The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-04-25 00:00:00

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thKONA, which, like that of " Wolf! WWI"
:b the foblei. has often, and, indeed, always hitherto.
.bass a jkley'ery, a sham cry, seems, at last, likely to .•
become. like that of the shepherd's boy, bit too arse
11, cry, as the reader will, It is believed, e'early per- '
wive. abet he has looked well into the followiog re-
count of a decision at the late Quarter Sessions at
Worssieh, cm as appeal igaipst the por-rate by a Pe-
*emit owner (Irides. A more important decision
issa' seldom bees made, cud certainly never one rime
Jost. What ! Can it be deemed legal, would any
this; be worthy of the mime of /ow. would the thing
gamin it be worthy of the name of Uroveraneest, if
it left the tithe-owner to enjoy a clear surplus, while
it left not a farthing of profit to the farmer and sot a
farthing of rent to tie landlord? Oh, no! Such
glaring injustice cannot be suffered to go on. is sag
part of the country long. These are the times to try ,
what institutions are really made of It is clearly . •
profits on which the assessment ought to be made; • • '
and. as the tithe is all profit, eacept the cartage *ad
housing and threshing, surely it ought to be &ascii .
upon till it be almost pH taken away. if the farmer
goalie no profit aid can pay DO tent unless the tithe be
thus drawn upon. It is, however, wholly neneemwary
to detain the reader by farther preface on a case so
obviously important, and so very well calculated to give
onr spiritual guides something to occupy their minds
other than the duties of Magistrates and the guardian.
ship of game-covers and of jails. The Reverend per-
sons, who are at the bead of the "Society for props-
" gat* Christian Kuoteledge" will now bare
thing to thick shout other than the publishing of • .
c.ilutunions and base insinuations agalost "Coldrett"
by name, and in language little more decent than that
employed by the fish-fags of Billingsgate. These
Reverend persons, who were always foremost in urging
on the U went to sear, and who hare not, as yet.
borne any part of the burthen created by the war,
will now find what the effects of war really are ; and,
the good of it is, too, that it is with the landlords, seal
not with the Jacobins, that they have now to contend !
The only thing that can, generally speaking, prescrre
say of the rent, even another year, is the taking of the
tithes to keep the poor with. So that it is no matter
to the mass Vela people. Rent mast go. or tithe
must go, at once; and both by-and-by.—Now for
THE CASE.
At the last Norfolk Qaarter Sessions, held at Norwich,
ss Wednesday the 17th day of April instant, the Court
ease to a aunt Important deeisloo on the Poor Laws, oS an
appall by the Rev. Dr. Butwzn, rector of Csvisvos,
against the Poor Rates for that parish. The Doctor bad
hem rated at &KC for his tithes, against which. Isiappesled
the veva& Met &exceeded effused of theloietmeammat
open the titheaele property in the Parisi which he MB-
tended was the properties at which tithes should be assessed
to the Poor-rate. The Court dismissed the Appeal, being
unatsfmonery of opinion, that there was no rule In law for
fixing a proportional Assessment oa Tithes corepareJ with
Land, and that the only principle, was to assess all real pro-
perty according to the produefire raise or PROFIT which
it yielded. This determination is important, as it recog-
nizes a principle, the general application of which, at the
present time, will necessarily be attended with the most se-
rious results both to the farmer and the CLR2GT ; upon the
latter of whom the chief burthen of supporting the poor will
now, as in former times, be thrown. According to tills
principle, it is evident, that, at present prices, the Assess-
Leant upon Land, ought to be merely nominal, aid that
TITHES 11i1011id be assessed at their fell amount, it being no-
torious that no profit whatever is now afforded from Laud
in general, and that, that which the landlord receives in the
name of rent, is in fact a payment out of the farmer's capital,
while surnas being taken clear of Taxes and all other
ex-
peaces attending the raising if the crop, are nearly ALL prO.
fit. This decision has, we understand, excited a great sea-
satioa in Norfolk, and the farmers, in many places, have al-
ready insisted upon a reduction of their Assessroeuts, and ,
upon rating the parsons to the full amount of their Tithes as •
well where they are compounded for as when taken in Clad.
Let the farmers generally adopt this plan, and they will net '
only obtain immediate and considerable relief, but, in a
few months, they will see the Clergy as clamorous for re-
form as the most deviled Radical ; for nothing short of re-
form (any alteration in the law being wholly oat of e
question) COI now prevent the tithes from being wholly
swallowed up in Poor rates. The above principle was ac-
knowledged in its full extent a short time sioee in the Court
of King's Bench, Mr. Justice Ilolroyd having expressly de-
clared, that a rate on Land lain effect a rate on the profits of
Land, for where there are no profits there is no beneficial
orcupatioa, vide 4 vol. Burn's Justice, p. 77.—Chrbrind's
Edition.

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