I&i;>i.^!^^ • ' . 
 
(TcrvncU ^nircvj^itn Bi^vavt) 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 FROM THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 Hctirg m. Sage , 
 
 1891 
 
 f|,2.^oM? 
 
 i^lxuj'-^ 
 
 9724 
 
Cornell University Library 
 GC30.M45 C79 
 
 Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury. Cornp. by 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 975 053 
 
p^ 
 
 Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029975053 
 
A LIFE 
 
 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY, 
 
 U.S.N. AND C.S.N. 
 
 AUTHOR OP 'PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP THE SEA 
 AND ITS METEOROLOGY.' 
 
 COMPILED BY HIS DAUGHTER, 
 
 DIANA FONTAINE MAUEY COEBIN. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SAMPSON LOW, MAESTON, SEAELE, & EIVINGTON, 
 
 LIMITED, 
 
 Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.G. 
 1888. 
 
 {All rights reserved.'] 
 
 e.V- 
 
/ / 
 
 ft.Z.«0(s\? 
 
 LONDOX ; 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND 80N3, LIMITED, 
 
 STAMFORD STKEET AND CHAKi'nG CROSS. 
 
TO 
 
 ANN HERNDON MAURY, 
 
 THE LOVING WIFE AHD TENDER MOTHER, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 'The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her." 
 ' Her children also shall rise up and call her blessed." 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 My object in the preparation of this biography is to establish 
 the claim of its subject to a place among the greatest bene- 
 factors of his race ; and to demonstrate, especially to the 
 youth of his beloved country, how a man may be both great 
 and good, mighty in mind and pure in heart, I have 
 endeavoured fitly to show how he persisted in the path of 
 duty even when it led to poverty and exile ; how he threw 
 into any work he undertook his whole heart ; and how, after 
 a life of exceptional fidelity to earthly obligation, as a 
 Christian philosopher he met and triumphed over death. 
 
 Much matter of value to such a memoir perished during 
 the war, though more remained than I have as yet been able 
 satisfactorily to use. From a mass of letters and other docu- 
 ments collected during several years by my sister, Mrs. James 
 E. Werth, this volume has been mainly made up ; but the 
 limits to which I felt obliged to confine myself have excluded 
 not a little I wished it to embrace. 
 
 h 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I desire gratefully to acknowledge the assistance of my 
 cousin, Gen. Dabney H. Maury, who has furnished several 
 graceful sketches included in the work ; and of another 
 kinsman, Col. Wm. W. Blackford, who has supplied help of 
 a similar nature. 
 
 My sincere thanks are also due to Professor L. M. Black- 
 ford, of the Episcopal High School, near Alexandria, and his 
 talented wife, for their criticisms, alterations, and additions 
 to this work. 
 
A LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY, 
 
 U.S.N. AND C.S.N. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Ancestry of Matthew Fontaine Maury — Virginian Planters — Huguenots in 
 Virginia — The Eev. James Maury — His School and Scholars — Thomas 
 Jefferson and the Great North-West — Eichard Maury and Diana 
 Maury — Birth of Matthew Fontaine Maury — Emigration to Tennessee 
 — State of society in Tennessee — Occupations and amusements of 
 Maury and his brothers — Eeligious training — School life. 
 
 The subject of the present biography was one whose life- 
 story deserves to be studied and held in reverence, not only 
 by that great American nation which produced him, but by 
 the whole civilised world ; for the best part of his life was 
 devoted to the performance of services which conferred 
 benefits on the seafaring classes of aU countries, while the 
 ideas to which he first gave birth have since borne fruit, and 
 are likely to be useful to the whole human race. In Maury 
 we find two characteristics, each valuable in itself, but which 
 almost invariably produce great results when they are 
 combined. He was endowed with extraordinary powers of 
 application and unflaggiag industry in working out the 
 dryest details. But he also possessed a vivid imagination, 
 so that the dry bones of his new science were endowed with 
 life and interest by the magic touch of his descriptive pen. 
 
 B 
 
2 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INE MA UR Y. 
 
 It was Maury who created the science of the physical 
 geography of the sea, and gave that impetus to its study 
 which, in other hands, continues to produce results alike of 
 practical and speculative importance. The higher qualities 
 of the illustrious hydrographer, his self-denying zeal, his 
 single-minded patriotism, his private virtues, will appear in 
 the course of the narrative. 
 
 It is desirable |that the student of Maury's life should 
 know something of the stock from which he was derived. 
 Matthew Fontaine Maury was descended from a Huguenot 
 family on the father's side, while his maternal ancestor 
 received a grant of land in Virginia from King Charles II. 
 Dudas Minor, in whose favour this grant was made in 1665, 
 was an English gentleman who became the ancestor of the 
 family of Minor in Virginia ; branches of which have since 
 moved into Louisiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and other 
 Southern States. The Virginian planters formed a colonial 
 aristocracy with practical exemption from taxation, great 
 command of labour, and almost a monopoly in the pro- 
 duction of tobacco. Some of these planters possessed estates 
 of such extent that they amounted to principalities. Lord 
 Fairfax owned all the land between the waters of the 
 Potomac and the Eappahannock. Twenty-six of the finest 
 counties of Virginia were the property of a single nobleman 
 but little over a century ago, whose descendants of to-day 
 do not own an acre of that vast inheritance. Many of the 
 Virginian estates were granted by Queen Anne, and some 
 are still held under deeds from her. She was a favourite in 
 Virginia, was good Queen Anne, and her name was bestowed 
 upon a whole system of rivers.* In the revolutionary war 
 the Virginian planters displayed a patriotic munificence 
 which sufficiently proved their wealth. On one occasion 
 
 * The Korth Anna, South Anna, Eivanna, Fluvianna, and Eapid Ann, 
 perpetuate her memory. 
 
THE VIRGINIANS. 
 
 Governor ISTelson bought 1000 horses for the service of his 
 State ; on another he subscribed 200,000 dollars. Mann 
 Page, afterwards governor, fed Washington's army for a 
 week from the supplies of his own plantations. 
 
 These Virginians had become a proud and happy race. It 
 is to them we owe that scheme of civil liberty which has 
 blessed the American people, and is to-day extending its 
 happy influences over the world. Inheriting ample fortunes, 
 they were educated in the best schools of the old country, 
 whence they returned to their estates, and passed their lives 
 in contemplating the great possibilities awaiting the new 
 world, and in devising the means by wliich the capabilities 
 of their adopted country could be developed. Living like 
 patriarchs, served by the willing hands of kindly slaves, freed 
 from all monetary cares, with minds stored with the pre- 
 cedents of history, and knowing no short cuts to knowledge, 
 these men thought out and finally proclaimed that plan of 
 self-government which is to-day the admiration and desire 
 of all the peoples of the earth. Thus George Mason of 
 Gunston composed that "Bill of Eights of Virginia," on 
 which Jefferson afterwards based the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence of the United States. 
 
 The Church of England was the only church of the 
 colony. Its edifices, built of English bricks, still stand 
 amidst the graves of old Virginia. Many of them are empty 
 and silent now, serving only as monuments of the dead 
 generations of a noble race. Others have been repaired and 
 modernised by the iconoclasts of these times, and still resound 
 with the grand old ritual of the Church. 
 
 Into this Virginian community the Huguenots came, 
 bringing with them the simple service of their creed, the 
 influence of which is still felt in the Low Church observ- 
 ances of their adopted country. These Huguenots, after the 
 Eevocation of the Edict of Nantes, became a persecuted 
 
 B 2 
 
4 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 community. Some abjured their religion, for the penalties 
 of nonconformity were cruel ; but many thousands of 
 braver spirits, who spurned the offers and defied the threats 
 of Louvois, left France for ever and braved exile and poverty 
 for their faith. They brought with them their names, their 
 courage, and their resolve to worship God according to their 
 consciences. In Virginia they could have no grants of land, 
 for all was already occupied. But they had absolute freedom 
 to think, to work, and to worship God in their own way, 
 amidst a people who welcomed and loved them for their 
 fidelity to a common faith. 
 
 Amongst these exiles the families of Fontaine and Maury, 
 who had borne a prominent part in the resistance offered by 
 the Huguenots of France to the dragonnades of Louvois, 
 arrived in Virginia in 1714. Identified in a common cause 
 and a common misfortune, they were connected by marriage 
 before leaving France, and became still more closely affiliated 
 in Virginia. In 1722 the Eev. James Fontaine wrote 
 his autobiography, when he was sixty-four years of age, 
 beginning the record of his family with the birth of his 
 ancestor, Jean de la Fontaine, who was born in the 
 year 1500. This worthy resided in the province of Maine, 
 near the borders of Normandy. He was a staunch supporter 
 of the Protestant Church, and occupied an elevated position 
 at Court. But, having become a convert in about 1535, he 
 was hated on account of his zeal for the pure worship of 
 God, and it was deemed expedient to get rid of so prominent 
 a heretic as soon as possible. Charles IX. was then in his 
 minority, and Catherine de Medici held almost unlimited 
 power. Accordingly a band of ruf&ans was despatched from 
 the city of Le Mans — in the year 1563 — to attack his house 
 at night. He and his wife were foully murdered. " Oh, my 
 children," exclaims the pious biographer, "let us never 
 forget that the blood of martyrs flows in our veins, and may 
 
HUGUENOTS IN VIRGINIA. 5 
 
 God, of His infinite mercy, grant that the remembrance of it 
 may enliven our faith, so that we prove not unworthy scions 
 of so noble a stock ! God has promised to bestow special 
 blessings upon the seed of the righteous. I have been young 
 and now am old, yet have I never seen the righteous 
 forsaken, nor His seed begging their bread. And we can 
 generally see His providential care guarding the children of 
 those whose blood has been shed in His service." The three 
 young sons of these Christian martyrs were providentially 
 saved, and lived to rear a numerous progeny in the fear of 
 God and the faith of their murdered parents. 
 
 This narrative was written in French by the Eev. James 
 Fontaine for the use and edification of his children, some 
 years after he was driven from France by the persecutions 
 following the Eevocation of the Edict of Nantes. It was 
 found, 150 years afterwards, at Eock Castle in Hanover 
 County, Virginia, the residence of Mr. James Fontaine, 
 and was translated from the French and published under 
 the title of ' Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.' The editor 
 was Miss Ann Maury, great-granddaughter of Mary Ann 
 Fontaine (the only daughter of the Eev. James Fontaine, 
 the writer of the Memoirs), and of Matthew Maury, a 
 Huguenot gentleman. The subject of this biography was 
 also a great-grandchild of Matthew Maury and Mary Ann 
 Fontaine. 
 
 Eichard Maury, father of the subject of this biography, 
 was the sixth son of the Eev. James Maury, who was son of 
 Matthew Maury and Mary Ann Fontaiae. The Eev. James 
 Maury was an episcopal clergyman and instructor of youth 
 in Walker parish, Albemarle County, Virginia; and he 
 numbered among his pupils three boys who afterwards 
 became Presidents of the United States, and five signers of 
 the Declaration of Independence. 
 He was a quiet thinker — a serene old man, who gave the 
 
6 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 week to contemplative thought and to his school, and 
 Sunday to the service of the sanctuary. In 1756 he was 
 already dazzled by the rising glory of the new country. He 
 was intensely interested in the Great North-West. The 
 Missouri river was a myth at that time : Cox had ascended 
 the Mississippi to the Falls of St. Anthony, and reported the 
 existence of such a stream, but all beyond was shrouded in 
 mystery, " But see," said the aged clergyman, pointing with 
 trembling finger and eager eye to the map of the North 
 American Continent — " see, there must be a large river in that 
 direction : mountains are there, and beyond them there must 
 be a stream to correspond with the vast river on this side of 
 the chain." And by a process of reasoning based on physical 
 geography, he pointed out to his pupils (Thomas Jefferson 
 among them) the existence and line of the river as accu- 
 rately as Le Verrier did the place of Neptune in the firma- 
 ment, and predicted that a great highway to the West would 
 some day be opened in this direction. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson became interested in the grand thought. 
 Amid the excitement and splendours of the Court of France 
 he cherished the idea of that hypothetical river, its advan- 
 tages to the United States, the establishment of trading- 
 posts and kindred plans. He urged its exploration upon Led- 
 yard, the celebrated African explorer. Ledyard consented 
 to undertake it, but was prevented owing to subsequent 
 misfortunes.* Though foiled thus in his first effort, Jefferson 
 still clung to his favourite project, and at last the time came 
 for its fulfilment. Elected to the Presidency of the United 
 States, he planned the expedition of Lewis and Clarke, 
 
 * Ledyard had been a corporal of marines in Captain Cook's tliird 
 voyage. He imdertook a journey across Siberia, but was arrested, sent 
 back under a guard, and turned adrift at the Pohsh frontier. He was 
 afterwards employed by Sir Joseph Banks, and the African Associa- 
 tion, to explore the interior of that continent ; but he died at Cairo in 
 1788. 
 
LIFE IN TENNESSEE. 
 
 secured the consent of Congress, and despatched them on 
 their mission of discovery. 
 
 In 1790 Eichard Maury, son of the Eev. James Maury, 
 married Diana, daughter of Major John Minor, of Topping 
 Castle in Caroline County, Virginia, descended from the 
 settler who had received a grant of land in the reign of 
 Charles II. There were nine children of this marriage ; and 
 thus the blood of Protestant England was commingled with 
 that of Huguenot France in the veins of this Virginian 
 family. After their marriage, Eichard and Diana Maury 
 first settled in Spottsylvania County, about ten miles west of 
 Fredericksburg. There, on January 24th, 1806, their fourth 
 son, Matthew Fontaine, was born, and was named after his 
 two paternal great-grandfathers. When little Matthew was 
 in his fifth year, his father emigrated to Tennessee with his 
 young family. Their worldly goods were transported in 
 large waggons. Little Matthew, when tired of walking and 
 cramped from riding, was frequently carried on the back of 
 his sister Matilda. 
 
 The Maury family established themselves near Franklin, a 
 village eighteen miles north of Nashville. Here young 
 Matthew assisted his father and brothers in the labours of 
 the farm, while his mother and sisters spun, wove, knitted, 
 and fashioned the garments they wore. In short, the family 
 lived the lives of early settlers in what was then a new 
 country. 
 
 Wyoming is not wilder to-day than Tennessee was eighty 
 years ago. There were no steamboats then; no railroads, 
 no turnpikes, and no stage-coaches nor stage-roads in all the 
 State. Bridle-paths and rough farm-roads alone enabled the 
 scattered settlers to meet each other. School-houses were 
 few and distant ; they,' as well as the meeting-houses and 
 homes, were mostly built of logs hewn from the surrounding 
 forests. But few of the public buildings were of brick or 
 
8 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 stone, and only men of wealth and enterprise solaced their 
 self-respect, and recalled the memories of their Virginian 
 homes, in residences of boards or brick. 
 
 The planter's life in that day was self-sustaining. The 
 women, by an occasional visit to the village, purchased their 
 ribbons and iinery. These visits were few and brief : they 
 broke the routine of the home life to the women, as hunting 
 did to the men, and were usually made on horseback. 
 
 In the planters' homes there was plenty of poultry and 
 beef, mutton, and Virginia hams, cured by immemorial 
 recipes, beet biscuit, light bread, butter-cakes, buck-wheats, 
 tea, and coffee. There was whiskey, also, to comfort and 
 cheer the wayfarer, and in Tennessee " the latch-string was 
 always out," and has ever been so, even until now. 
 
 The day of obedient parents had not then dawned upon 
 the young folks, and in the Maury household there was an 
 unconscious repressive sway. Good and gentle were the 
 parents, but the children became silent in their presence. 
 Matthew's father was very exact in the religious training of 
 his family, now numbering five sons and four daughters, 
 viz., Jolin Minor, Mary, Walker, Matilda, Betsy, Eichard 
 Launcelot, Matthew Fontaine, Catherine, and Charles. 
 
 He would assemble them night and morning to read the 
 Psalter for the day, verse and verse about ; and in this way, 
 so familiar did this barefooted boy become with the Psalms 
 of David, that in after life he could cite a quotation, and 
 give chapter and verse, as if he had the Bible open before him. 
 
 Surrounded by aU these pure and simple influences, 
 amidst the solitude and silence of the primeval forests, young 
 Maury passed his youth. The cotton-field found him farm- 
 work, and a racoon or bear hunt, with the negroes and 
 hounds brought from Virginia, made up his field-sports. 
 These, and earnest attention to all the opportunities of learn- 
 ing at school, prepared him for the great work of his life. 
 
BOYHOOD IN TENNESSEE. 
 
 " It was about this time," he says, " that my first ambition 
 to become a mathematician was excited by an old cobbler, 
 Neal by name, who lived not far from my father's house, and 
 who used to send the shoes home to his customers with the 
 soles all scratched over with little x's and y's." 
 
 After obtaining such elementary instruction as the " old 
 field" schools of that period and region afforded, young 
 Maury entered Harpeth Academy,* subsequently under the 
 charge of Eev. J. H. Otey (afterwards Bishop of Tennessee), 
 assisted by William C. Hasbrouck, who subsequently became 
 a distinguished lawyer of New York. 
 
 The quick active mind, and studious habits of the youth 
 soon attracted the notice and secured the regard of his 
 instructors ; and so long as the good bishop and the eminent 
 barrister lived, there existed between both and their former 
 pupil the warmest friendship. 
 
 * When in his twelfth year he had fallen from a high tree one day, a 
 height of forty-five feet, and was taken up apparently lifeless. It was 
 found upon examination that he had bitten his tongue almost off, and had 
 injured his back so much that his father thought he would never be fit for 
 work on the farm again. He therefore determined to yield to the lad's 
 earnest wish for more schooling, and permitted him to attend Harpeth 
 Academy. 
 
LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Notice of the Career of Maury's eldest brother — His Life ia the Navy — He 
 13 left on the Marquesas Islands for two years — He is taken on board 
 the ' Essex ' by Commodore Porter — Capture of the ' Essex ' at 
 Valparaiso — At the Battle of Lake Champlain — Dies at Sea — Matthew 
 receives a Midshipman's Wareant — His Journey to take xip his appoint- 
 ment^ — Adventures and entertainment by relations — Meets his future 
 wife — Her parentage — Cruise on board the ' Brandy wine ' — Cruise in 
 the 'Vincennes' — Visits the Marquesas — Passes his Examination — 
 Buys a little seal for his sweetheart. 
 
 John Minor Mauky, Matthew's eldest brother, entered the 
 Navy of the United States as midshipman when thirteen 
 years old, and became one of the most distinguished young 
 officers of his time. His whole professional career was one 
 of active service and romantic adventure. 
 
 Just before the last war between the United States and 
 England, John Maury procured a furlough, and went as first 
 officer of a merchant ship, which had been chartered by 
 Captain William Lewis of the United States Navy, who 
 commanded her. They sailed on a trading voyage to China. 
 Arriving at the Island of Nukahiva, one of the Marc[uesas 
 group, Captain Lewis left Maury and six men there to pro- 
 cure sandal-wood and other articles of trade, for which the 
 ship would touch on her return from China. The war with 
 England broke out. English ships blockaded the American 
 ships in the Chinese ports, and no relief came to Maury and 
 his men for two years. It had, meantime, gone hard with 
 them. 
 
 There were two tribes on that island hostile to each other, 
 a volcanic ridge dividing them. The king of the tribe with 
 whom the Americans made their home was friendly and true 
 
CAREER OF MAURY'S BROTHER. 
 
 to them ; but frequent incursions were made over the ridge, 
 which was the barrier of his dominion, by the savages beyond 
 it, and one by one the white men were slain, until Maury 
 and a man named Baker alone remained alive. 
 
 They adopted every precaution against surprise, and the 
 friendly king gave them notice of coming danger when he 
 could. With the handiness of sailor-men, they found four 
 cocoa-nut trees growing together, and in their tops made their 
 home, not larger than a frigate's maintop, yet sufficient for 
 their resting-place by day or night, and safe from discovery. 
 A rope ladder was the means of ascent and descent, for this 
 curious residence. 
 
 One bright morning, two years since their eyes had seen 
 such a sight, a large square-rigged ship stood into the anchor- 
 age, and soon to their joy she displayed the American flag. 
 Maury and his mate Baker came down from their perch, 
 took a canoe, and pulled for the ship.* Their costume was 
 as scant as that of the naked savages, who also sought to 
 board this man-of-war, and the whole party were ordered by 
 the sentry to keep off. 
 
 Maury returned to his nest in the cocoa-nut tree. Very 
 soon, however, a launch from the frigate was sent ashore, and 
 a group of officers came within hail, amongst whom Maury 
 recognised an old shipmate, Lieutenant McKnight. At his 
 hail the party looked up, and were astonished to see two 
 white men, arrayed Like Adam before his fall, descending 
 from the tree-tops. 
 
 They were warmly greeted, taken on board the United 
 States frigate 'Essex,' Captain David Porter commanding, 
 were enrolled on the ship's books, and rated and equipped 
 according to their rank. 
 
 Porter assembled his recent prizes in this anchorage, and 
 refitted and watered his ship ; he then pursued that famous 
 * See Porter's ' Journal of the Cruise of the " Essex." ' 
 
1 2 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 craiae which swept the English commerce from the seas over 
 which the ' Essex ' sailed. Amongst his captures was a very 
 fast sailer : he equipped and armed her as his consort, and 
 named her the 'Essex Jr.' Lieutenant Downes was ap- 
 pointed her commander, with John Maury as his first- 
 lieutenant. 
 
 Not long after leaving the Marquesas, they put into Val- 
 paraiso, where the English frigates ' Phcebe ' and the ' Cherub,' 
 under the command of Captain Hilliard, fell in with them. 
 Captain Hilliard had orders to capture the ' Essex ' at all 
 hazards. Porter, always ready for fight, cleared his ships for 
 action, and stood out to sea to gain the " marine league " 
 required by international law in respect to neutral ports. 
 
 The 'Essex Jr.' got well away to sea. The 'Essex,' 
 while rounding the headland, was struck by a squall, her 
 fore top-mast was carried away, and while thus crippled and 
 in the harbour she was set upon by the British frigates and 
 captured, after the most glorious defence ever made by a ship 
 of the United States. 
 
 Farragut, then a boy of eight or nine years, dear to 
 Porter as a son, was with him in the ' Essex ' in this fearful 
 fight. 
 
 The ' Essex Jr.' made her way to the United States, where 
 Maury was ordered to join the ' Epervier,' Captain William 
 Lewis commanding. Fortunately, the 'Epervier' sailed a 
 day before Maury reached Norfolk. Just before sailing, her 
 captain, Lewis, and his lieutenant, Neal, were married to two 
 sisters (the Misses Whittle). The ship was never heard of 
 again, and the ladies were widows (and childless) till they died 
 a few years ago. 
 
 Having escaped the fatal chance of the ' Epervier,' Maury 
 received orders to proceed to Lake Champlain, in time to be 
 with McDonough in his complete victory over the British 
 flotilla, which was captured or sunk. Thence, a few days 
 
CAREER OF MAURY'S BROTHER. 
 
 later, he wrote to a friend in Predericksburg, Virginia : — " We 
 have won a glorious victory. I hope the first fruits of it 
 will be to confirm the wavering allegiance of New York and 
 Vermont to the Union. They have been threatening to 
 secede unless peace is made with England on any terms." 
 
 Soon after the close of our war with England, the pirates 
 of the West Indies had become a terror to aU who sailed 
 those seas. Captain Porter, then the most energetic and 
 successful of our sailors, was ordered to fit out a squadron for 
 their destruction. He was authorised to select his officers 
 for a service so dangerous. His first choice was Maury to 
 be flag-captain of the fleet. This officer, like the adjutant- 
 general of the army, gave orders for all the movements. 
 
 The service was active and severe; the combats were 
 desperate ; no quarter was asked or given. The pirates were 
 all destroyed or broken up and scattered. 
 
 As a mark of special approbation of his services, Captain 
 John Minor Maury was sent by Commodore Porter to bear 
 to the United States Government his report of the complete 
 success of his operations. He sailed in the store-sliip 
 ' Decoy,' but died of yellow fever in June 1824, just outside 
 the Capes of Norfolk, and was buried at sea, at the age of 
 thirty-one. He had been first-lieutenant of a frigate; at 
 twenty-six he was the flag-captain of the fleet, and was 
 considered by Tatnall Buchanan and other compeers to have 
 been the smartest sailor in the American navy. 
 
 After his return from the glorious victory on Lake 
 Champlain, he married his flrst cousin (the daughter of his 
 uncle, Fontaine Maury) in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and by 
 her had two sons, William Lewis, who died at the age of 
 twenty of heart-disease, and Dabney Herndon Maury, who 
 afterwards became a major-general in the Confederate Army, 
 served on many a hard-fought field in the South and West, 
 was finally placed in charge of Mobile, and was particularly 
 
14 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 distinguished in the defence of that place. He is now 
 United States Minister to Colombia, and to him we owe the 
 foregoing interesting narrative of his father's career. 
 
 The sad news of Captain John Maury's burial at sea 
 was brought to Fredericksburg by a special messenger on 
 horseback from Norfolk. It was conveyed to his wife by 
 Dabney Herndon,* the life-long friend of both, as she sat 
 with her two little boys awaiting the arrival of her husband. 
 Mr. Herndon took the widow and her sons to his home, where 
 they lived as honoured members of his family until his death. 
 
 This act of friendship bore a rich harvest of love and 
 affection for the orphaned children of Dabney Herndon, to 
 whom Captain Maury's widow was ever after a mother. 
 
 In 1825, the Hon. Sam Houston, then member of Congress 
 for Tennessee, obtained for Matthew Fontaine Maurj' a mid- 
 shipman's warrant in the United States Navy. But Maury's 
 father did not approve of the midshipman's warrant and 
 the perils of the sea for another son, and, while he 
 did not positively forbid the boy's acceptance of it, he 
 refused to give him one cent towards defraying the 
 expenses of the journey East, and even denied him a parting 
 blessing. Nothing daunted, the lad borrowed a grey mare, 
 named Fanny, from a kind neighbour, and with only thirty 
 dollars in his pocket (paid to him by Mr. Hasbrouck for 
 assisting in the instruction of the younger pupils of Harpeth 
 Academy), he bade farewell to home and parents, and set out 
 with a bold heart and the scant experience of nineteen years 
 to seek his fortune. Years afterwards he said : — " The 
 bitterest pang I felt on leaving home was parting with my 
 brother Dick, two years my senior. We two had hitherto 
 been inseparable ; we slept together, studied out of the same 
 book, and shared every joy and every sorrow. In our tallcs 
 
 * This gentleman's eldest daughter married the subject of this 
 biography ten years afterwards. 
 
ENTERING THE NAVY. 15 
 
 and plans for the future, we were always to live together, 
 and each promised to name his eldest son after the other." 
 
 In due course of time this was done, and Matthew, having 
 a home of his own, and Eichard being dead, the latter's 
 young son, Matthew, came to live with this loving uncle, who 
 thenceforward provided for and educated him, as one of his 
 own children, untU he was old enough to " paddle his own 
 canoe." 
 
 In Albemarle County Maury iirst came amongst his 
 Virginian kin, and often told his children of the hospitality 
 he received in the home of his relations, near where the 
 University of Virginia now stands. His arrival was the 
 occasion of an especial entertainment, and when the ice- 
 cream was handed him first as the honoured guest by the 
 black servant, he astonished that negro, and tried the good 
 manners of the company, by transferring a teaspoonful of 
 the unknown sauce to his own plate, and sending on the 
 rest. 
 
 Maury was more than a fortnight on the road,* which was 
 in those days a very bad one, before he reached the home of 
 Mr. Edward Herndon (who had married his aunt), to whom 
 he sold the mare, and immediately transmitted the money to 
 the owner in Tennessee. 
 
 While at his Uncle Herndon's house, he met for the first 
 time the little cousin who was his future wife, Ann Herndon, 
 a maiden of some twelve or thirteen summers. She was the 
 eldest daughter of Dabney Herndon (cashier of the Farmers' 
 Bank, of Fredericksburg, and one of the most prominent 
 
 * On the road into Virginia, he fell in with two merchants, on their way 
 to purchase goods in Baltimore. They hoth conceived a great liking for 
 the lad, and upon their arrival at Bristol, they each took him aside 
 separately, and offered to let him have what money he wanted from their 
 purses. This kind offer he gi'atefully declined, though when he reached 
 his relations in Virginia he had only 50 cents left in his pocket. The 
 names of these two friends were Echols and Read. 
 
1 6 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 citizens of that place). Her mother was Elizabeth Hull, of 
 Spottsylvania Co. Nine years afterwards, Maury married 
 Miss Herndon (in 1834) from this same house. 
 
 In the year 1825, the Government had not yet established 
 a naval academy, and the young cadets commenced at once 
 the active duties of their profession. The narrow quarters 
 and crowded steerage, as well as the other discomforts of a 
 man-of-war, were, as can easily be imagined, little conducive 
 to study. 
 
 But it soon became evident to the companions of his own 
 grade, as well as to his superiors vsx rank, that young Maury 
 had resolved to master the theory and practice of his 
 profession, and was steadily pursuing that object, regardless of 
 difficulties and obstacles. Active and observant, he merited 
 and obtained a reputation for strict attention to the various 
 details of duty, and consequently was often selected for 
 special service. 
 
 It is related by some of his companions of that period how 
 he would chalk diagrams in spherical trigonometry on the 
 round shot in the quarter-deck racks, to enable himself to 
 master problems, while pacing to and fro, passing and 
 repassing the shot-racks on his watch, thus availing himself 
 of every moment of quiet, and acquiring and storing away 
 for future use, scraps of valuable knowledge during hours 
 that other young men of his age carelessly threw away. 
 With no other text-book than an old Spanish work on 
 navigation, he applied himself resolutely, with the aid of a 
 dictionary, to the task of acquiring a new language, and at 
 the same time such nautical information as the book might 
 afford. 
 
 During the first year of his service, he visited the coast of 
 England in the frigate ' Brandywine,' which then conveyed 
 to Prance the Marquis de la Fayette, after liis visit to the 
 United States in 1825. The gallant Marquis frequently 
 
SERVICE IN THE PACIFIC. 17 
 
 noticed the studious little middy, and had many a kind talk 
 with him. 
 
 At this time his pay as a midshipman was only nineteen 
 dollars a month, half of which he sent regularly to one of his 
 sisters. 
 
 After a cruise of some months in British waters, and in 
 the Mediterranean, the ' Brandywine ' returned to New York 
 in 1826, and Maury was transferred to the sloop-of-war 
 ' Vincennes,' then on a cruise round the world. 
 
 While in the 'Vincennes,' he became a great favourite 
 with the captain, who used frequently to invite him to diue 
 in the cabin. On one such occasion, when the captain had 
 taken a glass or so too much, he insisted that Maury should 
 drink more than the moderate quantity he allowed himself 
 and which he never exceeded. He firmly and politely 
 declined ; but when his superior oflficer insisted, and, rising 
 from his seat, approached, glass in hand, to push him yet 
 further, he dashed the glass to the floor, and, turning on his 
 heel, left the cabin. 
 
 During this cruise, the ship touched at Nukahiva, the 
 island on which his brother John had passed two years, about 
 twelve years before. The old king who had befriended 
 him was stiU alive, and recognised the younger brother 
 by his name and likeness. He made great show of affec- 
 tionate greeting, and offered to adopt him as his son and 
 heir. 
 
 The change to the ' Vincennes ' was a fortunate one for the 
 young student, who found his accommodation in the smaller 
 vessel much more favourable for study than in the noisy 
 and crowded steerage of' the frigate. When not occupied 
 with his regular duties, or such social intercourse and 
 amusement as courtesy demands among companions on ship- 
 board, he applied himself resolutely to his books, and made 
 such progress, that, at the conclusion of the voyage, he was 
 
1 8 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 not only ready to stand his examination, but had prepared 
 (and published soon after) a set of ' Lunar Tables.' 
 
 The ' Vincennes ' having been paid off, Midshipman Maury 
 was at once offered the position of master on another vessel, 
 but he declined the appointment, and availed himself of this 
 opportunity to stand his examinations. He passed twenty- 
 seventh in a class of forty ! * 
 
 The following letter was written to his old instructor at 
 Harpeth Academy (afterwards Bishop Otey of Tennessee), 
 while he was serving on board the U. S. S. ' Vincennes ' : — 
 
 My dear SiE, Callao, Port of Lima, 1827. 
 
