making the State’s attorneys elective by the legislature, instead of subject to the governor’s appointment.  Since the new governor was a Whig, he could not be used by the Democrats.  The bill met with bitter opposition, for it was alleged that it had no other purpose than to vacate Hardin’s office for the benefit of Douglass.  This was solemnly denied;[41] but when the bill had been declared unconstitutional by the Council of Revision, Douglass’ friends made desperate exertions to pass the bill over the veto, with the now openly avowed purpose to elect him to the office.  The bill passed, and on the 10th of February, 1835, the legislature in joint session elected the boyish lawyer State’s attorney for the first judicial district, by a majority of four votes over an attorney of experience and recognized merit.  It is possible, as Douglass afterward averred, that he neither coveted the office nor believed himself fitted for it; and that his judgment was overruled by his friends.  But he accepted the office, nevertheless.

When Douglas,—­for he had now begun to drop the superfluous s in the family name, for simplicity’s sake,[42]—­set out on his judicial circuit, he was not an imposing figure.  There was little in his boyish face to command attention, except his dark-blue, lustrous eyes.  His big head seemed out of proportion to his stunted figure.  He measured scarcely over five feet and weighed less than a hundred and ten pounds.  Astride his horse, he looked still more diminutive.  His mount was a young horse which he had borrowed.  He carried under his arm a single book, also loaned, a copy of the criminal law.[43] His chief asset was a large fund of Yankee shrewdness and good nature.

An amusing incident occurred in McLean County at the first court which Douglas attended.  There were many indictments to be drawn, and the new prosecuting attorney, in his haste, misspelled the name of the county—­M Clean instead of M’Lean.  His professional brethren were greatly amused at this evidence of inexperience; and made merry over the blunder.  Finally, John T. Stuart, subsequently Douglas’s political rival, moved that all the indictments be quashed.  Judge Logan asked the discomfited youth what he had to say to support the indictments.  Smarting under the gibes of Stuart, Douglas replied obstinately that he had nothing to say, as he supposed the Court would not quash the indictments until the point had been proven.  This answer aroused more merriment; but the Judge decided that the Court could not rule upon the matter, until the precise spelling in the statute creating the county had been ascertained.  No one doubted what the result would be; but at least Douglas had the satisfaction of causing his critics some annoyance and two days’ delay, for the statutes had to be procured from an adjoining county.  To the astonishment of Court and Bar, and of Douglas himself, it appeared that Douglas had spelled the name correctly.  To the indescribable chagrin of the learned Stuart, the Court