counteſs and Earl of Southerland, with the Earl of Forfar and Lord Strathnaver, do humbly Implore the Juſtice of the ſaid High Court of Parliament in their behalf, it being not Juſtifiable nor Lawful to ſuffer a man in his old Age, having then loſt his Memory and Judgement, to wrong his Lawful Succeſſor, contrair to the firſt Entail made in her Favours, and the Oaths made by the ſaid Earl, to creat a Confidence in his Daughter, to give up the Entail made in her Favours to him: So that this new Entail made to her prejudice, is an Act of great Rigour and Injuſtice, and without any Precedent or Example, ſince by the ſaid Entail Strangers are preferred to her and her Children, and ſhe and hers totally cut off from ſucceeding therein: And that by the falſe Accuſations made of the ſaid Counteſs to her Father.

It is alſo to be conſidered, That the ſaid Counteſs has a Right and Juſt Claim unto Conſiderable Sums of Money that were due to her ſecond Brother Alexander Weymſs and to her Siſter Lady Mary, as Bands of Proviſion made to them and their Heirs, be the Deceas'd Earl of Weymſs there Father, who made thoſe Proviſions for them before he Married a ſecond Lady, and delivered them to the Cuſtody of Robert Lord Burly their Grandfather, to be kept for the Benefite of them and their Heirs, which Bonds will amount to by Principal, and Annual rent to the Sum of 15000 pound Sterling, which the ſaid Counteſs as Siſter German, and Heir to the ſaid Alexander and Lady Mary. Intreats a Sentence of Parliament, againſt her ſaid Siſter Lady Margaret Weymſs, who poſſeſſes the whole Eſtate of VVeymſs: And has given the ſaid Counteſs no Satisfaction for the ſaids Bonds; nor any part of her ſaid Fathers Eſtate; all that ſhe Received being only her Mothers Portion, with a certain Sum, that her Aunt the Deceaſed Viſcounteſs of Stormont left her, which was payed to the Deceaſed Earl of Angus, as Portion with his ſaid Lady, ſhe having Brothers then alive.

It is alſo to be Conſidered, That the Eſtate of the Earledom of VVeymſs is conſiderable enough, to ſuffer Diviſion betwixt the two Siſters; ſince the caſual Rent of Coal and Salt is Reckened to be ſixty Thouſand Merks by year: And hath Rendred no leſs (as is informed) theſe two years bygone, notwithſtanding the VVar: So that in a peaceable time, it might render much more. This is over and beſides the Land Rent which is conſiderable enough, as is well known to all the Noblemen and Gentlemen in Fife.

It is alſo to be conſidered, That the Delators the ſaid Lady met with from the Lord Chancellor Rothes in December 1679 and June 1680, has done her great Prejudice, for then there was alive the VVriter of the Tailzie and two of the VVitneſſes, and ſeveral of thoſe perſons that were preſent, and heard the Terms upon which ſhe committed the ſaid Entail to her Fathers Cuſtody; who are all now Dead, ſave two VVomen. As alſo the VVriter and three VVitneſſes of the Bonds were then alive, who for any thing ſhe knows now two of them are Dead, and a 3d out of the Country, which makes the Diſcuſſing of the ſaid Proceſs more neceſſary, leſt ſhe drop off her ſelf being now Old and Infirm.