doinj? their duty by the land. To force on a compulsory sale 

 of glebe lands would at the present moment ruin parochial 

 endowments ; such a step could only be justified, if it were 

 proved that the clergy, enjoying the same advantages as other 

 landlords, neglected the duties and accepted only the privileges 

 which belong to property. An inquiry into the effects on 

 clerical incomes of agricultural depression necessarily widens 

 out into an investigation of the peculiar conditions of clerical 

 laud-holding and a survey of the different schemes put forward 

 in the interests either of the clergy or of agriculture. The result 

 of the whole will, I venture to think, evoke widespread 

 sympathy for the hardships of the clergy, establish a conclusive 

 case for the extension to the parsons of advantages already 

 conceded to lay landlords and tenants, and possibly incidentally 

 suggest some reasons why legislators should hesitate before 

 pi-oposing or sanctioning hasty schemes for dealing with tithe 

 rent-charges or glebe lands. 



So far I have insisted only on the worldly prudence of 

 bringing before the public the sufferings which the country 

 clergy have undergone in consequence of agricultural depres- 

 sion. No one esteems a soldier who brags of his exploits, or 

 values a parson who boasts of his virtue. Perhaps a layman's 

 experience of the conduct of the clergy under peculiarly trying 

 circumstances may help the public to do more justice to a class 

 which is tonguetied in its own defence by the highest motives of 

 self-respect. 



Within the last six years the clergy have had the opportunity 

 of showing to the world an example of patient endurance of 

 suffering. Witnesses examined before the Duke of Richmond's 

 Agricultural Commission described the position of glebeowners 

 as " deplorable ;" since that date their position has steadily 

 deteriorated. Yet their hardships have been borne without 

 complaint, in silence, and with quiet dignity. The preservation 

 of self-respect has been their sole reward. But when patience 

 itself, as I have endeavoured to show, becomes the source of 

 misrepresentation, it has been pushed beyond the point where 

 it ceases to be a virtue. Many landlords have shown a most 

 practical and generous sympathy with their suffering neighbours. 

 They have taken the glebe lauds into their own hands, have 

 paid the full rent to the parson, and borne the loss themselves. 

 But it is only the wealthiest squires and men who enjoy an 

 income derived from another source than land who can afford to 

 make such sacrifices. The relief, great though it has been, is 

 necessarily so partial as only to touch the fringe of the distress. 



Many persons form as false an impression of the lives of the 

 country clergy as our ancestors conceived of the conditions of 

 pastoral felicity. Strephon or Corydon in Chelsea china are as 



