der their ravelled ties, and to extinguish the last hope of reconciliation, was all that remained to be done.

To unite in that memorable instrument, in which the fruitless language of remonstrance gave way to an animated enumeration of our wrongs, and a calm but firm assertion of our rights, was one of the first duties that he was called upon to discharge.

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In 1778, Mr. Heyward was elected a judge of the criminal and civil courts of the new government. It was not a place to flatter the ambition of a member of the congress of 1776, and Mr. Heyward's fortune placed him above pecuniary considerations. A sense of public duty alone induced him to take a judicial office, when it was yet undecided whether the judge might not be punished as a traitor. He was soon called to a painful exercise of his authority. While the British army lay in the neighbourhood of Charleston, he presided at the trial and condemnation of some persons charged with a treasonable correspondence, who were afterwards executed in sight of the enemy's lines. This rendered him obnoxious to the enemy, and in the capitulation of Charleston, it was thought that he was intended to be excluded from its benefits, by the article which excepted those, who, under the mock forms of justice, had been instrumental in

putting to death his majesty's good and loyal subjects.

Though appointed a judge, he still held a commission in the militia; and, in the affair at Beaufort, commanded a company of the Charleston Ancient Battalion of Artillery. This corps was raised in the province, in the time of governor Littleton, and had served under him in his expedition against the Creeks.

General Moultrie now commanded, at Beaufort, a mixed force of regulars and militia; and of the latter, the most efficient member was the Charleston Artillery, a disciplined battalion animated by the recollection of past services and fame. Their courage and skill could not have been placed under a safer direction, for their two captains, Rutledge and Heyward, if they had not a military reputation to sustain, were now to support with their blood that cause which had so often animated the eloquence of the one, and inspired the self-devotion of the other. The presence of two of the most distinguished patriots in the state, members of that celebrated congress which had given independence to their country, also imparted interest and dignity to the scene. To the artillery was ascribed the success of the day; nor was Mr. Heyward without a trophy of victory, in the wound which he received from a

musket ball. In the disastrous attack upon Savan nah, this corps had their share of suffering and loss. When Charleston was besieged, he had attained to the command of the battalion, whose steadiness and skill during the tedious operations of the enemy, rivalled that of the veterans of the line. With the fall of the town, he became a prisoner of war. If fear or despondency could have overcome him, he would have made his peace with the conquerors, and secured both his person and estate. But, though aware that if he allowed the day of mercy to pass away, he was one of those to whom no future clemency would be extended, he, with the bravest and best men in the country, adhered to the good old cause, and thought it even criminal to despair of the fortunes of the republic. This band of patriots were an odious and a dangerous spectacle. They reproached the fallen virtue of those who had sought the protection of the enemies of their country. Their heroism might yet arouse the sleeping patriotism of the timid and the desponding; and under their courage the discontented might one day rally. While any refused the oath of allegiance, the conquest of the province was incomplete. The lieutenant governor of the state, Christopher Gadsden, and all those who still considered themselves Americans, were therefore apprehended. From

among these, the leaders of the revolution were se lected to be transported to Augustine, while the younger patriots were confined in the prison ships in the harbour of Charleston. Judge Heyward was among the former. His spirit was to be broken neither by exile nor threats. Even his cheerfulness was superior to misfortune, and to the music of "God save the king," he adapted the words of "God save the states," a song now popular on festive occasions, that under a loyal tune the prisoners might give play to the feelings of patriotism. During his imprisonment, a party of the enemy from Augustine visited his plantation, and seized and carried away all his slaves. No interposition on the part of his friends was permitted, and the civil authority sanctioned this military plunder. The hatred to his name had nearly involvedh is brothers in a similar calamity; but their minority was at length permitted to except them from the devastation.

Though some of Mr. Heyward's slaves were afterwards reclaimed, one hundred and thirty of the number remained among the spoils of the enemy, and were probably transferred from the rice fields of Carolina to the sugar estates of Jamaica.

The prisoners at Augustine were at length released; but his ill fortune had not yet deserted him. On his passage to Philadelphia he fell overboard,

and only escaped drowning by holding to the rudder of the ship until he was taken in. It was in Philadelphia that the exiles from Carolina were first assured that their state was reconquered, and independence secured.

But, as if infelicity was the lot of man, it was in the midst of the exultations of the patriot, that he was visited with the severest domestic affliction. In him, public and private virtue were happily blended, and the patriot and the husband were sustained by the same sensibility. In his grief for the loss of the companion of his youth, and the mother of his children, every other feeling was now swallowed up. From this state of mind he slowly recovered, and gradually found tranquillity in the discharge of his public duties.

Upon his return to Carolina, he resumed the labours of the bench, and continued to act as a judge until 1798. He was, in 1790, appointed a member of the convention for forming a state constitution. In this dignified body, concentrating the experience, the ability, and the virtue, of the state, he contributed his part to secure what he had before assisted to advance, the liberty and independence of his country. He lived to see the states united under the federal constitution, and reverenced that instrument as the palladium of national power, pros