9 



it to titheowners. The Titbe Commutation Act of 1836 treats 

 the tithe as a landlord's charge, a charge upon the land, and not 

 a burden upon its produce. Landlords cannot be acquitted of a 

 large share of the blame for the present resistance to the pay- 

 ment of tithe. 



The area over which the anti-tithe agitation extends widens 

 rapidly. In Wales the payment of tithe is a burning question. 

 Yet, agriculturally, there is less reason for the agitation in Wales 

 than in England. The tithe is generally less than in this country : 

 and the Welsh farmer, till within the last two or three years, 

 weathered storms which wrecked hundreds of English tenants. 

 In the Principality the agitation, is stimulated by political causes 

 and fomented by Dissenting ministers and the proprietors of 

 vernacular newspapers. It does not fall within my province to 

 discuss the character of a local movement which is directed less 

 towards relief from an agricultural grievance than towards the 

 disestablishment and disendowment of the Church in Wales. 

 In the English counties the movement is more purely agri- 

 cultural, though even here it often assumes a political aspect. 

 Before the pressure of agricultural distress commenced, no 

 opposition was made to the payment of tithe ; and it is therefore 

 to this cause that the present agitation is mainly due. Drowning 

 men clutch at straws ; farmers welcome any prospect of relief 

 from the disbursement of cash ; many are sincerely convinced 

 that they pay tithes not as part of, but in addition to, the rent. 



If the only remedy proposed for the present agitation is that 

 the tithe should be paid by the landlords farmers will scarcely 

 be satisfied. They paid the tithe while it was rising ; now that 

 it is falling they are told that it will be undertaken by landlords. 

 Eesistauce to tithe is spreading rapidly in England ; it is 

 encouraged for their own purposes by political tramps ; it is 

 even in some instances supijorted by landowners. Along the 

 Welsh borders, in Monmouthshire, Herefordshire, and Cheshire, 

 opposition has already made considerable progress. In Kent 

 the Extraordinary Tithe Redemption Act of 1886 (-19 and 50 

 Vict., c. 54) has diminished the unpopularity of one form of 

 tithes, though it cannot be said to have satisfactorily settled the 

 question. But ordinary titheowners have also encountered great 

 opposition in the collection of their tithes. Tithes in Kent are 

 extremely high ; and the incongruities, especially in such districts 

 as Romney Marsh, exceptionally great. Rich pasture which makes 

 the rent pays a modus of Is. ; and arable land on the other side 

 of the hedge, which is often a dead loss to the farmer, pays a 

 tithe of 12s. an acre. The difference arose from the diflBculty 

 exiDerienced in taking a tithe of grass ; the titheowner accepted 

 a customary payment called a modus decimandi in lieu of his 

 tenth. These arrangements were left untouched by the 



