fairly be called upon to place some trust in the moral sanction actuating the bulk of the community, which it is their professed duty to inspire and strengthen, as some safeguard against such apprehended delinquency.

There remains another mode of provision, namely, money, on sufficient security; and we chiefly have in view government security. Manifold, we expect, will be the objections, and great the outcry, against what will be styled so precarious a provision. For this we are prepared, and must, notwitstanding, retain it on our list, not only for the purposes of temporary investment, (for which, indeed, no other offers,) but also as being, in many emergencies, which we can conceive, a suitable provision for any indefinite period, yet promptly convertible into a more permanent endowment, where circumstances may permit, or occasion shall require. Its deficiencies are two-fold; in the first place, it is peculiarly subject to a depreciation of relative value: but this defect may be cured in a manner already suggested in reference to a money-rent, by instituting a relatively permanent standard of value, viz. corn, by which the variations may be from time to time corrected. Then a monied investment is liable to a double risk of insecurity,-private fraud and public bankruptcy. As to the consequences of private fraud, that is, forgery and embezzlement, they will be greatly obviated, so as scarcely to have any practical weight, by the necessary intervention of a public officer as the nominal holder of the investment, who would, of course, be environed by almost insuperable checks against dishonesty; and even supposing the extreme case of a successful forgery, the loss would then fall either on the bank or the government, and therefore the clergy cannot push this objection. We feel confident, again, that they will not be forward in contemplating the possibility of a national insolvency; and sure we are that, should such a disaster befall us, they, of all men, would not shrink from bearing their share of so wide-spread a calamity. Contrary forebodings and feelings should ill befit the single-minded reliance on a Providential ordinance of events, and resignation to unavoidable misfortune, which should be marked characteristics of their spiritual calling. Returning, however, to the consideration of monied investments as permanent provisions for the clergy, there are some peculiar mischiefs to be apprehended from their adoption in regard to the spiritual administration of Wales, which we intend to notice more particularly in a subsequent place.

The foregoing, we think, are the whole of the different kinds of endowments which might be substituted in lieu of an abolished tithe. Going them over in review, we shall find that land is unquestionably the best; but that it may, in many instances, be difficult, and in some quite impossible to procure it in a pro

fitable shape; in most, however, we think we may say in all those instances, a rent or a money commutation will be found available, and we have seen that the objections incident to each may be qualified, if not removed, by other concomitant provisions.

The obvious mode of ensuring the advantages of each provision, and yet excluding its defects, is to leave open to each individual parish the selection of whichever of them best suits its circumstances, providing, at the same time, proper checks and correctives for their respective abuses or deficiences.

We think, with this view, that an Act should be passed without delay, "For Effecting the Commutation of Tithes belonging to Ecclesiastical Persons and Corpora'ions in England and Wales." Such an Act may, with reference to its main objects, be advantageously considered as falling into two subdivisions: the former of them containing the legal machinery necessary to effect the conversion of tithes into land, rent, or money, as the circumstances of the case may require; and the latter subdivision comprising all the appropriate clauses and provisions for instituting the property acquired by commutation into a clerical endowment.

The liberty of taking the first step in setting afoot the question of commutation, should, we think, be given indifferently both to the incumbent and the tithe payers, or any specified number of them, say seven; and the regulations for holding meetings for the object, would pretty nearly coincide with the existing mode of assembling vestries, except perhaps that more enlarged and formal notices would be advisable; but these are matters of detail not worth dwelling on, and introduced merely to shew that the beginning, dimidium facti, might be made almost in the course of parish business. The mode of voting too can present no difficulty, and may be passed over. A more important consideration then arises, whether the commutation, when agreed upon by the parishioners, should not be compulsory on the incumbent: and we clearly think it ought, and that not merely as to the affirmative of the question by itself, but further as to the nature of the substituted provision which the tithe payers concur in giving in lieu of the tithe; with this qualification, however, for the protection of the clergyman, that no mixed commutation, as partly land and partly money, should be forced upon him; neither should he be compelled to accept, against his consent, small pieces of land scattered up and down the parish. But in other respects we think, that the greatest latitude should be left to the parishioners in choosing what the new endowment shall be, out of the three articles of land, rent, and money; and moreover we conceive, that it would be highly politic to allow the quota of commutation, charged to any person not desirous or not able to pay it up immediately, to remain for a fixed limited time as a mortgage upon his land, or upon any land which the parishioners may concur in

purchasing for the purpose of commutation, of course with the seller's consent in the latter instance, and in all cases taking precedence of all prior charges.

The next question would be how to ascertain the amount of commutation which the incumbent is entitled to, and which, on the other hand, each of his parishioners is liable to pay. This, we think, may readily be done, by taking the average of say the ten last preceding years for which tithes have been paid, and calculating the proportion of that total average which would fall upon every farm or homestead in the parish, which would be chargeable accordingly, either with that proportion as a perpetual rent, or with the value in capital of such rent, according to the mode of commutation agreed upon. And here we come to consider of the indispensable requisite in the case of a money commutation, of providing means for preventing its eventual depreciation in value. The standard by which its variation can be most surely corrected, is universally acknowledged to be corn. The machinery by which the corrections should be effected, might be something of the following sort first, the original value of the money forming the commutation, as expressed in corn, should be authenticated and placed on record; secondly, means should be provided of ascertaining the variation which may have taken place between the original value in corn of the fund of commutation and its future value, to be calculated at successive periods of ten, fifteen, or twenty years, as may be agreed upon; thirdly, power should be given to the actual incumbent of the benefice at the expiration of any one of those periods, of proving that his endowment has sunk in value some certain proportion, (say one tenth,) and of getting it restored to the original value. The first of these requisites is easily accomplished: it is merely expressing in the instrument of commutation the quantity of corn equal, at the present market price, to the amount of the substituted money-fund agreed upon. As to the market price, it might not be fair perhaps to take it from Mark lane for all parts of the country, and therefore we would suggest, that a schedule containing all the principal market towns in England and Wales should form part of the Act; and that the averages upon which the required calculations are to be grounded in any given parish, should be taken from the three nearest of the specified towns to the parish in question.

