The Sun.
London, England, 1832-03-14 00:00:00

t:: o extrac:s from the evidence given hefore the Corn: )
mittee. Mr. Fitzgerald, in answer to question 173 states,
tilt " Archdeacon Cotton and the Rev. Mr. Wooodward
. have both positively declined pressing their claims.
Mr. Woodward said that he could not consci-
entiously seek tithes th it must be enforced with the
probable effusion of blood." Mr. Fitzgerald is then
asked. " Is it within your I'mowledge that many of the
clergy are, in eottseqUence of this opposition, reduced to
great distress 1" To which he replied; " I know that
!hey arc in great destitution ; men who list year had an
ineotne of SOO/. to 1,2001. a year, are this year in want
of the necessaries of life." The evidence of Sir John
Hervey is pretty npicli to the mime I efect ; take this par-
fion as a sample .—" You have stated the destitute condi-
tion of the clergy in Kilkenny ; can yon state how many
years' tithe may be due to any one of those gentlemen ?
I have heard, in some instances, two or three years.
What do you mean to itinply by their being in a destitute
condition ; do you mean to say that they have not re-
sources to buy food ?—A gent!- man, with whom I am
well acquainted, told me that I e had just been sending a
sheep and a few potatoes, and a sittall note, to a gentleman
who was formerly in comparative affluence, and that he
had neithea a shilling nor a pound of meat or bread in his
house." But I need not quote any further : it is suffi-
cient to sly that this evidence is corroborated over and
over again by persons who can have no interest in making
the matter appear stronger than it really is. Let me,
however, juet say, that Sir .1. Hervey, in another part
of hie evidence, describes the Clergy as in a state of most
pitiable distress; and in the Appendix, Dr. Hamilton states
that " the Clergy are really in a most pitiable state ; he
knows two In absolute want." But, perhaps, the strongest
instance I can mention is, the statement contained in the
letter of the Rev. Mr. Moore to Sir W. Gosset. Mr.
Moore, at all event, is not one of these sinecurist Clergy-
men against whom there has been such an outcry; he is
not one et those pampered individuals who have been
abused and cried out against for living in the luxury of the
land ; on the contrary, he is an individual living—or, I
should rather say, starving on a miserable pittance of 70/.
or SO/. a year, which be cannot get paid. But I will let
hie. letter speak for itself. " Three years have elapsed since
the appointment to my present Curacy took place; for the
first year my salary was punctually paid, but for the last
two years I may say it has ceased. Although my Rector
is most anxious to pay me my small pittance, yet,
from the continued reluctance and increased resistance to
pay tithes, he has not the means. It is true I could ap-
ply to my Diocesan ; for even if the parish were seques-
tered, I would he unable to collect the tithe ; but why
should I be so devoid of feeling as to worry and harrass an
unfortunate gentleman, situated as he is, having a family
consisting of a wife and s4ven children to support, for whom
he can with difficulty procure food and raiment, although
at this moment upwards of 1,400/. are due by his p 1-
rishioners. In the mean time, I would respectfully in-
quire, what am I to do? In another month two years'
sale, v will be due, and in less than another month, I shall
be obliged to make up the sum of 1001. Small as my
salary (70/. per annum) is, still to a man having a family
and small establishment to support, as well as to try to
support an appearance with these in my own rank, it
must be very distressing to want that trifle such a length
of time." Gentlemen, after this, any talk of the clergy-
holding large livings, and the receipt of one year compen-
sating for the loss in another, would he absurd; but sup-
posing that the clergyman is a conscientious man, and
thinks it his duty not to hoard up his income, but to
spend among his parishioners that which he receives from
his parishioners, am Ito be told that that is an argument
for abandoning him,. and refusing to do anything to
alleviate his unmerited distress.—(Hear, hear, heat. )
