ROBERT Y. HAYNE. ROBERT Y. HAYNE, distinguished as an orator, lawyer, and civilian, was a native of the parish of St. Paul, in South Carolina, where he was born on the tenth day of November, 1791. He was descended from a family celebrated for its patriotism, and its sacrifices during the war of the Revolution.* His father was a respectable planter. Unable to afford his children the benefits of a liberal education, his son Robert obtained his classical and English instruction in a grammar school in the city of Charleston. At seventeen he commenced a course of legal study under the guidance of Langdon Cheves, and soon after was admitted to practice. In 1812 previous to entering upon the duties of his profession, he volunteered his services to the United States, was appointed a lieutenant in the militia of South Carolina, and served with gallantry at Fort Moultrie, under the command of Col. William Drayton. While in this situation his powers of oratory first became conspicuous. In an address delivered on the anniversary of the independence of the United States, in 1812, before the officers and soldiers of the fort, he evinced such patriotism of sentiment, purity of style, and depth of pathos; as won the applause of his hearers, and widely extended his reputation. Relinquishing military service, Mr. Hayne returned to Charleston, and commenced the practice of his profession, in which he was successful and soon became eminent. In the autumn of 1814 he was elected to the State Legislature, and, in his representative capacity, distinguished himself by his determined, energetic and disinterested exertions for the welfare of his constituents. He was a firm supporter of President Madison and the war, and upon all occasions during that exciting period, openly avowed his opinions and advocated the principles he had espoused. He continued in the Legislature until 1818, and during the last year, occupied the position of Speaker. At the end of his term, he was elected Attorney General of the State, the important and responsible duties of which station he discharged until his election to the Senate of the United States, in 1822. Here he remained ten years, near the expiration of which he resigned, to accept the governorship of South Carolina. Mr. Hayne's career in the Senate, distinguished, fearless, and honorable as it is known to have been, requires but a passing notice here. His entrance to that body, then numbering among its members many of the ablest American statesmen, was considered by them as an accession to the talent and character of the chamber. "I know the estimate they put upon him," says his friend and associate, "the consideration they had for him, and the future they pictured for him; for they were men to look around, and consider who were to carry on the government after they were gone. But the proceedings of the Senate soon gave the highest evidence of the degree of consideration in which he was held. In the second year of his service, he was appointed to a high duty-such as would belong to age and long service, as well as to talent and elevated character. He was made Chairman of the Select Committee, which brought in the bill for the grants * Colonel Isaac Hayne, the "martyr of South Carolina," was the grand-uncle of Robert Y. Hayne: an account of his sufferings is given by General Lee in his interesting memoirs of the Southern Campaign. to Lafayette; and as such became the organ of the expositions, as delicate as they were responsible, which reconciled such grants to the words and spirit of our constitution, and adjusted them to the merit and modesty of the receiver: a high function, and which he fulfilled to the satisfaction of the chamber and the country.* Among the first oratorical efforts of Mr. Hayne, that made during the debate on the exciting question of the tariff, in 1824, won him an exalted reputation, especially at home. He opposed the measure, as he considered it injurious to the country. He thought it was the true interest of the States to have no such restrictive policy, and that its adoption would be attended with ruin. Of the other speeches he made while a senator, among which is that on the Bankrupt Bill, of which he was the originator and zealous advocate, the most celebrated are those delivered in the "great debate" on Mr. Foot's resolution. The second and last one, which will be found in the subsequent pages of this work, is considered, by many, equal, as a constitutional argument, to any one delivered in the Senate. "It exhibits," says an able writer, "a profound knowledge of the true principles of our constitution, and of the relative rights and duties of the Federal and State governments. As an effort of intellect, it will rank among the highest in the annals of American eloquence; and as a faithful exposition of the true structure and objects of the American confederacy, it will be regarded as a text-book by the supporters of the sovereignty of the States in every section of the Union.t Previous to resigning his seat in the Senate, Mr. Hayne was a member of the convention of South Carolina, which assembled for the purpose of taking "into consideration the several acts of the Congress of the United States, imposing duties on foreign imports, for the protection of domestic manufactures, or for other unauthorized objects, to determine on the character thereof, and to devise the means of redress, &c." The result of the deliberations of the convention was the adoption of the notorious nullification ordinance, which was reported to that body by Mr. Hayne, as chairman of the committee to which the subject had been referred. Of this policy, Mr. Hayne was a strenuous supporter, and, as Governor of the State, he was soon after its adoption called on to carry out its principles. The ordinance of nullification was adopted