freak soon gave way to respect and admiration, and at the close
of this remarkable address the hall and courtyard rang with loud
applause. The excited crowed seized the little orator, lifted him
on their shoulders and bore him in triumph around the square.

The young adventurer in the fields of law and politics was thenceforth
a man of mark--a man to be reckoned with in Illinois. There were
scores of better lawyers and more eminent politicians in the State,
but a real leader, a genuine master of men had appeared.

In January, 1835, the legislature met at Vandalia. Early in the
session it elected Douglas State's Attorney of the First Judicial
District--an extraordinary tribute to the professional or political
ability of the young lawyer of less than a year's standing. He
held the office a little more than a year and resigned to enter
the legislature.

This was a really memorable body. Among its members were James
Shields, afterwards United States Senator, John Calhoun of Lecompton
fame, W. A. Richardson, afterwards Democratic leader in the House
of Representatives, John A. McClernand, destined also to distinguish
service in Congress and still more distinguished service as a major
general and rival in arms of Grant and Sherman, Abraham Lincoln,
an awkward young lawyer, from Springfield, and Douglas, whose fate
it was to give Lincoln his first national prominence and then sink
eclipsed by the rising glory of his great rival. The only memorable
work of the session was the removal of the Capital from Vandalia
to Springfield, and the authorization of twelve millions of debt,
to be contracted for government improvements.