I now believe
that but for the bitter experience of a few years before,
with its terrible lesson, there would have been a resort to
arms. It would have been a worse civil war than that of the
Rebellion, because the country would have been divided not
by sections, but by parties.
But, as I have related elsewhere, a majority in Congress
agreed to submit the question to a Commission composed of
five Senators, five Representatives, and five Judges of the
Supreme Court, who, proceeding in accordance with an ingenious
and skilfully devised mechanism, were to determine the case.
I believe that as time goes on, the great self-restraint of
the American people in dealing with the momentous peril of
1877, and the constructive ability which created the simple
but perfect mechanism of the Electoral Commission, will receive,
as they deserve, the admiration of mankind. There was at
the time, as would be expected, some anger and disappointment
at the result. Occasionally some bigot who can find nothing
but evil in the history and life of his country, generally
some recluse who has little knowledge of affairs, charges
the Commission with having wickedly deprived the majority
of the people of the fruits of an honest and lawful victory.
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