The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-15 00:00:00

NENEWED TITHE WAR.

ST. ANDREW'S, HOLBORN.
Tuesday a Middlesex Petty Sessions was held in the
workhouse of the Holborn Union, Little Gray's Inn-lane,
for the purpose of hearing the complaints of the Rector,
the Rev. Mr. Robinson, against upwards of twenty parish-
ioners, for refusal to pay tithes.
The Magistrates present were—Mr. Al' William, Chair-
man; Mr. Mackinnon, Mr. Russell, Mr. Armstrong, and
Mr. Kempshed.
It apperr,:d that no tithe had been paid by any of the
recusants since 1836, but the summonses were issued only
for the cla;ms of the years 1839 and 1840, as the Magi-
trates hove no jurisdiction i❑ cases of tithe due more dim
two years.
The first case called on was that of :Mr. James Sher.
rreadine, owner of the houses Nos. 21, 22, and 23, hail.
wood's Rents, from whom the sum claimed for two years'
tithe was 2/. 16s.

Mr. Shermenditte being asked why he did not pay the
demand, stated that tie houses in qaestion were not tithe-
able. The first claim made was that of the last Rector,
Mr. Beresford, who, after much litigation and contention
i,vith his parishioners, excused the hawses in question of a
part of the sum claimed, on account of 'he poverty of the
in'r,atants, and the matter was supp ,sed to be finally Set-
t!ed in 1335, since which time no demand had been
made, and toe defendant biad no notice of the revival until
Saturday morning, whoa he received the summons to
which he now appeared. He denied altogether the ticc-
ter's claim 'o tithe upon those houses, repeating that the
q es'ion vas first raised by Mr. Bcresforcl.
Mr. Turner, the Rector's Attorney, said that the right
of the Rector to tithes from the premises in question, and
from those of all the persons now called upon to pay, had
been established by the Court of Chancery six years ago,
and, in point of fact, the defendant hid recognised the
Rector's title by paying, in 1835, according to the decision
of the Superior Court.
Mr. Armstrong—Why has he not been applied to sinco ?
Mr. Tuner—The Rev. Mr. Beresford did not press his
claims afterwards whilst he remained in the parish. He
was, for the remainder of the time, satisfied with establish-
ing the right of the future incumbents. There are a great
many in the parish who will not pay now.
Mr. ARMSTRONG—There was formerly a great part of
the parish not covered with buildings, and until those spaces
were filled up, no tithe was claimed for the vacant inter-
vals. This desuetude seems to have given rise tothe ex-
emption claimed for the houses since erected in such
places. It was a great pity that no agreement was come
to at the time when it was attempted a few years age. I
generally differed from Mr. Beresford upon most subjects,
but I could not help thinking that his proposal at that time
was very moderate. He proposed to commute the whole
tithe for 5001. a-year, and if that proposal had been ae-
ceptol, a great deal of irritation and expense would be
avoided. The question seems to be now as unsettled an
ever. I have a very great objection to tithes myself, but
after the decision of the Court of Chancery, and the pay-
ments made by those parties themselves, I think that
sitting here as Magistrates, we must enforce the law.
The defendant said t hat in consequence of the poverty
of the persons who occupied his houses, he could not pay
the tithe.

Mr. M'WILLIAM said that he would be glad to exempt
the defendant on that plea, if he could do otherwise than
administer the law as he found it. He asked Mr. Turner
how long he would allow the defendant to take for pay-
ment?

Mr. Turner said be would give defendant any time he
asked. It was not the Rector's wish to be harsh, but only
to establish his right. In these cases he would not ask
even for costs.
It was then decided that the sum claimed should be paid
in 21 days.
The next case was that of Mr. Chaplin, No. 10, Gre-
ville street, who was summoned for 10s. A person who
attended fur the defendant paid the amount, under a pro-
test against the illegality of the decision against him.
Mrs. Howard, of No. 53, Gray's Inn-lane, was sum-
moned for 16g., the amount of two years' tithe, for which
Mr. Turner, upon her plea of poverty, consented to take
Bs., it being, be said, only his object to establish the right.
Mr. Purdy, of 45, High Holborn, summoned for two
years' arrears of tithe, amounting to 11., said, that what he
objected to was that very thing that Mr. Turner wanted,
" establishing the right." In 1835 Mr. Bell, the Rec-
tor's attorney, took advantage of many of the inhabitants
by false pretences, getting them to give him a small por-
tion of the sum demanded, by way of settling the mat-
ter for ever, but really for the purpose of entering it
upon the face of the collector's buck that they had
paid, and thereby virtually acknowledging the Rector's
right. The Rector published a notice to the• whole
parish, pledging himself that if he could not trace the
payments back to 1776, he would abandon the claim.
He (Mr. Purdy) and others consented to take the Rector
at his word, and said if the claim was so established
they would not refuse to pay. Toe Rector failed,
however, and notwithstanding his pledge summoned
him (Mr. Purdy) to Hatton-garden, where the case
was twice dismissed, and upon a third summons the
Magistrate gave Mr. Bell (the attorney) a month's
time to make out a case for the Rector. In the meantime,
Mr. Bell called upon him (Mr. P.) several times, solicit-
ing to settle it amicably, but this was firmly refused, until
one day Bill called on him, when he was in the hurry of
business, and said if he would give him even I/. for the
demand of 31., he should have a receipt for the whole, and
should hear no more of the tithe claim. He was taken
by surprise, and to get rid of the annoyance paid
the pound, protesting at the same time against
the injustice and the illegality of taking even that much
from him. It was most unfair that he and others should
be inveigled by such means to furnish a sort of evidence
against themselves, and then be dragged like criminals
before the magistrate:, at great loss of time, and with
detriment to their business. He would never pay the de-
mand until the Rector proved his right.
Mr. INl`WinuAss—lt is not our intention to allow the
Rector to ride rough-shod over you. We must make .the
order against you ; but if you wish to make the payment
under a protest, and to follow up that by ulterior proceed-
ings, we will give you some time to consult with your
fellow-parishioners as to what steps you ought to take.
After much discussion it was decided that the order
the def ended c
should be issued for payment in fourteen days to give Air.
Purdy time
remainder to
aincodnersuolft, Chairman.
In as recommended by the
sion was agreed to, Mr. Turner sayin ases the Sallie deci-
g
the
that be would not
ask for costs unless he were put to further expense.
Mr. T.. 7. Wooller and three or four others did not ap-
pear to their summons, and judgment being '
given against
them, Mr. Turner asked for costs.
Mr. M‘Wistiast was not certain the Court had autho-
rity to grant costs. He knew it was doubtful in some
cases of disputed tithes.

Mr. Turner referred to the Acts, the 7th and Bth
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