ker a nod of approbation. He urged that the clergy of the
established church by thus refusing acquiescence in the law of the land
counteracted the great object of their institution, and, therefore,
instead of being regarded as useful members of the State, ought to be
considered as enemies of the community. In the close of his speech of an
hour's length, he called upon the jury, unless they were disposed to
rivet the chains of bondage on their own necks, to teach the defendant
such a lesson, by their decision of this case, as would be a warning to
him and his brethren not to have the temerity in future to dispute the
validity of laws authenticated by the only authority which, in his
opinion, could give force to laws for the government of this
colony.[517:A] Amid the storm of his invective the discomfited and
indignant clergy, feeling that the day was lost, retired. Young Henry's
father sat on the bench bedewed with tears of conflicting emotions and
fond surprise. The jury, in less than five minutes, returned a verdict
of one penny damages. Mr. Lyons insisted that as the verdict was
contrary to the evidence, the jury ought to be sent out again, but the
court admitted the verdict without hesitation. The plaintiff's counsel
then in vain endeavored to have the evidence in behalf of the plaintiff
recorded. His motion for a new trial met with the same fate. He then
moved, "that it might be admitted to record, that he had made a motion
for a new trial because he considered the verdict contrary to evidence,
and that the motion had been rejected," which, after much altercation,
was agreed to. He lastly moved for an appeal, which too was granted.
Acclamations resounded within the house and without, and in spite of
cries of "Order! Order!" Patrick Henry was reluctantly lifted up and
borne in triumph on the shoulders of his excited admirers. He was now
the man of the people. In after-years, aged men who had been present at
the trial of this cause reckoned it the highest encomium that they could
bestow upon an orator to say of him: "He is almost equal to Patrick when
he plead[517:B] against the parsons."[517:C]

This speech of Henry's was looked upon by the clergy and their
supporters as pleading for the assumption of a power to bind the king's
hands, as asserting such a supremacy in provincial legislatures as was
incompatible with the dignity of the Church of England, and as
manifestly tending to draw the people of the colonies away