SAYKE
SCALES
but in 1770, on the death of De Berdt. the firm
failed. Sayre established liiinself as a banker in
London, becoming one of the sheriirs of the city,
1773-74. William Lee. brother of Arthur Lee
(q.v.), being the other. He was proposed as
agent for Maissachusetts. but wlien Franklin
agreed to serve, withdrew in his favor. In his
official capacity he carried the pro-American
pi'titions in bei>alf of tiie city to Parliament and
the King. His career as sherifT was marked by
greater ilecorum in the execution of criminals and
humanitj' in the treatment of prisoners. He
was a candidate ft)r Parliament from Seaford
Sussex in 1774, but his election was successfully
contested by his opp<inent. On Feb. 18, 1775, he
married an heiress, Elizabeth, daughter of the
Hon. William Noel. His social prominence and
known political beliefs made him a marked man,
and on Oct. 20, 1775, he was arrested, as an ex-
ample to the opposition, on a charge of high
treason made by Francis Richardson, colonel of
the royal guards and a renegade American, but
the case was dismissed for lack of prosecution,
and he sued the secretary of state for false im-
prisonment and won. Meanwliile his banking
business had been ruined, and in November,
1776. a commission of bankruptcy was issued
against him. In the spring of 1777 he left Eng-
land for Paris, to offer his services to the Ameri-
can commissioners there. In May, 1777, he ac-
companied Arthur Lee to Berlin as his secretary,
and was with Lee when Hugh Elliott, the Brit-
ish minister, rifled his desk in search of secret
documents. Wlien Lee left Berlin, disappointed
from his want of success, he left Sayre in charge
of the office, and in December, Sayre went to
Copenliagen to advance American interests and
thence to Stockholm, returning to Pai'is by
way of Amsterdam. In October, 1779, Sayre ap-
plied to Franklin for command of the Alliance
after Landais's fiasco. In 1780 he went to St.
Petersburg as agent from tiie United States to
further the project of armed neutrality. Build-
ing ships there, lie was hindered by Sir James
Harris, the British minister, who catised the
ships to be burned, and in so doing destroyed
much Russian property at the docks, laying the
blame indirectly on Sayre. In August, 1781, on
the arrival of Dana in St. Petersburg as ac-
credited representative of the United States,
Sayre returned to Paris, and in 17b3, with his
wife and son. Samuel Wilson Sayre. returned to
America, purchasing " Point Breeze," a large
estate at Bordentown, N.J., where his wife
diet!. Nov. 29, 1789. He engaged in business in
New York city, in.stituted claims against the
government for compen.sation for his services in
Europe, and in 1789 returned to France and en-
gaged in the snufT business in Havre. He was
married in Paris, in 1790, to Mrs. Elizabeth
Dorone. and transferred liis business to that city.
In 1792 he was sent to England as secret agent
for France to purchase arms. He was the jiro-
poser of the French expedition of George Rogers
Clarke against Louisiana inl 793. In 1794 he oj)-
posed tbe policy of the administration. In 1807
he was granted a small portion of his claim for
compensation. In 1810 he sold his Bordentown
property to Joseph Bonaparte and removed to
Branilon, Va. He received the honorary degree
of A.M. from Harvard in 17(56, and is the author
of: Hie Englishvian Deceived, a political pam-
phlet (1768); Memorial, reciting his claims to
compensation (1803). His son, Samuel Wilson
Sayre, married Jane, daughter of Philip L.
Grymes of Brandon on the Rappahannock, Va.,
and in their home his father resided, 1816-18, and
died, Sept. 7, 1818.
SCALES, Alfred Moore, governor of North Carolina, was born in Reedsville, N.C., Nov. 26, 1827; son of Alfred Moore Scales. He was a student at Caldwell Institute, Greensboro, and the University of North Carolina, taught school; was admitted to the bar in 1851, practisei in Madison, and was solici- tor of Rockingham county. 1853. He was a member of the general assembly of North Carolina, 1852-53 and 1856; a Democratic represen- tative in the 35th congress, 1857-59; clerk and master of the Rockingham county court of equity, 1859-61; presidential elector on the Breckinridge and Lane ticket. 1860; and in April. 1861, enlisted as a private in the Confederate States army. He was promoted captain, and later colonel, and commanded the 13th North Carolina regiment in Pender's 6th brigade, A. P. Hill's light division, Jackson's corps, at Fredericksburg, December, 1862, succeeding to the command of the bri- gade when Pender was wounded. He was wounded at Chancellorsville, May, 1863; was promoted brigadier-general in 1863; and com- manded the 4th brigade. Pender's division, A. P. Hill's 3d army corps, at Gettysburg, July, 1863, where he was severely wounded. After his re- covery he rejoined the army and commanded the 2d brigade, Wilcox's division, A. P. Hill's corps, in the Wilderness campaign and in the de- fence of Petersburg and Richmond, 1864-65, sur- rendering at Appomattox. He returned to the practice of law in Greensboro. N.C.; again served in the general assembly of North Caro- lina. 1866-07: was a Democratic representative in the 44th-48th congresses. 1875-85. and governor of the state, 1885-89. He was engaged in bank- ing at Greensboro, where he died, Nov. 9, 1892.
