TITHES. 



lUcs made by thsfc kings and their fuccefTors having been 

 either dircftly and indircClly ratified by parliament, are now 

 to all intents and purpofes the property of the fucceflbrs of 

 thefe original grantees. 



The hiftorian Gibbon has ftated that tithes appear to 

 have been common in all ages. That the firft Chriftian 

 eniperor, Conftantinc the Great, was very liberal to the 

 church ; and in the year 321, publifhed an edift, granting 

 his fubjefts full liberty to bequeath any extent of property 

 they chofe to the clergy. But that this, in place of proving 

 that a tenth of the produce was payable to the clergy in the 

 early ages of Chriftianity, flicv.s, it is thought, the direft 

 contrary ; — that the clergy, inflead of having any legal right 

 tb tithes, were fupported by charitable or gratuitous do- 

 nations, and not by afTeirments made either under divine or 

 human laws. The period or time, however, when the pay- 

 ment of tithes was eftablilhed by law, is noticed by Mon- 

 tefqtiicu, in his Spirit of Laws, who ftates that no one 

 qu::ftions but the clergy opened the bible before the time of 

 Charlemagne, and preached tlie gifts and offerings of the 

 Leviticus. But that he dares fay, before that prince's 

 reign, though the tithes might have been preached up, they 

 were never edablifhed. And the above hiftorian not only 

 fixes this period, but the reafon of it too, in the manner 

 below : the fynod of Frankfort, held under Charlemagne in 

 the year 794, furnifhed, it is faid, a cogent motive to pay 

 the tithes. A capitulary (ftatute) was made in it, wherein 

 it is faid, that in the laft famine the ears of corn were found 

 to contain no fe«d, the infernal fpirits having devoured it all ; 

 and that thofe fpirits had been heard to reproach the people 

 with not having paid tithes ; in confequence of which it was 

 ordained, that all thofe who were feifed of church-lands 

 ftiould pay the tithes ; and the next confequence was, the 

 obligation extended to all. 



The writer of a late agricultural report has ft;ated, that in 

 this country, tithes,, or a tenth of the produce of the fruits 

 of the earth, as well as of cattle, have been fo long efta- 

 bhfhed, that without aflerting their divine right, it may be 

 maintained, that every eftate in the kingdom was once fub- 

 je£t to them, and that every exoneration has arifen either 

 from encroachment, from royal grant on the diffolution of 

 the abbeys, or from impolitic conceflion, by accepting a 

 fpecific fum of money in lieu of them, which, as it does not 

 vary with the times, has left the clergy in many parifhes and 

 diftrifts of the kingdom without any adequate provifion. 

 All modufes and compofitions real, are, it is faid, of this 

 nature ; but that, as many of thefe are fixed and irrevocable, 

 it muft be left to the difcretion of the patrons, or the inter- 

 ference of the legiflature, to reflify the evils which they have 

 produced, and to fulfil the fcripture maxim, that " the la- 

 bourer is worthy of his hire." 



And that when it is confidered, that the title by which a 

 tenth of the produce of agriculture is appropriated to the 

 church, is far more ancient and better afcertamed than that 

 to the other nine parts, it will appear furprifing that the 

 dues of the clergy /hould in general be paid with reluflance, 

 and that by proprietors, on the contrary, (hould find little 

 difficulty, either in obtaining a fair rent for their lands, or a 

 reafonable compofition for their tithes. Yet the faft is in- 

 difputable, it is faid, that incumbents, however moderate in 

 their demands, can feldom advance the compofition for their 

 .tithes in any proportion to their value, without expofing 

 themfelves to obloquy and oppofition ; or if they take their 

 tithes up, are frequently fubjedi to expences and incon- 

 veniences, befides producing an unfavourable edeGt on agri- 

 cultural improvement, to encourage which ought to be no 

 lefs the objeft of private than 01 public policy. 



That the farmer, wlieu he takes a bargain of the /arm 

 kind, which is fubjeCl to tithes, will undoubtedly eftimat* 

 the proportion he is to pay to tlie incumbent, not according 

 to what may have been demanded twenty or thirty years 

 ago, but what it is aftually worth at the prefent moment ; 

 and that if, by the lenity or forbearance of the reftor or 

 vicar of his parifh, he may pay lefs, he ought to confider it as 

 a facrifice that often can be ill afforded, and as laying him 

 under an obligation whicli he fhould endeavour to return by 

 every means in his power. Were this the cafe, that har- 

 mony which the good of religion, and the intereft of the 

 parties require, would, it is thought, be preferved inviolate ; 

 and that none but the extortionate incumbent would be the 

 object of deferved enmity and reproach. The writer too has 

 feen many good effefts refulting from the proprietors of 

 titheable land becoming perfonally refponfible to the clergy- 

 man, and letting their eftates, efpecially when there are no 

 leafes, tithe-free. The advantage is mutual ; and it prevents 

 mifunderftandings as well as an oppofition of interefts, whicli 

 frequently arife, when the tenant and the incumbent are left 

 to themfelves. 



That, upon the whole, the rights of the clergy are exafted 

 with extreme moderation, fmalT as many of their livings arc, 

 in moft parts of this portion of the country. That no very 

 great part of their tithes is taken in kind, in many places ; 

 yet that notwithftanding, complaints exift of the hardfhip of 

 tithes from the farmer, and of the unpleafant fituation in 

 which the incumbent is fometimes placed, by trying to raife 

 his humble benefice to two-thirds, or even one -half of its 

 real wortk. Hence, it is conceived, there muft be fomc- 

 thing radically wrong in a fyftem, which excites prejudices 

 in the moft liberal and enlightened minds, and which equally 

 militates again ft the interefts of religion and thofe of agri- 

 culture. 



Having thus briefly ftated the nature of the origin of 

 tithes, and the difficulties which attend them, as they refpedl 

 the clergyman and farmer, it may be proper and neceffary 

 to inquire to what ufes they were applied, after a legal 

 right to demand them had been obtained, and how far the 

 clergy of the prefent day follow out in pra£lice the principle 

 on which they were originally made payable. It has been 

 remarked by the writer of the work on Modern Agriculture, 

 that in regard to the queftion, whether the tithes in this 

 part of this country be now appropriated to the ufes for 

 which they were at firft paid, whether voluntarily or by 

 compuhion ? it will be neceffary to go back to the firft in- 

 trodudlion of the tithing fyftem into the country. Bede 

 ftates, it is faid, that about the year 597, Gregory the 

 Great, then pope, fent a monk of the nameiof Auftin into 

 England, to propagate the gofpel, and to introduce a fyf- 

 tem of church-government among the people. Auftin 

 having fucceeded to the utmoft of his wifhes, and having 

 received a grant of land from the then king of Kent, befides 

 donations from private individuals, for the fupport of him- 

 felf and the priefts whom he had brought along with him, 

 found it neceffary to apply to the pope for direftions in 

 regard to the manner in which thefe royal and private dona- 

 tions fhould be applied. Gregory folved the monk's quef- 

 tion, by replying, that it was the cuftom of the church to 

 divide fuch voluntary gifts as Chriftians were pleafed to be- 

 ftow in four parts : to give one to the bifhop, another to 

 the inferior clergy, a third to the poor, and to fet afide the 

 fourth for erefting and upholding churches or places of 

 worfhip. And in confirmation of this, it may be noticed, 

 that Blackftone has remarked, that at the firfl eftabhfhment 

 of parochial clergy, the tithes of the pariih were diftributed 

 in n fourfold divifion ; one for the ufe of the bifhop, another 

 5 A 2 . for 



