274 BUBAL COMMONS. 



for cultivation. It was very near to Fox Warren, 

 the residence of the late Mr. Charles Buxton, and 

 through him the inexpediency of the inclosure of this 

 Common became generally known. Mr. Knatchbull- 

 Hugessen, later Lord Brabourne, the Minister in 

 charge of the Bill, agreed to treat Wisley separately, 

 and to refer the question of the expediency of inclosing 

 it to a Select Committee, but he pressed on the measure 

 so far as it concerned the other Commons. 



It was at this stage that Fawcett' s attention was 

 directed to the matter. He had already, in writing a 

 few years before on the subject of the agricultural 

 labourers, pointed out the injurious effect on their con- 

 dition, of the inclosures of the past 200 years. He was 

 now to deal with the subject in his quality of a 

 practical statesman. The measure for confirming the 

 inclosure of the Commons referred to had already 

 reached its last stage. It was treated, as had been the 

 custom since the Inclosure Act of 1845, as a mere 

 matter of routine, not involving the responsibility of the 

 Minister in charge of it. Fawcett gave notice of a 

 motion for the recommittal of the Bill, upon the third 

 reading, in order to extend the provisions in the schemes 

 as to the allotments for labouring men. This was 

 opposed by the Government, and night after night, 

 until the early hours of the morning, Fawcett was in 

 his place, with a dogged persistency, to prevent the 

 measure being taken at a time when there would be no 

 opportunity of discussing the matter, with any prospect 

 of engaging public interest. At last, on April 9th, 18G9, 



