THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION 109 



drifting from the towns to the villages, to secure there 

 the coveted position of county families. 



From the wealthier of the landed gentry came the 

 members of Parliament, since a statute passed in 1710 l 

 had decreed that only landowners could sit in Parlia- 

 ment, whilst the enormous expenses connected with 

 parliamentary elections and public life made it a career 

 open only to men who had command of great wealth. 

 The management of local affairs became vested in the 

 same hands, almost all the powers that had been in 

 the hands of the various bodies, in which the people had 

 a voice, being by the XVIIIth century gathered into 

 the hands of the justices of the peace. Only the 

 parish, in its vestry assembled, continued as a demo- 

 cratic organization, and the transaction of its business 

 was, in practice, subject to the control of the local land- 

 holders and justices. Indeed, before the end of the 

 XVIIIth century the entire administration of county 

 affairs, save the management of those roads which 

 were in the hands of turnpike trusts, as well as the 

 ultimate authority in parish affairs, rested substantially 

 in the hands of the landed gentry. Moreover, more 

 and more, all business, whether county government or 

 administration of justice, was carried on in private, so 

 that the public lost all control. In addition to the 

 administration of the law and of public affairs, the 

 justices also initiated and administered regulations 

 relating to housing and to wages, matters in some 

 respects affecting the lives of the people more pro- 

 foundly than did the laws themselves. The county 

 families were, in fact, supreme, for they controlled not 

 only the laws and their administration, but the lives of 

 the people. They consolidated their po\fer by con- 

 1 See Appendix, p. 167. 



