Mr. ELDRIDGE. I claim and insist that this authority of the Constitution applies only to foreigners, or to foreign born persons; "1“ it does not apply to persons born in this country: and that if it is desirable to confer the rights of citizenship upon negroes, we must have aconstitutiona amendment that will warrant the act before it. can be done. } But, Mr. Speaker, if it were so, if citizenship could be conferred, and therefore this act of Congress would be authorized, it is enough for i me to answer that it has not been done. I find, Mr. Speaker, as I expected, that my voicb begins to fail me, my throat being sore. I shall therefore riot attempt to argue this question further. I will say, however, before I close, thatI had hoped thatthis subject would he allowed to rest. Gentlemen refer us to individual cases of wrong perpetrated upon the freedmen of the South as an argument why we should extend the federal authority into the different States to control the action of the citizens thereof. But, I ask, has not the South submitted to the altered state of things there, to the late amendment of the Constitution, to the loss of their slave property, with a clieerfulness and grace that we did not expect? Have the not acquiesced more willingly than we dare to hope? Then wh, not trust them? Why not meet them with frankness and kindness? Why not encourage them with trust and confidence? I deprecate all these measures because of the implication they carry upon their face that the people who have heretofore owaed slaves intend to do them wrong. [do not believe it. So far as my knowledge goes, and so far as my information extends, I believe that the people who have held the freedmen slaves will them with more kindness, with more leniency, than those of the North who make such loud professions of love and affection for them, and are so anxious to pass these bills. They know their nature; they know their wants; they know their habits; they have been brought up together and have none of the prejudices and unkind feeliu s which many in the North would have toward them. I do not credit all these stories about the general feeling of hostility in the South toward the negro. So far as I have heard opinions expressed upon that subject, and I have conversed with many crsous from that section of the country, they O not blame the negro for anything that has happened. As a general thing, he was faithful to them and their interests until the Arm reached the place and took him from them. {c has supported their wives and children in the absence of the husbands and fathers in the armies of the South. He has done for them what no one else could have done. They recognize his general good feeling toward them, and are inclined to reciprocate that feeling toward him. believe that is the general feeling of the southern people today. The cases of ill treatment are exceptional cases. They are like the cases which have occurred in the northern States where the unfortunate have been thrown upon our charity. Take for instance the sto ries of the cruel treatment of the insane in the State of Massachusetts. They may have been barbarously confined in the loathsome dens as stated in partibular instances, but is that any evidence of the general ill will of the people of the State of Massachusetts toward the insane? Is that any reason why the Federal arm should be extended to Massachusetts to control and protect the insane there? It has also been said that certain aupers in certain States have been badly use, paupers, too, who were whites. Is that any reason why we should extend the arm of the Federal government to those States to protect the poor who are thrown upon the charities of the people there? Sir, we must yield to the altered state of things in this country. We must trust the people, it is our duty to do so; we cannot do oth eiwisc and the sooner we place ourselves in a position where we can win the confidence of our late enemies, where our counsels will be heeded, where our advice may be regarded, the sooner will the people of the whole countreat v try be fully reconciled to each other and their changed relationship; the sooner will all the inhabitants of our country be in the possession of all the rights and immunities essential to their pros )crity and happiness.