Five years later he was elected to the office of civil justice, and held court at the corner of Bowery and Third Street, and continued in this position till 1849, when the office was abolished. He seemed naturally destined for active political life, and his influence and ability were soon felt in the councils of his party. Fortunately for himself and the public, he was not a man to be bound by party trammels, or to be the obsequious slave of i)arty rule. He called himself a " National Conservative Democrat," and might almost be said to be his own party. In 1848 Mr. Haskin removed from New York and settled at Fordham, near the scenes of his early childhood. The Democracy of his native county had to some extent escaped the corrujjting influences which had made the party in New York a disgrace to the city and the State. Here he came in contact with a class of politicians who were more able to appreciate his true position and ready to join their forces with his own. In 1850 he was elected supervisor, and was re-elected, and one of his many acts for public benefit was his successful effort to erect a free

1 bridge over Harlem River.

In 1853 he was appointed corporation attorney and held office till 1856. In that year he was elected member of Congress for the Ninth District on the regular Democratic ticket. It was soon evident tiiat he was not the man to sit on a back seat. His first speech attracted at once the attention of the House, being made in opposition to the attempt of Alexander H. Stephens to disgrace Admiral Hiram Paulding for causing the arrest of the noted filibuster, William H. Walker. This sj)ee<'h marked Mr. Haskin as one of the acconiplij^lu'd orators of the House.