Now, Sir, h wing thus stated what the distress
among the clergy of Ireland is—what the system of
opposition to the tithe is, and what is the general re-
sult of the whole facts of the case, I will take the liberty
of reading to the Committee the first resolution which I
have to propose. It is to this effect :—" That it appears
to this Committee, that in several parts of Ireland an or-
ganized and systematic opposition has been made to the
payment of tithes, by which the law has been rendered un-
availing; and many of the clergymen of the Established
Church have been reduced to great pecuniary distress."—
This resolution, in conjunction with the others which I
shall presently read, forms a series which I hope vt ill be
adopted by this Committee, by which means I shall be
enabled, on the part of the Government, to introduce a
measure founded upon them. In the first place, I conceive
I may assume that there is no one in this House who will
say that such a body of men as the Protestant clergy of
Ireland are not entitled to any assistance that Parliament
can afford them. Those who have most objection to the
course proposed by the present Government, do not pre-
tend to say that the clergy should not be relieved. Then,
if so, next comes the question—how are we to relieve
them, and on what principle ought we to proceed ? Let me
ask, are you prepared to say that, because there has been a
systematic opposition made to the payment of these legal
dues—because the clergy are deprived of their income in
certain districts in Ireland—the Parliament and the country
ought to step forward and make good their loss—and,
there stopping, refuse to take any ulterior steps to prevent
the recurrence of such circumstances in future ? Surely
no one will argue thus ; or, if they do, then I say that
this would not only be an injustice to the clergy, but be
a premium given to disaffection—(cheers)—a bribe
held out to the violation of the law—(cheers)—a
temptation afforded to riot and turbulence.—(Hear, and
cheers.) And is this an encouragement which ought
to be held forth ? Is it the ph asure of this House to say,
that because Leinster has been disturbed, tranquil Ulster,
tranquil Munster, and tranquil Connaught, tranquil Eng-
land and tranquil Scotland, are to pay for the resistance of
one unruly portion of the empire?—(Hear, hear.) Be-
cause Leinster has revolted—yes, revolted, for I cannot
use a milder term—against the law, are we for this to re-
lieve the sufferers out of the pockets of the public, by
which we shall actually be putting that very amount in the
pockets of those whose misconduct has created the whole
of this mischief ? Are we, in short, to say that' for
peaceful men there shall be no remedy, and that for the
turbulent there shall he instant protection ? Sir, I for one
am not prepared, and I do not think that the people of
England, or of tranquil Ireland, are prepared to act upon
such a mistaken principle; and yet surely we are neverthe-
less bound to see that the clergy do not suffer for that which
is no fault of theirs.—( Hear, hear.) I know it has been
asked what we would do if an opposition, similar to this
tithe-payment-opposition, were to spring up against the
payment of landlords' rents. I am willing to meet that
question. Let us suppose that a whole district was up in
arms against the payment of rent—then I say, in the ab-
stract, it would be the duty of the Legislature to step for-
ward, and indemnify the landed proprietor, as well as en-
force the wholesome action of the law. But, on the other
hand, if from the demand of exorbitant rents, and from
general oppressive conduct on the part of the landlords, the
tenants were driven into outrage, then I should feel that
the landlords would come with no case before Parliament
—(Cheers)—and if they did so come, they would deserve
to be spurned, and scouted from the doors of this Hause.
—(Cheers.) But is this de cription applicable to the
case of the clergy in Ireland ? Have the clergy so
acted ? Is it the clergy tchn have fixed the amount of
their "receipts? -Is it the clergy who have imposed on
the tenantry an exorbitant payment ?—(Hear, hear.)
