Mr. JOHNson. But not from the eastern portion of Virginia. Very few of them were from the eastern portion of Virginia. WestVirginia of course was for it, but WestVirginia, had no right to represent East Virginia as Virgfinia then stood, and the only Representatives of the State of Virginia at the time that assent, was given were, I believe, nearly all from this portion of the country, from this very town of Alexandria; and that Legislature has now chosen Senators. You have not received them, but they have not been refused admission upon the ground that Alexandria county was not a part of Virginia, but, on the contrary, was a part of the DistCol; but upon other grounds e nally applicable to all the other States in toUnion who are not now represented as well as to East Virginia or Virginia proper. Now, suppose you decide as you do by the passage 01 this bill, provided you have the right to decide it that the act of 1846 was void, what may be the consequence upon WestVirginia? What may be the effect upon your legislation since? What maybe the eflect upon titles to real and personal property which have come into existence by contracts since 1846, contracts authorized and only authorized by the laws of Virvinia? You multiply all kinds of dliliculties. IVliy should you? Why should it be done? As I said yesterday, we do not want that 2 or 3 miles of territory to protect us. Who asks for it? I do not know. have not seen the application. I know there are more than1,000 names here against it. When the act of 1846 was passed, upon that act being submitted to the approval or disapproval of the then voters of t iat portion of the ten miles square, and the polls iieing kept open for 2 days, the vote for retrocession was 763, the vote against it was 222; making of course a majority in favor of it of 541 out of a total of 985, nearly 4 to one. Now, what has produced the change? I do not know. who asks for the change? I am equally igno rant. I assume, because I believe it to be true, that they are all new comers comparatively, 'who would prefer being under the Government of the U.S. Whether that is a wise reference or not is another matter; but is it it, is it just, when by our legislation you submitted it to the poop e in 1846, and they decided in favor of retrocession, and they have acted on the faith of the validity of that retro cession, that you should now, at the end, of 20 cars, undo all that you have done? But that is not all. Will you not increase the expenses of the Government? How many more courts must you have? How many more officers must you have? How many additional judges, probate judges, and judges of other descriptions, recorders of deeds, marshals, clerks of courts? And what is it to cost? You will give, I suppose, the same compensation ou ive here; and then it will be seen robally that a good many of the persons who are now asking for this act of retrocession will become applicants for offices. That I can understand. But there is another objection. It is a sole cism; it is contrary to the ver spirit of our institutions that persons should be legislated about in their persons and their property without representation. The exception of the ten miles square was made because of considerations tantamount in importance, as it was supposed, to those which established in a free Government representation and taxation as cing together. Now, what are you about to do? You want to extend the franchise, many of you, to the black man, who has just been emancipated. Why? Because it is necessary to his protection, necessw to the full enjoylment of his freedom. Now, you are about to bring back into the District some 1500 or 2,000 people, a large majority of whom are protesting against it, when by bringing.Lhem back you subject them to taxation without representation and to just as much taxation as you may think proper to im ose. am far from saying that the ‘provision in the Constitution was ‘0‘ a very a visable one and an absolutel necessary one, which gives Congress the exc usive right of legislating for the seat of Government; but I submit it, as due to principle, that if you have enough territory to answer all the purposes of a seat of Government, it is wrong in principle to seek to get more, when by getting more (and you can only get more by coming to that result) you deprive the people who are now represented in Virginia of the right of representation, and subject them to taxation without representationnot even entitled to a Delegate on the floor of the House slaves, in one sense, as far as sla very exists because of the absence of the right of representation, and made slaves in that sense only because the Convention deemed it necessary in order to secure the councils of the nation from improper interruption and from State control. But we are in that condition now. The provision, as the Senate know. was that the District should not exceed ten miles square. Congress might have taken as much less as they thought proper. They might have taken this side of the Potomac at the beginning, and then this difficulty could not have arisen; but the argument is, that because they took more than has been found necessary or expedientby actual experiene'e and practice, they have no right to get clear of any part ofit, and that not withstanding they have remained undisturbed and without anybody questioning the security of the Government while in the possession only of that part of the original ten miles square which is found on this side of the‘ Potomac.