A Few Plain Remarks on the Tithe System

A Few Plain Remarks On The Tithe System by Few Plain Remarks. This pamphlet, issued in London in 1831, argues that tithe is not a tax but a private gift, established by the voluntary endowment of landowners to support a national church. The author explains that tithe is charged upon land by those entitled to levy it, and that successors inherit this burden, whether by inheritance or purchase, with the price often reflecting the continued obligation. The work examines the effects on tenants and landlords, contending that abolition would merely shift the burden to a single payer and that improvements to land should benefit the tithe-owner as well as the landlord. It rebuts claims that church property is public property, asserting tithe is private property endowed to sustain religious duties, not to be controlled by the state. The pamphlet also argues against the idea that clergy are a burden on the poor and rejects revolutionary confiscation. It calls for a just consideration of rights and cautions against altering long-standing endowments without broad justice and prudence.