one or two of them, and with a sudden change of countenance that might shame our best tragedians, and with a whine the most lamentable that, can assail a benevolent ear, they sue and pursue till he gives an alms, if not for charity at least for riddance sake. These young lumps of mud dried in the sun, however, complain much just now of the "falling off of business" in consequence of the shameful influx of Savoyard boys, and their monkeys, of whom Government countenances the importation. As professionals these new claimants to our sympathies cannot, in truth, approach our native artists. They are young, wretched, and strangers in a foreign land, -and that is a good deal,—but they are passive, and leave to their monkey kindred the performance of facial expression. It is not to be expected that we can enumerate any of even the leading varieties of the begging art; but we ought not to omit notice of a novel mode which must be powerful, were it only for numercial strength; namely, begging in gang. We have counted no less than fourteen gentlemen, of a row, suitably attired as artificers "out of employ," of course, and by their clean white aprons apparently, if not carpenters at least joiners, singing away like so many pauperized Lablaches. How far the system has proved to be a profitable investment of time, we know not; but the notification may, through the instrumentality of the press in these literary times, convey a hint worth the knowing to those whom it may concern. Can any mind be so perverted as to infer from the tenor of these remarks that they are intended as a ribald ridicule of human suffering, or of the god-like grace of human charity? Hardly. It is against the weak-minded waste of alms we would protest, which properly administered might be indeed a goodly boon, but which dispensed, as they too generally are, among street beggars, can but perpetrate a system of roguery, imposture, vice, and idleness. Such a system, true charity can never countenance-except as being an appurtenant to a street SIGHT. Such are half a dozen out of the million and one things that strike a stranger's eye, and challenge a thinker's cogitations. The theme is a fertile and exhaustless one, yet are we compelled to stop from its very illimitability. Ever varying, ever teeming in novelty and change as a sight, and as one of the very worthiest, we commend to the study of the pleasure-seeking and reflective, the STREETS of LON DON. THE ESTABLISHMENT AND THE DISSENTERS. THE present article is intended to show, noted the exaction of tithes was an interference with what will hereafter be done, but what is now doing, a panoramic view of the combat now waging for liberty of conscience; in the hope that it may incite many yet inactive to buckle on their armour, to rise up and be doing, and like the good knights of old "strike ane fayre stroke" in the noble cause of religious independence. In each of the three kingdoms, the Dissenters have made mighty progress; so much so, that, collectively, they far exceed the disciples of the Established Churches, even whilst the numbers of the latter are swelled by those-unfortunately too numerous-who, belonging to no communion, are uniformly counted with the adherents of Establishments. The increase of the Dissenters furnishes at once an irrefragable argument for the abolition of the Establishment, and the means of carrying the sentence into execution. That which might have been endured, while the recusants were few in numbers and low in station, becomes intolerable when the scale of numbers and of intelligence has been turned against the priesthood. The former submission of the Dissenters may be excused, but its longer continuance would cover them, and deservedly, with contempt. the higher claims of conscience towards God, they have always refused payment of tithes and other ecclesiastical demands. In the earlier periods of the society, its members were exposed to grievous sufferings and persecutions on this account. Not only were they despoiled of their property in a vexatious and ruinous manner, but their persons were seized and immured in dungeons, in the vain and cruel expectation of coercing conscience, and of overcoming principle by persecution. The reasons for the steady resistance made by the Quakers to the exactions of the priests, even when that resistance could only result in ruin to themselves, are so meekly, yet so forcibly, stated in the petition on this subject, lately presented by the Society to the House of Commons, that we cannot resist transferring them to our pages. 1. That we regard the interference of the Civil Government, in matters of religion and private conscience, to be the usurpation of a prerogative which belongs only to God. 2. That we consider the setting apart of tithes for the maintenance of the ministers of religion to have been an unwarrantable return to the provisions of the Levitical law, and at variance with the nature and character of the Gospel. 