Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1902-12-01
THE STATE WINS.

the maudamus proceedings brought by
Capt. John s. Wise, in behalf of several
non-registered colored voters, to test the
validity of the new constitution of Vir-
GINA, sustaining the States contention
that the federal court had no jurisdiction
The Chief Justice denied both the writ
of prohibition to stop the State board OF
canvassers from canyassing the returns
from the recent election for members OF
Congress and for an injunction restrain
ing both the board of canvassers and the
secretary of the Commonwealth from Is
suing certificates of election to the Con-
gressmen chosen. The want of juris-
diction was the ground upon which both
orders were based, either as a federal
court case or one in a court of equity.
The decision was not a surprise; indeed,
it had been expected ever since Captain
Wise's first speech.
Captain Wise declares he will take
the case to the United States Supreme
Court.
1t was 10 O'Clock when the judges as
cended the bench, and distinguished
crowd filled the courtroom. Attorney
General Anderson was at once recog-
nized and he began powerful speech on
behalf of the State. He said he was not
unmindful of the responsibility when he
appeared to defend great State which
had been arraigned in the highest court
of the land as criminal and con-
spirator. He referred to Captain Wise's
speech as a political harrangue. He
would answer fully and frankly the
| TRADE 9nd unJu.7t Indictment of his State
and people by Captair, Wise, and would
pass to higher view of the case as soon
as possible. He raped his opponent
sharply for his arraignmcnt of the peo'
ple of his native State, and said it was
the most unwarranted and inexcusable
attack he had ever heard in a court OF
justice.
Major Anderson was about to reply to
Captain Wise's assault upon President
Goode. when the Chief Justice checked
him. and reminded him that Captain
Wise had withdrawn the Objectionable
language.
Captain Wise arose and said that he
had wandered off in the heat of argu-
ment, and had been tempted to take
crack at the shining head he had so
often cracked on the stump, but he had
meant no personal oiiense.
Mr.. Anderson declared that the new
constitution was the great chart of the
liberties and prosperity of the Virginia
people, and that the man who would
break it down would strike at the best
interest, not only of the white, but OF
the black people of the State. He
denied the jurisdiction of the court IN
the matter and said it was principle
of parliamentary law, as ancient and as
honorable as parliaments themselves,
that they alone are the sole judges OF the
qualifications and election of its own
members. 1t would clearly be an in
fringement upon the rights of Congress
by the judiciary should the court take
jurisdiction in the case, and on this
line the Attorney General argued ably
and at some length. He shook his
finger in the face of Captain Wise and
characterized him as the most daring
and reckless forensic mariner who had
ever appeared upon the legal seas OF
Virginia, and said that his contentious
were the most remarkable known to the
courts. in speaking of Virginia's
struggles in reconstruction times, the
Attorney General referred to the State
as "she."
'Don't say She say 'we,'' sug-
gested Captain Wise.
This gave Major Anderson chance for
another crack at the New York lawyer,
who he said, had, for many reasons, put
himself beyond the pale of ever being
called Virginian. eff the court would
pull down the peaceable and accepted
governmental structure in Virginia,
what would be the result?" asked the
advocate. The court could afford no re-
lief and the complainants and the court
could not reconstruct, but would leave a
great people in state of chaos and con-
fusion. They had endured the horrors
of reconstruction once, and the man who
advocated it now was an enemy to the
hnman family. Major Anderson closed
his address with profound thanks to the
court for its patience and attention, and
was warmly congratulated by lawyers
and statesmen sitting nearby,
James Hays, the colored lawyer in the
case, spoke next, in a presentation Of
the attitude of his race to the suffrage.
He declared that if Virginia were strong
er than the nation his people only de-
sired to know it, so as to be conscious of
where they stood.
Captain Wise closed the debate with a
characteristic speech full Of anecdote
and containing vigorous attack on the
constitution.
The decree of the court, as announced
by Chief Justice Fuller, is as follows:
Application for prohibition, prohibit
ing defendants from canvassing returns
of the election held November 4, 1902,
for Representatives in Congress, or pro-
ceeding to act on the same, and for pre-
liminary order suspending proceedings
on the part of the State board of canvas
sers. The rule heretofore entered here
in is discharged and preliminary order
denied. This for want of Jurisdiction.
The writ Is not sought in aid of jurisdic-
ton already acquired; nor does it appear
that there is no other remedy.
The proceeding, in effect, against the
Commonwealth, which is not in any
view an indispensable party and cannot
be made such, and the matter being
political, cannot be disposed of in such
a proceeding.