The Land from the Citizens Standpoint. 389 



that we should accentuate that phase of political strife which 

 relates to the opposing interests of Land and Trade, bearing 

 in mind, however, that it has even up to this day failed to 

 degenerate into a wholly selfish contest between class and 

 class. Thus, though the revolution in France led to a division 

 of property, that in England merely confirmed many of the old 

 feudal rights, such as primogeniture, tithes, and monopolies. 



At this early period of the struggle the commercial man 

 was not, as a rule, sufficiently familiar with agricultural tech- 

 nicalities to find much cause of dispute with the farmer. He 

 only recognised that nearly all his raw material was supplied 

 by the soil, and that, therefore, the less outlay it cost the 

 husbandman to produce it, the less profit would be likely to 

 satisfy him in selling it. So long, therefore, as corn laws and 

 wool restrictions did not appear to affect the townsman's 

 pocket, he cared very little for the economical questions which 

 agitated the quieter world of the villager. Take, for example, 

 that controversy over the Enclosure system which has hitherto 

 occupied so much of our space. Hardly a breath of opposition 

 to the practice had as yet emanated from the Patriotic party. 

 Save for an occasional remonstrance from the wool manufac- 

 turer, that the diminishing numbers of the flock were affecting 

 his special interest, the pros and cons of the system were 

 fought out on purely agricultural grounds. "What signified 

 it to the tradesman that the process of enclosing was rendered 

 by the legislature unduly expensive, that the landlords could 

 not find capital to erect the additional buildings required, that 

 the rents of holdings possessing commons-appurtenant were 

 diminished, and that the supply of rural labour was being les- 

 sened ? Scarcely anybody outside agricultural circles thought 

 it worth his while to raise a popular agitation in order to pre- 

 vent the people's land from being sequestered, and the interests 

 of the cottager from being damaged, because no one but the rate- 

 payer and clothier had any pecuniary stake in these matters. 



Until, then, it was clearly seen that the high prices of neces- 

 saries were tending to enhance the wages of the town opera- 

 tive ; the citizen's quarrel was with the landlord only. Even 

 when the Corn Law agitation was at its full height, political 



