It was not the
first time that the existence of tithe had been alleged as an Irish
grievance. In the three southern provinces by far the greater portion of
the tenantry were Roman Catholics, and they had long been complaining
that they were forced to pay for the support of the Protestant clergyman
of their parish, whose ministrations they could not attend, as well as
for the maintenance of their own priest, whose livelihood depended on
their contributions. According to strict political economy, there could
be no doubt that the burden of the tithe fell, not on the tenant, but on
the landlord, in the calculation of whose rent the amount of tithe to
which each holding was liable was always taken into consideration; and
that being the true doctrine, it was equally plain that in reality the
Protestant clergy were paid, not by Roman Catholics, but by Protestants,
since it was not disputed that by far the greater part of the
land-owners in every province were Protestants.[233] But an ignorant
peasant is no student of political economy or of logic; and the fact
that the payment of the tithe passed through his hands was in his eyes,
an incontrovertible proof that it came out of his pocket. The discontent
had gradually begotten an organized resistance to the payment, and the
mischief of allowing the continuance of such a state of feeling and
conduct, which was manifestly likely to impair the respect for all law,
made such an impression on the government that, in the royal speech with
which he opened the session of 1832, the King recommended the whole
subject to the consideration of Parliament, urging the Houses to inquire
"whether it might not be possible to effect improvements in the laws
respecting this subject.
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