<>tn- Most Tntjtorfditt Industry 3 



could get high rents for the farms and high prices for 

 wheat in all our markets. 



It will thus be evident that there was cause for 

 much discontent amongst the working class, and for 

 many years there was a fierce agitation against farmers 

 and landowners. The hostility to the Corn Laws was 



Sir Robert Peel 



found among the population which had grown up in 

 the large towns. The industrial revolution had trans- 

 formed Great Britain from an agricultural into a manu- 

 facturing and commercial country, and as a result the 

 opposition to the Corn Laws was very bitter. At length, 

 in 1846, Sir Robert Peel carried a measure to abolish 



12 



