It may at first seem surprising that no steps were taken in two such countys by the friends of the Government to stop this procedure. But let it be considered that after Preston people were really in a consternation for some time, and nobody knew (as the intelligence from the south, meeting with so many interruptions, was very uncertain) how soon the Government might be in a situation to force the Rebels from Edinburgh so that they might have had leisure enough to have sent north Detachments and destroyed all that would attempt to disturb their friends. Besides it was requisite to have a man of rank and quality at the head of such a thing (as the Government thought not fit to give anybody the authority of a Lord Lieutenant) to give a proper weight to it. But such was the situation of the Nobility of these countys, that no such thing could have been expected of any of them except the Earl of Aberdeen, whose undoubted attachment to the Government as well as his large estate and high rank might indeed have made him very serviceable had he thought it prudent to have tried to raise the friends of the Government.[339] The Duke of Gordon, had it not been prevented by his indisposition, might have been of great use not only in keeping these Counties quiet, but even in suppressing the Rebellion altogether. The Earl of Findlater’s[340] sickly constitution quite disabled him, and though the Earl of Kintore[341] had had a greater relish for military matters than he has, yet the incumbrances on his fortune would have been a drawback on him. The Lord Forbes[342] had by no means an Estate suited to his ability though he had inclined to appear. The Lord Salton[343] had no weight in the county, and the Lord Braco[344] had a great estate, yet the newness of his family would have marred any project of his forming. _Gentry_