t being the
policy of the government to avoid a collision with the assembly, the
clergy were left in the lurch, to take their chances in the Virginia
courts of law. The Rev. Mr. Warrington, grandfather of Commodore Lewis
Warrington, endeavored to bring a suit for his salary, payable in
tobacco, in the general court, but it was not permitted to be tried, the
court awaiting the determination of Camm's case in England, which was in
effect an indefinite postponement. Mr. Warrington then brought suit in
the county court of Elizabeth City, and the jury brought in a special
verdict, allowing him some damages, but declaring the law valid,
notwithstanding the king's decision to the contrary. The Rev. Alexander
White, of King William County, brought a similar suit, and the court
referring both the law and the fact to the jury, they gave the plaintiff
trivial damages. The County of Hanover was selected as the scene of the
most important trial of this question, and as all the causes stood on
the same foot, the decision of this would determine all. This was the
suit brought by the Rev. James Maury, of an adjoining parish. The county
court of Hanover (November, 1763,) decided the point of law in favor of
the minister, thus declaring the "Two Penny Act" to be no law, as having
been annulled by the crown, and it was ordered that at the next court a
jury, on a writ of inquiry, should determine whether the plaintiff was
entitled to damages, and if so, how much? Maury's success before the
jury seemed now inevitable, since there could be no dispute relative to
the facts of the case. Mr. John Lewis, who had defended the popular
side, retired from the cause as virtually decided, and as being now only
a question of damages. The defendants, the collectors of that court, as
a dernier resort, employed Patrick Henry, Jr., to appear in their behalf
at the next hearing. The suit came to trial again on the first of
December, a select jury being ordered to be summoned. On an occasion of
such universal interest, an extraordinary concourse of people assembled
at Hanover Court-house, not only from that county, but also from the
counties adjoining. The court-house (which is still standing, but
somewhat altered,) and yard were thronged, and twenty clergymen sat on
the bench to witness a contest in which they had so much at stake. The
Rev. Patrick Henry, uncle to the youthful attorney, retired from the
court and returned home, at his request, he saying that