[Communicated by Prof. FISK P. BREWER, of the University of North Carolina.]

DAVID LOWRY SWAIN was the son of George Swain, a native of NewEngland, and was born in the county of Buncombe, N. C., January 4, 1801. He died in Chapel Hill, September 3, 1868. His grandfather, Samuel Swain, left a widow, Freelove S., with seven sons and two daughters, in dependent circumstances. The daughters married William Tiffany, of Pawtucket, R. I., and William Fuller. The sons all died childless, except George, born June 17, 1763.

George Swain had a short schooling at Springfield, Mass., but at the age of fourteen was apprenticed to a hatter, who also kept an inn in Providence, R. I. Having learned his trade, he sailed, Sept. 1, 1785, with a friend and some stores to Charleston, S. C., but lost every thing in a storm. From Charleston he went directly to Augusta, Ga., and staying there less than a year he settled in the county of Wilkes, now Oglethorpe, Ga. He was a member of the constitutional convention, and five years in the legislature. At the close of his last term, in the winter of 1795-6, having lost his health, he moved to the county of Buncombe, N. C., and served as postmaster till about two years before his death, Dec. 25, 1829.

He was married, Dec. 2, 1788, to Mrs. Caroline (Lane) Lowry, of co. Wake, N. C., the aunt of Gen. Joseph Lane, who was for some time a senator of the United States, and a candidate for the vice-presidency on the ticket with Mr. Breckenridge in 1860. They had seven children: five daughters, namely-one who died unmarried, and Mrs. William Coleman, of Buncombe, Mrs. John Hall, of Haywood, and Mrs. Jacob Siler and Mrs. William Siler, of the county of Macon, all of whom are deceased; and two sons-George, now living in Athens, Ga., and the subject of this sketch, the youngest child but one, named after his mother's first husband, David Lowry.

Young Swain studied at the academy in Asheville, under Rev. George Newton, and afterwards under Rev. F. H. Porter, who continued to correspond with his pupil late in life. In 1822, he entered the junior class of the University at Chapel Hill, as a student out of the regular course, and though he remained only about six weeks, he formed friendships among the stuVOL. XXIV.

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dents which were cherished through life. He then read law with Judge John Louis Taylor, and was admitted to the bar in 1823. The next year and the year following he was a member of the House of Commons from Buncombe.

The western part of the State had few men in the legislature to compete with the lawyers of the more wealthy eastern section. Mr. Swain soon showed himself a ready debater and a clear thinker, and so, in spite of a rather ungraceful carriage and the singular hollow and high-keyed tone of his voice, was soon recognized as a leader. He cared but little for his personal appearance, remarking contentedly that Henry Clay, too, was ugly looking and wrote a bad hand. His features, indeed, somewhat resembled Clay's, but his frame was larger. He mentioned in after years that a conversation of his with John C. Calhoun, in 1825, was begun with a playful allusion to his height, which Calhoun said corresponded with his own and that of General Washington.

Swain's popularity continued high, especially with his section, and in 1827, when the eastern members seemed unable to unite on any candidate for a vacant solicitorship in the Edenton district, the other members, becoming weary of the contest, united and gave him the office. He resigned, however, after riding one circuit, probably finding that the factions had harmonized and his longer service might be felt as an intrusion.

He was again in the House of Commons in 1828 and 1829, and was elected a member of the board of internal improvements in 1830. The same year he was chosen judge of the Superior Courts, and the year following a trustee of the University.

In 1832, after the general assembly had made several unsuccessful attempts to elect a governor, Mr. Swain's name was proposed, and on the seventh ballot he was elected; the youngest man ever chosen to that office. He occupied the seat from Dec. 6, 1832, to Dec. 10, 1835.

The subject of improved means of communication was much discussed at this time, and Gov. Swain actively favored the policy of helping railroads with public funds. As president of a State convention, held in November, 1833, he signed a memorial to the legislature proposing that the State should borrow five million dollars for this purpose, in five annual instalments, and meet the interest by the income of the literary fund. The desirableness of State aid he argued again in a report, as president of the Board of Internal Improvements, and yet a third time in his annual message to the assembly the same year. Notwithstanding this repeated appeal, and references to the subject in subsequent messages, no subsidy was given to railroads till in 1838, after his term of office had expired.

A much needed revision of the laws was recommended by him and promptly ordered by the legislature, though not published till 1837.

