33 



wliich is subjected to no delays, difficnlties, or expenses of col- 

 lection, a stipend which never fluctuates or remains in abeyance. 

 Ask the parochial clergy — whether the tithe rent-chargers of 

 Wales and Essex, or the glebe-owners of the midland counties — 

 which they would prefer, and you would receive but one 

 answer. 



The higher interests of the Church seem to me to point in the 

 same direction. It is desirable that clerical incomes should be 

 disengaged from the land, not only because the possession of 

 land by the few always awakens envy in the less fortunate 

 many, which militates against the acquisition by the clergy of 

 moral influence; nor is it desirable merely becauso agri- 

 culturists as well as clergymen have pecuniary reasons for 

 complaining of the existing state of things. The presence 

 of a resident landlord, like the clerical tithe or glebe owner, in 

 every parish is a public advantage which cannot be ignored ; 

 but whatever be the form assumed by parochial endowments, 

 severance from the land, not removal from the parish, is con- 

 templated. The question, thus limited, must be determined on 

 wider grouds. Agriculture is a matter of national interest ; 

 the welfare of a people in a large measure depends upon its 

 prosperity. It is important that the land should produce the 

 largest possible quantity of food, and employ the largest possible 

 amount of labour. It is still more essential to give every 

 reasonable facility to the free development of the labouring 

 classes which are engaged in the cultivation of the soil. If 

 the connection of the clergy with the land limits its productive- 

 ness and hinders its social utility, the position which the Church 

 occupies is one of antagonism to the interests of the nation. 



If any change is contemplated in the existing relations of the 

 clergy to the land, one thing is imperatively necessary in the 

 interests of the Church and of the nation, as well as of the 

 classes more directly interested. If useful work is to be done 

 the general policy must be from the first determined. Parlia- 

 ment ought to be prepared with its final answer to the questions 

 whether the land is ultimately to be freed from tithe rent- 

 charge, or whether such lim.ited ownerships as those of glebe- 

 owners are to be continued. Until these questions are answered 

 every patch which is put in the existing system will only make 

 the rent worse. We have already had an illustration of the 

 uselessncss of tinkering at reforms ; the Extraordinary Tithe 

 Act will not hold water, bat is already found to require further 

 alteration. The same Act also affords a warning of the 

 manner in which the interests of the clergy may be whittled 

 away in a series of compromises in which they always 

 occupy the position of the weaker party. So long as legislation 

 drifts aimlessly on, blown hither and thither by the capricious 



