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FLETCHER, ANDREW, a distinguished judge,
under the designation of lord Milton, and for many years sous minister
of Scotland, under Archibald duke of Argyle, was a nephew of the subject
of the preceding memoir. His father, Henry Fletcher of Salton, was the
immediate younger brother of the patriot, but, distinguished by none of
the public spirit of that individual, was only known as a good country
gentleman. The genius of lord Milton appeared to have been derived from
his mother, who was a daughter of Sir David Carnegy of Pitarrow, and
grand-daughter of David earl of Southesk. During the troubles in which the
family was involved, in consequence of their liberal principles, this lady
went to Holland, taking with her a weaver and a mill-wright, both men of
genius and enterprise to their respective departments, and by their means
she secretly obtained the art of weaving and dressing the fine linen
called Holland, of which she established the manufacture at Salton.
Andrew, the son of this extraordinary woman, was born in 1692, and
educated for the bar. He was admitted advocate in 1717, one of the lords
of session in 1724, when only thirty-two years of age, and lord justice
clerk, or president of the criminal court, in 1735, which office, on being
appointed keeper of the signet in 1748, he relinquished.
The acuteness of lord Milton’s
understanding, his judgment and address, and his intimate knowledge of the
laws, customs, and temper of Scotland, recommended him early to the notice
and confidence of lord Ilay, afterwards duke of Argyle, who, under Sir
Robert Walpole, and subsequent ministers, was entrusted with the chief
management of Scottish affairs. As lord Hay resided chiefly at the court,
he required a confidential agent in Scotland, who might give him all
necessary information, and act as his guide in the dispensation of the
government patronage. In this capacity lord Milton served for a
considerable number of years; during which, his house was, in its way, a
kind of court, and himself looked up to as a person little short of a
king. It is universally allowed, that nothing could exceed the discretion
with which his lordship managed his delicate and difficult duties;
especially during the civil war of 1745. Even the jacobites admitted that
they owed many obligations to the humanity and good sense of lord Milton.
In February, 1746, when the highland army
had retired to the north, and the duke of Cumberland arrived at Edinburgh
to put himself at the head of the forces in Scotland, he was indebted to
lord Milton for the advice which induced him to march northward in
pursuit; without which proceeding, the war would probably have been
protracted a considerable time. After the suppression of the insurrection,
Milton applied himself with immense zeal to the grand design which he had
chiefly at heart – the promotion of commerce, manufactures, and
agriculture, in his native country; and it would be difficult to estimate
exactly the gratitude due to his memory for his exertions towards that
noble object. After a truly useful and meritorious life of seventy-four
years, his lordship expired at his house of Brunstain, near Musselburgh,
on the 13th of December, 1766.
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