But the tithe rent-chargers have also suffered heavily. Their 

 losses are by uo meaus confined to the natural results of the fall 

 in the com averages. If this were all, they would have no 

 ground for complaint. They have experienced difficulty where 

 none has been experienced by lay impropriators in obtaining 

 payment of tithes. In many cases it is impossible to collect 

 tithes at all, and arrears have accumulated for several years, 

 the greater part of which are irrecoverable. In other cases the 

 clergy have only obtained payment by consenting to a reduction 

 of from 10 to 25 per cent., a course in which they are, in my 

 opinion, ill-advised : any readjustment of the tithe rent-charge 

 should be effected by Parliament and be general in its operation. 

 But as compared with glebeowners, even ecclesiastical tithe 

 rent-chargers have been in clover. Of all the classes interested 

 in agriculture, whether landlords, tenants, or labourers, tlie 

 losses of the glebeowners have been by far the most severe. 



In the succeeding letters I propose to deal in detail with 

 the effect of agricultural depression on the incomes of clerical 

 tithe rent-chargers and glebeowners, to give instances and 

 statistics in support of my conclusions, and finally to discuss 

 the various schemes which have been proposed for the relief of 

 clerical distress. 



