HAYNE, Isaac, patriot, b. in South Carolina,
23 Sept., 1745; d. in Charleston, S. C., 4 Aug., 1781.
He was a wealthy planter in the districts of Beaufort
and Colleton, and the proprietor of extensive
iron-works in York district, which were afterward
destroyed by the British. At the beginning of the
Revolution he took the field, was a captain of
artillery, and at the same time state senator. In
1780, on the invasion of the state by the British,
he served in a cavalry regiment during the final
siege of Charleston, and, being included in the
capitulation of that place, was paroled on
condition that he would not serve against the British
while they held possession. When in 1781 the
fortunes of the British began to decline, he, with
all the others who were paroled on the same
terms, was required to join the royal army or be
subjected to close confinement. Hayne would
gladly have accepted imprisonment, but his wife
and several of his children lay at the point of death
from small-pox. He went to Charleston, and, being
assured by the deputy British commandant, Patterson,
that he would not be required to bear arms
against his country, took the oath of allegiance.
After the successes of Gen. Greene had left the
British nothing but Charleston, Hayne was
Summoned to join the royal army immediately. This,
being in violation of the agreement that had been
made, consequently released him from all his
obligations to the British. He went to the American
camp, and was commissioned colonel of a militia
company. In July, 1781, he made an incursion to
the Quarter House, a precinct within five miles of
Charleston, and captured Gen. Andrew Williamson,
a former patriot, who had gone over to the British
service. It was feared that Williamson would be
hanged as a traitor, and the British commandant
at Charleston, Col. Nesbit Balfour, ordered out his
entire force in pursuit. Hayne's party was
surprised and scattered; he was captured, taken to
Charleston, thrown into the provost's prison, and
after a brief examination before a board of officers,
without trial or examination of witnesses, was
sentenced to be hanged by the joint orders of Col.
Balfour and Lord Rawdon. Hayne protested
against this summary proceeding, which was illegal
whether he was regarded as a British subject or a
prisoner who had broken his parole. The citizens
of Charleston united in petitioning for his pardon,
but the court was inexorable. A respite of forty-eight
hours was allowed him in which to take
leave of his orphan children, for his wife had lately
died, and at the end of this time he was hanged.
The conduct of Rawdon and Balfour excited the
liveliest indignation among the Americans, and
Gen. Greene issued a proclamation, on 26 Aug.,
announcing his determination to make reprisals. The
matter was discussed with great ability in the
British parliament, and, while both Rawdon and
Balfour justified it, each attempted to attribute it
to the agency of the other. Thirty-two years afterward
Lord Rawdon, then the Earl of Moira, in a
letter to Gen. Henry Lee, attempted to justify his
conduct. His “Justification” was analyzed and
criticised in “The Southern Review” for February,
1828, by Hayne's great-nephew, Robert Y. Hayne.—His
great-nephew, Arthur Peronneau, senator,
b. in Charleston, S. C., 12 March, 1790; d. there,
7 Jan., 1867, received a classical education and
engaged in business. He joined the army in 1812,
was 1st lieutenant at Sackett's Harbor, major of
cavalry on the St. Lawrence, inspector-general in
1814, and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel for
gallant conduct at the battle of New Orleans. He
commanded the Tennessee volunteers during the
Florida war, and retired in 1820. He then studied
law in Pennsylvania, was admitted to the bar,
and returning to South Carolina was a member
of the state legislature, and a presidential elector
on the Jackson and Calhoun ticket in 1828. He
was U. S. naval agent for five years in the
Mediterranean, and was offered and declined the
mission to Belgium. In 1858 he was elected U. S.
senator from South Carolina, as a state-rights
Democrat, in place of Josiah J. Evans, deceased,
serving from May, 1858, till January, 1859.—His
brother, Robert Young, statesman, b. in St. Paul's
parish, Colleton district, S. C., 10 Nov., 1791; d.
in Asheville, N. C., 24 Sept., 1839. He was
educated at Charleston, studied law, was admitted
to the bar eight days before he had attained his
majority, and began practice at Charleston. He
served in the 3d South Carolina regiment during
the war of 1812, and at its close resumed practice
in Charleston. He was then elected to the legislature
of the state, serving in 1814-'18, the last year
as speaker. He was attorney-general of the state
in 1818-'22, and in 1823 was elected a U. S. senator.
Among the questions that came up for
consideration during his term was that of protection
to American industry. Mr. Hayne took an active
part in the debates on the subject and vehemently
opposed the protective system. When the tariff
bill of 1829 was before the senate, he made an
elaborate and powerful speech in which he asserted
that congress had
not the constitutional
power to impose
duties on imports
for the purpose
of protecting
domestic manufactures.
His opposition
to the tariff of
1828 was equally
bold and vigorous.
In 1832 Henry Clay
proposed a resolution
in the senate
declaring the
expediency of repealing
forthwith the duties
on all imported
articles which did not
come in competition with American manufactures.
