s Captains.
Inherited Wardhouse. (1782-1869.)
|
+---------------------+---+
| |
PEDRO CARLOS GORDON, CARLOS PEDRO GORDON,
of Wardhouse, of Wardhouse.
1806-57. 1814-97.
| |
| +--------------+
| | |
JUAN JOSE GORDON, CARLOS PEDRO GORDON, JOSE MARIA GORDON,
of Wardhouse, 1844-76. Brig.-General,
1837-66. d.v.p. Author of this book.
|
RAFAEL GORDON,
of Wardhouse.
Lives in Madrid.
Born 1873.

Part I

[Illustration: Wardhouse, Aberdeenshire]

[Illustration: Kildrummy Castle, Aberdeenshire]

THE CHRONICLES OF A
GAY GORDON

_PART I_

CHAPTER I

MY SCOTS-SPANISH ORIGIN

At a period in the history of Scotland, we find that a law was passed
under the provisions of which every landowner who was a Catholic had
either to renounce his adherence to his Church or to forfeit his landed
property to the Crown. This was a severe blow to Scotsmen, and history
tells that practically every Catholic laird preferred not to have his
property confiscated, with the natural result that he ceased--at any rate
publicly--to take part in the outward forms of the Catholic religion.
Churches, which Catholic families had built and endowed, passed into the
hands of other denominations. Catholic priests who--in devotion to their
duty--were willing to risk their lives, had to practise their devotions
in secrecy.

My great grandfather, Charles Edward Gordon (1754-1832), then quite a
young man, happened to be one of those lairds who submitted to the law,
preferring to remain lairds. His younger brother, James Arthur
(1759-1824), who chanced to be possessed in his own right of a certain
amount of hard cash, began to think seriously. It appeared to him that,
if a law could be passed confiscating landed property unless the owners
gave up the Catholic religion, there was no reason why another law should
not be passed confiscating actual cash under similar conditions. The more
he turned this over in his mind, the surer he became that at any rate the
passing of such a second law could