xviii LAND REFORM 



receiver The process of his degradation to a distinct 

 hireling class was a gradual one. It was enormously 

 quickened about the middle of the eighteenth century, 

 and completed about the middle of last century. Dur- 

 ing these long years he was a unique and pathetic 

 figure in the social life of England , a man starving 

 in the midst of plenty through a life of patient en- 

 durance and ceaseless toil, lightened by no hope for 

 the morrow or any prospect but the workhouse and 

 the grave. 



The prosperity of commercial and manufacturing 

 undertakings, which was so quickened in 1843 and — 

 from causes which will be examined — increased so 

 rapidly during succeeding years, enabled the labourer 

 somewhat to improve his miserable condition by mi- 

 grating to the industrial centres. This migration has 

 continued to the present day. It received a great 

 impetus by the operation of the Education Act of 

 1870, which gave the labourer instruction enough to 

 enable him to see beyond the limits of his parish 

 and to acquire that discontent which, after all, is 

 the parent of change, if not of improvement. This 

 exodus of the labourers from the land and the con- 

 sequent deserted state of our country-sides constitute 

 a national danger, the magnitude of which is either 

 not seen or is disregarded by all those who view 

 the condition of the people through commercial spec- 

 tacles. 



A certain class of persons, including a school of 

 political economists (happily becoming more and more 

 discredited), produce an array of figures to show how 

 great is our prosperity as a nation. Our exports and 

 imports have reached a record amount. Receipts 



