1S03. Afifivcr to Ohfervat'ions on Tithes , No. 13. />. 61-76. 445 



tially improven, very much to the honour and emolument of 

 farmers, and that other tra6>s, in favourablf- fituations, admit 

 of equal improvement under the fame burden. At the lame 

 time, 1 frankly allow, that there are extenfive diftri^ls, uhere 

 the exa^lion would effectually preclude any attempt at meliora- 

 tion, or at leall render it extremely doubtful how :ar i armors 

 of fkill and enterprife (hould venture upon them. Thcfc lacfls, 

 while reprefentin*]; tithes as decid^^dly hoftile to agriculture, 

 (how how very diflicult, if not impracticable, it is to fall upon a 

 general rule for their commutation, which would appiv, v\ith 

 equal fairnefs, to every cafe, and meet the ideas of all con- 

 cerned. From the general ftrain of his letter and his plan, yuur 

 correfpondent is not infenfible of this diihculry, though he feems 

 not to fee it in fo (Inking a point of view as I do 



But there are other fa6ls (efpecially two very glaring ones, in- 

 ftanced in my former letter), which furnidi a drong pr.lumption,, 

 that tithes, though an acknowledged grievance, are not a giiev- 

 ance of fuch magnitude and extent as their enemies reprefent. 

 One of thefe your correfpondent pafles over in filence, though he 

 gives me a piece of information concerning it, which Ifrengthens 

 my inference : ' Lay-tithes, it is believed from good authority, 

 extend to a fourth part of the EnglKh territory. * To the fale or 

 commutation of fuch tithes, there is no legal obftruction. Yet 

 few of them have been bought or commuted. Whence has this 

 happened ? Why propofe * an aft of the Legiilature, ' for the 

 commutation of this * obnoxious burden, ' this * pernicious and 

 unpopular tax, ' when one fourth part of it, which may be com- 

 muted without fuch an aft, remains in t\\c hands of lay-impro- 

 priators ? Till thefe (imple qucftions are anfwercd in a fatiskic- 

 tory manner ; to warrant a contrary inference, I mull continue to 

 infer, as I have done, that lay-tithes, at leaft, are not an evil of 

 great mngniiude. Yet he tells us, * thefe are worfe than tithes 

 paid to clergymen. ' By his own account, the latter mull be an 

 evil of fiill Ufs magnitude. That neither the one kind, nor the o- 

 tlier, are an evil of fuch extenfive and deplorable magnitude, as 

 to call for legal interpofition, my fecond faft (which he vainly 

 tries to explain away) eftablifnes beyond a dotibt. For, in that 

 cafe, all parties concerned would have been cordial and unanimous 

 in defiring a commutation. The att.-mpts hitherto made have 

 been flight, and proceeded from one fide. Tithe-holders have ne- 

 ver ftirred in the bufmefs. While they and the great mafs of 

 the opprejfed tithe-payers remain uninfluenced by the marked ' re- 

 probation of {t\'Qn eighths of thofe gentlemen who were employ- 

 ed by the Board of Agriculture in furveying the kingdom, * mull 

 wx not conclude, either thr.t the evil is not fore, or that the peo- 