3. That we believe the ministry of the Gospel to be free in its nature, according to the comStrange as it may appear, the first blow, and mand of our Lord and Saviour to his disciples: "Freeit has been a hard one, struck in the battle of ly ye have received, freely give;" and that the contralaic independence, proceeded from the peaceful vention of this principle has an unfailing tendency to and war-abjuring Quakers. From their quiver convert religion into a trade, and grievously to impede came the arrow which shall yet transfix corrup- the diffusion of vital Christianity. We also deem the tion. For to them is undoubtedly owing the in-compulsory support of the ministers of any Church, and of an ecclesiastical system connected therewith, to be opvaluable example of passive resistance to clerical posed to that liberty which the Gospel confers; and when extortion. Conceiving that the law which ordain-claimed from those who conscientiously dissent from that Church, to be a violation of the common principles of | Establishment, provided for out of the pockets justice. The imprisonment of Quakers for non-payment of tithes has now long ceased; and (unless the unfortunate Friend should happen to become a citizen of Edinburgh) is not likely to be soon resumed; but the forcible seizure of their effects has all along continued, and incontestibly suggested to the gigantic mind of O'Connell, that daring plan by which, after centuries of a bondage, during which apathy and frenzy mournfully alternated, Ireland is about to become free, and the Catholic to be uplifted into the rights of citizenship. I.—In Ireland, the injustice of the Establishment is monstrous, indefensible, undefended,—a sink of iniquity so foul, that beside it, the impurities of the sister establishments of England and of Scotland, appear comparatively pure. In Ireland, the nuisance had become intolerable. In Ireland, began the attempt at its abatement. With the efforts of O'Connell and the Catholics, to obtain the right of admission to the benefits of the Constitution, we have little here to do. Great and important in its effects as the Roman Catholic relief bill undoubtedly was, it virtually left the question of Establishments untouched ; although it may have incidentally accelerated the strife, by raising the sufferers from the degrading state of political slavery in which they had long languished. It is the war of church rates, the battle of tithes, that we would here describe ; during which the feeling mother often looked On her sad offspring-famished-dying, On the oppressive exaction of tithes from the people of Ireland, we have already expatiated, in the earlier numbers of this Magazine. Church rate, though less extensive in its operation, is an exaction which, when levied from Dissenters, is quite as vexatious and equally unjust. Originally the tithes of a parish were divided into four parts, of which the first was dedicated to the support of the edifice of the Church; the second, to support the poor; the third, the Bishop; and the fourth, the parochial clergy. After the Sees had been endowed with their present magnificent provisions, this order was, in some measure, changed; the Bishop's share being divided among the other three. Nowadays, however, the whole goes to the parson. The poor-rates supply the poor; while the repair of the edifice, and all and every expense connected with divine worship and the celebration of the sacrament, are paid for by the parishioners, who are annually assessed by the vestry for the amount. In Ireland the tax is called vestry cess; in England it is better known by the name of church-rate. In both countries, Ireland particularly, the most shameful extravagance has been practised in this matter, with perfect impunity. Not only was everything, that the imagination of avarice could fancy in any way connected with the Church | of the parishioners; but these were charged for at prices, the exorbitance of which is absolutely incredible. It was against these evils that the people of Ireland opposed the Quaker-shield of passive resistance. The battle has been long; although the combatants were fearfully unequal. On one side were arrayed the Government, the Clergy, and the Landlords, backed by thousands of armed police, and tens of thousands of soldiers. On the other, stood the peasant, strong in poverty, formidable from desperation. Nor was the battle lost for want of due exertion. British soldiers, the conquerors of Napoleon, were unscrupulously marched for days, to escort the pounded cow or pig to a place of safe and distant sale; while the meaner myrmidons of the police, were multiplied like locusts, for the sole purpose of gathering in the clerical harvest. Even the landlords lent their powerful assistance to the Church, and, in some instances, actually swindled their tenants into payment of church-rate, by giving over to the parsons part of the monies which had been paid to them as rent, and coolly telling their tenants they should be credited for the