The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-23 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD, JAN. 23.—0 n Thursday last the Vene-
rable Samuel Butler, Archdeacon of Derby, and
D.D. of St. John's College, Cambridge, was ad-
mitted to an ad cundcm Degree in this University.
On the same day the following Degrees were
conferred :

MASTERS OF ARTS.
Rev. Peter Hall, Brasennose College.
Hey. Henry Thorpe, Fellow of St, John's.
BACHELORS OF ARTS.
Charles Richard Litt!Male,
William Emmanuel Page,
Frederic Biscoe,
John Robert Hall,
Henry Partinzton,
John Dryden Pigott, Chrii; Church.
Matthewman Manduell,
Thomas Tyssen Bazely, Queen's
ECCESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS.
The Rev. Henry Gipps, M.A. late Fellow of
Worcester College, in this University, to the Vicar-
age of Corbridge, Northumberland ; patrons, the
Dean and Chapter of Carlisle.
The Rev. James Hutchinson, M,A. has been
appointed Head Master of the Free Grammar
School of King Edward VI. in Chelmsford.
The Rev. 11. J. Todd, M.A. Rector of Sewing-
ton, Yorkshire, to the Prebend of Husthwaite,
vacant by the death of the Rer. Dr. Drummond.
The Rev. F. Custnrice, B.A. of Trinity College,
Cambridge, and Vicar of Steeple, Essex, has Leon
presented by the Rev. Charles Musgrave, Vicar of
Halifax, to the Perpetual Curacy of Ripponden,
in that parish, vacant by the death of the Rev.
Robert Webster.

Students of
Christ church.

The Dean of Litchfield having resigned the
situation of Principal Official in the Royal Peculiar
and exempt Jurisdiction of the Deanery of Bridge-
north, over which he had presided upwards of 30
years, the Her. John Storer, M.A., Rector of
Hawksworth, Nottinghamshire, on the 12th inst.
took the oaths of office on his appointment thereto
by Thomas Whitmore, Esq., of Apley Park.

The fishing station at Galway employs 8,240
men, and the Kilrusli station 2,010 inen.—Tipperary
Free
Press.

The copper mine is now being fully worked at
Bonmahon; five hundred men are employed every day;
and upwards of 200/. are weekly circulated by the work-
men in the village ; the consequence is that building-
ground is now being] let there at Is. 6d. a foot, it is said
that Lady OSBORNE intends to erect there a number of
sato tan ti aJ 11QUtt ripperarj free Pm',

SPIRIT OP Tin PUBLIO JOURNALS.

In the new number of the Quarterly Review
there is an article on the subject of the Amend-
ment of the Tithe Law. This subject, as we
lately observed, is quite distinct from that of the
mode of paying those to whom the Ecclesiasti-
cal Instruction of the people is committed. It
is, we believe, admitted, by all authorities of Po-
litical Economy, that Tithe is not like Land
Tax, or any tax or rent, a deduction from the
share of the landlord, but an addition to the
price paid the consumer. " Tithes (says
Ricardo) are a tax on the gross produce of the
land, and, like taxes on raw produce, fall wholly
on the consumer. They differ from a tax cn rent,
inasmuch as they affect land, which such a tax
would not reach ; and raise the price of raw pro-
duce, which that tax would not alter. Lands
of the worst quality, as well as of the best, pay
tithes, and exactly in proportion to the quantity
of produce obtained from them ; tithes► ate,
therefore, an equal tax." "In an improving
state of society (adds M. Ricardo) the net pro-
duce of land is always diminishing in propor-
tion to its gross produce ; but it Vrom the net
income of a country that all taxes are ultimately
Maid, either in a progressive or in a stationary
country. A tax increasing with the gross in-
come, and falling on the net income, must neces-
sarily be a very burdensome and a very intoler-
able tax. Tithes are a tenth of the gross,
and not of the net produce of the land ; and
therefore, as society improves in wealth, they
must, though the same proportion of the gross
produce, become a larger and larger proportion
of the net produce. Tithes, however, May be
considered as injurious to landlords, inasmuch
as they act as bounty on importation, by taxing
the growth of home corn, while the importation
of foreign corn remains unfettered."- The dif-
ference between rent and tithe is this, that rent
adds nothing to the price of food, whereas tithe
does. Rent is the consequence of the increasing
wants of society forcing the cultivation of inferior
soils ; the difference between the produce of the
worst soil and the other soils, after deducting
the expence of cultivation, is the rent. The
tithe, on the other hand, is an ingredient in the
expence of cultivation, and always adds, to the
price paid by the consumer. No matter how

