Alexandria Gazette

LOCAL NEWS.

RETROCESSION.—The Washington correspondent of the Baltimore Sun, of this morning, says:

The retrocession suit, as it is called, of Phillips vs. Payne, involving the validity of the act of Congress of 1846, retroceding the town and county of Alexandria to Virginia, is No. 184 in the calendar of the Supreme Court of the United States, and will be reached about the middle of January. Phillips, who had paid taxes under protest, to Payne, the State collector, sues Payne to recover back the tax money, on the ground that the State of Virginia has no right to collect taxes in Alexandria county. The case was decided, as a matter of form, in the Supreme Court of the District against the plaintiff, in order that an appeal might be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States. The grounds on which the plaintiff proceeds are: First, that Congress had no power to make the cession, and second, that even admitting the power to cede, the act of retrocession was invalid, for its operation was made to depend on its acceptance by a majority of the voters of Alexandria, and that Congress had no authority thus to delegate its powers, and that such delegation was void. It is understood that should the Supreme Court determine to decide retrocession unconstitutional the formal announcement of the decision will be postponed until such action is taken by Congress as will avoid all trouble in regard to conflicting jurisdictions, and will make valid all acts done in pursuance of the State law while Alexandria remained a portion of Virginia.