"How I wish, instead of being only a woman at such a time as this, that I were a Senator or member, endowed with the bold spirit and overruling genius of your own great ancestor! There would be quick work with the present Congress at Washington! "Forgive me if my letter makes the one-hundredth-and-one of the day; it requires no answer. One word more before I stop. On reflection, I am certain my Uncle Randall alluded to the fact that I was the favorite niece of Mrs. Edward Livingston, my grandaunt, who died not many years since, at a very advanced age. I was very stupid not to think of this solution to the problem at once. "Very truly yours, "LOUISE LIVINGSTON HUNT." THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION AND MR. TILDEN The following statement, in the handwriting of George W. Smith, Mr. Tilden's private secretary, was from Mr. Tilden's dictation: "Mr. Tilden's views of the policy which the Democratic party in Congress ought to pursue in respect to the counting of the electoral votes cast for President and Vice-President in 1876 were perfectly defined and freely expressed to all who consulted him long before the meeting of Congress in December of that year. It was to stand firmly and inflexibly on the unbroken series of precedents formed by the twenty-two Presidential counts from 1793 to 1872. "While the committees of investigation in respect to Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina, appointed by the House of Representatives, were engaged in their duties, Mr. Tilden caused a collection of all those precedents to be made and printed. At his request the Hon. John Bigelow prepared an analytical and expository introduction which was prefixed to this volume, and they were printed together by the Messrs. Appleton in the latter part of December, 1876. Mr. Marble assisted in preparing an appendix to the introduction, containing citations of authorities on the various points. This introduction was also issued separately and used in large numbers by the Democratic National Committee. It presents a clear, strong, and well-fortified statement of the position which Mr. Tilden thought the Democratic party ought to assume. "On the 22d December two committees of the House of Representatives were appointed: the first on the powers and privileges of the House of Representatives in respect to counting electoral votes; the second to confer with a committee of the Senate on the same subject. The _Congressional Record_ of that date contains the following entry: "'_Committee to ascertain and report what are the privileges,_ _powers, and duties of the House of Representatives in counting the votes for President and Vice-President of the United States_: Mr. Knott, of Kentucky; Mr. Sparks, of Illinois; Mr. ----, of Virginia; Mr. ----, of Pennsylvania; Mr. Burchard, of Illinois; Mr. Seelye, of Massachusetts; and Mr. Monroe, of Ohio.