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 THE 
 
 ANTI-TITHE AGITATION IN WALES. 
 
 R. E. PROTHEEO. 
 
 FELLOW OF ALL SOULS' COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 REPRINTED FROM "THE GUARDIAN.' 
 
 LOXDOX : 
 GUARDIAN" OFFICE, 5, BURLEIGH STREET, STRAND. 
 
 1889
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface pp. i.— ii. 
 
 I. The Character, Object, and Procedure of the 
 
 Agitation pp. 1 — 9 
 
 II. The Effect upon the Clergy pp. 10—20 
 
 III. The Remedies pp. 21—34

 
 PEEFACE 
 
 The object of the following pages is to lay before the public 
 a statement of the case for legislative changes in the incidence 
 and machinery for recovery of tithe rent-charges. Many con- 
 troverted subjects are necessarily touched upon. But the 
 question of Disestablishment and Disendow^ment is carefully 
 excluded. The changes demanded by the clergy inlWales, and 
 by Churchmen generally, do not affect the corpus of the dis- 
 puted property. Their tendency is to simplify the issues 
 involved in the existence of national Established Churches by 
 the removal of unnecessary sources of passion, ignorance, and 
 prejudice. They therefore appeal for support to all who desire 
 an impartial verdict upon principles of vital importance. 
 
 The three letters deal with (1) the origin, growth, and pro- 
 cedure of the anti-tithe agitation in Wales ; (2) the effects of 
 the movement upon the clergy in Wales; (3) the legislative 
 changes which it is proposed to apply as remedies. The facts 
 and figures which the letters contain establish three points, as I 
 believe, beyond all question. The clergy in Wales are reduced 
 by the agitation to extreme destitution. They have not pro- 
 voked resistance by harshness ; on the contrary, their enforced 
 redactions and voluntary abatements show a sympathy with 
 agricultural distress which is remarkable for generous liberality. 
 And, finally, they are practically deprived of legal protection 
 against a movement that robs them of property which is 
 guaranteed to them by law. On these three points the case 
 for legislative change mainly rests. If they are established, 
 further delay in the application of remedies is as cruel as it is 
 unjust. 
 
 Severed from their original surroundings, and published as a 
 pamphlet, these letters may, here and there, appear too 
 uncompromising and positive in their language. I do not wish
 
 to withdraw, or even to modify, any opinion expressed in the 
 following pages. But had I written as a pamphleteer, and not 
 as a Special Correspondent, policy might have suggested a 
 greater show of deference to the convictions of opponents, where 
 the topics under discussion admit of dispute. 
 
 In conclusion, I must express my gratitude to the numerous 
 clergymen and laymen who have assisted me in collecting 
 information, and especially to the Bishop of St. Asaph, the 
 Bishops of Bangor and St. Davids, the Dean of St. Asaph, the 
 Archdeacons of St. Asaph, Bangor, and Carmarthen, Mr. J. W. 
 Dale, the Chief Constables of Cardiganshire and Carmarthen- 
 shire, and Mr. Sisson, the Registrar of the Diocese of St. Asaph. 
 
 R. E. Prothero.
 
 THE ANTI-TITHE AGITATION IN WALES. 
 
 I.— THE CHARACTER, OBJECT, AND PROCEDURE OF 
 
 THE AGITATION. 
 
 No eye-witness can for a moment question the extent and 
 severity of the suffering which the Welsh anti-tithe agitation 
 inflicts upon the parochial clergy in Wales. Men are generally 
 philosophers in the affairs of others, prone to consider that their 
 duty to their neighbour is fulfilled when they bear his privations 
 with patience. But it is hoped that a simple statement of facts 
 may arouse the public to a recognition of the urgent need of 
 legislation upon tithe rent-charges, and to a sense of the cruelty 
 of further delay in facilitating their collection. 
 
 Speaking generally, it will be conceded that the parochial 
 clergy of Wales are laborious and zealous in the discharge of 
 their duties. The vernacular press, which is, with trifling 
 exceptions, the mouthpiece of the different Nonconformist 
 bodies, is venomous in its attacks upon the clergy as a class, 
 virulent in its dennnciations of the servants of " the Stranger " 
 and " the Romish Beast," sensational in its descriptions of the 
 battles fought in the so-called tithe war. Bat the bitterest 
 enemy of the Establishment has not ventured to attribute the 
 distress of the clergy to their own personal faults or individual 
 shortcomings. Their only crime is that they are ministers of 
 the Established Church, and in that capacity entitled to 
 property of which the law professes to guarantee the enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
 Nullum tempus occurrit ecclesiae was a maxim of the old tithe 
 law, which worked unfairly against tithepayers. " No delay 
 injures the Church " is the rendering of the maxim which the 
 present Parliament adopts, without considering the hardships 
 that delay inflicts upon titheowners. It is practically true that 
 the parochial clergy are absolutely without remedy or protection 
 against a lawless agitation, which deprives them of their 
 stipends, and reduces them from comparative comfort to positive 
 want. Distress is generally a relative term. Here it means, 
 except in those rare cases where the Welsh clergy possess some 
 private fortune, absolute destitution, the loss of bare necessaries, 
 and not merely painful privations. Those who suffer most
 
 complain the least. Their chief solicitude has been to conceal 
 their misery, not to proclaim their " bitter cry" npon the house- 
 tops. Now and then chance expressions reveal the depth of 
 their suffering and their reluctance to make it known. " So 
 you have had a riot in your parish," said a friend to a country 
 clergyman. " I did not think it was known," replied the 
 parson. " Why, I saw it in the paper," said the other. '* Ah ! 
 I have given up my paper," was the answer. Another clergy- 
 man was compelled by the loss of his income through the agita- 
 tion to dismiss his servants. Their offer of remaining without 
 wages was declined. " We felt we would sooner hide our 
 poverty." In contact with a delicacy which shrinks from the 
 touch of the most sympathetic charity, it is difficult to ascertain 
 the whole extent of the distress and impossible to lay it before 
 the public. It is literally the fact that not one-half the misery 
 can be ascertained and told. Yet enough will be said to 
 demonstrate the reality of the distress and the cruelty of further 
 delay. 
 
 The clergy ask no favour. They demand bare justice. The 
 simplification of the process of collecting tithe rent-charges and 
 the consequent removal of misunderstanding and misconception 
 are objects in which the religious opponents of national Esta- 
 blished Churches ought to be as keenly interested as supporters 
 of the Establishment. Upon so grave a question as disestablish- 
 ment and disendowment both sides might well combine to 
 obtain an unprejudiced, impartial verdict. There is no necessary 
 connection between the maintenance of the Establishment and 
 the present incidence of tithe rent-charge or the existing mode 
 of its collection. Opponents of the Church in Wales may be 
 fairly challenged to say whether they desire to snatch a verdict 
 upon side issues and by appeals to ignorance and passion, or 
 whether they will co-operate to disentangle the question from 
 irrelevant matter, so that the essential point may be presented 
 in its simplest form and decided upon the principle of the 
 ad referendum. It is true that delay in legislation retards the 
 progress of the Church, cripples the efforts of her ministers, 
 and enables her opponents to use her present relations to 
 farmers with f^ital effect against her spiritual influence. Are 
 these the motives which influence advocates of disestablish- 
 ment and disendowment to resist any legislative changes 
 that simplify the question in which they are interested, or 
 remove the prejudices which distort the principle at stake? The 
 Church can desire no stronger evidence of the character of her 
 work, or the extent of her recent advance. 
 
 All who desire to see the substantial question impartially 
 determined, if true to their principles, should combine to dis- 
 entangle it from accidental irrelevancies. All who claim tithe
 
 rent-charges as public money are equally pledged by their 
 principles to pat a stop to the present anti-tithe agitation. 
 They are the very men who should, be the first to denounce the 
 appropriation of the fund by private individuals. On what 
 ground can those who demand the application of ecclesiastical 
 endowments to national secular purposes defend their devotion 
 to the exclusive benefit of farmers who render no public service 
 of any kind whatever? Farmers are not called to account for this 
 " public money ;" they are not asked to pay it over to any national 
 trust ; they treat it as income and spend it upon themselves. Yet 
 this money, which they thus appropriate, is what Liberationists 
 assert to be national property. If the end excuses the means, 
 those who sympathise with the ultimate object may justify to 
 their consciences the manufacture of an agitation by the whole- 
 sale bribery of a class. But the practical effect is remarkable. 
 The character of the money is changed the moment it is with- 
 held from the Church. So long as parsons do not receive the 
 tithe rent-charges, the champions of "national property" are 
 satisfied that it should be treated as private property. They 
 even collect subscriptions to enable farmers to persevere in the 
 misappropriation of thousands of pounds of "public money." 
 Welsh farmers are conspicuous for their shrewdness. They put 
 their tongues in their cheeks, and the money in their pockets. 
 But can it be wondered at that the demoralisation of the Welsh 
 conscience spreads far and wide? The present use of the 
 money may be obsolete, mischievous, or inexpedient. That 
 is a question which the Legislature is bound to consider. But 
 if every individual is at liberty to defy the law, because the 
 burden it imposes is, in his opinion, unjust, the functions of 
 Government have ceased, and the State is in process of dissolu- 
 tion. Again, tithe rent-charges are, says the Welsh vernacular 
 press, taxes. It is then as public taxes that it encourages 
 farmers to withhold payment. Already at one anti-tithe 
 meeting speakers have pointed out the strategic advantages 
 which a wild and mountainous country affords for resistance to 
 the payment of every form of public taxation. Thus the lesson is 
 daily taught that for rights of property, whether public or 
 private, there is no protection ; that for the lawless and the 
 turbulent there is immunity ; that . if men may not look to 
 Government for justice, they may work upon its fears ; that if 
 it will not redress grievances, its will may be defied with profit 
 and impunity ; that if it is deaf to complaints, it may be over- 
 awed by violence. 
 
 The districts of Wales in which the anti-tithe agitation has 
 taken firmest root are comprised in the dioceses of St. Davids, 
 Bangor, and St. Asaph. Though the differences between North
 
 and South Wales are strongly marked, I shall not adopt any 
 definite geographical treatment. The information which I have 
 received as correspondent of the Guardian has been given me, in 
 most cases, with the strictest injunctions to avoid the identifica- 
 tion of individuals. The broader the area the greater the 
 secrecy. I shall, therefore, arrange my material under three 
 heads — (1) the agitation itself ; (2) its effect upon the clergy ; 
 (3) its remedies. The first point forms the main subject of the 
 present letter. 
 
