The Sun.
London, England, 1832-02-17 00:00:00

IRISH TITHES.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE presented the report of
the Select Committee to whom bad been referred the
consideration of the tithes of Ireland, and the state of the
law on that subject there, and moved that it should be read.
It was accordingly read by the clerk at the table.

The Committee commenced by,, stating that they had
proceeded to examine the subject which had been referred
to them for their consideration, and that though they were
not as yet enabled to bring their inquiries to a close, they
felt it their duty to lay before the House their opinion,
founded upon that part of the evidence which had been
laid before them, and the circumstances and facts which
that evidence disclosed. The report went on to state that
the Committee felt it their duty to call the attention of
their Lordships to the resistance which had been made
to the collection of tithes in certain districts of Ireland,
namely,—Kilkenny, Callow, Tipperary, and the Queen's
County, a resistance that was supported by illegal and
armed associations, which, from whatever cause they
arose, if allowed to extend into other districts, would
altogether undermine the law, and destroy the securiry
and peace of society in that country. The report
went on to observe that in consequence of such pro-
ceedings in the districts already named, the clergy
there had been reduced to the greatest distress, and that
the following ere the estimated amounts of the sums due
for tithes to the incumbents in the several dioceses in
which those districts were situated. In the diocese of
Ossory, the sums due in the compounded parishes amounted
to 14,000/. ; in the uncompounded, to 10,4751 ,—total,
24,4751. In the diocese of Leighlin, the amount due in
the compounded parishes was 18,0921. ; in the uncom- I
pounded parishes was 2,7001.,—t0ta1, 20,792/. In the I
diocese of C&ahel and Emly the stuns due in the corn- I
pounded parishes amounted to 23,409/. ; in the uncom-
pounded parishes to 4,0971.,—t0tal 27,506/. ; in the dio. I
cese of Ferns, the amount due in the compounded parishes I
was 7,000/. We did not catch the amount due there in

the uncompounded parishes and in another district, but the
total amount due in all those districts for tithes was stated
by the Committee to be 84,9541. The report proceeded
to state, that it appeared to the Committee, that i❑ order
to afford relief to the distressed clergy i❑ those districts,
his M ijesty should be empowered to advance to the
incumbents there for the tithes ctt to...them, sums of
money not exceeding the arrears of tithes due to them for
the year 1831, and in proportion to the income of each in•
cumbent, decreasing as that income increased ; that as se-
curity for such money thus advanced, the tithes due to
those incumbents were to be handed over to Government,
to be enforced according to law ; that where the Compo-
sition Act had taken effect, the amount of money to be
advanced should be regulated by the amount of such com-
position ; that where no composition had taken place, but
where there had been an agreement, it should be regulated
by such agreement ; and that in all other cases it was to
be regulated by the average amount of tithe for the three
preceding years. The Committee further stated, that in
order to the more effectual levying of the amount of sums
thus advanced, it should be lawful for his Majesty's Attor-
ney-General for Ireland to proceed by civil bill in the
Court of Chancery, in the Court of Exchequer, or at the
Quarter Sessions, against the parties in those different
counties from whom those tithes were so due, and that the
said Courts should issue processes for the sums so due, in
accordance with the provisions of the Acts of Parliament
of Ireland of 1787, 1789, and 1800, with such altera-
tions only as the present times and circumstances might
require. But (continued the report), strongly as the
Committee was impressed with the necessity of main-
taining the authority of the law, and of relieving the
wants of the clergy, they were equally impressed with the
necessity of effecting some useful alteration in the present
system ; and though their inquiry had not arrived a: its
termination, they felt it their duty to pronounce a dis-
tinct opinion, that enough bad already appeared in the
course of that inquiry, to satisfy them, that with a view
to secure the interests of the Church and the lasting wel-
fare of the country, a permanent change in that system
was necessary ;—such a change as involved a complete
extinction of tithes, as well of those belonging to the lay
impropriator as of those belonging to the clerical incum-
bent, and the substitution of an equivalent either on the
land, or in land in lieu thereof, thereby preventing colli-
sions between the parochial clergy and the occupiers of
land. Such is the general purport, as well as we were
able to collect it, of this report, which was read by the
clerk in a very indistinct and hurried manner.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE begged leave to move
that the report now read, and the evidence as far as it had
gone before the Committee on which that report was
founded, should be printed.—Ordered.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE laid on the table papers
from the Board of Health relating to the cholera morbus.—
Ordered to be printed.—Adjourned.