The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-02-12 00:00:00

TITHES IN ENGLAND ANI) WALES.

Lord Jour( RussELL expressed the great anxiety he felt on
moving for leave to bring in a bill for the commutation of tithes
in England and Wales. Upon the formation of the present ad-
ministration, he had expressed au opinion that it would not be
possible for government to frame a measure sufficiently compre-
hensive-without first referring the subject to a select committee.
Sir Robert Peel had given an opposite opinion, and said that
it would be better for government to propose whatever their
plans might be to parliament upon their own responsibility,
and without the intervention of a select committee. The noble
lord then proceeded to enumerate other difficulties, and the dif-
ferent bills which had at different times been submitted to par-
liament respecting tithes. But whatever the difficulties might
be, the question was one upon which it was really incumbent
upon parliament to come to a decision. Tithes were viewed as
mere money payment to the clergy; frequently when enforced
as a right they deprived the clergy of that influence which it
was desirable they should possess in their respective neighbour-
hoods. (Hear, hear.) The reasons, however, for the necessity
to which he alluded, were to be found in the growing' discontent
of the agricultural interests, and tithe payers generally, to this
mode of payment, and he might say, the universal declarations
ou the part of the clergy, on the other hand, that if any fair com-
mutation could be found, there were no persons who would be
more glad thau themselves to get rid of such an objectionable
mode of payment. The objection to tithes not only prevailed
in this country, but in most of the kingdoms of Europe where
they were levied, particularly in Austria, where there was no
press stamped or unstaniped, and no popular meetings to dis-
turb the repose of government. The machinery which he
proposed to adopt upon the present occasion was that
suggested by the Right Honourable Baronet opposite—
namely; a Central Board of Commissioners consisting of three
persons, for the purpose of arranging the details of the plan,
Two of those commissioners were to be appointed by the crown,
and the third by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and they were
to have power to appoint Assistant. Commissioners. in like man-
ner as the Poor-law Commissioners did. Now, with respect to
the other part of the subject,. namely, the principle of the plan,
many persons think that it would be sufficient to take a certain
amount for the value of tithes, and apply that generally to the
whole kingdom. This plan appeared very simple, but he concur-
red in the opinion expressed by the Right Hon. Bart., the
Member fur Tamworth last Session, that it was hardly practi-
cable. There were many parts of the country where tithes were
levied in kind—in others, a very high composition existed, and
in others the composition has been, almost from time immemo-
rial, extremely low. In the last instance, however, the tithe
payer, so far from being willing tc submit.toan increase in the
amount of his payment, would except a diminution of it. He
feared therefore, that it would be impossible to parry a bill of
that kind through parliament, and that even if it could he done,
it would create dissatisfaction. Another principle which had
been suggested, was that of taking the payments for seven years,
as the foundation of a commutation ; but there was an objection
to this plan, which struck many persons most forcibly, namely,
that it would operate as a premium to those tithe owners who
had. been most severe in exacting their tithes to the full amount,
whilst on the contrary, it would leave those who had acted an
indulgent part without adequate compensation. A person who
had paid great attention to the subject proposed some years ago
that an average shouli be snuck upon the total amount of tithes