balance. Last of all came the coercion bill, that dreadful measure, which at once shook the Whigs from the hold they possessed on the feelings of the British people; and which was, undoubtedly, employed to a limited extent, in enforcing the payment of tithes. Yet what has been the result? Vestry cess has been abolished in Ireland. The clergy must now pay out of their own pockets, for the surplices which they seldom wear, and the bibles which they do not read. Even tithes are virtually abolished in Ireland. With all the aid of bayonets and batons, mounted dragoons, and patrolling policemen, the whole sum which the Government has been able to collect for the Church, amounts to L.12,000; and this has been abstracted from the people, at a direct and acknowledged expense of L.28,000, or more than twice the amount of the sum collected. What the real cost of gathering in this pittance, truly is, cannot be exactly ascertained; but, as it includes the expense of keeping up an army of 30,000 men, some faint idea may be formed on the subject. The chance of recovering the arrears from the Irish peasantry, is so utterly hopeless that the idea has been given up; which, when we recollect the pertinacity with which Governments persevere in squeezing, demonstrates that the sponge cannot be made to yield one other drop of moisture. The vessel of the Irish church is evidently foundering. The rubbish which the Ministry have lately thrown overboard, is not enough to lighten the ship. She is waterlogged and fast sinking. May the misery of Ireland be buried with her for ever and ever! II. While such efforts, followed up by such success, were made in Ireland, what line of conduct might have been expected from the clergy of England, the possessors of a property held by a tenure so very fragile? Cautious and prudent circumspection-an anxious avoidance of all discussion, either as to the nature or extent of cle of the inhabitants; the first species being usually called predial, as of corn, grass, hops, and wood ; the second mixed, as of wool, milk, pigs, &c. con served in part by the care of man ; and of these, the tenth must be paid in gross; the third personal, as of manual occupations, trades, fisheries, and the like, and of these only the tenth part of the clear gains and profits is due. But personal tithes are only payable by a special custom, and perhaps are now paid nowhere in England, except for fish caught in the sea, and corn mills."* rical property, a slackening of the rein-a show of forbearance-a temporary disavowal of rapacity. What has been their actual conduct? Precisely the reverse. In the words of the Exa-sisting of natural products, but nurtured and preminer, they are literally "worrying the land like a beast of prey." They have manifested a most insane desire to augment the burden al- | ready hateful to men's hearts, and appear determined to leave the nation no rag of an excusenot even that of ignorance-for future submission to their rapacity. Within the last eight months, many thousand suits have been instituted in Chancery, for the exaction of tithes, and those of the most obsolete, contemptible, and yet oppressive kind. These are not confined to any one county, or even district of England. They cover the breadth of the land. From east to west, from north to south, from Yarmouth to St. David's, Carlisle to Cornwall, nothing is heard but outcries against clerical rapacity, and exhortations to firmness, and exclamations of disgust and defiance. Almost every parish in England is at war with its pastor; and, in several, many hundred suits have been instituted. Thus, in the parish of Abbey Holm, in Westmoreland, alone, upwards of three hundred Exchequer processes have been instituted; in the parish of Leyland, in the county of Lancaster, 488; and many more in the parish of Guiselep; hundreds also have been brought in the parish of Kendal, where the sums claimed by the Rector would form an addition of L.10,000 a-year to his reverence's income! In the parish of Standish, the reverend William Green Orret, has cited 362 of his parishioners; and the Rector of Eccleston, 245. In the county of Lancaster alone, the number amounts to 1,319. In the comparatively small county of Glamorgan, matters are still worse, for there thousands of suits have been raised. The expense of these has been estimated by the present Solicitor-General for England-who must certainly be allowed to be a competent judge-at only Two MILLIONS OF POUNDS STERLING!! Nor is it the numbers of these ecclesiastical demands alone, which is now causing the Church Establishment to stink in the nostrils of the people of England. They are of the most vexatious, contemptible, and disgusting character. Our Scottish readers, uncursed by the visitation of the tithe-proctor, may probably not be aware of the multitudinous demands made upon the pockets of English laymen. To enumerate the titheable articles, would be to draw up an inventory, not only of all that moves, and breathes, and has its