280 RURAL COMMONS. 
promises made by the Home Secretary. They held that 
it was deficient in the following respects,—that it left too 
much to the discretion of the Inclosure Commissioners ; 
that it did not forbid Parliamentary inclosure in the 
neighbourhood of towns; that it did nothing to put a 
stop to arbitrary appropriation of Commons without the 
sanction of Parliament, which had only been checked 
by the expensive and dilatory litigation of the previous 
few years; and that the regulation clauses would be 
little used owing to the veto of the Lord of the Manor. 
I moved a resolution to this effect, and was supported 
by Fawcett, who contended that the Bill would promote 
inclosures. Mr. Cross, in reply, denied that the Bull 
was intended to have this result. ‘The object of the 
Bill, he said, was as far as possible to prevent the 
inclosure of Commons, and to give facilities for keeping 
them open for the benefit of the people; so that not 
only those having rights of common should enjoy 
them, but that the public themselves might enjoy the 
use of these free spaces of land—improved, drained, and 
levelled.” * After this assurance the motion was not 
pressed to a division. 
On the Committee stage of the Bill, Fawcett returned 
to the charge, and moved a resolution to the effect that 
the Bill did not sufficiently protect agricultural labourers, 
nor provide adequate security against the inclosure of 
Commons required for recreation. He supported this 
with a vigorous speech, but was defeated on a division 
by 234 to 98. In Committee on the Bill, the representa- 
* Parliamentary Debates, vol. 227, p. 543. 
