Thus acted the patriots of the American revolution—thus acted THOMAS HEYWARD, the subject of this brief sketch. He was the eldest son of Col. Daniel Heyward, a wealthy and highly respected planter, and was born in the parish of St. Luke, South Carolina, in 1746. His opportunities for obtaining a liberal education were freely afforded by his father, and were faithfully improved by the son. He became ardently attached to the Greek and Roman classics, and dwelt with rapture upon the history of republican freedom. The principles of rational liberty became deeply rooted in his mind at an early age, and when manhood dawned upon him they were thoroughly matured.
After completing his elemental education he commenced the study of law with Mr. Parsons, who stood high as a member of the bar. The proficiency of Mr. Heyward in that intricate science was creditable to himself and gratifying to his numerous friends. He possessed an investigating and analyzing mind, and never passed over a subject superficially. He was a close student, and explored the opening fields of civil and common law with a zeal and rapidity seldom known. When he became familiar with the principles laid down by Sir William Blackstone, and understood fully the rights secured to persons and property by Magna Charta and the British constitution, and compared them with the iron rod of restrictions held over the colonists by the mother country, he was roused to a just indignation.
After having completed his course with Mr. Parsons, he repaired to England, and entered the middle temple, where he became a finished lawyer and an accomplished gentleman. Although amply supplied with money, he was not led astray by the allurements of fascinating pleasures, that first flatter and please, then ruin and destroy. To enrich his mind with science and useful knowledge, was the ultimatum of his soul.
He mingled with what was termed refined society in London, which formed a striking contrast with the republican simplicity of that of the same grade in his own country. The fastidious hauteur of English etiquette was far from being congenial to his mind, and did not accord with his ideas of social life. He there met claims of superiority over native Americans that he knew were based alone upon pride and ignorance. His feelings were often wounded by indignities cast upon the colonial character. All these things combined to rivet his affections more strongly upon the land of his birth. They operated as fuel for the livid flame of patriotism, already glowing in his bosom. The pomp of royalty and the splendour of kingly courts had no charms for him. The awful distance between the haughty prince and the honest peasant, the towering throne and the worthy yeomanry, operated upon his mind like a talisman, and gave his soul a new impetus towards the goal of equal rights. The more he saw of practical monarchy, often the automaton of corrupt and corrupting advisers, the more he became opposed to its potent sway.