THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION in 



in their work by their ignorance of political science and 

 also by an extraordinary want of understanding of the 

 lives and the thoughts, not only of other nations, but of 

 the men of their own nation who lay outside their own 

 class. There is a further point to bear in mind. To 

 them the county nobility and gentry and their tenants, 

 the leasehold farmers, stood for England, and the 

 squires held that if these classes were to go, the country 

 would be lost ; to their minds the interest of other 

 sections of society was a subsidiary matter. For a 

 country squire to legislate and to control government 

 in the interests of his class must have seemed the 

 most natural thing in the world. By advancing his 

 own class he was in his view advancing England. It 

 was this point of view, coupled with their want of 

 human understanding, that made the squires so arbi- 

 trary in the exercise of the power vested in them. 



The first outcome of the new control was the carrying 



of the Corn Bounty Act of I688. 1 This act gave a 



bounty of 55. a quarter on exported wheat, 



Corn laws. so j on g as t ^ e h ome p r i ce did not exceed 



485. a quarter, and made similar regulations 

 for barley, oats, peas, etc. At the same time, import 

 duties remained high. 1 These laws seem to have had 

 some satisfactory results. The price of corn continued 

 for the best part of a century at a moderate level, which 

 afforded a reasonable and steady profit for farmers. 

 The cultivator was thus encouraged to farm his land 

 well, to employ improved methods, and to bring more 

 land into cultivation. The importation of stock from 

 abroad being completely forbidden, the farmer was 

 also able to obtain the full benefit of the improved 

 1 See Appendix, p. 172. 