Have they ever been charged with demanding more than
their right?—(Hear, hear, hear.) I know not whether
I am to interpret that cheer into an intimation that the
clergy have made themselves liable to that charge; but
this I know, that my Hon. Friend, the Member for Ar-
magh, in moving his resolutions on a former night, dis-
tinctly stated that they had not ; and certainly the evi-
' deuce before the Committee shows that the clergy have
never been, as a body, extortionate in their demand ; and
I believe, that if we were to examine this point to the ut-
most, the conclusion to which we must come would be,
that of all the burthens on the occupiers of the soil, that
imposed for the subsistence of the clergy was by far the
least onerous. This will be the more distinctly seen if we
compare the Irish tithe with that paid in England. In
England the tithe amounts to tine-fifth of the rent, and the
rent may be fairly computed at one-fifth of the produce;
but in Ireland, from all the evidence adduced, and, indeed,
from figures that are incontrovertible, it can be shown
that the tithes of the clergy scarcely ever amount to one-
fifteenth of the rent, and, on an average, are much nearer
to one-twentieth of the rent. With these facts before us, I
ask with what face Gentlemen can charge the clergy, in
the teeth of the evidence, and in the teeth of the truth,
with being extortionate in their demand, or can compare
them with an oppressive landlord who demands an unjust
proportion of the produce of the soil ? But the fact is,
that the question of the payment of tithes does not rest in
the amount of the claim : it is a very different feeling
that has given rise to the strong and systematic opposition
that for the last eighteen months has been gradually in-
creasing in Ireland, till it has at length risen to its present
extraordinary height. Gentlemen had never known a
more abundant harvest than the last year (the Right Hon.
Gentleman continued), and yet both Roman Catholic and
Protestant landlords found it difficult, in many cases, to
eke out existence with the miserable pittance they secured.
No tithes were paid ; but when such was the defici-
ency of the tenants, what became of the burden
under which they laboured for tithe of two shillings
per acre ? lie only proposed--in doing away with the
Immediate claims of the clergy, that those remedies which
now belonged to the clergy, though the clergy declined

taking, them, to render the law operative—lie only pro •
posed that the Parliament should give into the hands of
the Government, by an Act to be p ,ssed for that purpose,
the same power and the same remedies as were now pos-
sessed by the clergy, whether they applied to the person
or property of the tithe-payer. Further, he must state,
that in those cases where it is declared by the clergy that
they bad entered into an agreement with their parishion.
era, though these agreements were to take less than one-
half of their due, the law, leaving the other half as a mar-
gin for its discretion, would only enforce those agreements,
but must enforce so much, if the authority Of the law was
not to be rejected altogether—admitting, indeed, that it
was impossible to gain much more from the tenants. But
this measure, which went only to enforce the law so far
as he had describ, d it, is what had been stigmatised as
cramming tithes down the throats of the people at the
point of the bayonet. lie was not ready to ask for ex-
traordinary powers ; in fact, they had been already de-
clared, and he belonged to a Government which was not
willing to ask for them ; but he also belonged to a Go-
vernment which did not fear the consequences of enforcing
upon a population the payment of those debts which were
justly due ; or, if they refused the payment of their just
debts, it was the duty of the Government to enforce the
penalty.—(Hear.) He did not know what might he the
opinion of the House ; he did not know what might be
thought of a Government which should neglect or refuse
to enforce the law as established ; but certainly it would
he much to be lamented, if there were any delay or any
hesitation in enforcing the law ; and of such a Govern-
ment certainly he would not be a Member; and such a
Government, for the sake of pe ice and tranquillity,
God forbid he would say, it should ever exist, or that he
should ever occupy a place in such a Government in any
empire. The details of the measure might be discussed at
a future stage, if the Committee would allow hint to bring
in the Bill. He should then only think it necessary to
say, that the Government thought it most expedient to se-
cure a revenue to the clergy ; and the next resolution he
should have to propose would have that for its object, dis-
tributing it among the clergy in proportion to the amount
they had lost. The Right Hon. Gentleman then read the
two next resolutions, as follows
That, in order to afford relief to this distress, it is expedient
that his Majesty should be empoivered, upon application to the
Lord Lieutenant or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ire-
land, to direct that there be issued from the Consolidated Fund
such sums as may be required for this purpose.
" That the sums so issued shall be distributed by the Lord
Lieutenant or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland, by
and with the advice of the Privy Council, in advances propor-
tioned to the incomes of the incumbents of benefices, wherein the
tithes or tithe composition lawfully due may have been with-
held, according to a scale diminishing as the incomes of such in-
cumbents increase. _ .

