In cases which involve a question of wages or non-fulfilment of contract it has often happened that a purely personal element has been introduced.  The labourer asserts that he has been unfairly treated, that implied promises have been broken, perquisites withheld, and abuse lavished upon him.  On the opposite side, the master alleges that he has been made a convenience—­the man staying with him in winter, when his services were of little use, and leaving in summer; that his neglect has caused injury to accrue to cattle; that he has used bad language.  Here is a conflict of class against class—­feeling against feeling.  The point in dispute has, of course, to be decided by evidence, but whichever way evidence leads the magistrates to pronounce their verdict, it is distasteful.  If the labourer is victorious, he and his friends ‘crow’ over the farmers; and the farmer himself grumbles that the landlords are afraid of the men, and will never pronounce against them.  If the reverse, the labourers cry out upon the partiality of the magistrates, who favour each other’s tenants.  In both cases the decision has been given according to law.  But the knowledge that this kind of feeling exists—­that he is in reality arbitrating between capital and labour—­renders the resident landlord doubly careful what steps he takes at home in his private capacity.  He hardly knows which way to turn when a question crops up, desiring, above all things, to preserve peace.

It has been said that of late there has come into existence in the political world ‘a power behind Parliament.’  Somewhat in the same sense it may be said that the labourer has become a power behind the apparent authorities of the rural community.  Whether directly, or through the discontented tenant, or by aid of the circles in cities who hold advanced views, the labourer brings a pressure to bear upon almost every aspect of country life.  That pressure is not sufficient to break in pieces the existing order of things; but it is sufficient to cause an unpleasant tension.  Should it increase, much of the peculiar attraction of country life will be destroyed.  Even hunting, which it would have been thought every individual son of the soil would stand up for, is not allowed to continue unchallenged.  Displays of a most disagreeable spirit must be fresh in the memories of all; and such instances have shown a disposition to multiply.  Besides the more public difficulties, there are also social ones which beset the landowner.  It is true that all of these do not originate with the labourer, or even concern him, but he it dragged into them to suit the convenience of others.  ‘Coquetting with a vote’ is an art tolerably well understood in these days; the labourer has not got a nominal vote, yet he is the ‘power behind,’ and may be utilised.