172 PROTECTION AND TITHES 



tor of the landlord instead of tlie evicting bailiff of the 

 tenant farmer ; and, lastly, if 5 per cent, compensation is 

 granted to the landlords by the legislature, the national 

 reversioner can never again claim the whole of the tithe 

 rent-charge. It irrevocably surrenders to individuals, for 

 doubtful benefits, 5 per cent, of a property which belongs 

 to the whole body of the clergy and laity. 



These considerations seem fatal to any legislation which 

 only proposes either to continue the present liability of 

 occupiers or to render the charge an owner's outgoing. 

 The Government Bill of 1887 erred, as it seems, in not 

 going far enough. So long as the principle of voluntary 

 redemption by landlords is adopted, the scheme must be 

 necessarily impaled on the horns of a dilemma. If the 

 terms are made easy, the scheme may work, but it works 

 at the cost of clerical and national interests. If the terms 

 are disadvantageous, clerical and national interests are 

 preserved, but the scheme is stillborn and a dead letter. 

 The terms offered in the recent Bill rightly protected reli- 

 gious life tenancies and national reversions. But the result 

 was that only trustees, colleges, and other bodies, whose 

 powers of investment are limited, could have profitably 

 redeemed the charge. Apart from a landlord's unwilling- 

 ness to store all his eggs in a rickety basket, the proffered 

 terms would have tempted no one who could command 

 more than 3 per cent, for his money. So long, also, as 

 agitation can be brought to bear upon a small body of 

 tithe-owners, tithe-payers will hold back for better terms 

 of redemption. Convince agitators that the interest of the 

 tithe-owner and the nation is in fact one, and you con- 

 vince them of the hopelessness of delay. The only prin- 

 ciple upon which a scheme of redemption can be made 

 immediately operative, Avithout enriching individuals from 



