fifth justice. The
Maine statesman adds, without giving his authority, that Hewitt
advanced this as one of the arguments to induce Tilden to approve the
bill.[1544] In his history of the Hewitt-Tilden interview Marble makes
no mention of Davis' selection, nor does Bigelow refer to Tilden's
knowledge of it. Nevertheless, the strength disclosed for the bill
sustains Blaine's suggestion, since every Democrat of national
reputation in both Houses supported it. The measure passed the Senate
on January 24 and the House on the 26th,[1545] but an unlooked-for
event quickly destroyed Democratic calculations and expectations, for
on January 25, too late for the party to recede with dignity or with
honour, the Democrats of the Illinois Legislature elected Davis by two
majority to the United States Senate in place of John A. Logan.
Probably a greater surprise never occurred in American political
history. It gave Davis an opportunity, on the ground of obvious
impropriety, to avoid what he neither sought nor desired, and narrowed
the choice of a fifth justice to out-and-out Republicans, thus
settling the election of Hayes. "The drop in the countenance of Abram
S. Hewitt," said a writer who informed Tilden's representative of
Davis' transfer from the Supreme Court to the Senate, "made it plain
that he appreciated its full significance."[1546] Bigelow could not
understand why Davis did not serve on the Commission unless his
"declination was one of the conditions of his election," adding that
"it was supposed by many that Morton and others engineered the
agreement of Davis' appointment with full knowledge that he would not
serve."[1547] This cynical comment betrayed Tilden's knowledge of
"things hoped for," and accounts for his final acquiescence in the
Commission, since Davis and a certainty were far better than a fight
and possible failure.

[Footnote 1543: _Ibid._, p. 63.]

[Footnote 1544: Blaine, _Twenty Tears of Congress_, Vol. 2, p. 584.
Morrison of Illinois declared that Davis' "most intimate friends,
among whom I may count myself, don't know to-day whether he favored
Tilden or Hayes. He didn't vote at all."--_Century Magazine_, October,
1901, p. 928.]

[Footnote 1545: Senate: For, 26 Democrats, 21 Republicans; against, 16
Republicans, 1 Democrat. House: For, 160 Democrats, 31 Republicans;
against, 69 Republicans, 17 Democrats.]

[Footnote 1546: _Century Magazine_, October, 1901, p. 933.]

[Footnote 1547: Bigelow, _Life of