Haskin by a majority of thirteen votes. His nature showed itself when he stated from his seat in Congress, " I came here with no party collar on my neck." His independence was too plain to be misunderstood, and an attack upon him in the personal organ of President Buchanan was answered by him in an able speech on the floor of the House, in which his position and relation to the Democratic party were fully explained. " I am a Democrat, -- a Democrat in essence, in substance, and not in mere form ; Democracy, according to my read- j ing, is the rule of the people under the law." In the Thirty-sixth Congress he was chairman of the Committee on Public Expenditures, and member of the Committee on Public Printing, and organized the research into current corruption known as the "Covodc Investigation." Among his most intimate friends was Senator Broderick, of California, who had been his early schoolmate, and the friendship then begun continued till the day when theSenator fell, the victim of a duel occasioned by political animosity. It devolved upon Mr. Haskin to deliver a fitting tribute to the memory of his friend, which was a masterpiece of pathetic eloquence.
His last speech in Congress was delivered February 23,1861. It was a characteristically bold and clear review of the agitation which led to the great crisis in our history ; expressed his belief that the perilous condition of the country was directly traceable to the conduct of President Buchanan, and contained a scathing denunciation of the treasonable acts of his Cabinet.