by the convention on the twenty-fourth of November, 1832. On the tenth of the following month, President Jackson issued a proclamation denouncing it and expressing his determination to compel a due observance of the laws of the United States. This instrument was met by a counter-proclamation from Governor Hayne, in which was exhibited a fixed resolution to resist the General Government, even at the point of the bayonet; and preparations for the defence of the State were every where made. The passage of the Compromise Act, however, in March, 1833, put an end to the symptoms of rebellion; and another convention in South Carolina, of which Governor Hayne was president, soon after repealed the obnoxious measure. In December, 1834, Governor Hayne retired from office and from public life. Three years after, he was elected president of the Charleston, Louisville and Cincinnati Railroad, which office he held until his death. That event occurred on the twenty-fourth of September, 1839. The distinguishing features of Mr. Hayne's character and appearance are thus given by Mr. Benton, in the work before quoted:-"Nature had lavished upon him all the gifts which lead to eminence in public, and to happiness in private life. Beginning with the person and manners -he was entirely fortunate in these accessorial advantages. His person was of middle size, slightly above it in height, well proportioned, flexible and graceful. His face was fine-the features manly, well formed, expressive and quite handsome: a countenance ordinarily thoughtful and serious, but readily lighting up, when accosted, with an expression of kindness, intelligence, cheerfulness and inviting amiability. His manners were easy, cordial, unaffected, affable; and his address so winning, that the fascinated stranger was taken captive at the first salutation. These personal qualities were backed by those of the mind-all solid, brilliant, practical and utilitarian and always employed on useful objects, pursued from high motives, and by fair and open means. His judgment was good, and he exercised it in the serious consideration of whatever business he was engaged upon, with an honest desire to do what was right, and a laudable ambition to achieve an honorable fame. He had a copious and ready elocution, flowing at will in Thirty Years' View. By Thomas H. Benton, vol. 2, page 187. + National Portrait Gallery. a strong and steady current, and rich in the material which constitutes argument. His talents were various, and shone in different walks of life, not often united: eminent as a lawyer, distinguished as a senator: a writer as well as a speaker: and good at the council table. All these advantages were enforced by exemplary morals; and improved by habits of study, moderation, temperance, self-control, and addiction to business. There was nothing holiday or empty about him-no lying-in to be delivered of a speech of phrases. Practical was the turn of his mind: industry an attribute of his nature: labor an inherent impulsion, and a habit: and during his ten years of senatorial service, his name was incessantly connected with the business of the Senate. He was ready for all work-speaking, writing, consulting-in the committee-room as well as in the chamber-drawing bills and reports in private as well as shining in the public debate, and ready for the social intercourse of the evening when the labors of the day were over. A desire to do service to the country, and to earn just fame for himself, by working at useful objects, brought all these high qualities into constant, active and brilliant requisition. To do good by fair means was the labor of his senatorial life; and I can truly say that, in ten years of close association with him, I never saw him actuated by a sinister motive, a selfish calculation, or an unbecoming aspiration." Ardent and steadfast in his own peculiar principles, he never spoke harshly of those who differed from him in opinion: pure, affectionate, and amiable in all the relations of domestic life, he was universally beloved and respected. SPEECH ON MR. FOOT'S RESOLUTION. The following speech, in answer to Mr. Web- | ster's first speech on Mr. Foot's resolution,* was delivered by Mr. Hayne, in the Senate of the United States, on the twenty-first of January, 1830.t Mr. PRESIDENT: When I took occasion, two days ago, to throw out some ideas with respect to the policy of the government, in relation to the public lands, nothing certainly could have been further from my thoughts, than that I should have been compelled again to throw myself upon the indulgence of the Senate. Little did I expect to be called upon to meet such an argument as was yesterday urged by the gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Webster.) Sir, I questioned no man's opinions; I impeached no man's motives; I charged no party, or State, or section of country, with hostility to any other, but ventured, as I thought in a becoming spirit, to put forth my own sentiments * The following is the resolution of Mr. Foot:-"Resolved, That the Committee on Public Lands be instructed to inquire and report the quantity of the public lands remaining unsold within each State and Territory, and whether it be expedient to limit, for a certain period, the sales of the publie lands to such lands only as have heretofore been offered for sale, and are now subject to entry at the minimum price. of the Land Offices, may not be abolished without detriment to the public interest; or whether it be expedient to adopt measures to hasten the sales, and extend more rapidly the surveys of the public lands." And, also, whether the office of Surveyor General, and some + See Mr. Webster's answer to this speech at page 870 ante. in relation to a great national question of pub- new alliances to be formed" at which he | Massachusetts