But in England the colonist was taught to be less aspiring. At every step he was met by some mortifying distinctions, which checked his presumption; and though the laws made no difference between the subjects of the crown, whether born at home or abroad, the pride of the English would not permit them to receive, as equals, a colonial race, unadorned by a nobility, and unsupported by hereditary wealth. In the intercourse of society, nothing makes a deeper impression on the youthful mind, or will be more keenly resented, than a contemptuous deportment. The practice which prevailed in the southern provinces, of completing the education of their youth in England, had not, therefore, the effect of binding faster the links which united the mother country and the colonies. The mortifications to which our youth were oftén exposed in England, rather sent them home with alienated affections; and the sentiment that America could be nothing of herself, so long as she was dependent upon Europe, gradually gained ground. In all appointments, civil and military, for the colonies, an unwise government cherished rather than repressed these distinctions and jealousies. Places of confidence and profit were committed almost entirely to Europeans, and America was governed, not as an integral member of the British HEYWARD. As mathematicians, in demonstrating a general truth, employ a particular diagram, the life of Thomas Heyward may be selected to illustrate the purity of design, the self-devotion, and the enlightened forecast, of the patriots who achieved the independence of the United States of America. MR. THOMAS HEYWARD, the eldest son of colonel Daniel Heyward, of St. Luke's parish, in the province of South Carolina, was born in the year of our Lord 1746. His father, one of the wealthiest planters in the province, had acquired the greater part of his estate by his sagacity and industry. Though the maker of his own fortune, he did not think that money was every thing; and determined to bestow on his son a more valuable inheritance than the land and slaves which were to descend to him. His wisdom found its reward. By a good education, his son was enabled to render important services to his country, and prepared for that station in the congress of the United States, which has connected the name of Heyward with one of the most memorable acts, not only in the history of the United States, but in that of human nature. Unenlightened by culture, the mind of young Heyward might have been directed to unworthy pursuits, and his wealth have ensnared, if not destroyed, his early virtue. He might have thought himself too rich to act a decided part in so momentous a controversy, and the fear of losing his inheritance, would thus have deprived his country of his valuable exertions, and have excluded him from the honours of patriotism. Nothing but an enlightened feeling, superior to ordinary calculation, could have induced him to brave the hazards of a revolution. No portion of the country had more to adventure than: the southern section, and no limb of the union was more severely lacerated. Amid the devastations of estates, the labours, the contumely, the dangers, the imprisonment, and the exile, to which all the patriots were exposed, few encountered more privations and positive evils, than Thomas Heyward. At an early age, young Heyward was placed at the best school in the province. The ancient languages were then diligently taught in the schools; and he acquired such a knowledge of Latin, as en abled him to read the Roman historians and poets, and to imbibe their lessons of liberty. From school he was removed to the office of Mr. Parsons, a lawyer celebrated for his learning and dexterity. In the pages of Blackstone he learned to reverence the English constitution, and especially its more valuable feature, the popular or representative branch. That all supplies to the crown must proceed from the people themselves, through their representatives, was a maxim of the English law which could hardly have escaped his attention, in his early reading. The sacredness of property in the estimation of the common law, was impressed upon him in every page. This principle, he found, was the parent of a voluminous code, and an intricate science. It apologized for the endless reports of cases, and relieved them of their tediousness. From his professional studies, he thus became necessarily familiar with those principles by which the colonial questions were afterwards to be settled. After the usual term of study, he was, according to the course of education then prevalent, sent to England to be entered in one of the Inns of Court. It does not appear that he placed himself in a lawyer's office, to while away the period between youth and manhood, before he took possession of his estate. His expectations from his father might |