J42 On Tithes. May 



that we are fllll bound to adhere to the ceremonial dlfpenfation; 

 that our peace-offerings and our free gifts mud yet l^e laid on 

 the altar •, that our political oeconomy muft flill be the fame as 

 it was in the days of Mofes ; and that the fons of Levi, as a re- 

 ward for miniftering in the holy place, (hould * every third year, 



* which was the year of tithing, tithe all the tithe of the in- 



* cfeafe of the land. ' Or, if he will carry us back to the 

 remoteft antiquity, I will pledge myfelf to point out the time 

 when tithes were not ; and I will take it on me to fliow, 

 that, like the feudal fyftem, like thirlage to mills, and all the 



* arrage and carrage"* * under which fo many long groaned, they 

 had their origin in the peculiar circumftanccs of the times. The 

 tie which bound the vaflal to his baron, was perhaps indifpenf- 

 able in the days of anarchy and confufion ; but when, at length, 

 a free government dawned on our ifle, it was found neceilary 

 that this tie fhould be forcibly cut afunder. The intolerable la- 

 bour of grinding a few handfuls of corn, by means of the quern, 

 probably gave rife to what is now reckoned a very fimple ma- 

 chine, our meal mill ; a machine which, were it the invention 

 of even our ov/n days, it might polTibly be proper to reward 

 with a patent : but the dues for grinding, which it was agreed 

 ihould be given to the proprietor of the mill as a compenfation 

 for the expence he had incurred, (and it may be that they were 

 thought at the time to be the only proper compenfation), were 

 foon found to be a flrong bar to improvements in agriculture ; 

 and therefore the Highland Society, with that fpiric which be- 

 came them, procured it to be enac?£ed, that in thofe places where 

 the bondage ftill fubfilled, the proprietor fhould be forced^ oh an 

 equivalent, to give them up. But I will doubtlefs be told, that 

 though tithes had their birth in the dark ages, when the Romifh 

 Church ufurped fucli dominion over the confciences and perfons 

 of men, as ftill to make the mind revolt with abhorrence, they 

 have neverthelefs long been recognifed by the law of the land ; 

 that, therefore, they are now become as really and truly pio- 

 perty, as the beft titled eftate in the kingdom ; and that it 

 would be perfedly unjuft: to force the holders of them, with- 

 out their confent, to give up this right. If we are to wait 

 till we obtain the entire and complete confent of the Body to 

 this meafure, we ftiall prove ourfelves as far advanced in idiot- 

 ifm, as was the man who patiently fat down on the bank of the 

 river, to wait till its waters fliould run paft. Strange ! that you»^ 

 ihould every day read advertifements in the papers, giving no- 

 tice that a bill is to be brought into Parliament (not certainly 



with 



* An cxprcfTion inferted In the old feu charters, denoting every klfid 

 ©f carriages which the baron might «hoofe to exa<^ of his vaflal. 



