ed electoral votes, however, kept hopes alive for Republican
Governor Hayes of Ohio. A fifteen-member Electoral Commission was
appointed by the Congress to deliberate the outcome of the election. By
a majority vote of 8 to 7 the Commission gave all of the disputed votes
to the Republican candidate, and Mr. Hayes was elected President on
March 2. Since March 4 was a Sunday, he took the oath of office in the
Red Room at the White House on March 3, and again on Monday on the East
Portico of the Capitol. Chief Justice Morrison Waite administered both
oaths.]

Fellow-Citizens:

We have assembled to repeat the public ceremonial, begun by Washington,
observed by all my predecessors, and now a time-honored custom, which
marks the commencement of a new term of the Presidential office. Called
to the duties of this great trust, I proceed, in compliance with usage,
to announce some of the leading principles, on the subjects that now
chiefly engage the public attention, by which it is my desire to be
guided in the discharge of those duties. I shall not undertake to lay
down irrevocably principles or measures of administration, but rather to
speak of the motives which should animate us, and to suggest certain
important ends to be attained in accordance with our institutions and
essential to the welfare of our country.

At the outset of the discussions which preceded the recent Presidential
election it seemed to me fitting that I should fully make known my
sentiments in regard to several of the important questions which then
appeared to demand the consideration of the country. Following the
example, and in part adopting the language, of one of my predecessors, I
wish now, when every motive for misrepresentation has passed away, to
repeat what was said before the election, trusting that my countrymen
will candidly weigh and understand it, and that they will feel assured
that the sentiments declared in accepting the nomination for the
Presidency will be the standard of my conduct in the path before me,
charged, as I now am, with the grave and difficult task of carrying them
out in the practical administration of the Government so far as depends,
under the Constitution and laws on the Chief Executive of the nation.

The permanent pacification of the country upon such principles and by
such measures as will secure the complete protection of all its citizens
in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights is now the one
su