the church and her clergy a commutation, by which will be laid at the feet of their adversaries much of her emolument, and more of her dignity and efficiency.

Suppose (for all things admit of supposition) that, at any of these meetings, the commissioner happens to advise what it would not be prudent for the clergyman to agree to; suppose that a high sense of his own duty and of the dignity of the Established Church should lead him to censure, and, eventually, to reject such advice as might then and there be given-would that clergyman, I ask, in the final settling of the rent-charge, fare a bit the better for his firmness? Would he for thus defending his temporal rights and the spiritual authority of his church, would he find himself, so far from incurring the resentment, only a greater favourite with this admiring commissioner? I can hardly think it— I can hardly think this Roman spirit would be buoyant in any whig of my Lord John Russell's selection, or that such opposition would be considered in any other light than as entirely vexatious, and I feel quite assured that it would be entirely fruitless.

In the "Instructions to the Assistant Commissioners," we are told, that "the expences incurred by such attendance will fall on the public." Who doubts this? What whig ever worked for nothing? I should suppose, from the intimation following this gentle hint, that these expences will be no trifle, for they advise this assistant commissioner not to be called in, "unless there is some prospect of its leading to an amicable arrangement;" advice quite unnecessary, if their purses would not have to smart for it.

CLAUSE XXVI.

Consent of Patron to be given to every Agreement for Commutation of Ecclesiastical Tithe.

Here we find, what is very right and reasonable, the consent of the patron to be given to every agreement for commutation; and we are told, in a note by Mr. White, that "this consent is rendered necessary to prevent improvident bargains by those who have a mere temporary interest in the tithes." Now this again rather deters the clergy from voluntary agreements," though I should say that, generally speaking and as a body, they are not disposed to make these "improvident bargains;" and it seems, though perfectly I am sure unintended, almost like casting a slur upon their characters to allude to such transactions in such an indefinite

manner.

An honest disposition may, I am convinced, be depended upon in our tithe contracts with our neighbours; but an honest disposition will, alas! not always insure an equitable bargain, That the clergy have made these improvident contracts, so far as themselves alone were concerned, I with sorrow admit; but the injury never permanently affected the preferment. In these agreements they have been overseen, deceived, compelled; and, when they have found out the wrong done them, have been more merciful to the offender than he deserved. In many cases a clergyman has had to make his agreements as he could, has had sundry serious disadvantages to contend with. Under the most cruel necessity, however, he never injures any one but himself and his poor family. These alone have hitherto been the sufferers by his "improvident bargains."

CLAUSE XXVII.

Agreement to be confirmed by the Commissioners, on proof that it is made without fraud or collusion.

This clause, I should hope, my brethren, may chance to turn out to our advantage, unless our adversaries choose to believe that such fraud or collusion may, in a majority of cases, rest with us. If they are so disposed, let them call to mind the fable of the wolf and the lamb." It is full of good, sound, homely instruction, and will read our legislators and land-owners, our commissioners and solicitors, a lesson which they would do well not easily to forget.

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Should there indeed turn out any fraud or collusion on either side, we are, at any rate, in the right hands for its detection. For who more likely to suspect, or more competent to investigate, or more disposed to punish such aberrations from righteous dealing, as they who never made a crooked turning in their lives; as they who, from their very cradles, have been brought up in a perfect abhorrence of such slippery practices? Do we see, in their system of whig government, a single fraud or collusion? Do they ever try trick after trick, threat after threat, bribe after bribe, expedient after expedient, to carry an election, or to get through with a nefarious measure? See the noble works they have brought to bear, and all through their immaculate purity! There is the Reform Bill of Parliament-the Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill-this Bill for the Commutation of Tithesand plenty of national blessings of the like kind, and all affected by dint of their solid virtue! How then should a single fraud or collusion escape such withering inspection?

In the note appended to this clause, we are advised," after the agreement is signed, to lose no

time in forwarding it for confirmation," &c. We know it all Mr. White--we know that the sooner this business is finished the better, the sooner the land-owners are installed, and the clergy go to the sacrifice, and the church lament their fate in sackcloth and ashes, the easier will be the troubled mind and the calmer the whig conscience. And this these legislators will the rather wish to see instantly accomplished, inasmuch as they have not a shadow of the tyrant's plea for a single moment's delay:

I have bought

Golden opinions from all sorts of people,

Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.

God help them! their golden opinions are like the apples of Sodom, mere dust and ashes.-Cast them aside, and you cast aside nothing beyond the very dregs and refuse of popular applause.

CLAUSE XXIX.

Parochial agreement may be made for giving twenty acres of land to Ecclesiastical Tithe-owner, by way of Commutation.

This clause contains the celebrated bonus to the church, of land not exceeding twenty acres, in lieu of a money payment. This exchange may probably seldom take place. Gentlemen are not very fond of parting with any portion of their estates but for a decided good, and they may think too, and with every fair reason on their side, that they shall get off better by a money payment which may reach, perhaps, to not much more than half the real value of the commuted tithe.

Neither do I hold that the clergy will themselves be over forward to accept of such exchange, if proposed. They are quite sure, judging from long and

E

sharp experience, that, in any bargains of this nature, advantages will be taken of imposing cu them the worst land in the parish at the best price. This is a farmer's way of doing business, whenever he finds an easy customer; and it is usually so sweet and pleasant a way, that even the landlord, if he has the true whig blood about him, may not violently object to following so pure an example. Some gentle virtues" may, perhaps, stand in the way, but where self-interest is strongly concerned, it either pushes them back, or knocks them on the head,

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I should also doubt whether this exchange would turn out profitable to us in other respects. Take what care the clergy may, they too often find their glebes let down by the occupiers of them; and where agreements have been infringed, as they usually are towards the end of a lease, the tenant generally manages to escape punishment, either through the expence of taking legal measures against him, through lenity, or the unpleasantness of distressing a parishioner.

As, by the following clause, the expences attending this exchange are to be borne by the landowner, it will behove him-a circumstance he must by no means overlook-to make his bargain with the incumbent accordingly. And it will be a very sorry bargain indeed, and one for which his agricultural friends will be ready to laugh him to scorn, if he do not contrive so to settle the terms of it as to pay these expences at least ten times over. The House of Holkham-the highest authority for such church matters in the kingdom-would call out, aye, twenty times over.

The provisions of this Clause are another proof of the Commutation Act going, in every instance, in favor of the land-owner; for if this exchange were not deemed, by the framers, a desirable thing, he