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 advantageous to have the court of the vicinage presided over by one who had proved himself a friend. Douglas at once confirmed this good impression. He appointed the commander of the Nauvoo Legion a master in chancery; and when a case came before him which involved interpretation of the act incorporating this peculiar body of militia, he gave a constructive interpretation which left the Mormons independent of State officers in military affairs.[135] Whatever may be said of this decision in point of law, it was at least good politics; and the dividing line between law and politics was none too sharply drawn in the Fifth Judicial District.