h our kinsmen, and in 1791 sent out the first
official envoy, George Hammond. The disputes resulting from the War of
Independence and those arising out of the British Maritime Code during
the Great War, brought about acute friction; but the good sense of Pitt,
Washington, and John Jay, his special envoy to London, led to the
conclusion of an Anglo-American Treaty (7th October 1794). Though hotly
opposed by the Gallophil party at Washington, it was finally ratified in
September 1796, and thus postponed for sixteen years the hostilities
which had at times seemed imminent. For the present the United States
sent us an increased quantity of cotton wool, but mere driblets of corn
except in seasons of scarcity. Lancashire benefited from the enhanced
trade, while the British farmer did not yet discern the approach of
times of ruinous competition.[427]

* * * * *

Agriculture had long been an occupation equally fashionable and
profitable. No part of the career of George III deserves more
commendation than his patronage of high farming. That he felt keen
interest in the subject appears from the letters which he sent to "The
Annals of Agriculture" over the signature of "Ralph Robinson," one of
his shepherds at Windsor. A present of a ram from the King's fine flock
of merinos was a sign of high favour. Thanks to this encouragement and
the efforts of that prince of agricultural reformers, Arthur Young, the
staple industry of the land was in a highly flourishing condition. The
rise in the price of wheat now stimulated the demand for the enclosure
of waste lands and of the open or common-fields which then adjoined the
great majority of English villages. The reclamation of wastes and fens
was an advantage to all but the very poor, who, as graziers,
wood-cutters, or fishermen, dragged along a life of poverty but
independence. Though they might suffer by the change to tillage, the
parish and the nation at large reaped golden harvests.

The enclosure of common fields was a different matter. Though on them
the traditional rotation of crops was stupid and the husbandry slipshod,
yet the semi-communal tillage of the three open strips enabled Hodge to
jog along in the easy ways dear to him. In such cases a change to more
costly methods involves hardship to the poor, who cannot, or will not,
adopt the requirements of a more scientific age. Recent research has
also shown that villagers depended mainly