THE AFTERMATH OF THISTLES. 69 



tion of livestock by disease, but it also marked the turn of 

 th e tide from comparatively high prices for corn to a period 

 of declining prices which steadily ebbed with slight fluctua- 

 tions during twenty years. 



The agricultural unions, in the face of the falling prices 

 and bad harvests, had not the courage to ask for higher 

 wages or shorter hours. On the other hand, they submitted 

 to a reduction in wages, which, however, it should be remem- 

 bered, never fell to the level of the " golden era " of the 'fifties 

 and 'sixties. 



The National Union fell rapidly into decline. It could 

 not stand up against the economic pressure from without, 

 and the fierce dissensions from within. Disunion started 

 in 1875, following the defeat in Suffolk and the surround- 

 ing counties. Members, disheartened by the failure to 

 win higher wages, now sought to gain a footing on the land. 



Mr. Matthew Vincent threw himself into this new move- 

 ment in 1875, by giving it the support of his paper. 1 In 

 Arch's absence in Surrey, the executive of the " National " 

 went so far as to pass resolutions to purchase a farm. They 

 extricated themselves from this doubtful legal proceeding 

 with some difficulty. Many members fell away from the 

 Union to follow the will-o'-the-wisp of a Co-operative Land 

 Company which, though it did materialise in solid acres, 

 vanished almost as quickly as a dream. 



The Union split up into " Federals," or self-governing 

 county areas, which managed entirely their own affairs, 

 controlling their own funds. But the death-blow inflicted 

 upon the Union came from the unsound sick benefit societies 

 which the Union in its folly took under its wing. Any old 

 man who was a member of some unsound village sick benefit 

 society was admitted on an entrance fee of is. 6d., and 

 naturally the younger men, seeing financial ruin facing the 

 Union, severed their connection with it. 



Arch, in spite of his qualities as an agitator, was by no 

 means the right man to settle differences. He was too 



1 The attack made upon Vincent by Taylor for appropriating the 

 profits on his paper was unwarrantable. Vincent was an idealist, and he 

 made the mistake of imagining Eldorado can be provided by private sub- 

 scription. Eventually he left England for Australia, a broken journalist. 