 I had the pleasure, on my arrival at this place from 
 Guayaquil, of finding your agreeable epistle of Feb. 17th, 
 which is the latest date I have from any part of the United 
 States. I do assure you that the reception of a letter from 
 one of my old acquaintances affords me great pleasure, and 
 particularly one from my old schooliaaster. I am highly 
 flattered with the account you give me of my brother Charles's 
 progress at school. I think that he will show to better 
 advantage as a soldier than as a sailor. I have therefore 
 made arrangements to make him a soldier ;t and should our 
 application fail, any assistance which your influence can 
 render Mm will be gratefully appreciated by me. 
 
 My cruising has been very interesting since I joined 
 
 * That a youth, of such promise should have passed his examination so 
 low on the list, is hut another of the many instances of the kind on record 
 in the history of distinguished men. It may be said, however, that at that 
 period, the scope of such examinations was but faintly defined, and the 
 questions propounded were such as happened to come into the heads of the 
 examining ofScers. Entering the service at an early age and with but 
 slender opportunities for academic studies afterwards, these sturdy old tars 
 were not likely to question closely on subjects upon which Maury was far 
 better posted than themselves. They attached, perhaps, greater value to 
 details of technical seamanship than to the new problems of their profession 
 which were then finding birth in the brain of the young man before them. 
 
 t He procured a commission in the army for him ; but Charles, havino- 
 set his heart upon the navy, positively refused to accept it, and became a 
 carpenter, at which trade he still works. 
 
SERVICE IN THE PACIFIC. 19 
 
 this ship, and particularly for the last eight or ten weeks. 
 Owing to the unsettled state of affairs in Guayaquil, we 
 were compelled to stay there, as long as affairs wore a 
 doubtful aspect, in order to protect our commerce against 
 any outrages that might have been committed. On the 
 10th of last month we were alarmed by the cry of 
 " Viva la patria ! " " Viva Guayaquil ! " and on going on 
 shore to find from whence these exclamations came, we 
 found the whole city in arms, and drawn out in order of 
 battle, one party headed by the brother of the other's 
 leader. They proceeded to banish all firm friends to the 
 Libertador. Matters remained in this state for about 
 eighteen hours; when, after a little bloodshed, one party 
 declared in favour of the Libertador, and permitted the other, 
 called the rebels, to leave the country : they have since joined 
 the Peruvians. A wise piece of policy, indeed, for it is 
 expected that the two nations will have a difference, not far 
 from open hostilities, so soon as Bolivar shall quell all 
 disturbances in Colombia. He is now on Ms way from 
 Bogota to Guayaquil. The conjectures concerning what 
 course he will take are many, and widely different from each 
 other ; but the most probable one is, that unless Peru will 
 make proper concessions, he will adopt measures to unite 
 Peru and Colombia under the Government of the latter. 
 We took the Colombian Minister to Peru from Lima to 
 Guayaquil, where we were compelled to leave him, not that 
 the Peruvians had any objection to the man himself, but 
 to the Colombian Minister. The Libertador is very 
 unpopular in Lima, though, should he come to Peru, I 
 should not be surprised to hear a universal acclamation of 
 " Viva el Libertador ! " such is the fickle disposition of the 
 natives of South America. 
 
 Your next please direct to the care of the Secretary 
 of the Navy, by which means I shall always be sure of 
 receiving it sooner than by any other route. Eemember me 
 to all my old acquaintances ; and believe me to be always 
 yours, &c.. 
 
 To Jas. H. Otet, Esq., M. P. Mauey, U. S. Navy. 
 
 Franklin, Tennessee. 
 
20 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 In 1831, just before sailing for the Pacific again, Maury 
 became engaged to his cousin and sweetheart, and he then 
 purchased and gave her a little seal, only to be used in 
 writing to him, bearing for inscription the simple word, 
 " Mizpah " (" The Lord watch between thee and me when 
 we are absent one from the other "). 
 
 Forty years after, when an exile, homeless, and separated 
 from his family, he wrote on the fly-leaf of his Bible, while 
 at sea : — " To my wife. Dost remember Genesis, 31st chap., 
 49th verse ? " and on another leaf — " See 2nd Samuel, 22nd 
 chap., 36th verse : ' Thy gentleness hath made me great, my 
 Nannie." " 
 
SERVICE IN THE PACIFIC. 21 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 Appointed Master of the 'Falmouth' on the Pacific Station— Melancholy 
 anecdote — Literary studies under great difiiculties — First study of 
 Winds and Currents — Paper on the low harometeroff Cape Horn — First- 
 lieutenant of the ' Dolphin ' — Eetum home in 1834 — Marriage — 
 Publication of his work on navigation — ^Birth of his eldest daughter — 
 Appointment to survey southern harbours — Visit to his parents in 
 Tennessee — Fall from a stage-coach — Fracture of his leg — Long illness 
 — ^Death of his parents — Application for employment. 
 
 In 1831 Maury was appointed master of the sloop-of- 
 war ' Falmouth,' which had been ordered to the Pacific 
 Station. In after years he used to warn his children 
 against injustice to their companions in thought or deed, 
 by telling them the story of Johns, a young midshipman 
 who was in the ' Falmouth ' when he joined her for her four 
 years' cruise. 
 
 Young Johns, when going ashore at Norfolk, had been 
 entrusted by a comrade, whom we wiU call B., with a case 
 containing two bottles of very precious attar of roses for his 
 sisters. He shared his room at the hotel in jSTorfolk that 
 night with another middy, who shall be called A. A. was to 
 leave very early in the morning to visit some relations, 
 having leave of absence for some months. He accordingly 
 rose early and took his departure, without waking Johns, but 
 first, only for a joke, he poured out the attar and filled the 
 bottles with water. Johns awoke in due time and took the 
 case, which he had never opened, to the sisters of B., after- 
 wards joining the ' Falmouth ' for her cruise in the Pacific. 
 The sisters, as soon as they found the bottles were filled with 
 
22 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 water, wrote to their brother to complain of the dishonesty 
 of Johns, " who must," said they, " have stolen and sold the 
 attar." Their brother immediately adopted their conclusion, 
 and, after telling the story to the whole mess, demanded that 
 Johns should be treated as a thief and " sent to Coventry," 
 being no fit associate for young gentlemen. In vain did the 
 poor young man tell his story ; no one believed him but 
 Maury, who did not think the evidence sufficient to convict, 
 and who therefore refused to treat him with scorn and con- 
 tempt, as all the rest did, but stood by him, and, as he 
 himself often said, was his only comfort in that long cruise. 
 Johns died of a broken heart, and was buried at Callao, 
 protesting his innocence to the last, which was fully esta- 
 blished in the minds of all by the remorse of A. when he 
 heard the result of his cruel practical joke. 
 
 In the ' Falmouth ' Maury had a cabin to himself, and in 
 addition to his own small store of books he had the use of a 
 fine collection belonging to a richer messmate (William 
 Irving, brother to the author of the ' Sketch-book '). But he 
 was never a great reader. He was often heard to say that it 
 was not until he had been put repeatedly to the blush 
 because of his ignorance of the standard literature of the day, 
 and had wondered at the evident delight afforded to some of 
 his companions on reading or quoting a beautiful or striking 
 passage, that he resolutely set himself to work to read the 
 English classics, and to try to enjoy what gave so much 
 pleasure to the most cultivated of his associates. His was 
 eminently an original mind, and he delighted to spend hours 
 in meditation, working out his own great ideas. But he had 
 the Bible and Shakespeare at his fingers' ends, and his many 
 writings abound in quotations from both. 
 
 It was during this voyage in the ' Falmouth ' to Eio de 
 Janeiro, on liis way to the Pacific, that he conceived the idea 
 of the celebrated Wind and Current Charts, which have 
 
SERVICE IN THE PACIFIC. 23 
 
 since accomplished so much for the commerce of the world. 
 This was the first occasion in which he accepted the re- 
 sponsibility of sailing-master, and he was naturally anxious 
 to make a quick voyage. 
 
 Before leaving New York he had searched in every 
 direction for reliable information as to the mnds and 
 currents to be encountered, and the best path for his vessel 
 to follow. He soon found that little was known on the 
 subject. Here was a deplorable want which the man of 
 genius resolved he would one day supply. It was on this 
 voyage also that he observed and began to study the curious 
 phenomenon of the " low barometer " off Cape Horn, and it 
 was upon this subject that he wrote his first scientific paper 
 for publication, which appeared in the American ' Joiirnal of 
 Science.' But the labours of his pen did not end here, for it 
 was on this cruise also that he began to prepare for the 
 press a work on navigation, the materials for which he 
 had been gathering together in his mind for several years. 
 
 While the ship lay at Callao, he wrote the following 
 affectionate letter to his brother Dick in Tennessee : — 
 
 DeAE Dick, U- S. S. 'Falmouth,' Callao, April IGth, 1835. 
 
 I owe you much for your kind letter of Oct. last, 
 which came to hand last night. I am writing on my knee 
 for want of a table, so do not grumble at the illegibility of the 
 writing. Your letters are always very charming to me : they 
 give me the best and fullest accounts of all that is going on, 
 only you have never told me of your third increase of family, 
 though it is so common for you and your wife to multiply I 
 do not wonder that you should have forgotten it. Four years 
 married, and three children already ! Why, that is as many 
 as I want altogether. . . . Old Mr. Spotswood, the poorest 
 man I know, has some fifteen or twenty children. He says 
 he values each one at £7000, and his wife at £12,000 ! I 
 hope you will realize at that rate off each one of yours. 
 I am getting frightened, seeing you doing these things at 
 
24 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 such a round rate ; however, / may have none. In that case 
 we will call yours ours. I cannot say when I shall be 
 married ; that depends upon my promotion, and God knows 
 whether I am to look for that this year, or the next, or the 
 next. I am, and have been for the last year, doing the 
 duties and receiving the pay of a lieutenant. I am sorry to 
 hear you have had such ill-luck with your crops. I hope 
 you win make up this year for all lost time, and be able to 
 place yourself square in the world. But can't you farmers 
 make more than three hundred dollars per year ? That 
 seems monstrous little. How much will it cost me to live 
 on shore ? I have given A. K. (the 4th auditor) directions 
 to pay to you the sum of three hundred dollars — a claim 
 which I liave had standing with the department for some 
 years ; reading your letter reminded me oC it. The claim is 
 a just one; I have ordered him to send you the amount. 
 This little sum I send you to speculate with : if you make 
 anything from it, we will share the net profits ; if you lose it, 
 the loss is mine, and we will say nothing about it. I suppose 
 even ten or fifteen dollars off it, a year, would be some little 
 help to you ? If you do not get more than that from your 
 investment, appropriate the whole profits, my good fellow, to 
 your own purposes. You need not be scrupulous about it, 
 for it is lying idle in the department, and would continue 
 there doing nothing until I should call for it after I get to 
 the U. S 
 
 When I was last in the U. S., I thought if I could get 
 employment as a surveyor, or anything of that sort, by a 
 State, I would try a hand at it and let " Uncle Sam off" : but 
 I believe I have too many notions, and that aftei. all " Uncle 
 Sam " wiU have the selling of my bones to the doctors. 
 
 I like what you say of Charles. I hope he wUl make a 
 useful man of business ; I wish he was not so unsociable as 
 he appeared to be when I saw him last. Say something 
 affectionate and encouraging to him from me. 
 
 From the continuance of K.'s sUence, I suppose he must 
 be miffed at something I may have said to him from George- 
 town. ... I do not care how little I have done to injure 
 his feelings, or how innocently; be pleased to make any 
 
MARRIAGE. 25 
 
 apologies that are becoming. Make advances on my part 
 and meet him more than haK way. I hope, though, that I 
 may be mistaken about his feeling hurt at anything I've done 
 or said. 
 
 Your brother, 
 
 Mat. 
 
 Having been transferred from the 'Palmouth' to the 
 schooner ' Dolphin,' he performed the duty of first-lieutenant 
 in that vessel until he joined the frigate ' Potomac,' in which 
 he returned to the United States in 1834. 
 
 The ship was paid ofif at Boston, and the young officer 
 returned to Fredericksburg, Virginia, and married his 
 cousin. Miss Ann Herndon, to whom he had been engaged 
 for several years. 
 
 His fee to the clergyman who married them, the Eev. Dr. 
 Maguire, was the last ten dollars he possessed in the world, 
 Not long after his marriage he went on to Philadelphia to 
 make arrangements with Mr. Biddle, a prominent publisher 
 of that place, to bring out his " first-born," as he used to 
 call it — his work on navigation. So great was his poverty 
 while there that he lived on cheese and crackers, which he 
 would eat at odd moments in his little garret chamber. 
 
 It was considered a bold step on the part of an officer of 
 no higher rank than that of a passed midshipman to publish 
 a work on navigation; but the book, like its author, had 
 the ring of true metal, and made its way in spite of aU 
 obstacles. It was favourably noticed by the highest nautical 
 authorities in England, and it became the text-book of the 
 United States Navy. 
 
 At about this time his eldest cliild, Elizabeth Herndon, 
 was born. 
 
 A month after his work on navigation was published, 
 he applied for sea-service again, and was attached to the 
 South Sea Exploring Expedition, then fitting out under the 
 
26 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 command of Commodore Catesby Jones. He joined the 
 expedition as astronomer and hydrographer, although he was 
 at that time junior lieutenant on the list. On receiving the 
 appointment, he went to Philadelphia to study and prepare 
 himself for this responsible position. In a little plank 
 observatory in Eittenhouse Square he soon became an adept 
 in the use of the telescope, transit instrument, and theodolite. 
 In 1834 Captain "Wilkes succeeded Commodore Jones in the 
 command of the expedition. He, it was understood, wished 
 to reorganize it, and Maury, with great delicacy, offered to 
 resign. But on the same day he again applied for active 
 ser^dce, and was then assigned the duty of making surveys of 
 southern harbours. On leaving home he took with him a 
 tiny shoe from the foot of each of his little daughters (for 
 by this time he had two) to hang up in his cabin and remiud 
 him of the pattering feet he loved so tenderly and would 
 miss so sorely. 
 
 In the following letter to his brother, written while he was 
 in Philadelphia, he speaks of his plans and aspirations for 
 the future : — 
 
 Dear Dick, Philadelphia, Octoher 29th, 1835. 
 
 Yours of the 10th inst. is before me ; for which I 
 thank you most heartily. But first I must tell you how 
 comes it that I am here. I left Fredericksburg ten days ago, 
 and am here for the purpose of hurrying my book through 
 the press. The publishers were to let me have the proof- 
 sheets in Fredericksburg, but they came to me so slowly that 
 I resolved to come on here and use every exertion to bring 
 the book out before Congress meets. Without wisliincr to 
 excite your expectations, I will let you into the secret of my 
 plans, which I wish you to preserve as a secret, in order that, 
 if I should not succeed in what I undertake, my friends and 
 family may not feel the effects of disappointment. You 
 must bear in mind that this is the iirst nautical work of 
 science that has ever come from the pen of a naval officer ; 
 
HOPES OF PROMOTION. 27 
 
 and upon its merits I intend to base a claim for promotion. 
 Such a case has no precedent. Therefore you must look 
 upon it as an experiment in which I may, or I may not, be 
 successful. If I succeed, I shall be put over the heads of 
 many who are now above me. You see in this another 
 motive for secrecy, for many of those over whose heads it is 
 likely I would be placed would, if they knew I contemplated 
 such a thing, use every exertion to prevent it. I shall ask 
 to be made a lieutenant of ten years' rank. If this is done 
 (of which I am by no means sanguine), besides the ad- 
 vantage of making me old in rank, it will entitle me (I 
 think) to back pay, as though I had been a lieutenant for 
 these ten years; and this back pay will amount to some 
 $4,000 or $5,000. I shall be promoted next March at any 
 rate, and my object is to get the book out and present my 
 claim before that time, which, by being presented before I 
 receive any promotion, wUl be doubly strong. Hence the 
 haste to have the book out. I wish to impress upon you 
 that I am not sanguine of success, but am resolved to try 
 every honourable means to accomplish the object, and to take 
 the most favourable time for it. The book, I hope, will be 
 out in about six weeks. One hundred pages are printed ; 
 there are about 300 more. Negotiations for having 150 of 
 the latter stereotyped (they are tables) are on foot. So much 
 for my book, and my secret plans. 
 
 Now, Dick, for your letter and your generosity, which you 
 prove to be what, Dick, I know it is. In my dilemma last 
 Fall I did not apply to you for assistance, not because I 
 thought you would not render it cheerfully (for I have 
 always felt that to do so would be a pleasure to you), but 
 because I thought K. would do it cheerfully also, and with 
 less inconvenience than you could. While I was waiting for 
 his reply, I was relieved by having the greater part of the 
 money, which the department had withheld from me, allowed 
 to me. This placed me beyond the necessity of caUing upon 
 my friends for pecuniary aid. I then announced this circum- 
 stance to K., and offered to serve him in any way I could, 
 and I assure you I should be very happy to serve him. So, 
 Dick, I beg that you wiU not suffer yourself to have any 
 
28 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR i . 
 
 unpleasant feelings about the matter ; for I feel that security 
 in your friendship and affection which I have ever felt, 
 which grew up with us from our childhood, and which has 
 been and is a source of unutterable gratification to me. You 
 know that of all of our brothers, we two were more as one in 
 feeling and in disposition;- even our boyish fights never 
 interrupted the tide of affection between us. It has never 
 been the custom with us to use words in order to express 
 our feelings for each other, nor shall I break in upon that 
 custom now; but I delight to think of our happy days 
 together when we were young. I do not think that I shall 
 want any money, Dick. I am making the book bear my 
 expenses while I am here, and my pay is appropriated to the 
 use of my family. I shall be here about six weeks, I expect. 
 I have put matters in such a train that I shall know of this 
 to-morrow. 
 
 Tell A. E. M. that if I am not in Fredericksburg when he 
 passes through, my wife will be there, who wiU be much 
 pleased to form his acquaintance, and that I hope he wUl 
 allow her an opportunity of so doing. How does little Mat 
 come on, and who is he like ? Give my love to Sr. Peggy 
 and every one of the children. Tell Charles I hope he is 
 getting rich. He must write to me. I never know where 
 to find him, else he should hear from me. Love to Pa and 
 Ma and Catherine. Tell the latter she must knit me a pair 
 of yarn socks. Good-night, dear Dick, and believe me as 
 ever. 
 
 Yours affectionately. 
 
 Mat. 
 
 The following is a remarkable letter from a young man of 
 twenty-eight to his elder brother. He writes as if he felt 
 every word, although he did not become a professing Christian 
 himself until 1867, when he joined the Episcopal Church 
 while in London after the war : — 
 
 My dear BkOTHEE, Fredericksburg, November 16th, 1834. 
 
 Por several days I have been promising myself this 
 pleasure. I am at leisure to-day, and housed in consequence 
 
FRACTURE OF HIS LEG. 29 
 
 of the sleet, which fell last night, and the bleak wind which 
 is whistling at the windows. Last Sunday I wrote to our 
 good old mother, and during the week I mailed to her a 
 religious newspaper — which Ann takes — and proposes, after 
 she herself shall have finished it, to send for Ma's enter- 
 tainment 
 
 Aleck tells me, Dick, that you have joined the Campbellites 
 and become a disciple ! . . . . 
 
 I do not regret to hear that you have turned away from 
 worldly things 
 
 There is another thing, Dick: persons professing to be 
 Christians are very apt to make the conduct of their brother- 
 professors around them a standard for their own conduct 
 towards God. This may, without knowing it, and unless one 
 keep a watchful eye upon his own heart, tend, more or less, 
 to lead us to regard unduly the opinions of the world, and 
 prompt us to do what an untrammelled conscience would 
 condemn. Learn your duties, Dick, from the Bible. There 
 you have them laid downi in example, law, and precept. I 
 love to see Christians after the Bible and according to their 
 own consciences, and not according to the opinions of other 
 men. ■ I hope,' Dick, whatever persuasion you join, that you 
 will be a Christian according to the Bible as you under- 
 stand it. 
 
 As ever, yours, 
 
 Mat, 
 
 After being engaged on surveying work for more than a 
 year, Maury obtained a few weeks' leave to visit his parents 
 in Tennessee, and attend to some business-matters for. his 
 father, who was now old and infirm. He also wished to 
 make arrangements for bringing his parents into Virginia 
 to live with him. On his way back to New York he was 
 thrown ,from the top of a stage-coach, he having given his 
 seat inside to a poor woman who could not stand the exposure 
 of the cold night air. His leg was broken at the knee. It 
 was set by an incompetent surgeon, and he languished for 
 three months at Somerset, Ohio. It was found necessary to 
 
30 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 break the limb over again and reset it, and this was done 
 without the aid of opium or chloroform, the use of which in 
 surgical operations was then unknown. In January 1840, 
 he believed himself so far recovered as to be able to resume 
 his journey to New York, where the vessel was still lying to 
 which he was attached. But he had to be driven in a sleigh 
 from Ohio across the Alleghany Mountains in the dead of 
 winter. He was much delayed on the road, and the vessel 
 sailed without him. 
 
 The following letters were written just before and after his 
 accident : — 
 
 At Home, near Franklin, Tenn., • 
 
 Sept. 27tli, 1839. 
 
 My deae Cousin, 
 
 In my last I alluded to the possibility of my parents' 
 return with me ; but all their plans, and mine too, have been 
 changed, at least for the present. 
 
 The Navy Department will not allow me to wait here for 
 the rising of the waters, and I am afraid to venture with the 
 old people and the very rough roads between this and Louis- 
 ville, Ky. These considerations have induced my father to 
 determine on a visit to my Sister Holland. ... It is their 
 present intention to spend the winter with her in Mississippi, 
 and in the spring, if Pa thinks himself equal to the under- 
 taking, they wUl come on to Virginia. . . . My mother, who 
 is quite as untravelled as Aunt Herndon was, thinks she could 
 perform the trip from here to Fredericksburg on horseback ! 
 . . . My father's voice, which was always very powerful, is as 
 strong now as it ever was ; he frequently exercises it in calling 
 to his hands while at work at the top of its hail ; it can be 
 heard distinctly a mile off; under favourable circumstances it 
 has been heard two miles 
 
 Besides, being at Mrs. Holland's, he will be within a day's 
 ride (35 miles) of Memphis on the Mississippi, whence he 
 can choose his own time for the journey. 
 
 Since writing the above, I have received a letter from 
 Nannie informing me of the arrival of a letter in a liver- 
 
FRACTURE OF HIS LEG. 31 
 
 coloured envelope, requiring my immediate presence in New- 
 York, so I shall have the pleasure of seeing you sooner tlian 
 I expected. 
 
 Sincerely, 
 
 M. F. M. 
 
 The following letters describe his accident, his sufferings 
 and surroundings, at Somerset, Ohio : — 
 
 Frmn M. F. Matjky to Ann Mauhy. 
 
 Somerset, Ohio, October 23rcl, 1839. 
 
 My deae Cousin, 
 
 I shall not be with you according to intentions 
 expressed in my last. I write, toes up, to inform you of the 
 accident which detains me. With twelve others I was 
 upset in a stage here last Friday, about 1 a.m. I was the 
 thirteenth, and had my right knee-joint transversely dis- 
 located and the thigh-bone longitudinally fractured, making 
 together a very serious injury, from which a recovery must 
 be slow. 
 
 Fortunately I am in the hands of a good physician, and my 
 mind is at ease. According to one of the first physicians of 
 the State, whom I had to examine the leg, treatment, &c., 
 I may consider myself fortunate if I am off my back in 
 three months' time. With this prospect before me, I have 
 written for Nannie and the children. . . . 
 
 But for this or some other accident I should now have 
 been in New York. My most affectionate good wishes to 
 your father, and ever, dear cousin, your friend, 
 
 M. F. Mauey.* 
 
 In December 1839, Maury had so far recovered from his 
 
 * This letter is written in a changed and trembling hand, and evidently 
 with great effort, as indicated by the abbreviations, not usual with him at 
 that time, and the interlineations, mistakes, etc. The appearance of the 
 ink shows that it was not all written at the same time, or with the same 
 pen. 
 
32 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR V. 
 
 accident as to be able to leave the place -where it occurred. 
 The following was one of his last letters written at Somerset, 
 Ohio :— 
 
 To Miss Mauey, Mw YorJc. 
 
 Somerset, Ohio, Dec. 25tl), 1839. 
 
 .... I hop out in the porch every day to take an airing 
 and to inure myself to the weather. We have a fine snow for 
 sleighing : I hope it will hold ; travelling will be much more 
 easy and much less fatiguing. The night, or a few nights 
 before I left home, I pointed out the evening star to Bettie, 
 and told her when I was gone to look at that and think of 
 me. Not long after they heard of my misfortune the family 
 were looking out upon the evening, and Bettie gazing on the 
 star, her little voice was heard in the tiny prayer, " I pray 
 God to make my papa well." There was a poetry and even a 
 sublimity in this childish fancy, which, at the time and under 
 the circumstances, were very touching. Message after message 
 she sent me, Make haste to get up ; go to the window and look 
 at that beautiful star ; but never have I been able to see it. 
 
 Thinking to keep up the train of poetry in their little 
 minds about that star, I sent word to her and Annie to look 
 at that star and wish for one thing, and whatever they 
 wished for I would bring them. They both wished for cake ! 
 
 So much, you see, for my romance. 
 
 ***** 
 
 In May 1841, Maury, having a home at Fredericksburg, in 
 Virginia, sent his nephew, Dabney Maury, to Tennessee to 
 bring his parents to live with him ; and they went with the 
 family to Washington in 1842, but both died within a year 
 of the removal. The fracture of his leg had seriously affected 
 Maury's prospects in the Navy, and at one time there was 
 ground for the apprehension that he might be altogether 
 incapacitated from active service. At this period he wrote 
 the following letters to his cousins, Mr. Eutson Maury of 
 New York and Miss Ann Maury, in which he reviews his 
 past career. 
 
RETROSPECT. 33 
 
 Letter to his relative, Mr. Eutson Maury of New York : — 
 
 Dear Eutsox, Fredericksburg, Yii-ginia, August 31st, 1840. 
 
 My jjanacea for ennui is the pen. There is no time 
 hardly, when I enjoy more refined pleasures than when, 
 deprived of companions, I dip into the inkstand for friends 
 that are far away. Therefore, I seldom or never feel lone- 
 some. But I account for the fact rather from an accident of 
 education, than from any peculiarity of natural disposition. 
 
 When I became old enough to reflect, it was the aim at 
 which all my energies were directed to make myself a useful 
 man. I soon found that occupation, for some useful end or 
 another, was the true secret of happiness. "With this idea, I 
 left 'school, where I had received a very desultory sort of 
 education. I was anxious to enter the Military Academy at 
 West Point. .But the bare mention of the wish put my 
 father in a rage. I abandoned the idea, therefore; but 
 secretly set about, through the agency of a friend (at that 
 time a shop-boy, or, as we say in the West, a store-boy), to 
 obtain a warrant in the navy ; for my prospects, as I 
 thought, had become exceedingly gloomy. 
 
 I had, at school, been called on by the teacher to hear 
 first one class, and then another, until I became a regular 
 amateur assistant. This was being useful, and I was proud 
 of the occupation, though it seriously interfered with my own 
 studies. The teacher, who was a poor young man from 
 New York (he is now a lawyer of property at Newberg), 
 findinff that I was to be taken from school to follow the 
 plough, offered, in the fulness of his heart, to send me to one 
 of the northern colleges. He had just drawn $500 in a 
 lottery, and like Gil Bias with his " ducats," he thought there 
 would be no end to his $500 prize. And no doubt in my 
 eyes, also, the $500 seemed, like the old woman's " empty 
 barrel " of meal in the Bible, perfectly inexhaustible. But 
 pride, or unwiUingness to lay myself under such obligations, 
 prevented the acceptance of the good Dominie's offer. 
 
 In the meantime my appointment in the navy came. I 
 went home, and the first intelligence my parents had of my 
 intentions was this letter of appointment. It disturbed the 
 family very much, and my father expressed his disappro- 
 
34 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 bation of my conduct in strong terms. As I had proceeded 
 without consulting him, he determined to leave me to my 
 own resources. I was resolute: I bought a horse, and got 
 the man to trust me untO. I could remit him the money after 
 selling the horse in Virginia. I set out from home without 
 a cent in my pocket, intending to trust to luck, and, if 
 necessary, stop on the road and work out my bills when I 
 got to town. However (Sunday morning), I found that the 
 faithful Dominie had left $30 for me. I had not travelled 
 many days, when mine host informed me that thenceforward 
 my Tennessee money " would not go "; and he offered, " as it 
 was me," to give me $20 for what I had left. I thought him 
 very kind, and accepted his offer. When I got to our cousin 
 Eeuben's (at Charlottesville) I had but 50 cents left, which I 
 was exceedingly afraid Eeuben would find out. And when 
 I finally reached Fredericksburg the 50 cents was reduced 
 to 25. I sold Fanny (my steed) for what I gave for her, and 
 remitted the money to the man in Tennessee. And though 
 I came without orders, Southard, who was then Secretary of 
 the Navy, allowed me 15 cents a mile from Franklin to 
 Washington City, which fairly put my head above water. 
 
 When I went on board ship, I set out to make everything 
 bend to my profession. I was required to study Spanish ; 
 and that nothing might be lost, I got a Spanish work in 
 navigation, and studied that. 
 
 The information that I wanted I knew not where to seek. 
 The consequence was, that I had to search for grains of 
 knowledge among bushels of chaff. Hence it is that I have 
 studied to so little advantage; but in studying I always 
 kept in view some particular point on which I wanted 
 information, and it is to that I alluded as an " accident of 
 education." 
 
 I used to resort to various artifices for study while on watch. 
 If I went below only for a moment or two, and could lay 
 hands upon a dictionary or any book, I would note a sentence, 
 or even a word, that I did not understand, and fix it in my 
 memory to be reflected upon when I went on deck. I used 
 to draw problems in spherical trigonometry with chalk on the 
 shot, and put them in the racks where I could see them as I 
 
SLOIV RECO VER V. 35 
 
 walked the deck. That with so much perseverance I should 
 have failed in my prime object, I attribute to the want of 
 books and proper teachers in the navy. Therefore, if the 
 next collection of "Scraps from the Lucky-Bag"* should 
 appear to you a little outre, you will know the cause. I 
 have sent them to Mat to be overhauled by him. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 M. F. M. 
 
 To Ann Maitey of Neiu York 
 
 My DEAE Cousin, Fredericksburg, Va., February 15th, 1840. 
 I have not been long enough at home yet to 
 systematise my time, and therefore have not set about 
 anything in particular. In fact, I have not yet done playing 
 with the children. 
 
 Sometimes I think — when I become desperate — that I'll 
 write. Sometimes I have a notion to take to books and be 
 learned ; but then such vast fields and pastures and wastes 
 and seas of unexplored knowledge appear on the horizon, my 
 ignorance sickens at the prospect. I am reminded of how 
 little, how very little, I do know; just enough to be sensible 
 of this fact. Then I'll content myself with cultivating a few 
 little patches of knowledge. What shall they be? Shall 
 they be light or heat ? — storms or currents ? — ship-building 
 or ship-saiUng ? — steam or trajectiles ? — hollow shot or 
 
 gravitation ? — gases or fluids ? — winds or tides ? — or 
 
 And in the wilderness of subjects, the mind is confused, and 
 knows not which to choose ; so I play with the children and 
 bend the knee, which, though now more readily bent, does not 
 admit of but very little more flexion than it did when I saw you. 
 I have disrobed the leg of its bandages, and flung away the 
 splints, and taken to going through the motions of walking, 
 by putting " the pet " to the floor every time the crutches are 
 planted a-head for a step. The effects of all this have been 
 to make the size of the " pet " equal that of its fellow, and I 
 am beginning to regain the use of the muscles — all excepting 
 
 * The title of a series of articles on the Navy which made a great 
 impression at the time. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 the lifting ones. I have no power to operate through them 
 on the tendon which was torn from the lower part of the 
 knee-pan; so that I cannot prevent the knee from sinking 
 under me. This then, you see, is the seat of the great 
 injury. Though more ungainly, I sometimes think a stiff 
 knee would have been more serviceable than a weak one. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 My dear Cousin, Marcli 29t]i, 1840. 
 
