ture of the European dominions of the French King, which are not specified in the sixth article of the treaty of navigation and commerce between his Britannic Majesty and the most Christian King, signed at Versailles the 26th of September, 1786, shall be imported into this kingdom on payment of duties as low as any, which shall be payable on the importation of the like articles from any other European nation.

2. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty to be paid on wines imported directly from France into Ireland shall be no higher than those duties which they now pay.

3. Resolved, That it appears to this committee, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon beer, the produce or manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 30l. per centum ad valorem.

4. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid for all cabinet work and turnery, and for all instruments of music, being of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 10l. per centum ad valorem.

5. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid for all articles composed of iron or steel separately or mixed, or worked or mounted with other substances, such articles being of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, and not exceeding in their value 50s. British, or 54s. 2d. Irish currency, by the hundred weight, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 51. per centum ad valorem.

6. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid for all articles composed of iron or steel separately or mixed, or worked or mounted with other substances, and exceeding in their value 50s. British, or 54s. 2d. Irish currency, by the hundred weight; and for all buttons, buckles, knives or scissars, and for all other articles of hardware or cutlery, and for all articles composed of copper and brass separately or mixed, or worked or mounted with other substances, such articles being of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 10l. per centum ad valorem.

7. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon all sorts of cottons and woollens, whether knit or woven, including hosiery, the product or manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 12l. per centum ad valorem.

8. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon all linens made of flax or hemp, of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French King, imported into this kingdom, shall be no higher than the duty which linens, the manufacture of Holland, imported into this kingdom, now pay.

9. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid for cambrics and lawns, being of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall be for every demi piece of cambric, and for every demi piece of lawn, not exceeding seven yards and three quarters of a yard English measure in length, and not being above the value of 50s. British, or 54s. 2d. Irish currency, respectively 5s. 5d. and so in proportion for any greater length; and that the duty for any cambric imported in demi pieces exceeding seven-eighths of a yard English measure in breadth, and for any lawn imported in pieces, exceeding one yard and a quarter English measure in breadth, and being above the value of 50s. British, or 54s. 2d. Irish currency, respectively, shall be 10l. per centum ad valo

rem.

10. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon all saddlery, of the manufacture of the European dominons of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 15l. per centum ad valorem.

11. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon gauzes of all sorts of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 15%. per centum ad valorem.

12. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expe dient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon the importation into this kingdom of millinery made up of muslin, lawn, cambric or gauze of any kind, or of any other article specified in the sixth article of the said treaty of navigation and commerce, of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French king, shall be at the rate of 12l. per centum ad valorem; and that if any article not so specified, and which may be legally imported into this kingdom, shall be used in such millinery, such articles shall pay duties as if separately imported into this kingdom.

13. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expe dient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon all porcelains, earthen-ware and pottery of the manufacture of the European

dominions of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 12l. per centum ad valorem.

14. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that the duty hereafter to be paid upon all glass and glassware of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall be at the rate of 121. per centum ad valorem.

15. Resolved, That it appears to this committee to be expedient, that beer being of the manufacture of the European dominions of the French king, imported into this kingdom, shall pay, over and above the duty to be paid on the importation thereof, a further duty sufficient to countervail the internal duty actually paid on beer brewed in Ireland.

No. LXXVIII.

MR. GRATTAN'S SPEECH UPON TITHES.....P. 171.

MR. GRATTAN.....The people in the south have griev ances, and one of their principal grievances is tithe; do not take it on my authority, go into a committee. It has been said in defence of clerical exactions, that though sometimes exorbitant, they have never been illegal. I deny it; and will produce proof at your bar, that exactions in some of the disturbed parts have been not exorbitant only, but illegal likewise. I will prove that, in many instances, tithe has been demanded, and paid for turf; that tithe of turf has been assessed at one or two shillings a house like hearth-money; and in addition to hearth-money, with this difference, that in the case of hearth-money, there is an exemption for the poor of a certain description; but here it is the poor of the poorest order, that is the most resistless people, who pay. I will prove to you, that men have been excommunicated by a most illegal sentence, for refusing to pay tithe of turf. I have two decrees in my hand from the Vicarial Court of Cloyne; the first excommunicating one man, the second excommunicating four men most illegally, most arbitrarily, for refusing to pay tithe of turf: nor has tithe of turf, without pretence of law or custom been a practice only; but in some part of the south, it has been a formed exaction with its own distinct and facetious appellation, the familiar denomination of

smoke-money. A right to tithe of turf has been usurped against law, and a legislative power of commutation has been exercised, I suppose for familiarity of appellation and facility of collec

tion.