 On the general question of disestablishment and disendow- 
 ment I am not concerned to speak. The point to be determined 
 here is whether the hill-farmers of Wales are as a class inspired 
 by the zeal of the Puritan and the Covenanter, or by shrewd 
 calculations of pounds, shillings, and pence. Is the appropria- 
 tion of tithe rent-charges by tenant-farmers, who have con- 
 tracted to pay them, a religious impulse? Is hatred to the 
 Established Church or love of money the motive? Upon the 
 answer to this question depends the character of the agitation. 
 Religion alone can render the movement respectable. In this 
 connection it is perhaps worthy of passing observation that the 
 money withheld from the ministers of churches is not bestowed 
 on the ministers of the chapels. It is spent by the farmers 
 upon themselves. While they appropriate to their own nse 
 many thousands of pounds of money formerly devoted to a 
 religious bbject, they permit the debt upon their chapels to rise 
 from 246,926L in 1878 to 323,118Z. in 1886, and allow their" 
 contributions to the Nonconformist ministry, to the Noncon- 
 formist Missions, to the Nonconformist places of worahip, and 
 to the support of the Nonconformist poor to decline sensibly 
 and materially. If Welsh farmers are impelled to refuse tithe 
 rent-charges to Established Churches by motives of religion it 
 is a religion which begins — and ends — at home. 
 
 Speaking generally, the anti-tithe agitation is an artificial 
 growth, assiduously cultivated by Liberationist orators and 
 by the vernacular press. Among the individuals who have 
 exercised the greatest influence upon the progress of the agita- 
 tion, the most conspicuous person is Mr. Gee, a Calvinistic 
 Methodist preacher at Denbigh. His paper, the Baner, which 
 recently obtained a certain notoriety in England by its advice 
 to Nonconformists at the time of the Queen's visit, is the 
 favourite newspaper of farmers in North Wales. The extent to 
 which Mr. Gee has succeeded in his own immediate neighbour- 
 hood (which, it may be mentioned, is agriculturally one of the 
 richest in the whole country) may be illustrated by the following 
 fact. The recoverable arrears of tithe rent-charges in four 
 rural deaneries immediately surrounding Denbigh are double 
 the arrears in the diocese of St. Davids, exceed the whole
 
 amonnt retnrned for 1888 in the diocese of Bangor, and form 
 between three-eighths and one half of the total arrears of the 
 diocese of St. Asaph. It may, in fact, be truly said that the 
 anti-tithe agitation of jSTorth Wales has, in the main, emanated 
 from the office of the Baner at Denbigh. The original plan of a 
 general movement to obtain the three F's was coldly received by 
 tenant-farmers, or at least regarded as premature. Mr. Davitt's 
 eloquence failed to galvanise the proposed movement into life. 
 The way was already paved, for an attack upon ecclesiastical 
 endowments by the propagation of the Liberationist programme. 
 Tithe rent- charges were therefore chosen as more vulnerable than 
 rents, and titheowners were selected as the first, because the 
 weakest, victims. But it has been openly declared in the 
 pages of the Baner that disestablishment and disendowment 
 mean only the capture of a position which will enable the 
 campaign against rents to be inaugurated. 
 
 Circumstances favoured the commencement of the movement. 
 In 1884-5-G agricultural depression had for the first time 
 seriously affected Welsh farmers. The fall of prices was the 
 opportunity of the agitators. Those who watched the growth of 
 the movement do not need to be reminded how the Baner 
 inveighed against the injustice of tithe rent-charges, and fanned 
 into a flame the smouldering agricultural discontent, till it was 
 able to announce the spontaneous growth of natural hostility 
 towards the payment. The organisation and pulpits of the 
 chapels, aided by house-to-house visitations of Calvinistic 
 Methodist deacons, backed by the inflammatory harangues of 
 itinerant agitators, and encouraged by the promises of the 
 vernacular press, spread the contagion from parish to parish. 
 Local branches of the Anti- Tithe League were formed wherever 
 it was possible. Board school masters, small shopkeepers, small 
 freeholders, and deacon-farmers were the chief agents in the 
 movement. In one case which has come to my knowledge, the 
 principal agitator was a local money-lender, who put the screw 
 upon his debtors to join the agitation. Threats, coercion, 
 intimidation, were freely used. Here and there the agitators 
 failed. In one parish, they were told by Liberal and Noncon- 
 formist farmers to do their "dirty work" in their own parishes. 
 In another, the Nonconformist minister refused to pay his tithe ; 
 but his congregation decided that they would have no agitation 
 there, paid his tithe themselves, and deducted it from his salary 
 The minister in question found it convenient to move elsewhere. 
 In another, though the bell-man was sent round the market- 
 place to summon the people to an anti-tithe meeting, the 
 attendance was so meagre that no local branch could be 
 organised. But such instances of failure were comparatively 
 rare. Landlords were too weak, too indifferent, or too selfish,
 
 6 
 
 to interfere. The clergy possessed no organisation, and never 
 combined to act together. The temptation of pocketing the 
 tithe rent-charges, whether they were " public money " or 
 " taxes," proved irresistible to impecunious farmers, hard- 
 pressed by falling prices. Even persons who were well disposed 
 towards the Church could not lose the opportunity of escaping 
 money payments. Farmers were undoubtedly hard hit by 
 agricultural depression. Those who paid their tithes saw their 
 less honest neighbours go scot-free, and it has passed into a 
 proverb that men would rather be convicted of roguery than of 
 poverty. 
 
 The most formidable weapons with which the agitators 
 worked were the necessities and the ignorance of tithepayers. 
 Small freeholders who had raised money to purchase their 
 holdings or tenant farmers, occupying highly i-ented lands, 
 clutched eagerly at the relief which the League promised. 
 When prices were falling all round them, their conduct was 
 extremely natural. Many of them, misunderstanding the 
 principle of the Tithe Commutation Act, imagined that the 
 corn averages worked unfairly because the grain grown on the 
 Welsh hills is inferior to the produce of the richer soil of 
 England. All the fallacies which obscure the true nature of tithe 
 rent-charges were employed in Wales. In addition, many were 
 encouraged to believe that tithes would be altogether extin- 
 guished. " Cawn ni'r degwm" ("We shall have the tithe ") 
 was an expression frequently on their lips. If now they are, as 
 has been hoped, growing lukewarm in the cause, their coldness 
 is due partly to the rapid rise in prices of agricultural produce, 
 partly to their recognition of the fact that the charges they 
 expected to abolish or appropriate, the agitators only desired 
 to nationalise and apply to secular objects. Free education is 
 not to country farmers the bribe which it is to the dwellers in 
 towns. They are shrewd enough to see that, even when the 
 whole 137,000L of Welsh tithe is applied to educational pur- 
 poses, the loss of the voluntary schools would mulct them of at 
 least 100,000^. a year in increased school board taxation. Con- 
 sequently, if the choice simply lies between the appropriation 
 of tithe rent-charges to the use of the parochial clergy and their 
 application to educational purposes, which will, in the main, 
 only benefit urban populations, many farmers have already 
 declared their wish to leave things as they are. 
 
 The ignorance and the necessities of tithepayers are, as has 
 been said, the groundwork on which agitators have chiefly 
 built. So long as the direct incidence of the charge falls upon 
 tenant-farmers, it will be impossible wholly to remove their 
 ignorance. Their necessities have disappeared. There is a 
 slight improvement in prices of beef, mutton, barley, oats.
 
 lamb, veal, beans, vetclies, as well as a considerable rise in 
 wool and batter. Hay alone has fallen. At the same time the 
 prices of yearling cattle have risen 80 per cent, or even 100 per 
 cent, in the present year; and it must be remembered that 
 small farmers, who do not grow the crop themselves, rather 
 gain than lose by the low prices of grain. Everything to which 
 Welsh agricnltarists look for tithe, rent, and wages, has risen. 
 For the present at least, farmers cannot — and, to do them justice, 
 do not — plead poverty as an excuse for non-payment of rent- 
 charges. They therefore fall back upon the sentiment, 
 assiduously fostered by the vernacular press, and frequently 
 expressed by themselves, that it is unjust to compel them to 
 contribute to an " alien Church." Of this sentiment, wherever 
 it really exists, I desire to speak with all respect. But various 
 circumstances combine to render it extremely difficult to 
 ascertain how far conscientious scruples are a reality, and how 
 far they are a pretext. 
 
 The feeling of the injustice of compulsory contributions to an 
 " alien Church" is grounded on no historical basis; it springs 
 at the earliest from the breach of Methodism with the Esta- 
 blished Church in the present century ; it did not exist fifty 
 years ago, and it is not shared by many of the real leaders of 
 religious Nonconformity. All this is true enough. And, further, 
 it is possible to contend that those who, inspired by this feeling, 
 refuse to pay their legal debts, ignore history, lay the axe to 
 the roots of property, treat contracts as waste paper, and assume 
 the right of debtors to withhold payment from creditors whose 
 manner of expenditure they disapprove. But no one can fail to 
 recognise that, wherever the sentiment genuinely exists, resist- 
 ance to the payment of tithe rent-charges assumes nobler pro- 
 portions and a new dignity. Is it possible to believe that the 
 feeling exists among recalcitrant tithepayers except in the most 
 iofinitesimally small number of cases? 
 
 One general fact must be borne in mind before the purity of 
 the feeling can be accurately ganged. Chapels in country dis- 
 tricts are, in a certain sense of the words, commercial enter- 
 prises. That is to say, numbers of the farmers have invested 
 their savings in them. To destroy the oi'ganisation of the 
 Church is to improve the value of investments which its con- 
 tinued progress threatens to depreciate. Apart from this 
 general observation there are several circumstances connected 
 with the anti-tithe agitation which are inconsistent with the 
 purity of religious scruples. No doubt the agitation is wielded 
 as a powerful lever for disestablishment, but the form in which 
 it presents itself to the farmer is the opportunity for 
 exacting extravagant abatements. The demand is for 
 reductions of 15, 20, or 25 per cent, upon rent-charges
 
 whicb, taking 1878 as the culminating point, are already 
 reduced universally by 30 per cent. Impunity and the 
 vacillation of the Government have now encouraged larger 
 hopes. But there is scarcely a clergyman in Wales, who, if 
 he had submitted to extortionate demands at the outset, would 
 not have recovered his tithe, or who would not, if he even now 
 offered extravagant abatements, receive a considerable pro- 
 portion. So also resistance to the payment of tithes is not 
 confined to cases in which they are held by clergymen of the 
 so-called alien Church. Mr, Ellis, M.P., stated in the House of 
 Commons that no difference existed between lay and clerical 
 tithes, unless it was that the clergy deserved most consideration. 
 Everywhere lay and clerical tithes are equally opposed. Kadical 
 laymen are obliged to distrain as well as Welsh clergymen, 
 English colleges, or Ecclesiastical Commissioners. In one of 
 the worst cases in North Wales, the ringleader of the recalcitrant 
 tithepayers is a churchwarden and a communicant. Another fact 
 is significant. A local grammar-school, supplying the very 
 education to which the tithe is to be devoted upon the principle 
 of nationalisation, is asked for 25 per cent, reduction, while the 
 local clergyman is only asked for 10 per cent. The principal 
 agitator in North Wales pays his tithe regularly, and as 
 regularly leaves a small arrear for the sake of appearances. In 
 the face of facts like these, it is impossible to suppose that 
 *' conscientious scruples " express religious feeling, or are any- 
 thing more than the brass buttons of the farmers' pockets. And 
 it must be remembered — and the fact is admitted and 
 deplored by the Nonconformist press — that, speaking generally, 
 Welsh Nonconformity has exchanged its old devotional 
 earnestness for the bitterness of political partisanship. Parties 
 are divided upon denominational lines. Every department of 
 administrative or financial government is interpenetrated with 
 political religion. In the vast majority of cases, the religious 
 creed of those who use this argument of the " alien" Church is 
 synonymous with the programme of the Liberation Society. A 
 generation ago scruples of conscience drove men from the pale 
 of the Church to work out their own salvation in the chapels. 
 But they manifested reverence, and not hostility, for the "old. 
 mother." Now these same religious scruples are supposed to be 
 the impulses which force men to use the tithe agitation without 
 scruple to destroy the Established Church. Upon the question 
 of tithe rent-charges, conscientious scruples are political interests, 
 disguises which enable recalcitrant debtors to claim the crown 
 of martyrdom, substitutes for the plea of poverty by which, in 
 times of distress, hard-pressed tithepayers justified their refusal 
 to pay tithes. Political animosity, falling prices, the ignorance 
 of tithepayers, the immunity of lawlessness, the vacillation of
 
 9 
 
 Government, the straggle for the value of pecuniary invest- 
 ments — these, and not conscientious scruples, are the real fuel 
 which feeds the flame of the agitation. 
 
