CHAPTER XXVIII. 

 FUTURE OF THE BRITISH PEASANT. 



A RETROSPECT and a glance ahead may fittingly conclude 

 this section. It will be important to advert, briefly, 

 to the starting-point of the new order of things marked 

 by the " strike " of 1872 one of the most justifiable, 

 yet one of the mildest on record in the history of labour 

 disputes a gentle revolt that enlisted the whole- 

 hearted sympathy of the British public. The first stage 

 of progress from that starting-point was recorded by the 

 present writer in 1880, and the progress was in every 

 way remarkable. It will be interesting, now thirty-one 

 years afterwards to quote the " summing up " of 

 thirty-one years ago. The present writer then said : 



" In estimating the moral, intellectual, and material 

 progress made within the last few years by the peasantry 

 of the western counties " (whose condition, as will be 

 shown, was but representative of that of the labourers in 

 other purely agricultural districts), "it is not sufficient 

 merely to take account of external signs. The diminution 

 of drunkenness, the more general ability to read and write, 

 and the increase of money earnings, for instance, must not 

 alone be j udged by visible degrees . The prominent and actual 

 indications, of a kind to admit of being reduced to visible 

 proofs, do not convey all that there is to be told. There is 

 sufficient, if not very tangible, indication of a great un- 

 spoken advance. The rapid development of our railways ; 

 the extension of the telegraphic system of this country ; 

 the increase of postal facilities ; and beyond and above all, 

 the widely-extended power of THE PRESS, have exerted an 

 educating influence which has been mighty in its effects 

 upon what was, not long since, the poorest and most 

 ignorant population of England a population which had 

 been too long left uncared for and forgotten. Scattered 



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