barren the land which the wants of society re-
quire to be cultivated, the tenth of the produce
must first be set apart. It is as if God Almighty'
had inflicted on a country the punishment of an
additional sterility of soil. As poorer soils are
taken into cultivation, an addition is made to

the price of every quarter raised throughout the
country, equivalent to the expellee added to the
cultivat►on of the quarter on these poorer soils,
by the deduction of a tenth of the gross pro-
duce. We have deemed it right to advert to
these particulars, because the writer in the

Quarterly Review, with all his learning respect.
ing tithes (and we shall advert to that on a future
occasion,) is obviously unacquainted with the
manner ►n which tithes affect consumers and
landlords. The Reviewer supposes the only
parties interested are the landlord and the tithe-

►older. " The whole of the difference (he ob-
serves) between the present stipend of a Scottish
benefice and the present improved value of the
tenth of the produce of the parish, goes into
the pockets of the landowner. Now, for our
parts, we must be allowed to observe, that set-
ting religion out of the question, we had, as a
mere matter of taste, rather see this difference
expended by the Minister on the spot from
which it accrues, than disposed of, as it is now,
in swelling the tail of some absentee Lord or
Laird, who seldom, if ever, secs the district from
which it is drawn." It is very true that the
Scotch landlords and the proprietors of estates
in England, having a modus, pocket the differ-
ence between the sum actually paid to the Clergy
and the full value of the tenth of the produce ;
but if tithe were permanently commuted in
England, and no longer a tax on the consumer,
the rent of the Scotch landholder would be less
considerable than it is at present. The precise
amount of this reduction it is not very easy to
state. In the Edition of Dr. Smith's work
edited by Mr. M'Culloch, this point is dis-
cussed in Note, No. 25, Vol. IV.—" It is need-

less to waste the reader's time (he observes) by
endeavouring to prove that if a country -in
which tithes arc imposed were in the habit of
importing a considerable quantity of foreign
corn, duty free, the effect of such importa-
tion would be to throw the .burden of the
tithe wholly on the landlords. Every one must
sec that in such a case the cultivators would

be altogether unable to limit the quantity
of produce brought to market, and that
the tithe could have no influence on prices.
According to the returns obtained under the
Income Tax Act, the total annual value of all
the land of England and Wales in 1815 is esti-
mated at 29,476,840/., of which lands of the
annual value of 7,904,378/. were wholly tithe-
free ; while lands of the annual value of
856,183/. were tithe free in part ; and other
lands, of the annual value of 498,8431. paid only
a low modus. So far, therefore, it it from being
true that all, or nearly all, the lands of England
and Wales pay tithe, that it appears that about a
third part of them is exempted from that burden ;
and if to the tithe-free land of England and
Wales we add the whole of Scotland, it may be
safely affirmed that upwards of a half of the cul
tivated land of Great Britain is unaffected bs
tithe. It is obvious, therefore, for the reasons
already stated, that tithe in England, supposing
that it had no effect on consumption, could only
raise prices one•twentieth part, or fire per cent.
But, inasmuch as it would somewhat lessen con-
sumption, it would most probably fall, in about
equal portions, on the landlords and the public."
The rental of land, and houses on which the
Property Tax was paid, in Scotland, amounted,
on sth of April, 1813, to 6,285,3891.; the rent
of land alone, to 5,041,779/. This amounts to
little short of one-fifth of Ow rent assessed to the
Property Tax in England. Were there no
Tithes in England, this enormous rental f'or
Scotland, considering the wealth of the two
countries, would, no doubt, experience a consi-
derable diminution. The inferiority of the
English agriculture to the Scotch no doubt must
also go for something. The Q4arierly Review
admits the expediency of allowing temporary
commutations. "We acknowledge," he says,
" in its fullest extent, the right of the State, in
its capacity of trustee, to enforce the due and
effective discharge of the conditions on which
this species of property is held, and to introduce
Al'

