Mr. HENDRICKS. I do not believe congress ought to give the public lands away unless some public interest is to be gained by it, some work of general importance in which the nations interest is promoted, or encouragement is given to the settlement of the lands, in which all the people are interested. That is the sum and substance of my views upon that question. But, sir, the question recurs, where is the power on the part of the General Government to take certain white people and certain colored people under the especial charge of the U.S and to support them at the public expense? That is the question, and the Senator refers to the circumstances of the case and to international law as an answer. We are now in a time of peace. It is no use for the Senator to pretend that this is a time of war, because it is not. Everybody knows that it is not a time of war. We may theorize upon that subject as much as we please, but we all know the war is over; the southern armies are disbanded, and the most of our troops have returned to their homes; the country is in a state of eace; and civil governments have been establish edin most of the States. The question is simply, where do we derive the power to appropriate money out of the public Treasury for the support of indigent persons in the States? If we can carry that proposition, then this Government can as sume to do anything that it may choose to do. Irecollect that when Iwns a member of the HoRep, there was a bill proposed granting public lands to the States for the support of the indigent, insane, and the blind in the States. It was a proposition that appealed very strongly to my sympathies; it was a proposition to appropriate public lands; yet I voted against it, because 1 did not think the object contemplated was within the constitutional powers of the General Government. It might have been, according to the letter of the constitution, constitutional to grant the lands, because we had the power to dispose of them; but it was not within the provisions of the constitution to support the indigent, insane, and blind in the States; that was a duty according to our form of government that devolved upon the States.