Later Agrarian Legislation. 453 



•which placed the soil within the grasp of the " Dead Hand " 

 unfortunately led to its ultimate rejection. It was considered 

 that too much land had already been thrown into mortmain by 

 the legislation, which had substituted for tithes an equivalent 

 of the land itself, and it was realised that the office of the 

 parson was as much injured by thus converting him into a 

 farmer, as if he had remained a tithe collector. 



Another remedy suggested at the time was the submission 

 of the question to some impartial arbiter like the sovereign, 

 who would, it was presumed as a preliminary step, appoint 

 commissioners to ascertain the yearly value of all landed pro- 

 perty subject to the payment of tithes. The procedure woukl 

 have been much the same as under an Enclosure Act. The 

 commissioners would have directed all having interest in the 

 tithe to deliver particulars of their claims by a certain fixed 

 date. Difficulties would only have arisen when the basis of 

 settlement came to be considered. 



On this head it was seen that by the system then in exist- 

 ence an acre of land under wheat cultivation was liable to a 

 deduction on account of tithes, in nearly a tenfold proportion 

 to that of an acre grazed by cattle or sheep. This fact in the 

 days prior to foreign competition was capable of causing 

 serious injury to the entire community. It imposed, as we 

 have already shown, a premium on pasture farming, and 

 seriously affected the price of bread. Furthermore, it was 

 patent that if so small a cause as this was capable of afiecting 

 the price of bread, the farmers had it m their power by means 

 of combination to limit the grain-producing area to such an 

 extent as to gain absolute control over the prices of the entire 

 home market. Any alteration, therefore, in the system of tithe 

 paj^ments, it was held, should avoid in every way the danger 

 of enhancing the price of tillage operations, and the great 

 object to aim at was the relief of the corn field rather than 

 of the farmer. Accordingly those who thus argued, proposed 

 that a land tax should be imposed in lieu of tithes bearing 

 some fixed proportion to the rent payable. Lord Althorp 

 tried this remedy both in 1833 and 1834, and failed, because 

 politicians refused to recognise any basis of settlement which 