iy alterations or regulations which may seem
ikely to increase the efficiency and utility of the
services attached to the enjoyment of Church
endowments. We think it entirely con-
sistent, for example, with the honourable dis-
charge of this public trust, that the owner",--tof
landed property should be authorized,to enterint.,
an arrangement with incturN4 of eez:lesiastiii.4t,„)\
4
benefices, which would for:4 iipil of reason-
fen
gth put an cu 4 to Op pr • ' pcc yiki,ip

levying tithe in kind, Any regulation which
would afford relief, or even merely satisfaction to
the landowners, without diminishing the endow-
- 'merits o(the Church,the public may unquestione
ably unction." Perhaps a Parliamentary Commis-
sion to revise the commutation every fifty years
-might be excepted as a compromise between the
parties. But it would be far better at once to
purchase property of the impropriatora, and fix
the tithe of the other benefices permanently. To
this plen the Reviewer strenuously objects. "It
has been proposed," he says, " that a corn-rent
should be substituted for tithes ; that tenth
of the produce, or the tithe of each estate or
farm, should be fixed at to invariable quantity
of grain, either to be rendered in kind, or 'com-
pounded for upon the average market price of
corn in each year. About two eentnnes ago
the tithes of Scotland were 'commuted upon this
principle. The owner of an estate was em-
powered to demand that san estimate should Is
taken of the amount of its produces raic ulated
in bolls of grain ; the tenth part 'of the estimate
either to be rendered in kind or compounded for
in money, attached to the estate as an annual
reet charge; and the property thus valued be-
came henceforward exonerated from any eddi-
tional demand on account of tithes, This ar-
rangement has been loudly and wa only extolled,
and it must Ise admitted that it has put an end
to the unseemly disputes about tithes which, in
this country, too frequently interrupt the har-
mony that might to prevail between an incum-
bent and his parishioners. We, in so far, there-
fore, concur in the eulogies which have been
bestowed upon the northern arrangement ; but
our approbation of one ;nest desirable effect
which has resulted from that measure must not
be .permitted to blind us with respect to another
part of almost espial importance to the, pub,
lie, in which the scheme of our Presbyte-
rian neighbours has in practice turned out
essentially defective. It contains no provi-
cions for the increase of population ne-
cessarily consequent upon the extension and
improvement of tillage. From the extent of
waste land which has been reclaimed, and from
the improvement which has taken place in the
practice of husbandry since the period when
that commutation was carried into effect, the
agricultural produce of Scotland has been aug-
invited beyond all calculation. But although
the wealth and population of that part of the
umpire have been daily increasing and extending
in all directions, the incumbents of Scottish
benefices have made no corresponding move-
ment in advance; they are at the very best left
in the same position which their predecessors
occupied in the beginning of the reign of
Charles I. Even where they receive the whole
of die tiends they are only entitled to the quan-
tity of corn which was adjudged equal to the
tenth of the produce of the land under tillage
in the parish at that period. From the pro-
duce of bind subsequently reclaimed, or ren-
dered more productive by an improved system
of tillage, they do not receive a gain. The
Scottish Clergy are called upon to extend their
ministrations over immense districts, which have
been reclaimed and brought under cultivation ;
for the additional duties thus devolved upon
them, the laws of their country give them no
right to claim the slightest compensation ; nor
