while he pockets the poor cottager's shilling. Such things ought not to be. The clergyman should be the parent, not the hired menial of his flock.

I have stated these matters plainly, without attempting to gloss over the evil consequences which arise from them, because I am quite convinced that he is no friend to his country, to the church, or to the state, who seeks to conceal abuses in either. With respect to the church, indeed, that man must be mentally blind who sees not, that her very existence depends upon the line of policy which shall be adopted for the future maintenance of the clergy. Let the present system continue, and she will stand, perhaps half a century, perhaps a whole century, according as the prejudices of the laity come slowly or rapidly to a height; let a better system be introduced, and she will last for ever. The sole matter to be inquired into, therefore, is, Can a better system be devised?

An attempt was made some time ago, to substitute landed estates for tithes. Extensive glebes were accordingly assigned to the ministers, in several parishes, in lieu of tithes, the various land-owners contributing each a number of acres proportionate to the amount of tithe which his property paid. I believe the plan proved exceedingly injurious to the interests of the clergy, as indeed might have been expected; and, hence, it has not been so much as spoken of in later years. But the produce of landed estates is not the only mode by which the revenues of the clergy might be secured, without bringing them into hostile collision with the parishioners. Let an act of Parliament be passed, requiring all holders of tithes, lay, as well as clerical, to sell their tithes at a certain number of years' purchase, to the various owners from whose lands they are exacted; let the clergy resign their portion of the produce of this sale into the hands of the state, and let them receive, in return, moneyed payments, varying according to the price of the necessaries of life, and collected, not from the occupiers, but from the landlords. This arrangement, whilst it secured to the clergyman a revenue adequate at all times to the decent support of himself and his family, would effectually guard him from the disagreeable squabbles which attend the collection of his present dues; and by

casting everything like odium upon the civil government, would at the same time powerfully conduce to the support of the established religion.

I am quite aware, that to the execution of a plan like this, many objections may be urged. It is beset with difficulties; it will unhinge all our notions of property; it involves the interests, not of the clergy only, but of the laity, and of those very classes among the laity for whose support we must look, in order to secure its adoption. There is hardly a county member in the House of Commons who is not a lay-impropriator of tithes ; is it probable that these men will forward the measure? That there are a great deal too many lay-impropriators of tithes in the kingdom, is most true,— perhaps your northern readers will hardly credit, that the tithes of threefourths of the parishes in England are in lay hands. Yet such is the fact; the tithes of about three thousand, eight hundred and forty-five parishes being enjoyed by laymen, whilst those of little more than one thousand are held by the parochial clergy. Of course, the remaining three thousand, eight hundred and forty-five parochial clergymen, are stipendiaries, poor vicars, or poorer perpetual curates, and this too in a church which is said to roll in riches!!! But though it be difficult, the scheme is surely not impracticable. Nothing really beneficial to mankind has ever been brought easily out at once to perfection. The dawn of the Reformation itself was obscured by difficulties; the Revolution, which is said to have secured our liberties, was a perilous measure when regarded at a distance; whilst the overthrow of Buonaparte, and the restoration of peace to the world, were, at no very remote period, deemed wholly unattainable. Yet all these objects were, however, effected by prudence and perseverance. Why might not an attempt to remodel the ecclesiastical establishment be brought to an equally fortunate conclusion?

In cases like that before us, it is generally the wisest and safest plan to look around, for the purpose of discovering, if possible, some precedent upon which to act. Now, it so happens, that the condition of the Scottish clergy, and the method adopted for their maintenance, furnish exactly the sort of precedent of which we stand in

need. There was a time when the tithe-system prevailed in Scotland, to the very same extent, and after a still more objectionable fashion than that which marks it here. The whole tithes of the kingdom were at one period in the hands of lay-impropriators; there are now neither impropriators nor appropriation north of the Tweed. How this has been brought about, a few words will show; and I subjoin the detail for the edification of your southern readers.

It is well known, that previous to the Reformation, vast encroachments were made, in every country where the Romish superstition prevailed, by the bishops, and by religious houses, upon the property, not only of the laity, but of the secular clergy. In Scotland, this was the case to so great a degree, that almost all the tithes, besides extensive tracts of land, had passed into the possession of these dignitaries, whilst the officiating ministers were very slenderly provided for, by small shares, chiefly in the vicarial tithes of those parishes, to the care of which they were nominated. In a few instances, indeed, where the right of presenting to vacant churches was retained by lay patrons, the incumbents obtained possession of the full tithes ; but in ninety-nine cases out of an hundred, the tithes were the property of dignitaries, to whom the parochial minister acted the part of a curate, and from whom he received no more than a curate's hire.

