In the following year, the colonel found leisure to attend to his domestic concerns, and married _Catharine_, eldest daughter of _Sir Robert Gordon_ of _Gordonston_, who was second son of the Earl of Sutherland, by Jane, daughter of the Marquis of Huntly. Sir Robert Gordon was cousin to King James the Sixth of Scotland, by his grandmother, Lady Helen Stewart, his majesty’s grand-aunt; and being a man of great parts, was highly esteemed at Court. As the different estates which formerly belonged to the Barclays of Mathers, were now nearly all disposed of by the colonel’s father, he entered into a contract with Earl Marischal for the barony of URY, where he fixed the future residence of the family, which has since been designed by the name of that property. Colonel Barclay being an active and experienced officer, and perfectly devoted to the cause in which he had engaged, was appointed to command in the shires of Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness. The nation at that time was much interested in the fate of Charles I.; and the parliament of Scotland sent an army to his assistance in England, under the Duke of Hamilton; and the internal protection of the kingdom was committed to the Earl of Lanark, the _laird_ of Gartland, and Colonel Barclay. The whole country to the north of the Tay, including the town of Perth, was placed under the colonel’s authority; and he executed this important commission with vigour and fidelity. But the Duke of Hamilton’s overthrow at Preston, destroyed the hopes of his friends; and the opposite party gaining the ascendancy, through Cromwell’s means, Colonel Barclay, and many other officers, were deprived of their commands. From this time, it appears that the colonel laid aside his military character, and lived for several years in retirement at Gordonston, in Morayshire, the seat of his father-in law. But his friend, Earl Marischal, having been taken prisoner by General Monk at Elliot in Angus, and his estates seized, the barony of Ury was included in the forfeiture, on the pretence that it was not fully conveyed by the earl. Colonel Barclay was advised to obtain a seat in the Scots parliament, which would afford him the only means of recovering his property. He was accordingly elected for Sutherlandshire, through the interest of his cousin, the Earl of Sutherland; but he was returned to the next parliament by the counties of Angus and Mearns, through his own influence. He became so popular indeed, by his services, to the nobility and gentry of these districts, that he received their public thanks; and as a mark of their entire satisfaction with his conduct, they again elected him their representative in the year 1656. The colonel obtained the reversal of the forfeiture of his estate, and continued in parliament, successfully exerting himself in behalf of his friends and the distressed loyalists.