Star.
London, England, 1831-08-02 00:00:00

IRISH TITHE SYSTEM.

NT Lottp-liinWhefirtehadtitit honour of addressing
your lordship. The cause or occasion of my doing so was
your tffuet at Cavan to propagate the " New Reformation."
I then warned you of the mischief you were attempting, and
foretold you the issue of your pious labours.
Some friend or foe of your lordship, in the Dublin Eve-
;limp Post, of the 17th of this month, introduces a speech,
as if delivered by you in the House of Lords on the pre-
vious Monday evening, and thus, under a most imposing
title, endeavours to vent his folly or malignity against many
thing or persons. but especially agaiast me.
This writer, with that adroitness suited to little minds,
opens his case by a speech, as it were, of the Bishop of
Ferns, and then represents your lonlship as stating it fully.
with a gravity not unbecoming a court of justice. In this
form he charges me with being at the head of a conspiracy
formed in this country to resist the payment of tithes, and
in the perversity of his judgment imputes to me the late
slaughter at Newtownbarry. He also insinuates that I
being a bishop had accepted the commission of the peace.
But then, as to shat more immediately concerns myself,
and first as to the " commission of the peace." I would'
not, sly lord, for your estate, accept and exercise such com.
ntissien. I ant forbidden to exercise jurisdiction of any sort
in criminal cases connected with blood, but independent of
this prohibition, the " commission of the peace • is not
compatible with that higher commission which I hold. Eve's
if I were a private individual, l could not but fed that the
office of what is called " justice of the peace has, now-a.
days ceased in Ireland to confer bonouron those who held it.
Nay, if that office were accepted of by any one of the numee
tous clergy subject to my coottoul, he should cease to hold
his spiritual office in conjunction with it.
This part of the charge preferred aioinst me is, however,
of minot importance. What follows is much more serious.
The word " conspiracy" is generally received In its worst
sense. and so taken signifies " a secret contrivance by a few
or many to oi:et some evil purpose." Stacey is the soul of
conApirecy, and conspirators often tasted blued to confirm
! their iniquitous league. •
In my letter .o Mt. Spring Rice on a legal provision for
I the Irish poor, which this writer has quoted, the nuisance,
the ttojust and iniquitous exaction of tithes is but briefly and
Toothily exposed. I hate in all my writings for several
years past nested of the tithe system in Ireland ass chief
I cat se of her sufferings, as an impetlittont to her improve-
' Intuit in peace as in agriculture-seas unjust in principle and
odious in practice--as injurious to the best iottrests of
giei..—as oppressive to the pour—as inconsistent with good
government, and intolerable to .he Irish people. Does
your lordshio think it is otherwise, or that 1 have erred
hi try estanata of it ? I; it be not an hopediment to
her improvement in peace, nhettee riot:ceded that rustle
Fate bir.h to 4:: at more thee sanguinary code
called the •• Nlhiteboy Acts," and to those tithe lass
enacted io doe Irish Parliament about the same time,
which create ••Wencee mid rights with regard to tithes such
as never before sailed the property of matatiod ? Whence
proceeded those scenes of injustice o: oppiession whien
Grattan. with an eloquence almost divine, denounced 111 his
place in Parliament. when rah ly eneivvoitring to amer.d
this system ? Whence proceeded those perioacal honoree-
dons against thltes from which this country has not been exe
empt educe their lien ititrolluctihn ? Whence the battle of
S:c!'barecui ‘Whence tho.......meruue applications by grand
jraitie and oellet public bodies for the peace preservation act,
Cl insurrection act, and ;or a connewation of tithes? Whence
the tithe emumutatior act itself? Is the slaughter
Newtowriniery the ee'eet o.' a clitt‘e ttiffiotne front that
which produced ilta battle of Ski'ihercen ? No. toy t.ord,
the exact'etn oi"thhe is incotookhle with the pe.tc.: of Irt laud
—it was hand aid rf sistel lieffae I was born, and it will
be cussed whit t I ant its my glare. I have never plotted in
secret against this system, but mine has been, am. ever will
be, one of the thousand voices raised to denounce ft. to the
, hatred of mankind, until a wise lehisitnure removes it frout
the shoulders of an uppressed pcm,h.. and delivers religion,
to use the idea of &imam from the injustice of the C. orch.
; But then the Common-atm. Act remedies .his inconv:rience.
