The Government of Scotland in the 1790s

This chapter looks at the way Scotland was government during the 1790s. The central focus is on the response given by the authorities in Scotland to the up-surge of political radicalism and politically induced popular disturbances in the early years of the decade, as well as on the relationship between the local authorities in Scotland, and the central government in London. A main argument presented is that local and central government were not always in agreement, and that there was a degree of interaction between them, where the views presented by the local officials in Scotland sometimes prevailed. The chapter also looks at how the authorities in Scotland related to the various other challenges a decade of war presented to them.