COMMUTATION OF TITHE. 133 



yielded by the land, the original object that the 

 Church should progress in material resources in 

 equal proportion with the land being thus 

 maintained. From 1836 that increment was 

 stopped. Since that time the land rental of 

 England has risen 50 per cent., and all that 

 portion of the increase which previous to 1836 

 would have gone to the Church has gone to the 

 landowners. A tenth of that would not, how- 

 ever, by any means adequately represent the 

 loss to the Church and the gain to the land- 

 owners ; for the tithe in kind was the tenth of 

 the gross produce, which was equal to much 

 more than a tenth of the rent of arable land. 



In 1836 the money value of the tithe, as com- Unex- 

 pected 

 pared with the land rental, was as four millions effect of 



this, in 



sterling to thirty-three. In 1876 the tithe was preventing 



a rise in 



still four millions, but the land rental had risen the income 



of the 



to fifty. If the old principle of participation Church, 

 had continued, the annual income of the Church 

 would now have been two millions greater than 

 it is. Neither party anticipated a result to such 

 an extent when the Tithe Commutation Act 

 was passed, for not for twenty years after that 



