xisting rents, had piled up considerable fortunes in a few years;
others had enlarged their premises, doubled their business, and
thriven in every way; nevertheless, they had to obey. The landlord
naturally refused to be dictated to by his tenants in matters not
affecting them; he also refused to reduce the rents of men who in a
few years had made fortunes, and some of whom were commonly reputed to
be worth thousands. Legal proceedings were then commenced, and the
tenants' interests were put up to auction. Some of the most thriving
shopkeepers declined to let their tenancies, out of which they had
done so well, be sold; others, in fear of personal violence and
outrage, not unusual results of disobeying the League, did allow them
to be knocked down for nominal sums to the landlord's representative.
Let lovers of liberty and fair-play watch what followed. All the
shopkeepers who bought in their interests were rigorously boycotted;
men who had had a large weekly turnover now saw their shops absolutely
deserted. Plate-glass windows that would not have shamed Regent
Street, were smashed to atoms by hired ruffians of the League, and
the shopkeepers themselves and their families had to be protected
from the mob by armed police, placed round their houses night and day.
All this because they desired to keep their flourishing businesses,
instead of sacrificing them in a quarrel not their own.

"Let us follow still further what happened. The shopkeepers, finding
their trade quite gone, for it was almost worth a person's life to go
into their shops, watched as they were by paid spies, had to
capitulate to the League. An abject apology and a promise to let
themselves be evicted next time were the price they had to pay to be
allowed in a free country to carry on their trade. Ruin faced them
both ways. After having the ban of boycotting taken off them, with
eviction not far distant, most of them held clearance sales, at
tremendous sacrifices, so as to be prepared for moving. One man is
reputed to have got rid of seven thousand pounds' worth of goods under
these circumstances. Of the other division, who allowed their places
to be sold, most of them are now evicted. Dozens of shop assistants,
needlewomen, and others connected with the trade of a thriving town,
are thrown out of employment, and a peaceful neighbourhood has been
changed into a scene of bloodshed and violence.

"I appeal to the English people not to encourage or support a