 Such a combination of motives affords abundant material for 
 agitators. A local branch of the Anti-Tithe League is esta- 
 blished in the parish, with the chapel, the politician, the preacher, 
 the investor, and the vernacular press at its back, supported 
 here and there by genuine, though ignorant, religious sentiment, 
 and appealing, directly and universally, to the strongest of 
 human passions — the greed of gain. How does the League 
 proceed? The two following cases are selected out of many 
 because the parson was, in both instances, a new-comer, so that 
 the personal element is altogether eliminated. In the first case, 
 the clergyman was called upon late at night by two preachers, 
 who informed him that the parishioners had met, and decided 
 to pay no tithes unless a reduction of 4s. in the pound was 
 granted. The living was a small one; the clergyman had just 
 incurred the expenses of removal to a new house ; he had given 
 up out of his pittance the previous half-year's tithe to the widow 
 of his predecessor, and it does not detract from his generosity 
 that she was not paid. He offered 2s. 3d. in the pound, but the 
 offer was rejected; .and for the last eighteen months the tithe- 
 payers have, with few exceptions, withheld payment. In the second 
 case, the clergyman was accosted in the market-place of the 
 adjoining town by two of his parishioners, who asked him for 
 the use of the schoolroom to hold a tithe meeting a fortnight later. 
 He granted the room, and in the interval of grace introduced him- 
 self to his new parish At the meeting it was proposed that no 
 money should be paid to him, or to the local grammar-school which 
 owned a portion of the tithe rent-charge in the parish, unless an 
 abatement was given of 25 per cent. An amendment was pro- 
 posed and carried that 25 per cent, should be demanded of the 
 school, and 10 per cent, of the rector. Even with this reduc- 
 tion a large proportion were evidently determined to pay 
 nothing. Distraint did not break down their resistance. It put 
 an end to the rowdyism of lads, but it only changed active 
 opposition into sullen obstinacy. In both these cases, it may 
 be added, the properties belong to very wealthy landlords, who 
 have made no attempt to assist the clergymen. 
 
 Wherever the anti-tithe agitation spreads, these histories are 
 reproduced. The clergy have, as has been said, no remedy, and 
 are absolutely without protection against the lawless confisca- 
 tion of their property. This may seem a strong statement ; but 
 it is practically, if not literally, true. A man unfamiliar with 
 resisted distresses, and only acquainted with the peaceful 
 process, thinks that nothing is wanted but a recourse to dis- 
 traint. He speaks with affectionate pride of the " rough-and-
 
 10 
 
 ready" remedy. "By Jove! I'd distrain, and bring the 
 beggars to their senses." If he lived in Wales I venture to 
 think that he would not. The process is more likely to restore 
 a titheowner to his senses than a tithepayer. Rough the remedy 
 certainly is ; ready it as certainly is not. To this point I return 
 in my next letter. 
 
 II.— THE EEFECT UPON THE CLERGY. 
 
 In my last letter, all intention of dealing with the general 
 question of the disestablishment and disendowment of the Church 
 in Wales was disclaimed. The attitude of those who advocate 
 that measure is perfectly intelligible, though it does not com- 
 mand the sympathy of many readers of the Guardian. But the 
 growth of the feeling against the Church among those who head 
 the agitation lies altogether outside the scope of the present 
 letters. It is only with farmers who refuse to pay their tithe 
 rent-charges that I am concerned. As a body the farmers were 
 not hostile to the Church when the agitation commenced. They 
 were at first influenced in their resistance by pecuniary 
 motives. When they could no longer plead poverty as their 
 reason for refusing payment, or demanding abatements, of tithe 
 rent-charges, they fell back upon the plea of the injustice of 
 compulsory contributions to an alien Church. Within the last 
 year and a half a considerable number of them have talked them- 
 selves, or been goaded, into an active hatred of the Establish- 
 ment. But as, in the vast majority of cases, this sentiment 
 originated in the love of money, so, wherever it now exists, it is 
 rather a political than a religions feeling. 
 
 There is, as I endeavoured to show in my last letter, little of 
 the Puritan or Covenanting spirit in Welsh farmers, who refuse 
 to pay their legal debts, whether their creditors are parochial
 
 11 
 
 clergymen, Oxford colleges, local grammar-schools, Tory or 
 Radical laymen ; who put into their own pockets thousands of 
 pounds, which their supporters declare to be " public property" 
 or " public taxes ;" who devote the money they withhold to the 
 increase of their own material comforts, and not to the support 
 and spread of Welsh Nonconformity. It is in. the name of 
 religion that the agitation is conducted. And in one point the 
 name is not taken in vain. In ordinary warfare the laws of war 
 are tempered with mercy, and the brunt falls upon the actual com- 
 batants ; but religious wars have always been conducted with a 
 relentless ferocity which spares no victims, however helpless. 
 So in the case of this so-called religious war in Wales, it is 
 upon the defenceless country parsons and upon the women and 
 children that the agitators turn their guns. Those who con- 
 sider the Established Church to be an odious, or even useless, 
 institution are justified in protesting in the strongest manner 
 possible against the application of funds to its support. Bat 
 can any reasonable person doubt that, if this agitation were 
 nothing but a bond fide manifestation of objections to pay tithes 
 to an Established Church, it would not long ago have ceased, 
 or that payment would not now be resumed, even if it was still 
 made under protest? Every day now creates the suspicion 
 that the money is withheld because Nonconformist ministers 
 enjoy their vengeance for real or fancied wrongs as much aa 
 Welsh farmers enjoy the use of other people's money. Men 
 who persecute on principle may not be amiable characters, but 
 they belong to a different class of beings from those who 
 persecute from revenge or for pecuniary profit. 
 
 If any one thinks this statement of the case too strong, let 
 him consider, in all its bearings, the following illustration of the 
 effect which the anti-tithe agitation produces upon the parochial 
 clergy. A clergyman, who had been engaged for many years 
 in a town parish, was recently appointed to a small country 
 living. He came from a considerable distance, put his house in 
 repair, and entered upon his new duties. His wife fell ill, and, 
 after several months' illness, died. Protracted sickness, together 
 with the expenses of entering a new house, leave little money in 
 the purses of those, whose means are, to begin with, small. Ten 
 days after the death of his wife, he was informed by his 
 parishioners that they did not intend to pay him his tithe. 
 Inexperienced in rural life, and broken down with grief, he was 
 powerless to resist. He had no money left, and none coming 
 in. Food ran short in his home. His two daughters, naturally 
 delicate, fell into ill-health for want of nourishment, and died. 
 To add insult to injury his parishioners sent him a box. On 
 opening it, it was found to contain a collection of nameless 
 filth, and on the top was placed the message, " We hear you
 
 12 
 
 are starving. Here's food for you." Is it necessary that the 
 "battle of religious freedom" should be fought with such 
 missiles as these? 
 
 This is an extreme case. But, stripped of its pathetic 
 accidents and its insulting savagery, it accurately illustrates 
 the condition to which the Welsh clergy are reduced. Par- 
 ticulars vary with each case. Some clergymen have encountered 
 more opposition than others ; some have small, some large, 
 families ; some are bachelors ; some have enjoyed good health, 
 some have succumbed to sickness ; some are young, some 
 enfeebled by age ; some have private means, some have none. 
 It is therefore impossible to give any general picture of the 
 privations, the mental anxieties, or the extreme destitution, to 
 which the clergy are reduced. Many of them have dismissed 
 their establishments, curtailed every expenditure which is not 
 absolutely necessary, and in not a few instances are only pre- 
 served from starvation by the bounty of friends. Men, to whom 
 no personal fault is imputed and whose merits are acknowledged 
 even by their persecutors, have not only lost the means of 
 assisting the poor around them, but are narrowly straitened in 
 their own food and clothing. Their credit becomes exhausted, while 
 the pressure continues to increase, and their arrears accumulate. 
 The insurances, to which they looked for provision for their 
 families, have been dropped. But the bitterest dreg in the cup 
 is their inability to provide education for their children. More 
 than one clergyman has told me, that what he feels most deeply 
 is, that he has to withdraw his son from school or college. 
 Such an interruption in education for the pursuits of life 
 necessarily proves fatal to the best prospects of success in 
 any profession. Many a boy, who is kept at home because 
 his father's means are too much reduced to pay for his education, 
 or who has been for the same reason withdrawn from school or 
 college, is ruined for the whole of his future career by the effect 
 of this agitation. The fact is the more galling to parents, 
 because private means are so rare among the Welsh clergy that 
 their children have only their brains to rely upon for their future 
 livelihood. It would be easy to enumerate instances of distress ; 
 to detail the case of one clergyman who was apparently well-to-do, 
 but took his boys from school, and, being pressed for the reason, 
 said that he literally only had Is. Gd. in the house ; of another, 
 who scarcely ventured into the village because he felt so acutely 
 his debts at the local shops ; of another, who had sold his carpet 
 to pay his way ; of another, who offered to sell his books to pay 
 some diocesan official his fees ; of another, whose son apologised 
 for a hearty appetite by saying, " We have had no meat at home 
 for weeks ; " of another, who supports himself and his family by 
 the produce of the two cows which he maintains on his glebe.
 
 13 
 
 But perhaps I shall best convey to the English public some idea 
 of the extent of the sufferings by giving the figures of a few 
 illustrative cases, and I must once more insist on the fact that 
 private means are the exception among the Welsh clergy : — 
 
 Tithe due last Audit. Tithes received. 
 
