The Revolution in Agriculture 



75 



hustling and scrambling. Terrible suffering had been caused by 

 the slight regard given to the establishment of fair play and justice 

 in the multitude of changed relationships between men and 

 classes. In agriculture and in the younger industries men were 

 too eager to gain the fullest and most immediate material returns 

 [rom the new opportunities offered to them to consider what 



A view of the First Royal Show held at Oxford, 17 July, 1839. 



was necessary and just for those who had been made dependent 

 on them. Restraints had been imposed on the greed of the 

 masters in the new industries. All the agricultural classes had 

 been deprived of arbitrary aids. The reform of the Poor Law in 

 1834 h a d left the labourer to make his bargain with the farmer 

 for the reward of his work. No doubt many of them resented 

 the loss of the doles, but it was a wholesome piece of surgery to 

 cut away the degrading support. Landlords and farmers were 

 now in a similar position. They looked forward to 1849 with 

 fear. They believed that when the prop of the Corn Law was 



