justice was assigned to a particular circuit,--Douglas to the
westernmost, whose principal town was Quincy, on the Illinois River,
where he made his home.

The Mormon settlement of Nauvoo was in that circuit, and the most
interesting of all the cases brought before Judge Douglas grew out of
the troubles between the followers of Joe Smith and their neighbors. On
one occasion, Joe Smith was himself on trial, and the Christian populace
of the neighborhood, long incensed against him and his people, broke
into the court-room clamoring for his life. The sheriff, a feeble-bodied
and spiritless official, showed signs of yielding, and the judge,
promptly assuming a power not vested in his office, appointed a stalwart
Kentuckian sheriff, and ordered him to summon a _posse_ and clear the
room. By these means the defendant's life was saved, and Douglas,
notwithstanding various decisions of his against them, earned the
gratitude of the religious enthusiasts. There is a story that some years
later, when he was no longer a judge, but a major in a militia regiment
sent on an expedition against Nauvoo, he was ordered to take a hundred
men and arrest the "twelve apostles." The Mormons, outnumbering the
militia, were fortified for defense. Major Douglas, however, proceeded
alone into their lines, persuaded the twelve to enter their apostolic
coach and come with him to the Christian camp, and so brought about an
agreement which prevented a fight.

Both as a judge and as a member of the council of revision Douglas stood
out with commendable firmness against the popular feeling, strong
throughout the country during the hard times, and which in some of the
States got a complete ascendency over courts and legislatures, in favor
of the relief of debtors. He enforced the old laws for the collection of
debts, and he baulked several legislative schemes to defraud creditors
of their due by declaring the new laws unconstitutional. For the rest,
his decisions have seemed to competent critics to show that he possessed
unusual legal ability and grasp of principles and a corresponding power
of statement, scant as his legal training was.

According to the American usage, he was "Judge Douglas" all the rest of
his life, but the state bench no more satisfied his ambition than the
other state offices he had held. In December, 1842, when the legislature
proceeded to ballot for a United States senator, his name was presented,
though again his age fell short