being from the soil of the earth, or the waters under the earth; but of all the inanimate substances which in any way contribute to the sustentation of human life. The beast of the earth, and the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and the herb of the field, are all liable to decimation; all contribute their component parts of the price of those glad tidings of great joy, the Divine Proclaimer of which, had not where to lay his head! According to Blackstone, tithes are defined to be "the tenth part of the increase yearly arising and renewing from the profits of lands, the stock upon lands, and the personal industry This universality of exaction has, however, been in some cases curtailed by immemorial usage, and, in others, by the nature of the tenure of the land, as having belonged anciently to monastic institutions paying no tithe. In some parishes a pecuniary compensation has been, from time immemorial, accepted in lieu of tithe,-as a shilling per acre for the tithe of land, tenpence a score for the tithe of lambs, &c. In other places, tithe has been commuted for labour to be done to the parson; and in others, for a smaller quantity of a superior article, as two fowls in lieu of the tithe on eggs, &c. This custom of taking less than the actual tenth of the titheable subject is commonly called, in England, a modus. To render it valid, it must have existed uniformly from time immemorial, which, by the law of England, is held to have terminated at the accession of Richard I., in the year 1189. A year or two ago, Lord Tenterden,-seeing no good reason why the law of prescription, which, in the rights of laics, extends only to sixty years, should, in the matter of tithes, stretch out to the exorbitant term of six hundred and fifty-introduced a bill for rendering all moduses effectual, which could be prov. ed to have existed uniformly for the term of thirty years. The bill was passed ; but not until, under the malign influence of Lord Wynford, the commencement of its operation had been deferred until twelve months after that session of Parliament. This was done for the purpose of enabling the clergy to defeat its beneficial tendency altogether by raising actions for the payment of all tithes of which a uniform modus, ever since the year 1189, could not be legally made out. Of this permission these true sons of Becket have availed them. selves to an extent which must have astonished even Lord Wynford. Myriads of suits are springing up in England; not as might, at first view, be imagined, for the purpose of recovering arrears of tithes acknowledged to be due, but for the purpose of increasing their yearly amount; not to enforce the burden under which the people of England have groaned for the last thirty years, but, if possible, to increase it tenfold. Thus the income of the vicar of Kendal, should he prove successful in his tithe claims, would be increased to nearly L.10,000 a-year. In some places, tithes are now demanded for green crops, which were never dreamt of before; and in Glamorganshire this has been attempted to be extended to the produce of coppice-woods, of which, as immense quantities * Blackstone, P. II. C. iii. p. 24. Edit. 1794. are consumed in the great manufactories of iron, a tenth would amount to a very considerable sum. In the valley of Neath, in Wales, where hundreds of processes have been served, the vicar is attempting to set aside a modus which was held to be good during the reign of William III., and which has never since been disputed; and also to subject to tithe, land, which being attached to the ancient Abbey there, is not liable to tithe, or, at all events, has not paid it since the Re.. formation. The case of Mr. Isaac Redmond, at Caewern, which is only one out of thousands that might be instanced of a similar nature, is peculiarly illustrative of the disinterested character of the clergy. We quote it as given by Mr. Redmond himself, in the Cambrian of Tuesday, 6th September last : A few words on my own particular case. I occupy a small farm in the neighbourhood of Neath, that having been attached to the Old Abbey, has ever been considered tithe-free. I have endeavoured to exhibit to my countrymen the advantages of high cultivation, and in the culture of my little farm have adopted the principle of spade husbandry. The land, when I took it, was wet, poor, and unproductive; I have manured it, drained it, and dug it to the depth of two feet and upwards. For the correctness of these particulars I may appeal to the Vicar himself; he has seen my improvements, visited my farm, and often expressed his admiration of my enterprising spirit in giving employment to so many of our labouring poor. Mine is only one instance out of more than a hundred in this pa rish. Here is a worthy successor of the man of Tarsus, who wrought with his own hands rather than be burdensome to the flock! "We seek not yours, but you," says the apostle. This text must be misprinted in the bible of the Vicar of