IMPOLITIC LAWS* 
m 
upon it securely, out of the reach of all their 
creditors, under protection of the laws of the 
country. Owing to this law they have not yet 
been enabled to get a bank established in Nor¬ 
folk, though it would be of the utmost im¬ 
portance to the traders. The directors of the 
bank of the United States have always per¬ 
emptorily refused to let a branch of it be fixed 
in any part of Virginia whilst this law remains. 
In Boston, New York, Baltimore, Charleston, 
&c. there are branches of the bank of the 
United States, besides other banks, established 
under the sanction of the state legislature. 
Repeated attempts have been made in the 
states assembly to get this last mentioned law 
repealed, but they have all proved ineffectual. 
The debates have been very warm ■ on the bu¬ 
siness ; and the names of the majority, who 
voted for the continuation of it, have been pub¬ 
lished, to expose them if possible to infamy ; 
but so many have sheltered themselves under 
its sanction, and so many still find an interest 
in its continuance, that it is not likely to be 
speedily repealed. 
The houses in Norfolk are about live hun¬ 
dred in number; by far the greater part of 
them are of wood, and but meanly built. 
'These have all been erected since the year 
1776 ; when the town was totally destroyed 
by fire, by the order of Lord Dunmore, then 
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