THE collective wisdom of the counties is rousing itself to
the consi- deration of the suffering which is so generally felt throughout the kingdom. Petitions to Parliament, or to the Duke of WELLINGTON, are in the course of preparation from north, east, west, and south.
Of the various meetings, the most important are the Norfolk, Cam- bridge, and Devonshire.
The first was called to petition for the repeal of the Malt-duties. The beer-duties were not included, because, as the. movers of the resolutions stated, there is but a slender probability that Govern- ment can repeal both of these imposts; and the repeal of both, were it effected, would be but the precursor of a property-tax. This led to a discussion of the taxes which the country could most easily bear. A property-tax, it was contended by Mr. WODEHOUSE, one of the county members, was the fairest that could under present circum- stances be devised: it would be lighter in its pressure than any other, and it was necessary to relieve the poorer classes from their present disproportionate share of taxation, The currency, too, in its present contracted state, he believed to be in part the cause of the distress. He proposed resolutions in that spirit, as an amendment on the original resolutions. Sir THOMAS BEEVOR recommended a de- claration in favour of Radical Reform; and Mr. COKE, while he expressed his anxiety to aid in mitigating the general distress, took occasion to observe, that had some of the gentlemen around him, and others of their class, been less forward to plunge the country into war, there would have been little occasion for their present deliberations. After a very animated discussion, the original resolutions were car- ried, amidst the clamours of those who advocated recommendations to Government of a stronger character. At the Cambridgeshire meeting, which was held yesterday, and at- tended by upwards of two thousand persons, Sir V. S. COTTON moved a petition for the repeal both of the Malt and Beer duties, and for abolishing the Licensing system. It was seconded by Mr. ADEN and Sir CHARLES WALE. Mr. WELLS of Huntingdon supported the peti- tion as far as it went; but it did not, in his opinion, touch the root of the evil. Taxation, imposed upon the people by those who did not re- present them—a standing army—a host of placemen and pensioners— were the causes. There were thousands of the poor, who, by labouring for sixteen hours a 'day, could earn but twopence-halfpenny,—while Colonel TRENCH'S pay and salary were 51. 10.s. a day ; and to supply that, three hundred honest Englishmen were nightly sent supperiess to bed. The House of Commons contained 29 generals, 49 colonels, 8 majors, 5 captains, 4 lieutenants, 7 admirals, 15 navy captains, and 80 placemen, the majority of whom were returned by 150 persons. He begged to move a petition to the House of Commons, that it would without delay remove the causes of the national distress,— an unconstitutional standing army, bands of useless and undeserving placemen, the profligate expenditure of public money, and an ill-regu- lated Church establishment ; above all, that the House of Commons would give relief to the country before it voted away more of the pub- lic money ; and that it would begin to redress the grievances of the people by repealing the Malt and Beer duties. A reverend person of the name of MA.BERLY ascribed the distress 'These are important movements—significant harbingers of the ap, of the country to the importation of foreign corn, and to Catholic prowling session. Emancipation ! He therefore moved a resolution that the Duke of * Dr. Bearblock. WELLINGTON and Mr. PEEL be impeached. This revered gentleman narrowly escaped being kicked .out &the room. Mr. WELLS gave it as his opinion that lite MABERLY ' had been hired to disturb the their " peculiar sources of information," on the su meeting. Counsellor PRINCE wished that the original petition had gone arrangements ; and it is amusing to perceive how, a greater length. He begged to submit to them one in which a ge- politan prints are to recognize the authority of then neral reduction of taxes, the abolition of sinecures, and the enforce- sans. Opinions, speculations, must of course bop 'YEWS OP THE Wass— Liberty of the Sit ilect . . . 51 meat of economy in the building and repairing of palaces, as well as
'public Meetings In England—The The Mediemilotimical Society and in every department of the public service, were prayed for. The origi-
shire Petitions . . . • 45 The Grecian Daughter . 51 nal petition, with Mr. PRINCE'S amendment, was carried unanimously.
had a different object—the improvement mise—ImproVements in Egypt 46 Tales of my Time . . . . 52 of the present Tithe-laws. This meeting was called by eleven hun-
Money Market . . . 46 Fine Arts . . . . . 54 died tithe-payers and receivers, and was attended by upwards of two culution 5r, thousand. The Honourable NEWTON FE LLOWES moved that the fol-
" That your petitioners presume to address your Right Honourable House, under the firmest conviction that the existing tithe laws are highly injurious to the best interests
Gazettes rt; of society, both in a religious and political point of view. That they are injurious to
religion, because they are (as daily experience evinces) a cause of the most violent and
inveterate disputes, and of destroying that harmony and confidence which ever ought to exist between the pastor and his coneregation, and of engendering the worst feelings.
