The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

.BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
Indian towns, a bill for the appointment of general officers
in the militia of the Territory, a bill to revise the laws
adopted or made by the Governors and Judges, a bill for
the relief of the poor, a hill repealing certain laws or parts
of laws, and a lbill for the punishment of arson. He was
also appointed to prepare and report rules for conducting
the business of the Legislative Council, and an answer to
the Governor's address to the two houses at the opening of
the session. Also to draft a memorial to Congress in behalf of purchasers of land in the Miami country, and a
complimentary address to the President of the United States.
After the formation of the State government le succeeded,
by his researches into the laws of Virginia and his lucid
dclemonstrationiof the same, in settling in favor of the State
of Ohio the right which Kentucky controverted of arresting
criminals on the river between the two States. Under the
system establishied for the sale of the public domain by the
law of I8Soo and acts supplementary thereto, an immense
debt was contracted and became due to the government of
the United States from the people of the West, exceeding
the entire -amount- of money in circulation in the West.
The debt had been accumulating for twenty years, and was
swelling daily wibh increasing rapidity. The first emigrants to the West, and the greater part of those who followed them from time to time, wele compelled by necessity
to purchase on credit, exhausting their means to the last
dollar in raising the first payment on their entries. The
debt due the government in I82o at the different Western
land offices amounted to, $22,000,000, an amount far exceeding the ability of the debtors to pay. Thousands of
industrious mren, some of whom had paid one, some two,
and some three instalments on their lands, and had toiled
day and night in clearing, enclosing, and improving them,
became convinced that they would be forfeited and their
money and labor lost. This appalling prospect spread a
deep gloom over the community, and it was evident that if
the government attempted to enforce its claims universal
balnkruptcy would ensue. Serious fears were felt that any
attempt on the part of the government to enforce its claim
would meet with resistance, and probably result in civil
wmar. Judge Burnet, at this crisis of affairs, gave the matter
his most obstructn a t te n tion, with a views of devising a plan
of relief, and was able to mature and propose a plan which
met the approval of all the sufferers, and so commllended
itself to Congress and the government that it was speedily
adopted. The evils thr e atened wer e thu s averted, and the
moted. Judge Burnet recognized at a very early period
the importance to the trade and commerce of the West of
the unlobstructed navigation of the Ohlio river, and especially the importance to the trade of the uipper Ohio of
removing the obstruction caused by the falls in the river at
Louisville. He was one of the first to advocate the construction of a canal around the falls, and was appointed by
the State of Indiana one of several commissioners for carry
ing out this project, in which he took a wa rm an d- pactiven
part. Consi derable progress was made in the wor k when
th e ri va l project of a canal on the Kentulcky shore was
st a rt ed, which met with more general favor. This caused
the abandonment of the Indiana canal, an d the canal on the
Kentucky shore was constru c t e d, h o thus removing on e of the
most serious obstructions to the navigation of the upper
Ohio. The construction of a can al from the Ohio river, at
Cincinnati, to Lake Erie, at Toledo, ho hio-thus a ffording
water communication between the commerce of the lakes
and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys-was another matter
that enlisted the warmest support o f Judge Bu rnet. Under
an Act of Congress, making a large grant of public l a nd in
a id of this pro ject, considerable progress was made in the
work, when it was found that cer tain c o nditions and re -
strictions in the original grant were s uch as to greatly
whi ch gre atl y languished and was about to be abandoned.
Judge Burnet, on taking his place in the Senate, secured:
the appointment of a committee of the Senlate to take into,
consideration the modification of the original grant so as to;
remove its objectionable features, and. appearing before the
committee in behalf of the measure. His representations
were so effective that he was requested by the committee to
(]raw up a report embodlying the principal facts in support.
of the claim, and also a bill to carry it into effect.- The
committee presented the report and bill, with a recommendation that it should pass. It did pass both houses and
became a law during the session, and without d~oubt secured
the completion of the canal. Ili the Senate he was the
friend and associate of Adams, Clay, and Webster, and was
especially the friend and admirer of the latter, with whom
he occupied a desk in the Senate chamber. When General
Haynes of South Carolina made'his celebrated speech on
nullification, which elicited Mr. Webster's more celebrated
reply, MIr. Webster was absent from the Senate, and it was
remarked that in his reply he answered General Haynes'
points seriatim, as if he had been present and heard them.
Judge Burnet, who heard Haynes'- speech, took full notes
of it and gave them to Mr. Webster, who was thus prepared
to make his reply as if personally present. No one was
more delighted- with Mr. WVebster's unanswerable rejoinder
than Judge Burnet, who had thus assisted to call it forth.
With the close of Judg-e urntret's term in the Senate his
public career ended. In full vigor of mind and body, with
brilliant prospects of political preferment before him if he
would but seek it, he chose rather to spend the remainder
of his days as a private citizen. He was not ambitious of
place; he was driven to accept office from a sense of duty,
and not by ambition. As soon as the durty was discharged
he returned to private life. Ill the year I837, at the request
of a friend, he wrote a series of letters detailing at some
length such facts and incidents relating to th e early settlemlent of the Nor-thwestern Territory as were within his
recollection'and were considered worth preserving. These
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