military in their own case, and to think that many of their sinful flock, but their flock notwithstanding, were saved from the indiscriminating edge of the sword by ecclesiastical zeal, tempered and withheld, and in some cases disappointed by the judicious mercy of military command?

We, the laity, were right in taking the strongest measures the last session: it was our duty to assert; but of these churchmen, it is the duty, and I suppose the nature, to deprecate, to incline to the mild, the meek, the dispassionate, and the merciful side of the question, and rather to prevent by moderation than punish by death.

Whether these exactions were in themselves sufficient to have produced all the confusion of the last year, I know not, but this I do believe, that no other cause had been sufficient without the aid of exaction; if exaction had not existed, the south would not, I believe, have been convulsed. A controverted election alone could not well have been an adequate cause; the objects of attack must, in some cases,, have been something more than partisans, and the flame spread by contagion; the first torch must have been an accident, but the people were rendered combustible by oppression.

The Whiteboy should be hanged; but I think the tithefarmer should be restrained; I would inflict death on the felon, and impose moderation on the extortioner; and thus relieve the community from the offences of both.

But do not let us so far mistake the case, as to suppose it a question between the parson and the Whiteboy; or that the animosity which has been excited is confined to felons; no, it is extended far more generally; it is extended to those who have been active in bringing those felons to justice; and men will appear at your bar who have suffered under excess of demand, and have acted to restore peace, the instrument of quiet, and the objects of exaction: let us therefore examine the subject, and having already with great propriety taken the most decisive steps against the insurgent, let us enquire now into the cause of the outrage, and see whether exaction might not have had some share, at least, in the origin of it; and if so, let us strive to form some plan which may collect the riches of the church, without repetition of penal laws or of public distur bance.

In forming a plan for the better provision of the church, the first thing to be considered is the quantum of provision; the second consideration is the fund from whence that provision is to arise; the quantum of provision should be the usual net income on an average of years, except in some parishes of great exaction; I say usual, because I would not materially alter their

allowance; I say on an average of years, because I would not make recent incroachment property; I say net, because when the public shall become the tithe proprietor's agent, the public will have a right to the benefit of the agency.

That their income is discoverable I affirm, and I affirm it under the authority of their own act, and their own practice; without going farther back than the last session, you will find the compensation act requires the person suing on the act to make a discovery of his customary income, and in some cases discovery of his ratages for three years back on oath; it requires that he should, in his affidavit, set forth that the valuation of 1786, is made as near as possible the ratage of the three former years; it requires that where a valuation of the tithe of 1786, could not be made, a valuation of the customary tithe for three years back should; it enables the court to appoint persons to enquire into the fact, and call for parties and papers, and thus establishes two principles, which were denied; that the annual income of benefices is discoverable, and that the particular ratage is discoverable also: I might go back to the act of Henry VIII. which requires that a commission should be directed to enquire into ecclesiastical benefices, and report the value of the same; and I might further adduce the act of William III. which gives to the ecclesiastical person who builds, two-thirds of the sum expended, which sum is to be ascertained by a certificate; which certificate, by the twelfth of George II. shall contain an account of the clear yearly income of the benefice. After these instances, I hope no man will deny that the income of the clergyman is discoverable; particularly, when the compensation act of the last winter requires such a discovery to be made on the oath of the parson. That act was supported by the whole bench of bishops; it was probably framed with their advice and suggestions. They would not require their clergy to report on oath what they themselves conceived, or had maintained to be impossible; as if it was impossible to make a discovery for the purpose of commutation, but for the purpose of compensation, easy and obvious. Thus, when I affirm the discoverability of the clergyman's income, I have not only the authority of the church, but its oath. The net return should be the parson's perpetual income, subject to the exception stated above; but in order to guard him against the fluctuation of currency, I would fix the value of that income in grain; it should be the value of so many barrels of wheat, to be estimated every seven years by the corn-office, or the clerk of the market, who now quarterly strikes the average value of corn throughout the kingdom. Thus, his income should not be absolutely either corn or money; but the value of so much corn to be paid in

money.

As to the fund from whence these receipts should arise, that fund should be a charge on the barony, to be levied like other county charges; this method is easy, for it is already in use; the head constable should be the parson's collector, and the county should be his security.

To this I know the objection, and it is an objection which can be best answered by those who make it. It will be said, that this scheme prevents the division of unions, and the encrease of poor livings. Apply the first fruits as they ought for the encrease of poor livings, and the repairs of the church, and then you will answer your own argument; but a fictitious and remote valuation for the benefit of the rich clergy has been made of these charitable funds, frustrating the purpose of the charity equally to the neglect of the church and poor. The luxury of the priest has usurped the funds of the poor and of the church, then sets up against both a miserable modus, and prescribes in this instance against charity and religion.

However, if the dignitaries of the church will not, parliament may answer this argument, and provide for more clergy as occasion shall permit. You imparish by act of parliament; with proper provision, when you see the necessity, you may divide. The care of religion is placed no where better than in the legislature. Popery will tell you, that when it was entirely left to the care of the priesthood, it was perverted and destroyed.

