presses himself: "I must, as a public officer, whose duties call him into close contact with them (the clergy) throughout the most remote, and (by all others of the higher classes) deserted parts of the kingdom, declare, in common justice, that, were it not for the residence and moral and political influence of the parochial clergy, every trace of refinement and civilization would disappear1.". But I shall pass over the advantage to every community of having persons distributed through it, of extensive learning and liberal manners, and, above all, of christian principles and demeanour; which, notwithstanding the sneers with which the profession is often assailed, is its great and general characteristic; and shall only fix upon their conduct in seasons of general distress, instancing, at present, that of the late fatal dearth and epidemic-a time, indeed, which put to the test the immeasurable distance between real and pretended patriotism. At that period, when, as its able and feeling historians record, the evils of the non-residence of the proprietors was so deeply felt, the conduct of the clergy, both bishops and inferior orders, was beyond all praise3; many of the latter, we are informed, fell victims to the unremitted discharge of their sacred and benevolent duties. I trust, such at least have expiated the offence of having subsisted upon a share of the landed property of the country, and a grievous one it is in the estimation of many an absentee. 'Major Woodward, Speech of Bishop of Limerick, p. 89. 2 Baker and Cheyne, Account of the Fever in Ireland, vol. ii. pp. 35, 76, 100, 125, 138, 168, 338. 3 Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 76, 84, 89, 100, 101, 103, 105, 138, 336. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 42. (5.) I will not disguise, that some of the preceding observations have been suggested to my mind, by reading the attacks, in both houses of Parliament, made upon the clergy, and especially the Irish clergy. One gentleman, if I remember right, selected the archiepiscopal see of Armagh as the subject matter of his declamation; I shall make no allusion to the nature of his mis-statements, those I believe were sufficiently exposed at the time. I shall only take up that part of the question which I am discussing, namely, whether church property is not at present in far better hands, as it regards the interests of Ireland, and of the poor of Ireland especially, than it would be if some of our projectors had their way. I shall not attempt to flatter any living prelate, though several of them are at this instant engaged in works of extensive benevolence, but, purposely taking the instance selected for the attack, shall quote Arthur Young's Tour in Ireland, which now lies before me, in reference to that see. This is an extract from his journal: "Reached Armagh in the evening: waited on the primate. July 23rd, his Grace rode out with me to Armagh, and showed me some of the noble and spirited works by which he has perfectly changed the face of the neighbourhood. The buildings he has erected in seven years, one would suppose, without previous information, to be the work of an active life. A list of them will justify this observation. He has erected a very elegant palace, ninety feet by sixty, and forty high, in which an unadorned simplicity reigns throughout." (This he describes at length and the noble view it commands.) "The barracks were erected under his Grace's direc tions, and form a large and handsome edifice. The school is a building of considerable extent, and admirably adapted for the purpose, a more convenient one or better contrived is nowhere to be seen. There are apartments for the master, a school-room fifty-six feet by twenty-eight, a large dining-room, and spacious airy dormitories, with all other necessaries, and a playground walled in; the whole forming a handsome front: and attention having been paid to the residence of the master (the salary is £400 a year), the school flourishes, and must prove one of the greatest advantages to the country of anything that could have been established. This edifice is entirely at the primate's expense. The church is erected of white stone, and having a tall spire makes a very agreeable object in a eountry where churches and spires do not abound; at least such as are worth looking at. Three other churches the primate has also built, and done considerable reparations to the cathedral. He has been the means also of erecting a public infirmary, which was built by subscription, contributing amply to it himself. A public library he has erected at his own expense, given a large collection of books, and endowed it. The room is excellently adapted, forty-five feet by twenty-five, and a gallery and apartments for the librarian. He has further ornamented the city with a market-house and shambles, and been the direct means (by giving leases upon that condition) of almost new building the whole place. He found it a nest of mud cabins, and will leave it a well-built city of slate and stone. When it is considered that all this has been done in the short space of seven or eight years, I should M not be accused of exaggeration if I said they were noble and spirited works, even undertaken upon a man's paternal estate; but how much more then are they worthy of praise, when executed, not for his own posterity, but for the public good." He mentions that his Grace was engaged likewise in furthering agricul-, tural improvements; into which subjects I shall not accompany him'. As to I leave it to the imagination to pourtray the activity. and plenty which revenues thus dispensed must diffuse through a country, independently of the permanent advantages and embellishments they bestow. those who hold property thus possessed, to be, nationally speaking, a nuisance, or that it would be far better in the hands of some heartless absentee, let them enjoy their own opinions unmolested; they are, I understand, enough to keep each other in countenance, nay, it is said their opinions are spreading—that they are the notions of great and influential men, as well as of learned lecturers and grave professors; so that one is almost afraid, as Shakspeare has it, that "this great lubber, the world, will prove a cockney." This lunacy, however, cannot long continue. (6.) In defending the revenues of the church of Ireland, and the right of its clergy to the value of the tithes, not only on principles of justice, but circumstanced as property now is in that country, as a national good, I would by no means assert that the continuation of the system of tithing is otherwise than bad and barbarous. I shall not touch upon the subject agriculturally; its evils, in disturbing the Young, Tour in Ireland, pp. 103, 104. 1 proper rotation of crops, and, when gathered in kind, in defrauding the land of its regular manure, and above all, in falling as a tax upon superior cultivation, are sufficiently apparent; but these form no reasons for the forfeiture, but for an equitable commutation of tithes. Let those who speak upon this subject, with other views, recollect that the system of collecting tithes in kind is but the continuation of the metairie system which once prevailed universally, and still remains in some parts of France, and generally in Italy. The landlords in such case had usually the half, the clergyman a tenth of the produce. It has been found far more convenient to both landlord and tenant to change this mode into the payment of a rént mutually agreed upon between the parties; but the share of the church has continued to be estimated or taken upon the old principle, equally to the disadvantage and dissatisfaction of all concerned: it is, in fact, a relic of barbarism ; of a mode which was, perhaps, once necessary, on all hands, when coin was rare, and bargains consequently still continued to be made pretty much on the principle of barter. Even the revenues of the country, at least some of the most productive ones, continued, till within these few centuries past, to be paid in kind, particularly in wools. It is much to be regretted that, as money payments became practicable, and were adopted in almost all other cases; so beneficial an alteration did not take place touching the revenues of the church: one which would have been demonstrably for the benefit of all parties, and more especially for the clergyman, who, I am per |