 The cheerful tone of your letter to Nannie gave us 
 cause of congratulation. All hands, but the children and I, 
 have gone to church. Betty is with me in the dining-room 
 running round the table for amusement. Little Nannie is 
 upstairs, where she has been stowed away to be cheated into 
 a nap. Judging by the sound of her little voice, she has 
 almost played herself to sleep. I am acting as nurse, you 
 know, to keep Betty from running out. She has just 
 interrupted me to hear her repeat her little hymn you sent 
 her, " Stars that on your wondrous Way." Nannie, too, from 
 hearing Betty recite it, is very am fait at it; and so are all 
 the little negroes on the Lot. 
 
 I sometimes lament the natural turn of these last for 
 poetry and music. If Nannie attempts a new song, before 
 she can play it, " Stewart," a lad (darkey) of ten or twelve 
 years of age, has caught the air, and pumps water or saws 
 wood to the tune of "Flow gently. Sweet Afton," or 
 whatever else happens to be the favourite air with us all for 
 the time being. 
 
 Tell Mat I have applied for service on crutches. 
 
 Yours, 
 M. 
 
 Soon after his return to Fredericksburg, it was urged by 
 the National Intelligencer (Washington paper) that Maury 
 should be made Secretary of the Navy.* Other prominent 
 
 * His nomination, by a portion of the press, as a good man to fill the 
 post of Secretary of the Navy, arose from his publication of the series of 
 papers advocating naval reform, entitled " Scraps from the Lucky-Bao-." 
 
HOME AND FAMIL Y. 37 
 
 newspapers caught up the cry, and public sentiment seemed 
 all ia favour of this selection. But he steadily declined the 
 honour, and thus speaks of it in the following letter : — 
 My DEAE PaEENTS, Fredericksburg, Va., Jan. 26tli, 18il. 
 
 I do not think there is much danger of my having a 
 Cabinet appointment inflicted upon me. The newspapers 
 continue to discuss the subject, though, with much earnestness. 
 That I should be thus brought forward and commended is, of 
 course, exceedingly gratifying to me, as I am sure it must be 
 to you also. In these times of party rancour and bitter 
 political strife, high places in the State edifice are far from 
 being desirable to those who value peace of mind. 
 
 In another letter to the same, he thus refers to his 
 affliction : — 
 
 The leg gains strength slowly. I can walk now with the 
 assistance of a stick only ; but a walk of two or three 
 hundred yards breaks me down. A terrible calamity is this, 
 indeed, to me.* 
 
 For several years subsequent to this, his correspondence is 
 full of sweet allusions to his little children, his family, and 
 surroundings. To his parents he writes : — 
 
 The boy Eichard Launcelot grows apace. He is a fine 
 little fellow, and I think he is the pet with both his aunts. 
 
 Little Betty has just skipped in, and says, " Tell ganpa to 
 come and see us, and the son too, and that's all." She can 
 read understandingly, and is quite proud of it. 
 
 Little Nannie (Diana) is only in her " A, B, C's " as yet, 
 under little Betty's tuition. She has a good memory, and 
 can repeat several hymns and verses, standing on the table 
 and accompanying herself with appropriate gestures. She, 
 every night and morning, " Pays to God to bless her dear 
 
 * This event, wMcli, at the time, he considered the greatest calamity of 
 his life, as he thought it put an end to his professional distinction, was but 
 a blessing in disguise. For though for many years his maimed body was 
 considered unfit for active service, his ready mind turned and grasped the 
 scientific part of the profession, and there found a broad field for his 
 labour. 
 
38 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA URV. 
 
 ganma and ganpa." They are both very affectionate children, 
 though very unlike in their dispositions. Betty is devotedly 
 fond of flowers ; Diana cares very little for them, but takes 
 much delight in associating with cats, dogs, &c. She is 
 sitting in my lap while I am writing, and says, "Tell 
 ganma to send me some pay toys." 
 
 You must not suffer yourselves to be annoyed by W. B. 
 and the land, nor to be at all pinched or straitened for the 
 want of a little money. It wUl not only be convenient, but 
 a pleasure to me, to let you have what you want and 
 whenever you want it. 
 
 Our stove has proved a great comfort and convenience, and 
 we find it a great economy also. I am now writing in the 
 parlour, and though there, is no fire in the room, the warmth 
 from the stove in the dining-room makes the air in here as 
 soft and balmy as a spring morning. 
 
 With affection, my dear parents, 
 Your son, 
 
 M. F. Maukt. 
 
 In 1841 Maury flattered himself that he was able to 
 perform sea duty ; but, fearing that the intervention of 
 family and friends might defeat his application, he went 
 from his residence in Fredericksburg to Eichmond, and from 
 thence he addressed the following letter to the Secretary of 
 the Navy, Hon. J. E. Badger : — 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Notwithstanding my crippled condition, I think I 
 shall be able to perform any of the lighter duties at sea 
 which do not call for much bodily exercise, as of flao-- 
 lieutenant for instance, to which of&ce in the Pacific Squadron 
 Commodore Jones has signified a desire that I should be 
 appointed. That duty, or any other elsewhere, to which I 
 am able, and with which the department should see fit to 
 entrust me, shall be undertaken with pleasure. 
 
 Kespectfully, &c., 
 
 M. F. Maury. 
 
UNABLE TO SERVE AFLOAT. 39 
 
 Hearing of this application, Judge John Taloe Lomax, a 
 distinguished ornament of the bench in Virginia, and a warm 
 personal friend of Lieutenant Maury's, addressed a letter 
 to the Secretary of the Navy, remonstrating in strong terms 
 against the propriety of yielding to Lieutenant Maury's 
 appKcation, and enclosing a certificate from the three best 
 physicians of the town, Drs. Wellford, Carmichael, and 
 Brown, who had been attending him since his injury, which 
 testified to his incapacity to stand the exposure and hard- 
 ships of sea-life at that time. In consequence of these letters 
 the Secretary declined to order him to sea. 
 
 He speaks of tliis in the following letter to Eutson Maury : — 
 
 Fredericksburg, Nov. 13th, 1841. 
 .... There is no move as yet seaward. The physicians in 
 town have made quite a man of importance of me. They, I 
 understand, united in a sort of remonstrance against my 
 going to sea, setting forth to the Secretary the unseaworthi- 
 ness of the leg. As this was done without my knowledge or 
 consent, I do not know what action the Secretary will take 
 upon it. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Mat. 
 
40 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Publication of " Scraps from the Lucky-Bag " — Appointment to the charge 
 of the DepSt of Charts aad Instruments at Washington — ^Letters 
 respecting the worlc at the Observatory. 
 
 In 1839 Maury began the publication of a series of articles 
 on naval reform, and other subjects of general interest, under 
 the title of " Scraps from the Lucky-Bag," and with the nam 
 de plume of "Harry Bluff." They first appeared in the 
 Southern Literary Messenger of Eichmond, and the incognito 
 was preserved for some time ; but the essays attracted much 
 attention, and were generally approved by the navy. Amongst 
 other matters, he urged in these papers the adoption of steam 
 as a motive power. Perceiving the change that steamships, 
 rifled guns, and hollow shot would bring about, he proclaimed 
 " a new era in naval warfare, that of big guns and small 
 ships."* Under the old system, the power of a man-of-war 
 was expressed by the number of her guns, some having as 
 many as 120. He predicted that in future wars few vessels 
 would have more than six. Experience has shown how sound 
 was his judgment. 
 
 In the early part of the same year he drew attention to 
 " great-circle sailing," — as a means of shortening the distance 
 between American and English ports. He also wrote on 
 the subject of "Direct Trade in Southern Bottoms." This 
 question was warmly discussed by the Richmond Whig and 
 the New York World. 
 
 In another scrap for the same paper he advised that " a 
 
 * See S. L. M., October 1839. 
 
'' SCRAPS FROM THE LUCKY-BAG." 41 
 
 navy-yard and forts shoiiLd be established at Memphis and 
 Pensacold," and wrote: — "Pensacola and some point in 
 Georgia, or on the Eastern Coast of Florida, cannot be too 
 strongly fortified or too well supplied now with all the 
 imperishable articles on the lists of outfits for shipping, with 
 implements and instruments of war. They would be to the 
 Gulf of Mexico and the West Indies what Gibraltar is to the 
 Mediterranean and the Levant. 
 
 " There our vessels might rendezvous and thence hold the 
 enemy in check. For them our merchant vessels, when 
 pursued, would shape their course, and find safety in the 
 strength of these two points. ... In our present unpro- 
 tected state, and without the above-mentioned defences, all 
 the immense wealth which is poured into and out of the Gulf 
 of Mexico, as through a funnel, would be at the mercy of an 
 ' enemy." In the same paper he advocated the establishment 
 of a naval school for young midshipmen, " that they might 
 there be instructed in the higher duties of their profession," 
 and urged the use of regular text-books. This paper led 
 to the buildiag of forts at Key West and the Tortugas, and 
 to the establishment of a naval school at Annapolis, Mary- 
 land, and the use of his (Maury's) ' Navigation ' as a text-book 
 there. 
 
 In a paper entitled " The Navy and the West," published 
 in the Southern Literary Messenger, of January 1843, he 
 insisted upon the advantages which would accrue " from 
 the bunding of a dock and navy-yard and school of in- 
 struction for naval engineers at Memphis, so that they might 
 be ready to understand and control the steam power which 
 was beginning to be adopted as a motive power in the Navy." 
 
 The Memphis Eagle and Enquirer said of him, on April 9th, 
 1859 : — " If there has been no occasion heretofore to ask the 
 question, it is not out of place now to inquire. To whose 
 exertions are we chiefly indebted for the establishment of the 
 
42 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 navy-yard at this place ? The answer is, to the labours of 
 Lieutenant M. F. Maury. 
 
 " About sixteen years ago he, in a series of masterly and 
 convincing articles, published in the Southern lAterary 
 Messenger, showed the importance of a navy-yard, to be 
 located in the valley of the Mississippi, and satisfied every 
 reflecting mind that it was due to the interests of the West, 
 considered in all its commercial and political relations. 
 
 " These articles attracted great attention. They found their 
 way into the weekly and daily papers, and led to warm and 
 animated discussions upon the merits of the project started 
 by Lieutenant Maury. 
 
 " He met all objections triumphantly ; but went further, 
 and proved to the satisfaction of the great minds of the 
 country that Memphis was the precise location best suited 
 for the establishment of the proposed navy- yard ; nor were 
 his efforts in this cause confined to communications addressed 
 to the intelligence of our countrymen through the public 
 press. The matter was brought before Congress, and was 
 referred by the House of Eepresentatives to the Committee on 
 Naval Affairs. Lieutenant Maury was indefatigable in his 
 labours to put the Committee in possession of every fact and 
 item of information necessary to guide it to a wise conclusion, 
 and actually wrote the Eeport presented to the House by Dr. 
 Peyton, and which the Nashville papers at the time com- 
 mended as a masterly production. 
 
 " Ought not the debt to be recognized by some appropriate 
 acknowledgment on the part of our city authorities, or of 
 our citizens, not by passing complimentaiy resolutions — 
 heaven save the mark ! — but by some substantial token which 
 may witness our appreciation of his services. What shall 
 it be ? In my opinion it had better be the offer of 
 a home, comfortable and well-furnished, in our vicinity, 
 and an invitation to come and spend the balance of his 
 
"SCRAPS FROM THE LUCKY-BAG:' 43 
 
 days witliin the State of Tennessee— the State of his 
 adoption. 
 
 " Perhaps some one else can suggest something better, or 
 more appropriate. I am cMefly anxious that some lasting 
 memorial be preserved of the labours of a man, who by his 
 works has conferred lasting honour upon his whole country, 
 and, upon this city in particular, special benefits. 
 
 " I may recur to his labours again, and show that Lieutenant 
 Maury is the author of a measure which has secured, and is 
 now securing by its operation, millions of dollars to the 
 States bordering on the Mississippi." 
 
 In June 1843, he advocated the use of blank charts on 
 board public cruisers. Tliis paper was read before the 
 !N"ational Institute. Afterwards, in July of the same year, 
 he read before the President, members of the Corps Diplo- 
 matique, &c., another much-talked-of paper, entitled " The 
 Gulf Stream and its Causes," and still later a paper on the 
 connection of terrestrial magnetism with the circulation of 
 the atmosphere. 
 
 In another " scrap " he urged, for the defence of the great 
 lakes, the establishment of forts, arsenals, and a ship-canal 
 from Illinois Eiver to Lake Michigan, to connect with the 
 Memphis navy-yard (which had by this time become a fixed 
 fact), and transport ships to and fro in time of war : — 
 
 "Millions have been expended for the defence of the 
 Atlantic seaboard. A mdlion is due for the protection of 
 Southern harbours and the Gulf States, and if we leave the 
 Lake States exposed, it is like locking fast the doors of an 
 edifice and leaving the windows open .... It is other 
 nations which impose upon us the necessity and expense of 
 military preparation ; and it is well to remember the sage 
 advice of a wise statesman, who said, ' In time of peace 
 prepare for Avar.' If all other nations would sink their 
 navies, raze their forts, and disband their armies, we too 
 
4 i LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR V. 
 
 might do the same ; for we ' arm only for defence, and not 
 for conquest' . . . How different is the Illinois ship- canal 
 from any of the Atlantic forts ! They are works which must 
 be garrisoned and kept in order at heavy annual expense. 
 The former, with one or two outworks, will protect 2000 
 miles of coast-line in war ; and in peace be a source of 
 untold blessing to the East and West, to the North and 
 South, and of solid and substantial benefit and advantage to a 
 vast commerce. 
 
 " It will more than maintain itself — the money expended 
 on it in peace or in war will not be idle for a moment, and 
 the work will pay back its first cost every year in princely 
 and magnificent sums. . . . Let this work be completed, and 
 it will prove a dragon's tooth, planted in the "West, to bring 
 forth for the defence of the country a harvest of steam-clad 
 
 warriors, ever brave, always ready The question of 
 
 this ship-canal is second only to that of the free navigation 
 of the Mississippi Eiver and the purchase of Louisiana. 
 
 " Various elements are at work in our political system to 
 try the strength of the Constitution. "Whenever, if ever, a 
 political storm shall burst upon us, this canal will prove a 
 noble anchor to windward .... Such agents are at work, 
 as tend to foster sectional jealousies. . . . Intolerance and 
 fanaticism are the bane of free institutions — they may be 
 destined some day to try the strength of the Union. Give 
 us, therefore, for antidote, this canal." 
 
 His first five "scraps" from "The Lucky-Bag," which 
 were written on naval reform and other subjects of national 
 interest, attracted so much attention, and were so generally 
 approved by the Navy, that (although the author was, as yet, 
 entirely incognito, and great curiosity was expressed as to 
 who he could be) the officers, defraying the expense by 
 subscription, had large numbers of these papers published 
 and circulated. 
 
APPOINTED TO THE OBSERVATORY. 45 
 
 When it became known that Maury was the author of 
 these remarkable papers, Iris ability and grasp of mind were 
 universally acknowledged. His position as an authority on 
 naval questions was established, and soon afterwards he was 
 placed in charge of the Depot of Charts and Instruments at 
 Washington, not upon his own application, but on the recom- 
 mendation of brother-officers. Maury developed tins office 
 into the well-known "National Observatory and Hydro- 
 graphical Department of the United States." He received 
 the appointment in the seventeenth year of his service, and 
 the thirty-sixth year of liis age. " No man could have been 
 found in the country," says Senator Bell* of Tennessee, in a 
 speech before the Senate, " better fitted than Maury for this 
 difficult duty ; and he worked with the zeal and energy that 
 were expected of him." 
 
 About this time, he writes to Ms cousin and others 
 
 describing his work at the Observatory, his life there, and 
 
 other matters. 
 
 To Ann Mauey. 
 
 U. S. Depot of Charts, &c., 
 
 Washington, August 4th, 1842. 
 
 .... I came from home a month ago. The additional 
 exercise, winch I have been obliged to take here, has proved 
 of the utmost service to the leg. On one or two occasions, I 
 have been on my feet from eight or nine in the morning till 
 eleven at night. The leg strengthens under it all the time. 
 I am on my feet standing or walking most of the day ; but, 
 unless I go down the city, I never touch my cane. It stands 
 in the corner looking like a cast-off friend. So far the new 
 duties are admirable. 
 
 A BUI has passed the Senate for building a depot, as 'tis 
 called. . . . What part I am to have in it, or what bearing it 
 is to have upon me in my present situation, I am not able 
 even to guess. 
 
 * Senator John H. Bell, who was the Whig candidate for President in 
 1860, and was defeated by Abraham Lincoln. 
 
46 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 I am keeping bachelor's hall for the present. Miles, the 
 porter, and I can vie with you in economy. His and my 
 expenses for one week, including marketing, board, &c., 
 amounting to exactly forty-eight cents. Moreover, there was 
 generally a midshipman to tea. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 October 15tli, 1842. 
 
 .... Lewis Herndon is now attached to this office. He 
 and his wife (Mit) are messing with me now. . . . 
 
 Last week, when in New York, I occupied your 
 room. I counted and recounted your " Little Niggers " * 
 over the mantelpiece oftener than Gil Bias did his 
 ducats. You know, between morning naps, counting numbers 
 is a regular thing with me. I try to make the mind do 
 something to give it the habit of obedience to the will, 
 whenever the faculties are not sleeping. It kicked terribly 
 though at having to imagine every morning the middle 
 profile in a line with the rest. Then there was one looking 
 back ; she must be taken down and put in front. Those 
 profile pictures are, to me, the most eloquent exponents of 
 affection and love. It may be association ; I suppose it is. 
 
 Febraaiy 16th, 1843. 
 
 .... We are all in our usual state of health, except perhaps 
 myself The doctor said I was destroying myself with over- 
 much head-work, and, in consequence, I have had to hold up 
 somewhat. But it is a hard case that one's brains will not 
 stand the work of one's will. 
 
 Certain it is that, after working from nine or ten in the 
 morning till one or two at night, I began to look and 
 feel badly .f 
 
 * Silhouettes in black and white. 
 
 t This letter is written with marked illegibility. His caligraphy ever 
 since his leg was broken shows a change for the worse. At this time 
 excessive work brought on pain in the head, so that, even when sleeping, 
 be would put bis hand continually to his head, as if by that pressure to 
 keep the busy brain from working. 
 
WORK AT THE OBSERVATORY. 47 
 
 A curious prophecy of the phonograph and telephone is 
 contained in the next letter : — 
 
 To Ann Mauey of New York. 
 
 ■Washington, May 12th, 1844. 
 
 .... What a pity it is that M. Daguerre, instead of photo- 
 graphy, had not invented a process of writing, by merely speak- 
 ing through a trumpet at a sheet of paper. What a glorious 
 thing it would have been ! I could then have hailed out 
 letters to M. in the boldest hand, and at any time. Instead 
 of saying, I wrote you a letter last Monday, the phrase would 
 have been, I spoke you a ream last Tuesday. The world 
 would become a mere scribbling shop — a vast book machine. 
 When out visiting, and you would wish to give the cook an 
 order, you would only have to hail down the pipe and the 
 cook would have a written order at her feet, and then there 
 would be no mistake about the puddings. 
 
 What a convenience that would be to housekeepers ! 
 
 Such a consummation, though, must be left for the 
 generation of such as Davy Jones and little Poll. 'Twould 
 be a curious thing if they were to carry on a courtship in 
 this way. 
 
 To Ann Maury of Neiv York. 
 
 Observatory, June 23rd, 1844. 
 
 .... To-morrow is Betty's and Nannie's birthday. They and 
 Goggin (Dick) — indeed their mother, aunts, and all hands — 
 are as full of a trip to the Chain Bridge for a picnic as old 
 King Seid was of his visit to the " Island in the Lake." 
 
 They — the three children — are to catch iish for dinner, and 
 Vendovi (the dog) a hare. Lewis Herndon is to go to row 
 them in a boat. Mit (Herndon's wife) is forbidden to go 
 unless she looks happy, for she hates picnics. Mr. Brown 
 has fitted up a fishing-rod for each. The 'bus is to take 
 us up at 10 A.M., and come for us at five or six. We are to 
 carry matches and make a fire, cut boughs and make a 
 bower, and Davy Jones is to take his nap in the mill, or 
 under the bridge, according to circumstances. The greatest 
 
48 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INE MA UR V. 
 
 drawback to the most extravagant anticipations of pleasure 
 and enjoyment, is tlie fear that the day will be rainy or 
 snowy, or something, and the fact that " to-morrow is so lonr/ 
 a-coming." 
 
 The greatest marvel about the whole thing is, that Nannie 
 has become quite enthusiastic about it. . . . If nonsense will 
 sell at all, I am sure you have here three fipsworth of it. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Oliservatoiy, Sept. 13th, 1846. 
 
 .... I look at the stars and you are brought to mind. Those 
 superb clusters in Perseus which you used to admire in the 
 west are now in the east. Sirius, with his " Dawn of Day " 
 in the telescope, has disappeared, and the glorious Nebulae of 
 Orion cuhninate by day; but then there is that exquisite 
 double star in Andromeda, orange and emerald — that, too, is 
 in the east. 
 
 .... I have quite a large corps of observers, and some very 
 good ones. So closely do they observe, that their observa- 
 tions show the instruments to be in different parts of the 
 building. I am now very much engaged with preparations 
 for publishing our first volume of observations. This keeps 
 me stretched, for as a preliminary thereto most tedious 
 investigations of the forms, figures, imperfections, &c., of the 
 instruments are necessary. ... A glorious privilege is that 
 of labour. . . . An officer is standing idle while I write this. 
 
 In haste, yours, 
 M. 
 
 The National Intelligencer says, in speaking of Maury and 
 his work at this time : " The simple depot for charts and 
 instruments was transformed into an observatory. Sur- 
 rounded by such men as Ferguson, Walker, Hubbard, 
 Coffin, Keith, Yarnell, Laurence, Beecher, and other faithful 
 workers, whom he inspired with his own enthusiasm, he 
 made the Naval Observatory national in its importance and 
 fame." 
 
WORK AT THE OBSER VA TOR Y. 49 
 
 To Mes. William Mauey, Liverpool. 
 
 Observatory, Nov. 14th, 1846. 
 
 My eight teusty and well-beloved Cousin, 
 
 I am sure you cannot hate that word. It is a good 
 old word, venerable for its antiquity, lovely in its associations. 
 The dearest friend of my youth was also my cousin, and my 
 first and only love, my charming Nannie, who has blessed 
 and who now cheers and comforts me; she too called me 
 cousin, and lent all the enchantment of " young love's dream " 
 to the word. " Blood is thicker than water," and I do love 
 my worthy cousins. 
 
 .... I am very much occupied in keeping the stars in 
 order. I have one in custody at present, taken up under the 
 " Vagrant Act " — a mulatto ! It is unique, and a perfect 
 little love. ... I have two pairs of double stars which 
 Lewis Herndon makes 20" or 30" farther apart than the 
 great Bessel represents them to be. These must be looked 
 after ; and if they have moved that much, the discovery will 
 be a grand one. I have them in my pocket now though, and 
 I'U. keep them till you come, so we may look after them 
 together. Besides, there is the "great refraction circle," 
 which has just come ; you must help me to mount that. It is 
 an exquisite piece of machinery ; I should Kke to wear it 
 round my neck, it is so beautiful ! 
 
 The following letters to his friend, Mr. Blackford, explain 
 Maury's motive in accepting the appointment at Washington. 
 
 To Wm. Blackfoed, Esq., LyncMmrgh, Va. 
 
 Dear BlACKEOED, Observatory, January 1st, 1847. 
 
 A prosperous and a happy new year to you and yours. 
 You are equal to Brodie Herndon for pleasant letters. . . . 
 
 I send you a copy of our observations ; not that I expect 
 you, Cousin Mary, or Lucy, to read it through, but for the 
 chance of a silent lesson which your boys may sometimes 
 find in it. 
 
 The colleges are warm in their commendation of the 
 volume, and it amuses me that almost every one expresses 
 
 e 
 
50 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 surprise that Navy officers should be able to do such things. 
 We have beaten Greenwich all hollow, there is no doubt ; 
 yet we shall do even better next time. . . . 
 
 I have solved a problem that has often blistered my 
 heart, and proved that Navy ofBcers are fit for something 
 else than scrubbing decks at sea and tacking ship. You 
 know I did not want the place, and only decided to keep it 
 when I heard it had been promised to a civilian, under the 
 plea that no one in the Navy was fit for it. I then went to 
 Mason, pronounced that the repetition of a practical libel, 
 and told him he must stand by me. He did so, and though 
 I had never seen an instrument of the kind before, and had 
 no one with me who had, I was determined to ask no advice 
 or instruction from the savans, but to let it be out and out 
 a Navy work. Under these circumstances you may well 
 imagine the pleasure which I derive from any fresh proof of 
 success. 
 
 Tlrere is a chance of the Observatory being converted into 
 the " Hydrographical Bureau," with a salary of $3500. I 
 would be wrong to give up that ; but, as I said before, if it 
 were not for my poverty, I ■ should not desire to remain here 
 longer than to satisfy two or three problems, and, having sent 
 for an instrument, to help in solving them. I beg pardon, but 
 one must take an airing on one's hobby now and then. 
 In haste, your friend, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 April 20th, 1848. 
 
 .... The Observatory affairs go on pretty well. They speak 
 of us kindly in Europe, and I think we are making friends 
 in Congress. I am preparing for an expedition during the 
 summer, on the Magnetic Telegraph Eoutes, for the purpose 
 of determining difference of longitude between the principal 
 cities and the Observatory. 
 
 Willy, I suppose, is toting the chain ? Tell him to drive 
 a-head, study well, and improve fast ; I shall want him to go 
 out and survey the route for that Memphis and California 
 Eailroad. . . . 
 
WORK A T THE OBSER VA TOR Y. ; i 
 
 The Boston merchants were so pleased with that Wind 
 and Current Chart,* that they offered to raise 50,000 dollars 
 to buy a vessel and keep her at my orders — to try new routes. 
 I said nay; and then they petitioned Congress to detail a 
 man-of-war for the purpose, to which " Uncle Sam " gave 
 apple-crust promise. Four vessels that I know of have 
 tried the new route to the equator. The average of the 
 four passages is ten days less than the average by the usual 
 route. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Marcli 12tli, 1849. 
 
 .... The charts are going a-head bravely. They are quite 
 as much admired on the other side as on this ; and they do 
 turn out exceedingly rich. Some new discovery, some new 
 fact or law of nature is constantly starting up before us as 
 we proceed with our investigations. 
 
 Lewis Herndon has the Whale Chart in hand ; that chart 
 will be of such importance to the whale-men that they 
 might well afford to give us a perpetual log in all their 
 ships. . . . 
 
 Betty is going to school, and growing apace. I wish I 
 could give her physic to keep her as a child. The idea of 
 my daughters ever getting married is so unpleasant, that I 
 am sure I shall never like the man who marries one. I hate 
 him now from the bottom of my heart. 
 
 Schools and education disturb me. If I were only a rich 
 man I would devote all my wealth, time, and energies to 
 reforming education. I would build a model college for boys, 
 and another for girls, and be happy as are the angels in the 
 consciousness of doiag good. As a general rule, I regard 
 colleges, as at present conducted, as humbugs, and female 
 seminaries as downright cheats ; and now that the time has 
 come for educating my own children, I find myself chained 
 down by the vile system, and I am unable to break the 
 fetters, because I am too poor to employ teachers of my own, 
 and so have my children educated in regular ship-shape 
 style. A little music for the girls is all I can get. 
 
 * The one to Eio, tlie first of the series. 
 
52 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 To see how smatteringly they are taught, look at the great 
 majority of middle-aged women of your acquaintance who 
 are educated at these seminaries ! . . . . 
 
 To a young cousin (Lucy Blackford) he says : — 
 
 I hope you have a code of rules for study which are 
 unbending, which you follow up daily with great diligence, 
 and that you do not often take doses of poison from those 
 things called novels ! Novel-reading is, to the student, what 
 mint-julips are to the tippler — most delightful and refreshing 
 at the time, but serpents under the flowers in the end. I 
 often deplore the general state of female education in this 
 country. 
 
 In 1847-48 Congress failed to make any appropriation 
 for the National Observatory, and in consequence Maury's pay 
 was stopped for a time. He speaks of this incidentally in 
 the following letters to his cousin in New York : — 
 
 -'D 
 
 Observatory, April lOth, 1848. 
 .... No pay yet, and I am very tired of living on such 
 slender means. Better times, I hope, are coming before 
 long ; this poverty is a terrible weight upon one's mind and 
 wants. 
 
 June 10th, 1848. 
 
 .... The pay has almost passed the House, and I begin to 
 think of increasing expenditure in the way of education, &c., 
 for the children, and church and social facilities, &c., for 
 Nannie. 
 
 My " magnetic longitude " trip has been knocked on the 
 head, for the present at least, by the non-arrival of the 
 instruments from Munich. 
 
 ' August 25tli, 1848. 
 .... Congress declared the Superintendent of the " Marine " 
 to mean me, and to mean moreover that the pay should 
 commence from the passage of the Act — thus giving me 
 aboiit $500 extra I 
 
WIND AND CURRENT CHARTS. 53 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 History of the Wind and Current Charts — ^Letter from Captain Phirniy of 
 the Bark ' Gertrude ' — Great races between four clipper ships, sailing 
 from New York to San Francisco by the Wind and Current Charts — • 
 One Ship wins the race of 1600 miles by three hours. — The Senate 
 of the United States proposes to remunerate Maury for his Wind and 
 Current Charts, but never carried out their proposal — Annual savings 
 to the commerce of the world effected by the charts — Abstract Logs 
 — Sailing Directions — ' Physical Geography of the Sea ' — Maury's rule 
 of conduct in scientific investigations — The Brussels Conference — ■ 
 Honours conferred upon Maury by the governments of foreign 
 countries. 
 
 It will be remembered that -when Maury took up his first 
 appointment as sailing-master, he observed the want of trust- 
 worthy charts to show the winds and currents encountered 
 by mariners. He then resolved, if an opportunity was 
 allowed him, to supply this great desideratum from the old 
 los-books which, since the establishment of the United 
 States Navy, had been stored away in the Hydrographie 
 Department as rubbish. 
 
 He now extracted, with much labour, aU the valuable 
 information they contained. He also collected data relative 
 to the voyage between the United States and Eio de Janeiro 
 from every reliable source. The first chart of his series and 
 the first sailing directions were at length completed. They 
 were not at first appreciated ; but Captain Jackson, com- 
 manding the 'H. W. D. C. "Wright ' of Baltimore, determined 
 to trust the new chart and follow the new track. The 
 experiment was a complete success, for he made the voyage 
 out and back in the time often consumed by the old traders 
 in the outward passage alone. There was now no hesitation 
 about the use of the new charts and sailing directions' 
 
5 4 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR Y. 
 
 which were furnished as they were issued, to the masters of 
 vessels bound for foreign ports, who were invited to join 
 Maury in collecting data for making other charts and new 
 sailing directions. An active interest was soon excited, and 
 in all parts of the world he had intelligent and zealous 
 assistants. 
 
 The following extract is taken from a letter of one of these 
 faithful co-labourers. Captain Phinny, of the American ship 
 ' Gertrude,' written to Lieutenant Maury in January 1855 : — 
 
 Having to proceed from this to the Chincha Islands and 
 remain three months, I avail myself of the present oppor- 
 tunity to forward to you abstracts of my two passages over 
 your southern routes, although not required to do so until my 
 return to the U. S. next summer, knowing that you are less 
 amply supplied with abstracts of voyages over these regions 
 than of many other parts of the ocean. Such as it is, I am 
 happy to contribute my mite towards furnishing you with 
 material to work out still farther towards perfection your 
 great and glorious task, not only of pointing out the most 
 speedy route for ships to follow over the ocean, but also 
 teaching us sailors to look about us and recognize the 
 wonderful manifestations of the wisdom and goodness of the 
 great God, by which we are constantly surrounded. For 
 myseK I am free to confess that for many years I commanded 
 a ship, and although never insensible of the beauties of 
 nature upon sea and land, I yet feel, that until I took up 
 your work I had been traversing the ocean blindfold ; I did 
 not thiak, I did not know, the amazing combinations of all 
 the works of Him whom you so beautifully term, " the great 
 First Thought." 
 
 I feel that, aside from any pecuniary profit to myself 
 from your labours, you have done me good as a man. You 
 have taught me to look above, around, and beneath me, and 
 to recognize God's hand in every element by which I am 
 surrounded. I am grateful, most grateful, for this personal 
 benefit. Your remarks on this subject, so frequently made in 
 your work, cause in me feelings of the greatest admiration. 
 
