Furthermore, the archives show that the offices of the newly created counties were duly filled by the Governor of the Territory of Michigan "by and with the consent of the Legislative Council." Letters and petitions addressed to the Governor are evidence that the people did not hesitate to recommend candidates or ask for removals. In Dubuque County they forced the resignation of the Chief Justice of the County Court and secured the appointment of a candidate of their own choice. And when a vacancy occurred in the office of Sheriff, the inhabitants of the same County, thinking that "the best method of recommending a suitable person for that office was to elect one at their annual township meeting," voted for Mr. David Gillilan as their choice. The Clerk of the County Court, who was authorized to notify the Governor of the results of the election, expressed the "hope that a commission will be prepared and sent as early as practicable." The records show that Mr. Gillilan was subsequently appointed by the Governor. So much for the public archives of the Territory of Michigan respecting the political status of the Iowa country. In a memorial to Congress drawn up and adopted by a delegate convention of of the people west of the Mississippi assembled at Burlington in November, 1837, this statement is made in reference to the two years from 1834 to 1836: "During the whole of this time the whole country, sufficient of itself for a respectable State, was included in the counties Dubuque and Demoine. In each of these two counties there were holden, during the said term of two years, two terms of a county court, as the only source of judicial relief up to the passage of the act of Congress creating the Territory of Wisconsin." The Legislative Council of the Michigan Territory, in a memorial which bears the date of March 1, 1836, went on record to this effect: "According to the decision of our Federal Court, the population west of the Mississippi are not within its jurisdiction, a decision which is presumed to be in accordance with the delegated power of the court and the acknowledged laws of the land; but that ten or twelve thousand free-men, citizens of the United States, living in its territory, should be unprotected in their lives and property, by its courts of civil and criminal jurisdiction, is an anomaly unparalleled in the annals of republican legislation. The immediate attention of Congress to this subject is of vital importance to the people west of the Mississippi."