Hugh Swinton Legare, an American statesman, born in Charleston, S. C, Jan. 2, 1797, died in Boston, June 20, 1843. On the father's side he was of French Huguenot stock; on the mother's Scottish. Inoculated with smallpox when a child, the disease fastened on his lower limbs, impaired their growth, and crippled for a time their development. Books were his only refuge from his physical infirmities. At the age of 14 he entered the South Carolina college, where he devoted himself mainly to classical literature and philosophy, and eagerly practised in the debating societies. To become an orator was the chief object of his ambition, and he made great acquisitions both in the classics and modern languages and literatures, though chiefly after leaving college. He graduated in 1814, studied law for three years, and in 1818 went to France. Thence he proceeded to Edinburgh, and entered the classes of civil law, natural philosophy, mathematics, and chemistry, but attended mainly to the civil law. He afterward visited London, made a tour through France, the Low Countries, and the Alps, and returned to Charleston after an absence of two years.

He now undertook the care of his mother's cotton plantation on John's island, and was elected to the lower house of the general assembly for its biennial term from 1820 to 1822. In 1822 he removed to Charleston, and engaged for the first time in the practice of his profession. But the very reputation which he had already won as a man of letters was a barrier to his success as a practitioner, and he had the mortification of feeling that he made no progress in the profession to which he had dedicated his life. In 1824 he was chosen from the city a representative in the legislature, and thus continued till 1830, when he was elected attorney general. During the nullification excitement he ardently supported the cause of the Union in public speeches. Pending this conflict, the "Southern Review," a quarterly magazine, was established, ostensibly under the supervision of Stephen Elliott. Legare was his coadjutor, and the writer upon whom he mostly relied. He wrote the initial article of the first number, on " Classical Literature," and continued to write in each successive number one, two, three, and sometimes more articles, on some of his favorite subjects.

On certain occasions when the usual contributors failed, he furnished half the contents of the " Review." It was suspended after the eighth volume, Legare having been the editor after the death of Elliott. Meanwhile Legare ably maintained his position as attorney general. In 1832 he was appointed charge d'affaires at Brussels, where he resumed his varied studies. In the autumn of 1836 he made a tour among the seats of learning in northern Germany, and then returned home. In his published remains, the "Diary of Brussels," etc, will afford some idea equally of his travels, studies, and experiences. Almost immediately after his arrival at Charleston he was elected to congress taking his seat in the extra session of 1837, called to deliberate on the financial embarrassments of the country. In the debates which followed he greatly increased his reputation. But his course in opposition to the sub-treasury project did not please his constituency, and he was defeated at the next election. He now addressed himself with more determined purpose than ever to his profession.

He was soon employed in some cases of great magnitude, then pending in the courts of South Carolina. In the case of " Pell and Wife v. the Executors of Ball," he achieved a great triumph, at once of argument and eloquence, which was everywhere acknowledged. The reputation of a great lawyer could no longer be denied him. In the presidential canvass of 1840 he again took part in politics in favor of Gen. Harrison. About this time, also, he began a series of brilliant papers in the " New York Review " on " Demosthenes," " The Athenian Democracy," "The Origin, History, and Influence of the Roman Law," etc. While thus engaged he was appointed by President Tyler attorney general of the United States. This office gave him ample employment, and sufficiently tasked his vast legal resources, but always to the in-crease of his reputation. He gave important aid in the conduct of the Ashburton treaty, and the president confided to him the care of the state department when vacated by the withdrawal of Mr. Webster. Accompanying the president to Boston in June, 1843, in order to take part in the Bunker hill celebration of that year, he was seized so severely on the 16th with a visceral derangement that he was unable to join in the ceremonies of the next day.

He was removed to the residence of his friend Mr. Ticknor, where he died. His remains, temporarily deposited in a vault at the Mt. Auburn cemetery, were in 1859 removed to Charleston, and interred at Magnolia cemetery, where a handsome monument has been raised to his memory. He was never married. A biography with selections from his writings, including reviews, orations, public despatches, and the "Diary of Brussels," was published at Charleston in 1846, in 2 vols. 8vo. - His sister, Mary Swinton Bullen, an artist, born in Charleston, S. C., about 1800, painted a " Spanish Pointer," nearly of life size, and the " Dogs of St. Bernard." In 1849 she emigrated to Lee co., Iowa, and established at West Point an institution called "Legare college" for the liberal education of women, to the support of which she devoted herself for many years.