Page:Sketches of the life and character of Patrick Henry.djvu/76

 §8 SKETCHES OF THE

gentlemen of this coimtiy had, at that thne, become deeply involved in that state of indebtment, which has since ended in so general a crush of their fortunes. Mr. Robinson, the speaker, was also the treasurer, an oliicer always chosen by the assembly. He was an ex- cellent man, liberal, friendly, and rich. He had been drawn in to lend on his own account, great sums of money to persons of this description, and especially those who were of the assembly. He used freely for this purpose the public money, confiding for its replace- ment in his own means, and the securities he had taken on those loans. About this time, however, he became sensible that his deficit to the public was become so enormous, as that a discovery must soon take place, for as yet the public had no suspicion of it. He devised, therefore, with his friends in the assembly, a plan for a public loan office, to a certain amount, from which mo- nies might be lent on pubhc account, and on good land- ed security, to individuals. I find, in Royle's Virginia Gazette of the 17th of May, 1765, this proposition for a loan office presented, its advantages detailed, and the plan explained. It seems to have been done by a bor- rowing member, from the feeling with which the mo- tives are expressed, and to have been preparatory to the intended motion. Between the 1 7th and 30th, (the lat- ter being the date of Mr. Henry's resolutions on the stamp act,) the motion for a loan office was accordingly brought forward in the house of burgesses; and had it succeeded, the debts due to Robinson on these loans, would have been transferred to the public, and his deficit thus completely covered. This state of things, how- ever, was not yet known: but Mr. Henry attacked the scheme on other general grounds, in that style of bold, grand, and overwhelming eloquence, for which he be-

�� �