But if difficulties should be made to this plan....and in order to give the church the growth of the country....there is another plan, a modus; let every article which shall be subject to tithe be set forth in a tithing table, with certain ratages annexed....let those ratages be taken, and set forth in the tithing table as now equivalent to so many stone of bread corn.

Let the act provide, that there shall be a septennial valuation of bread corn, by the clerk of the market, or the proper officer. Let there be exemption for the rudiments of manufacture, and a saving for all local custom and exemptions....such as potatoes in most places, hay in several, and such like.

In order to form this modus, which should be provincial, not universal, let four provincial committees be appointed. You will see a precedent in your journals: on the report of these provincial committees, form your bill. In your bill you will probably think proper to give agistment, or a certain sum for head-money, not in addition to, but in ease of ratages on tillage.

In forming your ratages, you will probably enquire into the acreable ratages now established, and adopt them where they are reasonable, and reject them where they are exorbitant.... where there are no acreable ratages established, the contiguous

parish or county, where they are established, will furnish you

with a rule.

If once you appoint committees, the parson and parish will both come forth with information....and from both you will collect the present ratages, and be enabled to make a rule. In forming this rule, you will probably think proper, to exempt the poor man's garden in the south from the tithe of potatoes.

The true principle with respect to your peasantry, is exoneration; and if I could not take the burden entirely off their back, I would make that burden as light as possible; I would exempt the peasant's cow and garden from tithe; if I could not make him rich, I would do the next thing in my power; I would consider his poverty as sacred, and vindicate against an extortioner the hallowed circle of his little boundary. The loss to the church might be easily compensated, particularly if you give agistment or head-money in ease of tillage.

I would also relieve the north from small dues, as I would relieve the poor of the south from the tithe of potatoes; and where these small dues had long obtained, I would make the parson compensation, either by giving him head-money, or by making an estimate of these dues, and raising them in the way of other county charges. Should it be said that we should as well exempt the peasant from rent as from tithe; to that uncharitable and unchristian observation, I answer, no. The land is not his own, but his labour is his own. The peasant is born without an estate; he is born with hands, and no man has a natural right to the labour of those hands, unless he pays him: thus, when you demand the peasant's rent, you ask for your own estate; when you demand tithe, you ask for a portion of the peasant's estate, the poor man's only estate, the inheritance which he has in the labour of his hand, and the sweat of his brow.

Human laws may make alterations, and when made, must be observed; but it should be the policy of human laws to follow the wisdom of the law of nature.

The result of these principles, and of these committees proceeding on the rules I have submitted, would be the benefit of the church, as well as the relief of the farmer, for establishing a modus on the average ratages of a certain number of years, except in cases of exaction, you would give the church as much as they have at present, except in those instances of unconscionable demand; and as the ratages would come net to the owner of the tithe, you would in fact, on this principle, give the church more; the spoil of the tithe-farmer would, therefore, enable you even to lower the ratage, and yet, give more to the church; so that the result would probably be, that the moderate clergyman would get more, and the uncharitable clergyman

would get less, which would be a distribution of justice, as well as of property. Having once agreed on the modus, I would wish to give the clergy or lay-impropriator, for the recovery of their income, any mode they choose to appoint, civil bill, or any other method, and then you will save them the charge and disgrace of an expensive agency, which expence arises from the difficulty of the recovery and the uncertainty of the demand; and if you add the facility and cheapness of collection with the certainty of income to the quantum under the modus on the principles I have stated, you will find the value of the church property would, even in the opinion of a notary public, be encreased, though the imaginary claim would be circumscribed and diminished. This is no commutation, no innovation; here is only a regulation of tithe, and an abolition of tithe-farmers, and of those abuses which have grown out of the uncertainty of tithe; it takes from tithe its deadly sting, uncertainty, and makes it cease to be a growing penalty on extraordinary labour; and it puts the question directly to the moderation of the church, will you insist on indefinite demand, and unconscionable ratage, as an essential part of the Christian religion, or the Protestant establishment? The Bill is the answer to this question, even though the clergyman should be silent; and it is therefore I press this method the more, because it does not involve the subject in speculation, nor rest the redress of the peasantry on the ingenuity of system, but makes that relief a matter of moderation, and of Christian charity: were you disposed to go farther you might form, on this regulation, a commutation which should more effectually relieve the plow, and should, at the same time, give the benefit of the growth of the country to the church: let a person in each parish be appointed in vestry by the parson and the parishioners, and if they do not agree, let each appoint their own, who shall every year make a return of acres under tillage to applotters, who shall make a valuation of the same according to a tithing table, such as I have stated to be established by act of parliament, and that valuation to be raised in the manner of other baronial charges; thus the parson's income would increase with the extent of tillage, without falling principally on the plow. The principle of this plan, if you choose to go beyond a modus, is obvious; the mechanical part of this, and of the other regulation which I have submitted, will be best detailed in the provincial committees, if you shall choose to appoint them, for, in fact, your plan must arise out of the enquiry, and the resolutions of these committees, and the great difficulty' on the subject is your aversion to the enquiry. There are other difficulties, I allow, the difficulties of pride, the difficulties of passion, the difficulties of bigotry, contraction of the head, and hardness of the heart. Tithes are made more respectable than