Cadoxton. It is not "them," but "theirs," which he de. mands from his parishioners. The proceedings against the tenants in the parish of Holme Caltram, afford a farther manifestation of the same spirit. This parish formed part and parcel of the great Cistertian Monastery of that name, founded by Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, and magnificently endowed by the mistaken piety of David I., Malcolm IV., and William the Lion. At the dissolution of the greater monasteries by Henry VIII., a report was given into the auditor's office of the tithe of meal, barley, and oats, which had been received by the monastery; and in founding the present rectory, the same tithe was granted in endowment. This living was af. terwards granted by Queen Mary to the University of Oxford. Various attempts were shortly afterwards made to disturb the existing modus, but they were all unsuccessful; and for MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED YEARS, no other or higher claim has been made. Now, however, nearly three hundred of the parishioners have been served with writs, the object of which is to destroy the ancient modus, and to subject them in payment of tithes for all corn, grain, hay, pulse, turnips, potatoes, or other green crops, not only for the present, but for six preceding years! Is the bare recital of such a transaction not sufficient to excite universal indignation; and was not the honest yeoman of the district, thus wantonly oppressed, justified, when he expressed his wish, that the battle should be fought with these cormorants, now when the blood is up? Some of the newly got-up claims are so pitiful, that, did they not afford incontestible evidence of this widely ramified conspiracy against the pockets of the laity, they might only awaken a contemptuous smile. Thus the Dean and Chapter of Ripon, not content with tithing cow and calf, have brought processes against the inhabitants of the small town of Grantly for tithe of milk. "Several poor persons," (we quote from the York Courant,) "have had as high as five shillings demanded from them for this tithe; and the affair has created such a sensation at Ripon, that the very walls are chalked with, Take the Dean milk,' The Dean wants milk,' &c. Again, we learn from the Carlisle Patriot, that "The rector of Egremont, the Rev. A. Scott, sometime ago laid claim to tithe of pigs, in the parish of Beckermet, because they had been farrowed by sows belonging to persons residing in his parish. The claim was resisted; and the parson having consulted his oracles, has been obliged to forego his claim-to the great joy of all the pigs in the parish.” This endeavour to tithe pigs, even to the third and fourth generation, is all but equalled by an attempt lately made to extort tithe from turnip eaten by sheep, without being removed from the soil! the said sheep consumers being, of course, tithed at the same time! Shame! shame! In any country but England, the following lines would be inapplicable and absurd; in that priest-ridden land, their point is universally felt: TITHING MOONSHINE. Oh moon, thou art shining fair and bright, Not long in quiet he'd let thee rest. Byright divine" or by statute law; The idea of tithing moonshine in kind; Who to the signs of the times is blind. All these instances, however, disgraceful as they are, relate to attacks on property of some kind or other. But your true churchman scorns to be confined in his demands by this distinction. Ex nihilo nihil fit is a brocard which he at once despises and shows to be erroneous. There is a limit beneath which even the tax-gatherer considers it ungenerous and unsafe to descend; but there are churchmen who have no such compunction, and who can seek and find their prey even amongst the lowest depths of poverty. We find Blackstone, in the innocence of his heart, forty years ago, imagining that no personal tithe was then exacted in England. We have improved in that respect since his day. Personal tithes are now exacted from the labouring peasant, as well as from the laboured earth. It is not enough that the priest gets the tenth sheaf, and the tenth lamb, the tenth turnip, and the tenth potato,the very labour which produced them must yield so much of its sweat to the coffers of the church. All our readers are doubtless aware of the famous case of Jeremiah Dodsworth,-for has not Britain, we may say Europe, rang from side to side with its details? It is, however, necessary to the completing of the picture of the times, that it should be here repeated and preserved ad futuram rei memoriam; not because, as we shall presently find, it is by any means unique of its kind, but because being authenticated beyond the reach of cavil, the facts are past disputing. On the 17th October, 1832, the following application is made by the Rev. Francis Lundy, Rector of Lockington, in the East Riding of the county of York :— "To Robert Wylie, Esq., and John Blanchard, Clerk, two of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace in and for the East Riding of the County of York. "John Hudson, in behalf of the Rev. Francis Lundy, Clerk, Rector of Lockington, in the said Riding, humbly complaineth-that the said complainant did, in behalf of the said Rev. Francis Lundy, by the space of 20 days and upwards, before the date hereof, demand of each of the persons hereafter named, servants in husbandry, in the parish of Lockington: that is to say Wages. Jeremiah Dodsworth, for last year, £13 0 0 Ditto, this year, hired weekly, Harrison Moment, Wm. Hall, John Hall, half a year, John Milliner, Matthew Blakeston, Carling Risim, John Dodsworth, Sums demanded. 