dustrial Revolution was getting a fair start in England, the French Revolution broke out. The fall of the Bastille, whose sombre walls stood for all that was tyrannical in the old order, was a signal of the passing of the ancient regime. The revolt of the people against their oppressors at first met with considerable favour on the part of prominent statesmen as well as the people in England, but the disorder and murderous excesses frightened the law and order party. The belligerent attitude of the Republic and the evident determination upon extensive conquest led to war with all Europe. In 1793, England was drawn into the vortex for many reasons. The doctrines proclaimed by the revolutionary party in France were dangerous to the privileged classes in England, and English commercial supremacy was to be maintained at any cost. From that year onward until the crushing defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, England was engaged in playing a costly part in the continental struggle. Though not the scene of actual conflict, England's share in the war cost £831,446,449. During this period the wealth of the nation was piling up with astonishing rapidity, but the poverty of the people was intensifying. In 1760, the poor rate was £1,250,000, or 3s. 7d. per head; and in 1818 it had risen to £7,870,000, or 13s. 3d. per head of population. Evidently the people did not derive much. benefit from the new inventions. As Gibbins says:

"The profits all went into the hands of the capitalist manufacturers, while taxation fell with special severity upon the poor, since taxes were placed upon every necessity and convenience of daily life. Even as late as 1841 there were 1,200 articles in the Customs tariff. The price of wheat, moreover, rose to famine height;

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from 49s. 3d. per quarter in 1793 to 69s. in 1799, to 113s. in 1800, and 106s. in 1810. At the same time, wages were falling rapidly, and thus the chief burdens of war fell on those least able to pay for them; but the poverty of the poor was the wealth of the landowners, who kept on raising rents continually, and grew rich upon the starvation of the people; for they persuaded Parliament to prohibit corn except at famine prices, and shifted the burden of taxation, as was not unnatural, upon other shoulders." During these sad years in the history of English toil, the political economists were busy with "over-population," enlightened self-interest, and the relation of wages to capital; but the people were, fortunately, beginning to think a little for themselves. It soon became evident to the nation at large that unrestrained individualism in industry had failed to give health, happiness, or decent conditions of livelihood. The age of revolt was not far off.

CHAPTER IV

REVOLT AGAINST LAISSEZ FAIRE AND BEGINNING OF

ORGANISATION

The new

Sec. 1. Hindrances and Aggravations. machinery had been humming and pounding for a long time before the social conditions which it brought aroused men to the fact that a new world had been created, and before any serious attempt was made to ameliorate the conditions of the workers. In addition to the natural inactivity of the people when it comes to questions beyond those of immediate welfare, there were many causes which worked against reform movements. In the first place, individualism was rampant, and it was thought that "enlightened self-interest " would prove a panacea for the social diseases which came with the new industrial order; (2) the excesses of the French Revolution frightened even the most advanced English statesmen; (3) the energies of the nation were strained to the utmost in the struggle for self-preservation; (4) patriotism stifled the bitter cry of want, for we are told that "reviews, illuminations in celebration of victories, the public funerals of soldiers, and the thanksgiving services in the churches helped to keep up enthusiasm and to restrain dissatisfaction"; (5) the idea of society as an organism and the new morality which centres around the idea had not yet dawned in the human mind.

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The old, medieval trade regulations, made for a simple and comparatively stable society, proved utterly inadequate for a society rapidly increasing in complexity, numbers, and functional differentiation; (6) but greater than all other forces was the mad struggle of the mill owners for wealth, which made secondary all other considerations. In addition to the many hindrances in the way of improving the lot of the workers, there were a number of incidents which aggravated the already terrible conditions: (1) the conclusion of the war threw out of employment 121,000 seamen between 1813 and 1817, and many thousands of soldiers as well, who were compelled to seek work in an already over-crowded or depressed market; (2) improvidence and low wages were alike encouraged by the unwise poor law which permitted the supplementing of wages from the poor-rates; (3) the natural contraction of the inflated war prices injured agriculture and many industries which were supported by the temporary and abnormal war demands.

Sec. 2.-The Political Economists. Following in the main the doctrines of Adam Smith, but with vicious enlargements and interpretations, the economists were opposed to placing new restrictions on the rapidlydeveloping industries. Having recognised the failures and fallacies of the medieval trade regulations, they were naturally antagonistic to renewing, in any form, State interference. They strongly advocated the "enlightened self-interest" doctrine; they discovered natural law in the social world holding the free labourer to perpetual bondage, and the discovery was highly acceptable to the capitalists and mill owners. Malthus wrote about "the misery arising from a redundant population," and in suggesting a plan for the abolition

of the poor laws, said: "We are bound in justice and honour to disclaim the right of the poor to support." The reverend gentleman added: "If parents desert their child, they ought to be made answerable for the crime. The infant is, comparatively speaking, of little value to society, as others will immediately supply its place." The conclusions of the old school were, in short, that man is a miserable, helpless creature here below, powerless to change anything, and that Nature would have to take its course, starving, eliminating, and yielding up the hindmost to his Satanic Majesty.

Sec. 3.-The Revolt. The conditions finally became so unbearable that the people, who had no voice in shaping the public policy, expressed their deep-seated resentment at the iniquities of the new order in occasional outbreaks. Rick burning and the destruction of machinery showed the determined spirit of the times. Discontent and unrest were rife throughout the North. The suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act and the Six Acts (1819) aimed at the suppression of sedition, revealed the fright of the Government, and virtually declared England to be in a state of anarchy; while the so-called Peterloo Massacre added fuel to the flames of civil unrest. But it was not by riots and the destruction of property that the people were to secure control over their conditions of life and labour. The work of individualism in striking down and clearing away the old economic, social, and political wreckage had been invaluable; but its failure to secure to the people the barest comforts of life soon became evident.

Sec. 4.-Factory Legislation. When it became a physical impossibility to endure this terrible state of affairs any longer, the agitation for factory legislation