232 ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. 



of the landless proletariat. They envisaged England like 

 a familiar old threadbare carpet of excellent quality cut up 

 into a patchwork quilt of holdings as they had seen in 

 France. Their minds swung back to the French Revolution 

 and they feared that private parks even would not be 

 inviolable. 



Then to the intense relief of landowners, the Dublin 

 riots, followed by the Ulster " rising " backed by Sir Edward 

 Carson and Mr. F. E. Smith, now the Lord Chancellor, 

 administered the death blow to Mr. Lloyd George's Land 

 Campaign. 



But the farm workers in Bedfordshire, Kent, Hereford- 

 shire and Wiltshire, impatient for the long-delayed act of 

 justice had struck their tents and were on the march. 



By the third week of July over a thousand notices had 

 been served in Herefordshire by the Workers' Union to 

 recalcitrant farmers. Strike Committees had been formed 

 and picketing arranged. In Wiltshire the same Union was 

 preparing for a big strike for the minimum wage of i8s., 

 and it was estimated that 10,000 men might be involved in 

 Wiltshire and the surrounding counties. 



Then came August 4. 



In tragic silence the men went back to their work and to 

 their tents to equip themselves for a greater struggle. 

 Their country was in danger, and to avoid discord they 

 were content to return to the plough and work long hours 

 for their old meagre wages, whilst thousands offered 

 their lives to defend their country for a shilling a day. 

 And the farmers ? They, for the most part, continued 

 to pay the old wages, worked the men for long hours and 

 received the benefit of the steadily rising prices. 



