The Sun.
London, England, 1823-05-12 00:00:00

IRISH TITHE, BILL:

[Pram' " John Ball."'
We perceive by the newspapers, that Lord,
v ERPOOL, on Fridaynight, stated it to be the intention of
Government to persist in the'lrish Tythe Commutation Bill.
We feel it our duty to' lay before readers as much as we are
able of a communication which we have received from rreland,-
and which appears to urtleserVing of' great and immediate al.
tention.
The official' document Which we lay before the public, is-the'
following Additss to the Lord Lieutenant;---
" TO IRIS EXCELLENCt' TILE MARQUIS WELLEStrirt

LORD LIEUTENANT GENERAL' AND' 6ENERAL•

NOR Or IRELAND.
" Wi the undersigned Archbishops and! Bishops beg leave
to express to your Excellency out grateful acknowledmehts
For the communication made to us, through your Excellency's
Chief Secretary, of a Bill to provide for the establishing. of •
Composition for Tithes in Ireland.
" At the present stage of the business; and in the first in,
stance, we should account it not suffidendy respectful to your
Excellency to take any public steps relatiVe td the proposed
measure;* but we think it due to. your. Excellency and to the
Church, that we should, without any delay, submit to your
Excellency, our private sentiments. on the subject; and we are
confident that your Excellency will receive with kindness, and
weigh with candour, the representation, which we take the
betty to lay before you..
" We entreat permission to say', that a lelilative enactment,
which, without their previous consent, would withdraw the pro.,
perty of the Clergy from their own,rattnagement, and compel
them to submit those rights which have been, guaranteed to
them front the first origin of our constitution',VlS doubtful,
and, in the natural course of things, an unfriendly arbitration,-
destructive, as it would unquestionably bet of the independence
of our Church establishment, must, in our judgment, be equally
destructive of its respectability, its utility, and its permanence.
" Hitherto the estateof the Church has been incorporated and
Identified with the mastref private property ;! nor has the Legit'.
lature exerciaed authority over it, either fur use or for dominion.
But the very first enactment of the proposed Bill changes the
nature'of that estate, and leaves it open to futnre and, indefinite
innovations. It is this which constitutes the essential difference
between the Tithe Leasing Bill of the last Session, and the
measure now in contemplation. The former was an optional
modifiCation—the latter is a compulsory, change and it ap-
pears to us that the beneficial effect of the Tithe Leasing Bill
has not yet received any trial whatsoever. A single year of
trial would, under any circumstances, have been inadequate
bat the unexampled distress and difficulties of the last year,
must, in themselves, have stayed the adoption of all new experi,
molt ; while the practical operation of the measure was alto•
gether precluded, by the notoriety of the fact, that a further
plan was held in contemplation.
" But we have this additional, and, in our apprehension,
insurmountable objection to the new Bill, that it would dissolve
the unity of the Church of England and Ireland, which forms
a fundamental article of the solemn compact by which the
kingdoms themselves are united. In England, an establish-
ment maintained in the undiminished enjoyment of its ancient
rights ;—in Ireland the very essence of an establishment de-
stroyed by an invasion of its property, and by the consequent
subversion of its independence :—there would be no security for
the preservation of that identity in doctrine, worship, discipline,
and government, which, to both countries, is the great bulwark
of the reformed Catholic' Faith.
" We have felt it our duty thus to make the earliest possible
communication of our sentiments respecting the proposed Bill ;
anti we are not without an earnest hope, that through your
Excellency's timely interference, its provisions may not pass
into a law, and the property of the United Church may be
maintained in its integrity unviolated and inviolable.

(Signed)
" W. DUBLIN. J. ELPIITN.
" PowEn, TUAM, R. Osson Y.
" CHARLES, KILDARE'. it. WATERFORD.
" GEORGE,KILMORE. JAMES, DROMORE.
" NATHANIEL, DOWN & CONNOR. RICHARD, KILLALOE.
" ROBERT, CLOOMEIt. THOMAS, FERNS.
" I. CORK 4%.1.11) Ross. W. RAPIIOE.
"JAMES, KILLALLA. T. LIMERICK.
" It may be proper to state to his Excellency, that the Arch-
bishops and Bishops who have subscribed their names to this
Paper, comprise the whole of those who are at present in Ire.
land, with the exception of the Lord Primate, whose sentiments
are known to coincide fully with those expressed in this com-
munication, but whose state of.health (precluding, by medical.
authority, all application to business) hateprevented this paper
from being submitted for his Grace's signature."
Having submitted this paper, little more remains for us to
add, except to observe upon the compulsory character of the
proposed Bill, which is w take the controul and management
of the Property out of the -actual proprietors' hands, and
subject to the arbitration of an inimical judge, by whose deci-
sion the original proprietor is to receive a maintenance out Via:
own property.
Surely, something of this apparent injustice might be quail-
lified, if the consent of the incumbent himself were necessary
to the commutation
; not but even then, knowing as we do
the conduct which would certainly be. adopted by an Irish
.
vestry, the decision could hardly be expected to be amicable,
aissmfaardase Clergy.toregtairiedsitimhepire, Supposing, too, that the appeal
to be appointed by Government, he
will in all probability stand personally in the same situation
as the vestry did comparatively, I. e. he would be a layman,
and confirm the lay decision of the vestry.
It has been suggested to us, that if the Bishop of the Diocese
had the power of objecting to the.porninee of the Government,
it might obviate much difficulty ; for, under the present condi-
tions, it would WO much time and trouble if the. Government
were at once to establish a Commission for the purpose afioni-
muting the tythes, without the intermediate interference of any
vestry at all.
The-Bill leaves to the arbitrators, in the first instance, a dis.
cretionary power to give what in their ;judgments they shall
deem a sufficient recompencc for tythe ;—by what standard—•
by what valuation is the arbitrator to be guided ?—ft is true
there is an apparent standard fixed .by the Bill, but the Go-
vertunnt umpire is, as the dernier resort, left entirely to his
discretion without any standard whatever?
We have hastily run our eyes over the Bill, and we intend-
ed to consider the subject more fully than we have been en-
abled to do ; but seeing
the
the observation of Loan
LIVERPOOL reported in le newspapers, we lose no time in
saying that 'we firmly belfieVe it to be the most desperate Tnea-
sure ever suggested by A onwiliatory Government ; that in
present shape the Bill strikes fatally at the root of PROPERTY
and by subverting, changing, and weakening the character and
attributes of the Established Religion, bids fair to give to
POPERY that universal dominion in IRELAND, which the
agitators so anxiously desire, and which can only produce the
most dreadful results to both cocatries.