From the edition of The British Friend:
The committee appointed at the late meeting in the Drill Hall, Paisley, to consider what legitimate steps were necessary to be taken in resisting payment of the Abbey Manse tax met in the rooms of the Liberal Association. The feuars present agreed to refuse to pay the tax, and to allow the law to take its course. It was at the same time arranged to call a meeting of feuars and others on , to consider what further steps should be taken in the matter.
Paisley is a borough in Scotland. A “feuar” is the tenant of a “feu” — wherefrom also the term “feudal,” I suppose. The Abbey Manse tax was designed to raise some three thousand pounds for the repair of the manse (the minister’s house) of Paisley Abbey. This ticked off a number of people who thought that members of that church (the establishment Church of Scotland) ought to raise the money themselves if they wanted their minister’s house repaired, rather than taxing everyone else for it. Some 200 people refused to pay the tax. The authorities took legal action against a few, but then quickly dropped the charges, figuring that they might not have a case or that it would whip up disestablishmentarian sentiment.
