rSo4- Rev'u'iv of Dy Gar diner' J- Iiffaysl. 357 



they are nearly allied to thofe we liave always maintained fnce the 

 merits of the quellion were invcftigattd by us. He is friendly to a 

 modus^ or compenfalion in lieu of tithe, and fiipports his opioion by 

 fevtral very judicious arguments. It tnves us pleafure to obferve, that 

 the plan for commuting or changing titlie for a proportion of rent, 

 given in our Thirteenth Number, meets with his unqualified approba- 

 tion. The Do6h?r's fcntimeiits on the general queition will however 

 be more corrt6ily comprehended from the following extract. 



' Notwitliftaiiding what I have faid, in the preceding paires, on the 

 Sivifion and iinprovtfment of the commons and wafte lands of this 

 country, certain difiicultics, which f)bn:rut?t the progrtfs of this de- 

 fireable end, fnll remain to be confidcred. Among thefe are the 

 church tithe, and poor's rates, in Eri^laiul ; which, in many inftances, 

 affed: the proprietors and farmers to Inch a degree, as to hanlfli almoft 

 all inclination to confiderable improvements, from a diflike to fliare 

 their profits with thofe who bear no part of th-e exptnce. The lithe 

 ia frequently a very unequal tax upon the rent, and is always a great 

 difcouragement, both to improvements by the landlord, aiid cultivation 

 by the farmer. It is a real land-taj^, makliig part o{ the revenue of 

 the clergy ; is a heavy burthen on the proprietors of land ; but is felt 

 more fevetely by the tenants; and is higher than even the land-tax 

 formerly paid in to the treafury for the exigencies of the State. The 

 propiicror cannot venture to make the moll important, which are com- 

 monly the mod expenhve improvements, nor the tenant to raife the 

 pioil valuable, which are likewife, in general, the moft. expenfive crops, 

 when the Church, which lays out no part of the expence, is to iliarc 

 fo largely in the produce. 



* So heavy a tax on the fruits of the earth, muft neceffarily have 

 ibme effedl in lefiening their production, in heightening the price of 

 provlfions, and in reftraining the population of the country, which will 

 always correfpond with the quantity of food produced. How to ob- 

 viate thefe inconveniences, arifing from lo burthenfome a tax on pro- 

 duce, and which operate, with fo decifive an efledl, in obllrufting all 

 expenfive and important improvements of farms, is a quellion of moil 

 difiicuk folution. This difliculty arifes, not fo much from any impof- 

 fibility of forming a plan of accommodation between the proprietors 

 of land, the clergy, and the lay impropropriators *, by which the 

 effects of the tithe, complained of, might-be taken away, but in fo ad- 

 juring the fcheme to their feveral interefts, as to give mutual fatis- 

 fadtion. 



* "Where there is no modus ellabliiTied, it is an oppofition of intereft 

 between the clergyman and the farmer, which occafions fo many alter- 

 cations, and fometimes lawfuits, on account of the tithe in kind, or 

 its valuation in money. V/ere thefe perfons intent on ilri<£l juftice to 

 each other, no difpute could take place ; but the clergyman, perhaps 



from 



* The tithe of thefe laft are fuppofed to extend to nearly a fourth part of the 

 lands of Enghnd. 



