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HUNT, WASHINGTON.

THIS gentleman, who represents the thirty-fourth Congressional District of the State of New York, comprising the counties of Orleans and Niagara, was born at Windham, Green county, in that state, on the 5th of August, 1811. He is descended from revolutionary stock, several of his kindred having been engaged in the struggle for independence. His grandfather, a surgeon in the army, lost his life in the service. His maternal grandmother was a sister of Nathan Hale, whose dying regret it was "that he had but one life to lose for his country."

In the year 1818, while Washington Hunt was yet in early childhood, his father, Sandford Hunt, removed to the Genesee Valley, in Western New York, and settled at Portage, Livingston county, where he still resides. At the age of eighteen the son entered upon the study of the law, and, after completing the usual course, was admitted to the bar of Lockport in 1834. In the same year he was married to Mary H. Walbridge, daughter of Henry Walbridge. From early manhood he took an active interest in political affairs. He embraced what he then regarded as the Democratic, or liberal cause, with the ardor of youthful enthusiasm. He was a zealous admirer and supporter of General Jackson. He advocated the election of Mr. Van Buren in 1836. At the same canvass he was a candidate for Congress, and lacked but a few votes of being elected.

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In 1836 he was appointed first judge of Niagara county, for five years presided in its civil and criminal courts. pointment, it is believed, gave general satisfaction. Perhaps it may be said that he was the youngest judge of a court of record ever appointed in his state. Yet he discharged the delicate, and often difficult, duties of his important trust with a degree of ability and integrity which won the public approbation. He displayed those essential qualities of judicial excellence, a quick perception, sound judgment, promptness of decision, and

readiness in applying the principles of jurisprudence to complex transactions and ever-varying facts. His constitutional term of service having expired, he was urged to accept a reappointment, which, however, he declined. On his retirement in the early part of 1841, the following proceedings took place:

"Meeting of the Bar.-At a meeting of the members of the Niagara county bar, held at the Court-house, in the village of Lockport, on the 4th day of February, 1811, the Honorable H. Gardner was called to the chair, and M. M. Southworth appointed secretary.

"The following call was read:

"A meeting of the members of the bar of Niagara county is requested to be held on Thursday, the 4th of February instant, at one o'clock, for the purpose of expressing their approbation of the manner in which Judge Hunt, whose term of office, as first judge of this county, is about to expire, has discharged his official duties.

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"The following resolution was then offered, and, on motion, unanimously adopted:

"Resolved, That the Honorable Washington Hunt, in retiring from the office of first judge of the county of Niagara, will carry with him the kind and grateful recollections of the members of the bar of this county, not only as a judge, possessing a clear and comprehensive mind, combined with a firm, independent, and dignified deportment, but as a man and a private citizen.

"On motion,

"Resolved, That the chairman and secretary communicate the proceedings of this meeting to Judge Hunt, and that the same be published in the Lockport papers.

"On motion, the meeting then adjourned."

"LOCKPORT, February, 4, 1841.

"Hon. W. HUNT: "DEAR SIR,-In communicating to you the accompanying proceedings of a meeting of the members of the Niagara county bar, permit us to add, that while we feel a pleasure in being made the organs of this communication, we can not withhold the expression of our regret that the judiciary of this county is to be deprived so soon of your assistance, by the expiration of your official term. Yours, &c.,

"H. GARDNER,

"M. M. SOUTHWORTH."

"LOCKPORT, February, 5, 1841.

GENTLEMEN,-Your note of yesterday, communicating a resolution of the bar of this county, approbative of my official conduct and deportment, was received with deep sensibility. This kind expression of respect and good-will has filled me with emotions of gratitude which I can not adequately express.

"I am, however, but too sensible that the approbation of the bar, so generously expressed and so gratefully appreciated, is not deserved by any qualifications or merits of mine beyond the earnest desire I have felt to fulfill the duties of my place with integrity and impartiality.

