Governor Tryon, who approved the act of 1766, was not overfond of the Presbyterians as such, and all other "sectaries" he looked upon "as enemies to society and a scandal to common sense."[780] The next year, writing to the Earl of Shelburne, he says the law of 1766 "has more objects in view than appears on the sight of it." The Marriage Act of "1741 to which it has relation entitles every Justice of the Peace to marry by licence. In abuse of this privilege many Justices performed the marriage ceremony without licence ... and took the fee allowed to the Governor, most generally dividing the spoil between the Justice and the Clerk of the county who gave the bond and certificate. Another tendency of this Act was to prevent the frequent abuses of rascally fellows who travelled thro' the province under the title of ministers of the Presbyterian and other sectaries and who being beggars in conscience as well as in circumstances sought all opportunities to perform that sacred office to the great prejudice of the country. It is also to be observed most of the justices in the back or western settlements are Presbyterians, who by the Act of 1741 had the power to marry by licence: Therefore upon the whole I do not conceive the allowing the Presbyterian ministers the privilege to marry in their usual and accustomed manner can be of any real prejudice to the established Church especially as the marriage fee is reserved to the ministers of the parish; and the licence to be granted under the hand and seal of the Governor, this last provision prevents the former abuses in the application of the fee collected. The Act also provides a summary and effectual method for the Governor to oblige the county court clerks to account for the fees due to him: a recovery tho' an equitable one, was never yet secured but in temporary laws."[781] [Footnote 780: SAUNDERS, "Prefatory Notes," _N. C. Col. Rec._, VIII, xlv.] [Footnote 781: "Letter from Governor Tryon to Earl of Shelburne, Brunswick, 31st January 1767," _N. C. Col. Rec._, VII, 432, 433. On this act see also SAUNDERS, "Prefatory Notes," _ibid._, VIII, xlv.]