elief.
It read thus:--"That, in order to afford relief to the distress, it is
expedient that his majesty should be empowered, upon the application of
the lord-lieutenant, or other chief governor or governors of Ireland, to
direct that there be issued from the consolidated fund such sums as
may be required for this purpose. That the sums so issued shall be
distributed by the lord-lieutenant, or other chief governor or governors
of Ireland, by and with the advice of the privy-council, in advances
proportioned to the incomes of the incumbents of benefices wherein
the tithes, or tithe composition lawfully due may have been withheld,
according to a scale diminishing as the incomes of such incumbents
increase." To this resolution Mr. Stanley said that he did not
anticipate any objection, inasmuch as it was from no fault of the clergy
that the resistance, and the consequent distress had arisen. He then
proceeded to the third resolution, which provided for the reimbursement
of the sums advanced:--"That, for the more effectual vindication of the
authority of the law, and as a security for the repayment of the sums to
be advanced, his majesty may be empowered to levy, under the authority
of an act to be passed for this purpose, the amount of arrears for the
tithes or tithe-composition of the whole or any part of the year 1831,
without prejudice to the claims of the clergy for any arrear which may
be due for a longer period; reserving, in the first instance, the amount
of such advances, and paying over the remaining balance to the legal
claimants." The last resolution pledged the house to an alteration of
the existing tithe system on some principle of commutation, though Mr.
Stanley said he was not prepared to state the nature of the change.
Those who dissented from the resolutions consisted chiefly of the Irish
members, and, singular enough, their opposition was chiefly confined
to the last resolution. This was, it was said, to introduce a change of
system, but it implied that the tithe was still to be a fund available
to the established church. It was said to be unjust to demand
extraordinary powers for the execution of a law acknowledged to be bad
and mischievous, and that every renewed attempt to recover tithes by
coercion would only hasten the ruin of the church establishment in
Ireland. Some adjustment must be made by which the church property
should be applied to the support of the three prominent sects in
Ireland, instead o