TITHES. 



livaliiig ami improving his laml to the liigheft degree, who 

 will deny that the intcicit of the owiicr is afFcftcil ? And 

 tliat this is the cafe in a vai icty of iiiftances, from the opera- 

 tion of the titiie.laws, is admitted by every one who is 

 perfiraiy acquainted witli the prefent ftate of agriculture m 

 tliii country. 



In refpeft to the impropriators of tithes, it may be no- 

 ticed that, if the intcrefts of religion and the clergy be 

 confidcred, it will be found that the fyRem of taking the 

 tithes in kind h equally produftivc of bad confequences. It 

 wdl be difcovercd to dillurb the harmony of fociety, and to 

 be often die means of creating fuch dliputes and divifions 

 between the clerg^'man and his parifhioncrs, as renders the 

 religious in(lru<aions of the former of little avail. Among 

 the many inftances which might be mentioned of the tcaf- 

 ing and vexatious circumRanccs of this nature that occur to 

 uaUmgc the harmony which ought to fiibfdl between the 

 clctgyman and his parifhioners, that which is given below, 

 from the Agricultural Report of the County of Hants, may 

 be fufficicnt. In this cafe the clergyman and the farmer 

 were at variance ; and the farmer, determined to be even 

 with the clergyman, gave liim notice that he w.^s going to 

 draw a field of turnips on a certain day. The clergyman 

 accordingly fent his team and fervaiU at the time appointed, 

 wlien the farmer drew ten turnips, and defired the other to 

 take one of them ; faying he fhould not draw any more 

 that day, but would let hira know when he did. This fully 

 (hews the vexatioufnefs of the praftice of tithing in this 

 manner. 



Further, that in a political point of view it is alfo ijiju- 

 riout, as tending to loofen that chain of intercourfe and 

 connection whicn, it is conceived, is of fo much importance 

 to keep united. The interefl of the clergy would Lkewife 

 be greatly promoted, were they to receive an equitable com- 

 penlation for their tithes, in place of drawing them in kind, 

 or of making annual arrangements with the farmers. 



But it is the lay proprietors, it is faid, that are the moft 

 blameable in refpeft to tlie rigorous manner in which the 

 tithes are coUefted. It is faid that clergymen, who 

 a£i up to the charafter in which they Hand in the fcale 

 of fociety, (and the moft. violent Jeclaimer againft. them 

 will not pretend that a very great majority of that refpeft- 

 able body do not fo aft,) very generally facrifice fo great a 

 portion of their juft demands for the fake of peace and 

 quiet, that, if the expence of coUefling be added, there is 

 fcarcely any compofition that can be propofed which it 

 would not be for their intereft to accept. Some inftances 

 there no doubt are, where the clergyman, being of a turbu- 

 lent, avaricious difpofition, lays hold of every advantage, and 

 coUcfts hh tithes to the value of the uttermoft farthing : 

 but it ought to be remembered, that a clergyman who docs 

 fo, nay, that a clergyman who fubnuts to the drudgery of 

 coUrfting tithes in kind, muft lofe, in the opinion of the 

 p*iihioners, a great rtiare of that refpeftablility of cha- 

 racter, which it is his indifpenfable duty to fupport and 

 keep up. 



And in relation to the public, the effeft which this inju- 

 dicious regulation has, is equally prejudicial and mifchievous. 

 It comes in, according to the author of Modern Agricul- 

 ture, for its ftiare of the lofs arifing from the effeft which 

 the tithe-laws have on the hufbandiy of the country, as, by 

 their operation, the quantity of corn that might be culti- 

 vated, did not fuch laws exift, is diminiflied to an immenfe 

 degree, and other branches of the art of farming are greatly 

 impeded Befides, they check induftrv, by depreffing the 

 tanner's [pint, and by preventing the circulation of money 

 that would be expended in improvements, and in the pur- 



chafe of the manufaftures of tl;e country. Were no fucL 

 laws in force, the proprietors and farmers, in confequence 

 of the fuccefs of the improvements which in that event 

 would be undertaken, would be enabled to purchafe 

 more of tlie manufaftures of the country, pay a greater 

 fliare of the taxes for the fupport of the ftate, and after 

 all, live in a greater ftate of eafe and comfort, than under 

 the exifting circumftances they are able to do. In (liort, 

 it is confidered that the abolition of thefe laws is the 

 only mcafure that can be adopted with any probability of 

 fuccefs, at leaft the firft one that ought to be attended to, 

 with a view of again bringing the oorn-trade to turn once 

 more in favour of this country. When all thefe various 

 circumftances are conjoined ; and when it is further con- 

 fidered that, except in Spain and Portugal, there is fcarcely. 

 a civilized nation in the world where this fyftem of church- 

 llavery is .illowed to exift ; and that even in Ruffia tithes 

 are aboliftied ; it may be reafonably hoped that the period is 

 not far diftant when England will be relieved by legal and 

 conftitutional means, and in confequence of arrangements 

 made on liberal principles, from this almoft Egyptian 

 bondage. 



It further likewife appears, from the accounts given by 

 different writers on the fubjeft of tithes, that they were 

 paid in the latter end and ages of the Romifti church with 

 great reluftance ; and even in this country during the reign 

 of Henry VIII. Therefore it is faid, that if, when im- 

 provements in agriculture were in their infancy, and at a 

 period too when men's minds were held in flavifli fervitude 

 by the clergy, the payment of tithes in kind could hardly 

 be enforced, can it be fuppofed wonderful, that in thefe 

 enlightened days it fliould be confidered as a grievance ? 

 At a period when the principles of religion and of real 



fenuine liberty are better afcertained, and more generally 

 nown, than in any former age, it is not furprifing that laws 

 compelling the payment of tithes in kind, laws which ori- 

 ginated in ediflsiffued bybigotted kings under the influence 

 of defigning priefts, ftiould now be found inimical to the beft 

 interefts of the country, and to the happinefs of fo many 

 thoufands. That this is the cafe, every inhabitant of this 

 ifland has ample opportunities of fatisfying himfelf by a pe- 

 rufal of the agricultural reports of the difi^erent counties of 

 England and Wales, which have been lately-pubhftied And 

 that as thefe reports, after having been circulated among the 

 proprietors of land and farmers for their correftion and 

 amendment, ftill contain, in their i-epublication, the fame or 

 fimilar complaints in refpecl to the hardfhips which the 

 farmers are fubjefted to, and the injury which agriculture 

 fuftains, by the continuance of the payment of tithes in kind, 

 fuch complaints may juftly be deemed the voice of the people 

 proclaimed in a conftitutional way ; and as fuch, merit the 

 moft ferious and fpeedy attention of the legiflature and of 

 the clergy. 



A few of the injurious effefts of the prafticeof paying tithes 

 in kind have been noticed above, and many more of the hard- 

 ftiips proceeding from it arc recorded in the different agricul- 

 tural county furveys and other works which have been only 

 flightly touched upon in what has been already faid upon the 

 fubjeft. And the necelTity of fomething effeftual being 

 done, in order to the removal of fo inconvenient and opprel- 

 five a regulation, has been ftrongly fhewn in the writings of 

 the various advocates of the improvements of Britifh huf- 

 bandry and farming, as well as by many other able and 

 intelligent writers on matters connefted with them, but 

 which, for want of room, cannot be confidered here. 



As, therefore, fome reform in the mode of paying tithes 

 in this country muft be admitted to be indifpenfably necef- 



fary, 