" That for the more effectual vindication of the authority of
the law, and as a security for the repayment of the sums so to be
advanced, hi Majesty be empowered to levy, under the authority
of an Act to be passed for the purpose, the amount of arrears for
the tithes or tithe composition of the whole or any part of the
year 1831, without prejudice to the claim-is of the Clergy for any
arrear which may be due for a longer period; reserving, in the
first instance, the amount of such advances, and paying over the
remaining balance to the legal ciaimants,
" That it is the opinion of this House, that with a view to se-
cure both the interests of the Church and the lasting welfare of
Ireland, a permanent change of system will be required; and that
such a change, to be satisfactory and secure, must involve a com-
plete extinction of tithes,including those belonging to lay impro-
priators, by commuting them for a charge upon land, or an ex-
change for or investment in land."

He had now gone through the propositions which the
Government thought it necessary to submit for the secu-
rity of the clergy. But he believed that the statement
would not be sufficient, and he would not shrink from
saying, that great dissatisfaction might be expected from
these resolutions, if they were not accompanied by some
declaration on the part of the House that it was necessary
to provide an extensive alteration in the existing tithe-
system—(hear.) To answer the expectations excited in
Ireland by the appointment of the committee, which had
at least had the effect of making the people defer to Parlia-
ment, and had put an end to disturbance—postponing at
least the day of collision, if collision must come—.hose ex-
pectations excited by the appointment of the committee
would be greatly and justly disappointed should no relief
be afforded ; and therefore it was necessary to take the ear-
liest opportunity, if they could not enter into details in tie
present stage, of least to pledge themselves to a change in
the tithe system. Although he might not be prepared to
say what species of change was necessary, the clergy them-
selves, sod the best friends of the clergy, said that some
great change in the system was necessary. He felt, in an-
nouncing that, that the experience of many years justified
him in saying, that on this point Parliament must give
way—(hear, hear.) In fact, if they looked back at this
question, no man could say that any year had passed in
which it had not been the fruitful cause of many disturb-
ances.and much bloodshed in Ireland.—(Hear, hear.,)—
From year to year, and from century to century,
history teemed with outrages resulting from the tithe
system.—(Hear.) Hardly a year had passed in which
the law had not been resisted, and in which the
people had not demanded some redress of this grievance.—
(Hear.) He wished it not to be understood, because it
was a grievance, that the Government was to allow the
people to adjust it of themselves. He admitted the
grievance, though, compared to what was legally due, the
actual tithe might be said to be a grievance, but he only
followed the information laid before the Committee, in
saying that it was felt as a grievance by the people of Ire-
land. It was not, however, as he said, on account of the
2s. or Is. 3d. per acre which the people paid that it was
a grievance, and without discussing the question as to who
ultimately paid the tithe, he would say that it was a sum
levied on the public, and paid directly by them, as an
extra charge beyond that sum they had agresd to pay for
rent, and it was paid to persons who, according to an ex-
pression of a witness, the Committee gave nothing in re-
turn for it.—(Hear, hear.) It was not the amount of the
sum, and he did not doubt, in the present competition for
land, when tenants would promise more than they could
ever expect to receive—that if the tithes were to be wholly
abolished, he did not doubt that in many cases it would on'y
go to swell the amount of rent, and that the tenants
would not be benefitted.—(Hear, hear.) Nevertheless tithes
were a grievance. He put it prominently forward as a chief
part of this grievance, that the tenant had to pay immedi-
ately to thu Minister of a religion in which he did not be-
lieve—that he did not follow—and who gave men no ser-
vices in return for the payment. He would not say that
they ought not to pay, nor would he say that the payment
ought not to be enforced—but he would say, that the di-
rect and immediate payment—the transfer of property
from the peasant to the ministers of a religion in which he
himself did not believe—the payment by the Catholic
peasantry to the Protestant Clergy, was one, and the chief,
source of the grievance._(Hear, hear.) It was of no
consequence whether the sum were 3d. or Is. on religious
grounds, the objections must be equally strong to the p iy-
ment of Is. or of 3d., and whatever remedies they might
propose, unless they remedied the whole grievance, the
objection to the payment, on religious grounds, would re-
main. That grievance was independent of the sum paid,
and it was also, in fact, that the smallness of the sum en-
hanced the difficulties. He did not deny, that if the charge
wee ss. or 10s. an acre, that it would not be felt as a
greater evil than if it were only Is. ; but the greater sum
would immediately demand consideration, while the amount
of 4d. per acre was so small a sum, that a great number of
people had to pay it, and it was including such a number
which made it be felt as a grievance. He said that the de-
mands of the clergy were not exorbitant, but it was the
number of small sums clairneifromsmallhOldingaa to. swell
the revenue of the clergy to its proper amount, that the
people felt as a grievance, which was the perpetual blister,
the constant annoyance of all those who had to pay.—
(Hear.) There were many witnesses to the fact among
the clergy themselves. It appeared from a paper hid be.
