PART THREE 

 THE FARMER SWINGS HIS SCYTHE 



THE GREAT LOCK-OUT OF 1874. 



IT is difficult to reconcile the statements made by farmers 

 and landowners at this time with those of investigators 

 who travelled the country collecting facts. The statement 

 made by Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., that the men's Union would 

 prove as " tyrannical, as secret and as tormenting as the 

 Star Chamber of old " reads like an echo of the Dorset 

 Assizes of 1834. Such a statement though casts a flood of 

 light on the attitude of mine! adopted by the employing 

 class and their advocates on the attempt of a landless, half- 

 starved English peasantry trying to obtain a shilling or two 

 more wages. 



The Strike of 1872, wrote Mr. Francis George Heath, 

 was " 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." 1 



Mr. Frederick Clifford, The Times correspondent, during 

 the great agricultural lock-out of 1874, stated that " on 

 the whole the conduct of the labourers throughout the 

 lock-out was exemplary. There were isolated attempts 

 at intimidation, and a few cases of personal violence ; but 

 considering that the lock-out extended over a great portion 

 of the comity of Suffolk, and included parts of Cambridge- 

 shire, the men were orderly and well-behaved." 2 



On the other hand the farmers' statements as to " fire- 

 brand methods " of the National Union received support 



1 British Rural Life and Labour. 



2 The Agricultural Lock-out, 1874. 



VOL. II. 4') i: 



