5'i6 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



Gentlemen, as to tithes, they 

 are generally complained of as a 

 great grievance. In the time iu 

 which we live, they are a tax 

 upon industry, upon enterprize, 

 and upon agricultural skill. Is a 

 man intelligent and industrious, 

 does he, by agriculture, reclaim a 

 tract of land, and make it pro- 

 ductive of corn, he is visited and 

 harassed by the tithe proctor ; 

 does his neighbour, through want 

 of inclination or of skill, keep his 

 farm in pasture and unimproved, 

 he is exonerated from the burthen 

 of tithes, and from the visitations 

 of any clergy not belonging to his 

 own church. Far be it from me 

 to gay, that tithes are not due to 

 the clergy. By the lav/ of the 

 land, they have as good a title to 

 their tithes as any of you have to 

 your estates ; and I am convinced, 

 that the clergyman does not, in 

 any instance, exact what he is 

 strictly entitled to. But this mode 

 of assessment has been much 

 complained of; and it is particu- 

 larly felt in this country, because 

 the Catholic receives no spiritual 

 comfort from his Protestant rector ; 

 he knows him only through the 

 tithe proctor, and he has more- 

 over his own pastor to pay. This 

 is the reason why he thinks it a 

 grievance; aud, I must admit, 

 that although the clergyman does 

 not receive all that he is entitled 

 to, and although it may not be a 

 grievance in another country, yet 

 the tithe system is a painful system 

 for Ireland. 



Gentlemen, you have in your 

 power another remedy for public 

 commotions. I allude to the as- 

 sessment of the presentment money 

 upon your county. It seems that 

 the sum of 900/. is now demanded 



to be levied : whether this sum is, 

 or is not, an exorbitant one for this 

 county, I know not. It is a tax, 

 of which you will impose the 

 greater part, or perhaps the whole, 

 upon your county ; and it falls 

 wholly upon the occupying ten- 

 ants or farmers. Pray keep this 

 circumstance constantly in your 

 minds. The benefit of this tax is 

 your own. By its operation, you 

 have your farms well divided and 

 improved ; good roads made round 

 your estates ; useful bridges and 

 walls erected. Indeed, I have 

 known counties which have been 

 parcelled out io undertakers by 

 baronies, and where no man could 

 get a job without the consent of 

 the baronial undertaker ; they 

 met and commuted, and it was 

 thus agreed, " I give you your 

 job here, and you give me my job 

 there." I may \)tt asked, why do 

 you mention those things ? The 

 Grand Jury know them verj' well; 

 but then they ought to be con- 

 cealed. Miserable, infatuated no- 

 tion ! These things are not con- 

 cealed ; there is not a Grand Jury 

 job in the country which is not 

 known and commented upon by 

 the peasantry. Every mischief, 

 and every enormity I have this 

 day stated, is as thoroughly well 

 known to the peasantry as to the 

 gentry throughout Ireland. The 

 affected apprehension of exciting 

 and exasperating them, by a re- 

 probation of those enorniiiies, is 

 puerile and contemptible. It 

 cannot do mischief; it cannot add 

 to the poignancy of their feelings ; 

 it may allay or soothe them : al- 

 ready those exactions are the sub- 

 ject of discussion, and of minute 

 scrutiny, in every cabin ; what are 

 the consequences ? Dreadful heart- 



