CH. I. the kind which I have described were made in the Isle of Wight, early in the reign of Henry VII. Lying so directly exposed to attacks from France, the Isle of Wight was a place which it was peculiarly important to keep in a state of defence, and the following act was therefore the consequence : Depopula tion of the Isle of Wight oc of large farms. 'Forasmuch as it is to the surety of the Realm of England that the Isle of Wight, in the casioned by county of Southampton, be well inhabited with the system English people, for the defence as well of our antient enemies of the Realm of France as of other parties; the which Isle is late decayed of people by reason that many towns and villages have been let down, and the fields dyked and made pasture for beasts and cattle, and also many dwelling-places, farms, and farmholds have of late time been used to be taken into one man's hold and hands, that of old time were wont to be in many several persons' holds and hands, and many several households kept in them; and thereby much people multiplied, and the same Isle thereby well inhabited, which now, by the occasion aforesaid, is desolate and not inhabited, but occupied with beasts and cattle, so that if hasty remedy be not provided, that Isle cannot long be kept and defended, but open and ready to the hands of the king's enemies, which God forbid. For remedy hereof, it is ordained and enacted that no manner of person, of what estate, degree, or condition soever, shall take any several farms more than one, whereof the yearly value shall not exceed the sum of ten marks; and if any The farms divided. several leases afore this time have been made to CH. I. any person or persons of divers and sundry farmholds, whereof the yearly value shall exceed that again subsum, then the said person or persons shall choose one farmhold at his pleasure, and the remnant of his leases shall be utterly void.'* justifica An act, tyrannical in form, was singularly Historical justified by its consequences. The farms were tion of this rebuilt, the lands reploughed, the island repeopled; policy. and in 1546, when a French army of sixty thousand men attempted to effect a landing at St. Helen's, they were defeated and driven off by the militia of the island and a few levies transported from Hampshire and the adjoining counties.† The money-making spirit, however, lay too deep to be checked so readily. The trading classes were growing rich under the strong rule of the Tudors. Increasing numbers of them were buy- Introducing or renting land; and the symptoms com- commercial plained of broke out in the following reign in spirit into many parts of England. They could not choose agement of but break out indeed; for they were the outward marks of a vital change, which was undermining the feudal constitution, and would by and bye revolutionize and destroy it. Such symptoms it was impossible to extinguish; but the government wrestled long and powerfully to hold down the new spirit; and they fought against it successfully, till the old order of things had finished its work, and the time was come for it to depart. 4 Hen. VII. cap. 16. By the same parliament these provisions were extended to the rest of England. 4 Hen. VII. cap. 19. † HALL, p. 863 ; and see vol. iv. of this work, chap. xxii. tion of the the man land. 34 Interference with the Rights of Property CH. 1. By the 1st of the 7th of Henry VIII., the laws of feudal tenure were put in force against the landed traders. Wherever lands were converted from tillage to pasture, the lords of the fee had authority to seize half of all profits until the farmbuildings were reconstructed. If the immediate lord did not do his duty, the lord next above him was to do it; and the evil still increasing, the act, twenty years later, was extended further, and the king had power to seize.* Nor was this all. Sheep-farming had become an integral branch of business; and falling into the hands of men who understood each other, it had been made a monopoly, affecting seriously the prices of wool and mutton. Stronger measures were therefore now taken, and the class to which the offenders belonged was especially pointed out by parliament. a 27 Hen. VIII. cap. 22. 1 One reaped. And this likewise in many places raises the price of corn. The price of wool is also risen . . . . since, though sheep cannot be called a monopoly, because they are not engrossed by one person; yet they are in so few hands, and these are so rich, that as they are not prest to sell them sooner than they have a mind to it, so they never do it till they have raised the price as high as possible.'-Sir THOMAS MORE's Utopia, Burnet's Translation, pp. 17-19. See, also, a petition to the crown, describing the extent and effects of the enclosing system, which I have printed in a note, p. 93, of the third volume of this work. land em pasture 'Whereas,' says the 13th of the 25th of Henry CH. 1. VIII., 'divers and sundry persons of the king's Evil of the subjects of this Realm, to whom God of his good- excess of ness hath disposed great plenty and abundance of ployed in moveable substance, now of late, within few years, have daily studied, practised, and invented ways and means how they might accumulate and gather together into few hands, as well great multitude of farms as great plenty of cattle, and in especial, sheep, putting such lands as they can get to pasture and not to tillage; whereby they have not only pulled down churches and towns and enhanced the old rates of the rents of the possessions of this Realm, or else brought it to such excessive fines that no poor man is able to meddle with it, but also have raised and enhanced the prices of all manner of corn, cattle, wool, pigs, Prices of geese, hens, chickens, eggs, and such other com- provision modities, almost double above the prices which by a monohath been accustomed, by reason whereof a marvel- consequent lous multitude of the poor people of this realm be of the peonot able to provide meat, drink, and clothes necessary for themselves, their wives, and children, but Labour not be so discouraged with misery and poverty, that dity.' they fall daily to theft, robbery, and other inconveniences, or pitifully die for hunger and cold; and it is thought by the king's humble and loving subjects, that one of the greatest occasions that moveth those greedy and covetous people so to accumulate and keep in their hands such great portions and parts of the lands of this Realm from the occupying of the poor husbandmen, and so to use it in pasture and not in tillage, is the great enhanced poly, and sufferings ple. a 'commo CH. I. profit that cometh of sheep which be now come Сн. interferes. into a few persons' hands, in respect of the whole The state number of the king's subjects; it is hereby enacted, that no person shall have or keep on lands not their own inheritance more than 2000 sheep; that no person shall occupy more than two farms; and that the 19th of the 4th of Henry VII., and those other acts obliging the lords of the fees to do their duty, shall be reenacted and enforced.'* Labour left alone unable to struggle with capital. By these measures the money-making spirit was for a time driven back, and the country resumed its natural course. I am not concerned to defend the economic wisdom of such proceedings; but they prove, I think, conclusively, that the labouring classes owed their advantages not to the condition of the labour market, but to the care of the state; and that when the state relaxed its supervision, or failed to enforce its regulations, the labourers being left to the market chances, sank instantly in the unequal struggle with capital. The government, however, remained strong enough to hold its ground (except during the discreditable interlude of the reign of Edward VI.) * I find scattered among the State Papers many loose memoranda, apparently of privy councillors, written on the backs of letters, or on such loose scraps as might be at hand. The following fragment on the present subject is curious. I do not recognise the hand: Mem. That an act may be made that merchants shall employ their goods continually in the traffic of merchandise, and not in the purchasing of lands; and that craftsmen, also, shall continually use their crafts in cities and towns, and not leave the same and take farms in the country; and that no merchant shall hereafter purchase above 40l. lands by the year.'-Cotton MS. Titus, b. i. 160. |