They who epplatte this act do not feel how the income of
. t',e inewnix.nr, to he rendered doubly secure by it. is old.
mated by the average amount of the tithe of tic Jar d, ca.
pital, labotai aced industry of the seven preceding Years.—
. Phis act test:dates toe oppression, hut does not li.ittest it ;
It dues u.t. idiotic agriculture butt it screens tile Otaollii cx.
action. The merits of this act are fully comprehended art}
duly estirreted by ti.e public, and they deceive themselves
who itongine that the enormous charge imposed by it will
r• ever he patiently !sortie.
. The remark that I complained of the non-residence cf the
I Prottstan, clergy, and infared from it their inutility, is
another assertion as absurd as it is false. I never in my
lice, by word or writing, complained of the non-residence of
I the clergy—l don't recollect to have even mentioreil it his.
; torically. The truth is, I always thought it silly and severe
to confine a well-educated man to a spot or parish where In
; had CIO duty to perform, no business connected with his pro.
fession ; and where be should, in most cases, eke out his days
. in an indolent repose, or deliver himself up to study, for
a hich few arc fitted, or to secular pursuits unbecoming his
I profession, or to die indulgence of his appetites, which would
render him a rock of scandal, or to the purposes of fans-
) deism, which would expose his folly and disturb the peace.
was, and am of opinion, that the established clergy arc

Waving the question of right, which governments are too
apt to confound with might or power. I say the State has no
right to sustrin what is injurious to the public goof. The
right of government is the interest of the people ; there is
no right in the legislature of a state to do wrong. the source
of their power is the will of the people, their office is a trust
for the public good, they confer no favour when they enact
good laws or repeal bad ones, and they fail to fulfil the
trust conf;ded to them, when they neglect the interests of
the community over which they are commissioned to pre.
side. Every executive power or government is identified
with the legislature or emanates Cron' it, so that if the above
truths be indipu table as applied to a legislative body, they
are not less so us applied to a government.
But it is said, "if you met:tile wish, or encroach upon
church property, no other properly will he secure." This
assertion is employed by two classes of persons ; the one
CliaSS extremely ignorant, who speak of that they do not
comprehend, and often with a degree of' assurance propor-
tioned to their ignorance. The other class consists of self.
interested knaves or their advocates, who know as well as I
do that churchmen are not proprietors, yet represent them
as such to create alarm in the minds of real owners of pro-
ven), who are led by this alarm to defend the tithe
system, regardless of its injustice, as if it were an out.
work to the security of their own estates. There
are many of the forther elanwho are incapable of corn.
preiiending the plainest truths, and others whose pursuits
in life render them unfit to enter upon legal disquisi.
lions; these men must be borne with, hitt the se-
cond class are noxious animals who never pursue right
or avoid wrong, when doing so would compromise their love
of " base lucre." It is sufficient, however, for the guidance
phi the public to know, that the state or legislature has at all
;lines dealt with church property as with a public trust.
The holders of this trust, or as the law language calls them,
Lile uctearii, are not the owners of' the property of
Mulch they leave a life use ; ar.d to suppose that any legal
mo :ideation of ti:e property thus held by them, or of the
terms on which they as trustees hold it, would affect even re-
motely the ottliaary titles by which men hold their estates, is
to confound things as distir.ct as light is from darkness. The
real and only question is, whether it be consistent with the
public interests in Ireland, that the persons enjoying the use
and fruit of church lands and tidies, should not only hold
then, for life or a consideration in lieu of them, but also trans-
mit them to their successors P
If the holders of this property were the owners of it, this
question could not be raised, for who could challenge the
right of a man to transmit his inheritance to his heirs P
but if the churchman only enjoy the use and fruit of the fund
during his life, who mu doubt the right of the state to which
the fund itself belongs, to deal with it on the demise of the
ecclesiastiml incumbent in such manner as the public in.

~----

more than twice as numerous as the wants of their chneeb terests require ? To question this right is to deny the high
require, and that enforcieg residence by them on their cures, dominion and supreme jurisdiction by which all society is
as they are called, is a portion of that fatuity which more governed and all rights secured. The exercise of this judo-
than once has been broached even in parliament. There it suction by the state has as much connexion with an invasion
has been said, " build churches, and congregations will of private property, as It has with measuring the height of
arise to fill them ;" and this maxim is wisely propounded, the Andes.
and is wisely admitted, though it be in opposition to the The question to be inquired into therefore is this, " whe•
rule and practice of the apostles, and of their genuine sue. the: the amount of church property in Ireland, and the mode
tremors. These first converted men, and then converts built of collecting it in tithe, be, or be not, suited to the coup.
