The debate on the Tithes Bill commenced on Thursday night
with a very effective exposition of it by Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, after which an amendment that it be read that day six months was moved by Mr. Picton in a speech which professed to be favourable to the retention of the tithe fund, but which was really a mere argument for Disestablishment. This line was followed by almost all the Welsh speakers, who asserted in one breath that they were quite in favour of securing the tithe as national property, and in the next that the only way to do so was to " readjust " it,—which means paring it away,—and then to nationalise it. One thing at a time. Neither readjustment nor nationalisation is the issue raised by this Bill. But the whole drift of the Opposition on the first night's debate was to raise a dust about the Welsh Church, and obscure by that dust the wish of Welsh Members to whittle away the tithe itself.
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