The Sun.
London, England, 1830-05-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

A petition was presented last night, by Mr.

Hume; from the owners and occupiers of land, and

other inhabitants of Rochester and its neighbour-
hood, praying for an abolition of the tithe tax. The
petitioners represent " the great relief that would
he afforded by the abolition of tithes, a tax which,
by drawing so large a share of the gross produce of
the land, is alike injurious to the community in ge-
neral, to the agriculturists in particular, and to the
best interests of religion ;—to the community, by
unavoidably increasing the price of articles of most
general and necessary consumption—to the agricul-
ttnists, by subjecting them to vexatious restrictions
in tile cultivation of land, and by depriving them
of the ability to compete with the foreign grower, or
to contend against the importation of grain, which
it is the present policy of this country to encourage
—and to religion, by proving a fruitful source of
discord between the clergyman and hisparishioners."
In the early stages of civilization, both lay and cle-
rical functionaries were paid in agricultural produce.
In most eastern countries to this day, the revenue of
the Sovereign consists in a certain share of the
produce of the soiL In Turkey, for instance,
tluk Sovereign receives a tenth, or tithe. As
early as the second century the fathers of the
church exhorted the Christians to pay the
tenth after the example of the Jews. But as is
known to all who are in the least versed in history,
the Clergy were merely the stewards of the several
Christian communities. So generally was the cus-
tom established of paying tithes to the Church in
the seventh century that, at the Council of Nantes
in 658, it was merely deemed necessary to regulate
the distribution of the tithes and oblations, which
are declared to be not their own, but entrusted to
them for the maintenance of the poor, and for hos-
pitality :—" Instruendi sunt presbyteri, partterque
admonendi ; quatenus noverint decimas et oblationes
quas a fidelibus accipiunt, pauperum et hospitum et
peregrinorum esse stipendia, et non quasi suis, sed
quasi commendatis uti, de quibus omnikis sciant se
rationem posituros in conspectu Dei, et nisi eas fide-
,liter paoperibus, et his qui piwrnissi sunt administra-
verint, damna passuros." Then follows the well
knoWn distribution into four parts. A series of ca-
pitularies made it obligatory on every man to pay
tithe. Thus, for instance, in 761, Pepin enacted in
a -General Constitution, " ut unusquisque homo,
knt vellet, aut !toilet, suam decimam donet." A
more judicious mode of paying the Clergy could not
have been devised ; indeed no other mode could
have been devised. Neither was a tenth of the
gross produce too much for the keeping up the
churches, supporting the poor, maintaining the
Presbyter and his assistants, and supporting the
12ishop. But to say that the tenth part of the
gross produce of the soil should for ever he paid to
the Clergy isso monstrous a proposition,that the man
who maintains it must have a triple share of brass.
Only think of one-tenth of the whole produce of

the soil given to ten thousand individuals ! It is
true that about a third of the great tithes are im-
propriated. But the vicarage tithes, in consequence
of the turnip husbandry and other improvements
in agriculture, are often more valuable than the par-
soniige. Will any person however say that if
Henry VIII. had not spoiled the church, the clergy
would have been allowed at this day to receive the
whole of the tithe ? Sir R. Inglis must receive a
new brief; for the description which he gave of
titheable property, that the purchaser of it buys only
tiine•trnths of the soil, involves the trifling mistake,
that the tithe in some cases amounts to more than
tie landlord's share. Even at the settlement he-
€ween•the Scotch tithe holders and owners of the
soil, the tithe was taken at one-fifth of the rent.
But this was a proportion favourable to landowners.
gi In HaMpshire (said Mr. Baring) the tithe upon
corn - lands amounted generally to one-third or one-
fourth ;; and most of the occupiers of the soil would
be glad to compound for one-fourth. Human wit
could not have devised a mode of payment more
inconvenient or offensive than that in which re-
ligion was paid for in this country." It is,
pcilhav, for the interest of the church, to
Bare this question settled once for all, to pre-
vent the clergy being looked on as oppressors of
the people—as adding a heavy burden to burdens
already almost insupportable. A fixed proportion of
the rent made a perpetual rent-charge might be ob-
jectionable, in so far as it would give too much to
the spiritual guides, if we wish them to discharge
their duty properly; but it would not operate as a
tax on the people generally, and would be merely a
rent tax. There is at present a strong determina-
tion throughout the country to compel a settlement
once for all of the tithe question. The great body
of landowners and agriculturiats in general all con-
tend that an klitrration is necessary, and it will not
be easy to resist thorn. Of course no one thinks of
any invasion of private property. In any arrange-
ment impropriators and the owners of advowsons
rnu-t have a fair compensation. But as to the rest,
ail parties will gain by a different distribution.—
Morning Chronicle.

Ministers meted with much prudence in their op
position to the motion of Sir John Newport, on the
subject of the peccadillos of the Irish church. The
less that is said, where the case is of so flagrant a na-
ture,. the better it is for the offenders. What was
said by Lord L. Gower had the merit, too, of be-
ing utterly unintelligible; for revising the valuation
of the first fruits might take money from the Clergy,
but how, in God's name, is taxing the Clergy tax-
ing the people ?—..illorning Chronicle.
In our columns to-day will be found an abridged
report of a meeting of the Political Union, held at
Birmingham on Monday, which appears to have
produced great excitement, and to have been most
numerously attended. The pressure of other mat-
ter prevents us from giving, at present, the report of
the Council of the Soeiety, and their declaration on
the Marquis of Blendford's Bill. We have only
room here to state that, in contradiction to the Lon-
don Radical Reformers, they unanimously resolve
that the Bill of Reform proposed to the House of
Commons by his Lordship is admirably calculated to
accomplish its great object!---that of restoring the
constitutional influence of tba Commons in the
sPartiamerit of England. This Bill, which they
tleclaiv eight to be made the rallying point
Of reform, it wiii be recollected, embraces
not the principles of universal suffrage, vote
by ballot, or annual Parlianzents—so far in-
deed are the members of this Society from ap-
preying of those doctrines, that they describe them
as novelties not known to the Constitution, and cal.
culated to w-ealien the cause of reform, by mixing
tip disputable questions of political improvement
with ancient undeniable and constitutional rights,
end creating divisions in the typer and middle
classes of the cosnmunity, without producing any
additional zeal among the lower classes, or any other
equivalent. whatever ! Will Sir Francis Burdett
now come . forward, to defend his once•faveurite
theories ? or will he leave Mr. Attwood undisputed
master of a field of reform on which his principles
are treatedqssith as little respect as he treated the
practice's of boroughniongers?-Morning Herald.
We publish to-day a correspondence—perhaps
the most singular in which a Bishop ever bore a
part--between the present Bishop of London and
the Rev. Theodore Williams, vicar of Hendon.
We shall lea the correspondence itself to expiain
the subject; suffice it here to say, that the Bishop
• starts in such a passion, that he directs a letter,
meant for. the Revs 'l'. Williams, to the Rev, T.
Wilberforce, who is, we believe, not reverend at all,
but the very person whose conduct is chiefly the
subject of complaint on the part of Mr. Williams.
A correspondence thus beginning may be supposed
to terminate with extreme fttry, and accordingly it
ends with the application, by the Bishop, of the
terms " falsehood !" " gross falsehood 1" to a re-
spectable clergyman in the dieeesS.: The Duke of
"Wellington is a gentletnan, and be knows the way
in which getltlemen should be. addressed by their
superiors in the artificial ranks of society, or grades
a a profession ;—and here we ledve this matter.