United States would take a leading place in this care for her own citizens. 2. This has been done, and all the thoughtful attention that the case called for has been given to hospitals and asylums for the disabled and suffering, both of the Army and Navy, equally in peace and war. 3. In 1851, Congress passed an act for the establishment of military asylums, for the purpose of making the same provision for wounded and disabled soldiers as had already been made for that class of seamen. These institutions are located in different sections of the country where deemed most eligible and convenient for those who need such a place of refuge. They are placed under the government of a board of commissioners, consisting of the general in chief, and eight other military officers of high rank, who submit their acts to the Secretary of War for his approval. 4. The officers of these asylums must be taken from the army, and consist of a governor, a deputy governor, and secretary, who is also treasurer. The funds for their support are raised by a tax of twenty-five cents per month on the soldiers, to which are added the fines and penalties adjudged against soldiers by courts martial, with forfeitures for desertion, &c. Persons receiving pensions from the government may be admitted into these asylums upon condition that they surrender their pensions to the use of the institution while they remain in it. The commissioners are authorized to buy sites and buildings for these institutions, and to receive donations of them. They also furnish them with whatever is necessary for the comfort of the inmates, and make such laws and regulations for their government as they deem proper. Deserters, mutineers, and habitual drunkards, are excluded from the benefits of these asylums. INSANE ASYLUM. 5. Among these benevolent institutions provided by a generous government for the support of those who have faithfully served their country, the insane asylum ought to be noticed. The title of this establishment is "the government hospital for the insane." Its objects are the cure and kind treatment of the insane of the army and navy, and of the District of Columbia. It is under the control of a board of nine visitors, all of whom must be citizens of the said District. They are appointed by the President, and annually report to the Secretary of the Interior the condition of the asylum and its inmates. They serve without compensation. 6. The superintendent must be a physician. There is a farm attached to the asylum, which is under the direction of the superintendent, who receives patients upon the order of the Secretary of the War, or the Navy, and upon the order of the Secretary of the Interior. He may receive indigent insane persons residing in the District of Columbia. If other than indigent persons are admitted, they must pay for the privilege a sum not less than the cost of their support. 7. The military hospitals in time of war are for temporary purposes, and are established wherever the army bappens to be, and especially near where the great battles have been fought, that immediate relief may be given to the sick and wounded. These are established by the commanders of the army, and are under their control. And here let it be recorded to their praise, that since military hospitals were known, never have any been seen which for order, cleanliness and efficiency in administering to the comfort and care of the sick and wounded soldiers, sur passed those of the United States during the late civil war. CHAPTER XXII. NAVY DEPARTMENT. The position of the United States naturally gives it great prominence as a naval power. Situated between the two great oceans, with thousands of miles of coast on each, and a profusion of good harbors, bays, and great rivers, accessible to large ocean vessels for long distances into the interior; with a soil of great fertility, and numerous and inexhaustible sources of mineral wealth, besides all the conditions favorable to the establishment and success of manufactures-it requires large foreign markets for its various products, and an extensive commerce is essential to its development. It should be, and perhaps it is, the strongest naval power in the world. The War of Independence was much increased in length and difficulty by the want of a navy, the maritime resources of England giving her a great superiority in striking suddenly, and in force, at distant points. It was natural, then, that so important an arm, for both attack and defense, should be prepared to act with energy, and this was one of the first cares of the new government; and so efficient did this branch of national strength become in the thirty years of peace, to the war of 1812 with England, that the easiest and some of the most important successes of the Americans, in that conflict, were on the sea. The care of Naval affairs was, at first, committed to the Secretary of War. In 1798 it was erected into a separate Department, and a Secretary placed at its head. He was entitled to a seat in the Cabinet, as one of the advisers of the President, and received his appointment by nomination of the President and concurrence of the Senate, in the same manner as the Heads of other Departments. As the President is the highest officer, in command, in the Navy, he ranks as second, and acts under his direction. It is his duty to procure naval stores and materials, and to oversee the places where they are deposited; to attend to the construction, equipment, armament, and employment of vessels of war, to make out the commissions of naval officers; to see that efficiency and discipline are maintained in the service; and to assume the control of the movements of the vessels of war that are kept cruising in every sea for the protection of our commerce and citizens in foreign parts, and the preservation of the international rights and dignity of the United States. 3. A chief clerk was formerly the second officer in rank in the Department, but, in 1861, provision was made, by Congress, for an Assistant Secretary, who should act as Secretary in the absence of that officer. Formerly there were five bureaus in this department, but in 1862, three more were added, making eight, as follows: 1. A Bureau of Yards and Docks. 2. A Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting. 4. A Bureau of Ordnance. 5. A Bureau of Construction and Repairs 7. A Bureau of Provisions and Clothing. 8. A Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. The President and Senate appoint all the heads of these bureaus, and select them principally from officers of high rank in the navy. They are all appointed for four years. The Secretary appoints all the numerous clerks employed in the various bureaus and assigns their duties. He must annually report to Congress the condition of his department, the manner and amount of all expenditures, furnish estimates for the expenses of the following year, and give such advice in regard to the naval interests of the country as his intimate knowledge of that branch of the service may suggest. He requires an intimate knowledge of maritime affairs, and of International law, and a high and enlightened appreciation of the policy to be pursued in our official and commercial intercourse with all foreign nations. The following list embraces the names of all the Secretaries of the Navy, from George Cabot, the first, to George M. Robeson, the present incumbent: George Cabot, Mass., May 3, 1798. Benjamin Stoddert, Mass., May 21, 1798. J. Crowninshield, Mass., May 3, 1805. B. W. Crowninshield, Mass., Dec. 17, 1814. George M. Robeson, N. J., June 25, 1889. |