the churelles. But the apostles or their successors, were try ?" No honest man will pretend it so. The full amount
not blessed with statutes made and provided to supply the of this property has never yet been asartelned ; all the re-
treats of all their own exertions. turns made respecting bishops' lands, and the rentals of
I have, my Lord, always considered and represented the them, are fallacious. These lands are supposed to amount
tithe system in Inland not only as an impediment to bee to twoelevenths of the entire kingdom ; and the bishops, in
improvement in peace and agriculture, but also as inkiest In all their isal to disprove this estimate, have neva made,
principle and odious in practice. Does not justice, my lord, nor caused to be made, a survey of their poseuiltas, or
require that an equivalent be given for whatever is readved ft even furnished a single satisfactory return of either tie ear-
Did GOD or Coarse ever will or command, that then &km or extent of their lands. Then, as to the
should be sinecures in his Church ?—or that an industrious of the sae, which incomes cadet, for perhaps the
man should pay the tenth of his substance, not to a clergy e greater part, of renewal fines, they are calculated, If I ea.
man who made him no return, but who did not profess his derstand the returns rightly, not by their real amount, bet
faith, nay who abused and reviled, and blasphemed that by the amount of rents exclusive of fines. The estimate of
faith ? I our lordship might do well In giving a sheep from their value can be more justly appreciated by the quarter ei
your flock to Mr. M'Climock, because be rayed and come a million of money, which not one, but several of those
forted you, and no doubt consoled your lotdship, or at least bishops have been enabled to amass from their sees in a few
condoled with you on the failure of your new reformation years, after maintaining the charitable institutions which
project; but in the name of truth and Justice, what did bear their names and exercising that hospitality for width
this Mr. he,Clintock ever do for the fanner Doyle they are or have been so distinguished.
why he should possess himself of his two heifers?— Can Ireland, the poorest country in Europe, support the
What pastoral or sareedotal duty did he ever discharge for most affluent and luxuriant priesthood which inhabit the
this industrious man or his family, why he should receive of earth—a priesthood which does not profess the religion of she
his temporal goods ? and if he (lid not labour why receive people, Aloe minister to the wants of the poor ? Is it jest
hire ? It is then, that this exaction is not sup wcW that the Ekingtons, the Magee", the Knoxes, the Totten.
by any principle clear,f
reason or the gospel. It is on principles hams, tbeJocelyns. should enjoy princely fortunes, extracted
opposed to both. I might, my lord, refer to Greece, op. from the industry of this people?—.bat not two-cleventha of
pressed and insulted by the Museuhrian—to Egypt and the the soil of Ireland, but the tenth of all ha agricultural taw
coast of Africa, trampled upon by the Janissary and Maine- duce and of the capital, labour, and industry employedlake—to leke—to South America, enslaved by the proud Castilian— therein, should be perpetually devoted, under the pretence of
to Hindoetan uncle: 'the sway of Hastings, and to Poland, religion, to men who have no tide thereto, derived from lobe-
partitioned and plundered by the tyrant of the North. and thence, purchase, or public services ? Is this jest ? Is this
challenge these countries or any person on their behalf, to consistent with the gospel, or with the public good 11 Is this
produce a ease of more bitter grinding, and insulting injus- a system which an enlightened nation can tolerate ? le this'
them, than to compel the Catholics of this country to pay the the system for whose potation the aid of religion is In.
tithe of their substance to a church, which, for three an- voked ? This writer, whom I combat would nt yaw
tunes, has not teased to malign and persecute them I Can lordship as holding me forth to the erasure of nobie
Heaven, my Lord, witness. or the earth endure, any thing colleagues, because I said the Irish nation was always at
more opposed to piety and justice than a man professing to war with this system, but in my doing so you are aware I
be the minister of Him, "who being rich became poor for only stated an historical fact recorded in every page of the
our sake"—the teacher of his Gospel, the follower of his annals of our country. What I have asserted of the Irish
law, taking the blanket from the bed of sickness—the ragged nation is true of every class and denomination which come
apparel from the limbs of the pauper, and sell it by auction pose it, excepting only those whom I have before excepted.
for the payment of tithe ? Who with patience can hear or Not only the original inhabitants of the country, but the
behold the hundreds of starving peasants assembled before great bulk of thou settlers who considered Ireland as
the seat of justice (oh ! justice, how thy name is prophaned) their country, have ever been at war with tithes. Dean
to await the decrees of some heatless lawyer, consigning Swift bears undoubted evidence to the temper of the Irish
their persons (for property they have scarcely what deserves gentry in his time as it regarded the Church. The vote of
the name) to ruin or imprisonment for arrears of tithe ? In agistment, and the almost last act of the Irish Parliament
this group of harrassed, hungry, and afflicted pupas, you, legalising that vote, prove what the proprietors of our soil,
my lord, could recognize the widowed mother and the orphan the men most interested in her prosperity thought at all
child—the naked youth, whom individual charity had just times of the acumen wealth and exactions of the church.
