The common belief that “Britain had been providentially marked out as the most civilized, progressive and successful nation on the globe” was to be rudely shaken during the late-Victorian period. As David Cannadine has noted, from 1873 to 1896 the country entered a protracted period of economic downturn during which unemployment was noticeably high in the late 1870s, 1886–1887, and 1893–1894. The effects were made worse by successive governments continuing to advocate free trade at a time when the United States and most European nations had chosen to apply trade tariffs. Moreover, threatened by industrial developments in Germany and the United States, Britain could no longer rely on its former position as the world leader in this domain. Rural areas were no less unsettled, suffering hugely from a fall in agricultural profits and land values and witnessing an exodus of farm workers towards the towns and cities, where further anxieties were raised by the poor health and deplorable living conditions endured by a significant proportion of the population.