 (1) 
 
 (2) 
 
 £101 9 
 
 95 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 £13 7 8 
 
 13 13 9 
 
 (3) 
 
 48 
 
 133 
 
 158 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 (4) 
 
 (5) 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 48 
 
 19 14 9 
 
 (6) 
 
 (7) 
 
 113 10 
 
 82 2 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 42 9 1 
 
 21 15 8 
 
 (8) 
 
 250 
 
 200 
 
 110 
 
 145 
 
 137 
 
 138 9 
 
 137 13 
 
 309 19 
 
 
 
 .... 86 10 
 
 (9) 
 
 (10) 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 12 
 
 (11) 
 
 (12) 
 
 (13) 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 17 
 
 25 
 
 3 11 
 
 (14) 
 
 (15) 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 13 5 5 
 
 24 16 8 
 
 (16) 
 
 124 
 
 . 105 5 
 
 6 
 
 (17) 
 
 8 
 
 8 8 4 
 
 (18) 
 
 (19) 
 
 (20) 
 
 176 
 
 187 3 
 
 148 
 
 136 6 
 
 112 
 
 353 4 
 
 230 9 
 
 137 4 
 
 263 
 
 . .. 214 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 2 14 
 
 21 
 
 (21) 
 
 (22) 
 
 (23) 
 
 (24) 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 29 1 6 
 
 .. 13 
 
 79 1 8 
 
 92 16 5 
 
 (25) 
 
 9 
 
 41 7 5 
 
 (26) 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 (27) ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 87 
 
 (28) 
 
 (29) 
 
 344 
 
 188 11 
 
 66 
 
 87 5 10 
 
 (30) 
 
 235 
 
 50 
 
 In many of these cases fixed charges upon the living swallow 
 up the greater part of the money received, and, with rates and 
 taxes, leave but a narrow margin for the existence of the 
 parson. Thus, for instance, in case No. 8, the clergyman received 
 8GZ. 10s. Out of that sum he had to pay to Queen Anne's 
 Bounty-ofiice 211., and for rates and taxes 211. 17s. 7d. Remem- 
 bering that, as a rule, the sums stated in the first column form 
 the only income of the titheowning clergy, the imagination may 
 go to work upon the figures, given in these thirty illustra- 
 tive cases, with little fear of exaggerating the picture of misery 
 which it draws. 
 
 No immediate prospect of relief appears. The approaching 
 winter gives reason to fear that further extremities are still in 
 store for the clergy. One after another, clergymen have told me 
 that they have almost ceased to hope for legislation ; that they 
 wish the Government would leave the matter alone, if it only 
 raised expectations which Parliament mocked ; that the succes-
 
 14 
 
 sive failures of the recent Bills have given fresh encouragement to 
 the agitators, who regard them as the earnest of farther triumphs ; 
 that disestablishment and disendowment would be more tolerable 
 than the protracted misery of suspense. In such a reverse of 
 circumstances as the Welsh clergy have experienced, their wives 
 and children have sickened from sheer want of food, and the 
 men themselves, if they have retained their health, have scarcely 
 the courage to tell them that better days are yet in store. An 
 acute observer, intimately acquainted with the Church in Wales, 
 with the language of the people, and with the country generally, 
 expressed to me his fears that the clergy are becoming cowed 
 and dispirited even in the performance of their spiritual duties. 
 The fear is probably well founded. At least such a result is 
 naturally to be expected. Yet my own experience on one 
 occasion is perhaps worth quoting as an example of the opposite. 
 An elderly clergyman, in one of the most isolated hill districts, 
 has received from his living, in the year and a half of his present 
 incumbency, barely enough to pay Queen Anne's Bounty-office 
 and rates and taxes. I went with him from his house to see the 
 church by a path through the vicarage garden, which was over- 
 grown with weeds and branches of creepers. He walked with 
 difficulty, and, on the way, apologised for the condition of the 
 path by saying, "We hoped to receive money enough to get it 
 cleared," and for the slowness of his gait by the remark, " I 
 really do not get enough to eat." Yet this man was, at that very 
 time, arranging to hold additional weekday Mission services 
 during the winter months. 
 
 Is the distress of the Welsh clergy, it may be asked, greater 
 than that of the English glebeowners in the midland counties a 
 few winters ago? It is almost impossible to compare two condi- 
 tions so very different in many essential particulars. The 
 Welsh clergy are, for the most part, recruited from the farmer 
 class, and their clerical incomes are extremely small even when 
 they are punctually paid. The reverse of fortune is, therefore, 
 scarcely so great as in the very worst cases in the midland 
 counties, because the Welsh clergy are more inured to habitual 
 privations. But, with this exception, the sufferings of the 
 Welsh clergy are far more universal, intense, and trying to 
 bear. The glebeowner was surrounded by landlords and other 
 clergymen who were all his companions in misfortune ; farmers 
 and agricultural labourers, though their sympathy was perhaps 
 painful from its outspokenness, were, so to speak, in the same 
 boat with himself. But the Welsh clergy, with all the eagerness, 
 enthusiasm, and sensitiveness of the Celtic race, are altogether 
 deprived of sympathy and support. They are isolated from 
 their clerical neighbours in the remote and scattered parishes of 
 a mountainous country ; there are scarcely any resident gentry
 
 15 
 
 in the highlands ; they hardly see the face of a man who has 
 not been induced to join in the lawless agitation of which they 
 are the victims ; their self-respect is wounded to the quick by 
 the debts they have been forced to contract in the shops of the 
 village ; they are held up to public opprobrium by agitators who 
 belong to the same class from which they themselves are sprung ; 
 the hands that refuse them food are the hands of their brothers. 
 As I walked on a dull November evening through one of these 
 desolate hill parishes, seven miles from the nearest town and 
 railway station, and reviewed in my mind the position of the 
 man I had come to see, it was difficult to think of his prospects 
 in the coming winter— with a household menaced by sickness 
 and narrowly straitened in food and clothing— without something 
 like a shudder. 
 
 Perhaps it may be suggested that the clergy are personally 
 to blame for these conditions. It may be asked, " Did they not 
 insist torf strictly on their legal rights in the first instance?" 
 or, " Why don't they now distrain ? " I propose to answer these 
 two questions in their order. 
 
 Mr. Ellis, M.P., stated in the House of Commons that those 
 clergymen who had met farmers with reductions of 5 to 7^ 
 per cent, were cheerfully paid. This statement is a striking 
 admission, from one who is peculiarly the representative of Welsh 
 farmers, that the amount, and not the object, of the payment is 
 what the Welsh farmer resists. So far I accept the statement 
 gratefully. But my reason for quoting Mr. Ellis's statement 
 here is to prove that, though it was doubtless true of the indi- 
 vidual case or cases to which Mr. Ellis refers, it is, in its general 
 application, completely unfounded . Before giving statistics upon 
 this point I may make one observation. The point from which 
 Welsh landlords calculate the amount of their reductions in rent 
 or of their allowances is not the rental of 1836, but the maximum 
 rental of recent years. So also titheowners are entitled to 
 calculate their reductions from the years 1878-81, when rent- 
 charges stood at 112^., and not from the 1001. of 1836. The 
 result is this. While landlords have on an average reduced 
 their rents from 10 to 15 per cent, to meet agricultural depres- 
 sion, the Tithe Commutation Act has rednced tithe rent-charges, 
 universally and in all cases, by 30 per cent., or double the average 
 reduction made by Welsh landlords. 
 
 Besides this compulsory reduction of 30 per cent, in tithe rent- 
 charges, very large abatements have been made by the 
 parochial clergy. As I have flatly contradicted Mr. Ellis on this 
 point, I proceed to give figures in proof of my assertion. The 
 point which Mr. Ellis, presumably, sought to establish was, that 
 the parochial clergy of Wales provoked resistance to the pay- 
 ment of tithe by want of sympathy with the struggle of farmers
 
 16 
 
 against agricultural depression. The figures stated below prove 
 the contrary in the clearest possible manner. 
 
 In the diocese of Bangor there are 142 benefices, and returns 
 are before me from 122 of these benefices. In 8 cases there are 
 either no tithes or none have been paid to the present incum- 
 bent. There remain 114 benefices. 
 
 In 41 cases there are no arrears, mostly owing to the action 
 of large landlords who have paid the tithe rent-charges directly 
 to the clergymen. In 73 cases there are arrears, ranging in 
 amount from 204i. (for 1888 only) to very small sums. In 56 
 cases no abatements of a general character were made, but in 
 considerably more than half of these instances the immunity 
 from abatements as well as from arrears was due to the action of 
 landlords who assumed the payment of the rent-charges. In 58 
 cases abatements were made — in 1886, 1887, 1888, and the first 
 audit of 1889— though in many instances no abatements were 
 offered, or asked for, in July of the present year, owing to the 
 abnormally high prices of agricultural produce in North Wales. 
 In 1888 one titheowner gave from 15 to 20 per cent., and, as a 
 reward, his tithepayers owe him exceptionally large arrears ; 
 22 gave 10 per cent., only 4 of whom escaped without arrears ; 
 7 gave 7| per cent., 1 gave 6 per cent., and 21 5 per cent. The 
 remaining 6 gave various sums under 5 per cent. 
 
 In the diocese of St. Asaph there are 207 benefices, 23 of 
 which have no tithes. Out of the remaining 184 benefices, I 
 have analysed the returns of 172. 
 
 Out of 172 benefices, 44 have no arrears, owing, in the majority 
 of cases, to the landlords having undertaken the payment of the 
 rent-charges. The remaining 128 have arrears of different 
 amounts. In 45 cases no abatements have been made, and 
 here, again, the immunity is due to the action of the landlords. 
 In 127 cases abatements have been made or offered in 1887, 
 1888, and 1889. One titheowner gave 20 per cent., with the 
 result that his arrears amount to 214L 5s. 2d. The remaining 
 cases may be stated thus : — 
 
 1. 15 titheowners gave 15 per cent. 
 
 2. 5 „ „ m » 
 
 3. 70 „ „ 10 
 
 4. 16 „ „ 74 
 
 5. 14 „ „ 5 „ 
 
 6. 6 „ „ different sums under 5 per cent. 
 
 Two rural deaneries in the neighbourhood of Denbigh contain 
 twenty-five benefices from which I have returns. The figures 
 work out as follows : — 
 
 1. 8 titheowners gave 15 per cent., and their arrears = £791 6s. 9d. 
 
 2. 15 „ „ 10 per cent., „ „ =£1,305 193. 9d. 
 
 3. 1 „ „ 5 per cent., and his „ = £118 Os. Od. 
 
 4. 1 made no general abatement, ,, „ = £7 18s. 2d.
 
 17 
 
 To sum up what has been said. The two dioceses contain 
 349 benefices, and returns have been analysed from 317 benefices. 
 In 31 cases there are no tithes. Out of the remaining 286 
 benefices, 85 have no arrears; and 101 have no abate- 
 ments. The immunity may be explained in two-thirds of the 
 cases by the action of the landlords. In 201 out of the 286 
 benefices, there are arrears ; and in 185 out of the 286 abate- 
 ments have been made in the following proportions : — 
 
 1. 1 titheowner has given 20 per cent. 
 
 2. 1 „ „ from 15 to 20 per cent. 
 
