FORBES OF CULLODEN, DUNCAN THE MALT TAX AND GLASGOW RIOTING Letter dated Edinburgh, 8th July 1725, signed Duncan Forbes, 3pp., to the Magistrates of Inverness, thanking them for their good will and discussing matters in Glasgow [“I have not had one minutes leisure for some time past because of the Unlucky Circumstances that the frenzy of Glasgow has drawn itself into, you have heard of the Madness which they were guilty of in Opposing the Malt Tax… The General is by order from the Lords Justices to March ? with some Regiment…of foot and I am now in my Boots ready to attend them.”], folded, 23.5 x 18.5cm; with several other letters comprising one from Isabella Sleigh, asking for assistance for herself and her daughter, with a penned response; a letter dated February 1715, signed by Forbes and addressed to his brother, updating him on events, writing “Brigadeer Grant has Gotten the Government of Sheerness Castle…”, writing from Edinburgh that “…almost all our Nobles except Argyll and Hay are here…”; an earlier letter sent by Forbes to his brother from Leiden, dated 1707; a legal document, signed by Duncan Forbes and several others, regarding the borrowing of money; and a final of thanks letter dated 1736 addressed to ‘The President’ [likely the Lord President of the Court of Session] (6) Provenance: Forbes of Culloden and thence by descent Footnote: Note: In an attempt to equalise Scottish and English taxes, a Malt Tax was proposed in 1713. This proved to be so unpopular that a motion was raised in Parliament to repeal the Act of Union. The imposition of the Malt Tax was postponed until 1725, when talk of its reintroduction inspired a brewers’ strike in Edinburgh and widespread rioting in Glasgow. Troops were summoned and 9 rioters were killed. After several retreats, attacks and more deaths, General Wade was finally dispatched to quell the rioting, accompanied by Forbes. Duncan Forbes of Culloden was a Scottish lawyer and Lord President of the Court of Session from 1737-1748, playing a significant role in helping the government suppress the 1745 Jacobite Uprising.