Though  serfdom  had  a  considerable  time  previously  died  out,
so  far  as  all  other  classes  of  workers  were  concerned,  colliers
and  salters  were  not  liberated  until  towards  the  close  of  the
last  century ;  and  the  custom  of  celebrating  the  anniversary
of  their  emancipation  has  not  yet  died  out.  The  act  which
set  them  free  was  passed  on  the  23d  of  May,  1775."

In  his  Work  and  Wages  Mr.  Thomas  Brassey,  a  loyal  Eng-
lishman, remarks  :  "  So  long  as  the  cost  of  production  in  this
country  exceeds  the  cost  of  production  in  other  countries  the
neutral  markets  of  the  world  will  no  longer  draw  their  sup-
plies from  England.  The  demand  for  labor  here  will  ac-
cordingly diminish  ;  the  multitudes  of  people  out  of  employ
will  be  driven,  under  the  pressure  of  necessity,  to  compete
against  each  other  for  employment ;  wages  will  then  be  in
proportion  diminished  until  we  are  once  more  in  a  position
to  compete."  Mr.  Brassey  also  says :  "  It  is  solely  by  our
lower  prices  that  we  have  secured  the  monopoly  of  the  Syri-
an market."  Labor  being  the  principal  element  in  the  cost
of  most  of  the  commodities  which  Great  Britain  sells  abroad
the  plain  inference  from  these  extracts  is  that  British  work-


28  NOTES  AND  COMMENTS.
ingmen  must  be  systematically  underpaid  and  degraded  that
the  condition  of  cheapness  may  be  secured.
In  a  speech  in  Parliament  on  the  budget  in  1866  Mr.
