Confederates on the Clyde
The American Civil War provided commercial opportunities for the sailors and industrialists of Glasgow, not all of them in line with official government policy. Alistair Goldsmith reviews the ways in which the authorities kept an eye on what was going on.
We have no political police, no police over opinion. The most rabid demagogue can say in this free country what he chooses, provided it does not tend to incite others to do what is annoying to the lieges. He speaks not under the terror of an organised spy system.
Foreign pressure to take firmer action against what were seen as ‘conspiratorial groups’ in the 1850s held no sway with Lord Palmerston, who maintained that a country governed liberally would have no trouble from subversives. Yet the veneer of liberalism covered official ‘sensitivity’ to political undercurrents
Glasgow was no exception. A close watch was kept on sections of society involved with political activities by anxious City Fathers.
Richmond had reported directly to Lords Sidmouth and Castlereagh on the political situation in the city.
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