 3. 15 „ „ 15 
 
 4. 5 „ „ 12i 
 
 5. 92 „ „ 10 
 
 6. 23 „ „ 7i 
 
 7. 1 . „ „ 6 
 
 8. 35 „ „ 5 
 
 9. 12 „ „ different sums under 5 per cent. 
 Are there any other landlords in Wales, however wealthy, who 
 have evinced their sympathy with agricultural depression more 
 practically than the clerical titheowners, whose pittances have 
 been reduced within the last ten years by 30 per cent,, and who 
 in addition have given back such large remissions? 
 
 These figures will, I think, prove beyond all question that the 
 statement of Mr. Ellis, M.P., is, in its general application, 
 calculated to give an entirely false impression of the facts. It 
 may be stated, beyond fear of contradiction, that in no one case 
 of real poverty have reductions been refused. At first the 
 clergy attempted to decide each case upon its merits. But 
 many of them have since been compelled to make general 
 abatements to farmers who could, in numerous instances, 
 buy them up over and over again. The men who have 
 come off best are those, who have resolutely refused 
 to make any terms with their parishioners, and experience 
 proves that concessions have only stimulated the demand for 
 larger and larger remissions. It may be true that, in individual 
 cases, opposition has been created by too strict an adherence to 
 legal rights or exasperated by personal feeling. I certainly 
 encountered one clergyman to whom it would have been a 
 pleasure to refuse payment, and it is difl&cult to praise the 
 prudence of the titheowner in the following transaction. A 
 clergyman issued the statutory notice of his intention to 
 distrain upon the occupiers of land, out of which various unpaid 
 sums of tithe rent-charge issued. The fee for this notice, which 
 at law becomes part of the rent-charge, is 2s. 6d. On the receipt 
 of the notice, the tithepayers offered payment ; but the money 
 was refused unless the fee for the notices was also paid. The 
 result, was, that the tithepayers withheld payment altogether. 
 Such instances, whether of personal unpopularity or want of 
 tact, must necessarily occur among a large body of fallible
 
 18 
 
 mortals. But as a rule, the clergy have acted with a patience 
 and a forbearance which, from a worldly point of view, was, in 
 the earlier stages of the agitation, carried beyond pradent limits. 
 
 There still remains the qaestion, Why, when reasonable and 
 even extortionate, abatements are offered without success, do 
 not the clergy distrain ? 
 
 Every clergyman is reluctant to disturb the peace of his 
 parish by initiating legal proceedings against his parishioners. 
 He knows that he probably will only inflame the agitation. The 
 worst cases are those of the smallest tithepayers. A Noncon- 
 formist preacher owed some tithe, and refused payment. His 
 pony was seized and sold, and Wales resounded with outcries 
 against the monstrous tyranny. The amount which the debtor 
 owed was 4|d. Whether the titheowner succeeds or fails in 
 recovering his money, his spiritual influence is crippled, if not 
 destroyed. " Before distraint," said a clergyman to me, "my 
 parishioners were respectful and civil enough. Now they scowl 
 at me like savages." Only dire necessity, or a strong sense 
 of the duty which a beneficed clergyman owes to the trust 
 estate which is his for his life only, makes the clerical tithe- 
 owner resort to extremities. Supposing that he has made up 
 his mind to distrain, formidable diSiculties stand in his way. 
 
 The number of tithepayers is often very large, and the sums 
 which they owe are extremely small. In one parish there are 
 300 tithepayers, in another 240, owing sums varying from 2d. 
 to 1^. Even where the numbers are less inconvenient, or where 
 it might be supposed that a few examples would reduce the rest 
 to submission, insuperable obstacles prevent the application of 
 the remedy. The costs of distraint* which are allowed against 
 the tithepayer, are calculated upon a scale which does not satisfy 
 the expenses of a peaceful process, and are totally disproportioned 
 to the outlay demanded to meet organised resistance. To carry 
 out a distraint successfully, a technical training and long expe- 
 rience are needed. And it is quite plain, that, under the most 
 
 ' * The statutory charges for recoverinfr arrears of tithe rent-charf!;e are as 
 follows: — Scale 1. Where the sum demanded exceeds £20. 
 For levying distress— 3 per cent, up to £50. 
 
 2^ „ above £50, and not exceeding £200. 
 1 ,, on any sum above. 
 If a man is left in possession, 5s. per day. 
 For advertisements, the sum paid. 
 Sale commission— 71 per cent, up to £100. 
 
 5 „ on next £200. 
 4 „ do. £200. 
 
 3 „ do. £500. 
 
 21 „ exceeding £1,000. 
 Scale 2. Where the sum demanded does not exceed £20. 
 For levying distress, 3s. 
 If a man is left in possession, 4s. 6d. per day. 
 For expenses of advertising (if any), 10s. 
 Commission on sale, Is. in the pound. 
 Where an appraisement is demanded of the distress, the fee is 2| per cent, 
 of the value as appraised, and the stamps.
 
 19 
 
 favourable circumstances, the scale given below will not cover 
 the necessary expenses of recovering arrears of tithe rent-charge, 
 or offer any adequate remuneration for the work required. 
 Supposing that the land from which the tithe rent-charge arises 
 is situated close to the office of the distraining agent, supposing 
 that no hotel, posting, or travelling expenses are incurred, that 
 no clerk is required to accompany the agent, and that there is no 
 active and general opposition to the process, it is probable that the 
 additional expenses of recovering a sum not exceeding 201. would be 
 scarcely less than three guineas. And the whole of this extra cost, 
 over and above scale 2, must be borne by the titheowner. On the 
 other hand, if the conditions are unfavourable, if there is deter- 
 mined opposition to the legal process of distraint led by skilful 
 legal advisers, if the distance to be travelled is great, if a large 
 staff of emergency men have to be conveyed in brakes many 
 miles from the nearest railway station, if the owner of the 
 property distrained upon renders the usual method of selling by 
 auction abortive, the expenses are increased one hundred-fold. 
 Take, for instance, the seizure of a rick of hay. The agent 
 cannot sell the rick by auction on the spot ; he must sell it by 
 valuation and remove it. To remove hay in selling condition 
 requires skilled cutters and binders, and the hiring of men, 
 wagons, and horses. Yet the only costs with which the defaulter 
 is chargeable remain those set out in the second scale, and the 
 expense falls, practically speaking, entirely upon the tithe- 
 owner. Welsh farmers are perfectly aware of this. They know 
 that it will not pay the parson to distrain, and that, if he succeeds 
 in recovering his tithe, he only wins a Pyrrhic victory which 
 is more disastrous to the victor than to the vanquished. 
 
 A few instances will suffice to illustrate this point. I cannot 
 believe that any good purpose is served by keeping the figures 
 in concealment, or that similar items of account are not perfectly 
 well known to the advisers of recalcitrant tithepayers. The 
 publication of the costs of distraints cannot make the position 
 of titheowners worse, and the figures form part of the evidence 
 that the parochial clergy of Wales are entirely unprotected 
 against the anti-tithe agitation. 
 
 1. Two small sums were distrained for, amounting, with the 
 costs, to 71. 3s. 8d. The titheowner recovered the money, but 
 the additional expense to himself was 301. His loss on the 
 transaction was therefore 221. 16s. 4d. 
 
 2. In August, 1886, SOI. was levied by distraint from five 
 defaulters. The expense to the titheowner was 1001., and for 
 this sum the cows, pony, and furniture of the parson are pledged. 
 These figures are guaranteed by the titheowner to be accurate, 
 and his accounts are offered for inspection to prove their 
 genuineness.
 
 20 
 
 3. Twelve defaulting tithepayers were distrained upon for the 
 snm of 56L 5s. 8d. The expense to the titheowner was 291. 19a. 3d., 
 and he had to return, by way of abatement on the sums 
 recovered, 7^. 7s. 6d. Thus the cost of recovering 561. 5s. 8d. 
 was 371. 6s. 9d. 
 
 4. In March, 1889, four distraints were levied for 63^. 17s. 
 The money was recovered, but the costs to the titheowner were 
 411. 10s. 
 
 5. Within the last six months a rick of hay was seized under 
 a distraint for 43^. When the clergyman applied to the dis- 
 training agent for the balance of his account, he received the 
 answer that the expenses were already 40Z., and that, when they 
 were all estimated, the account would be against the titheowner. 
 
 These illustrations might be multiplied indefinitely. It is no 
 exaggeration to say that, in hill districts, remote from railway 
 stations, and determined to oppose the legal process, the 
 expenses of distraints are so enormous that the so-called remedy 
 is absolutely and entirely useless. 
 
 Nor do the difficulties of the titheowner end here. Unless 
 he can procure an agent and bailiffs from London, he can 
 get no one to act for him. Local men either refuse point-blank, 
 or ask a ruinous per-centage which is intended to be equivalent 
 to a refusal. Very few men will undertake so dangerous a task 
 as the collection of tithe rent-charges, or will expose themselves 
 to the jeers, hoots, and insults of a crowd of women and boys, 
 to be drenched with boiling water, or to be pelted with rotten 
 eggs, garbage, and stones. If agents are bold enough to confront 
 these dangers and annoyances, recourse is had to intimidation of 
 another kind. An agent was warned, that, if he continued to 
 collect tithes, his house would be burned over his head and that 
 of his bedridden mother. More often the intimidation is of 
 another kind. The agent finds his business leaving him, and 
 the significant hint is dropped that he would succeed better if 
 he ceased to act for the parson. Assuming, however, that an 
 agent is obtained, there is often difiiculty in obtaining efficient 
 support from the county constabulary. It is natural that the 
 police officials should desire to keep on good terms with the 
 country, and that they should endeavour to make peace between 
 the contending parties. But the results are not always fortu- 
 nate. Amiability in those responsible for law and order is a 
 dangerous virtue. On this point, and on the riots which have 
 taken place at distraints, I shall have more to say in my third 
 letter.
 
 21 
 
 III.— THE REMEDIES. 
 
 In my first two letters I endeavoured to show how the anti- 
 tithe agitation gained its footing in Wales, how tithepayers sat 
 down to starve out the clergy, and how they, driven to despera- 
 tion by hunger, either acquiesced in ruinous extortions, or com- 
 menced legal proceedings, obtained an agent from a distance, and 
 attempted to recover their money by the still more ruinous 
 process of distraint. Distraining agents may be passively or 
 actively resisted. The following account of a distraint at 
 Llandwrog is typical of a comparatively orderly distraint. It is 
 condensed from 1> Herald Cymraeg for December, 1888, a 
 Carnarvon newspaper which enjoys an extensive circulation in 
 the west of North Wales, and bears a higher character than 
 most of its competitors among the vernacular press. 
 