In his second annual message the governor argued at length the injustice of the general government to North Carolina, especially in the assessment of the expenses of the revolutionary war, and in the disposition of the public land in the territory of Tennessee, which had formerly belonged to North Carolina. This land he wished to have given back to the State, so that by keeping up the price emigration from North Carolina might be checked, while the income might furnish a fund for education and internal improvements. The same subject was referred to at other times, and complaint was also made of delay in the settlement of the State's expenditures in the war of 1812.

The State constitution made no provision for its own amendment, but as

there had been many calls for alterations in it, the government maintained the propriety of various methods, provided that the amendments were ultimately submitted to a popular vote. Adoption by the people would give validity, whatever were the initial steps. A convention was accordingly held in 1835, in which the governor participated without leaving the executive chair, being elected delegate from the county of Buncombe. He took a prominent part in the deliberations, being temporary chairman at the opening and a member of the business committee. A new article of the constitution, excluding blacks from suffrage, was adopted by a vote of 66 to 61, a previous amendment allowing some of them to vote for members of the House of Commons failing by a vote of 62 to 65. Two subsequent motions to reverse this action were lost by votes of 59 to 63, and 55 to 64. Gov. Swain voted throughout with the minority, though there is no record of his having spoken on the subject. He also voted with a smaller minority to abolish all religious tests for office holding.

In regard to abolition publications in northern States, Gov. Swain's message, Nov. 16, 1835, recommended the exercise of the "indubitable right to ask of our sister States the adoption of such measures as may be necessary and requisite to suppress them totally and promptly."

In 1835, January 27, Dr. Caldwell had died, the first president of the University, and Gov. Swain was elected, November 1, to succeed him. He moved from Raleigh to Chapel Hill, the following January. From the excitements of politics the new president brought to his academic career habits of affability, a tact in influencing others and a fertility of expedients nowhere more necessary than in a literary institution under the patronage and control of the State. The numbers in attendance were rather less than during the period, 1816-26, when Dr. Caldwell had been in his prime, there being about a hundred students, two tutors and four professors. Under President Swain the number increased, so that in the year 1856, and thereafter, until the approach of the civil war, there were ten professors, from six to nine tutors, and over four hundred students. Twelve hundred and ten of the seventeen hundred and fifty-four alumni graduated under him. The doors of the University were kept open through the war, and an earnest effort was made to revive it afterwards.

Three times the festivities of commencement were honored by the presence of the president of the United States; Mr. Polk coming as an alumnus in 1847; Mr. Buchanan in 1850, and Mr. Johnson in 1867; all of them drawn greatly, if not chiefly, by the attractive invitations of the president of the University.

Gov. Swain laid aside the title of "Professor of National and Constitutional Law," after the establishment of a law school in 1845, but continued, as before, to instruct the seniors in those subjects, concluding with a course of lectures on the history of constitutional law. He taught also in Wayland's Political Economy, and on Sunday in the Pentateuch and in Wayland's Moral Science till 1860, and after that year in Butler's Analogy. Up to the year 1859, he gave instruction also in Mental Philosophy, and resumed the department after the war.

The degree of doctor of laws was conferred on him by the college of New-Jersey in 1841, and again by Yale College, on occasion of his visit there at commencement, the following year.

A debt is due from the State to the memory of Gov. Swain, for the interest he excited in the early history of North Carolina, and for his labors with a few of like tastes in discovering and publishing her early records.

The Historical Society of the State was organized in January, 1844, on his motion, and to the end of his life it was a common remark that Gov. Swain was the Historical Society.

In 1855, he was appointed State historical agent for procuring documentary evidence of the history of North Carolina. His report to the governor, December 1, 1856, was printed; but his collections, though continued of his own accord as long as he lived, have not yet been published.

His assistance to Hon. George Bancroft, Dr. Francis L. Hawks, and Mr. John H. Wheeler, is cordially acknowledged by those historians.

The University Magazine, 1852-61, shows how much attention was given in the University to the antiquities of the State. The following contributions from his pen appear in its pages (and perhaps others would be found, if a complete file were accessible) :-"Lecture before the Hist. Soc. on the British Invasion of North Carolina in 1776"-reprinted in Raleigh, with addresses of Graham and Hawks; "War of the Regulation "-five numbers; "Life and Letters of Whitmill Hill;" "Life and Letters of Cornelius Harnett"; "Life of Gov. Charles Manly"; "Letter to Dr. R. W. Gibbes, June 18, 1855, on some points suggested by his Documentary History of the Revolution in South Carolina."

