The Mary Hamilton Papers : Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton

Napier, Francis Scott, 8th Lord

The Mary Hamilton Papers

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Letter from Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier, to Mary Hamilton, relating to Napier's position in the army and anti-catholic riots in Edinburgh.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Napier writes of his position in the army and notes that the additional companies have been filled and he has not been promoted and he does not know who is behind this. This is the fourth company in which he has been unsuccessful at gaining a promotion, and to further anger him he has heard ‘that all the officers of Gene[ra]l Burgoyne's army John (1723-1792), army officer, politician] who were out upon parole [...] [excepting Napier] have been exchanged’.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Napier asks Hamilton if she has heard of the ‘fury of the mob in Edinburgh upon the Roman Catholic Bill’ which he describes as a ‘scandalous proceeding’. If the magistrates had acted with any degree of ‘spirit’ then the riot might have been prevented. ‘But they are as ignorant & illiberal in their Ideas, as the mob themselves’. Napier continues, describing Presbyterians and their religion and the large number of ‘inflammatory & treasonous’ advertisements in newspapers. He argues that if the magistrates had put a stop to such publications then public order might have been preserved and individuals' property protected.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dated at Edinburgh.</p>