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GOVERNMENT OF MILITARY HOMES.

It would seem only reasonable that the government of Military Asylums should partake in some degree of the original profession of their inmates. As far as possible, it should keep alive the spirit of subordination and discipline inculcated in the army. For this purpose, invalids should wear a distinctive uniform, perform light duties, such as guard-mounting, and undergo a daily inspection of persons and quarters, sufficient to maintain an efficient police of the establishment.

The staff might consist, in the largest-sized Asylums, of

A Brigadier-General, as Commandant and General Superintendent;

One Colonel, as Lieut. Commandant, Quartermaster and Superintendent of the Finances of the Institution;

One Lieut. Colonel, as Commissary and Superintendent of the Internal Administration;

One Major, as Military Commandant and Superintendent of Police;

One Surgeon;

One Assistant-Surgeon;

One Apothecary.

At the Lodges, a smaller staff, similarly modeled, might also be created.

SOURCES OF SUPPORT.

But a graver question than all arises in relation to the sources whence the support of these Military Asylums or Lodges should emanate. Admitting at the outset that, as National Military Homes, they should be erected by Federal authority, and the expenses defrayed out of the National Treasury, it will readily occur to all that a certain number of them will be required in almost every State of the Union, in order to provide for those of its inhabitants who have become disabled in the public service. Their very locality (4) and their necessitated appropriation to the uses of disabled soldiers from that particular State, would convert them, in a certain sense, into State institutions. If each State is thus provided for, the soldiers originally enlisting there, will, when invalided, expect, and with justice, to find a support and a home in their own State. This is a very natural desire, and in obedience to that instinct of locality which seeks a home somewhere, and attaches mankind to the place where they have spent much of their time, particularly in youth. It is a desire, therefore, which should be not only respected, but encouraged and cultivated, as a means for bringing men within reach of original home influences, thus rendering them more willing to work, on account of being under the observation of those whose respect they may be presumed anxious to preserve. And, in return, it should be considered a great privilege to be supported at public cost in one's own State, instead of being sent among strange faces, and in a strange locality, to eke out life in some large retreat made intensely dull by its distance from, and inaccessibility to, friends and relatives. The possible influences of home-sickness must not be overlooked in regulating these matters, for experience shows that men convalesce much quicker at their homes than in hospitals -- the very idea of going home acting as a mental stimulus of the most salutary character. But men not only convalesce more rapidly at home, but are better contented when placed where they can often see and come in contact with their friends. They feel themselves to be within immediate reach of their sympathy, and are satisfied that their interference is ever ready for the purpose of correcting any neglect on the part of the government toward its invalid dependents.

Supposing, therefore, the Government to have provided invalids with permanent homes in their own States, a most serious problem now presents itself in respect to its future conduct towards them, viz:

Whether it is expedient that the government and support of the institution should remain in the hands of the Federal authority, or whether it should pass into the hands of the State authorities?

This portion of our proposition being likely to give rise to much discussion and diversity of opinion, we design to examine at some length the arguments which have already been aduced on either side of the question. In doing this, we shall endeavor to avoid throwing any weight into the scales, or committing ourselves to one opinion or the other. Believing in the expediency of some general system of Asylums, calculated upon the basis of the greatest good to the greatest number, we do not feel called upon to advocate specially, the details flowing out of the operations of such a system. These, we are inclined to think, will regulate themselves in compliance with that law of public opinion, which inevitably re-asserts its authority, however often deposed, through all the important transactions of society. Legislation in advance of it will ever be crude and nugatory -- legislation in arrear of it will ever be weak and unsatisfactory. The golden mean will be found in the thread of the current itself, and where a mingling of all the waters expresses the resultant of their common force.

Those who believe in the expediency of delegating to the States the maintenance of their own invalid citizens, and they constitute a majority of the minds with which we have had the pleasure and enjoyed the benefit of conferring, argue as follows, viz: --