Money, again, has often been a cause of the delusion of the multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper.

In the autumn of 1844 he moved to Scotland and became editor of the Glasgow Argus resigning in 1847. During the American Civil War he returned there as a correspondent for the Times in which capacity he discovered and disclosed the Fenian conspiracy. In the autumn of 1839 he spent a month's holiday in Scotland witnessing the Eglintoun Tournament which he described in the Chronicle and making acquaintances in Edinburgh.

Charles Mackay (26 March 1812 – 24 December 1889) was a Scottish poet journalist author anthologist novelist and songwriter remembered mainly for his book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.