nority threatened resistance to any law which should be designed to exact it. In casting oil upon these troubled waters, Governor HAYNE was mainly instrumental, by putting forth a proclamation enjoining obedience to the decision of the court of appeals, which pronounced unconstitutional a military oath enjoined by the legislature, in opposition to the decided opinion entertained by the party in power. Perhaps to this wise and prudent course of the governor, may be traced that gradual relaxation of the spirit that urged the enforcement of an oath of allegiance, which subsequently terminated in the reconciliation of the two parties in the legislature, commemorated by the almost unanimous election of Mr. M'Duffie as governor of the state, and the abandonment of the bill designed to exact an oath of allegiance. In his valedictory message, Governor HAYNE signified his wish to pass the residue of his days in retirement from public life; but in this desire he will scarcely be indulged.

The great characteristics of Mr. HAYNE's mind, are comprehensiveness, clearness, and strength. He readily perceives and embraces the strong points of a subject, and, directing all his energies to them, omits those which are merely minor or incidental. His speeches, therefore, whether long or short, are generally strictly confined to the subject before him; nor does he indulge in unnecessary amplification, or occupy time with the discussion of irrelevant or subordinate topics. He never speaks for the sake of speaking. He is always more intent upon ideas, than words-more desirous to convince, than shine. His style, therefore, has none of those little arts or affectations which are usually more designed to tickle the ear, than to inform the sense. Let it not be supposed, however, that his speeches are not polished, as well as vigorous, beautified by ornament, as well as recommended by intelligence. Argument, indeed, is his forte, but he also possesses, and often draws into requisition, extensive stores of classical literature, and the rich and varied resources of an active and fertile imagination. If he does not abound in metaphors and similes, his illustrations are natural and apt, and always strengthen what they are intended to embellish. His speeches, in fact, may be consulted with equal advantage, as sources of political information, or as furnishing a happy specimen of that finished style which ought ever to be aimed at in parliamentary debate.

Generally mild and persuasive, he is frequently, notwithstanding, vehement and impassioned; and though he prefers to reason or persuade, he often deals out invective with no sparing hand. His style, indeed, is always admirably adapted to his subject, and his readers

are often astonished and delighted by vivid bursts of indignation, or by exquisite appeals to the best feelings of their hearts. His voice is full and melodious, and his manner earnest and impressive. Full of ingenuous sensibility, his eyes are as expressive as his tongue, and as he pours out his thoughts or feelings, either in a strain of captivating sweetness, or of impetuous and overbearing passion, every emotion of his soul is distinctly depicted in the lineaments of his countenance. When he does not convince, he delights, and even prejudice itself hangs charmed upon his lips.

Our limits now compel us to a close, and therefore we shall only say further, that no man in the Union is more distinguished by public spirit, and by an ardent devotion to the welfare of his country. Though steadfast in his own political principles, he is without a particle of intolerance towards his opponents, and in all the relations of domestic and social life, he is beloved and respected, amiable and affectionate, pure and irreproachable.

9

WILLIAM GASTON, LL. D.

THE name of GASTON is honorably associated in the annals of France, where the ancestors of the subject of this notice were zealous and distinguished adherents of the Huguenot cause, in the latter part of the seventeenth century. On the revocation of the edict of Nantz, they retired to Ballymore in Ireland, where Dr. Alexander Gaston, the father of the judge, was born. He was the younger brother of the Rev. Hugh Gaston, a presbyterian clergyman of great piety and learning, and the author of "Gaston's Concordance," a standard work in his church. Dr. Alexander Gaston was graduated at the medical college in Edinburgh, after which he accepted the appointment of surgeon in the navy, and attended the expedition which captured the Havana. The epidemic dysentery which prevailed with so much fatality among the troops, assailed even the surgeon; and with a constitution broken by disease, and daily wearing away from the exhaustion of a warm climate, he resigned his post and sailed for the North American provinces. He landed in Newbern, and after a residence of some years, during which he was engaged in the practice of his profession, was married, in May, 1775, to Margaret Sharpe, an English lady of the Catholic church. She had come out to North Carolina, on a visit to her two brothers, Girard and Joseph Sharpe, who were extensively engaged in commerce, and it was during this sojourn, that the gallantry of the young Irish physician, succeeded in permanently detaining her in Newbern.

WILLIAM GASTON, their second son, was born on the 19th of September, 1778. His elder brother died very soon after he was born, and before he was three years old, the accidents of war carried off his father. The circumstances of the death of Dr. Alexander Gaston are too tragical and interesting to be omitted, and as they strongly illustrate the ferocity of the intestine war, that was waged between the whigs and tories of the south, we shall venture to detail them somewhat at length. Dr. Gaston was one of the most decided whigs in North Carolina, and as early as the month of August, 1775, was