PARSONS' CAUSE. The name of a cele brated case decided by the court of Hanover County. Va., in December, 1759: remembered chiefly because of a speech made before the court by Patrick Henry (q.v.). From the earliest his tory of the colony the salaries of the clergy in Virginia had been paid in the form of tobacco, long the colony's chief staple. Owing to fluctua tions in the value of tobacco, the actual amount thus paid had varied widely, the clergy receiving the advantage of a rise in pi-ice and correspond ingly suffering the disadvantages of a fall. In 1748 the Legislature of Virginia passed an act fixing the salary of the clergy at 16.000 pounds of tobacco, and George 11. formally approved the act. In 1758, when the price of tobacco was un usually high, the Legislature passed an act, to he in force for twelve months, similar to a previous act of 1755, which had lapsed. and which had provided that the salary of the clergy might be paid in paper currency instead of tobacco, at the rate of two cents per pound. a price below the market value of tobacco at that time. Upon the protest of the clergy the act of 1758 was disal lowed by the King, and various clergymen forth with brought quit against their vestries for the salaries legally due them for the year 1758. One
such suit was brought IT the Rev. James _Maury before the court of Hanover County, and Patrick Henry, then a young, almost unknown lawyer. was engaged by the defendants as counsel. The Court decided against the validity of the act of 1758. such act having been disallowed by the Crown. hut the jury. influenced by an impas sioned speech by Henry, returned a verdict of only one penny damages. The speech made by Henry was the first in which he attracted general attention, and was sufficiently radical to he con sidered incendiary and treasonable by the con servative element in the colony. Aceording to the report of Maury. Henry argued that since the act of 1758 was an act of utility. it could not be annulled by the King, and asserted that "a king by acts of this salutary nature.
from being the father of his people. degenerates into a tyrant, and forfeits all rights to his suh jects' obedience." Consult Tyler. 1'atr•icI: Henry ( Boston, 1887), in The American Statesmen Se ries.