444 Anfiuer io Ohjervathns on Tithes, No. 13. />. 61-76^. No^^ 



tend. Nor does your correfpondent difpute It, though he doe^ 

 not lay fc much ilrefs upon it as it deferves. 



There is no material ditTerence in our opinions concerning the 

 means of perfuading t!iefe parties to a cordial agreement on the 

 fubjed. For 1 have the fat is faction to perceive, that, while he 

 fneers at me for laying it down as a maxim, * that all men of 

 good fenfe are guided by worldly intereft, ' (and that maxim I 

 certainly maintain with refpei^l to all temporal concerns), he ap- 

 peals himfelf to this very principle in fupport of his plan, and 

 recommends it as benehcial to the public, to landholders, to tythe- 

 holdt-rs, and farmers. I am happy that he virtually fubfcribes 

 to my creed •, and am confident, that, fo far (and fo far only) 

 as his plan and his arguments are calculated to work on thefe 

 defcriptions of men, he may be inflrumental in accompllfliing 

 the defired change. On the reft: of the public, his reafoning and 

 his eloquence arc abfolutely thrown away. Not that thefe are 

 unable to underftand them and be convinced, but that their 

 convitlion can neither convince thofe concerned in the fale and 

 purchafe of tithes, nor compel them to fell and buy without 

 convidion. Here it is, that thofe formidable cbflacles lye in 

 the way, which I am accufed o^ farting. I mentioned fome 

 circumitances, which naturally difpofe the one party to fet too 

 high, and the other too low, a value on tithes, and which could 

 only be done away by farmers coming forward with fuch liberal 

 offers of additional rent, as would enable the landholders to fa- 

 tisfy the titheholders, and to put fomething in their own pockets. 

 This difficulty is increafed in proportion as wafle lands and old 

 paftures can be rendered produ£iive by tillage. Were tithe- 

 holders to bear a fliare of the expence incurred in fuch improve- 

 ments *, to avoid it, they might take lefs for their tithes. But 

 being liable to no fuch expence, and yet entitled to a proportion 

 of the produce arifing from that expence, they have a right to 

 fet a high price upon their tithes, and to fay, * If they be worth 

 that price, pay it ; and though they fhould not be worth fo much 

 to you proprietors, yet if they be worth it to you and the public 

 jointly, let each pay a part. * I would not commend their pa- 

 triotifm in a£ting thus. I fpeak only of their right. And where- 

 ever men have a right, it muft be made their intereft to partr 

 with it. If they demand too much, nobody will purchafe, 

 though buyers will rather ftretch a point for fuch an important 

 article as the tithes of their own lanils. But if thefe cannot be 

 bought fo as to afford a reafonable profit to landlords and farm- 

 ers, improvements muft either ftop, or be carried on under the 

 burden of their exacStion. Your correfpondent cannot be igno-^ 

 lant, that> under thi? burden, large tra^» have been fubftan- 