RACE BETWEEN CLIPPER SHIPS. 55 
 
 although my capacity to comprehend your beautiful theories 
 is but limited. I have spoken as I feel, and with sentiments 
 of the greatest respect, I am, &c. 
 
 Maury's Sailing Directions contain a particular and grapMc 
 account of a great race between four clipper ships from New 
 York to San Francisco, via, Cape Horn, which followed 
 substantially, but with different degrees of fidelity, the Wind 
 and Current Charts, and suffered just so far as they disregarded 
 his directions. The ' Wild Pigeon ' sailed October 12, 1852 ; 
 the • John GUpin,' October 29 ; the ' Flying Fish,' November 
 1st ; the ' Trade Wind,' November 14. Their tracks are all 
 known and laid down from day to day, almost from hour to 
 hour. It is curious to find how they crossed and doubled 
 iipon each other — sometimes close together without knowing 
 it, then falling far apart, once or twice coming in sight. At 
 different dates their several chances varied most strangely. 
 ' Flying Fish ' made the voyage in 94 days and 4 hours ; 
 ' John Gilpin,' 93 days and 20 hours ; ' Trade Wind,' 102 
 days ; ' Wild Pigeon,' 118 days. It is a thriUing narrative of 
 perhaps the grandest race ever run. 
 
 The San Francisco Times says : — " This city is the terminus 
 of one of the most remarkable events on record. Two first- 
 class ships, the ' Governor Morton ' and the ' Prima Donna,' 
 sailed together from the port of New York on the 14th of 
 February; they were towed outside Sandy Hook, side by 
 side, so near to each other that conversation was carried on 
 by the two commanders. The racing vessels crossed the 
 equator in the Atlantic Ocean on the same day, though not 
 in the same longitude. They entered the Straits of Le 
 Maire the same day and came out of them the same day ; 
 they crossed the equator in the Pacific in the same day and 
 in the same longitude. Both ships arrived within three 
 hours of each other after a race of 16,000 miles ! These two 
 facts demonstrate the accuracy that has been attained in the 
 
S6 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 science of navigation, and also prove the reliance which may 
 be placed upon the Wind and Current Charts of Lieutenant 
 Maury, whose sailing directions both vessels followed." 
 
 During the last ten years of his service at the Observatory, 
 the world rang with the fame of Maury's Wiad and Current 
 Charts and Sailing Directions. When considered merely 
 with reference to the amount of money saved to the com- 
 merce of the world, by their use, their value can scarcely 
 be exaggerated. Hunt's Merchants' Magazine of May 
 1854 says : — " Now let us make a calculation of the annual 
 saving to the commerce of the United States by shortening 
 the voyages 15 days, owing to the use of these charts. The 
 average freight from the United States to Pdo Janeiro is 17 • 7 
 cents per ton per day ; to Australia, 20 cents ; to California, 
 20 cents. The mean of this is a little over 19 cents per 
 ton per day. But to be within the mark, we will take it 
 at 15 cents, and include all the ports of South America, 
 China, and the East Indies. We estimate the tonnage of 
 the United States engaged in trade with these places at 
 1,000,000 tons per annum. With these data we see that 
 there has been effected a saving for each of those tons of 
 13 cents a day for a period of 15 days, which wiU give an 
 aggregate of $2,250,000 saved per annum. This is on the 
 outward voyage alone; and the tonnage trading with all 
 other parts of the world is also left out of the calcula- 
 tion. Take these into consideration, and also the fact that 
 there is a vast amount of foreign tonnage trading between 
 those places and the United States, and it will be seen 
 that the annual sum saved will swell to an enormous 
 amount." 
 
 Several years later tins was confirmed at a reunion of 
 distinguished scientific men, held in honour of laim in 
 London, where it was stated by Sir John Pakington, the 
 Chairman, " That the practical results of the researches 
 
ABSTRACT-LOGS. 57 
 
 instituted by this great American philosopher of the seas 
 had been to lessen the expenses of the voyage (by shortening 
 the passage) of a 1000-ton vessel from England to Eio, 
 India, or China, by no less a sum than £250 ; while on a 
 voyage of a ship of that tonnage to California or, Australia 
 and back the saving effected was £1200 or £1300." 
 
 When ' The San Francisco,' vdth hundreds of United 
 States troops on board, foundered in an Atlantic hurricane, 
 and the rumour reached port that she was in need of help, 
 every one looked to Maury as the only man in the country 
 who could tell where to find the drifting wreck. To him 
 the Secretary of the Navy sent for information. He at once 
 set to work and showed how the wind and currents acting 
 upon a helpless wreck would combine to drift her 'just 
 here,' pointing to a spot on the chart, and makuig a cross-mark 
 with the blue pencil he had in his hand. Just there the 
 relief was sent, and just there the survivors of the wreck 
 were picked up. This was an incidental result of his study 
 of winds and currents." 
 
 The value of his system being now fully demonstrated, 
 Maury was authorized by the Government to solicit the 
 co-operation of European powers in the establishment of a 
 general system of meteorological research by sea. Copies 
 of the Charts and Sailing Directions were forwarded without 
 charge to the Government ships of all countries, and should be 
 distributed gratuitously to the masters of merchant vessels, 
 with the understanding that each one so furnished should 
 keep a record in the prescribed form, and at the end of each 
 voyage forward it to Maury at Washington. The form was 
 as follows : — Each navigator was to enter in his abstract-log 
 every day in the year the temperature of air and water, the 
 direction of the wind, and set of the currents, the height of 
 the barometer, &c. He was also to cast overboard at stated 
 periods bottles tightly corked, containing, on a slip of paper, 
 
S 8 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR Y. 
 
 his latitude and longitude and the day of the month and year. 
 He was to pick up all such bottles found floating, note 
 latitude and longitude of place found, and day of month and 
 year in the abstract-log, and forward all to the Observatory. 
 By this means Maury was furnished with materials for the 
 construction of his Wind and Current' Charts, consisting 
 of many millions of observations on the force and direction 
 of the winds, the set of the currents of the sea, and the height 
 of the barometer. In the space of eight years he thus 
 collected a sufficient number of logs to make 200 volumes of 
 these observations, of 2500 days each. 
 
 In this heavy work he was materially assisted by the 
 willing hands of many junior officers of the Navy, whom he 
 inspired with his own enthusiasm.* With their aid the 
 observations were tabulated. They were then discussed by 
 Maury, and yielded, for the guidance of the mariner, the 
 celebrated Wind and Current Charts. 
 
 With the assistance of these observations, he also compiled 
 two quarto volumes of Sailing Directions, of which eight 
 editions have been published. 
 
 The value of these labours was so fully appreciated by the 
 Government of the United States, that, in January 1855 it 
 was proposed in the Senate that a suitable remuneration 
 should be made to Lieutenant Maury. Mr. Mallory made 
 the following report to the Committee to whom this subject 
 was referred : — 
 
 * Wm. Leigh, Wm. B. Whiting, "Wm. B. Benedict, Wm. Flye, Lardner 
 Gibbon, A. 0. Jackson, A. A. Sunnes, D. B. Ridgeley, E. Forest, W. K. 
 Gardner, J. M. Matthews, J. C. Dekroft, T. S. Fellebrown, John M. 
 Brooke, J. D. Johnson, B. M. Dove, J. Humphries, J. M. Clity, J. C. 
 Beaumont, E. C. Winder, 0. li. Wells, G. P. Welsh, G. Minor, H. M. 
 Harrison, K. H. Wyman, E. Aulick, R. D. Minor, J. J. Guthrie, 0. C. 
 Badger, D. A. Forrest, H. E. Davenport, N. H. Van Zandt, W. B. Fitz- 
 gerald, J. Toung, G. N. Morris. Also Wm. Lewis Herndon, Wm. E. Taylor, 
 Wm. H. Ball, J. J. Henson, C. B. Flemming, Wm. G. Templer, T. B. 
 Wainwright, W.W. Eoberts, W. H. Murdaugh, &c. 
 
REPORT ON MAURY'S SERVICES. 59 
 
 " (To ACCOMPANY BiLL S. 567). 
 
 " The Committee on Naval affairs, to whom was referred 
 the resoluton of the Senate to inquire into the value 
 to commerce and navigation of the Wind and Current 
 Charts and SaOing Directions of Lieutenant Maury, and to 
 report on the justice and expediency of making a suitable 
 remuneration therefor, have had the same under considera- 
 tion, and thereupon report. 
 
 '■■ Some ten or twelve years ago. Lieutenant Maury of the 
 United States Navy, on duty at the Observatory, conceived 
 tlie idea of ascertaining and defining the courses of ocean 
 winds and currents, a knowledge of which he believed would 
 shorten all ocean voyages, and link distant countries more 
 closely together, and he obtained the permission and the 
 aid of the Navy Department to collect the observations of 
 mariners upon every sea. His plan was announced; the 
 Navy was required to co-operate; an appeal was made to 
 American shipmasters, who in all that pertains to their 
 profession are unsurpassed ; and in a brief time reports and 
 extracts from ships' logs from every sea whitened by 
 American sails began to accumulate at the Washington 
 Observatory, and the abstracts of these reports — reports 
 which, if made by one observer only, would have occupied 
 more than two millions of days, a longer period than man 
 has been upon the earth — already fill nearly four hundred 
 large manuscript volumes. From the Arctic Seas, and the 
 sunny waters of the Pacific; the tracks of thousands upon 
 thousands of voyages between American ports and those of 
 Europe, Asia, and Africa ; from the east and the west, the 
 north and the south, came the daily observations of ocean's 
 wayfarers ; and these, in the hands of Mr. Maury, constituted 
 the raw material from which the charts and sailing directions 
 were to be constructed. Thus, without any expense beyond 
 
eo LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 a copy of the work sent to every recording shipmaster, has 
 been organized upon the sea a corps of systematic observers 
 more extensive than has ever been engaged upon the in- 
 vestigation of any scientific subject. Every shipmaster 
 engaging in the observations, receives from the Government 
 a copy of Mr. Maury's work, and thus all are interested in 
 it. The observations of each tend to the benefit of all ; and 
 each, wherever may have been the locality of his observa- 
 tions, has the benefit of the experience of thousands who 
 have been there, and elsewhere, before him. 
 
 "Tlius, when the charts shall have been completed, the 
 mariner, whatever may be his position upon the ocean, will 
 be able to inform himself as to what winds and weather the 
 united experience of thousands may teach him to expect ; 
 from what quarters he may hope for favourable or apprehend 
 adverse wind and weather. 
 
 "The immediate result of Mr. Maury's labours is, that 
 ocean voyages under sail are shortened from ten to twenty 
 per cent. ; and if this result be followed out to its legitimate 
 consequences, who can undertake to prescribe a limit to the 
 benefits they confer ? Who will undertake to estimate the 
 mere pecuniary saving, to the navigating interests, in the 
 decreased expenditure for outfits, provisioning and manning 
 ships, the decrease in ocean risks, not only to ships and 
 cargoes, but to lives of seamen and passengers, and the 
 enhanced value of merchandise by a more speedy delivery ? 
 
 " Before the publication of these charts, a voyage from our 
 eastern ports to San Francisco, under canvas, occupied, on an 
 average, one hundred and eighty days ; but now the average 
 voyage of vessels using these charts is one hundred and 
 thirty-six days; and in several instances it has been per- 
 formed in half the time formerly occupied. The vessel's 
 course through the sea has been precisely that which is 
 traced for her upon the chart, The Melbourne Argils 
 
REPORT ON MA UR TS SER VICES. 6i 
 
 (Australia) publishes a list of all the arrivals at that port 
 from Europe and America from December 31st, 1853, to July 
 7th, 1854, by which it appears that the average passage of all 
 vessels vMliout the charts was one hundred and twenty-four 
 days, wliile the average of those (from the same ports) using 
 the charts was ninety-seven days. 
 
 " The migratory habits of whales, pursuing from season to 
 season their food through the ocean, have long been known ; 
 and the logs of Mr. Maury's corps of observers have enabled 
 him to show, at a glance, upon his Whaling Charts those parts 
 of the ocean where, at any season of the year, whales (' sperm ' 
 or ' right ') may be found. The observations of one whaleman 
 must, necessarily, be limited by a few voyages and localities ; 
 but this arrangement of Mr. Maury's enables him to profit by 
 the experience of others. 
 
 "The most gratifying evidence as to the value and im- 
 portance of these charts to the practical navigator continues 
 daily to be received from all parts of the world. They lessen 
 the dangers of navigation, and, by showing at a glance the 
 prevailing winds and currents for each part of the ocean and 
 for every month of the year, they enable the navigator to 
 come and go with despatch ; and thus, by shortening passages 
 from port to port, they have brought remote parts of the 
 world, particularly the markets of the northern hemisphere, 
 India, China, and the Pacific shores of America, nearer 
 together by many days' saU. 
 
 " The Government of the United States having invited the 
 co-operation of the maritime nations in this great work, a 
 plan of mutual assistance has been adopted, embracing not 
 less than nine-tenths of the shipping of the world ; and we 
 may reasonably anticipate the speedy solution of some of the 
 most mysterious problems in the economy of nature from 
 thus reticulating the entire surface of the great deep by 
 systematic and multitudinous observations. 
 
62 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INE MA UR V. 
 
 " The following letter from the Secretary of the Navy, and 
 extracts from our own States Papers, will serve to show the 
 light in which Mr. Maury's labours have been, and are, 
 regarded by our own Government : — 
 
 SiK, Navy Department, January 23rcl, 1855. 
 
 Your communication of the 20th inst., requesting 
 information as to the benefits which commerce and naviga- 
 tion have derived from Lieutenant Maury's Wind and Current 
 Charts, has been received. 
 
 The information contained in the accompanying extracts 
 from the files of the department upon the subject appears to 
 leave no doubt that they are of very great value, and, in 
 referring to the opinion expressed in the last annual report of 
 the department, I avail myself of the occasion to repeat 
 expressions of my decided conviction that this officer, by his 
 ability and enthusiasm in the cause in which he has been 
 engaged, has not only added to the honour of his country, 
 but saved millions of dollars for his countrymen. 
 
 I have the honour to be, &c., 
 
 ^ TT c T, T,T J- C. Dobbin. 
 
 To Hon. S. E. Mallokt, 
 
 United States Senate. 
 
 " ' The operations at the National Observatory and Hydro- 
 graphical Office continue to be conducted in a manner highly 
 satisfactory, and are adding much to the stores of knowledge 
 and the facilities of ocean navigation. By virtue of the 
 authority contained in the Act of Congress, approved March 
 3rd, 1849, I have recently appointed an agent in the City of 
 London to make sale of the copies of the charts prepared at 
 the Hydrographical Office for the cost of printing them, with 
 the charges of transportation and a reasonable commission, so 
 as to diffuse the information afforded by them to nautical 
 persons generally.' (Annual Eeport of the Secretary of the 
 Navy, November 30th, 1850.)* 
 
 " ' The advantages of science in nautical affairs have rarely 
 * Hon. Wm. A. Graham. 
 
REPORT ON MAURY'S SERVICES. 63 
 
 been more strikingly illustrated than in the fact stated in the 
 report of the Navy Department, that by means of the Wind 
 and Current Charts projected and prepared by Lieutenant 
 Maury, the Superintendent of the ISTaval Observatory, the 
 passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific ports of our country 
 has been shortened by about forty days.' (Annual Message 
 of President Fillmore, December 2nd, 1851.) 
 
 " ' The Wind and Current Charts planned by Lieutenant 
 Maury, the Superintendent of the Observatory, and prosecuted 
 under his direction with much industry, are being extended to 
 the Pacific and Indian Oceans. This work is viewed with 
 great interest and satisfaction by our seafaring communities, 
 and all those interested in the safe and speedy navigation of 
 the ocean. It has materially shortened the passage along the 
 highway by which our commerce passes into and through 
 the southern hemisphere, bringing the ports of those distant 
 parts of the world some ten days, and some several weeks, 
 nearer to us than before. A letter from the Superintendent 
 of the Observatory, which accompanies this communication, 
 states the important fact, that vessels sailing from the Atlantic 
 to the Pacific ports of the United States, with the instructions 
 afforded by these charts, make the voyage in forty days less, 
 upon the average, than those sailing without them, and that 
 there is reason to hope the time may be still further reduced.' 
 (Annual Eeport of the Secretary of the Navy, November 29th, 
 1851.) 
 
 " 'The Naval Observatory continues to pursue its appropriate 
 labours with its usual good results, and is found to contribute 
 the most important facilities to the improvement of naviga- 
 tion. I cannot better commend it to the regard of Congress 
 than by a reference to the letter of Lieutenant Maury, which 
 accompanies this report.' (Annual Eeport of the Secretary of 
 the Navy, December 4th, 1852.)* 
 
 * Hon. Jno. P. Kennedy. 
 
6 i. LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 " ' The Naval Observatory, under the superintendence of 
 Lieutenant M. F. Maury, is doing much for science and 
 navigation, much for the benefit of mankind and the honour 
 of our country. For a few years past a correspondence has 
 been conducted between the United States and certain other 
 governments on the importance of adopting some plan to 
 secure a more uniform mode of making observations at sea. 
 Ascertaining that various governments designed being repre- 
 sented at Brussels, in pursuance of scientific suggestions 
 with which Lieutenant Maury had been conspicuously con- 
 nected, I felt it my duty to relieve him temporarily from 
 service at the Observatory, with a view to his visiting Brussels. 
 The result of his labours, in conjunction with other eminent 
 persons, will, I have no doubt, prove vastly beneficial to com- 
 merce and navigation.' (Annual Eeport of the Secretary of 
 the Navy, December 5th, 1853.) 
 
 " ' The achievements quietly and gradually effected by 
 Lieutenant Maury, although not attracting the admiration of 
 the multitude, nor dazzling the beholder with sudden flashes 
 of triumph, have reflected honour upon himself and his 
 country ; have brought remote nations in comparative proxi- 
 mity to each other ; have promoted commerce by pointing out 
 to the mariner new paths on the great deep where favourable 
 winds and currents lend favourable aid. His Wind and 
 Current Charts and Sailing Directions are saving millions 
 of money, by shortening the voyages of merchant vessels 
 freighted with treasure. 
 
 " ' I am officially informed that it was stated, in a paper read 
 before the British Association last year, that it was estimated 
 in India that a set of wind and current charts of the Indian 
 Ocean, like those that have been constructed at this office for 
 the Atlantic Ocean, would produce an annual saving to 
 British conimerce, in those seas alone, of not less than 
 $1,000,000 a year (£250,000), and for British commerce in 
 
REP OR T ON MA UR Y'S SER VICES. 65 
 
 all seas of $10,000,000 a year. This estimate was based on 
 the condition of shortening the voyage only one-tenth 
 (whereas the average length of the passage to all places 
 beyond the equator has been shortened much more) ; and the 
 estimate was again repeated at the last meeting of the 
 Association in Liverpool. It has also been estimated that 
 the value of these charts to the commerce and navigation of 
 the United States is equivalent, in the saving of time, to 
 several millions a year.' (Annual Eeport of the Secretary of 
 the Navy, December 4th, 1854.) 
 
 " Such are, briefly, the origin, the design, and the utility of 
 the Wind and Currents Charts and Sailing Directions of 
 Lieutenant Maury; and now the question in the Senate's 
 resolution, of the justice and expediency of making some 
 remuneration to him for them, arises. 
 
 " Mr. Maury is an officer of the Government, and its agent 
 within the legitimate scope of his authority, and to the 
 Government are due his time and his talents. This work, 
 though originated and executed by him, has been achieved 
 by the authority and with the assistance of the Government. 
 He is the Superintendent of the Astronomical Observatory — 
 is charged with the hydrography of the Navy; and the 
 purchase, safe-keeping, and distribution of the nautical 
 instruments required for the Navy also devolve upon him. 
 
 " His rank of Lieutenant entitles him to the pay of fifteen 
 hundred doUars per annum; but for the performance of 
 these various duties he receives three thousand dollars per 
 annum and house-rent; and while performing these duties, 
 upon this pay, these charts have been, and are being, created 
 by him, and published and distributed by the Government. 
 Can Congress specially reward a valuable discovery or 
 invention, achieved under such conditions, consistently with 
 the public interests ? And, if it can, do justice and ex- 
 pediency require it ? Will such rewards have a tendency 
 
66 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 to develop, encourage, and maintain the zeal, devotion, and 
 abilities of public servants, or are they calculated to repress 
 or weaken them ? 
 
 " When a man enters the Naval service, he without a doubt 
 surrenders certain rights of the citizen ; for instance, he 
 cannot quit the country without leave ; he cannot make 
 certain bargains and contracts ; and he is specially bound to 
 render particular services which are determined by law, 
 custom, and the usages of the sea. Though he has given up 
 his energies, both of body and mind, for certain things, he has 
 not given them up for everything. He gives them up so far 
 as they are necessary to the performance of the recognized 
 duties of his office. It is difficult, as we approach the 
 ground where the line of duty begins or ends, to separate all 
 the rights of the individual from the obligations of the officer. 
 The exact limits of the line are obscure and uncertain. 
 * * * * » 
 
 "So with the obligations of the officer and his private 
 rights : they so overlap and blend in with each other, that 
 as we approach the line where they pass into each other, it 
 is difficult to mark it; but when we take the case of 
 Whitney with his cotton-gin, and Fulton with his steamboat, 
 even though they had been Navy officers, there is no 
 difficulty in comprehending the rights of the individual to 
 his own discoveries. Neither is there, it is submitted, any 
 difficulty in recognizing the rights of the author to the 
 discovery which he has expanded out into the Wind and 
 Current Charts. 
 
 " It cannot be urged that, in giving form and expression to 
 this chart idea, its author has done it at the expense of 
 any other of the duties the Government had devolved upon 
 him, for he has at the same time performed a class of duties 
 that, in other services, are usually divided into three distinct 
 departments, and which (as in England) are assigned each 
 
REPOR T ON MA UR Y'S SER VICES. 67 
 
 to a special superintendent under a separate organization. 
 And now that the British Government lias decided to follow 
 our example, and collect materials also for a series of wind 
 and current charts, a special department in the Board of 
 Trade has been created therefor, and one of the most dis- 
 tinguished and accomplished officers of the British Navy 
 placed at the head of it. 
 
 " It would appear, therefore, that the American officer has 
 carried out his idea, not at the expense of his duties proper, 
 but in addition thereto. It may be supposed that he was 
 stimulated to their performance by the energy that originality 
 gives, and the excitement which is always attendant upon 
 discovery and conscious progress towards the development of 
 useful results. 
 
 " The facts that hydrographical officers have existed for 
 ages ; that none of them have led off in the construction of 
 such charts as those under consideration ; and the fact that 
 England, with her hydrographical office, venerable with 
 years and renowned for works, should, within the last year 
 only, have created a new department and appointed a special 
 organization for the purpose of carrying out the object of 
 these charts, are significant proofs of the originality and 
 merits of Mr. Maury's labours. 
 
 "Wm it be said that Mr. Maury might have secured a 
 copyright, and thus have reaped a reward for his labours ? 
 Admitting his right to have thus secured himself, should 
 his omission to do so lessen the expediency and justice of 
 remunerating him ? 
 
 "Considering the profession to which the officer belongs 
 and its tone, this waiver of right by him in the beginning, so 
 far from operating to his prejudice now, ought to be held in 
 his favour. Suppose this same officer should now discover 
 some improvement in the means of navigation by which all 
 the dangers of the sea might be cancelled, and wrecks and 
 
 F 2 
 
68 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 disasters, such as have of late years shocked the public mind, 
 rendered impossibilities ; suppose, moreover, that these means, 
 like the charts, should involve only simple directions which, 
 being once uttered, would from their nature be available 
 alike to all, and therefore become the common property of 
 the world ; now, instead of making known this discovery 
 and proceeding to let the world have the benefit of it, as he 
 did of the charts, suppose he were to come to compound with 
 the Government, maintaining that the moment his secret was 
 divulged it would, from its nature, become common property, 
 and he would get nothing for his discovery from those 
 individuals who were benefited by it, and therefore he must 
 have from the pubHc treasury so much money in hand, or his 
 discovery should perish with him ? 
 
 " Which of the two courses, the actual or the hypothetical, 
 best becomes the American officer, and which would Congress 
 most approve ? 
 
 " The policy of the country in some cases, as in that of 
 prize-money, dictates extraordinary rewards to its public 
 servants. Men-of-war are provided, and officers are paid to 
 cruise against the enemy ; yet the law provides not only 
 pensions, but prize-money for their efforts in the strict line 
 of their duty. 
 
 " Your Committee, upon a full examination of the subject of 
 the resolution referred to them, think that both justice and 
 policy dictate that Congress should bestow upon the author 
 of the Wind and Current Charts some substantial evidence of 
 its appreciation of the benefits he has, by his labours, 
 conferred upon his country. In view of the character of the 
 work, and of the vast amounts which it has, and is, saving to 
 the navigating, commercial, and agricultural interests of the 
 country, independent of its benefits to these interests of other 
 countries, it is impossible to find, or to adopt any rule or 
 measure of reward to which exceptions may not be taken. 
 
REP OR T ON MA UR Y'S SER VICES. 69 
 
 Tlois officer has been for years in the public service, has a 
 family to provide for, and is entirely dependent upon his 
 annual pay; and for these reasons your Committee think 
 that a sum of money, insignificant indeed in comparison to 
 his services, yet sufficient to remove his anxieties and to 
 cheer his hopes for the future of those dependent upon him, 
 might be justly bestowed. Your Committee recommend that 
 a sum of 25,000 dollars be thus appropriated, and report a 
 Bill accordingly."* 
 
 The ingratitude of republics has become proverbial. So 
 far from any reward being offered to Maury for these well- 
 known and widely-acknowledged services, in the following 
 month public attention was engrossed by the astounding 
 action of the Naval Eetiring Board, which, through the 
 jealousy of his brother officers, placed Maury in official 
 disgrace, and reduced his pay to $1500. 
 
 The following extracts from the Annual Eeports of 
 Secretaries of the Navy show the value of Maury's work at 
 the Observatory : — 
 
 Beport of Mk. William A. Graham, Secretary to the Navy. 
 Extract, Nov. 29th, 1851. 
 
 " The Act of Congress of March 3rd, 1849, authorized the 
 employment of three small vessels of the Navy in testing 
 
 * Of tMs move In the Senate I never heard my father speak ; nor was 
 it known to any member of the family. I am indebted for its presence in 
 the book to the kindness of his friend, Mr. Thos. Harrison of the Naval 
 Observatory, who, in obtaining for me copies of Bills (at the capital) and 
 reports of secretaries, &c., relating to my father and his work, came across 
 the above. 
 
 My father makes no allusion to it in a single letter (that I have found) 
 Written about that time. His whole correspondence for that and the 
 following year is filled with expressions of surprise and wounded feelings 
 that he, who had done so much for the good of the Navy, should have been 
 treated with obloquy by his fellow-officers on the Naval Eetiring Board. 
 1 doubt if he ever heard a word of the above proposition in CoDgress; 
 
70 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 new routes on the ocean, pointed out by the Superintendent 
 of the Observatory on his Wind and Current Charts, and 
 in collecting information to enable him to perfect these 
 charts. After the return of the brig ' Dolphin,' as already 
 mentioned, she was fitted out and detailed on this service 
 under the command of Lieutenant S. P. Lee, an officer of 
 great experience and intelligence as a surveyor and hydro- 
 grapher, and interesting and valuable results are expected 
 from this cruise." 
 
 And from same Eeport later on : — 
 
 " The Naval Observatory and Hydrographical Office have 
 [has ? being one] been in active and vigorous operation during 
 tlie year. A second volume of the Astronomical Observations 
 has been published, and already laid before you. The Wind 
 and Current Charts, planned by Lieutenant Maury, the 
 Superintendent of the Observatory, and prosecuted under 
 his direction with much industry, are being extended to the 
 Pacific and Indian Oceans. This work is viewed with great 
 interest and satisfaction." 
 
 B6;poi't of Me. C. Dobbin, Secretary to tJie Navy. Extract, 
 Dec. 3rd, 1855. 
 
 " Gratifying evidences of the liigh estimation in which the 
 labours of the Naval Observatory are held at home and 
 abroad continue to be received. Several new sheets of the 
 Wind and Current Charts, and an enlarged edition of the 
 Sailing Directions which accompany them, have been pub- 
 lished during the year. The usefulness of this work expands 
 with its enlargement. Other maritime nations, appreciating 
 the value of this plan of investigation, have united in a 
 common system of observations for its further j)rosecution. 
 it is earnestly suggested by Lieutenant Maury that this 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 71 
 
 system of meteorological research, if extended to the land, 
 would afford for the agricultural interests of the country, and 
 for science too, results quite as important as those which 
 commerce and navigation have already received from it." 
 
 It was wlule analyzing and tabulating these mUlions of 
 observations that he wrote his popular work, ' The Physical 
 Geography of the Sea and its Meteorology.' " One of the 
 most charming and instructive books in the English lan- 
 guage," in the opinions of Humboldt and Quetelet. The 
 Edinburgh Review, in noticing Maury's work, says : — " The 
 extent of scientific information which this work conveys, or 
 its easy unaffected style, cannot be at all gathered from the 
 mere enumeration of the subjects of which it treats. The 
 book must be read to be appreciated. It would be speaking 
 of it in a very general way to say that it treats of the sea, its 
 nature, currents, actinometry, and climates ; the bed and 
 bottom of the Atlantic ; the influence of the Gulf Stream upon 
 climates and commerce. It treats also of the atmosphere, 
 winds, and their geological agency, storms and monsoons, 
 calm-belts and sea-breezes, rains and rivers, the Arctic 
 regions and the open Polar Sea, the Antarctic regions and 
 their climatology, &c., &c." In the introductory remarks 
 to this volume Maury says: — "I wish to announce a rule 
 of conduct by which I have been guided from the com- 
 mencement of this work, and by which I mean to be 
 guided to the end ; for not only has experience proved it 
 wise, but it is in principle so good, that to it I attribute 
 much of the success which has attended these labours. 
 This rule has been to keep the mind unbiassed by theories 
 and speculations ; never to have any wish that an investiga'- 
 tion should result in favour of this view in preference to 
 that ; and never to attempt by premature speculation to 
 anticipate the results of investigations, but always to trust 
 
72 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 to the investigations themselves." Well would it be for the 
 world and for truth if all scientific men could be persuaded 
 to adopt the same admirable rule. Of this book, upwards of 
 twenty editions were sold in England alone, to say nothing 
 of America and the Continent, where it also found large and 
 ready sale, having been translated into the French, Dutch, 
 Swedish, Spanish, and Italian languages. 
 
 The interest thus excited in the practical application of 
 meteorology, enabled the distinguished author to assemble at 
 Brussels, under the auspices of King Leopold, in the year 
 1853, a Congress of the chief nations interested in commerce, 
 viz., England, Eussia, Belgium, France, Holland, Sweden and 
 Norway, Denmark, Portugal, and the United States, which 
 he represented. The object of this Congress was the still 
 further development of meteorological research. It resulted 
 in recommending the establishment of investigating boards 
 throughout Europe, and a uniform system of observations — 
 the principle Maury insisted on being as applicable to the 
 land as to the sea. 
 
 Prussia, Spain, Sardinia, the free cities of Hamburg and 
 Bremen, the Eepublic of Chili, and the Empires of Austria 
 and Brazil, afterwards offered their co-operation in the same 
 plan. The Pope established ; distinguishing flags to be worn 
 at the mast-heads of aU vessels from the States of the Church, 
 whose masters would co-operate at sea in the new system of 
 research. 
 
 In peace and in war these observations were to be carried 
 on, and in case any of the vessels on board of which they 
 were conducted should be captured, the abstract-log was to 
 be held sacred. 
 
 " Barely," says Maury, in his account of this CongresSj 
 " has there been such a sublime spectacle presented to the 
 scientific world before : all nations agreeing to unite and co- 
 operate in carrying out according to the same plan one 
 
METEOROLOGICAL CONFERENCE. 73 
 
 system of pliilosophical research with regard to the sea. 
 Though they may be enemies in all else, here they are 
 friends. Every ship that navigates the liigh seas with these 
 charts and blank abstract-logs on board may henceforth be 
 regarded as a floating observatory — a temple of science." 
 
