luential party to the
scheme, if not the originator of it. At any rate, no one seemed to have
been sufficiently proud of it to lay claim to its paternity. It was
merely a temporary scheme, intended to tide over an unpleasant, and
perhaps dangerous, condition which existing remedies did not fully meet.
It was equivalent to disposing of the Presidency by a game of
chance,--for the composition of the proposed commission was,
politically, purely a matter of chance.

As finally agreed upon, the measure provided for a commission to be
composed of fifteen members,--five from the House, five from the Senate,
and five Justices of the Supreme Court. As the Democrats had a majority
in the House, it was agreed that they should have three, and the
Republicans two of the five members of that body. Since the Republicans
had a majority in the Senate it was agreed that they should have three,
and the Democrats two of the five members of that body. Of the five
justices of the Supreme Court, two were to be Republicans and two,
Democrats; the fifth Justice to be an independent,--or one who was as
near an independent as could be found on the bench of that Court.

When the bill creating this commission came before the House I spoke
against it, and voted against it, for two reasons. In the first place, I
believed it was a dangerous precedent to subject the Presidency of the
United States to such a game of chance as was contemplated by the bill
then under consideration. Either Hayes or Tilden had been elected, and
the result ought to be ascertained according to legal forms. In the
second place, I had a suspicion that it was the outgrowth of an
understanding or agreement which would result in the abandonment of
Southern Republicans by the National Administration.

Mr. Lamar, for instance, did not hesitate to declare that it was more
important that the South should have local self-government than that the
President should be a Democrat. In other words, what Southern Democrats
wanted was to be let alone,--was to have the National Administration
keep its hands off, and allow them to manage their own affairs in their
own way, even if that way should result in a virtual nullification, in
part at least, of the War Amendments to the Federal Constitution.

I had a suspicion that this concession had been granted upon condition
that the southern Democratic leaders in Congress would consent to the
creation of the proposed commission, and to the ratific