PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

10 r;·l"ithes
-! 76 Of Population, Provision, '& &.
tor, upon the death of the lord or ter!ant, or the
aiienation of the estate., to a fine a.pporfloned to the
improved value of the land. But of a't! institutions
which are in this way adverse to cultivation and im ..
provement, none is so noxious as that of tithes. A
claimant here enters into the produce, who contrib.
uted no as~istance whatever to the production. When
years, perhaps, of care and toil have matured an improvement;
\vhen tbe husbandman sees new crops
ripening to his :.kill and industry; the moment he
is ready to put his sickle to the grain, he find~ himself
compelled to divide his harvest witll a strangt:r.
are a tax not vnly upon jndu,tr}~, Dut upon
f{ I that industry, which feed,;; mankind; upon that spe­
I
I des of exertion \\'hich it is the aim of ail \\-ise laws to
cherish ar.d promote .; and to uphf1ld alld excite
which, composes, as we have seen, the main benefit
that the community receive· fr')!ll Ule wllole system
of trade, ar:d t'h£ succc::-:~ -,If com_fierce. And, tcgcther
with the more gener~~l inc{)n\'~niency [hat attends
tbe (xaction of tithe~, there is this additional evil, in
the mode at !ea$t accl,rding to ,,'h~ch the\? ar~ fC~!,lcted
at p:ese:lt, that tt ~:}r ~ ~rj' 0- .~~ ~:: a~·: a ~ot!nty upon
pasturage. }"'he b~r[l~e!J or [he tax falls wi[h its
chief, if n(lt with its ,,-hole weight, upon tillage ;
that is to say~ upon that precise mode of cultivation
which, as hath been she\\'n atlove, it is the bu~ine5s of
the state to~relieve atld remunerate, in preference to
every other.· No mea~ure of such extensive concern
af'pears to me so practicable, nor any single alteratioll
so beneficial, as the 'conversion of t~thes into corn
renttJ. This commutation, I am convinced, might
\ be so adjusted, as to secure to the tithe~holder a com ..
J plete and p>:lpe!ua,l equivalent for his interest, and to
!eave to indu~try hs full operation and entire reward.