The Sun.
London, England, 1830-02-09 00:00:00

TITHES.

Mr. GREENE conceived it to be needless to detain the
House at any length, in moving for leave to bring in the
Bill of which he had given notice. Addressing land-
owners, he need not inform them of the inconveniencies
they sustained from the present system of tithes, and an
extensive correspondence in which he had been engaged
with parochial Clergy, satisfied him that they were as
anxious as the landholders for some change in the mode of
collecting tithe. He felt the importance of not approach-
ing such a subject rashly and inconsiderately ; and he was
therefore glad to avail himself of the precedent, which had
been set in the numerous private Acts passed on this sub-
ject. To each of these the consents of the Bishop, the
patron, the incumbent, and the landowners had been given,
and he therefore felt assured, that from a measure following
strictly the course that had been adopted in them, no
injury could accrue to any party. The present Bill was
of a permissive nature. It only went to authorize the ap-
pointment of Commissioners at once, instead of requiring
a private Act in every instance. Those Commissioners
being necessarily men of education—men placed beyond
the suspicion of countenancing anything unfair—jus-
tice may reasonably be expected to be done to
all parties. They would be judges of the reports
of the tithe valuers, by whom the value of the tithes
of any parish for the preceding 14 years should be as-
certained, and whatever that might prove, should be affixed
as a rent charge upon the parish forever, variable, however,
by averages of the price of wheat to be struck every seven
years, so as to meet the changes in the value of money.
In order further to prov:de against alterations which may
take place in the value of agricultural produce, inclosure
' and improvement of land, each party at the end of twenty-
one years may call for a fresh Commission to ascertain the
actual value of all such matters as may have been decided
by the award of the First Commissioners to be tithable,
but they are to have no power to disturb the determina-
tions of the former Commissioners respecting moduses, or
other partial or entire exemption. This scheme, he ad-
mitted, was not new, and he regarded its want of novelty
as a strong recommendation to it. It bad been tried
partially, and found to answer, and a plan similar to this
had been submitted to the House in the Report of the
Commissioners of Land Revenue, in 1792. The Hon.
Member concluded by expressing the sincerity and warmth
of his attachment to the Church Establishment, and his
firm conviction that the Bill now before them, if passed
into a law, was calculated to afford ease and comfort to
the Clergy, to secure to them permanent and settled
incomes ; and while it relieved the landowner from
many of the inconveniences which press on him, would
also relieve the Clergyman from much that is painful
to him, and must tend to enlarge his sphere of useful-
ness. He called on the House to support the measure.
Mr. HUME was not sorry at the Hon. Member's revival
of his motion, but he regretted that he persevered in the
clause which gave the possessors of tithes a right to parti-
cipate in the advantages of new capital spent on the land.—
This would have the effect of preventing improvements in
agriculture. He considered that tithes, as they now ex-
isted, were a check upon the improvement of the country.
When tithes were first instituted there was little or no
wealth in the country on which they were to be raised, ex-
cept land ; but now there were other sources from which
they were derived, and derived, too, in an amount far ex-
ceeding their ancient value. This circumstance made such
an alteration, in the nature of tithes and their operation,
that a change in their mode of payment became necessary,
and, in his opinion, they ought to be paid out of funds
raised by the public in the same way as were the army and
navy. His plan was to appoint Commissioners and to take
the value of tithes in every parish in the country, and then
to allow proprietors of lands the opportunity of pu' chasing
them, giving a full and fair value for them as for any
other article brought into the market. There could be no
difficulty in this. There were two species of tithes—lay and
clerical. The sale of the former was as common as that
of a twopeuny loaf; and their value was easily capable of
being ascertained, as, indeed, it was constantly ascertained
between buyer and seller. As to the Clerical Tithes, he
would have them all brought into one fund, and have the
Clergy paid out of it. This would relieve the agriculture
of the country, and thousands—he might almost say mil-
lions—of persons now unemployed would then find em-
ployment; for many who now avoided investing their
money in property liable to tithe according to its increased
value, would then endeavour to make improvements in it,
and by so doing would give employment to a great num-
ber of persons. The principle of interference with tithes
was now, he was happy to say, recognised and admitted,
even by the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite; though,
when he first introduced it, he was as nauch decried as if
he were a robber on the highway.—(Hear.)—Though he
thought this Bill did not go far enough, he would yet sup-
port it ; but he should be much pleased if the clause
which limited these agreements; to 21 years were with-
drawn, and they were permitted to be perpetual.
Mr. TRANT was sure the country gentlemen of Eng-
land would never suffer the vested rights of the Clergy to
be invaded. As to tithes being a charge on the land,
everybody made his arrangements accordingly, and the
purchaser of land paid less for it on account of the charge
he knew to be existing on it. He never wished to see the
Clergy made the subject of spoliation.
Mr. HUME denied that he intended to recommend
spoliation of any kind. He wished every thing to be done
on the principle of fair compensation.
Mr. GREENE said, that his great object in introducing
the Bill was to promote peace and harmony among all
classes ; and he hoped and trusted such would be the effect
of this measure.
Leave was given to bring up the Bill. It was brought
up, read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time
on Friday, the 19th.
Mr. PENDARVIS presented a petition upon the sub-
ject of the St. Giles's Vestry Bill.
The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of,
and the House adjourned at Nine o'clock.

A correspondent suggests the idea of abo-
lishing franks, which would produce towards the revenue
nearly 500,000/.
Last week an old man, by trade a tailor,
died in Coupar Angus. He was a person of singular
habits and prol•ensities. He shunned all communication
either with neighbours or relations, living a hermit in the
midst of busy life. The hovel he inhabited was of the
most wretched description, and as filthy as a hog-sty.
Love of treasure accompanied, and was, perhaps, partly
the cause of, his misanthropy. He occasionally peeped
from his cage, and even sometimes undertook a journey to
Perth to receive interest on money invested there. He
bad not been seen some days, and the neighbours sus-
pected all was net right. They at length entered, and
found him stretched lifeless on his miserable touch.
Among the rage that covered it were found a large quan-
tity of bank-notes--under it, bills and obligations to the
amount of nearly 2,000/.—and below a loose stone in the
floor of the cell was disclosed a stone-ware vessel full of
gold and sil►er coins of various descriptions and value.—
Perth Courier.