fore the House, giving an account of the effects of the last
Tithe Composition Act, that of 52 parishes, the average
number of tithe-payers was very considerable. According to
that return, 12,824 contributed to pay the tithe, amount-
ing to 11,300/. ; or, in round numbers, nearly 13,000
persons paid 11,0001. The sum was not all paid at once,
or to the same persons. It was paid to the rector--to
the vicar—it was paid to other persons; and it was paid
in half-yearly payments ; so that, according to the ac-
count, there were seven or eight payments made by each
individual tenant before he completed that small sum he
had to pay. The payments were made twice a year; and
it had happened that the payment of a single individual for
which process had issued, for which expenses had been in-
curred, and on which fees had been charged—it had hap-
pened, that in one case the payment required of an indi-
vidual was only three farthings in one half year. It was
not so in England; and it arose in Ireland from that mi-
serable system of sub-letting and dividing land which the
landlords of Ireland had encouraged, and which existed
in no other country.—(Hear, hear.)
In many parishes
indeed, if it were not for the potatoe-gardens, the clergy
would not receive any tithes. Before, therefore, it was
objected to the clergy that they levied such small sums,
it cught to be recollected that it was the land-
lords who were responsible for this state of things, and
that the clergy found the greatest difficulty in obtain-
ing what they had to receive. Independently, then, of
the religious ground on which tithes were objected to, it
was a marked feature of the character of their payment,
and a great grievance that it was made in small sums by a
great many persons directly to the clergy.
The clergy of
the Established Church were anxious and desirous indeed
to have this system altered. They felt that it brought
them into angry collision with the great mass of the pets.
ple, and prevented them living in that harmony which,
independent of anything else, a Christian minister, to be
useful, ought to maintain with his flock. To remove
that collision was necessary, not only to excre the re-

spict of the people for the clergy of the Established '
Church, but even to ens Ute the future tranquillity of Ire-
land. It was essential to the discharge of their duties as
a Christian clergy that this system should be altered ; and
it was not less essential in order to secure their residence,
as, perhaps, the best species of the country gentlemen who
vould spend their property on the land. If, then, it were
only for the clergy themselves, and for their usefulness,
the system ought to be altered ; and when to that were
added the benefit and tranquillity of the people, the neces-
shy of that alterotion bee tme apparent. The alteration
would, he believed, do much to preserve tranquillity, to
give to Ireland an excellent species of resident landlords—
(Hear,) and to supply the people themselves with the most
useful friends. It was for the consideration of the Committee
to recommend the best means of providing for the clergy ;
but as far as the matter had vet been looked at, it appeared,
that to maintain the clergy of the Established Church,
estates should be granted to the clergy of the Established
Church. He was aware of some objections to that plan,
hut he was not sure that a rent charge reserved to the
clergy, or a portion of the land, was not the best way to
provide for the clergy and make them useful. If it were
said that their income would increase by the cultivation of
other men, that was true of all the owners of land, but it
fell on no individual, and was not a grievance. But the
subject must be looked at with a view to the disposition of
the people of Ireland ; and looking at that, lie must say
that they must try the experiment of a change in the
whole system, in order to provide for the ministers of the
Established Church. In whatever way that might be
proposed to be done, it must ultimately fall as a charge on
the land. They might vainly flatter themselves, that by
their regulations they could effect that by some other
means ; but, do what they would, whatever propositions
