HISTORY OF COMMONS. 21 



eventually compelled to sell, and their land was bought 

 up by the larger owners of the district. This effect 

 may be illustrated by the fact that only in places 

 where large Commons, or Forests, or waste lands still 

 exist, are there to be found any considerable number of 

 small ownerships and small holdings of land as in 

 Cumberland and Westmorland, in the mountainous 

 parts of Wales, and on the borders of such Forests 

 as Dartmoor and the New Forest. 



The inclosures were also carried out without any 

 regard to the interests of the agricultural labourers 

 of the districts concerned. It has already been shown 

 that the law did not recognise that these labourers had 

 any rights whatever over the Commons, unless they 

 were owners of land, however much they might have 

 benefited from the usages which prevailed, so long as 

 the wastes remained open and uninclosed. The In- 

 closure Acts made no provision therefore in the nature 

 of compensation to labourers, and no consideration was 

 given to them. They had no locus standi to oppose 

 such private Acts, even if they had the means. No 

 local inquiries were held to ascertain what were the 

 wishes and interests of these people. It has generally 

 been admitted that great injustice was often done, and 

 that inclosures were frequently authorised, where no 

 public advantage accrued to the district, and where no 

 attention was given to the change effected in the con- 

 dition of the labourers. 



The complaints became so frequent that at last 

 Parliament was compelled to interfere, and the General 