0 4 4 050 15 0 0 10 10 0 0 3 6 030 05 0 0 2 8 Wm. Fallowfield, miller's servant, 18 0 0 Robert Braithwaite, ditto, promised to compound, but now refuseth, 15 0 0 0 5 0 Being tithes, offerings, oblations, and obventions of fourpence in the pound of the amount of their wages, justly become due, within two years now last past, from each of the persons above named, unto the said Rev. Francis Lundy; and that the said persons, severally, upon the said demand, did refuse to pay and compound for, and have not yet paid uor compounded for the same, nor any part thereof. The said complainant, therefore, prayeth such redress in the premises as to you shall seem meet, and to the law doth appertain. "Signed this 27th day of October, 1832. "Robert Wylie, "John Blanchard," "JOHN HUDSON. Jeremiah Dodsworth, who heads the foregoing list of victims, being unable to pay the Peter'spence demanded by the rector, a distress warrant for seizing and selling any bed, chair, or table, of which the recusant might happen to stand possessed, was immediately granted by the Justices. But Jeremiah was too poor even for that. He had literally nothing to distrain! What effect had the representation of his utter poverty on the feelings of the Reverend Francis Lundy of Lockington? The following document will tes tify: "East Riding of the County of York. "To all Constables in the said Riding, and especially to the Constable of the Township of Lockington, in the said Riding, and to the Keeper of the House of Correc tion at Beverley. "These are, in his Majesty's name, to command you, the said Constable of Lockington, forthwith, to convey and deliver into the custody of the said keeper, the body of Jeremiah Dodsworth, of Lockington, servant in husbandry, convicted before me, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the said Riding, upon the oath of Peter Roantre, constable of Lockington, that the said Jeremiah Dodsworth having refused to pay his tithes, offerings, ob lations, and adventions, due to the Rev. Francis Lundy, Rector of Lockington, the amount of which is 4s. 4d., and also 2s. 8d., for the recovery of the said tithes, obventions, offerings, and oblations, due to the said Rev. Francis Lundy; and, whereas a distress warrant was issued upon the goods and chattels of the said Jeremiah Dodsworth, and the said Peter Roantre having sworn that no distress could be found on the goods of the said Jeremiah Dodsworth, and the expenses of the said distress amounting to 5s., together with this warrant of commitment. And you, the said keeper, are hereby required to receive the said Jeremiah Dodsworth into your said custody, and him safely there to keep, for the pace of three calendar months; and for your so doing, this shall be to you, and every of you, a sufficient warrant. Given under my hand and seal, this 22d of December, in the year of our Lord, 1832. "JOHN BLANCHARD." A poor labourer, whose wages, on the showing of his assessor, averaged barely 5s. a-week, sent to jail for three months, because, out of this miserable pittance, he had been unable to scrape the tribute due by the law of man to the Minis. ter of Religion! No wonder that the press was unanimous in its execration,-execrable would it have been had it not. The Standard, however, endeavoured to extract a miserable consolation from the affair, by representing it as a solitary instance of priestly villany; falsely arguing, that as no other clergyman had been publicly complained of, no other had been guilty of the same brutality. This is, however, far from being the case; personal tithes are enforced in many parts of England. We extract the following paragraph from the Sheffield Iris of the 6th August last: At the Rochdale Petty Sessions last week, Robert Swalwell and John Pearson, sen., and John Pearson, jun., of Middleton, were summoned for refusing to pay five-pence each for Easter offerings, to the Rector of that parish. After hearing the case, the magistrates ordered them to pay 5d. each for vicarial dues, and 10s. each for expenses! Swalwell and the senior Fearson paid immediately, to avert worse consequences; but the younger Pearson declared that he was unable to pay, on which a warrant of distress was issued against his furniture, and the constable proceeded on Wednesday to execute it; but on find ing the destitute situation of the poor parishioner, the |