they might make, bowever the Legislature might settle
the qmstion, the proposition in which the sum would he
paid must be and could ht settled between the landlord
and tenants. He would not, howev.r, call on the House,
thtin to enter upon a disputed proposition ; he only wished
to call its attention to the effects of the present system. It
must he, it was allowed, that the system operated as a great
practical grievance. He had pointed out some of those
evils in one branch of the subject, and that part
called for a general remedy. Without entering into
details, he would sty that the resolutions would, in
the first place, provide that the rights of the Established
Church should be protected, while the future welfare of
the country was attended to. There was, however, one
point, and an important point, which he had overlooked,
and which he would advert to. Undoubtedly, tithes had
the effect and the character of a tax. Tie system of
titles was essentially a system of taxation, which fell on
the cultivator of the land, and it fell, not like rent, in pro-
portion to the inherent properties of hind, but in propor-
tion to the industry, the skill, and the capital of the
tenant, One most important feature of the tithe system,
and one of its chief grievanc,s was, that it checked the
cultivation of the soil more than any equal amount of
charge levied on a different principle. That feature of it
supported his argument. It was in vain to say, that if
the clergy were paid by land, their income would increase
as the rent of land increased. It was trite, that as the
value of land around them rose, their income from land
would increase in proportion ; but it would not be felt as a
tax on the industry and ingenuity of individuals. Some
objections had been already made to the course of proceed-
ings adopted, and it had been asked, why propose the re-
solutions, which he meant to submit to Parliament, till
the whole subject could be brought under its attention ?
To that he would reply in the language of the report:—
" Your Committee, in the meantime, will devote their
unremitting attention to the prosecution of the im-
portant inquiries intrusted to them by the House ; but
they earnestly entreat the House to bear in mind,
that the satisfactory operation and permanent maintenance
of any plan that can be adopted must depend upon mature
previous consideration of its practical details. An arrange-
ment is to be made, not merely of a prospective not(' re
and attaching to new and unsettled relations between the
parties concerned, but an arrangement by which existing
and frequently conflicting interests are to be affected, and
which is to be general in its operation throughout a
country wherein the tenure of land is peculiarly compli-
cated anti various in its character." If, before he pro-
posed to bring the measure before the House, he had not
called upon the House to give a distinct pledge to make an
alteration in the present system, and if he called for any
support for the Government previously to relieving the
distress of the clergy, and before the Government had
vindicated the authority of the law, and before that Go-
vernment had enforced the law against that combination
which he allowed to be most extensive, he should have
theught himself not justified, it being impossible that the
question of relief could be considered in detail and a remedy
applied until the authority of the law was vindicated. He
called upon the House to apply that remedy ; but he sub-
mitted, at the same time, that it should first vindicate the
authority of the law.—(Hear, hear.) He called upon it
to teach Ireland a lesson—(Hear)—and show her that she
might tvith s ifety look to England with a reliance on her
justice, without attempting only to influence her by vio-
lence and turbulence, and act upon her fears.—(Hear.)

The CHAIRMAN then read the resolutions, as Mr.
St inky had read them in his speech.
Mr. JENISON protested. against the compulsory part
of the plan. If the tithe were to be converted into a land
rent, it would convert all the gentlemen of Ireland into
Whiteboys. He was sure that the Right Hon. Gentle-
man was not aware of the dissatisfaction which existed.