 At the close of the Congress, Maury returned to his old 
 post at Washington laden with honours and rich in fame. 
 Many of the learned societies in Europe elected him an 
 honorary member of theh' bodies. Orders of knighthood 
 were offered him, and medals were struck in his honour. 
 Humboldt declared that he had founded a new science.* 
 
 * The letters offering Maury orders of knightliood, and presenting him 
 with medals, will be found in an Appendix, which also contains an im- 
 perfect list of the learned societies which enrolled him among their honorary 
 members. But many of the diplomas were lost in the war. 
 
74 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Scheme for meteorological co-operation on land— Invitation to Agri- 
 cultural Societies to communicate observations for the construction of 
 meteorological land charts — Proposal for a system of warnings to 
 Farmers — Opposition he met with — His prophecy about the Weather 
 Bureau — Weather Forecasts — ^Extracts from Mr. Harlan's Eeport before 
 the Senate, praying for an extension of meteorological observations 
 for the benefit of farmers — ^Letter to Mr. Dorr on the same subject — 
 " Honour to whom Honour is due" — List of letters on this subject to 
 be found at the Observatory — Fulfilment of Maury's prophecy. 
 
 Mauey's return from his labours at the Brussels Conference 
 was accompanied by many acknowledgments of the great 
 value of his services. But probably the most gratifying of 
 those acknowledgments was the following letter from the 
 great Prussian traveller, written at the age of ninety years : — 
 
 From Baeon Humboldt to Lieutenant Mauey. 
 
 Berlin, April 11th, 1P57. 
 
 It is with the most lively acknowledgment that I offer to 
 my illustrious friend and associate, the Superintendent of the 
 United States Observatory and Hydrographical Office at 
 "Washington, the tribute of my respectful admiration. The 
 Maritime Conference at Brussels, and the happy influence 
 which your visit to Europe has fortunately exercised upon 
 the course of meteorology both by sea. and land, especially 
 where your presence has been enjoyed, have contributed to 
 spread your views. You are now enjoying the fruits of immense 
 labours. It belongs to me more than to any other traveller 
 of the age, to congratulate my illustrious friend upon the 
 course which he has so gloriously opened. 
 
 Scarcely in a state of convalescence, I must limit myself at 
 
SCHEME FOR AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY. 75 
 
 present to offering you the tribute of acknowledgments due 
 to you for so many years. 
 
 Your very humble and obedient servant, 
 
 Alexander von Humboldt. 
 At the age of ninety years. 
 
 After his return from the Brussels Conference, Maury 
 continued to push his scheme for meteorological co-operation 
 on the land as well as on the sea ; and in 1855 he delivered 
 addresses before many agricultural societies of the South 
 and West in wliich he urged the farmers to make daily 
 observations (according to a uniform plan then set forth by 
 liim) on temperature, the force and direction of winds, 
 storms, &c., and on the condition and yield of the crops, and 
 to send them to him, as the sailors had done, to be made into 
 land charts. Also to memorialize Congress for appropriations 
 to establish a central office where these weather and crop 
 reports could be digested and telegraphed monthly, weekly, 
 or even daily, to all parts of the country, and " the farmers 
 be thus warned of the approach of storms, severe frosts, &c., 
 that might prove injurious to the crops." 
 
 On Jan. 10th, 1856, he addressed the United States 
 Agricultural Society at Washington on this subject, and in 
 the course of his remarks said : — " Now, sir, it may be asked, 
 what have farmers to do with sanitary meteorology ? I would 
 answer, everything. The atmosphere is a great basin which 
 envelops this globe, and every plant and animal that grows 
 thereon is dependent for its well-being upon the laws which 
 govern and control the ' wind in its circuits,' and none more 
 m than man, the lord of all. To study these laws, we 
 must treat the atmosphere as a whole. We have now the 
 sea made white with floating observatories all equipped with 
 instruments that are comparable,'observing the same things 
 according to a uniform method, and recording these obser- 
 vations according to a universal plan. In the process of 
 
76 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 discussing the observations thus obtained from the sea, we 
 have arrived at that point at which observations on the land 
 are found to be essential to a successful prosecution of our 
 investigations into the laws which govern the movements of 
 the grand atmospherical machine. At sea we have the rule ; 
 on land we look for the exceptions. We want to see the 
 land, therefore, spotted with co-labourers observing also, 
 according to some uniform plan, such as may be agreed upon 
 with the most distinguished meteorologists at home and 
 abroad; and I have addressed myself to the agricultural 
 interests of the country, because they have the deepest stake 
 in the fence. 
 
 " This proposition concerning agricultural meteorology is 
 a concerted plan " (see Maury's suggestions on this subject to 
 the Meteorological Congress at Brussels in 1853), " and the 
 idea is to spread this network of instruments and observers, 
 not only in this country, but over other parts of the world also. 
 And I am assured that men of science and influence from 
 abroad, such as Baron Humboldt, Gornord, Le Verrier, 
 Quetelet, Dove, Littron, Secchi, Jansen, Sabine, &c., stand 
 ready with a host of others to co-operate with us according 
 to any plan that shall be agreed upon. This meteorological 
 plan, it appears to me, has precisely the tendency required 
 for the emergency, for its tendency is to save labour and 
 increase the harvests by foreknowledge." 
 
 C. B, Calvert, president of the Maryland Agricultural 
 Society, rose to say in accordance with Lieutenant Maury's 
 suggestions : — " That it had remained for the patient and 
 long-continued observations of plain sailors, "under the 
 direction of this practical man of science, M. F. Maury, 
 whom kings delight to honour, to find out the laws controlling 
 the ocean storms. Let the observations on land be made by 
 plain farmers, under the direction of Lieutenant Maury^ 
 and then such conclusions would be reached as would be of 
 
AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY. 77 
 
 practical importance." (See Journal of fourth meeting of the 
 U. S. Agricultural Society.) 
 
 Nearly three years afterwards, Maury says, in an address 
 before the North Ala. Mechanical and Agricultural Society 
 at Decatur, Alabama : — " Several years ago I proposed, 
 you recollect, a system of agricultural meteorology for the 
 farmers, and of daily weather reports by telegraph from all parts 
 of the country for the benefit of the farmers. Take notice now, 
 that this plan of crop and weather reports is 'my thunder ; ' and 
 if you see some one in Washington running away with it, 
 then recollect, if you please, where the lightning came from." 
 
 The following letters to B. F. Minor of Albemarle, on the 
 subject of Agricultural Meteorology, show how much Maury's 
 mind was occupied with this most useful scheme : — 
 
 DeAE Frank, Observatory, Nov. 20tli, 1855. 
 
 Your long, long letter of the 17th is just to hand, 
 and it as "rich as the ooze and bottom of the sea." "We 
 shall keep dinner waiting for you Friday, and be merry 
 when you come. We are going to have lettuce and green 
 peas out of the garden on Friday (open air). Don't that 
 sound like an agricultural professor ? 
 
 You ask about the ^lan meteor ologique : why, it goes on 
 swimmingly ! I have almost volunteers enough now with 
 offers of service and friendly aid, and signs of encouragement 
 are pouriag in every day. I send you the latest. There 
 came by this morning's mail the two newspaper slips, and a 
 letter from a gentleman in Missouri, informing me that the 
 legislature of that State has authorized the establishment of 
 five meteorological observatories, and voted the money for 
 them. They are under his charge, and at my service for 
 co-operation, and will fill up with observations any 
 blanks I choose to send, &c. The enterprise looks well, 
 and I begin to think I have hit the nail on the head. 
 The Secretary asked me the other day to send him a 
 paragraph or two for his Keports. I did so, offering to put in 
 his mouth a recommendation of Agricultural Meteorology to 
 
78 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 Congress. I begin to look upon the plan as a fixed fact. I 
 intend to have this office expanded out into a hydrographical 
 and meteorological department. I wiU here digest the 
 farmers' reports from all over the country, and telegraph the 
 results all about. If I get on the top of this agricultural 
 wave, I'll ride over boards, &c. 
 
 Let me tell you how my letters come to be written at 
 night always. You see we are all assembled in the parlour 
 after tea ; I am walking up and down, and smoking to 
 refresh myself after the labours of the day, and prepare for 
 those of the night. All hands are sitting around the centre 
 table at their various occupations, and somehow or other the 
 inkstand, the porcupine pens, and a sheet of paper are always 
 right by Nannie (Curly), and she had just as well be writing 
 words for me as be sewing stitches ^in moral pocket- 
 handkerchiefs. It's finger and thumb any way ; and you 
 know, I think there is too much of that among the women- 
 kind, and so I might as well fiU up an odd end of time, and 
 better too. 
 
 Nannie (Curly) is tired, and so are you. My head has 
 got well, so I'U to work, and she to finger and thumb, 
 keeping time to the " Song of the Shirt." 
 
 M. P. M. 
 
 From his Daughter DiANA to B. F. Minoe. 
 
 DeAE Coz. Frank, Observatory, Washington, Deo. 18tli, 1855. 
 Papa says I must write you a letter, but he is too busy 
 to tell me what to say, so I expect you'll find this a " poor 
 concern." Papa is re-writing his ' Physical Geography ' for 
 the Harpers. He is also busy just now " making bricks " (as he 
 calls it) for the publishers in shape of a ' National Almanac,' 
 (I think that is the name he intends giving it when finished), 
 which is to contain valuable and interesting matter of all 
 kinds for the multitude, and which the Harpers promise him 
 will make him President of these United State.i. Papa had a 
 letter from Quetelet, Astronomer-Eoyal of Belgium ; he is 
 going to put " Meteorology for the Farmers " in his 
 'Annuaire.' Most of the astronomers in Europe publish 
 almanacs ; judge of Quetelet's by the enclosed " brick " ! 
 
AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY. 79 
 
 Lord Wrottesley says that they in England are ready to 
 follow our lead about the meteorology for the farmers. He is 
 President of the Eoyal Society. Papa had a letter yesterday 
 from Mr. Wilder, saying that he wished to see his plan 
 carried out, and asking him to address the Agricultural 
 Society, of which he is President. It meets here on the 9th 
 prox. All send love, and wish you and yours a merry Xmas. 
 Ever your affectionate cousin, 
 
 Nannie (Curly). 
 
 To the same. 
 Dear Frank, Observatory, Jan. 11th, 1856. 
 
 I attended the U. S. Agricultural Society yesterday, 
 by invitation, and spoke to the resolution about the plan 
 meteorological. I had a regular scientific fight, and though 
 the result was all I could have desired, yet it was utterly 
 disgusting to encounter such miserable signs of jealousy and 
 small feeling. You know that I have been after this 
 " Meteorology for the Farmers " persistently since 1851, and 
 that the Brussels Conference urged it ; and you may recollect 
 my telling you that I had had an interview last year, before 
 leaving the city for the summer, with the Secretary of the 
 Interior and the Commissioner of Patents in favour of their 
 taking it up. Three or four weeks ago an article came out in 
 the Tribune, saying my plan was intended to act as a rival 
 to that of the Smithsonian. I knew the notion would be 
 injurious to the working of the meteorological plan if it got 
 out, so I wrote a letter to the Tribune in my own name to 
 show what Henry of the Smithsonian was after, and what I 
 was after, and that the two plans were no more rivals of 
 each other than the astronomical observatories which are 
 springing up in various parts of the country are to this one. 
 So far from being rivals, they are quite the contrary, &c. 
 Nevertheless, you can see how my plans for the public good 
 may be embarrassed. It is time for scribe and scriber to 
 dress for the party, and for scribee to undress for bed. Good- 
 night. 
 
 M. F. Maury, 
 
 Per Nannie (Curly). 
 
8o LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 To the same. 
 DeAE FeANK, Observatory, Jan. 21st, 1856. 
 
 Betty, Nannie, and I are just finishing to-night tlie 
 new edition of the ' Physical Geography of the Sea.' I send 
 you the papers for the joint meteorological observations of 
 the Smithsonian and Patent Office. The Agricultural Bureau 
 has been up to propose to cut loose from the Smithsonian 
 and join on with me. So you see how the world wags. 
 
 I do not see how the Smithsonian plan and ours at all 
 interfere. I am for a quiet life. But unless the Agricultural 
 Bureau wakes up and takes views very different from those 
 expressed to me, not much will be done there. He speaks 
 of wanting two or three clerks ! Jansen has gone to India, 
 and is going to set the Japanese and the Japs and the 
 Chinese at work upon meteorology. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 M. r. M. 
 To the same, 
 
 DeAE FeANK, Observatory, Jaa. 21st, 1856. 
 
 You have seen that Com. Morris has been gathered to 
 his fathers. He was decidedly the cleverest captain in the 
 Navy ; he is the third chief of this Bureau that I have 
 assisted to bury since I have been in Washington. We sent 
 the ' Physical Geography of the Sea ' off to the publishers 
 this morning, having put the finishing touches to it last 
 night. Now don't you consider that smart work for Betty, 
 Nannie, and me ? We were told in December that the 
 publishers would want it by the first of February ; we have 
 eliminated some, recast much, and added a good deal. I have 
 now some back correspondence to bring up, and I then shall 
 begin to flirt with the eighth edition of Sailing Directions. 
 I cannot say anything about " Meteorology for the Farmers," 
 for I have never mentioned the subject to a member of 
 Congress, nor need I until the house shaU " sheet home its 
 topsails." I have a notion, though, that the plan will take, 
 " dogs in the manger " to the contrary notwithstanding. I 
 am to be inaugurated next Monday as President of the 
 National Institute ; they elected me in Henry's place about 
 
AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY. 
 
 a month ago. You have seen, in the Intelligencer, "the 
 Parthian dart " he flung at us ? 
 
 Nannie (Curly) is complaining of her pen, so good-night. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 M. R M. 
 
 The whole subject is reviewed in Mr. Harlan's Eeport 
 before the Senate, 1857 (to accompany Bill, 548), extracts 
 from which follow : — 
 
 " The Committee on Agriculture, to whom were referred the 
 several memorials in favour of extending to the land, for the 
 benefit of agriculture, the system of meteorological observa- 
 tions and research which, under the direction of Lieutenant 
 Maury, has been so successfully carried on at sea for the 
 benefit of commerce and navigation, I now have the same 
 under consideration and beg leave to report. 
 
 " The system of meteorological observation and research to 
 which your memorialists refer was inaugurated by Lieutenant 
 Maury, about ten years ago, while in charge of the Hydro- 
 graphical Department, for the purpose of improving certain 
 maps and charts relating to the winds and currents at sea. 
 These maps had been construfited out of materials collected 
 from the old ' log-books,' which from time to time had been 
 returned to the Navy Department from the armed cruisers of 
 the Government of the U. S. They related to a few only of 
 the many commercial paths of the ocean. They were 
 necessarily very imperfect in consequence of the want of 
 proper data, but were nevertheless valuable to the merchant 
 marine. Lieutenant Maury obtained leave from the Navy 
 Department to offer them to sea-captains in the merchant 
 service on the condition contained in the following circular, 
 sent to masters and shipowners : — 
 
 " ' Here are certain charts which embody, to some extent, 
 the experience of the officers of the Navy, as to winds and 
 cun-ents, in certain parts of the ocean. 
 
 G 
 
82 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 " ' If you will cause to be kept on board your ship a journal, 
 or abstract, as it is called, telling according to a prescribed 
 form how you find wind, weather, and sea, and if at the end 
 of your voyage you will return the same to the Observatory, 
 then I am authorized to say that you shall be entitled to 
 receive not only a copy of the charts now offered, but a 
 copy also of every other chart for which you shall assist in 
 collectrag the material.' 
 
 " As a result of this proposition, more than a thousand 
 American merchantmen were soon engaged, night and day, 
 in all parts of the ocean, in making observations according to 
 a uniform plan, thus contributing by voluntary co-operation 
 in the execution of the most extensive system of philo- 
 sophical investigation ever attempted in any age. It was at 
 once appreciated and approved by other commercial nations. 
 They cheerfully voluntered the co-operation of their navies, 
 military and commercial, to aid in its successful prosecution. 
 Thereupon Lieutenant Maury sought and obtained leave to 
 confer with the most distinguished meteorologists at home 
 and abroad, for the purpose of arranging a uniform plan 
 among all nations of meteorological observations. A 
 conference upon this subject was consequently held at 
 Brussels, in 1853, in which the principal States of Europe 
 were represented. This conference recommended a plan of 
 observations which has been generally adopted by all sea- 
 faring people. It was approved by Congress. A resolution 
 was adopted directing the Secretary of the Navy to place 
 three Government vessels under the direction of the Super- 
 intendent of the National Observatory, to aid in perfecting 
 the system of observations so cheerfully imdertaken by the 
 commanders of nearly all the merchant ships and ships of 
 war afloat on the- ocean without cost to their respective 
 Governments. 
 
 " And thus data are furnished for the construction of the 
 
AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY. 83 
 
 Wind and Current Charts, that are revolutionizing naviga- 
 tion. The results already obtained have astonished the 
 world, and the advantages annually derived by commerce 
 are estimated by millions. 
 
 " The importance of these achievements immediate and pro- 
 spective, as well as the credit due to Lieutenant Maury as 
 the originator of this system of observations, has been noticed 
 in the most decided and flattering terms by the Secretary of 
 the Navy in his several Annual Eeports of 1850, 1851, 
 1852, 1853, 1854, 1855, and 1856; by the Committee on 
 Haval affairs in an able report made to the Senate, January 
 29th, 1855 ; and by the President of the United States, in 
 his annual message in 1851 ; as well as by the most im- 
 portant nations of Europe, a number of whom have solicited 
 permission of Congress to confer on him suitable expressions 
 of their appreciation of his brilliant achievements as a man 
 of science, and of his exalted position among the benefactors 
 of his race. 
 
 "This is a brief and imperfect notice of the system of 
 meteorological observation and research at sea, which your 
 memorialists pray may be extended to the land. In the 
 opinion of your Committee, it is worthy of consideration 
 whether this may not be necessary in a commercial point of 
 view, independent of the influence on the interests of agri- 
 culture, as an integral part of the system of observations 
 already approved by Congress and the executive department 
 of the Government, and it is in this light that your Com- 
 mittee propose first to consider the propriety of granting the 
 prayer of your memorialists. As long ago as 1851, Lieu- 
 tenant Maury urged the importance of including the land 
 within this system of research. The Conference of Brussels 
 above named, composed of some of the most distinguished 
 men of the age, recommended such an extension. Their deli- 
 berations, however, were confined by their instructions to the 
 
 G 2 
 
84 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 sea ; and since they could do no more, they expressed a hope 
 that at some early day the plan might be so extended as to 
 include the land also, and thus make the system universal. 
 Smce then Lieutenant Maury has repeatedly noticed the 
 necessity of such co-operation with him by observers on 
 shore, for the completion of this work. And in fact this 
 necessity would be at once inferred from the slightest con- 
 sideration of the subject by the most unpractised reasoner. 
 
 " Of the surface of the earth, about one-third is estimated 
 to be land. This is divided by large bodies of water into 
 continents and islands, some of them being of vast extent. 
 Meteorological phenomena of a highly interesting character, 
 and having important bearings upon the industrial pursuits 
 of man, have their origin sometimes at sea. They are traced 
 by the observer to the land, and there abandoned, notwith- 
 standing the interest elicited, for the want of a proper 
 system of co-operation. Similar phenomena may be dis- 
 covered on the opposite side of island or continent ; but 
 whether a continuation of the effects of the same causes, or 
 originating elsewhere, it becomes impossible to determine. 
 The atmosphere covers the land as well as the ocean. On 
 land its' electrical condition, its temperature, its humidity, 
 and its movements, are, doubtless, subject to more rapid and 
 complicated changes than on the sea. The effects only of 
 these influences can be noticed by the mariner. The origi- 
 nating causes are on shore. Hence to understand the 
 phenomena of the atmosphere, or to profitably study its 
 laws, it must be studied as a whole. Your Committee find 
 this to be the opinion of the most distinguished meteoro- 
 logists, and that in their judgment the time has come to 
 subject the phenomena of the atmosphere by land and sea 
 to the system of minute and rigid investigation. 
 
 " It is believed that the Superintendent of the Observatory 
 can obtain the necessary co-operation to enable him to subject 
 
AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY. 85 
 
 the atmosphere to this system of research by an appeal 
 to the farmers similar to that made to the mariners, if the 
 Government will furnish appropriate instruments and defray 
 the expense of transmitting this intelligence to the Hydro- 
 graphical OfSce. In order that these observations might be 
 reliable, the instruments with which they are to be made 
 must be correct. An appropriation of a small sum of money 
 would be necessary for the purchase of a few standard sets, 
 to be distributed among the States and Territories, for use 
 and comparison, under suitable regulation to be prescribed 
 by the Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 " It would be highly desirable, also, to be able to receive 
 from all parts of the country daily reports by telegraph. In 
 this way the condition of the atmosphere in ever}' part of 
 the country, the presence of a storm in any quarter, its 
 direction, its force, and the rapidity of its march, could be 
 known at every point any hour of the day ; simultaneous 
 reports from the various stations of the character of the 
 weather, being received and combined at the central office, 
 could not fail to afford results of the highest interest and 
 advantage to every industrial pursuit. 
 
 " Storms having their origin in one part of the world, and 
 taking up their line of march for another, may be thus 
 narrowly watched by the mariner in communication with the 
 land, in many instances for days before they would reach his 
 shipping. Being forewarned, he could adopt the necessary 
 means to evade their fury. The same intelligence thus 
 communicated to the farmer and out-door labourer would be 
 equally useful in its results. Every intelligent farmer, who 
 is wUling to note his observations, would become a sentinel 
 on the watch - tower and outpost of this broad land, to 
 admonish his fellow-labourers in the fields, as weU as his 
 co-labourers on the sea engaged in carrying his produce 
 to distant markets, of approaching foul weather and con- 
 
86 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR Y. 
 
 sequent danger ; and it is confidently maintained by those 
 whose opinions are entitled to the greatest weight, that with 
 such a system of observation the laws that govern the 
 course of those storms would soon be so well known, that, 
 in most cases, shipmasters and out-door labourers could be 
 forewarned of their approach. Lieutenant Maury has also 
 suggested that by mapping the skies, for example, of the 
 United States, and adopting a system of signs and symbols, 
 these telegraphic observations may be so projected on this 
 map as to convey to the observer, at a glance, a knowledge of 
 the appearance of the sky all over the whole country any 
 hour in the day ; and that by tliis means the change of the 
 appearance of the sky, and subsequent changes of weather 
 all over a continent, may be seen and studied from day to 
 day ; from which it is believed that science would deduce 
 results of the highest importance. But, however important 
 to commerce and navigation and all the industrial pursuits 
 these observations may become from the considerations above 
 named, agriculture has a still deeper interest in them. 
 
 " The growth of a plant is not the result of accident, but of 
 natural causes. The phenomena of the vegetable creation, 
 therefore, is as palpable for the investigation of science as 
 the phenomena of the sea. . . . 
 
 " With a knowledge of the laws that govern these forces, 
 the gardener will take a plant of any genus, species, or 
 variety, from mountain or valley, from rocks or alluvion, 
 from torrid or temperate zone, and by artificial means create 
 a climate for its reproduction. If then the climate of any 
 region, the character of the soil, and its ordinary meteoro- 
 logical forces could be fully understood, it would not be 
 difficult for science to designate precisely the plant and fruit 
 for which it is best adapted, and thus to determine for the 
 agriculturist, with reasonable certainty, in advance perhaps 
 of years of wasted labour, the capabilities of his fields. . . . 
 
AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY. 87 
 
 Place these crude annotations of meteorological phenomena 
 over the land in Maury's hands, and we may reasonably 
 expect him to point the farmer to a suitable field and climate 
 for the production of the desired crop, in advance of the 
 footprints of the immigrant. . . . Hence it is seen that, on 
 land as well as at sea, climate is not controlled by latitude 
 alone. And in a country like ours, blessed with every 
 variety of soil, great geographical extent, and with the 
 most charming diversity of landscape, it could not be ex- 
 pected that mere distance from the equator would convey 
 any correct idea of climate and agricultural adaptation. The 
 true index of these is to be sought for in careful observation 
 and laborious investigation, conducted according to thermal 
 laws and by geographical conditions. . . . 
 
 " To ascertain the limits of plants, to mark them out upon 
 tliis broad land, to describe the climate and productions 
 pertaining to them, is the initiatory labour proposed by your 
 memorialists, which, in their opinion, deserves the patronage 
 of the Government, that these may be projected on maps of 
 the land similar to those made by Lieutenant Maury of the 
 sea. They propose that this labour shaU not be left to the 
 officers of the army alone, whose posts are often widely 
 separated from each other, frequently changed, or totally 
 abandoned, as the exigencies of the service may require, 
 rendering their observations too scanty and irregular for the 
 attainment of satisfactory results. It has been suggested by 
 Lieutenant Maury, and approved by your memorialists, that 
 the number of observers may be multiplied indefinitely by 
 inviting the farmers, like the mariners at sea, to make 
 voluntary observations of the weather, crops, soU, and flora, 
 and report regularly to a common superintendent, by whom 
 they also shall be discussed and classified. In this way, it is 
 expected that thousands of additional observers may be 
 enlisted in this service, from whose joint labours, in col- 
 
88 LIFE OF MA TTHE IV FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 lecting crude materials for scientific analysis, a very rich 
 harvest of knowledge would soon be obtained. 
 
 " The regular report of the condition and prospect of the 
 growing crops, from every part of our country to a central 
 office, as contemplated by your memorialists, furnishing the 
 data of of&cial bulletins, would be of sufficient importance to 
 both producer and dealer to secure the approval of the 
 Government. But, when all commercial countries are to be 
 embraced in the same system of observation and research, its 
 importance becomes overwhelming. In consequence of the 
 introduction of steam, the improvement of navigation, the 
 construction of railroads, the spread of commerce, the use of 
 the telegraph, and the rapidly increasing facilities of inter- 
 course, the farmer and planter of the United States is almost 
 as much interested, practically, in knowing the state, prospect, 
 and amount of crops in foreign lands as in his own country. 
 
 " The wheat-grower of Illinois is not only concerned to know 
 whether the wheat crop of other States is above or below the 
 average, but also whether a short or very abundant crop has 
 been harvested in Europe. The crops in the other parts of 
 the world tend to increase or diminish the price of his own 
 grain ; for in the markets abroad he is compelled to compete 
 with the grain grown upon the waters of the Black Sea, in 
 the Canadas, and elsewhere. In Liverpool the corn of the 
 Danube competes with that of Kentucky and Indiana. The 
 sugar-planter in Louisiana is directly interested in the abund- 
 ance of that crop in Cuba and Brazil. A short crop of cotton 
 in India and Egypt enhances by millions the value of that 
 crop in the valley of the Mississippi ; and so with all the 
 other great staples of agriculture. To enable the farmers to 
 know in advance the prospects of the growing crops with 
 which their own must compete in the market of the world, is 
 to enable them to reap the just reward of their own industry ; 
 to refuse it is to place them at the mercy of the dealer. 
 
AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY. 
 
 " Such are some of the more obvious results which agri- 
 culture is certain to reap from the adoption of the system of 
 research proposed by your memorialists. And important 
 and valued as are the benefits thus promised, we are entitled 
 to count upon others still more valuable, but which no sagacity 
 can anticipate. An apt illustration of the value of these 
 unforeseen results is afforded by the very system of research 
 that the memorialists pray may be extended to the land. 
 That system had for its object the investigation of the direc- 
 tion of the winds and the set of the currents at sea for the 
 benefit of navigation. Important as are the bearings of 
 the results actually obtained in this regard, they dwindle into 
 a small compass when compared with results and discoveries 
 that have been brought out, and that were neither enumerated 
 among the original objects of research, nor contemplated by 
 any one. 
 
 " Among these may be mentioned the demonstration of the 
 practicability of establishing a submarine telegraph across the 
 Atlantic. No such problem was embraced by Lieutenant 
 Maury in his original plan of research ; yet the discoveries 
 made during the course of his investigations upon winds and 
 currents demonstrated its practicability. Thereupon a company 
 has been formed, the capital raised, and contracts made for 
 spanning the Atlantic with a telegraphic cable, the success of 
 which will scarcely admit of a doubt. So doubtless it will 
 be when the proposed system of research shall be extended to 
 the land. 
 
 " When it is considered that tliis proposed research by land 
 is a necessary part of the system now so successfully prose- 
 cuted at sea — that the interests of navigation and commerce 
 demand it — that the direct and certain advantages to agricul- 
 ture would be incalculable — that the field is broad, and 
 reasonably promises other important results that no fore- 
 sight can particularly define — that the same officer who has 
 
90 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 secured the applause of the world for his achievements in that 
 part of the field already traversed is anxious to enter this, 
 and stake his reputation on reaping another rich harvest of 
 honour for his country — that it is necessary to place our 
 farmers and planters on an equal footing with those of 
 Europe and Asia in the markets of the world — that the 
 agricultural and planting interests of this country surpass all 
 other interests — that heretofore the federal legislature has 
 addressed itself to the advancement of these great interests 
 so rarely and with such sparing hand ; when we compare the 
 means with the end — the magnitude of the results confidently 
 expected with the amount of money required ; and when we 
 recollect how much of the legislation of the country and of 
 the public money is applied to other interests so small in 
 comparison, and that other nations, through the influence of 
 their scientific men, are volunteering their co-operation so as 
 to extend tins system to the whole earth, your Committee 
 are unable to discover any sufficient reason for withholding 
 the sanction of the Government of the United States. They 
 therefore recommend that the prayer of your memorialists 
 may be granted, and ask leave to introduce a Bill." 
 
 In the following letter from M. E. Maury to E. P. Dorr, 
 President of the Lake Board of Underwriters, the subject 
 of meteorological observations for the great lakes is 
 discussed : — 
 
 DeAE Sie, Observatory, Washington, December 28tli, 1858. 
 
 Your letter of the 25th in relation to the system of 
 meteorological observations for the lakes, was received this 
 morning. You make reference to the system of army meteo- 
 rological observations, and seem to think that that covers 
 the whole ground, and renders useless any further action by 
 the lake people. Allow me to correct this mistake on your 
 part. 
 
METEOROLOGY ON THE LAKES. 91 
 
 That Captain Meade and his able corps of assistants, who 
 are surveying the lakes, should be already provided with 
 barometers, psychrometers, thermometers, and wind and rain 
 gauges, is a fresh and striking illustration of the fact to 
 which I called the attention of the lake people with so much 
 emphasis, viz., that the means and appliances for such a 
 system of meteorological co-operation and research as I 
 proposed for the lakes are already at hand, and that what 
 remains to be done is to engraft upon them the telegraphic 
 feature with the plan of instantaneous discussion. 
 
 Now, suppose that Captain Meade's observers, in addition 
 to the observations they are already making and entering on 
 their journals for his examination at some future day, were 
 required daily also to transmit certain of them by telegraph 
 to his office ; that he had force enough there to take them up 
 on the instant and to discuss them at once, that he might 
 detect the storm while it is yet gathering, and then to send 
 out by telegraph again warnings to the lake shipping of its 
 approach. 
 
 If he had the means of doing this, he would then be doing 
 the very thing I advocate, and there would be no necessity for 
 future action on your part. But, unfortunately. Congress has 
 not placed in his hands the means for carrying out any such 
 system — at least, I am not aware that it has — and that 
 Congress should place means for such a purpose in his hands, 
 or the hands of some of his brother-officers on lake duty 
 who are equally accomplished," is what I imagine the good 
 people of the lake country desire. 
 
 You recollect that when among you, some time ago, I 
 called attention to the fact that all the observers, instru- 
 ments, and appliances needed to make the observations 
 required, were at hand willing and ready for the work. 
 Here is a fresh proof of this fact, for I am delighted to learn 
 from the slip you send me that Captain Meade is preparing 
 to establish the meteorological observing stations from the 
 east end of Lake Ontario to the west end of Lake Superior. 
 No doubt the Canadian authorities would, if invited, most 
 heartily co-operate in this system by establishing similar 
 posts, if need be, along the northern shores. And then, as I 
 
92 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 said, it would cost nothing additional to have certain of these 
 observations reported by telegraph daily to some central 
 office for instantaneous discussion and promulgation. 
 
 In addition to Captain Meade's corps, and the Canadians, 
 it was held, when advocating the subject among you, that 
 other army officers, also, employed on the lakes — that the 
 lighthouse-keepers there, that the agents of the Lake Board 
 of Underwriters, that the colleges, the hospitals, the public 
 institutions and amateur meteorologists on and about the 
 lakes, might without the cost of one additional cent to the 
 public treasury be, in furtherance of this plan, organized into 
 the most effectual and effective corps of observers that was 
 ever engaged in carrying on any plan of physical research ; 
 and that all that was required of Congress in the premises 
 was a simple enactment authorizing such an organization, and 
 appropriating a sufficient sum of money to defray the office 
 expenses of treating the observations after they are made, 
 and of announcing the results after they are obtained. 
 
