Mr. HENDERSON. As a member of the ComDistCol, I had occasion to examine this bill, and I came to the conclusion that in all probability it ought not to be passed. My impression is that it will only complicate the difficulties that now surround the question. In 1846 that portion of this District which was originally ceded by Virginia was retroceded to that State with the consent of the Legislature of the State of Virginia, it being supposed at that time that it required the consent of Congress and the consent of the Legislature of that State. It. was doubted then whether that act was constitutional. I have not given the constjtutional question as thorough an examination as might have been given to it; but I am very clearly of the opinion that the act of retrocession to the State of Virginia was constitutional. I cannot doubt that. I cannot doubt today that constitutionally Congress may remove the capital to any part of the country that it chooses. It will be recollected that this was not. a cession to the State of Virginia of anything except what we had rocnred from the State of Virginia. original y by her cession. Some question might arisc, in all probability, whether Congress could cede to the State of Maryland that portion of the District which it received from ir ginia, or could code to Virginia that portion of the District north of the Potomac river, which it received originally from the State of Maryland; but this was a retrocession clearly of the territory acquired from the State of Virginia back to that State. It was supposed to be necessary to obtain the consentof teLegislature of the State of Virginia to the act. It was obtained; and not only that, but the people themselves living on the territory, I believe, voted in favor of the proposition, and the territory thereby went back to the State of Virginia. It has been under the jurisdiction of Virginia from that time until this. The municipal organization of the county of Alexandria has had uninterrupted, jurisdiction over that portion of the District which was retroceded. he people have been required to pay taxes to the 'State of Virginia; and the courts of the State of Virginia have been held there; and to all intents and purposes the territory has been clearly under the jurisdiction of that State. The question, I believe, of the transfer of jurisdiction has not been disputed in any of the courts. That question could readily be adjudicated at.any time. For instance, a case could be brought up from the courts of Virginia to the SCOTUS on the ground of the unconstitutionality of the transfer, or any citizen of Alexandria could refuse to pay taxes to the State of Virginia, and upon that refusal a case could be brought to the SCOTUS, and an adjudication be had. Now, Mr. President, what is the object of this bill? It is to repeal what is denominated' an unconstitutional act. The assertion is made that the act of Congress retroceding to Virginia that portion of the DistCol origi nally ceded by Virginia to the U.S. is unconstitutional. As I have already stated, I have no doubt on that subject, or scarcely any. I think that it was a constitutional net. But if it be not constitutional, it is a very easy matter to test it any day. anyone of the citizens of Alexandria can test it any day that he chooses. He may, for instance, refuse obedience to the laws of the State of Virginia; if he were in dicted in one of the courts of Virginia, in the county of Alexandria, he could ask to be relieved from the penalty by a writ of habeascorpus upon the ground that there was no juris diction in the State of Virginia over that territory, and thus have the question raised. has, much as it is so very easy to test that question, I do not deem that it is proper legislation on our part to repeal the act simply because of the allegation that it was unconstitutional legislation. Suppose we repeal the act without the consent ot the State of Virginia, what sort of a fix shall we then be in? How will the people of Alexandria then be situated? There will be a jurisdiction exercised over them by the Congress of the U.S.; and the State of Virginia not giving her consent to this repeal, having once given her consent to the retrocession of the territory to her, of couyse will undertake to exercise jurisdiction also, and we shall have 2 conflicting powers exercising jurisdiction over the county of Alexan dria. How will the question be determined? How is it to be determined? You can only determine it by the courts. The State of Virginia will not relinquish her jurisdiction over the territory, but will still claim it. She will tax the citizens of Alexandria; and the levy commissioners of the DistCol, under the authority of Congress, will also undertake to levy a tax upon them. Now, I ask Senators, how will the question be deter mined? It can only be determined, of course, by a decision of the SCOTUS, because that is the court of last. resort where a question of this sort must be determined; an in order to relieve these citizens of the difficulties which they now say' they are laboring under, the question must. yet be tested there. Why not, then, leavethe jurisdiction exactly as it is? Ifv there be any inhabitants of the 'old DistCol south of the Potomac river, in the county of Alexan dria, who believe that the act of retrocession was unconstitutional and who are unwuhng to render obedience to the laws of the State of Virginia, it is surely an easy matter ior them to test the question. It is a much easier inatter to test it now than it will be after the passage of this bill. All I can see in the repeal by congress of the act of retrocession is that we shul thereby indicate to the Supreme Court the opinion of Congress that that act was an unconstitutional act. I presume that that ought to have very little weight with the Supreme Court in deciding that question. The Supreme Court ought to decide such questions irrespective of the views and opinions of members of Congress, however correct or entitled to respect those opinions may be. Hence, inasmuch as we shall only accumu late the difficulties that now surround the question by the passage of this bill, I thought in the ComDistCol, and I think now, that the bill ought not to be passed. I sympathize very much with that portion of the people of Alexandria who desire to fall again under the jurisdiction of Congress, for the reason that I suppose those who desire to return are very generally Union men, and they do not wish to rest longer under the juris diction of the State of Virginia. IfI thought that by any act of mine, if it was a mere act of expediency or of policy in my mind, that I could relieve them from their difficulties, there is no Senator who would go further than myself t'b do it; but I cannot consent to complicate the difficulties now surrounding the question and which may be settled by a simple adjudication of the Supreme Court, by passing this bill, because we can do nothing that will relieve tis of the difficulty without the consent of the Legislature of Virginia. That is to say, if this was a constitutional transfer of this territory to the State of Virginia, we cannot get it back without the consent of that State, of course; and the passage of an act of Congress for that purpose without obtaining the legislative consent of that State will accomplish nothing, but will leave us just where we Were before. But suppose that the act of retrocession was an unconstitutional not; then it is the easiest matter in the world for one of the citizens of Al exandria to test it and get a decision to that effect. If a case is brought up here, and the Supreme Court decides against the view of Congress, what shall we lave done by this legislation? We shall have the levy commissioners of the DistCol levying a tax upon these people, 1/2 of the co ple resisting the levy commissioners, an the State of Virginia alsolevying a tax upon them, and the other halfperhaps resisting the State ofVirvinia. We shall have merely complicated the difficulty. It is an easy matter to settle it otherwise, by the proper tribunal.