His address at Asheville, June 16, 1858, was published under the title of "A vindication of the propriety of giving the name Mt. Mitchell' to the highest peak of Black Mountain.'" A pamphlet published in 1868, and entitled "Early Times in Raleigh," contains his historical address on the opening of Tucker Hall, and his address on the erection of a monument to the memory of President Johnson's father. Communications from his pen appeared occasionally, also, in the Raleigh Register, edited by Weston Gales, Esq.

In February, 1861, Gov. Swain and two associates went as delegates from the general assembly to Montgomery, Ala., to discuss plans for adjustment of public difficulties on the basis of the Crittenden resolutions, as modified by the legislature of Virginia. They found the convention had adjourned sine die, and the congress of the new confederacy organized. After a few days delay they presented their resolutions to the congress and were courteously invited to attend any of its sessions, open or secret. They attended the open sessions and consulted freely with leading men, and reported a general indisposition towards reconstruction.

For the next four years Gov. Swain remained quietly at his post, “in a region remarkably healthful and remote from the seat of war," where at no previous period had "the means and opportunities of improvement been so great"-to quote from the University advertisement of December, 1861. But when the advancing army of Sherman was filling the State authorities with dismay, he obtained permission from Gov. Vance to go with Ex-Gov. Graham to meet the commander and propose terms of peace. While yet on their way from Raleigh they were recalled before reaching Sherman, but were prevented from returning by a detachment of United States cavalry, and conveyed to the General's presence. Gov. Swain had brought with him some historical relics to show, among them Gen. Burgoyne's order book when he marched through the Carolinas. The two ex-Governors received very polite treatment. Gen. Sherman, however, insisted that they should spend the night with him to give time for his engineer to repair their locomotive, a courtesy they would gladly have dispensed with. The next morning he sent them homeward safely, but not very much in advance of

his own army. The general of cavalry who captured these two ambassadors, was afterwards stationed at Chapel Hill, and became son-in-law to Gov. Swain.

In the reconstruction discussions of 1866-7, Gov. Swain published several letters to Gov. Perry, of South Carolina, finding fault with the measures of congress. When, however, the new constitution was formed for his own State, he consulted freely with the committee on education, and recommended changes in the relation of the University to the State which were incorporated into the organic law.

Gov. Swain died September 3, 1868, in consequence of injuries received in being thrown from a carriage in Chapel Hill.

Early in his career he observed signs of pulmonary weakness in himself, just after three of his sisters died of consumption in 1826 and 1827. His extremly temperate and regular habits, however, prevented the development of disease.

He made a profession of religion while President, joining the Presbyterian church like his father before him. Though chosen an elder he rarely talked about religion or took part in religious meetings.

He married in January, 1826, Eleanor H. White, daughter of William White, secretary of state, and granddaughter of Richard Caswell, governor of North Carolina. Mrs. Swain is now residing with her sisters in Raleigh. Of their children, three grew to adult years: a daughter of considerable literary taste, who died March, 1867; Richard Caswell Swain, of Shannon, Ill., and Mrs. Gen. Atkins, of Freeport, Ill.

Among many resolutions published at his death, the following were adopted by his colleagues in the faculty of the University.

"I. That in our long and intimate associations with him as the president of the University-some, twelve; some, twenty; some, thirty years— we have had perpetual occasion to admire his earnest devotion to its inserests, the wise forecast of his plans for its advancement, the mild firmness of his discipline, and his singular power of winning the confidence and affection of his pupils.

"II. That while we have a deep sense of the great loss which the State and the University have suffered, we feel that our own loss is even greater, and shall not cease to mourn for him as for a friend whom we have most sincerely loved, and whose love for us we have always esteemed an honor and a special privilege."

The Historical Society resolved as follows:

"I. That by the death of the Hon. David Lowry Swain, LL.D., the Historical Society of the University of North Carolina has lost its founder, its first and only president, and its most useful member.

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"II. That in addition to other causes of sorrow for his death, this Society would commemorate his love for his native State;-his indefatigable zeal in collecting the memorials of its history-his minute, extensive and most accurate knowledge of men and events connected with it, and his unfailing readiness to communicate to all inquirers his ample stores of information, which make his loss not only sorrowful but irreparable."

Gov. Swain was elected a corresponding member of The NewEngland Historic, Genealogical Society, July 20, 1860.