PEASANT REVOLTS 175 



did leave the place. Poor men in such circumstances 

 dare not move a finger for themselves. They dare 

 not apply for land or make use of Acts of Parliament." 



In such cases as this it would seem to be the duty 

 of parish parsons — no matter who were offended — to 

 stand between the oppressor and the oppressed. 



At a recent Church Congress *'The Village Ques- 

 tion " was appropriately introduced by the Bishop of 

 Bath and Wells, but the discussion on it — compared 

 with the gravity of the subject — was of a poor and 

 superficial kind. Judging from the short report of 

 his speech, Earl Nelson was the only speaker who 

 touched the root of the matter. He proposed, as far 

 as can be gathered from the report, that men should 

 own the cottages they dwelt in and the land they tilled. 

 There is no doubt that in this direction alone lies the 

 remedy for the depopulation of the rural districts. 

 The need for such a remedy is expressed in a wise 

 and far-sighted manner in the following extract : — 



"He assured his father that it would never be well 

 for England until this order of the peasantry was 

 restored to its pristine condition ; not merely in physical 

 comfort, for that must vary according to the economic 

 circumstances of the time, like that of every class ; 

 but to its condition in all those moral attributes which 

 make a recognised rank in a nation." — " Coningsby " 

 (Lord Beaconsfield). 



