Lord Kingpresented a Petition from several Parishes in Cornwall, praying for a better distribution of Tithes, which, he was happy to say, they called, as he did, public property. He was very glad to find, that that notion was getting very prevalent in the country, because he thought that no man ought to doubt for a moment that the Church pro- 762 perty was not the property of the clergyman, but of the congregation—of the whole Church. While on his legs, he should like to ask, what had become of the Tithe Composition Act? It had undergone all sorts of delays in that House—though why he could not tell, unless because it was thought advisable to wait and see what became of the Reform Bill. But, at all events, he would take on himself to say, that every one who examined that Bill would see its utter futility, and that it was merely a sort of pretence for a Bill—as much as to say, "Only see how ready we are to do something, though we will take very good care to do nothing." The Reform Bill, however, had passed; a real improvement had taken place in the State, and he was therefore willing to hope, that the time was at hand when a real improvement would take place in the Church also. Schedule A of the State, the strong hold of corruption, was gone; and he, therefore, saw no reason why the schedule A of the Church should not go too. With respect to the unjust distribution of the income of the Church, he had already, on previous occasions, called the attention to their Lordships to a case at Exeter, and a case in Oxfordshire; and he might now mention a case in which one of the Prebendaries of Lincoln held the living of a parish near Yeovil, and, receiving from it 600l. or 700l. a-year, allowed his curate 30l. a-year. The noble Lord also presented a petition on the same subject from a parish in Waterford.