 The system of observations which I propose for the lakes 
 should not be confounded with that admirable system which 
 lias been so long conducted by the army, and to which alone 
 we are indebted for almost all we know concerning the 
 climatology of the country. The system I propose is an 
 extension to the lakes of that system of co-operation and 
 research which has proved so beneficial for commerce and 
 navigation at sea, with this difference, viz., that certain of 
 the observations be reported daily to a central office by 
 telegraph, and tliis telegrapliic feature is a great improvement 
 upon the sea plan. The army system is not telegraphic ; it 
 was established long before the electro-magnetic telegraph 
 had any existence ; and it originated in this way. When Mr. 
 Calhoun left college — and Yale, I think, was liis alma mater — 
 he was in delicate health, and it was thought advisable that 
 he should return to Carolina on horseback. He did so, and 
 for the sake of the mountain air and scenery he skirted along 
 the AUeghanies and Blue Eidge. On that journey he was 
 struck with the difference in the weather that he often 
 observed on opposite sides of the mountains. His youthful 
 mind was impressed with the importance which a properly 
 
METEOROLOGY ON THE LAKES. 93 
 
 conducted system of meteorological observations over the 
 whole country would prove to be. 
 
 Accordingly, when he became Secretary of War he bore 
 these circumstances in mind, and in 1819 that system of 
 meteorological observations which has proved so beneficial to 
 the whole country was inaugurated in the army, and from 
 that day to this it has been carried on without interruption, 
 and the results have been published from time to time in the 
 Surgeon-General's Office. In these observations the telegraph 
 is not used at all, and the results, instead of being proclaimed 
 on the instant, and announced so as to give warning of the 
 coming of the storm, are frequently not pubhshed until years 
 have elapsed. In short, by the army plan the observations 
 are made one year and discussed the next. The results, so far 
 as the state of the weather on any particular day is con- 
 cerned, are consequently retrospective, so to speak. They 
 will tell on the 1st of January, for instance, what sort of 
 weather you had on the lakes on the 1st day of December 
 previous. But my lake plan proposes to warn you from 
 observations made to-day as to the weather you may expect 
 to-morrow, and then for the further investigation of any 
 particular phenomenon that may present itself, the lake plan 
 proposes to refer to and consult the monthly records after 
 they have been made and returned to Captain Meade, or 
 elsewhere, from the observing stations. You observe, there- 
 fore, that the two plans, so far from superseding the one the 
 other, or interfering with each other, are co-operative ; and 
 the fact that Captain Meade and those engaged with Mm on 
 the survey of the lakes are so well provided with instru- 
 ments, instead of being a reason for inaction on your part, is 
 an additional reason why you should put your shoulder to 
 the wheel with so much the more energy ; for the assistance 
 which such a corps of observers as he will bring into the 
 field may render, will be of the greatest importance to the 
 telegraphic plan. 
 
 I therefore hope, that so far from reading, in what Captain 
 Meade is reported to have said in the Detroit papers, any- 
 thing to discourage further action on your part, you will 
 gather encouragement, and look upon him and his assistants 
 
94 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 as fellow-labourers, and most valuable ones too, in the great 
 cause. I do not (allow me again to say) read in the 
 accounts you send me of what Captain Meade is represented 
 to have said concerning the system of meteorological observa- 
 tions which he is about to inaugurate on the lakes, anything 
 which was intended, or that is calculated to damp, your 
 efforts in behalf of a system of daily weather reports by 
 telegraph to some central of&ce on the lakes. In that 
 account no allusion is made to the telegraph. If, however, 
 Captain Meade should wish to engraft any such feature upon 
 his plan, I hope you will lend him a hearty co-operation, for 
 I should consider it most fortunate if the telegraphic plan 
 should fall into the hands of gentlemen so capable of taking 
 charge of it, and of bringing it into satisfactory operation, as 
 are those of either Captain Meade or of his brother-in-law. 
 Colonel Graham. 
 
 EespectfuUy, &c., 
 
 M. F. Mauky. 
 To Capt. E. p. DoKB, 
 
 Buffalo, N. Y. 
 
 A letter from E. P. Dorr, written to a relative since Maury's 
 death, enclosed the above letter for publication ; and deserves 
 insertion here, because it gives the illustrious hydrographer 
 the credit that is so justly due to him : — 
 
 Buffalo, Feb. 1873. 
 .... I send you a copy of an original letter written to 
 me by the late M. F. Maury on December 28th, 1858. The 
 circumstances calling it out were these. He came here and 
 lectured during that month and year, and called on the 
 writer, who was then President of the Lake Board of Under- 
 writers, having, at all the principal cities around the lakes, 
 marine inspectors or surveyors subject to my orders. Maury 
 unfolded to me his plan in substance as set forth in this 
 letter, and asked me to aid him. He wanted to " discuss " 
 the observations daily at "Washington, as they now are ... . 
 His intelligent, original mind invented and suggested the 
 present system of meteorological observations ; and the writer 
 wishes this in some way to be put upon record, to do justice 
 
METEOROLOGY ON THE LAKES. 95 
 
 to the dead Maury, a man whose name and memory will live 
 in all civilized countries on the globe, throughout all time, as 
 an original, great mind. 
 
 After Maury left here, I drew up a caption, heading several 
 papers as a memorial to Congress, asking them to enact a law 
 and appropriate funds to carry out (which is now being done) 
 Maury's plan. This was sent to him at Washington by me, 
 approved and returned. I then sent to each important city 
 upon the lakes (eight of them this city included), to the 
 marine inspectors, procured the signatures of all prominent 
 men, and then forwarded to each member of Congress 
 representing the districts. 
 
 These memorials asking for the enactment of the law, and 
 the appropriation of the money, I think, did not pass in the 
 winter of 1858-59 ; but I have been told that the interest 
 excited in the plan at that time by one person (who followed 
 it from its conception) resulted in its ultimate passage and 
 the present system. 
 
 Wliat called out this letter specially from Maury was this. 
 General, then Captain, Meade, had just assumed the command 
 of the " Survey of the IST. W. Lakes," succeeding Macomb. 
 There had always been a jealousy between the army and 
 navy, and there was particular jealousy because of the 
 prominence of Maury, in being so constantly noticed by the 
 eminent and titled men of the Old World. Some articles 
 (notemanatiiig from Meade — he was too good and too noble 
 a nature to do such things) called in question the necessity 
 of Maury's doing anything of the kind, as Captain Meade 
 had provided for a full working of all observations needed, 
 to begin with the opening of navigation, and to extend all 
 over the lakes. I cut out the articles and sent them 
 to him (Maury) at Washington, without comment, and 
 that called out the enclosed letter. Colonel Graham had 
 charge of the public works at Chicago at that time. He and 
 Meade are now both dead. . . Things have changed, but I could 
 not rest unless.! told some one that the late M. F. Maury 
 was the originator in design and detail, in all its parts, of the 
 present system of meteorological observations now so gene- 
 rally taken all over the country. " Honour to whom honour 
 
96 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 is due." You see in what a beautiful way he gives the credit 
 to Mr. Calhoun as the originator of the army plan, which was 
 continued down to the breaking out of the late civil war ; 
 that part of it alone is of great interest, and there are but few 
 people who have the knowledge of these facts. 
 
 When the National Board of Trade met here some two 
 or three years since, I published in the Courier parts of 
 Maury's letter. There was a Committee appointed on the 
 subject of meteorological observations, and I thought it a 
 good time to give this forth — in part. Not long before 
 General Meade died, he was spending a few days at my 
 house. I showed him M. F. Maury's letter ; he was much 
 pleased, and wanted me to publish it as a subject of national 
 interest ; but I am accustomed to mind my own affairs only, 
 and I did not do it. But now both are dead, I give it to you on 
 account of your relationship. There are other letters here from 
 M. F. Maury, referring to his thoughts upon this subject, but 
 none so full, and he only wrote to one other person here. . . 
 
 Eespectfully yours, 
 
 E. P. DOKR. 
 
 On December 14th, 1880, Mr. Vest of Missouri said, in a 
 speech before the 46th Congress, 3rd Session : — 
 
 " The whole signal-service system of this country originated 
 with the navy, not with the army. The man who com- 
 menced it, in whose brain it first had existence, was M. F. 
 Maury. In 1853 he instigated and brought about, by his 
 own individual exertions, the assembling of a convention of 
 scientists of the world at Brussels, to take into consideration 
 a uniform system of meteorological observations. In 1857 I 
 well recollect that Lieutenant Maury passed through the South 
 and West, delivering lectures at his own individual expense 
 to the people, urging upon them that they urge their 
 members of Congress to establish a signal-service observation 
 system for the Southern and Western States. If that had 
 been done then, sir, millions of dollars would have been 
 saved to the agricultural interests of this country. 
 
SYSTEM OF WEATHER REPORTS. 97 
 
 " This same man, by his system of research upon the 
 ocean, by shortening the days of transit by means of his charts 
 of the waves and of the winds, saved to the commerce of the 
 world from $40,000,000 to $60,000,000 annually, and he 
 sought earnestly, by stirring up the people, by writing and 
 lecturing in the North and West and South up to the Fall of 
 1860, and again after the war to within three months of his 
 death, to put the same system into existence within the 
 landed domain of the United States."* 
 
 Early in 1858 Maury had produced such an impression by 
 his lectures and writings in the North-West, that no less than 
 eight of the lake cities, Buffalo amongst them, memorialized 
 Congress in the same year to " establish a general system of 
 daily telegraphic reports on the wind and weather, for dis- 
 cussion at a central office " ! . . . 
 
 The law thus prayed for was not passed by Congress at 
 that time ; but it has been since, and under its fostering care 
 has grown into the " vast weather bureau " of the present 
 day. It will scarcely be believed, that in the history of that 
 grand work the name of its illustrious founder is not men- 
 tioned, thus fulfilling his prophetic fear. And to-day, 
 although almost every one in the civilized world listens to 
 " the thunder," no one remembers where to " look for the 
 lightning." 
 
 * Telegraphic Meteorology. — In this connection see letter to editor of 
 Southern Planter, April 20, 1855; editor, American Farmer, June 
 18, 1855 ; Prof. Quetelet, Brussels, July 24, 1855 ; Edward T. Taylor, 
 Oct. 18, 1855 ; Va. State Agricultural Society, Dec. 1, 1855 ; editor 
 of N. Y. Tribune, Deo. 19, 1855 ; Hon. James Harlan, Jan. 5 & 10, 
 1857, in reference to Bill and Eeport introduced by him in Senate ; Dr. 
 Leiber, Jan. 24, 1857; Hon. 0. J. Falkner, July 23, 1857. And in 
 reference to daily weather reports by telegraph " on land," letters to H. S. 
 Eaton, Dec. 6, 1859; to Gov. Dennison, Ohio, June 4, 1860; to Prof. 
 Secchi, Eome, April 10, 1860 ; and to Lieut. MargoUe, London, April 12, 
 1860. All these are on file in Lieut. Maury's letter-books at the National 
 Observatory at Washington. 
 
 H 
 
98 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII, 
 
 Deep-sea Soundings— Maury prophesies the existence of the telegraphic 
 plateau — Brooke's invention of a deep-sea lead — ^Extract of a 
 letter from the Secretary of the Navy — Maury's letters to the Secre- 
 tary, suggesting the place for the cable, and the kind of line to he 
 used — Dinner at New York to celebrate the first arrival of a message 
 across the ocean — Cyrus W. Field's speech — The cable ceases to work 
 — Maury explains the cause — Letters on file at the Observatory on 
 this subject. 
 
 As early as 1848, Maury, in the course of his investigations 
 of the winds and currents, had been led to the conclusion 
 that there existed between Newfoundland and Ireland a 
 broad and level plateau at the bottom of the ocean. In 1849 
 Congress directed the Secretary of the Navy "to detail 
 three suitable vessels to be used in testing new routes and 
 perfecting the discoveries made by Lieutenant Maury." 
 Under the authority of this instruction, vessels were de- 
 spatched from time to time. From 1849 to 1851, the 
 U. S. schooner ' Janey ' was so despatched, in command of 
 Lieutenant Walsh, under whom were Samuel Marcy, E. J. 
 Parquharson, George H. Hare, A. AUmont, and 0. W. 
 "Wooley. In 1851-52, the U. S. Brig 'Dolphin' was com- 
 missioned by Lieutenant S. P. Lee. His of&cers were E. A. 
 Borbot, J. P. Hall, Edward Eenshaw, J. D. DoneU, and 
 W. K. Mayo. Lieutenant 0. H. Berryman succeeded to the 
 command of the ' Dolphin ' in 1852-53, under whom 
 S. E. Franklin, W. T. Truxton, Beverly Kennon, G. W, 
 Morris, and H. M. Garland were appointed to serve. 
 
 In speaking of the sounding operations of these officers 
 
DEEP-SEA SOUNDINGS. 99 
 
 Mamy says, in his Sailing Directions : — " As yet no 
 specimens of the bottom in deep water had been brought up. 
 The line was too small and the lead too heavy to be handed 
 in. In this state of the case, passed Midshipman John 
 Minor Brooke, then stationed at the Observatory, proposed a 
 contrivance by which the plummet or shot, on striking the 
 bottom, would detach itself and send up the line with a 
 specimen of the bottom. Tliis beautiful invention is called 
 ' Brooke's deep-sea sounding apparatus.' " 
 
 Early in 1854, Maury wrote the following letter to the 
 Secretary of the Navy on the subject of these deep-sea 
 soundings, with special reference to the project of laying a 
 submarine telegraphic cable across the Atlantic : — 
 
 SiK, National Observatory, Feb. 22nd, 1854. 
 
 The XJ. S. brig ' Dolphin,' lieutenant commanding 
 0. H. Berryman, was employed last summer upon special 
 services connected with this office. . . . He was directed also 
 to carry along a line of deep-sea soundings from the shores of 
 Newfoundland to those of Ireland. The result is highly 
 interestiug upon the question of a submarine telegraph 
 across the Atlantic, and I therefore beg leave to make it the 
 subject of a special report. 
 
 This line of deep-sea sounding seems to be decisive of the 
 question as to the practicability of a submarine telegraph 
 between the two continents in so far as the hottom of the 
 deep sea is concerned. From Newfoundland to Ireland the 
 distance between the nearest points is about 1600 miles, and 
 the bottom of the sea between the two places is a plateau 
 which seems to have been placed there especially for the 
 purpose of holding the wires of the submarine telegraph, 
 and of keeping them out of harm's way. It is neither 
 too deep nor too shallow; yet it is so deep that the wires 
 but once landed will remain forever beyond the reach of 
 the anchors of vessels, icebergs, and drifts of any kind, 
 and so shallow that they may be readily lodged upon the 
 bottom. . . . 
 
 H 2 
 
100 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 A wire laid across from either of the above-named places on 
 this side to the north of the Grand Banks, will rest on that 
 beautiful plateau to which I have alluded, and where the 
 waters of the sea appear to be as quiet and as completely 
 at rest as it is at the bottom of a mill-pond. It is proper 
 that the reasons should be stated for the inference that there 
 are no perceptible currents and no abrading agents at work 
 at the bottom of the sea upon this telegraphic plateau. 
 I derive this inference from the study of a physical fact, 
 which I little deemed, when I sought it, had any such 
 bearings. 
 
 Lieutenant Berryman brought up, with " Brooke's " deep-sea 
 sounding apparatus, specimens of the bottom from this plateau. 
 I sent them to Professor Bailey, at West Point, for examination 
 under his microscope. This he kindly undertook, and that 
 eminent microscopist was quite as much surprised to find, as 
 I was to learn, that all these specimens of deep-sea soundings 
 are filled with microscopic shells. To Tise his own words, 
 " not a particle of sand or gravel exists in them." These 
 little shells therefore suggest the fact that there are no 
 currents at the bottom of the sea whence they come ; that 
 Brooke's lead found them where they were deposited in their 
 burial-place. . . . 
 
 Had there been currents at the bottom, they would have 
 swept and abraded and mingled up with these microscopic 
 remains the deh^is of the bottom of the sea, such as ooze, 
 sand, gi-avel, and other matter ; but not a particle of sand or 
 gravel was found among them. Hence the inference that 
 these depths of the sea are not disturbed either by waves or 
 currents. Consequently, a telegraphic wire once laid there 
 would remain as completely beyond the reach of accident 
 as it would be if buried in air-tight cases. 
 
 Therefore, so far as the bottom of the deep sea between 
 Newfoundland, or the Korth Cape at the mouth of the St. 
 Lawrence and Ireland is concerned, the practicability of a 
 submarine telegraph across the Atlantic is proved. In this 
 view of the subject, and for the purpose of hastening the 
 completion of such a line, I take the liberty of suggestincT for 
 your consideration the propriety of an offer, from the proper 
 
DEEP-SEA SOUNDINGS. loi 
 
 source, of a prize to the company through whose telegraphic 
 wire the first messages shall be sent across the Atlantic. 
 I have the honour to be, &c., 
 
 M. F. Mauey, Lt. U.S.N. 
 To Hon. J. C. Dobbin, 
 
 Secry. of Navy. 
 
 Maury's labours are noticed in the Annual Eeport of the 
 Secretary of the Navy in 1856, who dwells upon questions 
 relating to ocean telegraphy in the following extracts : — 
 
 "The indefatigable Superintendent of the Naval Ob- 
 servatory, not conbent with aiding commerce and the un- 
 taught mariner by pointing out the safest and shortest 
 tracks on the ocean where friendly winds and currents may 
 be found, nor yet with the contributions to the intelligence 
 of the country resulting from observing the stars of the 
 heavens, has, for some time past, thought it not visionary to 
 urge upon the public attention a new study, denominated by 
 Baron Humboldt the ' Physical Geography of the Sea/ He 
 had also been so bold as to insist that, whenever a survey 
 could be made of the bottom of the ocean between Newfound- 
 land and Ireland, it would be ascertained that such were the 
 moderate depths, such the perfect repose there, and absence 
 of abrading or disturbing cm-rents, that telegraphic wires 
 could be laid as safely and successfully as upon land. 
 
 "Lieutenant Brooke, of the Navy, had invented a most 
 ingenious yet simple contrivance, in connection with the 
 shot used, by which the moment it touched the bed of the 
 ocean it became detached, and carefully took up specimens 
 of whatever it came in contact with, and brought them up 
 safely to the operator. Many of our enterprising country- 
 men, very naturally desirous of seeing accomplished so grand 
 an undertaking, were anxious that all doubts of practicability 
 should, if possible, be removed by actual observation and 
 examination. 
 
102 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 "An Act was passed in 1849 giving authority to the 
 Secretary of the Navy to use national vessels for testing new 
 routes and perfecting the discoveries made by Lieutenant 
 Maury. I confess I felt some pride in having the science 
 and naval genius of our own country to continue foremost 
 in these great ocean surveys, and in illustrating the 
 practicability of so grand a conception as harnessing the 
 lightning and making it obedient beneath the profound depths 
 of the great sea which Providence has placed between the 
 Old and the New World. There was no difficulty in finding 
 a competent officer to make these soundings, directed by 
 Lieutenant Maury. Lieutenant Berryman, of large ex- 
 perience and established reputation in deep-sea soundings, 
 full of that enterprising spirit so characteristic of American 
 officers, was not only ready, but earnestly solicitous and 
 eager to be permitted to execute the task. The small 
 steamer 'Arctic ' was lying idle at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, 
 and was pronounced suitable. The order was issued, and 
 Lieutenant Berryman, accompanied by Lieutenant Strain, 
 passed Midshipmen Mitchell and Thomas, Midshipman 
 Barnes, and a few men, left New York on the 18th of July, 
 crossed the ocean, and returned on the 14th of October, 
 bringing with him abundant supplies of curious and in- 
 teresting specimens from the bed of the ocean. In order to 
 make his soundings approximate accuracy as nearly as 
 possible, Lieutenant Berryman returned in the same latitude, 
 and re-examined points where he had doubts. The length of 
 the route surveyed is about 1600 miles ; the greatest depth 
 found was 2070 fathoms (about %\ miles), the average, 
 however, being much less. These soundings and specimens 
 have been turned over to the Naval Observatory. The 
 Superintendent has already caused the specimens to be 
 analysed, and in the hands of a learned professor,* whose 
 * Prof. Bailey of West Point. 
 
DEEP-SEA SOUNDINGS. 
 
 report is before me, they are made to tell much of the 
 character and mysteries of that ocean-covered region. He 
 thinks the appearance of the minerals indicate that they 
 have been quietly deposited from gentle currents, and not 
 subsequently disturbed. 
 
 " Lieutenant Maury af&rmed now ' that the development of 
 this survey established the practicability of laying wires 
 successfully on the bed of the sea.' 
 
 " I will leave it to others, sir, to lift the veil of the future, 
 and to picture to the mind of the curious and speculative the 
 influence to be exerted by such an event upon commerce 
 and trade, upon peace and war, and the relationship of 
 nations. 
 
 "These deep-sea soundings, this study of the wind and 
 currents and temperature of the ocean, these gradual 
 approaches to greater familiarity with the wonders of the 
 great deep, are pregnant with incalculable usefulness to 
 those who conduct mighty navies, as well as to all who go 
 down to the sea in ships.' " 
 
 Again, in a letter to Hon. William A. Graham (Secretary 
 of the Navy), as early as November 8th, 1850, Maury said : — 
 "You may therefore consider it a settled principle in 
 submarine telegraphy, that the true character of a cable for 
 the deep sea is not that of an iron rope as large as a man's 
 arm, but of a single copper wire, or fascicle of wires, coated 
 with gutta-percha, pliant and supple, and not larger than a 
 lady's finger." 
 
 To Cyrus W. Field he wrote on the same subject, 
 "that the iron wrappings for deep-sea lines of telegrapli, 
 instead of being advantageous in any aspect, are not only a 
 hindrance, but an incumbrance also and a waste. The 
 weight of the cord may be adjusted to sinking by the size of 
 the conducting wire within as well as by the character of the 
 
104 LIfE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 non-metallic wrapping without. Whether the insulating 
 material be gutta-percha, india-rubber, or other matter, it 
 requires to be protected from chafes and bruises whUe on 
 board, and when it is being payed out." 
 
 All his suggestions were finally, after two disastrous 
 failures, carried into effect. He was consulted by Cyrus W. 
 Field and others as to the kind of cable to be used, the manner 
 of laying it, and the best time of the year in which to lay it.* 
 
 At a dinner given in New York in 1858, to celebrate the 
 arrival of the first message across the Atlantic, when called 
 upon to give an account of the work, Mr. Field rose and 
 said — " I am a man of few words : Maury furnished the 
 brains, England gave the money, and I did the work."t And 
 yet these important services were not only unrequited, but 
 are to this day to a large extent unknown. 
 
 As Admiral FitzEoy, an eminent savant of the British 
 Navy, said of him, " one of jiis most distinguished traits was 
 personal disinterestedness." " It was frequently remarked of 
 him through life, that he never sought to benefit himself by 
 his arduous labours, or to make pecuniary profit out of his 
 researches. His sole object was to benefit mankind at large." 
 
 His nephew (General D. H. Maury), in speaking of this 
 marked trait, says : — " I recall an illustration in point. Wlien 
 placed in charge of the Observatory his pay was small, and 
 he had no other means than his salary. He was then fairly 
 launched upon his career as a writer on subjects of national 
 utility. Some papers of his, upon the advantages of a route to 
 the East, by way of the Isthmus, attracted much attention. I 
 was with him one morniag when he opened Ms maQ. He 
 handed me to read a letter from a Northern firm, enclosing a 
 cheque for $500, in token of approbation of his views, which 
 were strongly promotive of the interests of their business. 
 
 * See Maury's Sailing Directions. 
 
 t See New Eclectic Magazine for July, 1870. 
 
DEEP-SEA SOUNDINGS. 
 
 He was asked to continue his advocacy of that route, with 
 the assurance that the enclosure was a mere earnest of what 
 they would pay for it. ' Please to look at this,' he said ; 
 ' these people seem to think money the chief object of all 
 endeavour.' He returned the cheque at once in a courteous 
 note of thanks because he could not admit personal interest 
 into his discussions of measures for the general good of the 
 people." 
 
 In a letter to Jno. Locke, Esq. (read before the Eoyal 
 Dublin Society, January 28th, 1857), Maury said : — " The real 
 question for future protectors of lines of submarine telegraph 
 is not how deep, or how boisterous, or how wide the sea 
 is, but what are the electrical limits to the length of sub- 
 marine lines."* 
 
 The following letters will- be found interesting iu this 
 connection : — 
 
 To Peofessoe J. B. Minoe, University of Va. 
 
 DeAE John, Washington, July 26tli, 1855. 
 
 The mails this morning, notwithstandiag my protesta- 
 tions of yesterday, have changed my plans, by tempting me 
 to Newfoundland. The company insist upon my going and 
 bringing the whole family with me. It was a struggle between 
 duty and inclination before ; and now I think, considering 
 the part that I have taken in the submarine telegraph, I 
 should not be true to myseK if I sUghted this opportunity. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 M. r. Mauey. 
 
 * In this connection see letter to Prof. Morse, Feb. 23, 1854 ; letter to 
 Hon. 0. J. Faulkner, Aug. 30, 1858; to Cyrus "W. Field, forty-three 
 letters between June 30, 1855, and March 26, 1860 ; Peter Cooper, Dec. 
 27, 1855; Hon. J. H. Dobbin, May 5 and Nov. 8, 1856; Hon. Isaac 
 Toncey, Sep. 4, 1858. On the Telegraphic Plateau, see letters to Capt. 
 Washington, London, Nov. 6, 1857 ; to Capt. de la Marohe, Paris, Dec. 
 22, 1857 ; to American Journal of Science, Sep. 5, 1858 ; paper in reply 
 to coast-survey claims ; letter to Jno. Locke, Dublin, Dec. 29, 1858. All 
 of these and more are on file at the Observatory. 
 
io6 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 I have now before me coils upon coils of telegraphic 
 cable, in samples, for the Atlantic. I have been most happy 
 in devising a plan for making ceilings and laying it down, 
 which appear to me to obviate every difficulty. We shall 
 see. . . . Johnny, Molly, and I go down to Fredericksburg 
 Friday night ; I shall return here Monday, join Dick, and 
 start for the land of the Dacotahs. We are going, by invita- 
 tion, to help lay the corner-stone of the Minnesota Historical 
 Society at St. Paul's. 
 
 Deae Frank, Oct. I6th, 1856. 
 
 I have been in the depths of the ocean. Brooke's lead 
 has fished up Hecla or Vesuvius, or some other volcano. 
 The Gulf Stream has its foot on it 
 
 Lat. 50° N. Lon. 35° W. 
 Xiat. „ „ „ 15 „ 
 
 The bottom of the sea all along there is two miles deep 
 and strewed with volcanic cinders and Gulf Stream organisms. 
 A letter yesterday from C. W. Field. He was urging 
 telegraphic patrons in London to adopt my plan for laying 
 the cable. We shall see, after a while, what will come 
 of it. If I could only get the right to one wire across the 
 Atlantic! . . . .* 
 
 I have a piece of the cable they are making for the Atlantic ; 
 it's a great improvement over the others ; but it costs three 
 or four times as much as it ought to cost. Its breaking strain 
 is four tons, and its weight about a ton to the mile. Its 
 breaking strain need not have been over half of a ton, and its 
 weight 500 or 600 lbs. to the mile. I'U risk anything on 
 that. 
 
 Maury said, in a lecture delivered in Cincinnati, in Novem- 
 ber 1858, that he believed that the present " Atlantic Cable 
 
 * Atlantic Telegraphic Company, by resolution of June 22, 1855, 
 granted to Lt. M. F. Maury, free of charge, priority of use of its cable, when 
 laid, for determination of longitude, &c. 
 
THE TELEGRAPHIC CABLE. 107 
 
 can never be used. The reason why it has lost its power is, 
 of course, mere conjecture ; hut it is most probable that the 
 copper conducting wires are broken ; every experiment made 
 in 1857, and every one in 1858, save the final one, showed 
 that the cable was too heavy, inasmuch as it parted, its own 
 weight being the chief, if not the only cause. 
 
 " The copper wires being straight, and the ii'on outside 
 covering being spiral, they were unequal to the strain and 
 parted, perhaps one, perhaps two, or three, or aU. When the 
 fractures were fresh, the electric fluid might leap the chasm ; 
 but as they became corroded it would fail to do so. 
 
 " He believed ' that an electric cord, not cable, should be 
 laid,' and regarded the ' practicability of a submarine tele- 
 graph between Europe and America as a certain thing.' He 
 had ' foretold the existence of a great Telegraphic Plateau, so 
 named by him ; and before the invention of Brooke's deep-sea 
 sounding-lead and the soundings made by it, had mapped it 
 out before the world.' On this plateau the greatest depth of 
 water does not exceed two miles ; it stretches from New- 
 foundland to Ireland, and across it are no running waters, 
 nor any abrading forces. On it lie the smallest shells ; 
 which if dried would float in the air like motes, being 
 scarcely, if at all, visible to the naked eye, and as perfect as 
 if they had been wrapped in down. These were shells of 
 animals living near the surface, which had sunk after death 
 to the quiet depths below. 
 
 " If such light substances would sink to the depth of two 
 mUes and lie unharmed there, a light wire, protected by any 
 insulating substance, would sink to the same depth, and lie 
 for ages in equal freedom from disturbing forces. Some 
 heavier arrangement (cable possibly) would be required in the 
 shallower waters at each end near shore, where tides affected 
 the bottom. 
 
 " Such an achievement places man, as it were, in a higher 
 
lo8 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 scale of existence, since he thus becomes mentally ubiquitous, 
 — holding converse of thought with the people of every part 
 of the globe. 
 
 " The accomplishment of the enterprise has been brought 
 about by a variety of inventions and discoveries at different 
 times, without regard to each other ; and yet all were neces- 
 sary to the successful laying and working of a submarine 
 telegraphic communication. Without the knowledge of the 
 Atlantic plateau, it would not have been deemed practicable 
 to lay the cable ; without the discovery of the uses of gutta- 
 percha about this time, the wire could not have been rendered 
 suitable ; and without the steamships, it could not have been 
 laid." In this lecture Maury also paid just tributes to Mr. 
 Morse, as the first inventor of the electric magnetic tele- 
 graph; and to the Messrs. Field as the projectors of the 
 submarine telegraphic enterprise. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE RETIRING BOARD. 109 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Naval Eetiking Board. 
 
 In the progress of the narrative, we now come to what was 
 to Maury the most painful and mortifying episode in his 
 career. Although restitution was made, and he was restored 
 to the service and promoted by special Act of Congress, yet 
 the iron entered into his soul. 
 
 On February 28th, 1855, was passed, by the Senate and 
 House of Eepresentatives, an Act to promote the efficiency of 
 the Navy, by which it was provided that the President of 
 the United States shall cause a Board of Naval Officers to be 
 assembled, to consist of five captains, five commanders, and 
 five lieutenants, who shall make a careful examination into 
 the efficiency of the officers of the grades hereinafter men- 
 tioned, and shall report to the Secretary of the Navy the 
 name and rank of all officers of said grades who in the 
 judgment of said Board shall be incapable of performing 
 efficiently aU their duty both ashore and afioat. 
 
 The following is the official announcement, and the first 
 intimation that Maury received that the Board had placed 
 him on the Eetired List : — 
 
 To M. F. Maury from J. C. Dobbin, annowncitig the Finding 
 of the Naval Retiring Board. 
 
 Navy Department, Washington, D.O., 
 SiK, September 17th, 1855. 
 
 The Board of Naval Officers assembled under the Act 
 to promote the efficiency of the Navy, approved Feb. 28th, 
 
I lo LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 1855, having reported you as one of the officers who in their 
 judgment should be placed on the Eetired List on leave-of- 
 absence pay, and the finding of the Board having been 
 approved by the President, it becomes my duty to inform 
 you that from this date you are removed from the Active 
 Service List and placed on the Eetired List on leave-of- 
 absence pay. 
 
 You are, however, not detached from the Naval Observa- 
 tory. 1 avail myself of the authority of the law to direct 
 that you continue on your present duty, 
 
 I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 J. C. Dobbin. 
 
