Star.
London, England, 1831-07-19 00:00:00

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out some of th.. elliculties in the way of a general measure
continutaiion. In some parishes the tithes were of ren”
ddrd leas value than in others. and consequently, no unifiem
system could by any possibility be arranged, SO as to Inset
with dm apprebanon of those who received and those who
,paid tithes. He might be asked why he had not included
In his Bill the tithes in the hands of lay-impropriators ; but
to such a question be would answer that the .ante evils did
not exist where the tithes were in the hands of laymen, that
existed where they belongd to ecclesiastical persons. Thin
ha thought was a very wdent reason for the nip bison. He
WM einesediogly desirous that the measure should pass into
skm as speedily as possible, for he was fully a.saliticed that
midi a composition as that proposed bx this Bid, imild-re.
Owe the evils to which the tithe system was subj.-cu.
The LORD CHANCELLOR rose thus early in the de.
'Wows this momentous question, because in Inc name=
be filled he was anxious to state his opinion to their lord-
dips. He had paid the fullest attention to the speech of
the most rev. prelate, and it had left upon his mind no im.
preesion but one, that of satisfaction with the measure, and
that of thankfulness for the pains which his Grace had be.
stowed upon the subject, which his high station in the Church
esrptleod of him and which his great experience rendered so
illulbefy value:hie. He thought those who were likely to be
irtltf-d with this measure, either in the house or out of
Sedmight be added into two dunes—into those who
ilt that the neddereot the ingot rev. prelate did not go
eogh, and them who, in sada to the opinion that it
did wet se for sesugh, difornalea that so far as it did go
did it ist itemine-ii :wares. He did not anti-
cipate that goy clam of would be found to contend
that the MB went tool*, refereoce either to the quiet
and saddled= of She 411111111172 or to the interiors of the
community as te the Joilmosieffllhe Church itself, fanning
as it did a very el ileaffi Wk. ot the general interest He
sandpit& no suesseiStl Age.* to the measure. It
ifficod an impetimminewilifirildit boa long desired. At
pseud there wets two giedtffididge In the mean of ptovi.
don for the Clergy, ana 'aft lid pre.lBM a remedy for
both. In the first place, by the law as it stood, any
portion of a parish agreeing to a composition was of no
avail. All must consent, or the arrangement, however
beneficial or convenient, must fall to the ground. If
nineteen persons out of twenty concurred this would nut
bind the twentieth person; so that no composition could
put an end to tithe, for no majority could bind the minority,
however weak, or unreasonable, or capricious that
minority might be. Any one individual could prevent his
parish from being dialoged from tithe. This evil was com-
pletely remedied by the bill of the most rev. prelate. It did
not permit a small minority to overrule the wishes and ob.
atruct the welfare of a whole parish, neither did it permit
a simple majority to dictate the composition to the minority.
In this respect it preserved a just medium following the
principle of a similar measure now in beneficial operation in
the sister kingdom. It determined that the proprietors of
two-thirds of a parish should have the power of agreeing to
' a composition which should totally discharge the parish
from tithe for a long term. The Other defect in the existing
law was still greater than that he had mentioned, and it was
likewise completely remedied by the bill. By the present
law, a composition, however unanimously the parish might
WO agreed to it, and although it had the full consent of the
Ineumbeet, the patron, and the ordinary, was only binding for
the life of the incumbent. So that its parish happened to have
a very aged incumbent, or doe whose tenure of life was from
any other circumstance deemed pi:canoes, it could have no
composition on the security of which any man could pru-
dently act, eves although the whole tenantry, instead of
nineteen out of every twenty, should be desirous of it;
for nothing could make the composing(' extend beyond the
actual incumbency. This difficulty in the way of compo.
Odom would now be effectually removed. Now, in all
cases where these were great difficulties to overcome, where
the interests at stake were complicated and extensive,
where they had to deal with loog.estaialished rights, in
all such cases men ought to arrive at a conclusion only
after great pains and a most attentive examination of the
subject; said after all the attention be had been able to
pay to the present question, an attention not of yesterday,
for it was now fourteen years since his attention had been
turned to the subject in the other House of Parliament, he
confessed he bad not been able to see his way any con-
siderable step further than the Most Rev. Prelate had gone ;
either any considerable step further in the same direction,
or any considerable step further in any collateral branch of
the inquiry. He would therefore moon to a cable baron
(Lord Deere). who had a measure now before the House
going much further than that of the Most Rev. Prel.te,
whether the safer course would not be first to try die (ewe
of the BM now under discussion. He felt at the same dm*
that he should not do his duty, either to his noble friend or
to the House, if he were so withdraw himself from the coo.
