5o8 History of tJu English Landed Inurcst. 



tmdiscoverat'le at the time, and we cannot impute any great 

 lack of perception to the Tories on this account, but surely 

 thjev mtist have foreseen that the new Act, while it put an end 

 to the panperising of able-bodied labonr, left the poor man 

 ::t3llv TiTi aided in his stmggle to subsist on food artifidaUy 

 Trinierei scarc-e by Sta^ Protecuon, In 18^ there qarang 

 jnto existence the Chartist {Hropaganda. Ostensibly a political 

 ocganiaatioiL, tha« lurked bsieath its snrface the same discon- 

 tent gI a starviog people -which wrought such fearful havoc on 

 ^eigntxial istoests in France. Hencef<jrth the Badicals had a 

 formidable and terrible ally in their agitation against Protec- 

 tion, and as Rogers pconts out^ this unwonted communistic 

 attitude of F-nglish labour ooDapsed as soon as the repeal of 

 tie Com Laws reduced the price of the neoessaries of life.^ 



Our chief caoae for disatiafaetion with tlid policy of the 

 employas <tf wti^-^)eople at tliis juncture, ia their ^dlure, 

 whUe it was in their power, to unite the interests of labour 

 with thooe (^ capitaL The :r* r ~ :e of the peaauit a hun- 

 dred jea^s ago was so ba<^^ .^: i: was natural for the 

 landkod and farmer to overlook the importance of sach a 

 pt^icy ; but at the same time we find that it was forced on 

 thor notice by those £ar-gaghted individuals who. in re^xmse 

 to an invitation from the Board of Agriculture, made known 

 their views on. this uid every branch of rural eooiKany. 



Thus in the Agricultural Report of the Board lor \h& West 

 Riding of Yorkshire it was stated that the only method of 



— ^king wages p r op or ti opal to the rise or fall in the value of 



— o:iey azni proviaonSy is to pay them in kind. In the part of 

 :ii-r Mtiiitry where this writer resided nearly the whole of the 

 :im servants were paid thus. They had a certain quantity of 

 grain, maiaienance for a cow summer and winter, a piece of 

 groond fer planting potatoes and raising flax upon, and what- 

 ever fuel tikey reqtiired, given gratis. These, with the privi- 

 lege of k^ping a {Hg and a few hens, flnabled them to live and 

 .ring up their familifa in a comfortable manner ; and while 

 .heir incoioe was oonsidoaUy leas than people c^ their station in 

 ocher parts, they on the whole were better led, better dressed, 



^ Six Ostimri*^ of Work a»d Wapen. d. 440. 



