ON TITHES, &c.

INFORMED that some of the members of government have it in contemplation to effect a commutation of the Tithes, upon a principle professedly and speciously advantageous to the interests of the Church; a principle toọ which there is reason to believe, a large portion of the beneficed clergy would from private (not interested) motives, approve, I am induced to state my sentiments to the public upon a system emanating from such authority, and sanctioned by such support, without any other preface, than an avowal at once of my sincere belief, that if adopted and carried into effect, it would prove highly dangerous and probably fatal to the very existence of the Church.

It is a source of great satisfaction to hear, that there are some powerful and active minds alive to the impending danger. It is devoutly to be wished, that such examples may have their due influence. And it is a gratification to my mind to indulge the smallest hope, that I offer a

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single sentiment or reason which may corroborate their opinions, and encourage their vigilance.

According to the best information I am able to collect, the plan projected is by one sweeping clause, to abolish the whole of the Tithes, and according to the estimated or actual value of the Tithes of each individual parish, to compel the respective proprietors to contribute, each his fair portion of land to form a neighbouring estate, or such a proportion respectively, as will enable conmissioners appointed by parliament, to purchase a distant estate, of clear equal annual value to the Tithes-which estate, so estimated according to the value of the present day is to be transferred to the actual incumbent of each respective parish in lieu of the Tithes, which he enjoyed, and to be held upon the same tenure.

Such in a few words is the general outline or sketch of the scheme proposed, which doubtless, its projectors conceive to be recommended by its seeming singleness and solidity. They, doubtless, fondly imagine, that their system carried into effect, would operate, like a magic spell, dissolve all the causes of contention, and set at rest, for ever, the suspicions, ranklings, and ermities, that sometimes exist between the tither and the tithed. Perhaps too, their imagination carries them so far as to believe, that their plan would check the progress or diminish the number of dissenters--that the abolition of Tithes would be the abolition of enemies to the Church-and that to transfer to it a real solid property would be to give it a real solid security. As, without question, they are actuated by honorable motives, and sincerely convinced that their system would operate beneficially, they must entertain such or similar

notions. Projectors are generally sanguine. And bewitched by a kind of parental partiality for their projects, they are blind to every defect or danger. In my view, a similar infatuation prevails in this case. I can upon no other principle account for the wide difference between us: for in whatever point of view I consider the result of this plan, I form opposite conclusions. I am persuaded, it would be found more and more difficult and objectionable in its progress, and ruinous in its consummation. support of this hypothesis, I shall state a part and probably, only a small part, of the difficulties that would attend its adjustment and execution, and what from my reflections upon the subject might be the fatal consequence were its accomplishment effected.

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Let us suppose a case (since one case will equally apply to all, at least as far as is necessary for the purposes proposed;)-let us suppose a parish producing a net revenue to the clergyman, by Tithe, of five hundred pounds per annum, and the commissioners under the authority of parliament, demanding an estate, equal to a clear annual rental of the same amount. The parishioners hold their estates under a great variety of tenures and consequently great professional skill would be required, and great professional expence incurred to regulate and settle the different proportions of the respective proprietors. The general rate of Tithe assessed, ad valorem, upon each estate, may indeed form a general rule, as it regards the parish division; but are the distinct proportions of the respective proprietors of the same estate to be easily adjusted? who can satisfactorily settle the claims of those who have a reversionary interest, who have leaseholds, who have dowries, or life estates, or entailments? whatever rule might

be adopted, it would probably sow the seeds of discontent and enmity, in half the parishes of the kingdom. In cases where estates were mortgaged to nearly their full value (which from the great depreciation in the value of land, would frequently occur) the disclosure would certainly distress the feelings of the proprietor; and so great a change in the nature of the property, and his private circumstances might seriously injure his interests.

The great variety of soil and produce, presuming that our agriculture would permanently continue in a nearly similar state, would be productive of no effects, materially objectionable but since great vicissitudes and changes, from the instability of human affairs, necessarily take place in the cultivation of land, there are circumstances and cases, in which, reasonable complaints could be allowed no remedy. I do not reckon among these the great transfer that might take place of grazing to arable land, or vice versa, between which there is so obvious a difference, in the present value of Tithes. Since under the general destruction of Tithe, any excess or deficiency, either of tillage or pasture, would without serious inconvenience or injury, naturally produce its own level. But there are other cases, in which these objections appear to me unanswerable. I will cite two instances only which will apply to all other in which the capital of the farmer is employed in the same expensive system of culture. I cite these because the tithe of the one is (or not long since was) taken in kind; of the other by a composition with the farmers for a short term of years. The former is the parish of Farnham in Surry, in which there is an extensive plantation of hops, most highly productive. It sometimes happens that a single acre of hops produces a value of an

hundred or an hundred and fifty pounds-sometimes, to the very heavy loss of the cultivator, it produces nothing. The value of the produce too, is not only precarious, but in some measure fictitious. It is dependent partly on reputation, partly on the superior mode of management. The hops grown here are not so intrinsically strong in bitter flavour, as the hops grown in Kent. The more, therefore, the value of the present produce is enhanced by such adventitious circumstances, the greater would be the degree of injustice, in compelling the present proprietors to purchase an estate equal in annual value to the present Tithes. The other instance I shall adduce, is that of East Farleigh, a small parish in the County of Kent, in which the Tithe is paid by a composition with the landholders for a short term. The living produces to the vicar a net annual income of nine hundred pounds. Of this amount, four hundred acres (or I believe rather more), principally consisting of hop plantations, and partly of orchards, tithed at one guinea and an half per acre, produce six hundred guineas. Is it possible, I ask, that because of the actual existence of a plantation, so fluctuating and precarious, which, from accidental circumstances, has swelled into an extent, containing three times the number of acres, which in the memory of those now living, it formerly did, and in which it is probable, that within another century, there will not be a third part of the number-is it possible, that so small a parish can be required, in lieu of its vicarial Tithes, to purchase or appropriate an estate, worth, clear of all expences, nine hundred a year? how many years forward we might go, is uncertain, but back to a very distant period, certainly not, when the whole rental of the vicarial land was not equal to such an amount. To compel the present possessors, upon such an uncertain tenure,