64 REFORM AND DEMOCRACY 



beginning of the end of the old system. A 

 quarter of a century elapsed before the final 

 step was taken that opened the ports of Great 

 Britain without restriction to the shipping of 

 all the world. 



In the next two years laws were passed giving 

 recognition to the new conditions in manufac 

 turing that the industrial revolution had brought 

 into prominence. Labor troubles in the mod 

 ern sense, contests over wages between factory- 

 owners and employees, had become a conspic 

 uous element in the popular agitations of the 

 time. Under the ancient legal system the em 

 ployers had every advantage in the chronic 

 struggle. Great as was the fear in Parliament of 

 the working classes, it gave way before clear 

 evidence that the law imposed upon them 

 something near to the lot of the slave. To 

 help himself was a right that the spirit of the 

 day regarded as inherent in every British free 

 man. Hence the old statutes were repealed 

 which prohibited meetings and associations of 

 workmen for getting increase of wages, and 

 even forbade artisans absolutely to leave the 

 country. 



The progress of this reforming legislation 

 was followed with deep concern and covert hos- 