have we been led to understand that they derive
any from the spontaneous liberality of the land-
owners, who have really reaped the role ad-
vantage of the much-vaunted arrangement of
Charles's Government. If the author of that
measure had proved that a fresh estimate should
be taken of the produce of each parish, after
the lapse of a period not exceeding twenty or
thirty years, they would have secured to the
public at large the full benefit of the harmony
and peace expected to accrue from the perma-
nent settlement of the Tithe Question ; and
they would, moreover, have left the rights of
their Clergy entire." In this statetnent there
are several inaccuracies. In the first place,
though the principle was laid down on which
tithes should be commuted, in the reign of Charles
the First, the valuation of the tithes was far
from being general there. Many Land-
owners neglected to do what it was
open to them to do at any time, and
we know that several estates had their tithes va-
lued within the last thirty years. In the next
place, the condition of the Scotch Clergy has im-
proved with that of the rest of the community.
In 1750 the subject of augmentation of stipends
was agitated in the General Assembly of the
Scotch Church, and at that time the income of
the 942 Ministers ens , made to amount to
56,9911. The rental of the Scotch Landholders
was then given by the Clergy at 1,570,0001.
So that the Clergy had then less than one-
thirtieth part of the Rental. The tithes beyond
the portion paid to Ministers was estimated by
them at 60,0001. a year. Those who wish de-
tails may find them in a large Quarto Collection
of all the papers published on this subject at
Edinburgh, in 1751. In 1810, the income of
the Scotch Clergy, according to Returns laid be-
fore Parliament, amounted to 263,3401. say
250,0001.—this makes the stipend one-twentieth
part of the rental of five millions. Sir John
Sinclair, in his General Report, Vol. I. p. 112,
observes, " that the stipend of the Clergy,
though much higher in small than in large pa-
rishes, may be estimated at from one-twentieth
to one-thirtieth of the gross rental, or from one
shilling to eightpence in the pound." In the
parishes in which there are unexhausted tithes
there hare been frequent augmentations of the
corn stipend to the Clergy. And here the
Quarterly Reviewer, though he lays claim to an
intimate knowledge of the Ecclesiastical state in
Scotland, is in error, when he says that " the
law of their country is, tha,• when a valuation of
tithes has been once made, this is unalterable ;
the quantity of grain due to the incumbent
having been once settled, can never be increased."
When the tithes have been once valued, this is,
no doubt, unalterable ; but so long as the stipend
does not equal the tithe, the Court of Session
will order an augmentation at any time, a rea-
sonable cause being shown. As the subject is
very imperfectly understood in England, we will
show the working of the Scotch Law, by a quo-
tation from Mr. Robertson's Agricultural Sur-
vey of Kincardineshire. " However small (he
observes) the fiend may be, compared with the
tenth part of the actual produce, it is but in few
cases that it is all demanded ; as the living of
the Clergyman, which is augmented f out titne to
time by the Court of Session, has not, except
in a few parishes only, exhausted the whole
tiends. An example will, perhaps, better illus-
trate this matter ; and I take it from a parish in
this county, not as being more in point, but be-
cause I have better access to know the circum-
stances of the case. It is the parish of Benholm,
in which I new reside. This parish was in the
year 1713 valued for the purpose of ascertaining
the teind, in order to augment at that time the
stipend of the Clergyman, and it was found
after a minute investigation, in which the

