"_First._ If Congress had performed its constitutional duty of counting the electoral votes, and had declared that Mr. Tilden was chosen by the electoral colleges. "The two Houses of Congress have all the powers of verification of the electoral votes which the Constitution or the laws supply or allow. Nobody else in the Federal government has any such powers. This exclusive jurisdiction of the two Houses has been exercised without interruption from the beginning of the government. It is known to all those who come in contact with Mr. Tilden at this period that he concurred in this view of the powers and duties of the two Houses of Congress themselves to count the electoral vote. He was perfectly free and unreserving in the expression of his opinions on this subject. "This contingency, however, never presented itself. Congress, before the time fixed by the law for counting the electoral votes, passed the Election bill wherein they substantially abdicated their powers, and enacted that the electoral commission should in the first instance make a count, and that its count should stand, unless overruled by the concurrent action of the two Houses. The electoral tribunal counted Mr. Tilden out, and counted in a man who was not elected. Congress did not overrule their count; consequently, the false count stood as law under the act of Congress. "_Secondly._ The other contingency in which it would have been lawful and obligatory on Mr. Tilden to have taken the oath of office was, that the House of Representatives on the failure of a choice of President by the electoral colleges had itself proceeded to make the election, voting by States in the manner prescribed by the Constitution. "This contingency, like the first one, never occurred. "The House of Representatives has by the express language of the Constitution, jurisdiction, if no person has a majority of the electoral votes, to make the election itself. "The right of the two Houses to count the electoral votes, and to declare that any person has a majority, is a matter of implication, precedent, and practice. But the right of the House of Representatives to supply the failure of a choice is a matter of positive and express constitutional provision. It is not only a right, but a duty. The provision is mandatory. The House is a witness in the opening of the certificates. It is an actor in counting the votes by its own tellers and in its presence.