intents and purposes a party nomination. The motion was carried by the decisive vote of 137 to 84. Upon the first ballot A. Scott Sloan of Beaver Dam received 63 votes, the balance being divided among many candidates, Judge Dixon receiving but two votes. Upon the third ballot Sloan received 158 votes and was nominated.
On the seventh of March Judge Dixon was put in the field by a non-partisan call signed by several thousand electors of the state, including many of the ablest members of the bar. Practically the entire bar of Madison joined in the call, among the names being E. W. Keyes, D. K. Tenney, F. J. Lamb, W. A. P. Morris, H. M. Lewis, Geo. B. Smith, S. U. Pinney, B. J. Stevens and J. C. Gregory.
There was no move for a Democratic nomination. The principle of non-partisanship always appeals strongly to a minority party and such the Democratic party now was for, in the fall of 1859, the Republican party had elected a full state ticket.
The Madison Patriot (a Democratic paper) of March 6th said in course of a long editorial, "Away with party judges, away with party decisions, away with politics on the bench," and this doubtless expressed the feeling of Democrats generally at this time, notwithstanding the fact that with a regular Republican candidate and an independent candidate, recently appointed as a Republican, in the field the chances of a straight Democratic nominee who could poll the vote of the party would seem to have been very good.
So far as the ability and personality of the candidate was concerned, the nomination of Judge Sloan was an eminently fit one. Both he and his brother I. C. Sloan of Janesville were recognized as among the ablest lawyers of the state.