proprietors were particularly eittentlVt not to
'allow any to undervalne their property, diet
the rent amounted to 90chalders and five belie
of victual, and 323/.158.4d. cote Money. The
firth part of this, 'or eighteen chalders, one boll
(289 bolls), and 641. 15s. Scots (5/. 7s. 110,
sterling), is, of course, the fixed tiend fe's ?!!
time coming, from which the Miiiitter's stipend
falls to be paid. At t!leit period the Lords of
Session ertlatecn eight chalders of this to be
the etipena ; NRllich, in the year, was itegmetf,e(i
with an addition in money to the extent of S.
And it is at peesent in agitation tt, itikrriett le
to nine thalders and .501, ste'rlint, ; eeakiug in all,
according to the a:nee:Age rate' of grain for the
• last seven years, besides 8/. 6s. Bd. for commu-
nion elements, 1941. a year ; lea-ring tell! about
one hundred bolls of ueexnaViiied teinds in the
hands of the ple,prietors. The present rent ofl
the latish is about 3,5001., and the annual pro-
duce, as may be collected from the Table of
Crop, No. 6, rill be fully worth 11.1,0001.
Hence, accordieg, to the &elfish system of
teind., the clergymen, if the teinds had not been
fixed don to the rental of 1713, might have
had a stipend of 7001. a year ; and, according lei
the English system of tithei he Would have had
1,2001." Now, if *e were to concede to the
Reviewer, t' that, with respect to the community
At large, and more especially with respect to the
inhabitants of the district where the retentie is
derived, the necessarily resident ecclesiastic would •
dispose of this se rplus increase as beneficially as the
generally absent, or even as the generally resident
layman," there is another consideration not to be
neglected, the efficiency of the Clergy themselves.
The rental of Scotland; as we said, was in 1813
upwards of flee millions. One-fifth of the rent
was laid down in the award of Charles the First,
as the tithe ; but the Court of Session only
adhere to this proportion ill eases between the
titular or owner of the tithe, and the owner of
the soil as distinct from the tithe. In family
arrangements the Court has valued the tithe at
one-fourth of the rent. Say then that 940
' Clergymen bare the fourth of five millions among
them, being the value of the tithe in 1813, this
would give to the Scotch Clergy an average
1,3201. a year. The Quarterly Review thinks
only of a Clergyman as• a receiver and spender
•
of so much of the produce of the country. We
would rather see an income of 1,3201. a year
enjoyed by an educated and well-informed man,
than by an ignorant 'Squire or a coxcombical
Peer. But is the spending money every thing ?
Would not an income of 3001. a year be more
likely to make a Clergyman acceptable to his
parishioners, as far as the discharge of spiritual
duties is concerned, than an income of 1,3001.
a year? " The eulogists of the Church of
Scotland (says the Reviewer) seem to think that
the merits of that establishment accrue from what
they call its cheapness, or from the smallness
of the stipends which its Ministers receive ;
this is a misconception. The efficiency of
that establishment arises from its discip;ine,
which, by rigidly enforcing the personal mei-
dence of each incumbent, insures the. diligent and
faithful discharge of his ministerial functions."
Well, discipline be it—it is not such an easy
matter to enforce discipline, when there arc
thirteen hundred pounds a year in the case.
With such a vigorous race of men as the Scotch
Clergy are, if any of them were under the age of
45 in a country parish, and to have 1,3001. a
year, we should be afraid of a very bad account
of the morals of the softer sex. As jolly fellows,
and excellent spenders, they would satisfy Capt.
Basil Hall himself; but what would Janet and
Maggy say of this transformation of their Mini-
ter? Let us suppose that Harry the Eighth had
not made such havoc in the temporalities of the
English Church, and that every parish was
titheable to the fullest extent, there would be
about eight millions a year to the Clergy. If
this sum, and the rents of the Church lands of
Bishops and Chapters were to be distributed
among the Clergy, what would be the conse-
quence ?--eNo rich man is fond of working ;
and it will not be contended that there ought not
to be a working Clergy. With the substitution
of low-paid Curates and Vicars, to run a race of
Evangelism with the Methodists, it is all that
they can do to counteract the influence of the
rich livings in alienating the people from the
Church. In every country but England the
Parish Clergy have always been part of the people.
In England they ere partly Gentlemen, partly Me-
thodists; but it is to the latter alone that the Church
is indebted for what hold it possesses of the lower
orders. It is really almost demonstrable that the sta-
bility of the Church would be promoted by a per-
manent commutation of tithes. If we suppose the
population of this country to increase as it has
done, the tithe will always bear a higher and
higher proportion to the net produce ; and a
time may come when the Clergy will receive so
much as to be utterly inefficient. If the tithe of
the Scotch Church had been left unfixed to the
Clergy, that Church, instead of being efficient,
would have been a monstrous nuisance to the
country, corrupting t.ln people by the perpetual
spectacle of a set of men living in direct opposi-
tion to the doctrines they inculcated. At pre-
sent, in England, it would not be difficult to
show that there is a tolerably intimate connection
between the state of Church property and the
general hypocrisy of the nation. But to enter on
this point at present would lead us further than
we can go.-Morning Chronicle.