As soon as the Reformation began to gain ground, the Scottish bishops and abbots deemed it prudent to conciliate the laity, by restoring to them, in the form of fees and tacks, portions of those estates of which their ancestors had been artfully deprived. Hence arose that class of persons, known in former times by the title of feuars, many of whom held considerable tracts of land of the different religious houses, on the sole condition of supplying them from time to time with a small share in the produce; whilst some enjoyed their feus even cum decimis inclusis, by which they became exempt from the payment not only of rent, but of tithes, to the church. But all would not do. In spite of these concessions, the Reformation made its way into Scotland, as well as into other countries, and with a degree of violence, which it never assumed, at least,

The change which immediately took place in the condition of the priesthood, is one of the least creditable of many discreditable circumstances recorded in Scottish history. The whole of the lands and tithes, which, up to this era, had belonged to the bishops and religious houses, were at once taken possession of by the Crown; patrons of livings seized the tithes of the benefices, to which they had the right of presentation; feuars entered into full proprietary occupation of the feus; and the clergy were left to seek subsistence as they best could, in the voluntary contributions of their hearers. Thus the entire property of the church passed into lay hands; every living became a lay-impropriation, and the ministers of the Reformed religion were reduced to beggary.

The Crown, however, seldom retains, for any length of time, property which it has acquired either by confiscation or otherwise; and we accordingly find James VI: executing grants of bishops' and abbey lands, with portions of the tithes from other lands, to certain rapacious courtiers, who were henceforth called Lords of Erection, or Titulars of the Tithe. In this measure, impolitic as it perhaps was, some benefit accrued to the church. As the bishops and abbots, to whom these lands formerly belonged, had been in the habit of presenting ministers to the churches within their bounds, and of assigning to them stipends, so the lords of erection, who assumed the same privilege, were required to exercise it on the same conditions, namely, by conferring upon the incumbents a salary, just as great, or just as small, as they themselves might judge fitting. Of course, the ministers' stipends were in no instances enormous; but any stipend is better than none at all; and these, when once fixed, might not be retracted nor diminished. Such was the state of church property in Scotland during many years; the titulars, feuars, and patrons being in full possession of it, and the clergy in a state of pitiable indigence; whilst the cultivators of the soil suffered, (as I believe they generally suffer, where lay-impropriators exist,) the utmost degree of vexation, which a collection of the tithes in kind could possibly produce.

The first step towards a remedy of these evils was taken in the reign of Charles the First. From that period, down to the year 1789, the system has undergone numerous partial changes, into a detail of which it would be useless to enter here; but all of these have been in opposition to the interests of the impropriators, tending wholly to the benefit of the country at large, and the advantage of the clergy. The state in which matters now stand, is as follows:

Teinds or tithes in Scotland, cannot, under any circumstances, be taken in kind. To whomsoever they may be due, whether to the Crown itself, for some tithes still remain in the hands of the Crown; to colleges, schools, or hospitals, to which the Crown has granted them; to titulars, feuars, or patrons; the heritor or landlord is entitled to have his tithes valued, and to pay only the same in money, at which they are by that valuation rated. From the titulars, feuars, or patrons, an heritor may farther redeem his tithe at any moment, by giving to the former nine years', to the latter no more than six years' purchase. From the Crown, colleges, schools, and hospitals, teinds cannot be redeemed; but it is a prodigious matter that even in these cases they must be valued.

The method adopted in valuing teinds, as described by Mr Bell, in his Dictionary of Scottish Law, is as follows:

"The action proceeds before the Judges of the Court of Session in their character of commissioners of teinds; a proof is allowed; and the following particulars will show to what points the proof must be directed: 1st, Where the lands are in the natural possession of the proprietor, evidence must be brought of what would be a fair and just rent of the lands on a nineteen years' lease. 2d, When the lands are let in lease, the full rents, consisting of money, victual, (corn,) and kain, (fowl, payable in part of rent,) must be ascertained; and where there is a grassum, (a fine at the renewal of leases,) it must be ascertained, as well as the endurance of the lease. 3d, It is proper to inquire into the articles of

deduction, as, whether the expense of supporting the houses be borne by the landlord? whether there be more houses than are requisite for the farm? what is drawn for cot-houses, for a smithy, (a forge,) or for a changehouse? whether any of the rent arises from orchards, woods, moss, or peats, or from mills, or other species of machinery? whether any part of the rent arises from any manufacture, or from a fishing, or from coal-pits, or from mines? what improvements have been made on the estate by embanking, draining, enclosing? whether any lime, marle, or other manure, be delivered to the tenant? whether the lease be set in steelbow ?* These points will show in what manner the amount of the rent is ascertained, and what are properly deductions from the rent; and the amount of the free rent being in this way ascertained, one-fifth of the free rent is taken as the value of the teinds."

