TITHES. 



for maintaiiung the fabric of the church, a third for the 

 poor, and the fourth to provide for the incumbent : but that 

 wk-n the fees of llie biftops became otherwife amply en- 

 dowed, the bifhops were prohibited from demanding their 

 ufual fliare of ihrle tithes, and the divifion was in three parts 

 ouh-. In confidering the Hate of tithes in the fourteenth 

 centur)-, he hkewife takes notice of an zS. of Richard II. 

 enjoining the bifhops to allocate a proper fum out of the 

 tithes of each dioccfe, for the fuftcnance of poor pa- 

 ri(bioners ; remarking, in addition, that it feems the people 

 were frequently fufferers by withholding of thofe alms, for 

 which, among other purpofes, the payment of tithes was 

 originally impofed. 



The lirll of the above two writers obfcrvcs farther, that 

 at what period the fuperior clergy of England firll polTefTed 

 themfelves of the tithes, in defiance of the original deftina- 

 tion, and of many ftatutcs made to enforce an application of 

 them to the ufcs for which they were firft made payable, it 

 is unneceflary to inquire. It will not be denied, however, 

 it is thought, by the keeneft llicklcr for the prerogatives of 

 the church, that in place of one-third of them being applied 

 for the ufe of the officiating clergy, one-third for the 

 fupport of the poor, and the remaining third for the re- 

 pairs of the churches, which, when the bifhops had ac- 

 quired land in mortmain, or free alms, fuf&cient to fup- 

 port their dignity, was the deftination originally intended ; 

 the tithes payable in England are now very differently, 

 although not, it is faid, fo leg.illy, appropriated. Thofe 

 people, fays the writer, who are moll difpofed to cry out 

 " the church is in danger," when the real or fuppofed 

 rights of the clergy are invaded by the (lighteft attempts to 

 alienate the tithes, ought to refleft that the third of all the 

 tithes in England, whether in poncffion of the church or of 

 the laity, ought to be allowed for the fupport of the poor ; 

 that another third ought to be expended in the repairs of 

 the churches, the expence of which is now defrayed, in al- 

 moft every inftance, by an afreffment on the parifhioners ; 

 and that the lall third ought to fall to the officiating clergy- 

 men, many of whom are the moil miferable of the fons 

 of men. 



But it is not by any means, it is faid, intended to cenfure 

 the prcfent members of the church of England for aliena- 

 tions of rightc that took place centuries ago ; fai- lefs to in- 

 finuate tliat that rcfpeftable body have not an unqueftionable 

 right to the value of fuch a proportion of the produce of 

 the foil, as will enable them to fill the ftations in which they 

 arc placed with dignity and honour. The objedl which is 

 here aimed at, is the giving a fuccindl account of the par- 

 ticulars and circumftances in which the payment of tithes in 

 kind operates againft the introduiSion of improvements in 

 agriculture, and the advancement of rehgion ; and by (hew- 

 ing the manner in which the alteration in the tithing fyftem 

 was effeclcd in Scotland, to endeavoiy- to point out a way 

 in which the future payment of tithes in England may be 

 arranged, fo as to meet the purpofes, and moft effeftually 

 promote the interefls of agriculture, without in the fmaUeft 

 degree infringing on the rights of the individuals concerned 

 in paying or receiving them. 



There are many different ways in which the payment of 

 tithes in kind operates unfavourably to the general advance- 

 ment and prolperity of the hufbandry of this country. 

 According to the writer of the EfTays on rural affairs, it is 

 univerfally confidered as a grievance ; there being, it is faid, 

 fcarcely an agricultural furvey of a county, in which it is 

 not ftated as an evil that ought to be removed. And this 

 the author thinks no wonder, as the drawing of tithes in 

 iind, when it is examined willi attention, wiU be found to 



operate dircAly, in the ftrifteft fenfe of tlie word, as a t3S 

 on induftry ; and to be, at the fame time, more vexatiou* j 

 in the mode of collefting than perhaps any tax that has ever I 

 been adopted, or had recourfe to, on any occafion. 



It is conceived to be a meafure that has an injurious and 

 unfavourable effeft on four different defcriptions of fociety, 

 as the farmer, the landholder, the clergyman or impropriator 

 of the titiie, and the public. 



As to the firlt, or the farmer, he is more or lefs affefted, 

 according to tlie differences of the nature, circumtlances, 

 and fituation of tlie land which he may hold. The intelli- 

 gent writer on Modern Agriculture, noticed above, confiders 

 it unfortunate, though certainly the cafe, that the payment 

 of tithes in kind operates more againft the fpirited improver 

 than againft the flovenly and indolent ; and that tithes, as 

 the law now ftands, cannot be confidered fo much the tenth 

 of the natural produce of the foil, as a tenth of the capital 

 employed by the farmer in its cultivation and improvement. 

 For inftance, if a farmer pays his ploughman ten pounds a 

 year of wages, his labourer ten-pence a day for liis labour, 

 or the landlord a hundred pounds of rent, he muft conCder 

 himfelf as advancing one-tenth part of thefe fums for the 

 purpofe of promoting the intereft of die tithe-owner, who 

 not only receives annually a fum equivalent to the tenth 

 part of this capital, but that tenth improved to the highefl 

 degree which the unremitting exertion of the tenant is able 

 to effeft. Mr. Locke, it is continued, in his Treatife on 

 Civil Government, remarks, that it is labour which puts 

 the greateft part of the value upon land, without which it 

 would fcarcely be worth any thing. That it is to that we 

 owe the greateft part of all its ufeful produfts ; for all that 

 the produce of an acre of wheat is more worth than the 

 produce of an acre of as good land which hes wafte, is 

 the effeft of labour. Hence, it is thought, the farmer 

 furnifhes a fund to purchafe the neceffary labour, where- 

 by an acre of land is rendered fo produftive as to af- . 

 ford fix, or eight, or ten fhillings yearly of clear revenue to 

 the tithe-owner, which, but for the application of that' 

 labour, would have remained unproduftive for ever, in fo 

 far at leaft as he was concerned. So much is this the cafe, 

 it is faid, that if a farmer expends one hundred pounds on 

 the purchafe of manure, the improvement and cultivation 

 of his farm, and the payment of the rent ; and if the value 

 of the crop, when fold, amounts to one hundred and ten 

 pounds, he is aftually a lofer to the extent of five pounds, 

 or what may be the intereft of one hundred pounds for a 

 year. He indeed" gets his capital of one hundred pounds 

 returned, but the tithe-owner draws the ten pounds, or 

 rather more, or, which is the fame thing, the value ; fo 

 that the farmer has employed his capital to enable the titlie- 

 owner to draw a dividend of lo fer cent, on that capital; 

 whereas had he lent it on mortgage, or placed it in the 

 funds, he would have benefited himfelf and his family to 

 the extent of the intereft or the dividend which he, in either 

 of thefe cafes, would have liimfelf received, tio much, it 

 is faid, for the abfurdity of attempting to improve lands 

 under fuch circumftances. The able writer of the above 

 named EfTays hkewife, after ftating different ways in which 

 tithes operate againft the tillage or corn-farmer, ftrongly 

 remarks, that in this country, befides commons and waftes, 

 much very fine land is allowed to remain in grafs in a very 

 unprodudiive ftate, which, with a very little or moderate 

 degree of induftry and outlay of money upon it, might be 

 made to yield abundant crops of corn : and the reafon af- 

 figned for this difgraccful ftate of management and want of 

 produftioa, which is fo called, becaufe, were it altered, 

 even tlie grafs-land might be eafily made twice as produc- 

 tive 



