permit him to pass over their heads in
this fashion.[130] Besides, what legal qualifications could this young
man of twenty-seven possess for so important a post?

The new judges entered upon their duties under a cloud. Almost their
first act was to vacate the clerkship of the court, for the benefit of
that arch-politician, Ebenezer Peck; and that, too,--so men
said,--without consulting their Whig associates on the bench. It was
commonly reported that Peck had changed his vote in the House just
when one more vote was needed to pass the Judiciary Bill.[131] Very
likely this rumor was circulated by some malicious newsmonger, but the
appointment of Peck certainly did not inspire confidence in the newly
organized court.

Was it to make his ambition seem less odious, that Douglas sought to
give the impression that he accepted the appointment with reluctance
and at a "pecuniary sacrifice"; or was he, as Whigs maintained, forced
out of the Secretaryship of State to make way for one of the
Governor's favorites?[132] He could not have been perfectly sincere,
at all events, when he afterward declared that he supposed he was
taking leave of political life forever.[133] No one knew better than
he, that a popular judge is a potential candidate for almost any
office in the gift of the people.

Before starting out on his circuit Douglas gave conspicuous proof of
his influence in the lobby, and incidentally, as it happened, cast
bread upon the waters. The Mormons who had recently settled in Nauvoo,
in Hancock County, had petitioned the legislature for acts
incorporating the new city and certain of its peculiar institutions.
Their sufferings in Missouri had touched the people of Illinois, who
welcomed them as a persecuted sect. For quite different reasons,
Mormon agents were cordially received at the Capitol. Here their
religious tenets were less carefully scrutinized than their political
affiliations. The Mormons found little trouble in securing lobbyists
from both parties. Bills were drawn to meet their wishes and presented
to the legislature, where parties vied with each other in befriending
the unfortunate refugees from Missouri.[134]

Chance--or was it design?--assigned Judge Douglas to the Quincy
circuit, within which lay Hancock County and the city of Nauvoo. The
appointment was highly satisfactory to the Mormons, for while they
enjoyed a large measure of local autonomy by virtue of their new
charter, they deemed it advanta