ENCLOSURE OF COMMONS 9 



from 1760 to 1867, or one-third of the total area 

 under cultivation n the latter year. 



There is no doubt that this gave a great impetus 

 to improved methods of agriculture, and brought 

 into far more profitable use, by intensive farming, 

 the larger part of the newly enclosed areas. But 

 while acknowledging these benefits, it must be 

 remembered that they were derived largely at the 

 expense of the small man, who had hitherto gained 

 most of his living from the rights he possessed of 

 turning out stock of all kinds on the commons, and 

 of obtaining free fuel and litter. When these rights 

 were removed, the little arable holding which he had 

 cultivated for the provision of winter fodder was 

 rendered useless as a complete source of livelihood. 

 The practical outcome of this was to turn the 

 small independent man into a wage-earner at 8s. a 

 week. 



At the time of the earlier Enclosure Acts no 

 account was taken of the injustice done to these 

 men, in spite of the protests raised by the more 

 far-seeing contemporaries ; in the General En- 

 closure Act of 1845, however, which was only 

 passed after meeting with much opposition, safe- 

 guards were said to be provided for protecting the 

 rights of peasants and others who had claims on the 

 soil. As a matter of practice this amounted to 

 very little, for we see that out of the 614,804 acres 

 enclosed between 1845 and 1869, only 2,223 acres 

 were allotted to the labouring poor. Moreover, as 

 pointed out in the Report of the Committee on 