It WgiB nesessary to revise the whole Church Establishment
of Ireland, to inquire into its revenues, and to go into the
whole question, before the people of Ireland would he satis-
tisd. He admitted that the tithes, as levied in Ireland,
wrie not great, and asserted that there existed the grossest
exaggeration in ascribing all the evils of Ireland to the
tithes. He did not deny that tithes were felt as a griev-
ance, but the grievance was that they were paid by a
Roman Catholic people to a Protestant clergy. The Hon.
Member con*luded by protesting against the third reso-
lution.

Mr. flcatE and Mr. BROWNLOW rose together, but the
former gave way, and
Mr. BROWNLOW approved highly of the first resolu-
tion, which described the situation of the clergy without
one word of exaggeration. He admitted, too, a. was
stated by the Right Hon. Secretary, that the clergy had
been brought into this state by no fault of their own.—
Whoever read the evidence must see that no men had ever
conducted themselves with greater temper, moderation, or
disinterestedness, than the clergy of the Established
Church. The Hon. Member referred to the cases of Mr.
Muir and Mr. Falkener, as cases of peculiar hardship, as
stated by the Right Hon. Secretary. He came then to
the question, were the clergy the owners of tithes? Who
were the owners of them ? If they belonged to the
clergy and no other persons, they ought to he protected by
the law, otherwise the law was of no use to them. The
Legislature was bound to protect them in the peaceful and
secure enjoyment of their property. How could they be
expected to obey the law, unless the law gave them pro-
tection ? " Behold the plaintiff in the pulpit and the de-
fendant in the congregation," was the eloquent and accu-
rate description given by Grattan of the situation of the
clergy in 1766 or 1787. He thought that description
painted in strong colours the true situation of the Pro-
testant clergy. Behold the clergy now heading the
King's troops or the constitutional police to levy their
tithes, and their opponents the whole population of the
country. If that were the true state of the Clergy,
was it not time to provide some remedy ? If it was
just and right, as the Government proposed, that the
amount of tithes now due should be paid colt of the Con-
solidated Fund, it was in his opinion equally just and right
that the sum thus advanced should not be paid at the ex-
tphe seo
peaceable
the oarudii,
jneaerty. aox xt
ep
Crown, norb uftr frosts
that
h cwkueltds
boef
on all occasions exacted from the parochial defaulters.—
(Hear.) This was the view he took of the question; and
in connection with it, he would take leave to ask the
Right Hon. Secretary one question. In this attempt to
justicet
hyonrectbieveartiantge
otfhethse legallyrmuftaner
dueo lor
peasant who would be called on to pay—and was he pre-
render t
pre-
pared to protect them front the consequences of the system
them, had to
he the
calculatedclerg y
of intimidation which had been so long prevalent in Ire-
' land?—(Elear.) He knew—although for obvious reasons
he would not mention names or places—that many of the
peasantry were, althongh hostile to the system, still will-
ing to pay their tithes, but that they did so under fear;
and that when they came to comply with the demands on
them, they entreated the receiver not to say he had been
paid, anti begged him, in mercy, to keep secret the names
the
of those who had come in.—(Hear.) He now begged to
ask the Right Hon. Gentleman if he had provided protec-
,tiiuotnyfoorf
thethese persons,
Governmentor ti
of hbee,vit•oa s
put prepared,dow n
as it
system wasthe
of
f
intimidation which would probably be renewed on the
attempt to collect the arrears of the tithes?—(Hear).
He approved of the substance of the three first Resolu-
tions, but he disliked the fourth, or the coercive portion of
the plan, and his reason for it was, that it was not ac-
companied by anything which would satisfy the great body
of the people, or to mitigate that ground of discontent
which had overspread the country.—(Hear.) The plan
was imperfect to this extent, that it introduced no sub-
-tantial change in the system which had created all the
ditsuibance, anti which the people of Ireland had united to
condemn. The Right lion. Gentleman's resolutions might,
it was true, be satisfactory to those who contemplated the
continuance of the present state of the Established Church