17 



But lay tithes, if any degree of comparison in their sanctity as 

 property can be admitted, are infinitely more ojDen to attack. 



From -what has been said it will, I hope, be conceded that 

 clerical titheowners are neither apathetic nor relieved from 

 agricultural distress. The tenant farmer is not really concerned 

 with the solution of the question ; and it is obvious that the 

 clergy have every right to demand that the landlords should 

 carry out to the very letter the spirit of the Tithe Commutation 

 Act of 1836. The present position of clerical titheowners 

 is iDainfnl to the extreme. They are dependent on bankrupts 

 for their bread. Their position as spiritual advisers is 

 seriously compromised when they at the same time appear as 

 creditors pressing struggling tenants for payment of tithe. The 

 dilemma is one in which the clergy ought not to be placed ; it 

 is one which the law never intended them to occupy ; it is one 

 into which landlords and tenants have thrust them for their 

 mutual advantage. Many suggestions have been made in the 

 interests of agriculture, or of the Church, or of the landlords, 

 or of tenants for the redemption of tithe. The wholesale con- 

 fiscation of tithes is a proposal which is not likely to be seriously 

 entertained ; it is put forward by its advocates on the principle 

 which prompts a dealer to ask twice as much as he intends to 

 take. I reserve the discussion of the proposals which may be 

 considered as really before the country for my final letter. 



Meanwhile the position of the clergy is peculiarly painful. 

 Their incomes are small ; the claims upon them are already large, 

 and are increasing nnder the pressure of agricultural distress. 

 To many of them reductions or remissions mean sheer want, or 

 the abandonment of one or more of their spiritual agencies. Ifc 

 is infinitely to their credit that they have preferred to starve 

 themselves rather than the Church. The loss of income con- 

 sequent on the fall of the averages means the difference 

 between comparative comfort and a straggle to make both ends 

 meet. The clerical titheowner is at the same moment called 

 upon to exercise a more abundant charity : he, as it were, buys 

 want out of the labourer's cottage by oifering her a home in his 

 own house. This is the opportunity wliich is seized to demand 

 from the clergy a further reduction in their already narrowed 

 incomes. The alternative which is presented to them in many 

 parts of the country is the absolute refusal of any tithe at all. 

 The temptation to secure some payment by granting abatements 

 is necessarily great ; in many cases their credit is pledged and 

 they are themselves pressed for payment. So, again, the con- 

 dition of the tithepayer is, as they well know, disastrous ; the 

 tithe may be the last straw which will break his back. Between 

 want at home and want abroad, how ought they to act? The 

 clergy are, in my opinion, most ill advised if they grant abate- 