 It was known in the neighbourhood that a visit to a certain 
 group of farms was expected from " the angels of the Church," 
 and a crowd of women and children were assembled near the 
 farm where the proceedings were to commence. On their first 
 arrival the reporters were mistaken for the bailiffs. That error 
 corrected, they were able to observe the next event of interest, 
 which was the appearance on the scene of four youug men, 
 bearing a coffin with appropriate gravity and solemnity, and 
 accompanied by horns playing a sort of " Dead March." The 
 coffin, which contained an effigy of a clergyman clad in a surplice, 
 bore various inscriptions recording the decease of parochial 
 tithes, and the " end of oppression for the land of Cambria." 
 Shortly after the arrival of the coffin, the distraining agent was 
 seen approaching the farm, accompanied by the Chief Constable, 
 and two local policemen. The horns blared ; the men roared ; 
 the women screamed ; the children yelled ; and in the midst of 
 the din, the coffin was carried to meet the agent, and then 
 headed the procession towards the farm. At the same time a 
 lad took up his place at the car of Mr. Carter, the agent, with a 
 horn, which he blew till his face grew double its natural size. 
 Throughout the day, wherever Mr. Carter moved, there was the 
 lad with his horn, pursuing him like some hideous nightmare. 
 In the midst of an uproar and shouting which is described as 
 intolerable, the agent proceeded to his business. In order to 
 procure silence among the people while the auction was conducted,
 
 22 
 
 the Chief Constable made them a speech. He is reported to 
 have spoken as follows : — 
 
 " You have come here to express your sympathy with the farmer, 
 and to protest against injustice. You have a perfect right to do this, 
 if only you keep within legal bounds. I am here because I am 
 responsible that those who carry out the law shall be enabled to do 
 so peacefully. I have come here with only two constables of the 
 neighbourhood, and I ask you to meet me in the same spirit. You 
 have begun splendidly. Let me hope that the business will be carried 
 out peacefully, and that you will not disturb the auctioneer too 
 much. And, considering the unpleasant task he has to perform, I 
 hope you will give him all fair play." 
 
 Three cheers were given for the Chief Constable at the con- 
 clusion of this speech. As soon as the business was concluded, 
 the agent proceeded to another farm. The coffin led the way, 
 and the procession, reinforced by another eflBgy of a clergyman, 
 followed. Mr. Carter entered the tenant's house to attempt a 
 compromise. His efforts were useless. As he made his way to 
 the rick-yard, some of the bystanders threw water over him, 
 and as soon as he took up his place to sell, the lad with his horn 
 was at his ear, and never ceased blowing till he had concluded 
 his business. On the way to the next farm the coffin was 
 followed by a donkey, ridden by a child in a surplice. The 
 donkey seemed conscious of the solemnity of the occasion, 
 perhaps attracted by the turnip that formed the head 
 of " Person Degwm " in the coffin, for it followed 
 with the most decorous pertinacity. At this farm the 
 tenant asked for 10 per cent, reduction. But the auction 
 proceeded, the lad being again black in the face with his efforts 
 on the horn, and his instrument being drowned by the general 
 uproar. Affairs looked threatening, and an attempt was made 
 to hustle Mr. Carter. But the Chief Constable appealed to the 
 crowd to give Mr. Carter " fair play," saying " they might shout if 
 they liked, only they must not lay hands on any one." The hint 
 was at once taken, and a din was raised which was said to be 
 indescribable and which promised to be interminable. When 
 silence was for a moment restored, the Chief Constable thanked 
 the crowd for taking his hint about the shouting, and his 
 remarks were received with great laughter. Meanwhile, eggs 
 were thrown at Mr. Carter, and some struck him. Something 
 was also thrust down his back, which annoyed him as if it was 
 the " itch." With these and similar interruptions, the agent 
 effected his distraints upon four farms. At the conclusion, the 
 Chief Constable thanked the people for the way in which they 
 had behaved, and received three hearty cheers. He was 
 followed by Mr. Carter, who also thanked the people for the 
 kind way in which they had treated him during his discharge of 
 an unpleasant duty. The proceedings ended with a luncheon, 
 at which the Chief Constable, the agent, and others were
 
 23 
 
 hospitably entertained by one o£ the tenants on whom the 
 distress was levied. r . , jt- 
 
 This account of a peaceful distraint is typical of its class. ^ it 
 illustrates the discomfort and annoyance to which distraining 
 a-ents are exposed, as well as the attitude which guardians of 
 order adopt towards the movement. But the attendant circum- 
 stances necessarily vary. Sometimes well-known Welsh hymns, 
 like " Caer Salem," are sung to give the proceedings a religious 
 character. Sometimes the clergyman or the Bishop of the diocese 
 is burned or drowned, or both drowned and burned, in effigy. 
 Sometimes scandalous acts of blasphemy or indecency are 
 perpetrated. Thus the Sacraments have been grossly travestied , 
 and on one occasion women behaved towards the clerical 
 effigy with filthy indecencies, and prolonged the exhibition 
 without interruption from two Konconformist preachers, who 
 were watching the proceedings. At these comparatively 
 peaceful gatherings, the rowdyism was generally the work ot 
 boys The distraint was made the occasion for a general holiday 
 and an abundance of rude horseplay. But farmers who have 
 once experienced the nuisance of these tumultuous gatherings 
 npon their land are not disposed to repeat the experiment. This 
 holiday-making element in the agitation will, I venture to think, 
 disappear. Its place will be supplied by sullen determination to 
 pay no tithe rent-charges except under compulsion. 
 
 The presence of Nonconformist preachers at these gatherings 
 is a sign of fair weather, their absence a storm signal. If they 
 are present, no serious opposition is to be expected ; if they are 
 absent, " look out for a row." Such is the experience of one of 
 the Chief Constables. From the loss which it entails upon 
 farmers, merry-making on a large scale will probably be 
 abandoned at distraints. Nor is it likely that violent resistance 
 will be resorted to in any number of cases. Under the present 
 law tithepayers have the game in their own hands, without 
 risking cracked heads. But on several occasions serious conse- 
 quences resulted from active opposition to distraints. The 
 following case occurred in South Wales. A strong body of 
 police accompanied the distraining agent to assist in the 
 recovery of tithe rent-charges. At the first farm they dis- 
 armed seventeen men of pitchforks, and subsequent events 
 proved the wisdom of the action. In each case the pitchforks 
 could only be captured by knocking down the bearer. In one 
 instance, a man, when disarmed of his pitchfork, drew his knife. 
 As the agent was making his way to the next farm through a 
 narrow lane, with a high fence on either side, he and the police 
 were attacked by showers of stones. Their position became so 
 serious that the police were compelled to charge the hedges, 
 which were lined on either side by men armed with sticks. 
 Fortunately for the distraining party, the sticks were too long,
 
 24 
 
 and the police were able to get under them. A short bnt 
 desperate struggle followed. One policeman was felled, and 
 while he lay upon the ground, four men beat him about the head 
 as though he were a rattlesnake. It is doubtful whether he will 
 ever entirely recover. Finally the rioters were routed, but they 
 fought, as an inspector who was present told me, like savages, 
 and did not give way till fifty had had their heads cracked. 
 
 Such scenes as these are not likely to be repeated. They 
 certainly will not recur, so long as distraining agents are 
 supported by a sufficient force. But county councils show a 
 tendency to disallow the expenses incurred in providing police 
 protection. In one of the Welsh counties, a man was seen 
 armed with a sledge-hammer, and assisting the farmers in active 
 resistance to the distraint. A few days later, the same man 
 took his place upon the Police Committee of the County Council, 
 whose duty it was to investigate the additional expenditure 
 required to carry out the law. If the tendency to disallow 
 expenses incurred in protecting tithe agents gains ground, the 
 last shred of legal protection will be taken from titheowners. 
 They will be left, literally as well as practically, without a 
 remedy. For the present, however, passive resistance is 
 adopted as the most embarrassing and the most effective course. 
 Non-payment of all tithes except under compulsion is now the 
 mot d'ordre of the Liberationist leaders. Mr.. Gee has pro- 
 pounded the theory that the law provides two alternative modes 
 of payment, one optional, the other by distraint. Law-abiding 
 farmers are thus taught to consider, that they are only availing 
 themselves of their legal rights if they refuse to pay tithe 
 except under compulsion. To educated persons, or even dis- 
 interested persons of no education, the fallacy is sufficiently 
 obvious. On Mr. Gee's contention, all the sanctions by which 
 the law seeks to enforce a particular line of conduct are only 
 alternatives. Every lawbreaker may therefore justify his 
 conduct by the plea that he has only exercised the option which 
 the law provides. But the theory is sufficiently ingenious to 
 obliterate whatever sense of right and wrong may remain in the 
 minds of those whose pecuniary interests prompt them to accept 
 the interpretation, and the applicability of the same argument 
 to rents has doubtless not escaped the intelligence of the Welsh 
 farmer. 
 
 Upon the question of partial, or total, non-payment of tithe 
 rent-charges North and South Wales appear to be divided. In 
 North Wales, the most popular programme has hitherto been to 
 withhold all tithe rent-charges, unless extortionate abatements 
 are allowed. The plan has worked with success, for it has 
 placed several thousands of pounds in the pockets of farmers, 
 and has probably educated them for the more advanced move- 
 ment which has been inaugurated in South Wales. The South
 
 25 
 
 Wales and MonmouthsWre Liberal Federation held a meeting 
 at Cardiff on the 22nd of July, 1889. Their deliberations 
 resulted in a new departure of considerable importance. It 
 was decided to instruct Welsh members to resist with all the 
 forms of the House of Commons the progress of the Bill to 
 facilitate the recovery of tithe rent-charges, which was then 
 before Parliament. At the same time, the official policy of 
 Welsh Liberalism towards the tithe question was revolu- 
 tionised. The Federation affirmed that the time had now 
 arrived, when the movement against paying tithes, as a 
 protest against their present application, should be made 
 general throughout Wales, and that steps should be taken 
 to assist farmers in withholding all tithes until the proceeds 
 were devoted to secular purposes. To effect this object a 
 Farmers' Defence Fxmd was opened, and subscriptions were 
 invited by the South Wales Daily Neivs. On the 9th of 
 November the Daily Neivs announced that the total amount of 
 subscriptions to the fund received by them was 424Z. lis. The 
 sum does not at present appear formidable, and it can hardly 
 have realised the expectation of its supporters. The decisions 
 of the Federation in July were circulated by the Carnarvon 
 Herald in English and Welsh, and criticisms were invited by 
 the editors upon the proposals, I do not know with what 
 result. Kepresentatives of the respective policies recently met 
 at Llandrindod to concert a common basis of action ; but it is 
 believed that, at present, no agreement has been arrived at. 
 
 Other symptons of disunion are manifest among the anti- 
 tithe agitators. Some few Nonconformists of the older school 
 do not sympathise with the aggressive hostility of younger men 
 towards the Established Church. Others, who belong to the 
 more advanced party, have protested— to their credit be it 
 spoken— against the inhumanity with which the parochial clergy 
 are treated, as a disgrace, if not a hindrance, to the cause of 
 " religious equality." Many men who, on religious grounds, are 
 opposed to National Established Churches, have deprecated that 
 subordination of religion to political animosity which characterises 
 some sections of their associates. By many who contemplate the 
 question from a party standpoint, the policy of the anti-tithe, 
 agitation is condemned as a tactical mistake. " It is idle," they 
 say, "to agitate noiv, when the Conservatives are in office, 
 because it is certain that disestablishment will not be conceded. 
 Wait till the Liberals are in office ; then, if the measure is 
 refused, agitate with all your might." In their opinion, the 
 only effect of the agitation will be a Tithe Bill, which may strike 
 the weapon from their hands, and, at all events, will render the 
 work of agitators more difficult. Among farmers, the return 
 of prosperity has here and there quickened dormant consciences. 
 They once more make profits, and, feeling the pinch less acutely,
 
 26 
 
 have resumed payment. Bat such cases are admittedly rare. 
 Finally, miners and agricultural labourers do not, in many 
 parishes, approve of the dishonesty of farmers, and express their 
 opinions forcibly that they ought to pay their legal debts. 
 
