Scottish Independence Guide: Handful of Rogues: Thomas Muir's Enemies of the People (review)

Muir's contribution, argues Hector MacMillan in this challenging reassessment, can not be understood divorced from a background of popular demand, both nationally and internationally, for a radical renegotiation of the contract between Governors and Governed. From the outset, Scots radicals had insisted on education, information and preparation as the means by which a powerful ruling minority ­ that "handful of rogues" ­ might be rendered powerless without need for bloody confrontation between people and military. The rogues, enjoying virtual carte blanche from Westminster, were prepared to use any means whatever, lawful or otherwise, to crush the threat implicit in this democratic development.

This new book is a very readable account of this fascinating period in Scottish, Irish and European history. The author has researched previously unpublished papers which show the work of a network of government-sanctioned spies. He points up the social and political context of the court trials of Thomas Muir and others and demonstrates the weight of political power against the serving of justice. Handful of Rogues is part of a long overdue research into this vital period and it paints a much more positive picture of radical strength and potential than has hitherto been the case.

(description from Word Power)

Back to Books (or click the back button on your browser)