Being friendly disposed towards the Christian religion, and sensible how hard it was to know the human heart, we are told, that he assembled his officers and judges, and proposed to them this condition, either to sacrifice to demons, or leave the court and their places to others, giving each liberty of choice.

Hewat may have been only a "gentleman historian" but he had the advantage of first-hand observation, with the ability, time, and local contacts required for a remarkably dispassionate account of pre-revolutionary Carolina.

The earliest record of the name appears to be a William Hewat (born about 1366); the UK National Archives show he bore witness to a grant of land and tenement at Nustede (Newstead) in 1387.

However, Alexander's father Richard (1707–1776) became an elder of the church and is described on his tombstone, still standing in Roxburgh churchyard, as "an honest and industrious man and a sincere and devout Christian".

Shortly after his arrival in Charleston he was elected to the St. Andrew's Club, an organisation of native-born Scotsmen which included some of the colony's leading men, and so had the chance to secure authentic evidence and first-hand experience for his historical narrative.

[3] Hewat's first volume attempts to outline the earliest settlement of North America, and the reasons for the influx of British, French and other European migrants in the early 17th century due to religious conflict at home.

He wrote: "Amidst cold, hunger, toil, disease, and distress of every kind, they comforted themselves with the thoughts of being removed far out of the reach of tyrants, and triumphed in their deliverance from an idolatrous and wicked nation."

"When Julius Caesar carried the Roman arms into Britain, and Germanicus over-ran the forests of Germany, did they not find the silvestres of those countries little, if at all, more civilized than the brown natives of America?

"[18] He describes the settlement of Carolina by aristocratic British Proprietors, the setting up of plantations, wars with the Indians, the Spanish and Pirates, and the hardships of the climate.

Hewat describes the introduction of African slaves, and maintains that "Hawkins had no idea of perpetual slavery, but expected they would be treated as free servants, after they had by their labours brought their masters an equivalent for the expense of their purchase...

"[20] Hewat saw Africans as more suited to the SC climate, and essential to the Southern Economy, but imagined an indentured servant system similar to that which existed for white immigrants, and supposed that the conditions of slavery would incite them to revolt, as indeed they did at Stono in September 1739.

"At this time there were above forty thousand negroes in the province, a fierce, hardy and strong race, whose constitutions were adapted to the warm climate, whose nerves were braced with constant labour, and who could scarcely be supposed to be contented with that oppressive yoke under which they groaned.

Charleston had been recaptured by British forces by the time Hewat received the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Edinburgh University on 12 July 1780.

Mr Thomas Braidwood our English Teacher of the Deaf & Dumb has oft expressed to me his surprise at the degree of perfection to which the child had attained in speaking; but her mother, anxious for still greater proficiency, was advised to carry her to another famous master in France, which advice was to her matter of great lamentation till Death.