"The experience of more than forty years seems to have demonstrated that the cession of the county and town of Alexandria was unnecessary for any of the purposes of a seat of government, mischievous to the interests of the State at large, and especially injurious to the people of that portion which was ceded by Virginia."[29] [28] Acts of Assembly, 1845-47, p. 50. [29] Quoted in "Remonstrance of the Mayor and Citizens of Alexandria...." Accordingly, a bill was introduced to turn back to Virginia the area ceded by it in 1789. After considerable debate as to its constitutionality, the bill was enacted on July 9, 1846. It stipulated that the retrocession should be contingent upon a referendum among the people of the area in question. The referendum was held[30] and the vote was 763 for and 222 against retrocession. [30] Although the "Remonstrance" cited above states that the vote was held on August 17, 1846, the presidential proclamation putting the transfer into effect declares the poll to have been taken _viva voce_ at the Court House on September 1 and 2. The August date is given in the proclamation as that on which five commissioners were appointed by the President and directed to take the poll. On September 7, 1846, President Polk announced the results of the referendum and called "upon all and singular the persons whom it doth or may concern to take notice that the act aforesaid [of July 9, 1846] 'is in full force and effect.'"[31] It was not until the next year, however, that Virginia got around to extending its jurisdiction over the "county of Alexandria." On March 13, 1847, "An Act to extend the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Virginia over the county of Alexandria" was passed. It stated: "... The territory comprising the county of Alexandria in the District of Columbia heretofore ceded by this Commonwealth to the United States and by an Act of Congress of July 9, 1846, retroceded to Virginia and by it accepted shall be an integral portion of the Commonwealth." [31] Richardson, _Messages and Papers of the Presidents_, Vol. IV, p. 470. The legality of the retrocession was unsuccessfully challenged in 1875. Cf. _Phillips_ v. _Payne_, U.S. Reports, S.C. Otto 2, p. 130. The Act provided that after March 20, 1847, the laws of Virginia were to be in force in this territory, and went on: "That the territory so retroceded and accepted, comprising the county of Alexandria, shall constitute a new county, retaining the name of the county of Alexandria, the court-house whereof shall be in the Town of Alexandria where the courts now sit...."[32]