Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1896-05-04
FROM WASHINGTON.
Correspondence of the Alexandria Gazette]
WASHINGTON, May 4.

SOiiClIOT OcutIdl SOuEau, iol lAo 6o'
eminent, to-day moved the q. S. su
preme Court to advance for hearing al
this term of court the appeal of ]. r.
s. Wiborg ct al, from the Judgment o.
the district court for the eastern dis
trict of Pennsylvania. The appellants
were convicted below for violation o
the neutrality laws by engaging in the
Horsa expedition for Cuba. In his brie
the solicitor general says During the
past summer the government hao
brought to its attention many alleged
violations of section 1926 of the revised
statutes and instituted various prosecu
tons, but in no instance, except In the
present case, has a conviction
resulted, and the constructions o.
the law announced by the various
Judges of the United States district
courts have been, since the beginning
of the present instruction in Cuba. as
thew were before, not in harmony
During the coming recess of this court
the government has every reason to
believe that it will be called upon to
institute further prosecutions involving
the very questions involved in the
present cause, and it is of the highest
importance to the performance Of
their duty that the law officers
of the government and the dis.
trict courts of the United States
should be advised by the authori-
tative decision of this court as to what
is the law, to the end that, on tho one
hand. there should be no undue inter
ference with the lawful acts of citizens
and inhabitants of the United States,
and on the other, that all officers Of
the United States charged with the ex.
ecution of the laws may, as eDjoined
by the Presidents proclamation, use
the utmost diligence in preventing the
violations thereof, and in bringing to
trial and punishment any offenders
against the same. In opposing the mo-
ton, MIR. Hallett Philips urged upon
the court the extreme Importance OF
the questions presented in the record,
as reason why the court should not
act upon it, until counsel had an
opportunity to prepare themselves
to fully advise it. For the first
time in the history of the court, ne
said it was called upon to determine
what constitutes military expedition
within the meaning of the neutrality
laws. These laws had been on the
statute books for a hundred years, Mr..
Philips said, and of series OF
recent prosecutions under them,
the conviction in the present case
was the only one obtained. He
thought, in view of these facts, that the
government might go on until the court
reconvened in October, when he would
be ready to argue the case. Attorney
General Harmon said that the reasons
urged by Mr.. Philips for delay were the
very ones that argued haste in dispos,
ing of the case. The situation was one
which might not occur oftener than
once in hundred years, hence the
motion by the solicitor general:
The State Department had asked
that the case be heard to a
determination. If it were not to
be until fall, said the Attorney General,
it might as we'll take its usual course;
now was the time trouble is likely to
occur, the necessity was urgent and
present. The court took the motion
under advisement until tomorrow.
On the bankruptcy bill, which pass.
ed the U. s. House of Representatives
late last Saturday evening, the record
of the Virginia delegation is as follows
Aye, Mr.. Tyler; noes, Messrs. Jones
and Walker; not voting, Messrs. Elicit
Meredith, Otey, Swanson, Tucker and
Turner.
The report that the friends of the
fayorite State sons have made a COM
bine against Mr.. Mckinley is generally
credited at the Capitol, and Messrs
Platt, Clarkson, Manley and Quay are
said to be at the head Of it; but the pre-,
vailing impression in respect of it, is
that it will be Ineffective and will dis
solve before the St. Louis convention
shall assemble.
The House committee on Pacific Rail
WAYS to. day ordered favorable report
on the bill permitting the bondholders
of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway
Company, who have purchased the
property of the old company, to reor-
ganize into a new company.
William I. James was appointed
postmaster at Kendall Grove, North
ampton county, Virginia, to-day, vice
Edward Leatherbury, resigned.
House elections committee No. .
took vote to-day on the Yost-Tucker
contested election case, and, as
anticipated in this correspondence,
agreed to report in favor of Mr.. Tuck.
er, the democratic contestee, who had
been his own counsel. and thus dis
proved an old saw. The only member
of the committee present who voted
against Mr.. Tucker was General Walk
er, republican from his own State.
The nomination ofCapt. w. II. Fowle
for internal revenue collector for the
upper district of Virginia is still held
up in the room of the Senate's finance
committee, and will be for several days
longer. There still seems to be great
uncertainty in respect of this nomina-
ton, some saying it will be rejected,
others that if 80, the Captain. will be re-
nominated by the President, and others
that it will be Withdrawn and the Cap
tain appointed to some other place,
none however, saying it will be con-
frmed.
The Senate to-day passed bill to re-
move the political disabilities of John
Taylor Wood, formerly of the Confed-
crate States Navy.
People from Leesburg here to-day,
aau q vary small vote WAS nnllad in