s troops kept the
peace, and their presence prevented the Democratic claimants from
summarily ousting their opponents.

The whole country was in a storm of excitement. The returning-boards had
done their counting,--but who was to judge the judges? Who was to decide
which of the returns of Presidential electors were the valid ones? They
were to be passed on by the two Houses of Congress in joint session. But
the Senate was Republican, the Representatives were Democratic,--what if
they disagreed as to the returns? The President of the Senate is to
decide, claimed the Republicans,--on very slender grounds, it must be
said. The House of Representatives, said the Democrats,--with more
plausible yet doubtful argument. The deadlock was alarming. Then the
emergency was met with a self-control, a resourcefulness and efficiency,
worthy of the best that is claimed for the American character. By
general agreement of the moderate men of both parties, a special
tribunal was constituted for the occasion. It consisted of five
Senators, five Representatives, and five Justices of the Supreme Court.
The Congressmen were evenly divided between the two parties. The
justices were two and two, with the fifth place assigned to David Davis,
an independent. It was an ideal division. But at the critical moment,
Davis was chosen by the Illinois Legislature to the Senate, so that he
could not act. As a substitute, Justice Joseph Bradley, was put on the
commission. He was a Republican, but in the generous temper which had
risen to meet the emergency, there was a general feeling that party
lines would be forgotten by the tribunal. The commission consisted of
Justices Bradley, Miller, Strong, Field and Clifford; Senators Edmunds,
Morton, Frelinghuysen, Bayard and Sherman; Representatives G. F. Hoar,
Garfield, Payne, Hunton and Abbott.

The two Houses proceeded to count the electoral votes in the usual form,
and whenever the return was contested the case was referred to the
commission and debated before it. Each side had its ablest lawyers to
plead; for the one party, Evarts, Kasson, McCrary, Stoughton and
Matthews; for the other, O'Conor, Black, Field and Tucker. The
commission then made its decision; and the result was reported to the
two Houses for their acceptance. In the pleading, the Republicans took
their stand on legality and the Democrats on equity. The Democrats
claimed as the question at issue, For whom did the majority of the
people of th