^24 Review of Survey of the County of Cavatt, May- 



could fcarcely devife a mode of taxation more grofsly abfurd, or 

 more palpably unjuft. 



Tithes feem to be a confiderable evil in this county, both from 

 the principle by which they are laid on, and tl)c manner in v/hich 

 they are exa61:ed. Land in tillage is tithcable by the acre ; mea- 

 dow land pays no more than 6d. for what is in one perfon's 

 pofTeflion (and we fuppofe in one field), were it a tlioullind acres : 

 This is a mode of tithing for which no argument can be offered. 

 The tithes, , it would feem, too, are exa(il:ed with confiderable 

 rigour : This is not to be imputed to tlie clergy, who, in fadl, 

 are not the collectors, but to a kind of animals called pro^lors, 

 who have farmed the tithes, and, no doubt, wlili to make the 

 moll of their bargain. The author fpeaks with warmth on this 

 fubjecl, and we give him credit for his feelings ; but he is not 

 aware, perhaps, of the caufe of the evil. The truth is, the 

 clergyman knows how unpopular tithes are, and what rilk may 

 fometimes attend the collecting of them : he is willing, there- 

 fore, to dlfpofe of this dangerous property at a very inferior 

 value. The proclor, impelled by intereil, and unreftrained by 

 any motives of delicacy, levies the tax with rigour. Thus, the 

 occupier of the land is oppreffed, and the clergyman enjoys not 

 the legal fruit of his labours. 



The fmall fize of farms, and their being generally occupied 

 by perfons engaged in fome other employment, mult be re- 

 garded as prefenting a powerful obftacle to improvement. A- 

 griculture cannot profper where it is not followed as a feparate 

 employment, and where one perfon does not poffefs as much 

 land as may furnilh occupation to himfelf, without manual 

 labour, and fulhcient fupport to his family. No perfon could 

 farm, in the county of Cavan, to a fulhcient extent, without 

 turning out perhaps a hundred of their fmall tenants j and he 

 mull be a bold man, indeed, who, in the prefent condition of 

 Ireland, fliould undertake to bring fuch a nelt of hornets about 

 his ears. 



We have always been of opinion, that the mafs o£ .the Irifh 

 people can neither be profperous nor happy, till fome effedual 

 means are employed to inllrud them. We coincide entirely with 

 the author in his fentiments on this fubje^t ; and, from his llate- 

 ments, it is manifell, that confiderable blame is imputable fome- 

 where. Very ample funds have been originally fet apart in fome 

 places for maintaining fchools, which are'almoll totally negled- 

 ed. Do they, whole duty it is to dired fuch matters, think, 

 like fome other great men, that the common people fhould be 

 kept as ignorant as pofhble ? Or do they regard fuch affairs as 

 unworthy of their notice .'' Ireland has furniihed not a few ar- 

 guments of late to ihow the danger of ignorance. 