 To point out these elements of disunion is one thing. To say 
 that the agitation is subsiding is another. In its noisiest and most 
 violent form, the agitation has undoubtedly subsided. But still 
 waters run deepest. Welsh farmers have for the last three 
 years kept in their own pockets the money of the titheowners ; 
 they have done so with impunity ; and, if they no longer resist 
 with violence, it is because they have learned to defy the law 
 while doing nothing of which the law can lay hold. Meanwhile, 
 in many cases, the scruples of the well-disposed have been over- 
 powered by the profits and long immunity enjoyed by the 
 disaffected. There is more terrorism, more combination, 
 and better organisation. The introduction of the Tithe Rent- 
 charge Recovery Bill has indeed produced a temporary lull, 
 because the clergy, for the time, acquiesced in the terms 
 of the agitators, or held their hands in hope of legisla- 
 tion. Now, however, they must either distrain, or forfeit 
 the half-year's tithe, which will become irrecoverable by 
 lapse of time. It would be rash to conclude that the agita- 
 tion is dying because circumstances have made it dormant. 
 Farmers know that they are masters of the situation, and do 
 what they like. If they choose to withhold payment altogether 
 they do so with practical impunity. Even those who intend 
 ultimately to pay begin only to pay when it suits their conve- 
 nience. Carelessness, delay, unpunctuality pass readily into 
 actual refusal of payment. Honest tithepayers are taunted by 
 their neighbours with their folly. Every sort of pressure is 
 brought to bear upon them to join the agitation. Intimidation 
 in this world and the next is freely used by their spiritual guides, 
 who are often paid agents of the Liberationist Society. Public 
 and private meetings are held frequently in the chapels to keep 
 alive the agitation. Such men as Dr. Enoch Davies, in South 
 Wales, parade the country collecting subscriptions for the " poor 
 farmers." Tithepayers who hesitate to join the movement 
 see their neighbours reaping the fruits of dishonesty ; they are 
 told, and the recent failure of the Tithe Rent-charge Bill is 
 alleged as a proof, that their victory is won ; they are asked 
 whether claims without remedies, like those of titheowners, 
 must not necessarily rest on bad titles, since the law cannot be 
 invoked to enforce them ; they see that funds are being collected 
 for their defence and for their legal expenses. And if they 
 resist social pressure, religious threats, and pecuniary bribes 
 the voice of the agitators assumes a sterner tone of menace. 
 Anonymous letters are circulated, of which the two following are 
 specimens. The second has for Welshmen peculiar significance : —
 
 " Caution ! 
 " All who pay tithes are cowards ! and all informers (hradychivr) 
 had better look out ! ! ! (Signed) " Captain Moonlight." 
 
 " Notice. 
 " All my daughters are hereby requested to be in Cardigan on 
 Wednesday next to arrange matters. (Signed) " Becca." 
 
 In the face of all these facts, the calm on the surface is 
 treacherous. Any combined or isolated renewal of attempts on 
 the part of the clergy to recover their arrears of tithe would 
 probably show that the determination to withhold payment 
 except under compulsion is stronger than ever, since it has been 
 increased by the action of the South Wales and Monmouthshire 
 Federation, and by the inauguration of the farmers' defence 
 fund. 
 
 There is no subject in the whole range of domestic policv 
 which offers a wider field of discussion than the endowment of 
 National Established Churches ; none on which passions are 
 more powerfully enlisted on either side. But, waiving all 
 questions of the origin, propriety, or application, of the 
 endowments, tithe rent-charges are a legal impost, legally 
 claimed on the one side and legally due on the other. Under 
 no conceivable circumstances can they become the property of 
 the men who now enjoy their use by withholding payment from 
 the lawful owners. The parochial clergy are, as I have shown, 
 left entirely without remedy or protection against, what all sides 
 must concede to be, a lawless confiscation of the property. The 
 existing law has altogether broken down. The half-hearted 
 efforts of the Government have hitherto only intensified the 
 miseries of their position, till it has become intolerable. The 
 Welsh clergy are entitled to relief in the name of humanity and 
 of justice. Humanity demands their relief, because the agitation 
 has deprived of their lawful income a body of educated men 
 against whom, as individuals, their bitterest enemies make no 
 accusation, reduced them to destitution and sometimes to 
 absolute want, exposed them to extreme privations, stripped 
 them of every luxury, cut them short even in the necessaries of 
 existence, broken them down in health, crushed their energies, 
 forced them to drop insurances on their lives, compelled 
 them to remove their children from school, driven them 
 to sell furniture to provide food for their families. Justice, 
 and, it may be added, commonsense, demand their 
 relief, because, as things at present stand, the parochial 
 clergy of Wales are practically treated as outlaws, pre- 
 cluded from asserting the commonest rights of property, 
 although no charge is brought against them, and although 
 nothing in their lives is alleged to justify their exclusion from 
 privileges which every other subject of the Queen enjoys. The 
 precedent of the tithe agitation against the Irish clergy in
 
 28 
 
 1831-4 is often quoted by one side or the other in discussions 
 upon Church endowments. Here it is only quoted to illustrate 
 how keenly the House of Commons of that day appreciated the 
 hardship of the titheowner's position under similar circum- 
 stances. In 1832, the House of Commons resolved to advance 
 sums out of the Consolidated Fund to relieve distress caused by 
 the agitation, and to recover the tithes as Crown debts from 
 the persons by whom they were justly payable. Again, in 1833, 
 the Government proposed an advance of a million of money in 
 order, as Lord Althorp stated, to remove from the clergy the 
 necessity of prosecuting defaulters for tithes in arrears for 
 1831, 1832, and 1833. The advance was to be repaid by a land- 
 tax charged upon all tithable lands ; but receipts for tithes 
 were accepted as payment of the tax, so that it only fell on 
 those lands from which no payments had been made during the 
 period. The resolution in which this last proposal was embodied 
 was carried by a majority of 230 in a House of 310. 
 
 Times are changed now. Relief in this form is scarcely to be 
 expected in 1890, though the conditions are, on a less extensive 
 scale, identical. Some remedy is, however, necessary, and will 
 probably be conceded. What form will it take? 
 
 At the end of last session, the Government accepted an 
 amended Bill, which embodied two legislative changes. In the 
 first place, as an alternative to distraint, the Bill proposed 
 to make tithe rent-charges recoverable, like other ordinary 
 debts, in the county court. In the second place, the Bill pro- 
 posed to transfer the direct liability for tithe rent-charges from 
 occupiers to owners. The Welsh clergy are, it is believed, 
 almost unanimously in favour of these two changes, and I only 
 say " almost " because there are men, here and there, who 
 deprecate any legislation whatsoever. If it should prove 
 impossible to obtain both these legislative changes, and it 
 becomes necessary to choose between the two, I believe the 
 majority of the clergy would prefer the county court process 
 to the compulsory transfer of direct liability. The Welsh clergy 
 cannot afford to wait, for their position is already almost 
 untenable. It is ill talking between full men and fasting. The 
 less ground the Bill covers, the greater chance there is of its 
 acceptance. But the conviction is daily gaining ground, that, 
 though it is vitally necessary to obtain an Act embodying one or 
 both of these smaller principles as speedily as possible, a larger 
 measure is required to destroy the agitation, and that nothing 
 short of a well-matured scheme of redemption affords the 
 slightest prospect of a radical cure. Upon these points I pro- 
 pose to say a few words in conclusion. 
 
 The compulsory transfer of the direct liability for tithe rent- 
 charges from occupiers to owners would confer an immense 
 boon upon the Welsh clergy. It would also be a tardy act of
 
 29 
 
 moral justice. Though section 80 of the Commutation Act of 
 1836 undoubtedly permits landlords to contract with tenants 
 that the latter should pay the tithe, the clause is an evasion of the 
 spirit of the bargain. It is evident from the debates upon the 
 Bill, that one of the advantages, for which clerical titheowners 
 made immense pecuniary sacrifices, was the severance of their 
 existing relations to farmers of creditor and debtor and the direct 
 payment of tithe rent-charges by landlords. Lord Grey, who 
 was himself a member of the Cabinet committee upon the Tithe 
 Rent-charge Commutation, has stated that payment by landlords 
 was a term of the bargain, and in his own practice he has loyally 
 adhered to it. Other landlords have acted, as they are plainly 
 entitled to do, within their legal rights ; they have kept the 
 letter and evaded the spirit of their compact. During the 
 present agitation, several of the largest landlords in Wales 
 have undertaken the direct payment of the charge. In no 
 instance has the change occasioned the slightest opposition. 
 The tenancies are for the most part yearly, and in Wales, 
 whatever may be the case in England, no difficulty is expe- 
 rienced in letting land at present rentals. A dozen candidates 
 apply for every vacant farm. 
 
 The change is desired by the clergy and also by farmers. 
 But there is no doubt that the transfer of liability is unpopular 
 among a large section of landlords. Even to them, however, the 
 change, apart from the imprudence of permitting their party- 
 wall to remain on fire, would, in one respect, prove advantageous. 
 At present they are necessarily unable to measure the exact 
 length of tether which they can safely allow to tenants. If 
 tithe rent-charges are in arrear as well as rents, the first charge 
 on the security is the parson's. When both rent and tithe are 
 paid by the landlord, there can be no charge prior to his own. 
 But the dread that the transfer of liability may enhance the 
 value of the titheowner's property at their expense, and the 
 diflB.culty which has been experienced in obtaining tenants for 
 farms, cause many landlords to resist the measure. Xo proof 
 has ever been alleged that the transfer would raise the value of 
 rent-charges beyond the point at which they stood before they 
 were depreciated by a lawless agitation. The difficulty, if it be 
 a real one, might be met by fixing the maximum number of 
 years' purchase obtainable for tithe rent-charges issuing 
 from agricultural land. Nor is the fear that, if landlords 
 attempt to add tithes to their rents, the tithes will in 
 the end be paid out of their own pockets, justified by 
 recent results. Even in England the position of landlords has 
 immensely improved during the past year, and farmers are no 
 longer masters of the situation. In Wales, on the other hand, 
 no landlord is confronted by any difficulty of this kind. Yet, 
 in spite of praiseworthy examples, many of the worst cases in
 
 30 
 
 North Wales have occurred upon the estate of large landlords, 
 who own every acre in the parish. In one instance of pitiable- 
 distress, the landowner is a Churchwoman, but her resident sub- 
 agent is a Nonconformist, and every farm is let to Noncon- 
 formists. Tithe rent-charges are still falling, while rents are 
 once more rising. Yet if the transfer of liability would, on largp 
 estates, cause additional expense for clerks' work, the clergy 
 would not, I presume, resist the payment of a per-centage in all 
 cases in which it was demanded. 
 
