SERVICE, UNITED STATES MARINE HOSPITAL. 



766 



United States, who approves the regulation* you pro- 

 pose for the mini-Nun of the expense* of that estab- 

 nt to a level with the receipt* of the fund. Ho 

 adds that no civil magistrate can dictate to the United 

 States who shall bo the object nf their charity. 

 I tun very MpMtftuhr. > s ir, 

 Your obedi. 



ALBERT GALLATIN. 



A letter to the same Collector, under date of 

 Fobnwry 28, 1807, informs him that ''maniacs 

 and chronic " cases should not be cared for at 

 the expense of the fund. 



The Legislative Council and House of Repre- 

 sentatives of Mississippi Territory memorial- 

 ized Congress to provide for the erection of a 

 marine hospital at Natchez ; and the committee 

 to whom it was referred, through its chair- 

 man, Hon. Thomas Randolph, March 26, 1806, 

 reported favorably on the memorial, and rec- 

 ommended that twenty-four sections (15,360 

 acres) of land be granted the hospital establish- 

 ment of Natchez, to be located by the Gov- 

 ernor of the Territory. (" American State Pa- 

 pers," vol. vii., p. 66.) 



On April 15, 1807, Dr. William Barnwell 

 having absented himself from the hospital at 

 New Orleans without leave, Dr. Blanquet was 

 appointed to fill the temporary vacancy. On 

 May 3, 1807, the east wing of the hospital at 

 Norfolk was destroyed by fire. 



The following letter from General Lincoln is 

 characteristic of his extreme caution in con- 

 tracting expenditures. The record shows the 

 authorization asked for to have been granted : 



BOSTON, JWM 26, 1607. 



The keeper of the Marine Hospital informs me that 

 the cellar at the west end of the Hospital is a place 

 where he deposits his wood ; the ground is very 

 pprintry, and at times very muddy, and dangerous for 

 the invalids to enter for wood ; he wishes a iloor might 

 be laid to prevent the evils experienced, which will 

 cost about one hundred dollars. I do not think my- 

 self authorized to do the business. I shall want your 

 directions before I enter upon it. 

 I have the honor to be, most respectfully, 

 Your obedient servant, 



BENJAMIN LINCOLN. 

 ALBERT GAI.I.ATIX, F>q., 



Secretary of the Treasury. 



The following letter shows the contract sys- 

 tem at Baltimore to have been far from satis- 

 factory, even at that date. The Dr. Watkins 

 referred to was Dr. Tobias Watkins, afterward 

 Assistant Surgeon-General of the Army, 1818 

 -'21: 



TEF.ASTTRT DBPABTMEWT, I 

 May 10, 1808. ( 

 JAMES H. McCoLLOcn. Esq.. 



Collector. JSaltimore. 



SIR : Your letter of the 29th ulto. has been duly 

 received. You are authorized to make the necessary 

 arrangements for the support of sick seamen for one 

 vcar from the expiration of the contract with Dr. 

 "Watkins. From the stipulation made with him by 

 the former Collector, I am inclined to the opinion that 

 he has an equitable claim for another year's contract ; 

 provided that his terms bo as low as those offered by 

 others, and provided, above all. that there may be a 

 reliance on equally good attendance on the sick. I 

 leave, however, the subject wholly to your discretion, 

 only <>Wrvinu' that the complaint made against Dr. 

 NVutkins relates to the locality of the house used by 



VOL. six. 50 A 



him as an hospital, and which is stated to 1* in the 

 vicinity of ale-houses or dram-nhops, to which the 

 seamen are improperly permitted (as it is raid) to have 

 access. . . . ALBERT GALLATIN. 



Dr. Charles Jams, the physician to the 

 hospital at Charlestown, died November 15, 

 1807. From the "Independent Chronicle," 

 Boston, of the next day, which publishes a 

 somewhat lengthy obituary, it is seen that he 

 died at the comparatively early age of fifty-nine, 

 universally respected by his contemporaries as 

 a man of worth and spotless character. He 

 was succeeded by the appointment of Dr. Ben- 

 jamin Waterhouse. Then as now, when an 

 officer is first assigned to a new station, im- 

 provements and changes were apt to follow, as 

 the following letter from Collector Lincoln to 

 Secretary Gallatin will indicate : 



BOSTON, June 16, 1808. 



N. B. The physician of the hospital reports to me 

 that he is in want of a building, I think about twen- 

 ty five feet square, two stories high, as a barn, in which 

 he can place nis hav and straw, and a place in which 

 he can stow away old bunks. Besides, he wants one 

 small room wherein he can cleanse the people who are 

 lousy, and who have the itch, etc. 



BENJAMIN LINCOLN. 



The Secretary of the Treasury in 1809 rec- 

 ommended an additional appropriation to meet 

 the expenses of the service, as the dues col- 

 lected were entirely inadequate. Much dif- 

 ficulty was experienced in keeping paupers 

 from being furnished relief at the expense oi 

 the fund, owing to the general want of money. 

 The Town Council of Providence, R. I., having 

 made a claim against the Department for the 

 services of a physician, medicines, and subsis- 

 tence furnished sailors, the Secretary denied 

 the claim, but authorized the Collector to em- 

 ploy a physician at an annual salary of $200. 

 From the report of Secretary Gallatin made 

 at this time we learn that physicians were 

 employed under contract at Newport, New 

 London, and Baltimore the only marine hos- 

 pitals in operation at this period being at Bos- 

 ton and Norfolk. Several insane seamen were 

 under continuous treatment, and the sick were 

 furnished hospital relief in the town alms- 

 houses at Portsmouth, N. II., Portland, Me., 

 Newport, R. I., and Alexandria, Va. At New 

 York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, seamen 

 were sent to local hospitals. The following 

 extract from a letter from Secretary Gallatin 

 to General Dearborn, then Collector at Boston, 

 defines the status of the physicians: 



April 19, 1809. 



.... No Directors of the Marine Hospital have 

 been appointed by the President, nor that part of the 

 law ever carried into effect The whole is still con- 

 sidered as beinir on the original footing of affording 

 temporary relief to the seamen, and the whole is under 

 your exclusive superintendence, subject only to such 

 general instructions rv<j>eeting the annual expenses as 

 nave been transmitted from this Department. The 

 President has reserved to himself the appointment ot 

 the Physician, but all the other officers or sen-ants of 

 the in-titution are considered as appointed by vou. 

 The Physician is only Physician and not director. You 

 are also authorized to prescribe every necessary rule 