has reared so glorious a monuhinted? Has the ghost of the murdered Coalition come back, like the ghost of Banquo, to "sear the eye-balls of the gentleman," and will it not "down at his bidding?" Are dark visions of broken hopes, and honors lost for ever, still floating before his heated imagination? Sir, if it be his object to thrust me between the gentleman from Missouri and himself, in order to rescue the east from the contest it has provoked with the west, he shall not be gratified. Sir, I will not be dragged into the defence of my friend from Missouri. The south shall not be forced into a conflict not its own. The gentleman from Missouri is able to fight his own battles. The gallant west needs no aid from the south to repel any attack which may be made on them from any quarter. Let the gentleman from Massachusetts controvert the facts and arguments of the gentleman from Missouri, if he can-and if he win the victory, let him wear the honors; I shall not deprive him of his laurels. The gentleman from Massachusetts, in reply to my remarks on the injurious operations of our land system on the prosperity of the west, pronounced an extravagant eulogium on the paternal care which the government had extended towards the west, to which he attributed all that was great and excellent in the present condition of the new States. The language of the gentleman on this topic, fell upon my ears like the almost forgotten tones of the tory leaders of the British Parliament, at the commencement of the American Revolution. They, too, discovered, that the colonies had grown great under the fostering care of the Mother Country; and I must confess, while listening to the gentleman, I thought the appropriate reply to his argument, was to be found in the remark of a celebrated orator, made on that occasion: "They have grown great in spite of your protection." ment to his name. Sir, I doubt not the senator will feel some compassion for our ignorance, when I tell him, that so little are we acquainted with the modern great men of New England, that until he informed us yesterday that we possessed a Solon and a Lycurgus, in the person of Nathan Dane, he was only known to the south as a member of a celebrated assembly, called and known by the name of "the Hartford Convention." In the proceedings of that assembly, which I hold in my hand, (at page 19,) will be found, in a few lines, the history of Nathan Dane; and a little farther on, there is conclusive evidence of that ardent devotion to the interests of the new States, which it seems has given him a just claim to the title of "Father of the West." By the 2d resolution of the "Hartford Convention," it is declared, "that it is expedient to attempt to make provision for restraining Congress in the exercise of an unlimited power to make new States, and admitting them into the Union." So much for Nathan Dane, of Beverly, Massachusetts. In commenting upon my views in relation to the public lands, the gentleman insists, that it being one of the conditions of the grants, that these lands should be applied to "the common benefit of all the States, they must always remain a fund for revenue;" and adds, "they must be treated as so much treasure." Sir, the gentleman could hardly find language strong enough to convey his disapprobation of the policy which I had ventured to recommend to the favorable consideration of the country. And what, sir, was that policy, and what is the dif ference between that gentleman and myself, on this subject? I threw out the idea, that the public lands ought not to be reserved for ever, as "a great fund of revenue;" that they ought not to be "treated as a great treasure;" but, that the course of our policy should rather be directed towards the creation of new States, and building up great and flourishing communities. The gentleman, in commenting on the policy of the government, in relation to the new States, has introduced to our notice a certain Now, sir, will it believed, by those who now Nathan Dane, of Massachuetts, to whom he at- hear me and who listened to the gentleman's tributes the celebrated ordinance of '87, by denunciation of my doctrines, yesterday—that which he tells us, "slavery was for ever exclud- a book then lay open before him-nay, that he ed from the new States north of the Ohio." held it in his hand, and read from it certain pasAfter eulogizing the wisdom of this provision, sages of his own speech, delivered to the House in terms of the most extravagant praise, he of Representatives in 1825, in which speech breaks forth in admiration of the greatness of he himself contended for the very doctrines I Nathan Dane-and great indeed he must be, if had advocated, and almost in the same terms. it be true as stated by the senator from Massa- Here is the speech of the Hon. Daniel Webster, chusetts, that "he was greater than Solon and contained in the first volume of Gales and SeaLycurgus, Minos, Numa Pompilius, and all the ton's Register of Debates, (p. 251,) delivered in legislators and philosophers of the world," an- the House of Representatives on the 18th of cient and modern. Sir, to such high authority January, 1825, in a debate on the Cumberland it is certainly my duty, in a becoming spirit of Road-the very debate from which the senator humility, to submit. And yet, the gentleman read yesterday. I shall read from the celebrawill pardon me, when I say, that it is a little ted speech two passages, from which it will apunfortunate for the fame of this great legisla-pear that both as to the past, and the future tor, that the gentleman from Missouri should policy of the government in relation to the pubhave proved, that he was not the author of the lic lands, the gentleman from Massachusetts ordinance of '87, on which the senator from maintained, in 1825, substantially the same |