Mr. Hayne met this proposition with
prompt and vigorous resistance, and submitted an
amendment to the effect that all the existing duties
should be so reduced as to afford the revenue necessary
to defray the actual expenses of the government.
He supported this amendment in a speech
of great power, but it was rejected, and the
principles of Mr. Clay's resolution were embodied in a
bill which was passed after full discussion. In this
debate the doctrine of nullification was for the first
time announced in congress; Mr. Hayne asserted
the right of a state, under the Federal compact, to
arrest the operation of a law adopted by congress,
and sanctioned by the president, which she in convention
should decide to be unconstitutional. This
statement of the senator from South Carolina led
to the great debate between Daniel Webster and
Mr. Hayne, upon the principles of the constitution,
the authority of the general government, and the
rights of the states. In consequence of the adoption
of the tariff bill of Mr. Clay, the legislature of
South Carolina called a state convention, which
met at Columbia, 24 Nov., 1832, and adopted an
ordinance of nullification. In the following
December, Mr. Hayne was elected governor of South
Carolina, while Mr. Calhoun resigned the
vice-presidency of the United States, and succeeded him
in the senate. President Jackson, on 10 Dec.,
issued his proclamation denouncing the nullification
ordinance, and the proceedings in the state of
South Carolina. Gov. Hayne replied with a
proclamation of defiance, and South Carolina prepared
for armed resistance. At this critical hour, at the
instance of Mr. Clay and President Jackson, a
compromise was finally agreed on, which adjusted the
system of collecting the revenue and lowered the
import duties on certain articles of necessity and
convenience. South Carolina called another
convention, over which Gov. Hayne presided, and
the ordinance of nullification was repealed. Gov.
Hayne retired from the executive office in December,
1834, and in 1835-'7 was mayor of Charleston.
He was president of the Cincinnati and Charleston
railroad in 1836-'9, and was attending a railroad
convention at the time of his death. He
was a contributor to the “Southern Review.” See
“Life and Speeches of Robert Y. Hayne” (1845).—Robert
Young's nephew, Paul Hamilton, poet,
b. in Charleston, S. C., 1 Jan., 1830; d. near
Augusta, Ga., 6 July, 1886, was the only child of a
naval officer, who died at sea when Paul was a infant, so that Gov. Hayne stood very much in the
place of a father to his nephew, superintending his
education, and always guiding him by his counsel.
The family had independent means, so that young
Hayne had every advantage of education that his
native city could offer. Under the eye of his
mother, a woman of rare character, and the
guardianship of his uncle, he was thoroughly educated,
and was graduated at the College of South
Carolina with distinction at an early age. He studied
law and entered on its practice, but from his earliest
years the bent of his mind had been toward
literature. As a mere child, he had pored over
Froissart's “Chronicles,” the old dramatists,
Shakespeare, and the earlier poets. His study of the
literature of the Elizabethan age never ceased, and
probably no man in the United States was more
saturated with its spirit than he. As a consequence
of this taste he gave up the practice of law,
and addressed himself wholly to literary life.
When only twenty-three years of age he edited
“Russell's Magazine,” a southern literary periodical,
and afterward the “Charleston Literary
Gazette”; and with his friends William Gilmore
Simms, Henry Timrod, and others, he helped to
create such a literary atmosphere in his native city
as had not existed before that time. The civil war
interrupted all Mr. Hayne's life-plans. He entered
at once into service as one of Gov. Pickens's aides,
remaining on duty till his naturally delicate health
entirely disabled him for active service. During
the war he continued constantly to write stirring
lyrics, which exerted no small influence throughout
the south. During the bombardment of Charleston
his home was burned to the ground, consuming his
large library, and all the ancestral belongings of
generations. Thenceforth he became an exile from
his native city, and, having been impoverished by
the war, went to Augusta, Ga., where he supported
his family by editorial work. He established himself
at length on a few acres of pine-land, and
built a small cottage,
where, with
his wife and son,
he resided until
his death. Here he
labored unremittingly,
suffering
continually from
feeble health, and
keeping the wolf
from his door only
by the point of his
pen. His health
began seriously to
fail about 1882,
though he labored
with untiring
energy at his literary
work till within a
short period of his
death. Mr. Hayne
left enough
manuscript to fill two
volumes. No southern poet has ever written so
much or done so much to give a literary impulse
to his section, so that he well deserves the title
that has been bestowed upon him by his English
friends, as well as by his own people, “the
Laureate of the South.” Among the tributes to Mr.
Hayne was a sonnet by Philip Bourke Marston,
the English poet. His published volumes are
“Poems” (Boston, 1855); “Sonnets and Other
Poems” (New York, 1857); “Avolio, a Legend of
the Island of Cos” (Boston, 1859); “Legends and
Lyrics” (Philadelphia, 1872); “The Mountain of
the Lovers, and Other Poems” (New York, 1873);
Lives of Robert Y. Hayne and Hugh S. Legaré
(1878); and a complete illustrated edition of his
poems (Boston, 1882). He also edited Henry
Timrod's poems, with a memoir (New York, 1872).