The essential provisions of the bill were, first, the creation of a Commission composed of five members of the House of Representatives, five members of the Senate, and five Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the members from the House to be chosen by the House, the members from the Senate to be chosen by the Senate, while the Justices of the Supreme Court from the first, third, eighth and ninth circuits were designated in the bill, and they were authorized to select a fifth from among the other members of the Court; second, the fixing of the rule that the electoral vote of any "State" from which only a single return had been received should be counted unless _both_ Houses should decide otherwise, and of the other rule that when more than one return had been received from any "State," the Commission should forthwith decide which return should be counted, and this return should be counted unless _both_ Houses should reject the decision, or order otherwise; and third, the reservation of any right existing under the Constitution and laws to question before the courts of the United States the titles of the persons who should be declared elected President and Vice-President to these respective offices. The bill was subjected to a most thorough discussion in _both_ Houses. It passed the Senate on the 24th of January by a vote of forty-seven to seventeen. Twenty-one {286} Republicans and twenty-six Democrats voted in favor of it, and sixteen Republicans and one Democrat voted against it. It passed the House on the 26th by a vote of one hundred and ninety-one to eighty-six. Thirty-three Republicans and one hundred and fifty-eight Democrats voted for it, and sixty-eight Republicans and eighteen Democrats voted against it. It is certainly fair, therefore, to call it a Democratic measure. The President signed the bill, nevertheless, on the 29th. [Sidenote: The members of the Commission.] The Senate immediately chose Messrs. Edmunds, Frelinghuysen and Morton, Republicans, and Messrs. Bayard and Thurman, Democrats, to represent it upon the Commission, and the House chose Messrs. Garfield and Hoar, Republicans, and Messrs. Abbott, Hunton and Payne, Democrats. The Justices of the Supreme Court designated by the bill as members of the Commission were Messrs. Clifford, Strong, Miller and Field. Strong and Miller were understood to be Republicans, and Clifford and Field Democrats. Upon these four the duty was imposed to select the fifth Justice. [Sidenote: The fifth Justice.]