[45] In the account here given of these Virginia "option laws," I have been obliged, by lack of space, to give somewhat curtly the bald results of rather careful studies which I have made upon the question in all accessible documents of the period; and I have not been at liberty to state many things, on both sides of the question, which would be necessary to a complete discussion of the subject. For instance, among the motives to be mentioned for the popularity of laws whose chief effects were to diminish the pay of the established clergy, should be considered those connected with a growing dissent from the established church in Virginia, and particularly with the very human dislike which even churchmen might have to paying in the form of a compulsory tax what they would have cheerfully paid in the form of a voluntary contribution. Perhaps the best modern defense of these laws is by A. H. Everett, in his _Life of Henry_, 230-233; but his statements seem to be founded on imperfect information. Wirt, publishing his opinion under the responsibility of his great professional and official position, affirms that on the whole question, "the clergy had much the best of the argument." _Life of Henry,_ 22. [46] Perry, _Hist. Coll._ i. 510. [47] _Ibid._ i. 513, 514. [48] _Ibid._ i. 496, 497. [49] Perry, _Hist. Coll._ i. 497. [50] Maury, _Mem. of a Huguenot Family_, 419. [51] Maury, _Mem. of a Huguenot Family_, 419, 420. [52] _Ibid._ 420. [53] This cannot be true except in the sense that he had never before spoken to such an assemblage or in any great cause. [54] Wirt, 23-27. [55] _Ibid._ 29. [56] Maury, _Mem. of a Huguenot Family_, 418-424, where the entire letter is given in print for the first time. CHAPTER V FIRST TRIUMPHS AT THE CAPITAL