TITHES. 



it bf applied to the cukuro of grain, or to the produftion 

 of animal food. Under this impreffion it is here propofed, 

 that in lieu of tithe, a tax be impofed, on the principle of 

 an equal land-tax, upon every ellate, according to its value, 

 for the fupport of tlie clergy. The wifdom of parliament 

 would, it is fuppofed, calily determine how many (hillmgs 

 in every pound of rent would be equal to the revenues to 

 which the clergy have a claim, and that the meafure would 

 be greatly facilitated by tlie inveiligations oceafioned by the 

 income or property i\t\ lately in force. Tlie tenant migiit 

 be made liable in the firll inilance to tlie payment of the 

 duty propofed as a fubllitute for the tithe, but in cafe of 

 his defalcation, the landlord might be made ultimately re- 

 fponfiblc. 



In this mode of arrangement, the clergy, it is fuppofed, 

 would receive what is tlieir due, a full equivalent for titlies 

 in its prcfent ftatc ; the fecurity would ilill attach to the 

 foil itfelf, and their revenues would Hill increafe with the 

 increafe of the value of land and its produce. Encourage- 

 ment would thus be afforded to increafe the culture of grain ; 

 theindullrious farmer would not have to contribute more than 

 is jull proportion ; the tithe-owners too would obtain the 

 fair value of their property ; the clergy of the church of 

 England would acquire that degree of refpeft and efteem to 

 which few will deny that they are, in the aggregate, enti- 

 tled ; and, above all, they would be enabled to fulfil the 

 valuable purpofe of their inllitution : while at prefent, the 

 clergyman who demands but the fair value of his property, 

 becomes hated, and often infultcd ; and, to ufe the ftrong 

 language of fome, his " integrity becomes fufpefted ; his 

 every a<5lion is feen through a falfe medium ; and the paftor' 

 is loft in the coUeftorof tithes !" If it fhould beobjedled, 

 that under this or any other mode of commutation, the 

 farmer would not eventually be benefited, becaufe the land- 

 lord would then receive what is now paid to tlie tithe-owner ; 

 and that the fanner has no juft ground of complaint, as he 

 engaged his farm fubjedt to the deduflion or payment of 

 tithes : let it be underllood that the intereft of the commu- 

 nity at large, not of any one branch of it, is here contended 

 for. 



The writer maintains, that the great objeft of a commu- 

 tation i^f tithes, beyond a religious view of it, is the relief 

 of the corn-field, and not the farmer. Perhaps, it is faid, 

 if the fubjeft be well confidered, the farmer would gain lefs 

 in a commutation than any one clafs of fociety. Tithes, in 

 their prefent form, may check his improvements, may con- 

 traft his fyftem of farming and his capital, may harafs his 

 mind, and lead to perfonal animofities and expenfive litiga- 

 tions ; but probably his mere payments in lieu of tithe 

 would, on the whole, be as heavy under any commutation, 

 as thofe to which he is now hable. The public, it is faid, 

 muft give that price for grain, at which it will anfwer the 

 farmer to raife it ; and that fuppofing it pofiible that the 

 farmers throughout the ifland were to engage in a combina- 

 tion, to convert fo much of their prefent tillage into paf- 

 ture, as would leave only half the ufual number of acres 

 under corn, the inevitable confequence would be, that grain 

 would fell at an enormous price, and the farmer would re- 

 ceive that increafed price, at a time when his expences were 

 diminifhed in the proportion of his tiUage. Thus the con- 

 fumer, which is the public, and not the farmer, would 

 fuffer; and if a tax, fuch as tithes, added to the increafed 

 price of timber, iron-work, and labour, ftiould induce the 

 farmer gradually but materially to contraft his tillage, there 

 could be no hope that grain would be fold during any confi- 

 derable period at a moderate price ; nor could there be an 

 adequate fupply for the wants of the country, without the 



aid of large importations, which are always precarious, and 

 fometimes impoffible : and as animal food invariably rifes in 

 value with the increafed value of grain, the farmer might 

 thus be enriched at the expence of every other branch of the 

 community. The plan or mode here propofed for a com- 

 mutation would, it is prefiimed, counteraft or prevent thefe 

 ferious evils ; encouragement would be given to an extended 

 culture of grain ; and a new motive to induftry and exertion 

 would be found in the confideration, that the moft indolent 

 farmer mull contribute an equal fum with the moil aftive 

 and fuccefsful cultivator. 



The latter of thefe clergymen thinks, that in reg.ird to 

 titliej in fecular hands, though the church may fuffer in the 

 amount of its income, it derives a confiderable degree of fe- 

 curity for what it ilill poffefles, from this very circumllance; 

 and confequently only touches on the fubjeiit fo far as to 

 propofe that they fliould be commuted for land, according 

 to their value. To this no reafonable objection is feen, er 

 any infuperable difficulty, if a legiflative plan were once 

 chalked out for its accompli lliment. But as for tithes in the 

 hands of the clergy, whether great or fmall, it is fuppofed 

 they might be beneficially commuted, by firll taking their 

 fair valuation by two competent fworn commiffioners, one of 

 whom fhould be named by the incumbent, and thus fixing a 

 fum to be paid according to the combined prices of corn, 

 meat, as mutton and beef, and malt, to be taken on the 

 average of the feven preceding years, and to vary with 

 the times every fubfequent feven years. And in order to 

 prevent any thing perfonal between the incumbent and his 

 parifhioners, except in the duties of his vocation, the over- 

 feers and churchwardens to be made the refponfible agents in 

 collefting and paying the fum to be raifed, with certain 

 provifoes and fecurities againft mifapplication and lofs. A 

 corn-i-ent alone is, it is faid, found to be an inadequate mode 

 of commutation ; but that taking the three great articles of 

 life in every family, bread, ?neat, and malt, the clergyman 

 would be fecure from injury, and the farmer, paying only 

 in proportion to the value of his produce, would have no 

 reafon to complain. It is to be obferved, however, that it is 

 vvilhed for the laws to aft uniformly for the benefit and fe- 

 curity of the parochial minifter, without fubjefting him to 

 the necefiity of coming forward in a perfonal and partial 

 light. By thefe means, what he might lofe in the influence 

 of fear, would, it is thought, be amply compenfated for on 

 the principle of love ; without which he can feldom be happy 

 himfelf, or difcharge the duties of his facred office with 

 effeft and fatisfaftion. 



Where lands have been exonerated from tithes by an aft 

 of parliament, and an allotment made in land in lieu of 

 them, even where an adequate value has been given, which 

 in no inftance that has fallen under the writer's notice is, it 

 is faid, really the cafe, it is throwing too much land into 

 mortmain, it is fubjefting the incumbent to all the cares and 

 incumbrances of landed property, and driving him to the 

 neceffity of becoming a farmer, for which he is often ill 

 qualified, or of letting lands, according to the exilling laws, 

 on fuch conditions, that improvement muft be checked, and 

 induftry languish. 



In order, however, to obviate fome of the evils refulting 

 from a praftice that has already, it is faid, become too 

 general, it is propofed, that after having referved a fufficient 

 glebe, which in every inftance ftiould be done, with a due 

 regard to the value of the hving, the incumbent ftiould be 

 allowed to leafe the remainder, at the full value, with the 

 confent of the patron and the biftiop, on a running leafe, 

 determinable every three or feven years, at the option of 

 eiUier of the two principal contrafting parties. A new in- 

 cumbent 