We have on former occasions, our readers
will recollect, alluded to the manner in which
the Bankes family, of Code Castle, have shown
their regard for the Church ; but we this day
present a very singular document, illustrative of
that important fact. It is entitled " Particulars
of Wimborn Minster, in the County of Dorset,"
&c., and speaks so forcibly for itself, that it
needs no illustration from us. But what can
the Bishops of Bristol, present and antecedent,
have meant by suffering such a system ? It is
only recently that the Clergymen's salaries have
been raised to the noble pittance of 1001.—
perhaps in consequence of our allusions to the
subject : but the head schoolmaster's salary re-
mains at 401. per annum, and the second master's
at 251. What, we again ask, can the Bishops
of Bristol have meant ? But this neglect springs
from the detestable and illegal habit of transla-
tions : a Bishop never lives long enough in one
See to know all the particulars of his duty ;
and whilst he does remain, he is always looking
forward to removal and advancement :
" Particulars of Wimborn Minster, in the County of Dor-
set,,extracted from the Charter : the Original Record,
in Latin, is in the Chapel of the Rolls, and a Transla-
tion of it was published in Hutchins's History of Dorset,
last edition.

" Ist. The Church of Wimborn Minster was '
orig,inally a Collegiate Church, containing a cer-
tain College, called King's College, in Wimborn,
of one Dean, four Prebendaries ; which Dean and
Prebendaries, time beyond the memory of man,
used to sustain and maintain four Parish Priests and
four Clerks, to celebrate Divine Service, and to
discharge the cure of souls within the bait! parish,'

. . A
Rua wris cmlowvd Will divas hthds, tithes, &0., for
shat mrpose.
'ithin the College_ a_certain chantry waj
founded, with one Chaplain, who was to teach gram-
mar, according to
.the Eton aid sytem,
to all boys, from all. 14rt:.. of v.ngland, gratis. It was
footOstl oy the Princess Margaret, Countess of
Richmond and Derby.
" ally. This collegiate establishment was dis-
mantled in the reign of Ilenry
" A ;rant watt mad, by ir.'4tlwat'd VI;; and
coda-Med by charter froth Queen ligabethi to 12
of the inost discreet and most honest inhabitants of
Wimborn and its parish,' making them a corporate
body, with a common seal., and endowing them with
the great tithe and other propert.k,- of the said Min-
ter and College, in trust for the following pstr-
porn
" To support three Priests and Clerks for Divine
Worship.
"To pay the Head Master of the Grammar
School, which was to be thenceforth tuned queen
Elizabeth's Cr:ohm:lr School.' The Corporation
also to be entitled ' Governors of the Possessions,
&c. of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School.'

. _
" Zithly. The Corporation has power to limit and
regulate the salaries of the raid Priest, and Clerks,
and Head Maltal., subject to the advice and appro-
bation of the Bishop of Bristol, the appointed visitor.
" Gthly. The above Charter, after being forfeited
(for abuse of trust), was restored and confirmed to
the Corporation by King James le, on payment of
a fine of 0004

" althly. It was afterwards forfeited again, by a
process of a-cire facias against the Governors, for
mismanagement and abuse of trust, in the reign of
Charles 1., but restored on payment of a fine of
1,0001. The revenues were also restored, on trust,
for the following purposes :—To support—
" Ist. One head master and one under master, to
educate in grammar, gratis, on the Eton or 'Win-
chester plan, all boys from all England.
" 2d. To pay three priests, three clerks, four
choristers, two singers, and one organist.
" Bthly. This is the last charter, which now re-
gulates the corporation."