 If all landlords assumed the direct liability for tithe rent- 
 charge, the change would enormously diminish the area of the 
 agitation. The Welsh vernacular press recognises this fact. It 
 has already nrgod farmers to refuse to pay rent to those land- 
 lords who add tithes to rents. But, judging from the failure 
 of the movement for the three F's, the advice is not at present 
 formidable, and does not increase the danger of a "No rent" 
 agitation. It may therefore be assumed that, in Wales at least, 
 the change could be effected without difficulty, and that it would 
 pacify many of the parishes in which the agitation now 
 flourishes. But the result would necessarily be local and partial. 
 The small freeholders, who own the lands they occupy, would 
 be unaffected. Here no transfer of liability takes place. Some 
 other means must therefore be adopted to protect titheowners 
 from the confiscation of their property by small owners. 
 
 There is something to be said for some of the small freeholders 
 of Cardiganshire and quarrymen of Carnarvon. Both classes 
 have been carefully taught to believe that, if tithes could only 
 be abolished as hateful contributions to an alien Church, 
 their properties would become so much the more valuable. It is 
 difficult to penetrate the recesses of the dark and silent minds 
 of rural populations. But it seems probable that, at the time of 
 their purchase, many of them were ignorant of the charge to 
 which their land was liable. In Cardiganshire, a grievance 
 admittedly exists which deserves special notice. And it seems 
 to tne that the same grievance, in all probability, lies at the root 
 of some of the agitation among the quarrymen of Carnarvon, 
 who have bought the small plots of ground which are occupied 
 by their cottages and gardens. When estates are cut up for 
 sales in very small lots, the liability to tithe rent-charge is often 
 kept somewhat in the background, and very little care is 
 exercised in apportioning the charge. In attempting to recover 
 the money, one man is charged not only for his legitimate 
 portion, but for the share of others also. Here is a complication 
 which is prolific of resistance, and, if the charge is, so to speak, 
 "sprung upon" the freeholder, fertile in hatred to the 
 Established Church. The soil is prepared from which Libera- 
 tionist agitators reap abundant harvests. At this moment, 
 two estates, of which I heard, are about to be sold in
 
 31 
 
 lota. If no more care is exercised in apportioning the 
 charge, here are two fresh seed plots prepared for future 
 agitation. At least the Legislature can check the spread of 
 this particular evil by adding to the future Tithe Rent-charge 
 Bill a clause, providing that, in all future sales of land, the rent- 
 charge issuing from the estate should be first of all redeemed. 
 
 Though this grievance undoubtedly exists among a small per- 
 centage of freeholders in Cardiganshire and Carnarvon, it is not 
 general nor even common. In the majority of cases the resist- 
 ance of the tithepaying freeholder springs from his desire to 
 keep the money, or his dislike to the Established Church. The 
 transfer of liability from occupier to owner does not affect him, 
 for he owns the land he occupies. He knows that the parson 
 cannot venture to distrain, and that the law provides no remedy 
 which can compel him to disgorge his lawless gains. It is against 
 men of this class that the county court process is directed. 
 
 The principal points in which the existing remedy has entirely 
 failed have been already noticed. But the whole law of 
 distraint is hemmed in by resti'ictive measures favouring the 
 party distrained upon. The scale of costs*, which is allowed 
 against defaulting tithepayers, is inadequate in the case of 
 peaceful distraints, and, as was previously shown, utterly pro- 
 hibitory where circumstances favour organised and determined 
 resistance.! 
 
 * See Letter II. and also sect. 8 of the Law of Distress Amendment Act, 
 1888 (51 and 52 Vict., c. 21). 
 
 t The following- examples of the expenses of peaceful distraints in (n) 
 favourable, (h) unfavourable, circumstances, illustrate the statement. 
 
 (a) Where the laud, from which the reut-charge in arrear arises, is situated 
 within ten miles of the office of the distraining agent. 
 
 (i.) ]}' here the amount sought to he recovered does not exceed 
 
 201., say £20 
 
 Notice of intention to distrain 2 6 
 
 Levy fee 3 
 
 Man in possession seven days at 4s. 6d 1 11 6 
 
 Advertising sale 10 
 
 Commission on sale 231., at 5 per cent, to 
 
 cover all sale expenses 13 
 
 Total legally chargeable to defaulter ., £23 10 
 
 Extra c barges to titheowner — 
 
 Extra fee, two visits at 11. Is. each 2 2 
 
 Extra sale expenses 10 
 
 £3 2 
 
 (ii.) Where the amount exceeds £20, say £100 
 
 Service of statutory notice 2 6 
 
 Levy fee 4 
 
 Man in possession seven days at 53 115 
 
 Advertising sale, &c 10 
 
 Commission on sale 7k per cent, on £107 to 
 include lotting, porteriug, & delivering lots 8 6 
 
 Total chargeable to defaulter £114 18 
 
 Extra charges to titheowner as before £3 2 
 
 (b) "Where the land from which the rent-charge arises is situated fifty 
 miles from the office of the distraining agent, all the extra charges fail upon
 
 32 
 
 It is also, as was previously pointed ont, impossible to find 
 local agents who will act for titheowners. The bailiff, who is 
 nsnally an auctioneer, holds a certificate from the Connty Court 
 Judge under the Law of Distress Amendment Act, 1888. The 
 effect of this provision is to limit the choice of bailiffs. But 
 the Act does not, it appears, make the bailiff an officer of the 
 court, or extend to him any additional protection. He is only 
 the private agent of the distraining titheowner, executing his 
 employer's warrant, and not the judgment of any court. His 
 only remedy against the violence of the crowd is to summon 
 persons who pelt him with eggs or stones for a common assault. 
 Such remedies are ineffectual where crowds and confusion pre- 
 vent the identification of individuals. Again, the law provides 
 that a bailiff must be left in possession of the distraint. But it 
 is not considered safe to jeopardise a man's life by carrying out 
 this provision. Consequently the stock, etc., which has been 
 distrained upon, is frequently removed in the interval of the five 
 clear days which must elapse between the levy of the distress 
 and the sale. And the removal goes unpunished, because the 
 interference with the distraint is attributed to neglect of the 
 legal provision that a bailiff must be left in charge. 
 
 In what respects will the county court process, the ultimate 
 sanction of which is distraint, improve the position of the tithe- 
 owner? 
 
 The advantages which the change is expected to confer may 
 be summarised thus. The county court process will substitute 
 for the direct agency of the parson the legal machinery of the 
 execution of a judgment. Titheowners will no longer be brought 
 into direct personal conflict with tithepayers. Opposition will cease 
 to be opposition to individuals. It will become an open defiance 
 of the law. The process will bring home to tithepayers the real 
 character of the rent-charge. If they refuse payment, they will 
 take their places among other defaulting debtors who are sued 
 by local tradesmen or other creditors. Eesistance will be robbed 
 of its romance, and will assume the prosaic aspect of commercial 
 dishonesty. Welsh farmers still regard it as a disgrace to be 
 
 the titheowner. In cases (i.) and (ii.) the following items must be added to 
 the £3 2s, : — 
 
 Travelling fifty miles at 5d. per mile £1 10 
 
 ,, ,, (second visit) 1 10 
 
 Posting six miles at Is. 6d. per mile 9 
 
 ,, ,, (second visit) 9 
 
 Extra charges to titheowner £6 1 8 
 
 It DGUst be remembered that these extra expenses, which are here given on 
 the minimum scale, must equally be incurred whether the rent-charge is £5 
 or £100. If, therefore, the amount to be levied is under £6, the titheowner is 
 out of pocket. Even under favourable circumstances, it is not worth while 
 to distrain for the small sums which form the bvilk of Welsh tithes. But 
 where there is determined resistance, the expenses which fall upon tithe- 
 owners may be multiplied by ten, and sometimes more. 
 
 i
 
 33 
 
 brought before the county court. The name by which the 
 court is known to the Welsh people is " y curt bach," meaning 
 literally "the little court." Bat "bach," in this as in other 
 cases, stands not only for " little," but implies a shade of 
 contempt. To defaulters who have become impervious to the 
 degradation of a summons befoi'e the county court, other argu- 
 ments may appeal more practically. Certificated, bailiffs will no 
 longer be permitted to refuse to act in distraints arising out 
 of tithe. They will become officers of the court executing its 
 judgments, instead of acting as private agents on the 
 warrants of individuals. It is improbable that, under these 
 circumstances, the same liberties will be taken with them 
 whether they are levying, guarding, or selling distresses. 
 Above all, the costs of the proceedings will fall upon tithepayers, 
 and not on titheowners ; the considerations which now operate 
 to prohibit titheowners from initiating legal proceedings will 
 henceforward operate to prevent tithepayers from risking a 
 conflict with the law. 
 
 These are the chief considerations which lead Welsh clergy- 
 men to expect good results from the county court process. The 
 remedy, if effective at all, will be universal in its application. 
 Both tenant-farmers and freeholders will come under its opera- 
 tion. From this point of view, if only one measure of relief is 
 to be accorded, the county court process is preferable to the 
 more partial remedy of the compulsory transfer of liability from 
 occupiers to owners. On the other hand, regarded as a means 
 of x-emoving prejudices or relieving the Church from unpopular 
 relations to cultivators of the soil, it will do nothing. It may 
 supply a means of enforcing payment of rent-charges ; but it 
 will not diminish the agitation. It is only when combined with 
 the transfer of liability that the county court process will I'estore 
 to the clergy that legal protection to which every subject is 
 entitled, diminish the area of inflammation against the Church, 
 and make life once more tolerable for the parochial clergy of 
 Wales. 
 
 Time may well be taken to mature a comprehensive plan of 
 redemption, to feel the pulse of the nation on the subject, to 
 familiarise Parliament with the details of the scheme, to demand, 
 and profit by, the criticism of friends and foes. But to 
 embarrass any Bill, which embodies the two principles of the 
 county court process and the transfer of direct liability, with 
 proposals for redemption would be to extend the scope of 
 discussion and risk the loss of the measure. That result should 
 be avoided at any cost. A fourth failure would do irreparable 
 mischief. The case of the titheowners has been stated without 
 any attempt to colour the picture or to excite compassion by 
 sensational desci'iptions. It rests upon figures which tell their 
 own tale, and incontestably prove the need of legislative
 
 34 
 
 change. No one can blame supporters of the Liberationist 
 programme if they seize the opportunity of the proposed 
 legislation to challenge a division upon the general question, 
 whether or not the endowments at stake shall be devoted to the 
 maintenance of the Church in Wales. But if they are defeated 
 in that challenge, it may not be too much to hope that some of 
 the opponents of the Establishment may co-operate with its 
 advocates to remove an injustice which weighs heavily upon a 
 class of their fellow-subjects, and to relieve from a state of 
 destitution a body of men to whose individual merits they them- 
 selves testify. 
 
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