Those members who were in favour of the last resolution declared that I
should rescue the nation out of the hands of extortioners, lower
interests, raise the value of land, revive public credit, improve
commerce, and connect the people more closely with the Government, while
those of the contrary opinion assured the House that I should engross
the whole money of the kingdom, that I should weaken commerce by
tempting people to withdraw their money from trade, that I should
encourage fraud and gaming, and corrupt the morals of the nation.
Little recked I of all the stir and commotion my birth was causing, as,
nursed and cared for by my father, William Paterson, a Scotch merchant,
and his friend, Mr. Michael Godfrey, I gradually grew into strength. It
was not till long afterwards that I heard and understood the
circumstances of my birth, and how around me were centred the interests
of the kingdom.
When I was only twelve months old, those who were bound together to take
care of my interests separated my father from me, giving as an excuse
that he was of too speculative and adventurous a spirit to be entrusted
with my welfare.
Poor father! It has always seemed to me very sad that he who had worked
so long and so persistently for my success should have been condemned to
spend the last years of his life in solitude and neglect in Scotland,
while I, his child, was gradually becoming everything that his highest
ambition could have pictured; but so it was.
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