The original corn value being thus recorded, the future value might be calculated at any of the stipulated periods precisely in the same manner, and the variation be computed by the commonest rules of arithmetic. It would then be simply necessary to enact, that the incumbent for the time being should be authorised to take the same steps for obtaining the desired augmentation in money of his endowment, as are directed to be taken for establishing the original commutation: and to simplify the question

the evidence upon which, in the event of disagreement, it is to be decided, should be restricted to the statement directed to be made in the instrument of commutation, and to the returns from the specified markets.

The instrument of commutation which we have referred to, might be a deed, (of which a form should be given in the Act, the simpler the better,) made between the incumbent, the patron, the ordinary, and the tithe-payers, and consisting, in substance, of some such parts as the following: first, the specification of the lands in the parish liable to tithe; secondly, the statement of the nature and amount of the commutation agreed upon; thirdly, where the commutation is money wholly, or in part, the statement of its value in corn, and of the markets from which the averages have been taken; fourthly, a declaration by the incumbent, patron, and ordinary, that all ecclesiastical tithes in the parish shall cease and be extinguished; and fifthly, the necessary clauses for charging each division of land with its share of the substituted rent, if that be the commutation, or if it be a capital sum of money, any unpaid contributory share upon the proper land. Several other clauses of a technical nature might be called for, which practice or circumstances would suggest; and in the case of a disputed commutation, a plan of the parish would probably be requisite. The deed should certainly be enrolled, and official copies made legal evidence, and, we think, should be exonerated from stamp duty.

The foregoing dispositions would mainly satisfy the first part of the proposed Act, namely the extinction and conversion of the tithe, were it not that we have hitherto assumed a complete harmony to reign throughout the transaction between the negotiating parties, which of course cannot be relied upon.

We have already indicated our opinion, that a commutation agreed upon by the parishioners should not be rejected by the incumbent, on the ground of its being unsuitable in its nature; but where the justness of its amount is disputed, that, of course, is a matter of fact that ought to be fairly settled between the parties; and for this purpose it will probably be found necessary, in case of disagreement, for either party to elect a commissioner, with an umpire to act between both, if necessary: and proper powers must, of course, be given to these commissioners to take all steps needful to establish the questioned facts, and finally to award the amount of commutation, accompanied with the usual requisite provisions for ensuring impartiality and despatch in the arbitration. An appeal will be further necessary from the commissioners to the Court of Exchequer, which our judgment suggests to us, on account of its being mostly conversant with this species of property. The proceedings might be made summary,

NO. XIV.

R

and as inexpensive as possible: and this appeal ought, we think, to be conclusive.

We may now go over to the consideration of the second main branch of the proposed Act, namely, the disposal of the endowment acquired in lieu of tithe. Where it is land, or so soon as it is converted into land, the question is simple: it may be rendered glebe, and be treated accordingly. Where also the commutation shall consist of rent charged on the land, there is not much to be said: the landlord or the tenant, as they may agree, may pay it henceforth to the clergyman, on some fixed days in the year, which should be specified. Of course, the usual legal remedies for recovering the rent would not be withheld; and possibly it would be an improvement to invest the churchwardens of every parish with authority for recovering it, on behalf of the incumbent, virtute officii.

It remains to be seen how a money fund in capital may be disposed of to best advantage for the clergy. We pretend not to speak with confidence on this point, but it strikes us a nearly feasible plan, to direct the money to be paid over to the treasurer of Queen Anne's Bounty, or some other responsible officer of that institution, to be invested by him in the public funds, in his name, but to the account of the church of the parish from which the money shall have proceeded. Whilst the fund remained with this officer, he would, of course, pay the dividends to the incumbent for the time; and whenever it should be found practical and expedient to convert the money into a landed endowment, the purchase money would thus be readily available at the shortest notice. The power we have just alluded to of turning a monied fund into land whenever a favorable opportunity shall offer, ought, we think, to be lodged in the incumbent, to be exercised, however, with the approbation of the patron and ordinary. And here Mr. Senior's plan should not be lost sight of.

Some regulations would be called for to meet cases (of which, doubtless, many will occur,) of disputed legal right to tithes, between the churchman and his parishioners: these ought to be encouraged, perhaps compelled, to an early and final settlement; and, with that view, it might possibly be found advantageous to vest in the commissioners ample authorities to collect the requisite evidence: but the law of the case must, of course, be adjudicated by a competent tribunal, and, we think, exclusively by the Court of Exchequer.

Many other clauses of a technical nature, and doubtless many provisions of essential importance, are wanting in our foregoing brief and imperfect sketch of a Commutation Act; but it is not as a work ng model that we pretend to offer it, but simply as an example, which, however roughly hewn, is meant to shew that a