Glasgow Argus

The Glasgow Argus was a Scottish newspaper, published biweekly from 1833 to 1847. It took a reforming editorial line, supporting abolitionism and opposing the Corn Laws. The "Argus" was perceived as the paper of the supporters of the Glasgow merchant and politician James Oswald. The first editor, William Weir, not only made the "Argus" the recognised organ of the "clique", as Oswald's Whig and Liberal supporters were known, but pursued a radical editorial line of his own. Eventually in 1839 he was sacked for his radical stance on free trade, incompatible with the Whig views of the proprietors; Weir wished Whig parliamentary candidates to pledge immediate repeal of the Corn Laws. Weir had also upset the shareholders of the paper by printing material critical of leading Whigs including the Lord Advocate, Andrew Rutherfurd.
At the time of the 1847 United Kingdom general election, Charles Mackay disagreed with the paper's management on the choice of local Liberal candidate, and left the position of editor. Although the newspaper had been recently enlarged, it was still making a loss and it was decided to wind it up on 29 November 1847.