where the best alone should prevail. That the tithe laws are most injurious to the
interests of agriculture, as they are often an absolute bar to improvement, and are at We solicit the indulgence of correspondents, whose communications remain unnoticed. all times most discouraging to the farmer, as by their operation he is placed in a worse After devoting a larger space to advertisements than the plan of our paper well admits and different sitnation than any other speculator, since by embarlciug his capital in of, we have been again obliged to omit a considerable number. We beg to state, agricultural pursuits he becomes liable to have the tenth part of his capital •taken from that we can secure insertion to no advertisement that may reach us later than him by the tithe-holder, who, without capital, labour, OP risk, frequently derives consi- Thursday night. deruble profit, in insti 'lees where the cultivator himself is a loser. That the influence Persons wishing to take Tits S of the tithe laws is most prejudicial to the interests of society, by deterring persons should make immediate application, as the demand is increasing so greatly every possessed of unemployed means from using those means in reclaiming and improving week, that it will be impossible to supplyhack Numbers. poorlands,—an object of the greatest importance to the public, as the result of their so
doing would be an increase of employment for the labourer and mechanic, a consequent
diminution of pauperism, the production of a greater quantity of corn, which would in NEWS OF THE WEEK. a certain degree render our dependance on foreign grain unnecessary, and produce a more extensive demand for our manufactures in the home market. That since tithes were originally established,, all property has undergone material changes, and particu- larly agricultural, by the operation of these laws ; and in consequence of an increase of public burthens within these thirty years, coupled with other circumstances, the incon- veniences of them have been rapidly accumulating. That your petitioners have also to complain, that disputes respecting the payment of tithes are determined in a court con- stituted in a manner peculiar to itself, and without the constitutional intervention of a jury. That your petitioners, asking for no Innovations on the principles of the British Constitution, nor for any unfair or improper sacrifice from any party, most humbly pray that your Honourable House will, at as early a period in this session of Parliament as the business of the nation will allow,talce into its most serious consideration the present state of the tithe laws, and the effects now resulting from them ; also the changes which have occurred since they were framed; and that after a strict and mature investigation of the question, in all its relative bearings, it will be pleased to adopt such measures and make such arrangements as shall appear to your Right Honourable House to he con- sistent with justice to the payers and receivers of tithes, and most beneficial to the ge- neral interests of religion and those of the community at large."
Mr. FELLOWES then amplified at some length upon the subjects al- luded to in the petition ; and concluded by stating, that he was a. tithe-holder himself to a considerable amount, and his brother to a much greater. Mr. 11A.HreN traced the history of tithes. Till comparatively a regent period, tithes levied on the land were divided into three portions, —one portion was dedicated to the support of clergymen, one to the • erection and repair of churches, the third -to the support of the poor. Tithd, too, were originally meant to extend only over land that had been cultivated from the earliest times, and in the simplest manner. What proportion, he begged to ask, might a tenth of the produce of such land, and of the flocks then reared upon it, bear to a tenth of the produce . of the lands over which tithes now extended, enriched as these were by artificial culture, and to a tenth of the flocks in the breeding of which so much skill was now expended ? But to what amount of produce did • the Church now lay claim ? One of the coolest and most learned calculators of the hod' demanded in its name, a third of the produce of the whole kingdom. The tithe-holder's claims were indefinite and insatiable. He reaped one-tenth of tile produce of the land, and one- tenth of the capital expended upon it. He was the only person con- nected with land who never incurred a loss. The landlord might be obliged to forego his rent; the farmer's returns might not equal his expenditure ; but even from such losing returns, the tithe-holder was entitled to deduct a tenth. Should, for example, a farmer expend 1001. upon a crop that chanced to yield only 601.: of those sixty pounds, the tithe-holder would take six, while the cultivator would lose forty- four. In many cases, too, tithes were twice levied. Hay, for instance, is tithed, and the milk of cows fed upon the remaining nine parts is tithed. The tenth lamb is taken, and the wool of the remaining nine is tithed. It seemed impossible to him for any one to exaggerate by language the paralysing effects of this impost. To exemption from it, he ascribed in a very considerable degree the prosperity of Scotland. The tithes should be commuted. A tenth of the cultivated land he deemed a fair equivalent to the Church ; but as clergymen could not cultivate the land themselves, let the tenth of the rent be devoted to their use Of this arrangement the Church could have no right to complain. Originally, when tithes were less extended, but a third of those had been set aside for their support.
Alter a lengthened discussion it was carried unanimously that the petition should be presented to both Houses of Parliament.
