Mr. COWAN. It thut be a correct opinion, then this legislation is whollysuperfluous, and indeed, has no meaning whatever, because ill r that statute was void it was as nothing; it was the same precisely as though nothing had been done; and’to repeal it isthe same precisely as to repeal that which never had any existence. lfrlrat statute was o, nullity, the proper mode by which to determine that question is by a quo ram rants issued to the oliicers who exercise I l r power and authority under it by virtue of the retroccssiou. That would bring the question up. if. on the other hand. it was not a uni specilic purpose, and that purpose was that it lity, if it was a good, valid, and binding stat should be the seat of Government of the U.S., and the people in their Constitution r declared that Congress should forever hnv exclusive jurisdiction over it, not for the general purposes of buying and selling land, such as it possesses in regard to the Territories. but for the purpose of maintaining and keeping in the District the seat of Govermnent, defining ate, for the purpose of transferring the county of Alexandria to the jurisdiction of the State of Virginia, then this act of Congress would be a nullity inattempting to repeal it without the consent of the State of Virgrain., I, for my part, believe that the whole of this territory as well as the various parts of it are within the contml ofT congressand of the Legislatures of Virginia and Maryland. I have no doubt of that, and that if we should ch men to transfer the seat of this Government to some other place, the people of this District would not be left without a government, nor would they be within the jurisdiction of the U.S.; they would be provided for by tram.fsrring them to the States to which they originally belonged. I have very little difficulty on thatJpoint. But I think it. would be proper for the ComJudiciary to inquire, and if necessary, reports. resolution instructing the AttyGen to make a case to determine this question. If the people of the county of Alexandria are governed b the State of Virginia ainst their rights, theyshould be relieved from that power, and they should be put under that authority to which they justly and properly belong, but that is to be done through the medium of the judiciary, not through our agency.