[p. 94]
|94| branches of the social bond presuppose, for an alteration, other conditions in the power of the state than are contained in the Reform Bill. – In passing, the abolition in France of the tithes of the Church, of the rights of manorial lordship, of the rights of the chase was mentioned in Parliament; all this, it was said, took place under the auspices of a patriotic king and of a reformed Parliament; and the direction of the speech seems to mark the abolition of rights of that kind in itself as a deplorable overthrow of the whole constitution, besides that it had for its consequence the atrocious anarchy of that country. As is well known, in other states such rights have not only vanished without such consequences, but their abolition has been regarded as an important foundation of increased welfare and essential freedom. Some further particulars about this may therefore be adduced here.
As regards first the tithes, the oppressiveness of this levy has long been pointed out in England; apart from the particular odium which attaches to this kind of levy generally, and which in England can least of all cause surprise, when in many districts the clergyman has the tenth pot of the milk drawn, the tenth of the eggs laid daily etc., collected daily from the cowsheds, the inequity has also been censured which lies in this levy through the consequence that, the more the yield of the soil is raised by diligence, time and expense, the more the levy rises, and thus a tax is laid upon the improvement of cultivation, into which great capitals are sunk in England, instead of its being encouraged. The tithe belongs to the Church in England; in other countries, especially Protestant ones, the tithe has been, partly long ago (in the Prussian lands already more than a hundred years ago), partly recently, abolished or made redeemable without pomp and stir, as without robbery and injustice, and the oppressiveness has been taken from the revenues
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