Holograph draft of MINT00780 (Mint 19/3/231-2)

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To the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of his Majesties Treasury.

May it please your Lordships

The two persons who are ordered down to Scotland being sent as I presume with an intent only to survey the Mine with the ground about it which belongs or lately did belong to Sir John Ereskin & is said to contein silver, & to examin the Ore & under Mr Haldane send the brother in law of the said Sir John Ereskin & Mr Haldane living neare the mine & having expressed himself willing to encourage & supervise the said two men & forward their deisgne: I humbly propose (pursuant to your Lordships directions,) the following instructions as proper for this purpose.

1 That in the presence of substantial witnesses, the said two men break off from each of the two veins of Ore which are in the said mine, about six or eight pounds of Ore & seale up the same in two papers with inscriptions upon them denoting what vein each parcel is taken from; the inscriptions to be signed by the witnesses, & the two parcells to be packed up together & sent to London to the Lords Commissioners of his Majestys Treasury to be assayed in London by their Order. The Witnesses may be Mr Haldane & one or two of his Sons who are Parliament Men, & Mr Drummond the Warden of the Mint at Edinburgh or any other Gentleman of credit whom my Lord Lauderdale General of the said Mint shall please to send thither for his own satisfaction & the satisfaction of the Government, & any other person or persons whom your Lordships shall order to be present.

2 That in the presence of the same witnesses other pieces of Ore be broken off from each of the said two veins & assayed twice or oftener & the assays reported by the said two men, & signed by the said Witnesses in testimony of their being made before them, & sealed up & sent also to the Lords Commissioners of his Majestys Treasury. And that a description of the breadth & depth & distance of the said two veins be also sent & which way they run, & how deep is the Mine

3 That the Casks (or old Hogsheads & Barrells) which were filled with about 40 Tunns of Ore dugg out of the said Mine by order of the Lady Ereskin in the time of the late rebellion & buried on the north west side of her house just by the Gate thereof be enquired after, & a report made thereof & of what that Ore holds by the Assay.

4. That the Burn or Channel made in the south side of the mountain by floods running down about three or four furlongs westward from <253v> the said mine within Sir John Ereskins part of the mountain, be well viewed to see what sparrs & other signes of minerals are found therein, & if any Ores of Minerals or Metalls be found there to assay them & report the produce.

5 About two miles westward from thes silver mine there is a Copper mine said to be very rich in Copper & Silver, so as in a pound of Ore to hold about half a pound of Copper & twelve penny weight of Silver & to belong to one who went into the rebellion. If two or three pieces of that Ore can be procured, let it be assayed to See how much Copper & how much silver it holds. And if there be any other mines within three or four miles of the silver mine, let them examin what silver the Ore may contein.

6. Let them view all Sir John Ereskines part of the mountain & observe what signes of Mineralls may appeare any where above ground, & report what they find, & give the best account they can of any other metallic Mines which they can heare of in that mountain.

7 I humbly propose also that Mr Haldane senior be desired by a Letter from your Lordships to see that the two Gentlemen sent down do put these things in execution, & to give them Directions from time to time to do what he may think further proper for giving his Majesty & his Royal Highness & your Lordships Satisfaction in this Matter. And that the two Gentlemen sent down be ordered to observe the directions of Mr Haldane in making these enquiries & observations. And that the Earl of Lauderdale General of his Majestys Mint at Edinburgh be also desired by a Letter to give the two Gentlemen sent down his protection & encouragement & to send either Mr Drummond Warden of that Mint or some other intelligent & credible person to the Mine, who may there see the silver Ore dug out of the Rock & assayed, & may give his Lordship & the Government an account thereof.

If this Mine shall prove a true silver Mine, the Kings Council learned in the Law may be consulted about the right which either the king may have to it as a Royall mine or the Commissioners for the forfeited estates may have to it as a forfeited estate, & about the right which either of them may have to the 40 Tunns of Silver Ore already dug up & about the authority requisite to seize them in order to work the Mine & smelt the Ore; and also about the Kings right in the Copper Mine two miles westward, as a Royal Mine rich in Silver, tho not belonging to Sir John Erskin. And when the Fact & the Law is known, the Silver Mine & the Ore may be seized as the Law shall direct, & the Kings right in the other mine may be also asserted.