In the House the committee was composed of thirty-three members, representing the number of States then existing.

In the Senate, Mr.Powell of Kentucky was chairman of the committee of thirteen, which was composed of seven Democrats, five Republicans, and the venerable Mr.Crittenden of Kentucky, who belonged to neither party.

It contained the most eminent men in the Senate of all shades of political opinion.

In the House, Thomas Corwin was made chairman, with a majority of Republicans of the more conservative type, a minority of Democrats, and Mr.Henry Winter Davis of Maryland, who held a position similar to that occupied by Mr.Crittenden in the Senate.
The Senate committee promptly disagreed, and before the close of December reported to the Senate their inability to come to any conclusion.

The committee of thirty-three was more fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate, in being able to arrive at a series of conclusions which tended only to lower the tone of Northern opinion without in the least degree appeasing the wrath of the South.