&Menden of that measure—of that which he might call the
rival measure. This was a measure for the commutation,
the commutation, of tithe; and the distinction be.
tween=lo was, that them, was perpetual and the other
temporary. The Bill of the Most Rev. Prelate was capable
of expansion to the full dimensions of that of his noble
friend. which might in truth be very easily grafted upon it ;
while that of his noble friend was in the nature of a measure
not, as it appeared to him, beginning at the right end ; its
enactments were perpetual at once, and did not give the coon.
try the benefit of experience. He therefore recommended
to their lordships to pause after they had adopted the mes.
sure of the most rev. prelate. Then if they found they had
not gone fax enough, they might go farther, with the bebetit
of experience to guide thou in their course. The meagre
of his noble friend was bottomed upon the principle that
they might find the means of estimating with a view in a
bargain out-and-out, if he might so speak, the value of the
tithe in every parish. When be took a calm view of the
difficulties of such an attempt he did not speak peremptorily.
for his noble friend had long considered the subject, and he
would not put his judgment in opposition to that of his
noble blend ; but he must say that as at present advised,
and until be heard the reasons in suppert of the measure, he
could not but consider these . difficulties insurmountable.
The bill provided than two-thirds of the tithe payers
should have the power of applying to the Quarter Bm.
siom, which on this application should appoint Com-
missioners to value the tithe of any particular parish.
with a view to a final commutation but there was
here no provision requiring the consent either of the incum-
bent, of the patron, or of the bishop. so that with, r
the local occupant nor the perpetual protector, the ordinal y.
nor the patron, who might be considered as compounded if
the other two, neither of these interests were at all con-
sulted. If two-thirds of the rate-payers agreed, the ether
party, the Church party. if he might so speak, was se have
no voice. The nobleond lammed lard here attend kw same
details respecting the machinery of lbw bill, the whole of
which had been arranged apparendy wkhout tehresee ea the
rights of the Church. There was madam difficulty which he
admitted might be obviated in the 011oomittoo t the valuer of
the tithe against the parish was to be ambled wady by the
incumbent. What a door was here speed at to
collusion, and even to fraud. The inetenhase riper-
son careless and indifferent to worldly *few, and he was to
have the power of sacrificing the biome el his somemers.
He might also be connected with the pares, perhaps the
greatest tithe-payee in the parish. It was always assumed
that there might be a connexion between the patrea and the
incumbent ; therefore is all ewes of ecseptabion fee tithe
the law called in the ordinary far the preteens, et the per-
manent interests of the church. Bat be would moose
another case, that of a Irefy old incumbent, a man with Mt
foot in the grave : he might be 'applied to by a single per.
son—for a single main in many cues paid more then two-
thirds of the tithe of the parish—and told that be should
have 6001 or 1,0001. if he would appoints valuer who would
value the tithe at 601. or 60s. By this corrupt bargain the
patron might be injured, and if the patron should be one of
the pasties to the bargain the Church might be injured. He
took it to be quite clear that this was a great defect in
the bill of his Noble Friend, and he hoped if It were now
pressed forward that it might be so altered as to require the
concurrence of the patron and the ordinary. His objections
were, first, that the measure was compulsory on the one
side and voluntary on the other. This was an objection to
tletarili:teiple of the bill. His second objection was to the
of which he had anticipated the removal in the com-
mittee. His third difficulty was the great charge the mea-
sure would effect in the relative value of lay and ecclesiastical
property for the future. It might be eery fit that a larger
alter.tion should be made than that of the Most Rev. Pre-
late • it might be proper that more should be done for the
battik of the landholder and for the benefit of the cot sinners
of awn, upon which the tithe operated as a as. Tnis might
be very fit; he did not deny the patatbility of tl.i. ; all he
ventured to assure their lordships was that he saw great
41111eultiesibiltresent in the Bill. If it tea; fit that sonic
be made, that thee secular interests of the
iihould be in some degree relinquished, he would visit
to impress upon their lordships, and more partists*ly upon
the right rev. bench, that not the interests of theornurity
only, but in an especial manner the interests of the chime+, re.
quired that the sacrifice should be made, for he did not think
that the wit of man evet devised a scheme so well calculate