emergencies by other nations.

If, unhappily, questions of difference should at any time during the
period of my Administration arise between the United States and any
foreign government, it will certainly be my disposition and my hope to
aid in their settlement in the same peaceful and honorable way, thus
securing to our country the great blessings of peace and mutual good
offices with all the nations of the world.

Fellow-citizens, we have reached the close of a political contest
marked by the excitement which usually attends the contests between
great political parties whose members espouse and advocate with earnest
faith their respective creeds. The circumstances were, perhaps, in no
respect extraordinary save in the closeness and the consequent
uncertainty of the result.

For the first time in the history of the country it has been deemed
best, in view of the peculiar circumstances of the case, that the
objections and questions in dispute with reference to the counting of
the electoral votes should be referred to the decision of a tribunal
appointed for this purpose.

That tribunal - established by law for this sole purpose; its members,
all of them, men of long-established reputation for integrity and
intelligence, and, with the exception of those who are also members of
the supreme judiciary, chosen equally from both political parties; its
deliberations enlightened by the research and the arguments of able
counsel - was entitled to the fullest confidence of the American
people. Its decisions have been patiently waited for, and accepted as
legally conclusive by the general judgment of the public. For the