The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-14 00:00:00

IRELAND.

TITHES.--Patrick Lalor, Esq., has received the follow-
ing circular from the Rev. Mr. Latoucho :
Maryborougb, 2d day of September, )836.
Sir,—l am directed by the Rev. Mr. Latouc'm to apply to
you for the amount of your tithe composition as below, due to
him, as Rector of the parish of Cionencgh and Clonaheen,
and to request payment without delay ; otherwise I must be
under the necessity of proceeding against you for recovery
thereof.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
To Patrick Lalor, Esq. THOMAS TURPIN.
For the year ending Ist November, 1834 £36 11 0
Do do 1835 36 11 0

£73 2 0
Mr. Lalor not knowing even so much as the place where
the Rev. Rector lives who makes this demand for services
never received, has addressed to him a letter through the
Public Press, from which we extract the following passages :
" It is now five years and eight months since I proclaimed
to the world, at a meeting held in this county—the High
Sheriff in the Chair—that I never would again pay tithes ;
that is, that I never would give voluntary cash payments, in
lieu of tithe : some thought the expression silly—others
thought it vain braggadocio ; but your satellites lost no time
in bringing the matter to a test, and my 20 ewes and their
lambs were brought to the hammer, to prove how far my re-
solve would or could be put in practice—it is unnecessary for
me to go over all the details that followed—this the first prac-
tical attempt at what has since been called (by a contradic-
tion of terms) the passive resistance against tithes—suffice it
to put you in mind of the fact, that, at this the first tithe auction
in Ireland (under this new experiment), not one bidder
Catholic or Protestant, could be found, except your own
underling ; not a butcher great or small in the city of Dub-
lin, could be got to buy them ; not a sales-master would
allow them on his standing, ; nor a bit of food would the
poor animals get, until they actually died of starvation,
some in Liverpool, and the rest of them in Manchester.
They arc not the first, nor indeed the last, unoffendinm ani-
mals that have been offered up as a holocaust to the Moloch
of tithes. The soil of Ireland has been often red, not with
the blood of sheep and lambs alope, but with that of human
beings, sacrificed to support this unholy impost. .
Nearly six years ago, I made the resolve, come what would
never again to pay one penny tithe ; that resolve remains,
more firm, if possible, this day than the day I made it, an
experiment has been already made that has failed as re-
gards you, it has succeeded as regards me, and succeeded
much better than perhaps you are aware of. . It
is no wonder it should ; the plan is simple and easy of
practice ; it is merely to let the law take its course, and
indemnify those who suffer unjustly, simply what the people
called Quakers do—from them, certainly, I took the hint.
We in this parish have not been idle in making prepara-
tions ; we have now a large sum which, under the good
old system, would, Rev. Sir, be in your pocket ; we have
now ten thousand five hundred pounds amongst us, which,
probably, you would say we had a right to pay you. Now,
with such a sum would we not be the greatest fools did we
not protect ourselves ? May it not be said with truth, that
we can fight the clergy with their own sword ? and so we will.
I deny that you have ever given me value to the amount
of one half-farthing ; and therefore, that I am not bound
justly, in the sight of God or man, to pay you one half-far-
thing. I know lam legally bound ; but I entirely deny
the justice. You, Reverend Sir, and those who clamour
against the tithe opposition, always put forward your legal
right—no one denies it, but I would like to hear you or
them put forward the just right, and hear reasons to sup-
port it. . . . I never could learn that you have
spent 24 hours in the parish since you managed to get the
composition entered into, and which I must put you in mind
of, was entered into quite contrary to law. Now, give me
leave to offer some of the reasons which I might offer was I
a member of that church, which I am not. First : I would
have recourse to the New Testament, where I find seve-
ral texts disapproving of an earthly establishment, such as
" My kingdom is not of this world ; " " I send you without
scrip or staff,' &c., &c., an innumerable other passages to
prove that the Divine Founder of our holy and common
Christianity never intended one of his ministers should pos-
sess fifteen hundred pounds a year while St. Paul worked
with his hands for his living. But I know, Rev. Sir, you will
at once meet me, by quoting a passage to the effect of—
" The labourer is worthy of his hire ; " " Let those who tend
the altar live by the altar," &c., &c., or words to this effect.
I would be glair to know, (acknowledging the force of those
passages) what estimate is to be put on your labour in this
parish, so as properly to apportion your hire ; you, who
never spent a month out-and-out in it in your whole life—
I might say a day—and who, for more than six years,
never put your. foot in it, that I have ever heard of I But
you will say you had curates, who did the duty ; granted,
and then 1 say as a Protestant wishing to see the spiritual
duties of my religion attended to, you have a right to claim
what these curates received, and no more—the labourer is
worthy of his hire. On the face of it fifteen hundred a
year is too much for doing nothing. I learn that the Pres-
byterian clergy in Scotland do not on an average receive
more than 72/. a year."
Guilfoyle, who was marked out for imprisonment at a
tithe-suit, simply, it would seem, because he dared to be-
come a member of the National Association, has been re-
leased without having paid the tithes or coats for which
he was arrested. The grounds of his release are not re-
vealed ; but one thing is certain, thut Guilfoyle remains
unyielding in his determination never to pay one penny of
the impost.—Pilot.