18 EPPING FOREST
of this was the passage in the next session of a
Bill appointing a Royal Commission to inquire
into the rights of the Forest, and prepare a scheme
for its future management. In the meanwhile
some isolated attempts were made to resist the
enclosures. A resident removed the fence erected
by the lord of the manor round Lord's Bushes,
at the spot where it was crossed by a well-known
ancient bridle-way. The lord of the manor brought
an action in which he was unsuccessful, to the great
joy and enthusiasm of the neighbours.
Public attention was now fully aroused, and a
new body was formed, called the " Forest Fund
Committee," who assisted in forcing the question
to the front; but the public without a champion
is powerless. Happily in the Corporation of the
City of London a doughty one was at hand, able
to contend even with the united forces of the
manorial lords. It was Mr. Scott, the far-sighted
City Chamberlain, who first suggested that the
compulsory corn metage should be commuted into
a small fixed duty, and applied to the preservation
of open spaces; and the sinews of war having
been thus provided, we owe it to Mr. T. C. Bedford
—an able and fearless member of the Court of
Common Council—that the duty of making a
supreme effort for the rescue of the Forest was
vigorously pressed upon the Corporation. Owing
to the happy chance that the Corporation were
owners of a cemetery at Wanstead, which gave
them the right of grazing a cow or two, they
were able to take up the cause of the public as
commoners of Epping Forest. In August 1871
a suit was commenced against the lords of the
manors, which lasted more than three years, and
cost both sides not less than £30,000. The
labour connected with it was enormous, owing to
the multiplicity of interests involved and the obscure
and intricate questions of ancient law which it raised.
That it was conducted to a successful issue was
largely due to the energy of the late City Solicitor,
Sir T. Nelson, and the zeal, combined with
knowledge, of Mr. now Sir Robert Hunter, who,