 " This Board," says Maury, " could only have given an 
 average of ten minutes' ' careful examination ' to the merits 
 and demerits of each one of the 712 officers in our Naval 
 Service. This Board met in secret, kept no record of 
 proceedings, called no witnesses, and heard no arguments. 
 They commenced their sessions on the 20th of June, 
 and adjourned on the 26th of July. They lost several 
 days by absence of members, and five days on account of 
 Sundays. Their sessions commenced at 10 A.M. and lasted 
 imtil 3 P.M. The Board were required by the Act of Congress 
 to make ' a careful examination ' into the efficiency of every 
 officer. Their whole working time was less than 140 hours, 
 during which period they adjudicated upon the claims of 
 712 officers, so that the ' careful examinations ' amounted to 
 an average of about ten minutes for each, the result of 
 which was to seal the fate of many a good fellow who had 
 served his country long and faithfully." Loud complaint 
 was also made of the action of the Board in declaring incom- 
 petent, unworthy of promotion, and an incumbrance upon 
 the Navy, the very men who for many years past and up to 
 the present time had done and were doing so much for the 
 interest and reputation of our country. Eeference was par- 
 ticularly made to the case of Lieutenant Maury : — " There 
 
COMMENTS OF THE PRESS. in 
 
 seems to have been, on the part of the Board, a feeling which 
 induced its members to take advantage of their irres- 
 ponsible power to strike down almost every officer who had 
 in any way distinguished himself by his scientific attain- 
 ments ; and in doing this they all took very good care to 
 look out for No. 1, as will be evident from the following 
 statement, which any one may verify for himself by examining 
 the Naval Eegister. Of the of&cers whom the Board were 
 called upon to scrutinize, there were 362 on the Naval List 
 ranking above the youngest lieutenant on the Board, while 
 below were 322. Every one of the 362 of the higher rank 
 who was removed or retired, promoted or advanced one or 
 more members of the Board, and we accordingly find that 
 they blackballed 138. But on the lower list, the retirement 
 of any member of which could not affect the Board, we find 
 they only retired 46 out of 322."* 
 
 The press of the country rose almost as one man, and 
 demanded the reinstatement and promotion of Maury. The 
 New York Journal of Commerce said; — "Lord Nelson lost 
 both an eye and an arm, yet his name was mighty , in battle. 
 Our ojfficers have lost neither arms nor eyes, it is true ; but 
 they stand on the records of their country disgraced. Al- 
 though Messrs. Hallory and Clayton deny that any action of 
 the Senate can wipe this disgrace off, we must beg to differ. 
 Let these officers be restored to their former positions, and 
 then if any charges rest against them on the records of the 
 Navy Department, let them be tried, and, if found guilty, 
 condemned. But it is absurd to believe that 50 per cent, 
 of the Navy has been for years inefiicient, immoral, and 
 worthless. And if 15 officers of the Navy decide that 
 one-half are unfit for active service, it is more than probable 
 that the other half are no better. The papers have already 
 spoken in loud tones against the proceedings of the Board, 
 * See Scientific Americom, Nov. 1855. 
 
1 1 3 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 and will continue to issue their anathema maraTiatlias 
 until justice is done to these much injured officers. "We 
 ask by what rule was this Board selected ? Did they pass 
 the ordeal of a secret inquisition ? Or have they since their 
 appointment passed another ' careful examination ' by a 
 Board?" 
 
 Senators Davis and Mallory, promiaent advocates of the 
 original Bill establishing the Eetiring Board, both strongly 
 opposed Maury's reinstatement when a Bill praying for 
 justice for those injured by the action of that Board was 
 introduced into Congress. One afterwards became President 
 of the Confederate States, and the other his Secretary of the 
 Navy, and, both before and during the war, were inimical 
 to Maury. At this time the following appeared in the Neiu 
 York Herald of December 15th, 1855. 
 
 " We learn that the Russian Minister yesterday waited on 
 Lieutenant Maury, at the National Observatory, to deliver, by 
 command of his Government, the following autograph letter 
 from the Grand Duke Constantino, Commander-in-Chief of 
 the Eussian Navy : — 
 
 To Lieutenant Mauky. 
 
 SlE, St. Petersburg, December 2nd, 1855. 
 
 It is now a long time since the eminent scientiiic 
 works, for wliich navigators of every nation are indebted 
 to your zeal and your talents, attracted my attention. . . . 
 I should rejoice, sir, to present you with a testimonial of my 
 esteem ; but, knowing the laws of your country, which do 
 not permit you to accept anything from foreign Princes, I 
 must confine myself to the expression of my sentiments. 
 They are as exalted as your own merits ; and, in my official 
 capacity, I may say to you that you do honour to the pro- 
 fession to which you belong, as well as to the great nation 
 which you have the honour to serve. Eeceive, sir, the 
 assurance of my goodwill and esteem. 
 
 CONSTANTINE. 
 
NAVAL RETIRING BOARD. 113 
 
 "This is a high but deserved compliment to Lieutenant 
 Maury, who has just been retired by the action of the late 
 Eetiring Board of the Navy. Maury has many powerful 
 friends in the United States and abroad. The people of 
 France, England, and Germany know more of such men as 
 Maury, than they do of our most prominent politicians, and 
 through such as Maury our country gains credit ; his being 
 retired has occasioned surprise and displeasure throughout 
 the country. There will be a great deal said about it." 
 
 The NatioTud Intelligencer said : — " The conduct pursued by 
 that Board in reference to Lieutenant Maury and the storm 
 of indignant public feeling aroused by that action, has 
 evidently reached the White House, and called forth ' special 
 pleading ' towards the public. The Secretary of the Navy 
 evidently feels that injustice has been done to one of the 
 noblest spirits in the navy — to a man whose name will 
 hereafter be looked upon as a legacy which the whole country 
 will delight to protect, and to which Science will turn as to 
 one of her special favourites. . . . We commend the spirit 
 in which the above sentiment is conceived, and we hope the 
 assurance thus given to the public, of a willingness to 
 rectify errors, will be carried out. In the case of Lieutenant 
 Maury, all right-minded men, without respect to party, have 
 spoken and unanimously said, ' Let his sword be restored to 
 him with all the honour and reparation due to injured merit. 
 Let this be done, and done quickly ! ' " 
 
 On March 25th, 1856, he addressed the following letter to 
 each of three Secretaries of the Navy, who were at that time 
 within his reach : — 
 
 Sir, Observatory, Washington, March 26th, 1856. 
 
 WiU you do me the favour to state why, when you 
 
 were Secretary of the Navy, you did not order me to sea ? 
 
 Was it because I did not apply, or was it because you 
 
 considered my services on shore of more value to the country 
 
 I 
 
1 14 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 than they would have been at sea ? I make this request in 
 connection with the proceedings of the late Naval Board, and 
 hope that in this circumstance you wiU excuse the liberty, 
 and oblige, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 SlE, Hillsboro', North Carolina, April 7tli, 1856. 
 
 I regret that my absence from home has delayed a 
 reply to your letter of the 26th ultimo so long after its 
 receipt by my family. In answer to your inquiry, why you 
 were not ordered to sea during my connection with the Navy 
 Department, I have to state that I considered your services 
 at the National Observatory of far more importance and 
 value to the country and the Navy than any that could be 
 rendered by an officer of your grade at sea in time of peace. 
 Indeed, I doubt whether the triumphs of navigation and 
 of the knowledge of the sea achieved under your super- 
 intendence of the Observatory will not contribute as much 
 to an effective Naval Service and to the national fame as the 
 brilliant trophies of our arms. 
 
 I remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 William A, Geaham. 
 
 To Lieutenant M. F. Mauet, 
 
 United States Navy, &c. 
 
 My DEAE Sie, Baltimore, Marcli 28tb, 1856. 
 
 I have received yours of the 26th, asking me to state 
 why, when I was at the head of the Navy Department, I did 
 not order you to sea. You ask further, was it because you 
 did not apply, or because I considered your services on shore 
 of more value to the country than they would have been 
 at sea. 
 
 I have no recollection of your having applied for sea- 
 service, though you may have done so, and I, after this lapse 
 of time, have forgotten it. From my knowledge of the nature 
 of your scientific pursuits, their usefulness to the country, 
 and your devotion to them, I can say that nothing but such 
 an emergency as left me no alternative, would have induced 
 me to withdraw you from your labours at the Observatory by 
 
NAVAL RETIRING BOARD. 115 
 
 an order to go to sea. My estimate of the importance of the 
 scientific service required from the ofBicers of the Navy is 
 sufficiently manifested in my report to the President, in 
 December 1852, upon the organization of a hydrographical 
 corps, to be charged especially vrith such duties as those to 
 ■which you have applied yourself with so much advantage to 
 the country and to your own reputation. I still hope to see 
 that subject attract the attention of Congress, and in the 
 establishment of the corps to furnish an appropriate occasion 
 to the Government to avail itseK of your services under 
 conditions equally conformable to your wishes and yoiir 
 deserts. 
 
 Very truly, my dear sir, yours, 
 
 John P. Kennedy. 
 
 To Lieutenant M. F. Maukt, 
 
 United States Navy, &c. 
 
 DeAB SiE Smithfield, April 20th, 1856. 
 
 Your letter of 20th of March was received at my 
 residence, during my absence from home on a visit of several 
 weeks, and has, therefore, remained unanswered thus long. 
 I sincerely regret the delay. 
 
 When I entered Upon the duties of Secretary of the Navy, 
 you were at the head of the Observatory at Washiugton as 
 Superintendent. The post you occupied is one of the highest 
 importance and interest to the Naval Service of the United 
 States. Under an able and efficient administration of its 
 duties, it has and will confer important benefits, not only on 
 the Navy, but on the entire commercial interests of the 
 country. It requires^ however, that the Superintendent 
 should possess the acquirements, habits, and tastes of the 
 scholar and man of science, as well as those of the officer and 
 seaman. I found you in the office, familiar -with its duties, 
 and fulfilling the duties assigned you with constantly in- 
 Creasing labourj enthusiasm, and success, in the midst of 
 investigations and researches that then promised, as they 
 have since conferred, great practical benefit on the service to 
 which you belong, and lasting honour on the country and age 
 in which you live. No imperative demand for sea-service 
 
 I 2 
 
1 1 6 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR V. 
 
 required your detachment from the Observatory, and on 
 no duty either ashore or afloat could your services have 
 been as valuable to the country or as distinguishing and 
 honourable to your profession, as that to which you have 
 been so assigned. With the highest consideration and 
 regard, 
 
 I am your most obedient servant, 
 
 Wm. Ballaed Peeston. 
 
 To Lieutenant M. P. Maury, 
 
 Washington, D.C. 
 
 To ascertain the motives which actuated his brother 
 officers in thus placing him under the ban of the Board, he 
 wrote the following letter to each member of the aforesaid 
 Board : — 
 
 SlE, Observatory, 8tli Nov., 1855. 
 
 On learning that I had been placed in official disgrace 
 by the late Navy Board, of which you are a member, I 
 addressed a communication to the Secretary of the Navy, 
 requesting to be informed as to the nature of my alleged 
 "incompetency," and the evidence of it. I learn, in reply, 
 that the Board reported the names and rank of officers only, 
 and gave no reasons for their action. 
 
 I therefore appeal to your sense of justice, and request that 
 you will be so good as to answer, at your earliest conve- 
 nience, the foUowiag questions, which are numbered for the 
 convenience of your reply : — 
 
 1st. What was the process of examination adopted by 
 the Board for ascertaining whether an officer was efficient 
 or not ? 
 
 2nd. What was the standard of efficiency for the grade of 
 Lieutenant ? 
 
 3rd. What difference, if any, did the Board, in weighing 
 the efficiency of Lieutenants, make between duty ashore and 
 duty afloat ? 
 
 4th. Wherein was I found incapable of performing the duties 
 of my office, rank, or grade ? 
 
 5th. Did the Board inspect the Observatory, or make 
 
NAVAL RETIRING BOARD. 117 
 
 any other examination as to the manner in which it is 
 conducted ? 
 
 6th. What was the character of the evidence upon which 
 the Board pronounced its finding against me ? 
 
 Should you have any objection to speak for the Board in 
 reply to these interrogations, I hope you will have no 
 objection to speak for yourself, and to answer them, at least 
 so far as your own votes and action as a member of the 
 Board are concerned. 
 
 Eespectfully, &c., 
 
 M. F. Mattey. 
 
 The answers to this letter were aU either evasive, negative, 
 or insulting. 
 
 To the Eight Eev. Jas. H. Otey, D.D., Bishop of Tennessee, 
 Maury wrote on the same subject as follows : — 
 
 My DEAE Friend, University of Va., 20th Sept., 1855. 
 
 You wiU learn from the enclosed, from one Navy 
 of&cer to another, that I have, without cause, been made to 
 suffer grievous wrong. The announcement will take you 
 by surprise, as completely as it did me. I appeal to my 
 friends to help me to right. I have been in the service, as 
 you know, upwards of 30 years ; during aU that time no 
 complaint of duty neglected, or accusation for any cause, 
 had ever reached the Navy Department against me. In 
 short, whatever my shortcomings may have been as a sinful 
 man, as an officer, accountable only to his Government, my 
 conduct has been without reproach ; and yet I have been 
 brought into official disgrace — for what ? I am as ignorant as 
 you. The thing has been done by a Board of Navy Officers, 
 sitting in secret, and acting mischievously. I neither know 
 what my offence is, nor who my accusers are. . . . 
 
 This monstrous inquisition was set up under the pretence 
 of carrying out a law of the last Congress, To promote the 
 efficiency of the Navy, which directed that a Board of Navy 
 Officers should decide who the incompetent were, and that the 
 President should then approve, or disapprove, of the finding 
 of the Board. The law did not require this Board to sit in 
 
1 1 8 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 secret, or to pronounce judgment ; but in their secrecy they 
 have adjudged me unworthy of promotion. 
 
 This Board was composed of iifteen ofificers, of whom ten 
 were Captains or Commanders, none of whom had any 
 scientific attainments — indeed, some of them have publicly 
 contemned all science in the Navy. To this feeling — and a 
 feehng of displeasure by no means uncommon to the old 
 Commanders — that I, a Lieutenant, have dared to establish a 
 reputation somewhat honourable in spite of them, I ascribe 
 their finding. I have supposed that the value and the merits 
 of an officer were to be determined to some extent by the 
 fruits of his labour. . . . By this measure, not one of the ten 
 Commanders, except Perry, has as yet made any mark upon 
 the service that will be recognised as a reminder of their 
 excellence when they are gone. And P., I am told, has 
 never felt any satisfaction at my services at the Observatory, 
 &c., but the contrary. 
 
 The excuse which they will offer for the slur they have 
 cast upon me wUl be, I suppose, that I am lame. Mere 
 bodily activity, in an officer of my rank, is comparatively of 
 little value, when taken in connection with the mental 
 activity. Officers are expected — at least, it is generally so in 
 the upper grades — to work rather with the head than the 
 hand, and, moreover, I am bodily as active as a majority of 
 the Board, and if broken legs disqualify, at least one member 
 of the Board should have borne me company, for his leg was 
 broken twice over. . . . 
 
 General Scott is crippled in the arm, yet it does not appear to 
 have unfitted him for the Army. Besides, this Board has left 
 untouched other crippled officers, both above and below me. . . 
 
 I find, upon re-reading the above, that I have expressed 
 myself strongly, but somewhat, if you were not very much 
 my friend, egotistically. Therefore I hope you will pardon 
 me for repeating the injunction as to the confidence of this 
 writing. I wanted to put you in possession of all the 
 circumstances of the case. . . . 
 
 Excuse me, my friend, and believe me to be, with affection. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
NAVAL RETIRING BOARD. 119 
 
 Extracts from a letter from one Navy of&cer to another on 
 the subject of the action of the Eetiring Board, in reference 
 to Lieutenant M. T. Maury : — 
 
 Dear , 18th Sept., 1855. ' 
 
 .... You rightly infer that there is great excitement here 
 about the action of the late Eetiring Board ; lists confessedly 
 and mischievously erroneous are in circulation, and from 
 them no considerate opinion can be formed; but I know, 
 officially, the action in regard to M. F. Maury : it fills me 
 with astonishment and indignation. I have all along been 
 under the decided impression that the Board had not taken any 
 such untoward course. Just now, on learning what had been 
 
 done, I earnestly predicted to Mr. my conviction that 
 
 Maury will be immediately made a full Captain. He has won 
 the highest honours of the profession, and should luear them. 
 
 It will be a great public wrong to have his eminem; 
 achievements and public works ignored in this way. The 
 act is suicidal! The great benefits he has conferred upon 
 our Naval and Mercantile Marine, upon commerce, naviga- 
 tion, and science generally, are too well known and admired 
 at home and abroad to tolerate even the appearance of putting 
 down, or aside, such an of&cer. 
 
 I am bound to believe that the members of the Board acted 
 under honest but mistaken convictions of duty and Naval 
 policy. There can be no doubt, in my humble judgment, of 
 Maury's pre-emitient capacity for command, ashore or afloat. 
 Nor can the opinion be sensibly sustained that hydrographical 
 should be inactive duty in the Navy, and that our organization 
 should imitate the Army policy of little side-corps. 
 
 It is a grievous error, a large public wrong, to smother, if 
 not suppress altogether, the Hydrographic Office of the Navy 
 in this way. 
 
 I write hurriedly, but enough to show you where my heart 
 
 and judgment are in this question. It is useless to say more 
 
 now. 
 
 Yours truly. 
 
 To , U. S. Navy, 
 
 New York. 
 
1 20 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INE MA UR Y. 
 
 The following letter, from an of&cer of his own rank, will 
 serve to illustrate the feeling in the Navy of officers who 
 were not under the influence of jealousy. It was written 
 after heariag that Maury had applied for sea-service during 
 the Mexican War : — 
 
 To Lieutenant M. F. Mauey, United States National 
 Ohservatory. 
 
 U. S. S. ' Saratoga,' off Vera Cruz, 
 
 My DEAE SiE, 5th Feb., 1859. 
 
 It was my thought and purpose to have written you 
 this letter a year ago, just before leaving the country, at a 
 time when rumours reached me of efforts being made to 
 supersede you in the charge of the National Observatory ; and 
 now that I hear of the possibility or probability of your 
 going to sea, I desire to place upon record my own feelings 
 and humble opinion on that point. 
 
 Having been to sea on active service a very large portion 
 of my life, I presume I attach as much importance to the 
 merits and claims of sea-service as any one, having, in fact, 
 but little claim to consideration on any other score, and 
 knowing little about anything else but ships of war and their 
 uses ; but I conceive that the services rendered by you (in the 
 great results obtained at the Observatory) to the service, to 
 the country, and to the world at large, as so far surpassing, 
 in their value and importance to mankind, anything you 
 could possibly accomplish in the sea line of our profession, 
 that it would be with extreme regret I should hear of your 
 relinquishing the charge of that institution voluntarily, or by 
 compulsion — sentiment, I am sure, which would be heartily 
 responded to by scientific men at home and abroad. 
 
 For my estimate of your services I do not rely upon my 
 own judgment or opinion, but upon the verdict of the world, 
 literary and scientific, as I have read it in the journals, 
 foreign and native, throughout Christendom. 
 
 I am thankful for the honour you have conferred upon my 
 country and profession, with which I am identified as a 
 citizen and member, and as an American I feel more proud 
 
NA VAL RETIRING BOARD. 
 
 at this moment of the great achievements you have made in 
 scientific research, and especially of the attractive and com- 
 prehensive manner in which you have presented them to 
 the world (so that a plain man like myseK can read as he 
 runs), than of those of any man living, in whatever labom-s 
 he may have been engaged, and I wish here, and now, to 
 enter my humble protest against your resigning a post, for 
 any consideration whatever, which you have distinguished by 
 such extraordinary services. 
 
 I am here in the midst of a large fleet of foreign vessels 
 of war, of many different nations, in daily intercourse with 
 their of&cers, many of them highly accomplished and superior 
 men, and I find, without exception, that our sentiments and 
 views are in common upon this subject, for it is often 
 discussed. 
 
 These remarks, in my judgment, are applicable to yourself 
 alone, and to no other officer in our service ; and it is solely 
 upon the ground that you are performing more important 
 services to the country, and to the profession, where you 
 are, than you could do at sea, that I say, as a single in- 
 dividual member of that profession, I will, as far as I can, do 
 your part of that work and fighting at sea, if you will con- 
 tinue to work as you have done for us on the land. 
 
 I hope the Government will keep you where you are while 
 God spares your life and reason, and that the country will 
 bestow upon you its highest honours, of which you are so 
 justly deserving, whilst you advance in life and in the great 
 work you have undertaken. 
 
 You cannot possibly mistake my motives in addressing 
 you this letter, as there is no way on God's earth that you 
 can serve me, and my acquaintance with you, for twenty 
 years past, has been almost entirely interrupted, never 
 having seen you on my many visits to Washington. 
 
 I beg you to be assured, my dear sir, of the very high 
 respect with which I am. 
 
 Your obedient humble servant, 
 
 T. TUKNES, 
 Commanding U. S. Ship Saratoga. 
 
123 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 To show Maury's deep feeling on the subject, some extracts 
 of letters written at that time to his kinsman and friend, 
 B. r. Minor, of Albemarle, Virginia, are here subjoined :— 
 
 DeAE FeaNK, October 26th, 1855, 
 
 I am forging ahead slowly. The law says — "And 
 whenever said board shall believe that said incompetency 
 has arisen from any cause implying sufficient blame to justify 
 
 it, he shall be dismissed," &c. Now there is , who 
 
 was tried for ignoble conduct, found guilty and sentenced 
 to be cashiered ; he has done nothing to retrieve himself since, 
 and he too is on my list. I shall fight that point, and in the 
 meantime ask leave to appeal, or state my case to the public 
 and ask for a suspension of opinion till Congress can 
 sit. . . . He had written a letter to each member of the 
 Board requesting to " know the grounds on which they had 
 acted, and their reasons for dropping him from the active list 
 of the service and placing him in official disgrace." Most of 
 the members wrote in reply ; and he says, " The Board 
 replies are coming in. I am waiting for them all. Last 
 
 night I received two. M declines like a man, plump 
 
 straightforward ' No ! ' ' Can't speak for the Board nor for 
 myself,' yet volunteers to speak for the measure. ' The Board 
 had nothing to do with its effect upon me of their action.' " 
 Their replies will enable us to "peep into" their hearts. 
 
 S , P , and B are also in town. They will 
 
 probably reply soon ; we shall see. . . . 
 
 Last night I received the enclosed two answers. B 
 
 ' likes me,' and meant what he| says for civility. I ' should 
 be satisfied ' with any amount of disgrace for 'fuU have-of- 
 ahsence fay! Nay, I should ' be grateful to the Board in that 
 it was graciously pleased to place ' me, &c., &c. 
 
 I am curious to see the replies of D , B , and 
 
 G . The former because I think they were moved by 
 
 malice; the latter because I think better of him than his 
 brother-officers generally do. Moreover, they are all away 
 from town and have not a chance, or rather, so, a good 
 chance, to get their cue from high places. 
 
NAVAL RETIRING BOARD. 123 
 
 Again on November 15th, to the same, he wrote :— 
 
 As you see, by the replies of eleven out of the fifteen, they 
 are not disposed to share the responsiblity that attaches to 
 them, or to enable one to right himself. By its proceedings 
 the Board has outraged the public sentiment, mocked the law 
 by indecent haste, and offended our sense of right. 
 
 Mr. Dobbin told me some time ago that I was mistaken in 
 supposing that there was any feeling in the public mind 
 upon the subject. ... He moreover added that it was a 
 mistake to suppose that Congress was going to undo the 
 matter, for that Senators had conversed with him and pledged 
 themselves to sustain the Board. He admitted that there 
 were some officers, by supposition twelve or fifteen, that ought 
 not to be ruled out, and ought to be put back, and asked 
 me to advise with him as to the mode of getting them 
 back. Speaking hypothetically, he put this case : — Suppose 
 he and the President, consulting with the Senate, should 
 satisfy Senators as to these twelve or fifteen cases; that 
 Senators should agree to confirm the nominations, and that 
 the President, then revoking twelve or fifteen commissions, 
 should send in Ms blackballed nominations ? My reply was, 
 It was unlawful to promote blackballs, and that the Pre- 
 sident and Senate could not repeal a law. ... I told him 
 that mere promotion would not satisfy me ; that the Board 
 has cast a professional stain, and that that must be wiped 
 out. He then suggested the idea of reassembling the 
 Board to state reasons for their finding. I said that would 
 be to aggravate the outrage, and I would not trust the 
 Board ! 
 
 I have not yet made up my mind as to my next step, or 
 as to what I shall do with the Board replies. ... I think I 
 shall wait imtil some of my friends in Congress arrive, so 
 that, seeing how the land lies there, I may take a fresh 
 departure. I am much obliged to Baldwin and my good 
 Mends at the university about the professorship. I can't 
 think of anything untO. I get right here. What wickedness 
 has that Board not committed ! It appears to me that my 
 brother-officers, many of whom are men of intelligence, are 
 
1 24 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 utterly mercenary; they think if I get ;pai/ that's every- 
 thing. ... 
 
 Eegulations ' forbid me to appeal to the public. I have 
 
 asked the Secretary to allow me, but he won't. G came 
 
 to me yesterday with a confidental message from the Secre- 
 tary that he and the President would use all their influence 
 to have a hydrographic corps established for the Navy, with 
 me at the head of it, backed by G. & M. et Al. . . . Of 
 course I shall heed no overtures until I find out, and have it 
 published, wherefore I am blackballed. 
 
 You ask about the feelings of those who are retained on 
 the active list. They are inaugurating a move to make 
 Commander Steward an Admiral, and me a Captain. The 
 plan is to get up a Navy petition. When waited upon 
 yesterday to be advised of this move, my reply was — 
 " I am profoundly sensible of the compliment ; but all the 
 sheep-skins that the department could issue could not 
 buy me off from my efforts to wipe out the stain that 
 this mischievous, wicked Board has made." " Of course not," 
 was the reply; "but you don't object to the move?" 
 "No." . . . 
 
 There were members of that Board, I am told, who behaved 
 like hungry wolves and shocked others by the display of 
 savage emmity. 
 
 It's a wicked Board to distract my attention from useful 
 work and concentrate it on these miserable controversies, 
 &c., &c. . . . 
 
 It sufBices to add that the vindication so persistently 
 demanded was in a short time abundantly attained. During 
 the following winter the action of the Naval Eetiring 
 Board was virtually set aside by Congress, and by special 
 Act Maury was reinstated and promoted to the rank of 
 Commander with back pay from the date of his retirement. 
 The letter from the Secretary of the Navy announcing this 
 officially has been lost, but Maury's reply thereto is herewith 
 appended :— 
 
PROMOTION TO COMMANDER. 125 
 
 Sir, U. S. Naval Observatory, 4th February, 1858. 
 
 I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 communication of the 29th ultimo, enclosing a commission 
 making me a Commander in the Navy from the 14th day of 
 September, 1855. 
 
 Eespectfully, &c., 
 
 M. F. Mauey, Commander U.S.K 
 To Hon. Isaac Toncet, 
 
 Secretary of the Navy. 
 
126 LIPE OP- MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 Publications in the periodical press -while at the Observatory — Observations 
 of the rise and fall of the Mississippi — "Drowned Lands" — Steam 
 Navigation to China — Ship-canal schemes — "Inoa Papers" — Their 
 defence in a letter to Mrs. Blackford. 
 
 While engaged on those labours at the Washington Observa- 
 tory which will immortalize his name, Maury frequently 
 ventilated his ideas and the results of his ripe experience in 
 periodical literature. 
 
 In 1843 he wrote on the subject of " Lighthouses on the 
 Florida and Gulf Coasts," and showed just where they ought 
 to be placed. In another paper, in the same year, he begged 
 that a competent of&cer of the navy might be sent to Memphis, 
 or elsewhere on the Mississippi Eiver, to make systematic 
 observations on the rise and fall of the water in that river 
 and its tributaries. For this purpose Lieutenant Marr was 
 selected, and directed by Maury to make an accurate cross- 
 section of the river opposite to the navy-yard, and to observe 
 for 365 consecutive days the velocity of the current near the 
 surface and bottom, for the purpose of ascertaining the volume 
 of water passing that point daily ; also to take daily a 
 measured quantity of water, evaporate it^ and note the 
 amount of silt or solid matter it contained; 
 
 He was to observe daily the temperature of the air and 
 ^yater, the amount of evaporation and precipitation. The 
 first year the continuity of the series Was broken, and he had 
 to begin again and go over the workj so as to have a complete 
 series of observations for one year. These observationsj 
 patiently and carefully made and afterwards digested by 
 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 127 
 
 Maury, formed the foundation of all that subsequent re- 
 search has revealed of the habits of our greatest river* 
 The War Department afterwards ordered] additional ob- 
 servations to be made, which were elaborately discussed by 
 General Humphries. 
 
 Maury also originated the plan of establishing water-marks 
 or river-gauges at all the principal towns on the Mississippi, 
 and its branches, in order that captains of steamboats and' 
 others interested " might every day be accurately informed 
 through the telegraph what stage of water might be found in 
 any of the tributaries." " It is believed that a record of 
 these river-gauges, properly kept, would enable intelligent 
 observers to determine the effect upon the stream below of a 
 freshet in any tributary, or set of tributaries." 
 
 His papers on " The Defence of the Lakes and the West," 
 and his advocacy of the Illinois and Michigan ship-canal as 
 a measm'e of national defence, created a profound impression, 
 particularly in the North- West, and were received with 
 enthusiastic commendation. These papers were spread upon 
 the journals of the legislature of Illinois, with a vote of 
 thanks to the author. 
 
 When Congress had under consideration the cession of the 
 " Drowned Lands " (belonging to the Government) along the 
 Mississippi Eiver to the several States in which they lay, 
 Maury, at the request of one of the Senate Committee (J. H. 
 Borland) having charge of the subject, prepared an elaborate 
 Eeport and a Bill, providing that the States should proceed 
 to redeem these lands according to a common plan to be 
 matured by competent engineers selected for the purpose by 
 the general government; " It has since become evident that, 
 had this been carried out, immense advantage would have 
 been gained^ and enormous loss and damage avoided," says 
 the Memphis Eagle, and Enquirer. 
 
 * Memphis Appeal. 
 
1 28 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 In April 1842 he publislied a letter* to the Hon. T. Butler 
 King about " Steam Navigation to China, " recommending 
 Ms " great-circle route," which -would take in the Fox Islands, 
 and advising that coaling-stations should be established there. 
 " You know," he said, " that the shortest distance between two 
 points on a plane or fiat surface is a straight line ; so the 
 shortest distance between two points on the surface of a globe 
 or sphere is a section of a great circle, or a circle which has 
 for its centre the centre of the globe or sphere. Such a curved 
 line is the one I recommend as the shortest route between our 
 Pacific shores and China." 
 
 He urged the building of a ship-canal and railroad across 
 the isthmus to the Pacific, and showed the advantages 
 possessed by Panama only forty-five miles across, or 
 Nicaragua, over Tehuantepec, which is three times that 
 distance, and has besides no harbour. f The expense of a ship- 
 canal across the Isthmus of Panama has been estimated by 
 European engineers at $25,000,000. The summit to be over- 
 come is 275 or 280 feet above the level of the sea. The river 
 Chagres is navigable only for small vessels a part of the year, 
 and for a part of the way across the isthmus, which here is 
 about forty-five miles broad. A railway is already in process 
 of construction. A canal across Tehuantepec is out of the 
 question; there are difficulties both of the land and water 
 which make it impracticable. It is useless therefore to 
 discuss the hypothetical advantages of this route. 
 
 I am not in possession at present of the information 
 necessary to speak of a canal by the Nicaraguan route, 
 although it offers advantages which are very inviting. 
 There are valuable letters on this subject on file at the 
 
 * In the B. L. M. 
 
 t See National Intelligencer, Nov. 4th, 1849, Mamy on " Commimica- 
 tion with the Pacific." 
 
COMMERCIAL PROSPECTS OF THE SOUTH. 129 
 
 National Observatory ; also letters about two lines of 
 railroad through the United States to the Pacific— " One 
 should be through the North-West, the other through Texas." 
 Copies of these, or of others on many subjects of national 
 interest, can be obtained by reference to Lieutenant Maury's 
 official letter-books at the National Observatory. 
 