I am ready, if the house will go into the enquiry, to name the men, the parish, and all the circumstances.

I understand that in some cases this demand has ceased; that is, it has been interrupted by the terror of resistance; not by a respect for the law (a sad encouragement this to disturbance) but even in some of these cases the claim has been preserved, though the attempt has been deterred, and to an endeavour to preserve this claim, and to insert it in the body of the agreement with the parish, are we to attribute in some places, I understand, the defeat of composition and of concord.

It has been urged, the law would relieve in the case of demand for tithe of turf; but you have admitted the poverty of the peasant, and you cannot deny the expence of litigation. Sir, the law has been applied, and has not relieved.

I have authority from a person, now a most eminent judge, and some years ago a most distinguished lawyer, to affirm to this house, that he in the course of his profession, did repeatedly take exceptions to libels in the Spiritual Court for tithe of turf, and that they were uniformly over-ruled; and I have the same authority to affirm to you, that the Spiritual Courts do maintain a right to tithe of turf, and that in so doing, they have acted, and do act in gross violation of the law.

I am informed that tithe has been demanded for furze spent on the premises; and therefore, in circumstances not subject to tithe, a demand oppressive to the poor, and repugnant to the law.

Under this head the allegation is, that in some of the disturbed parishes of the south, tithe has been demanded and paid without custom, and against law; and that the ecclesiastical courts have allowed such demands against law; and this will be verified on oath.

The exactions of the tithe-proctor are another instance of illegality; he gets, he exacts, he extorts from the parishioners, in some of the disturbed parishes one, frequently two shillings in the pound. The clergyman's agent is then paid by the parish, and paid extravagantly. The landlord's agent is not paid in this manner, your tenants do not pay your agent ten per cent. or five per cent. or any per centage at all. What right has the clergyman to throw his agent on his parish? As well might he make them pay the wages of his butler, or his footman, or his coachman, or his postillion, or his cook.

This demand, palpably illegal, must have commenced in bribery; an illegal perquisite growing out of the abuse of power;

a bribe for mercy: as if the tithe-proctor were the natural pastoral-protector of the poverty of the peasant, against the possible oppressions of the law, and the exactions of the gospel. He was supposed to take less than his employer would exact, or the law would allow; and was bribed by the sweat of the poor for his perfidy and mercy. This original bribe has now become a stated perquisite; and, instead of being payment for moderation, it is now a per centage on rapacity. The more he extorts for the parson, the more he shall get for himself.

Are there any decent clergymen who will defend such a practice? Will they allow that the men they employ are ruffians, who would cheat, the parson, if they did not plunder the poor; and that the clerical remedy against connivance, is to make the poor pay a premium for the encrease of that plunder and exaction, of which they themselves are the objects?

I excuse the tithe-proctor; the law is in fault which gives great and summary powers to the indefinite claims of the church, and suffers both to be vested in the hands, not only of the parson, but of a wretch who follows his own nature, when he converts authority into corruption, and law into peculation.

I have seen a catalogue of some of their charges; so much for potatoes; so much for wheat; so much for oats; so much for hay....all exorbitant: and after a long list of unconscionable demands for the parson, comes in a peculation for the proctor: two shillings in the pound for proctorage; that is, for making a charge, for whose excess and extravagance the proctor ought not to have been paid, but punished.

Thus peculation has now become a law; the proctor's fees, paid at first, for a low valuation, are now in some cases added to a full one; and the parish is obliged to pay ten per cent. to the proctor, for the privilege of paying the full tithe to the parson.

Under this head the allegation is, that the tithe-proctors in certain parishes of the south, do ask and extort from the poor parishioners one or two shillings in the pound under the description of proctorage; a fee at once illegal and oppressive; and this they are ready to verify at your bar.

It has been said, that an equity has been always observed in favour of the tiller of the soil. This, I understand, will be controverted, and it will be proved, that in some of the disturbed parishes, the demands of the following articles will be found to pay tithe wheat, potatoes, barley, beer, rye, flax, hemp, sheep, lambs, milch-cows, turf, pigs, apples, peaches, bees, cabbage, oziers; in some, oblations, Easter-offerings, burial money.

I understand that every thing, of any consequence, which is tithed in any part of Ireland, is tithed in Munster; that potatoes, which are tithed in no other part of Ireland, are tithed