6t BERKHAMSTED COMMON. 
and had banished bad characters. He was also a 
member for a Cornish borough, and in the House of 
Commons had distinguished himself by annually assert- 
ing the rights of the public against the claims of the 
Crown and the Duchy of Cornwall to the ownership 
of the foreshore on the sea-coasts. His qualities of 
courage and obstinacy marked him out as the man 
of all others best suited to fight the cause of the 
Commoners against an inclosure such as had been 
effected of Berkhamsted Common. 
Mr Augustus Smith was, without difficulty, induced 
to take up the cause, and to employ Mr. P. H. Lawrence, 
the Solicitor of the Commons Society, in proceedings 
to vindicate the Commoners’ rights and interests. 
After careful consultation between Mr. Smith, Mr. 
Lawrence, and myself, it was decided to resort to the 
old practice of abating the inclosure by the removal 
bodily of the fences, in a manner which would be a 
demonstration and an assertion of right, not less 
conspicuous than their erection. For this purpose 
it was thought necessary to employ such a force as 
would not only speedily remove the fences, but render 
any opposition on the part of the employés of Lord 
Brownlow absolutely impossible. 
With this object, it was arranged with a contractor 
in London to send down at night to Berkhamsted 
a force of 120 navvies, for the purpose of pulling down 
the iron fences in as short a time as possible. On 
March 6th, 1866, a special train left Euston, shortly 
after midnight, with the requisite number of labourers, 
