The/case,/Trevett  against  Weeden  :/On  Information  and
Complaint,  for  refusing/Paper  Bills  in  Payment  for  Butcher's
Meat,/in  Market,  at  Par  with  Specie./Tried  before  the  Honour-
able Superior  Court,/in  the  County  of  Newport,  September
Term,  1786./AIS0,  The  Case  of  the  Judges  of  said  Court,/Be-
fore  the  Honourable  General  Assembly,/at  Providence,  October
Session,  1786,  on  Citation,  for  dismis-/sing  said  Complaint.
Wherein  the  Rights  of  the  People  to  Trial  by  Jury,  &c.,  are/
stated  and  maintained,  and  the  Legislative,  Judiciary  and/Exec-
utive powers  of  Government  examined  and  defined. /By  James
M.  Varnum,  Esq.  ;/Major-General  of  the  State  of  Rhode-Island,
&c..  Counsellor  at/Law,  and  Member  of  Congress  for  said
State./     Providence:  Printed  by  J.  Carter,  ly^y.
iv,  60  pp.,  sm.  4°.  (20x16  cm.)  Half  blue  morocco.  Menzies'
copy,  No.  2013.
"This  was  a  case  of  very  great  importance  at  the  time  it  took
place.  The  plaintiff  bought  meat  of  the  defendant,  a  butcher,  and
tendered  to  him  certain  paper  money  issued  by  act  of  the  General
Assembly  of  Rhode  Island,  which  was  refused.  The  defendant
pleaded,  'that  it  appears  that  the  act  had  expired,  and  hath  no  force;
that  the  matters  of  complaint  are  made  triable  before  the  superior
judicial  court  of  the  State,'  &c.  'If  the  complaint  was  sustained  by
the  judgment  of  the  court,  the  creditor,  merchant,  farmer,  and  every
vendor  was  prostrated  in  utter  ruin.'  'The  whole  community,'  says
Mr.  Updike,  'was  stirred  to  its  very  foundations.  Upon  its  issue
was  involved  the  destiny  of  thousands.  Public  feeling  was  intense
upon  its  result.  The  crisis  arose,  and  the  experiment  was  on  trial,
whether  the  people  were  capable  of  self-government,  and  upon  its
issue  depended  the  fate  of  the  nation.' " — Catalogue  of  the  Library  of
John  Carter  Brown,  v.  4,  p.  267.
VIRGINIA  COMPANY.
[Vaughan,  Sir  William],  1577-1640.
