In the fall of 1876, when the elections were over, it was found that the result was in serious and dangerous dispute. The Senate was Republican, the House Democratic. Each distrusted the other. It was feared that on the following 4th of March the country would be forced to face one of two series dilemmas: either that the country would have no President, or that two would-be Presidents would, with their followers, strive to enter the White House and take violent possession of the government. Men would have shot the way they voted. On the 7th of December, Judge George W. McCrary, a Representative of Iowa, afterward in Hayes's Cabinet, later a circuit judge of the United States, submitted a resolution which became the basis of the Electoral Commission. Three distant Southern States had sent to the Capitol double sets of election returns—one set for Mr. Tilden, one set for Mr. Hayes. On these nineteen votes depended the Presidency for four years. If they were counted for Tilden, he would have two hundred and three votes and Hayes one hundred and sixty-six; or, if counted for Hayes, he would have one hundred and eighty-five votes and Tilden one hundred and eighty-four. The States whose certificates of election were in dispute were Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon. The members of the Electoral Commission were selected either as representatives of their party, or men considered the embodiment of honor and justice. The Commission consisted of five Senators, five Judges of the Supreme Court, and five Representatives from the Lower House of Congress. The attorneys were the leading lawyers of each party. The Cabinet, leading Senators, Congressmen, foreign Ministers, and distinguished people from all portions of the country, were present. The wit, the beauty, the writers, the wisdom of the country assembled in this room to weigh the arguments, and at last to hear the decision that Rutherford B. Hayes was rightfully to be the President of the United States. This tribunal, and the wise patriotism of Mr. Tilden and his party, saved the country from a bloody civil war. XI INCIDENTS CONCERNING MEMBERS OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES THE Chief Justice of the United States is the highest legal officer in this country. The position has always been filled by men of great learning and of high integrity, and, differ as we may concerning the wisdom and justice of some Supreme Court decisions, yet we must believe the judges were sincere and honest in their renditions. When the country loses confidence in the integrity of this court, the very foundation of our government will be in danger.