or the whole British empire, and furthermore that it was the duty
of a judge to follow the law as it existed. He reserved his decision
until advice could be had from the law-officers of the crown in London;
and when next term he was instructed by them to grant the writs, this
result added fresh impetus to the spirit that Otis's eloquence had
aroused. The custom-house officers, armed with their writs, began
breaking into warehouses and seizing goods which were said to have been
smuggled. In this rough way they confiscated private property to the
value of many thousands of pounds; but sometimes the owners of
warehouses armed themselves and barricaded their doors and windows, and
thus the officers were often successfully defied, for the sheriff was
far from prompt in coming to aid them.

[Sidenote: Patrick Henry, and the Parsons' Cause.]

While such things were going on in Boston, the people of Virginia were
wrought into fierce excitement by what was known as the "Parsons'
Cause." The Church of England was at that time established by law in
Virginia, and its clergymen, appointed by English bishops, were
unpopular. In 1758 the legislature, under the pressure of the French
war, had passed an act which affected all public dues and incidentally
diminished the salaries of the clergy. Complaints were made to the
Bishop of London, and the act of 1758 was vetoed by the king in
council. Several clergymen then brought suits to recover the unpaid
portions of their salaries. In the first test case there could be no
doubt that the royal veto was legal enough, and the court therefore
decided in favour of the plaintiff. But it now remained to settle before
a jury the amount of the damages. It was on this occasion, in December,
1763, that the great orator Patrick Henry made his first speech in the
court-room and at once became famous. He declared that no power on earth
could take away from Virginia the right to make laws for herself, and
that in annulling a wholesome law at the request of a favoured class in
the community "a king, from being the father of his people, degenerates
into a tyrant, and forfeits all right to obedience." This bold talk
aroused much excitement and some uproar, but the jury instantly
responded by assessing the parson's damages at one penny, and in 1765
Henry was elected a member of the colonial assembly.

Thus almost at the same time in Massachusetts and in Virginia the
preliminary scenes of the Revolution o