clothed, and the common mendicant, whose cabin and rood I would blush for my countrymen of whatever creed melees
of earth could not supply them with food and shelter for if they did not properly estimate the tithe system ; and I
one half the year. But to view this assemblage of human cannot more properly conclude this letter than by reiterating
misery, which I so often have beheld, and reflect that the prayer already known to your lordship, " may their
perhaps a moiety of them were the very objects for whose hatred of tithe bees lasting as their love of justice."
relief or comfort tithes were consigned by our fathers to J. DOYLE.
clerical trust—that these paupers were the legal claimants
on the funds now extorted from than under the very colour MARRIED.—J. Carrie, Esq. of Edinburgh, to Catty
line, youngest daughter of the late Mr. A. Kennedy, et
of law—to consider all this, and that the religion of him who mount plumy Bancimb.
claimed this tithe was a religion unknown to them—that the
priest who fleeced them never prayed with them, never coo-DIED.—At Cronkauld Ballough, Tale of Man, J. Mae-
soled them, never ministered for them to ALNIOHTY Goet
to reflect on all this, and yet be silent or unmoved, should
. lsan,Esq. 50th Regiment..-At Caudebec, in Ncomandy,W.
F. Hart, Esq. of Leinstaestreet, in this city.—At Hurst
House, Mikity, Caroline Drury, wife of Col. Sir Dudley
not be expected unless of some whose god was Oil St.eger efieL_At BaDazati, Anne, wife of J. Holmes,
belly, or of some fanatic, whose heart was hardened, and
Esq At Newtown, Clue, Marcella, second daughter of
whose sense was reprobate.
Andrew Welds, Esq.
Of what avail is it to stifle opinion by alarming power, by
an appeal to privilege by threats of prosecution ? Power
may incarcerate the body, but cannot imprison the mind.
Privilege can protect whatever is useful to the state, but if it
cut a shield over unrighteousness or bar discussion, it be-
comes weaker in a little time than the spider's web. Prose-
CtltiOnS are may powerful when sustained by truth and jai-
tier ; but of prosecutions no mention, at last in Ireland,
should perhaps be made. With us they have become a
bye-word, or an index of our party feuds, but have ceased
to furnish proofs either presumptive or conclusive of innocence
or guilt. The common sense of the public has ignored those
proceedings ; but why dwell on this subject whilst writing
to your lordship, for, except the present Lord Chancellor of
Ireland, there is no person better acquainted than you are
with the equity to be obtained by indictments and prosecu-
tions. Your lordship also recollects the years as and ye,
ad bow juries and prosecutions upheld that sangebery spirit
which the legislature, of which your lordship wee a diode-
guished member, refused to cherish. These juries ad pa.
seeminna, my lord, have passed away, but themeless' which
guided than are still alive, nor will, I fear, the present genes
ration witness their extinction.
But to relieve the tithe system from the charge of Impiety
and injustice, it is said, " this system is sanctioned by law,
and should not therefore be denounced," to which our reply
is—Yes ! the law sanctions it, but law also sanctioned the
burning of witches, the persecution to death of men, women
and children, for following the dictates of their own coned-
ence ; law sanctioned the slave trade, and all manner of
monopoly, of feudal tyranny, of rapine, prostitution, and
fraud. There is nothing in the history of mankind so ab-
surd or iniquitous, which might not at one period or ano-
ther, claim the sanction of the law. The laws, therefore,
themselves, may be as replete with error or injustice as any
other human institution, and we can obtain their amendment
or repeal by exposing their pernicious effects. There is,
—I admit, in Ireland not a law, but a whole code of laws,
enforcing the payment of tithes, but they are all unwise,
prejudicial to the public interests, and odious in the last
degree to the entire people, except only the few attached to
them by interest, the hope of gain, or by a blighting bigotry
or stupid fanaticism which leads them to confound religioe
with the very poison which mortifies it—which turni its heal.
ing influence into a seminary of hatred, and soma of discard.
These laws do exist, but they are the worst remnant of fate
dalism.arci it is the duty of every good man to co-operate le
procuring their repeal.
But his said, " has not the state a right to support, le
Ireland. an established church, and if so, why complain of
the tithe-laws ?