purpose of
ascertaining this fact and certifying the same to the joint session
of the Senate and House, that the Electoral Commission was constituted.
The bill having this end in view originated in the House in January,
1877; the Commission was constituted, and the controverted questions
were soon thereafter determined.

The Electoral Commission was an imperative necessity. As such
it was created,--consisting of five members each from the Senate, the
House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court. Its decisions
were adverse to Mr. Tilden from the beginning, and resulted in the
finding that all disputed votes should be counted for his opponent.
This, it will be remembered, gave Hayes a majority of one on the
final count, and resulted in his induction into office. Partisan feeling
was at its height, and the question of the justice of the decision
of the Electoral Commission was vehemently discussed.

To the end that there might be a peaceful determination of the
perilous question, that of disputed succession to the Presidency, I
was an earnest advocate of the bill creating the Commission. Upon
the question of concurrence by the House of Representatives in the
final determination of the Commission, bitter opposition was
manifested upon the part of friends of Mr. Tilden, and a heated
partisan debate resulted, and during this debate I spoke as follows:

"When this Congress assembled in December, it witnessed the American
people from one end of the country to the other divided upon the
question as to which candidate had been lawfully elected to the
high office of President of the United States. The business
industries of the country were paralyzed, public confidence destroyed,
and the danger of civil war was imminent. That Mr. Tilden had
received a majority of more than two hundred thousand of the popular
vote was not disputed. That he had secured a majority of the
Presidential electors in the several States, and was lawfully
entitled to be inducted into the great office, was the firm belief
of fully one-half of the people of this country. The hour was one
of great peril to our institutions, and many were apprehensive that
we were but entering into the dark night of anarchy and confusion.
After many weeks of angry discussion, which resulted in still
further arousing the passions of the people, a measure of adjustment
was proposed. It was believed that there was still patriotism
enough left in the American Congr