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312 but good; it enables the wise few to superintend the actions of the unwise many, and it subjects the "tyrant majority," as ever should be the case, to the will of the favored minority. As the Conqueror of Sindh often said, "When noses are counted, the many are those without brains."

The bad working of a divided executive is as nothing compared with the troubles occasioned by the opposition judiciaries, federal and territorial.

An act (19th of Jan., 1855) provides that a Supreme Court of the United States be held annually on the first Monday in January, at Fillmore City; each session to be kept open at least one day, and no session to be legal except on adjournment in the regular term. Another act (4th of Feb., 1852) directed that the District Courts, now three in number, shall exercise original jurisdiction both in civil and criminal cases when not otherwise provided by law, and also have a general supervision over all inferior courts, to prevent and correct abuses where no other remedy is provided. The above are officered by the federal government.

Section 23d of the same act provides for a Judge of Probate—of course a Mormon—elected by the joint vote of the Legislative Assembly and commissioned by the governor. His tenure of office is four years, and he holds regular sessions on the second Mondays of March, June, September, and December of each year. The Probate Court, besides the duties which its name suggests, has the administration of estates, and the guardianship of minors, idiots, and insane persons; with these its proper offices, however, it combines power to exercise original jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, regulated only by appeal under certain conditions to the District Courts. Of late the anomaly has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court. Inferior to the Probate Court, and subject to its revision, are the Justices of the Peace, the Municipal Court, and