THE UPSTANDING CROP. 41 



farmers agreed that cottages which had hitherto been 

 " free " should be let as part of a farm, and that the labourers 

 should be subject to a week's notice. Landowners and 

 farmers acting in their capacity as magistrates frequently 

 disallowed open air meetings, on the ground of obstruction 

 of the highways. 



A test case was fought over a meeting held by Arch and 

 Mr. J. C. Cox in 1873. Fortunately, the Labourers' Union 

 briefed Fitzjames Stephen to defend them. The Chairman 

 told Arch : " We have decided not to convict you this time, 

 but you will be bound down to hold no more meetings in 

 Berkshire." 



" I shall not accept that decision," responded Arch. " I 

 am going to hold a meeting to-night about three miles away." 

 And the meeting was held without let or hindrance. 



Arch mentions that outside the court there were about 

 four hundred labourers armed with slicks which they were 

 prepared to use had they seen their leader brought out in 

 handcuffs. 



The worst case was that at Chipping Norton, in Oxford- 

 shire, when two parson-magistrates sentenced sixteen women 

 to imprisonment ; seven were given ten days' hard labour, and 

 nine seven days' hard labour, and some of these women had 

 children at the breast ! Their crime consisted of daring two 

 imported men to take away their husbands' work while 

 they were locked-out. The only weapon they used was 

 the tongue. This occurred at the little village of Ascot- 

 under-Wychwood, abcut six miles from Chipping Norton. 

 Chivalry was a quality not often shown in those days by 

 gentlemen to labourers' wives, and the sentence imposed by 

 these two clergymen was given in spite of the fact that in 

 their evidence the two strong-looking labourers said that 

 they had been invited by the women to come back to the 

 village and have a drink ! This they refused, and these 

 brave fellows went to work on the farm under the protection 

 of the police constable. The sentence of imprisonment 

 with hard labour to respectable working women aroused so 

 much indignation that a riot broke out in the town and extra 

 police had to be telegraphed for. The authorities, fearing 



