Dove moved from Germany back to Edinburgh, where he gave lectures at the "Philosophical Institution", the subject in 1853 being "Heroes of the Commonwealth". In succeeding years he lectured on "The Wild Sports of Scotland" and "The Crusades". In April 1853 he became captain of the "Midlothian Rifle Club", and in 1854 as well as editing the "Witness" during the illness of a friend, he published the second volume of his treatise, "Elements of Political Science". This was followed by "Romanism, Rationalism and Protestant" in defence of Protestantism. He then wrote the concluding third volume of his treatise which remained unpublished and has been lost. He published "The Logic of the Christian Faith", then in 1858 "The Revolver" which suggests ideas for rifle clubs and defence of the country as well as lamenting the Highland clearances. That year he moved to Glasgow and edited the "Commonwealth" newspaper as well as the "Imperial Dictionary of Biography" and jointly edited the "Imperial Journal of the Arts and Sciences". He also wrote the Encyclopædia Britannica article on "Government" and devised a rifled cannon with advantages in range and accuracy, but was unable to afford further testing which the ordnance committee requested. He took command of the 91st Lanarkshire rifle volunteers in 1859 and in the next year won several prizes at the first meeting of the National Rifle Association at Wimbledon Common, but then suffered a stroke causing paralysis. In May 1862 he went to convalesce in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, returning the following April, then died a year later. By this time slavery in the United States had been abolished.