s
very great; but, whatever it may have been, they were permitted to
bear it, without any suggestion, either from the legislature or from
the vestries, looking toward the least addition to the quantity of
tobacco then to be paid them. On the other hand, from 1714 to 1720,
the price of tobacco rose considerably above the average, and did
something towards making up to the clergy the losses which they had
recently incurred. Then, again, from 1720 to 1724, tobacco fell to the
low price of the former period, and of course with the same results of
unrelieved loss to the clergy.[34] Thus, however, in the process of
time, there had become established, in the fiscal relations of each
vestry to its minister, a rough but obvious system of fair play. When
the price of tobacco was down, the parson was expected to suffer the
loss; when the price of tobacco was up, he was allowed to enjoy the
gain. Probably it did not then occur to any one that a majority of
the good people of Virginia could ever be brought to demand such a
mutilation of justice as would be involved in depriving the parson of
the occasional advantage of a very good market, and of making up for
this by always leaving to him the undisturbed enjoyment of every
occasional bad one. Yet it was just this mutilation of justice which,
only a few years later, a majority of the good people of Virginia were
actually brought to demand, and which, by the youthful genius of
Patrick Henry, they were too well aided in effecting.

Returning now from our brief tour into a period of Virginian history
just prior to that upon which we are at present engaged, we find
ourselves arrived at the year 1748, in which year the legislature of
Virginia, revising all previous regulations respecting the hiring
and paying of the clergy, passed an act, directing that every parish
minister should "receive an annual salary of 16,000 pounds of
tobacco, ... to be levied, assessed, collected, and paid" by the
vestry. "And if the vestry of any parish" should "neglect or refuse
to levy the tobacco due to the minister," they should "be liable to
the action of the party grieved ... for all damages which he ...
shall sustain by such refusal or neglect."[35] This act of the
colonial legislature, having been duly approved by the king, became
a law, and consequently was not liable to repeal or even to
suspension except by the king's approval. Thus, at the period now
reached, there was between every vestry and its