uld, indeed, he said, be probably gainers of five per
cent, by the change. Mr. Littleton concluded with moving the following
resolution:--"That it is the opinion of this committee, that composition
for tithes in Ireland ought to be abolished on and after the 1st day of
November in the present year, in consideration of an annual land-tax to
be granted to his majesty, payable by the persons who would have been
liable to such composition for tithes, and of equal amount; that such
tax shall be redeemable; and that out of the produce provision be made
in land or money for the indemnification of the persons entitled to such
composition." The moderate members reserved their opinions until the
details of the measure should be more fully before the house; but
Messrs. O'Connell, O'Conner, Shiel, Grattan, and others of the same
class, attacked it with unmeasured violence. The bill did not abolish
tithe, and therefore it was not a bill to suit their notions. Of all the
delusions which had ever been practised, they said, this was the most
gross. Did ministers, they asked, think so meanly of the people of
Ireland as to imagine that a change of name would be mistaken for a
change of the thing, or that tithes would become less odious by being
called a land-tax or an annuity? The people of Ireland objected not
merely to the amount of tithes paid, but to the application of the
funds thence arising: the objection to tithes was double, and now that
objection would mix itself with rents. The landlords of Ireland must now
look to themselves, for the principle upon which opposition to tithes
had hitherto been conducted would forthwith be applied to rents: the
Irish people would not regard the present measure as the smallest
alleviation of their misery. Mr. O'Connell proposed that two-thirds of
the existing tithes should be abolished, the remaining third being left
as a quit-rent on the land; and after providing for the life-interest of
present incumbents, he said, he would apply the produce to relieving the
landlord from grand-jury assessments, to the support of charities, and
to other public purposes. Mr. Barron proposed that the tithe levied, to
which he did not object, should be restored in part to the poor, they
originally having had an interest in it. Mr. Grattan proposed a third
scheme: he wished parliament to recognise the liability of property in
Ireland to contribute to a fund for the support of religion and charity,
but he wished also