or refused, and they are obliged to take whatever rent they can 

 get from their glebes. 



But the clergymen who have suffered most heavily are those 

 whose income is exclusively derived from glebe. If they let 

 their land, the rent falls 33 to 50 per cent. Those who have 

 been compelled from inability to find tenants to farm their own 

 land have lost their rent and their private capital as well. I 

 only encountered a single instance in which glebe owners 

 farming their own land would not have been, but for private 

 means or friendly assistance, literally and without metaphor, 

 starving. 



Upon the results of my inquiry two general questions seem 

 to arise — (1) what immediate measures of relief are possible? 

 (2) What is to be the ultimate fate of tithe rent-charges and of 

 glebe-lands? 



Speaking generally on a subject which is treated in detail 

 in my lettei'S, I have come to these conclusions : — • 



1. As to Tithes. — As a temporary relief the payment of tithes 

 must be undertaken by the landlords ; but the only final solu- 

 tion of the tithe difiiculty is, I believe, their compulsory 

 redemption,* a course which I venture strongly to advocate. 



2. .4s to Glebes. — A gradual sale, wherever reasonable offers 

 can be obtained, is advisable. An immediate sale, forced on by 

 panic, will glut the market with land ; the proceeds of such a 

 sale at present prices would realise little more than the 

 auctioneer's charges. Meanwhile the legal impediments by 

 which glebeowiiers are hampered in the development of their 

 land can be, and ought to be, at once removed. No legislative 

 change will remove the personal and professional difiiculties 

 under which clerical landlords must inevitably labour. But 

 they may be modified. For a discussion of this part of the 

 subject the reader is referred to the third and fifth letters. 



The difficulty which is experienced in filling up vacant glebe 

 livings may be partially and temporarily met by further 

 amendments of the Pluralities Acts giving increased powers to 

 Bishops to throw livings together. 



For the immediate distress of glebeowners the following 

 appears to me the most efficacious form of relief. I do not 

 put the scheme forward as one of those many devices for 



• In describing Mr. Ryde's scheme (Fourth Letter) I only advocate its 

 principle — namely, compulsory redemption by co-operation between the land- 

 loi'ds and the Government. 



