Lord King, in presenting three Petitions from several parishes in the county of Cork, against the present system of Tithes, observed, that he wished to call their Lordships' attention to the circumstance that if the landholders 833 of any parish desired to pay their tithes in kind, which undoubtedly they were at liberty by the law of the land to do, they must not give notice to the collector to remove them at the same time, and if any three of them should happen to fix upon the same hour, the law presumed there was a conspiracy, and would visit with heavy punishment parties who might thus accidentally have offended. In such a state of the law he had no doubt the Established Church had pushed its claim too far. Suppose a parish had several hundred persons liable to pay tithes, and they all resolved that they should be taken in kind, how could they avoid, in giving notice, but that several of them must fix upon the same hour? In England the law was different; and the collector of the tithes was bound to prove a conspiracy, but in Ireland the law would, for his accommodation presume that one existed. Tithes had ever been a great grievance in Ireland which had been bitterly increased of late. The urgent necessity for sustenance compelled the people to till the ground, and the pressure of the tax was by this necessity constantly increasing.
The Earl of Wicklowsaid, having long observed the marked attention paid by the noble Baron to the subject of tithes in Ireland, he was astonished to find that his name had not been proposed by his Majesty's Government as a member of their Lordships' Committee; and he therefore now proposed that the name of Lord King be placed on the list.
§ Lord Wynfordregretted that the noble Baron should have used expressions so much calculated to add to the excitement of Ireland on the subject of tithes. There was no difference between the laws of both countries. The common-law was undoubtedly the same, and he would undertake to say that it contained no provision or presumption, that three persons giving notice to take their tithes at the same time amounted to a conspiracy; therefore, if such a law existed in Ireland, it must be created by statute. He should feel obliged by the noble Baron pointing out such a law, and he assured him, if he could refer to it he would most cordially concur in a motion for its repeal.
Lord Kingsaid, he had stated the fact upon respectable authority; he had himself no knowledge of such a statute, although he believed the law to be as he had described it.
The Marquis of Westmeath, in justice 834 to the clergy of the Established Church in Ireland, declared that he never knew an instance of any one of them having demanded the full tenth.
§ Petitions laid on the Table.