Note 156 — Chapter III
Reading edition
It must not be imagined that this vestry represented the majority of rate-payers; for it did no such thing. At the annual public meeting of rate-payers, which was held after these great outlays for the church had been incurred, the names of the parish officers who sanctioned these proceedings were received with the most unmistakeable marks of disapprobation; and at an election, which virtually tried the management of the whole body, a great majority of the rate-payers voted against the vestry. Moreover, I am of opinion, after the most careful and impartial investigation of this subject, that the bona fide government of this parish is, and has been for years, in the hands of the bishop and his lessees, (through their agents in the parish,) and a few builders.