Page:The English Peasant.djvu/241

 out, and discharged every man belonging to the Union. The consequence was 120 hands were immediately thrown out of work,

The husband of the woman whose cottage I have here described was one who thus lost his situation. With the exception of eighteen years, he had worked for the same family since he was a boy, and his wife had served them also.

As I stood talking, two soldiers crossed the bridge. "A'n't that a sight to aggravate one?" she exclaimed; and truly it was a shame to think that the Queen's troops should be sent to take the bread literally out of the mouths of the poor.

Not a greater mistake has been committed during the whole of this struggle than this obtaining soldiers to gather in the harvest. It is a mistake which the people will not forget, and which has envenomed a dispute hitherto carried on by the men without the least desire or sign of violence.

Whether it is to be attributed to the Farmers' Protection Society, or to some individual farmer at Wootten, or to more potent influence, does not appear certain; however it was, some one had sufficient interest to induce a commanding officer at Aldershot to send down ten men of the 46th Foot to Wootten. Accordingly the day after Parliament rose, to the chagrin of the people, the red-coats marched into the fields.

The whole thing was done without the, knowledge of the War Office, and in direct violation of Article 180 of the Queen's Regulations for the Army, which says that soldiers may be allowed to assist in gathering in the harvest, when application is made for that purpose, "provided that the employment of the population is not interfered with."

As there were more than sixty or seventy able-bodied men ready to work, no plea could be advanced as to the scarcity of labour; on the contrary, it is manifest that the introduction of these soldiers, who thus laid aside the sword for the sickle, took the labourers' harvest away; robbing them of the only opportunity they have in the year to make a little money to pay their debts. Moreover, it was a most unfair interference in the struggle between the employer and the employed, destroying the only chance the latter had of making better terms with his master; and in view of the long winter, with its scarcity of work, and cold, pinching