Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Restoration secretariat and intelligence, 1660–1685
- 2 Intelligence and the Post Office
- 3 Local intelligence networks in the north of England
- 4 ‘Taking the ruffian's wage’: spies, an overview
- 5 The spies of the early Restoration regime, 1660–1669
- 6 The spies of the later Restoration regime, 1667–1685
- 7 The foreign and diplomatic scene
- 8 Assassination: ‘an Italian trick, not used in England’
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History
3 - Local intelligence networks in the north of England
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Restoration secretariat and intelligence, 1660–1685
- 2 Intelligence and the Post Office
- 3 Local intelligence networks in the north of England
- 4 ‘Taking the ruffian's wage’: spies, an overview
- 5 The spies of the early Restoration regime, 1660–1669
- 6 The spies of the later Restoration regime, 1667–1685
- 7 The foreign and diplomatic scene
- 8 Assassination: ‘an Italian trick, not used in England’
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History
Summary
Restoration government could only govern the provinces with the assistance of the local community, in the shape of its county officers, and even then the process was often a ‘combination of sticks and carrots’. The extensive and important work undertaken on the county community has increased both our knowledge of how this relationship came about as well as how it worked in practice, but one area which has been generally neglected has been the question of intelligence work in the local arena. It is the purpose of this chapter to explore some aspects of this area of local government in the Restoration period, particularly in the north of England. We can say at the outset that many local officers were involved in intelligence work. Directives from the centre may often have given contradictory signals about the persecution as well as the prosecution of radicals and dissenters, but an underlying theme in the period was the encouragement of local officials to uncover as wide a variety of information and intelligence as possible in order to comprehend, as well as direct, public opinion at the county level. From such sources vital insights into the mood of the people could be obtained, local responses to government policy could be assessed and with luck moulded to the central government's needs. The maintenance of security and order was a further consideration. Indeed Andrew Coleby has noted that the Restoration regime's primary concern in the early 1660s was to prevent politically inspired unrest at the local level.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994