The effect of this regulation has been, that, in almost every instance where tithes could be redeemed, they have been redeemed by the Scottish landlords; and where they could not be purchased, the landlord, and not the tenant, pays annually to the titheowner one-fifth part of the free rent of his estate. In these latter cases, the tithe-owner is exclusively burthened with the support of the minister; in the former, he is supported by the heritors or landlords of his parish. How this is managed a few words will show.

The whole of the clergy of Scotland are stipendiaries, deriving their stipends from the teinds or tithes of their respective parishes. The amount to be received by them depends neither upon the caprice of the heritors, nor upon any private assessment, but upon a decree of the Court of Session, acting in its capacity of commissioners of teinds: Thus, whenever a clergyman feels that his stipend is inadequate, owing to change of times and a rise in the price of provisions, he commences what is called a process of augmentation before that court; which either accedes to his wishes, or otherwise, as circumstances may direct.

rightly when it bestowed the spoils of the ecclesiastical order upon certain court-favourites. There were then two distinct circumstances which ought to have been considered-the lessening of the riches of the clergy, and the conferring some benefit upon the country at large. Of these the first was indeed attended to, and very sufficiently brought about: but where was the advantage to the landed interests in general by the mere transfer of their burdens by their being required to pay tithes to a lay instead of a clerical rector? The first erection of lay-impropriations was therefore a glaring abuse. It has, indeed, been sanctioned by usage, and is now fully confirmed by time; but it is at bottom an evil, and, as such, requires, as far as may be practicable, mitigation, if not an absolute cure.

At once to confiscate lay-impropriations, and to gratuitously deprive the impropriators of a property which may have descended to them for many generations, would indeed be both unjust and impolitic; but I can see no injustice in the following plan, which is humbly submitted to the consideration of those in power.

Let commissioners of tithes be appointed, with full powers to value all the tithes of the kingdom, as well those enjoyed by laymen as those received by the clergy, and let à mode of valuation be adopted similar to that which prevails in Scotland. Let the fifth of the free rent of all lands be taken as the amount of tithe; and let each land-owner be entitled to redeem his tithe, at the rate of six years' purchase for lay-impropriators-at nine years' purchase for the clergy. Where tithes are held by the crown, by bishops, cathedrals, churches, colleges, or hospitals, let the landlord, and not the tenant, be required to pay annually the fifth of his free rent in lieu of the tenth of the produce of his estate, and in these cases let tithes be declared unredeemable. In like manner, where the landlord declines to redeem his tithes, let him pay in an equal proportion to his lay or clerical rector; but let no tithes be drawn or taken in kind on any pretence whatever. Where the heritors of a parish redeem their tithes, let them from henceforth be burdened with the support of the clergyman; where the tithes are not redeemed, let the person or body which receives the tithes fur

nish out of them the minister's stipend.

With respect to the tithes at present drawn by the clergy, let the price of them, if redeemed, or if unredeemed, let their estimated annual in money, be paid into the hands of the governors of Queen Anne's bounty, who shall act as guardians or trustees of the church's property, and apply such proportion of it to the maintenance of the clergy, as the Court of Chancery, or any other law-court, in its capacity of commissioners of tithes, may from time to time determine. Let the surplus, if there be any surplus, accumulate, and form a fund for building and repairing the churches and glebe-houses of those parishes from which it was originally derived; whilst, in cases where the tithe has been redeemed from layimpropriators, let the heritors or landlords be subject to these charges. By this means, he who has paid only six years' purchase for the redemption of his tithe, will eventually stand on an equal footing with him who has redeemed his at the higher rate of nine years' purchase.

These arrangements having been completed, the next subjects of consideration would be, how are the clergy from henceforth to be paid, and by what means shall the amount of their revenues be settled? To the former of these difficulties a sufficient solution has, I apprehend, been given already. Whenever the heritors of a parish redeem their tithes, let then be burthened with the maintenance of the clergy, and the repair of the church and parsonage; where the tithes are no further redeemed, than that the fifth of the free rent of the parish is paid by the proprietors, in lieu of tithe, let the individual or corporation which enjoys this revenue be called upon to provide for these contingencies. With respect to the amount of the minister's stipend, again, let that depend neither upon the caprice of the heritors, nor upon private agreement; but let it, from time to time, be determined by the Court of Chancery, or any other supreme court of tithes, according as the prejudices of society and the price of provisions shall direct. Let the same Court farther apportion to each heritor, in cases where the burden shall fall upon the heritors, his share of the stipend, exactly as it shall require the whole stipend to be paid by