"In my endeavors to preserve the authority and respectability of our county court, I have been sustained by the co-operation and manly courtesy of the bar, which alone can impart dignity and decorum to judicial proceedings, give to the legal profession its just elevation, and ensure respect to its individual members. To this invaluable aid and support may be attributed whatever success has attended my official labors.

"Permit me, through you, to express to the members of the bar my sincere thanks for the uniform cordiality and forbearance which I have experienced at their hands, and to assure them that I shall ever cherish the memory of our kindly relations among the most agreeable recollections of my life.

"With sincere attachment and regard,

"Yours truly,

"To H. GARDNER and M. M. SOUTHWORTH, Esq's."

W. HUNT.

For some years, during the period of his judicial service, Mr. Hunt withdrew from all political participation in political con

tests. During this period, the relative position of parties was rapidly changing, and his political opinions experienced a mate. rial modification, He was one of the many original supporters of Mr. Van Buren who dissented from the general policy of his administration, and especially from the new measures introduced in relation to the currency and the public finances. He was opposed to what he considered the radical doctrines, violent innovations, and disorganizing tendencies which from that time distinguished the progress of the Democratic party. In a word, his views were naturally conservative, and favorable to the preservation of existing relations and established institutions. An original and constant advocate of the protective system, of a distribution of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands among the states, of improvements of lake and river navigation by the Federal government, and friendly to a liberal financial system adapted to the commercial enterprise and bu siness interests of the country, he found himself widely sepa rated from his old political associates. In regard to these prominent measures of national policy, his views harmonized with those avowed by the Whig party, and he did not permit former differences to restrain him from the free and independent expression of his opinions.

Whether his political views were right or wrong, it is not our province to discuss; but the sincerity of his convictions, and his fearlessness in maintaining them, are conceded by all. It may truly be said that his most prominent characteristics are frankness and independence in the expression of his opinions, regardless of party dictation, and uncontrolled by the trammels of po litical organization. Ever ready to act with his party in support of what he conceives to be wise and beneficial measures, he aims to govern his course by those paramount obligations which every citizen owes to his country.

In the year 1842 he was strongly solicited to become the candidate of the Whig party for representative in Congress. Consulting only his own disposition, he would have declined the offer; but his friends were urgent, and he was nominated, without a dissenting voice, by the Whig District Convention. He was elected by a fair majority. His personal popularity was great-so much so, that many of the opposite party gave him their suffrages, knowing that his voice and his vote must,

in many important measures, be found against their own principles. Of the estimate which his constituents placed upon his character, no stronger evidence need be adduced than the simple statement of the fact that he has, without solicitation, been regularly renominated for the same office, and re-elected by largely increased majorities.

As a member of the House of Representatives, he directed his early, but fruitless efforts toward the procurement of an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, providing that "no person shall be hereafter eligible to the office of President of the United States who shall have been previously elected to the said office, and who shall have accepted the same, or exercised the powers thereof." He has never lost sight of this proposition, nor omitted, on every appropriate occasion, to urge it upon the consideration of Congress. At a more recent period, he endeavored, unsuccessfully, to introduce a proposition, engrafting on the same instrument an additional amendment, providing that "the President shall not nominate or appoint to any office, civil or military, any member of either house of Congress, nor any person who shall have been a member of either house of Congress at any time during the official term of such President."

We have adverted to the consistency of his views in regard to lake and river navigation. To these views all his votes have conformed. He early declared that "he looked upon the interests of every portion of this Union as American interests, and, as such, he was interested in them, and would support them. He professed to be in favor of a liberal policy in relation to public improvements; and as complaints had been made by Western men that the West had been neglected, he charged that neglect upon Mr. Van Buren's administration. He intimated that a change on this subject was observable from the doctrines entertained during the administration of General Jackson." In uniform keeping, also, with the opinions he entertained, have been his votes on the maintenance of the protective system, and on all those financial experiments which have distinguished the administration of the government for some years past.

Among other measures which he has introduced or advocated has been the construction of a ship canal around the Falls of

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