 In consequence of these and other writings, the Navy 
 Department sent Lieutenant Strain and several other naval 
 officers, engineer John Minor Maury (a young relative of 
 Lieutenant Maury's) being of the party, on the celebrated 
 but ill-fated Darien Exploring Expedition, which, owing to 
 defective maps and bad guides, proved a most disastrous 
 one. 
 
 After untold privations from hunger and other causes, and 
 the loss of several lives, they reached the other side ; but for 
 the last two weeks they were out "Jack Maury" was the 
 only one who had strength left to carry a shot-gun. He 
 kept the whole party alive by his devoted exertions.* 
 
 In 1845, Maury read a paper before the Virginia Commer- 
 cial Convention on the " Commercial Prospects of the South." 
 In it he says : — " Geographically speaking, Norfolk is in a 
 position to command the business of the Atlantic seaboard. 
 It is midway between the coasts, has a back country of sur- 
 passing fertility, of great capacity and resources. The waters 
 which flow past Norfolk into the sea divide the producing from 
 the consuming States of the Atlantic slope, the agricultural 
 from the manufacturing; and these same waters at this one 
 place form the natural channels that lead from the most 
 famous regions of the country for corn, wheat, and tobacco, 
 to the great commercial marts. 
 
 " Virginia saw these advantages some ten years ago and 
 slept upon them. She sees that Nature has placed them 
 
 ' See Headley's " Darien Expedition," published in Franklin Symond 
 series. 
 
 K 
 
1 30 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 there, and made them hers. She never dreamed that man 
 could take them away ; but man has. . . . 
 
 " But Great Britain and Europe are not the only countries 
 in the world with which commercial intercourse is desirable. 
 Let the South look to the South ! Behold the valley of the 
 Amazon ! * In 1837 commenced the second era of ocean 
 steam navigation, though twenty years before that the South 
 had sent out an avant-courier from Georgia; but the 
 South rested content with the honour of being the first to 
 stride across the Atlantic under steam. This was the time 
 (1837) when the idea was thrown out ' that ; Virginia should 
 offer to co-operate with the French and invite them to send 
 their steamers to her.' " 
 
 In 1850, he suggested, in Ins Inca Papers, that the valley 
 of the Amazon should be used as an outlet and safety-valve 
 for the surplus black and other population of the South. In 
 consequence of this paper and two others which he wrote 
 for the Southern Literary Messenger over the signature of 
 " Harry Bluff," on " Our Eelations with England " and the 
 "Pdght of Search," his favourite cousin, Mrs. Blackford, 
 to whom he was much attached, wrote him a long letter to 
 which the following is a reply : — 
 
 My DEAK Cousin, Observatory, 24:tli Dec, 1851. 
 
 I received your letter yesterday, and was grieved that 
 any of my writings should give you pain. Do you recollect 
 the ride we took together many years ago, you on your little 
 black pony Eosabel, and I on my darling Fanny, that I rode 
 on from Tennessee ? It was on the road that leads from 
 Fredericksburg to Spottsylvania Court House ; time, the month 
 of May 1825. We had much talk as to my calling in life. 
 You took an interest in my welfare, spoke kindly to me, and 
 gave me good advice, which went straight to my heart, sank 
 deep, and made me love you dearly. . . . 
 
 * See " Valley of the Amazon," by " Inca " (M, F. M.), 1850. 
 
AFRICAN SLA VE- TRADE. 131 
 
 No, my dear cousin, I am not seeking to make slave 
 territory out of free, or to introduce slavery where there is 
 none. Brazil is as much of a slave country as Virginia, and 
 the valley of the Amazon is Brazilian. 
 
 I am sure you would rejoice to see the people of Virginia 
 rise up to-morrow and say, from and after a future day — say 
 1st January, 1855 — there shaU be neither slavery nor 
 involuntary servitude in Virginia. Although tliis would not 
 strike the shackle from off a single arm, nor command 
 a single slave to go free, yet it would relieve our own 
 loved Virginia of that curse. Such an act on the part of 
 the State would cause slave-owners generally either to 
 leave the State with their slaves, or to send them off to 
 the Southern markets.* But they would be still slaves in 
 your own country. . . . We must take things as we find 
 them, and if we would be practical and do good, we must 
 deal with mankind as they are, and not as we would have 
 them. . . . 
 
 If you will read my article published in the Southern 
 Literary Messenger against the "Eight of Search," which 
 article was sent in the proof-sheets to Lord Ashburton, and 
 commended to him as containing a plan which if carried out 
 would be most effective in breaking up the slave-trade. . . . 
 You will see that my plan was adopted exactly as I proposed 
 it, and we have now a squadron on the coast of Africa for 
 the suppression of the slave-trade. 
 
 .... Now for the last two years I have been urging upon 
 the Government to make a treaty with Brazil, and to remind 
 her in that treaty that we are her best customers for coffee ; 
 that nearly all she produces is consumed in the United 
 States, where it is admitted duty free, and of course the 
 consumption is largely increased thereby. I have urged that 
 we should say to BrazU in that treaty. Stop the African slave- 
 trade, or we will put a duty on that coffee, and thus lessen 
 the demand for the fruits of slave labour, and so take away 
 from you the interest in the Tariff Act. . . . Brazil is a slave 
 country, and all the travellers who go there, I am told, say 
 
 * As tlie Yankees did early in this century, when they ceased to be 
 profitable north of 39° 30'. 
 
 K 2 
 
I ?2 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 that the black man, and lie alone, is capable of subduing the 
 forests there. To make it clear that the people of Amazonia 
 will have slaves — they are very near to the coast of Africa, and 
 if they cannot get them in one way they will in another. The 
 alternative is, shall Amazonia be supplied with this class from 
 the United States or from Africa ? In the former case it will 
 be a transfer of the place of servitude, but the making of no 
 new slaves. In the latter it will be making slaves of free 
 men, and adding greatly to the number of slaves in the world. 
 In the former it would be relieving our own country of the 
 slaves, it would be hastening the time of our deliverance, and 
 it would be putting off indefinitely the horrors of that war of 
 races which, without an escape, is surely to come upon us. 
 Therefore I see in the slave territory of the Amazon the 
 safety-valve of the Southern States. 
 
 I cannot be blind to what I see going on here. It is 
 coming to be a matter of faith among leading southern 
 men that the time is rapidly approaching when, in order to 
 prevent this war of races and its horrors, they will, in self- 
 defence, be compelled to conquer parts of Mexico and 
 Central America, and make slave territory of that which is 
 now free. 
 
 Am I not right ? Am I not humane when, insomuch as I 
 see these tendencies, I try to prevent them by substituting a 
 lesser for a greater evil ? And though I cannot do aU the 
 good that I would, may I not be permitted, in my humble 
 way, to prevent harm ? 
 
 How glorious is Lewis Herndon's mission into that valley 
 in comparison with the achievements of Clive and "Warren 
 Hastings ! 
 
 I may be wrong in preaching up Amazonia ; but I am, my 
 dear cousin, as firm in my convictions of right as you are 
 when you enter your closet and shut the door to pray, and 
 may God help us both ! 
 
 Your affectionate cousin, 
 
 M. F, Maury. 
 
HEROIC DEA TH OF LIEUTENANT HERNDON. 133 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 Exploration of the Amazon by Captain Hemdon — Loss of the ' Central 
 America ' — ^Maury's official report of the shipwreck, and the death of 
 her gallant commander- — ^Monument to Hemdon at Annapolis — Maury's 
 Steam Lanes — Present of $5000 and a service of plate from the 
 merchants and underwriters of New York — Part of an address to the 
 University of Virginia. 
 
 In consequence of his Inca Papers, and because of Maury's 
 urgency on the subject, the Navy Department organized an 
 exploring expedition for the Amazon and its tributaries, and 
 placed it under the command of Lieutenant William Lewis 
 Hemdon, U.S.ISr., who on his return from South America wrote 
 a most instructive and valuable book, entitled ' The Amazon.' 
 
 This gallant officer, whom Maury loved with a love 
 " passing that of woman," went down with his ship, the 
 unfortunate ' Central America,' in a storm off Cape Hatteras 
 in 1857. 
 
 He lost his life in his devotion to duty, and while saving 
 the women and children and passengers entrusted to his 
 care. Maury being ordered by the Secretary of the Navy to 
 prepare a report of the loss of this brave officer and liis ship, 
 wrote as follows : — 
 
 U. S. National Observatory, Washington, D.C., 
 SlE Oct. 19th, 1857. 
 
 On the 12th day of Sept. last, at sea, the U. S. mail 
 
 steamship, ' Central America,' with the California maUs, many 
 
 of the passengers and crew, and a large amount of treasure on 
 
 board, foundered in a gale of wind. 
 
 The law requires the vessels of this line to he commanded 
 
1 3 4 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR V. 
 
 by officers of the Navy, and Commander William Lewis 
 Herndon had this one. He went down with his ship, leaving 
 a glowing example of devotion to duty, Christian conduct, and 
 true heroism. 
 
 All hopes of his having been picked up by some passing 
 vessel have vanished. The sui-vivors of the wreck have made 
 their statements of the gale, the sinking of the sliip, and their 
 rescue. These have gone the rounds of the newspaper 
 press, and we are probably possessed of all the particulars 
 concerning that awful catastrophe that the public will ever 
 know. 
 
 The department has already been informed officially of 
 this wreck and disaster — how nobly Herndon stood to his 
 post and gloriously perished — how the women and children 
 were all saved, and how he did all that man could do, or 
 officer should, to save his ship and crew also. But the 
 particulars have been given to the department only in the 
 perishable form of the newspaper records. 
 
 As a tribute to his memory, as material for history, as an 
 heirloom in the navy, and a legacy to his country, I desire to 
 place on record in the department this simple writing as a 
 memorial of him. 
 
 We were intimates ; I have known him from his boyhood ; 
 he was my kinsman and my wife's brother. The ties of 
 consanguinity, as well as our professional avocations, 
 brought us frequently and much together; we were close 
 friends. 
 
 Under these circumstances, I ask your leave to file a report 
 of that gale and his loss. I am to embody in it a simple 
 narrative of incident derived from statements which the 
 survivors from the wreck have made either publicly, through 
 the prints of the day, or privately to Iris family and friends. 
 These incidents, in the silent influence of the lessons they 
 teach, constitute an inheritance of rare value to his country- 
 men ; they are the heirlooms of which I spoke, and will, I 
 am persuaded, be productive of much good to the service. 
 The ' Central America,' at the time of her loss, was bound 
 from Aspinwall, via Havana to New York. She had on 
 board, as nearly as has been ascertained, about two millions 
 
HEROIC DEATH OF LIEUTENANT HERNDON. 135 
 
 in gold, and 474 passengers, besides a crew, all told, of 101 
 souls — total, 575. 
 
 She touched at Havana on the 7th Sept. last, and put to 
 sea again at nine o'clock on the morning of the 8th. The ship 
 was apparently in good order, the time seemed propitious, and 
 all hands were in fine health and spirits, for the prospects of 
 a safe and speedy passage home were very cheering. The 
 breeze was from the trade winds quarter at N.E. ; but at 
 midnight on the 9th it freshened to a gale, which continued 
 to increase till the forenoon of Friday, Sept. 11th, when it 
 blew with great violence from N.KE. 
 
 Up to this time the ship behaved admirably ; nothing had 
 occurred worthy of note, or in any way calculated to excite 
 suspicions of her prowess, untU the forenoon of that day, 
 when it was discovered that she had sprung a leak. The sea 
 was running high ; the ship was very much heeled over on 
 her starboard side, and laboured heavily; the leak was so 
 large, that by 1 p.m. the water had risen high enough to 
 extinguish the fires on one side, and stop the engine. 
 
 Baling gangs were set to work — the passengers cheerfully 
 assisting — and all hands were sent over on the windward side 
 to trim ship. Being relieved, in a measure, she righted, and 
 the fires were relighted ; but there was a very heavy sea on, 
 and, in spite of pumps and baling gangs with their buckets, 
 whips, and barrels, the water gained upon them, until it 
 reached the furnaces and extinguished the fires again, never 
 to be rekindled. This was Friday. 
 
 The ship was now at the mercy of the waves, and was 
 wallowing in the trough of the sea like a log. She was a 
 side- wheel steamer, with not a little top hamper, and therefore 
 an ugly thing to manage in such a situation. The storm- 
 spencer had been blown away, and the fore-yard was cut down 
 during the night. Attempts were made to get the ship before 
 the wind, but no canvas was stout enough to stand the 
 raging of the storm. After the head- sails had been blown 
 away, the Captain ordered the clews of the fore-saU to be 
 lashed down to the deck, tliinking to hoist the yard up only 
 a little way, show canvas, and get her off; but by the time 
 the yard was well clear of the bulwarks, the sail was taken 
 
1 36 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 right out of the bolt ropes, so great was the force of the 
 wind, and such the fury of the gale. 
 
 The fore-mast was then cut away; the fore-yard was 
 converted into a drag and got overboard ; bits of canvas also 
 were spread in the rigging aft, hoping by these expedients, as 
 a last resort, to , bring the sliip head to wind ; but all to no 
 purpose — she refused to come. 
 
 Crew and passengers worked manfully, pumping and 
 baling all Friday afternoon and night, and when day dawned 
 upon them, the violence of the storm was still increasing. 
 
 All that energy, professional skill, and seamansliip could 
 do to weather the storm and save the ship had been done. 
 The tempest was still raging, resources were exhausted, the 
 working parties were fagged out, and the Captain foresaw that 
 his sliip must go down. 
 
 Still there was some cause for hope : he might save life, 
 even if he lost ship, mails, and treasure. He was in a 
 frequented part of the ocean, and a passing vessel might 
 come to the rescue of crew and passengers if they could 
 manage to keep the ship afloat tiU the gale abated. He 
 encouraged them with this hope, and asked for a rally. They 
 responded with cheers. The lady passengers also offered to 
 help, and the men went to work with a wiU, whipping up 
 water by the barrelful to the steady measure of the sailors' 
 working song. 
 
 The flag was hoisted union down, that every vessel as she 
 hove in sight might know they were in distress and wanted 
 help. 
 
 Under this rally of crew and passengers they gained on the 
 water for a little wliile ; but they were worn out with the trial 
 of the last night and day — they had not the strength to keep it 
 under. 
 
 Finally, about noon of Saturday the 12th, the gale be^an 
 to abate and the sky to brighten. A vessel hove in sight, saw 
 the signal of distress, ran down to the steamer, was hailed, 
 answered, and was asked for help ; she could give none, and 
 kept on her course. 
 
 At about 2 P.M. the brig ' Marine,' Captain Burt, of Boston, 
 bound from the West Indies to N. Y., heard minute-guns, and 
 
HEROIC DEA TH OF LIEUTENANT HERNDON. 137 
 
 saw the steamer's signals of distress. She ran down to the 
 sinking ship, and though very much crippled herself by the 
 gale, promised to lay by. She passed under the steamer's stern, 
 spoke, rounded to, and kept her word. 
 
 The steamer's boats were ordered to be lowered — the 
 ' Marine ' had none that could live in such a sea. 
 
 Now came another trying time : the boat-scenes of the 
 steamer ' Arctic ' had made a deep impression upon Herndon's 
 mind; they now crowded into remembrance. Who of liis 
 crew should be selected to man the boats ? Would they 
 desert him when they got off from the ship in the boats ? 
 There were some who he knew would not. 
 
 It was not an occasion when the word might be passed for 
 volunteers ; for it was the post of safety, not of danger, but 
 nevertheless of great trust, that was to be filled. The Captain 
 wanted trusty men. The crew of such a vessel is not very 
 permanent as to its iperscmnel, therefore he felt at a loss, for 
 there was still a man wanting for Black — the boatswain's boat. 
 A sailor, perceiving the Captain's dilemma, stepped up and 
 modestly offered to go. 
 
 He had not, it may be supposed, been long in the ship, for 
 Herndon evidently did not know him well, and replied, in his 
 mild and gentle way, " I wonder if I can trust you ? " 
 
 The sailor instinctively understood this call for a shibboleth, 
 and simply said : " I have hands that are hard to row, and a 
 heart that is soft to feel." This was enough. He went, and 
 was true ; not a boat deserted that ship. 
 
 All the women and children were first sent to the brig, and 
 every one arrived there in safety. Each boat made two loads 
 to the brig, carrying in all 100 persons. 
 
 By this time night was setting in. The brig had drifted to 
 leeward, several miles away from the steamer, and was so 
 crippled that she could not beat up to her again. 
 
 Black's (the boatswain) boat alone returned the second 
 time. Her gallant crew had been buffeting with the storm 
 for two days and nights without rest, and with little or no 
 food. The boat itseK had been badly stove wliile alongside 
 with the last load of passengers. She was so much knocked 
 to pieces as to be really unserviceable, nor could she have 
 
138 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 held another person. Still those brave seamen, inspired by 
 the conduct and true to the trust reposed in them by their 
 Captain, did not hesitate to leave the brig again, and pull 
 back through the dark for miles, across an angry sea, that 
 they might join him in his sinking ship, and take their 
 chances with the rest. 
 
 Let us not call this rash, idle, or vain ; it was conduct the 
 most loyal, noble, and true. The names of this brave crew 
 have not been given ; otherwise I would suggest the propriety 
 of making some formal acknowledgment of the high appre- 
 ciation in which such devotion to duty and such conduct are 
 held by the department. 
 
 During the lowering of the boats and the embarkation 
 of the women and children, there was as much discipline 
 preserved among the crew of that ship, and as much order 
 observed among her passengers, as was ever witnessed on 
 board the best-regulated man-of-war. 
 
 The law requires every commander in the navy to show in 
 himself a good example of virtue and patriotism ; and never 
 was example more nobly set forth or beautifully followed. 
 Captain Herndon, by those noble traits which have so 
 endeared his memory to the hearts of his countrymen, had 
 won the respect and admiration of the crew and passengers of 
 that ship in such a degree as to acquire an influence over 
 them that was marvellous in its effects. The women felt its 
 force. Calm and resolute themselves, they encouraged and 
 cheered the men at the pumps and in the gangways; and 
 finally, to Herndon's last appeal for one more effort, they rose 
 superior to their sex, and proposed to go on the deck them- 
 selves, and, with fair hands and feeble arms, do man's work 
 in battling with the tempest. 
 
 There were many touching incidents of the most heroic 
 personal devotion to duty, and to him, during that terrific 
 storm. Even after the ship had gone down and the men 
 were left in the water, clinging to whatever they could lay 
 hands on, offices of knightly courtesy were passed among them. 
 
 As one of the last boats was about to leave the ship, her 
 commander gave his watch to a passenger with the request 
 that it might be delivered to his wife. He wished to charge 
 
HEROIC DEATH OF LIEUTENANT HERNDON. 139 
 
 liim with a message for her also, but his utterance was 
 
 choked. " Tell her ." Unable to proceed, he bent down 
 
 his head and buried his face in his hands for a moment as if 
 in prayer, for he was a devout man and a Christian. 
 
 In tliat moment, brief as it was, he endured the great 
 agony ; but it was over now. His crowning thoughts no 
 doubt had been of friends and home — a beloved wife and 
 lovely daughter* dependent upon him alone for support. 
 God and his country would care for them now. He had 
 resolved to go down with his ship. 
 
 Calm and collected, he rose up from that short but mighty 
 struggle with renewed vigour, and went with encouraging 
 looks about the duties of the sMp as before. He ordered 
 the hurricane-deck to be cut away and rafts to be made. 
 The life-preservers were also brought up and distributed to all 
 who would wear them. Mght was setting in, and he directed 
 Frazer, the second ofiicer, to take charge of the arm -chest and 
 send up a rocket every half-hour. 
 
 Van Eennselaer, his iirst officer, was also by him. 
 Herndon has spoken of him to me in terms of esteem and 
 admiration, and Van Eennselaer proved himself worthy of 
 the last of these commendations. 
 
 Side by side they stood at their post, and perished together 
 with their harness on. 
 
 After the boat which bore Mr. Payne — to whom Herndon 
 had entrusted his watch — had shoved off, the Captain went to 
 his state-room and put on his uniform. The gold band 
 around his cap was concealed by the oil-silk covering which 
 he usually wore over it. He took the covering off, and threw 
 it on the floor ; then, walking out, he took his stand on the 
 wheel-house, holding on to the iron railing with his left hand. 
 A rocket was set off, the ship fetched her last lurch, and as she 
 went down he uncovered. 
 
 A cry arose from the sea, but not from his lips. The waves 
 had closed about him, and the curtain of night was drawn 
 over one of the most sublime moral spectacles that the sea 
 ever saw. 
 
 * This daughter became the wife of Chester R. Arthur, subsequently 
 President of the United States, 
 
1 40 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INE MA UR Y. 
 
 Just before the steamer went down, a row-boat was heard 
 approaching. Herndon hailed her; it was the boatswain's 
 boat, rowed by "hard hands and gentle hearts," returning 
 from on board the brig to report her disabled condition. If 
 she came alongside she would be engulfed with the sinking 
 ship. Herndon ordered her to keep off. She did so, and was 
 saved. This, so far as I have been able to learn, was his last 
 order. Forgetful of self, mindful of others, his life was 
 beautiful to the last, and in his death he has added a new 
 glory to the annals of the sea. 
 
 Forty-nine of the passengers and crew were picked up, 
 floating on the water that night and the next morning, by 
 the Norwegian bark ' Ellen,' and brought safely into Norfolk. 
 On the ninth day after the wreck, the English brig ' Mary ' 
 picked up three others, who had drifted about 450 miles with 
 the Gulf Stream. Total saved, 152. 
 
 It does not appear certain that Captain Herndon was seen 
 or heard after the ship went down, by any of those who 
 survived the wreck. Mr. Childs, one of the passengers, 
 thinks he conversed with him in the water only a little while 
 before he himself was picked up ; but Herndon was small of 
 stature, of delicate frame and constitution, and by no means 
 in robust health. He was already suffering from the 
 incessant labour and exposure of the last two days and that 
 long Friday night. His fatigue must have been great, and 
 when the waves closed over his ship he was in all probability 
 too much exhausted to struggle. 
 
 Everything that could be done by the best sea-captain to 
 save his ship was done to save this one. Brave hearts and 
 strong arms were on board. There was no lack of skill or of 
 courage. Order and discipline were preserved to the last; 
 and she went down under conduct that fills the heart with 
 unutterable admiration. 
 
 Herndon was in the forty-fourth year of his age. He was 
 born in Fredericksburg, Va. He was the son of the late 
 Dabney Herndon of that place, and was the fifth of seven 
 children — five sons and two daughters, of whom Mrs. Maury 
 is the elder. Lewis Herndon was left early an orphan, and 
 entered the navy at the age of fifteen. Affectionate in 
 
"LANES" FOR STEAMERS. 141 
 
 disposition, soft and gentle in his manners, he won the 
 love and esteem of his associates, and became a favourite 
 throughout the service. None knew him better or loved him 
 more than, 
 
 Eespectfully, 
 
 M. r. Mauey, Lieutenant U.S.N". 
 To Hon. Isaac Toncby, 
 
 Secretary of the Navy, 
 Washington. 
 
 There is a handsome monument erected to his memory in 
 the parade-ground of the Naval School at Annapolis, Md., on 
 which is recorded the manner of his death, to the end that 
 the future heroes of our service may read thereof and do 
 likewise. 
 
 In 1855 Maury published a chart with two lanes laid 
 down, each 25 miles broad, for the use of steamers in going 
 and returning across the Atlantic, by following which they 
 avoid the danger of the frequent collisions which were then 
 taking place with other steamers, sailing-vessels, and icebergs, 
 particularly amid the dense fogs which hang perpetually over 
 the Banks of Newfoundland. 
 
 The Montgomery Advertiser and Gazette, of May 20th, 
 1855, thus noticed the new chart : — 
 
 " This present enterprise is to suggest a method by which 
 collisions between steamers plying between this country and 
 Europe may be avoided. 
 
 " To accomplish this. Lieutenant Maury proposes a double 
 track, and lays down a sailing route, or routes, by which it 
 can be done. ' If steamers,' says Maury, ' would agree to 
 follow two such routes, I think that I could lay them off so 
 as to have them quite separate, except at the two ends, 
 without materially lengthening the passage either way.' 
 
 " Circulars have been sent out with a view to gain the 
 object contemplated. We agree with Professor De Bow's 
 
142 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 view — that Lieutenant Maury is certainly entitled to the 
 rank of one of the greatest public benefactors of the age."* 
 
 These charts were generally adopted by the larger steamship 
 companies, and in consequence of their satisfaction there- 
 with, and the shortening of the routes everywhere by Maury's 
 Sailing Directions and "Wind and Current Charts, he was 
 presented by the merchants and underwriters of New York 
 with $5000 in gold and a handsome service of silver. This 
 was in 1855. 
 
 In the same year, Maury delivered an address before the 
 literary societies at the University of Virginia, of which the 
 following are extracts : — 
 
 "'G 
 
 " In entering upon your duties as a citizen, recollect your 
 excellent training here : it has given you many advantages ; 
 therefore, do not neglect to lay down rules of conduct by 
 which they may be most improved. 
 
 " Wliatever may be the degree of success that I have met 
 with in life, I attribute it, in a gi'eat measure, to the adoption 
 of such rules. One was, never to let the mind be idle for the 
 want of useful occupation, but always to have in reserve 
 subjects of thought or study for the leisure moments and the 
 quiet hours of the night. "When you read a book, let it be 
 with the view to special information. 
 
 " The habits of mind to be thus attained are good, and the 
 information useful. 
 
 " It is surprising how difficult one who attempts to foUow 
 this rule finds it at first to provide himself with subjects for 
 thought — to think of something that he does not know. In 
 our ignorance our horizon is very contracted : mists, clouds, 
 and darkness hang upon it, and self fills almost the entire 
 
 * See 'Ville du Havre' disaster in 1874. Tlie London Timet, in 
 speaking of the loss of tliis ship remarked — " If she had followed Maury's 
 steam lanes, this terrible loss of life and ship would have been avoided." 
 
ADDRESS TO STUDENTS. 143 
 
 view around, above, and below to the utmost verge. But as 
 we study the laws of nature, and begm to understand about 
 our own ignorance, we find light breaking through, the 
 horizon expanding, and self getting smaller and smaller. 
 
 "It is like climbing a mountain: every fact or fresh 
 discovery is a step upward with an enlargement of the view, 
 untn the unknown and the mysterious become boundless — 
 self infinitely small ; and then the conviction comes upon us 
 with a mighty force, that we know nothing — that human 
 knowledge is only a longing desire. 
 
 " The impression is very common, that when a young man 
 leaves college he has finished his education; but do not, 
 when you return home, crowned with the honours of these 
 schools though you be, give in to this notion even for a 
 moment ; it is another of those mischievous popular fallacies 
 that you should guard against. Here you have been dis- 
 cipliiung the mind, training the thoughts, and laying off the 
 fields in wliich they may be usefully employed. You have 
 finished nothing here ; you have only been clearing away 
 rubbish and preparing the foundations ; and notwithstanding 
 that you have been under the eyes of the best masters, and 
 have laid your foundations of the best materials and in the 
 most scholarly manner, yet, like the foundations for any 
 other superstructure, unless built upon, they will soon grow 
 weak and be frittered away. 
 
 " If you cease to study now, you will soon forget all you 
 have learned here. 
 
 " Movement, progress, is a law of the physical world ; here 
 rest and decay are correlative terms. The stars cannot stand 
 still and keep their places ; a planet by going back would be 
 hurled into destruction, and even the plant of the earth that 
 ceases to grow straightway withers and dies. And so it is 
 in the moral world : the progress of man must be upwards 
 and onward, or downward and backward. His mind cannot 
 
144 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 stand still. There is no such thing as a stationary condition 
 for the human understanding. To stand still is death; to go 
 backwards is worse. 
 
 " With the advantages of the good training which you have 
 received here, you cannot go amiss for subjects of study and 
 improvement. The rock at your feet, the plant in every 
 walk you tread, the air that surrounds you, the insect that 
 flits across your path, the stars that look down upon you, are 
 all suggestive of knowledge. They abound in subjects which 
 it is good for clear heads and sound minds to study and 
 investigate. 
 
 " When the Spirit of God first moved on the face of the 
 waters, the physical forces that produce the works of nature 
 were brought into play. The wonders, the harmonies, and 
 the beauties of creation are but the display of these forces. 
 As exhibited in the aspects of nature, they are never- 
 ceasingly instructive. In the silent hours of the night you 
 may learn excellent lessons from them by watching the 
 'hosts of heaven.' I sometimes do this through the 
 telescope ; and of all the wonders and beauties that are 
 revealed by this instrument, the simple passage of a star 
 across the meridian is to me the most grand and imposing : 
 it is exquisite — it is sublime ! At the dead of night, when 
 the noise of the city is hushed in sleep, and all is still, 
 I sometimes go over alone to the Observatory to revel 
 in this glorious spectacle. The assistants, wearied with 
 watching, have retired to rest, and there is not a sound to be 
 heard in the building save the dead-beat escapement of the 
 clock, telling the footsteps of time in his ceaseless round. I 
 take up the ephemeris, and find, by calculation made years 
 ago, that a star which I have never seen will, when the hand 
 of that clock points to a certain instant of time, enter the 
 field of the telescope, flit across the meridian, and disappear. 
 The instrument is set, and as the moment draws near, the 
 
LECTURE TO STUDENTS. US 
 
 stillness becomes more and more impressive. At last I look 
 — it is glorious ! A pure bright star is marching through the 
 field to the music of the spheres ; and at the very instant 
 predicted, even to the fraction of a second, it stalks across 
 the wire and is gone. The song that was sung by the morning 
 stars has been felt, and the heart, swelling with emotions too 
 deep for the organs of speech, almost biu'sts with the 
 unutterable anthem. 
 
 " The machineiy by which the forces of the universe are 
 regulated and controlled is exquisite ; and if it be instructive 
 to study the mechanism of a watch, or profitable to understand 
 the principles of the steam-engine, the contrivances of man's 
 puny intellect, how much more profitable and instructive 
 must it be to look out upon the broad face of nature and 
 study that machinery which was planned and arranged in 
 the perfection of wisdom ! 
 
 " If you be at first a little sceptical as to this order and 
 arrangement, taking the harmonies of nature for discord, you 
 will soon feel satisfied that the machinery of the universe — 
 that mechanism which gives nature her powers to act — is, in 
 all its parts, the expression of one thought, as much so as 
 the works of a watch are of one design ; that the same hand 
 wliich weighed the earth and gave gravitation its force, 
 adjusted the fibres of the little snowdrop and proportioned 
 their strength. 
 
 " The forces displayed in the blade of grass, in the wing of 
 the bird, and in the flaming path of the comet as it whirls 
 around the sun, are all adjusted with equal nicety and care. 
 Chance has nothing to do with the works of nature ; yet there 
 are many of her operations which, upon partial study only, do 
 look like the results of accident. Botanists tell us of some : 
 they say that certain plants have not the power of scattering 
 their pollen — it is glutinous, and will not fly with the wind — 
 but as the insects come to suck the flower it adheres to them ; 
 
 L 
 
146 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 they, lighting on other blossoms, deposit it there in the right 
 place for germination ; nay, students of these things go so far 
 as to say that the fig-crop of Smyrna, which alone supports 
 thousands of human beings, could not be brought forth if a 
 certain little insect were to fail, regularly and at the right 
 time, to perform certain offices for this plant. But are not 
 insects as well as plants agents and instruments of the 
 Creator ? Have they not their appointed offices to perform 
 in the economy of the universe ? And has the insect any 
 more ability to resist the power of instinct than a good seed 
 in good ground has to resist the forces of germination ? 
 
 " In studying the works of nature, therefore, discard the idea 
 that they are the results of chance or accident. In the mind 
 of the truth-loving, knowledge-seeking student, the coming of 
 the gall-fly in due season to minister to the fig-tree of Smyrna 
 and make it bear fruit for hungry thousands, is no more the 
 work of chance than it was by chance that the raven carried 
 ' bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the 
 evening, to the prophet at the brook.' " 
 
MAURVS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 147 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Maury's personal appearance and manners — Life in his family — The 
 way he wrote his books — How he dressed in the morning — The nick- 
 names he gave his children — How he taught his daughters round the 
 breakfast-table — The borrowed book — The brass telescope — The trip 
 to Europe and visit at Wrottesley Hall. 
 
 The personal appearance and habits of Commander Maury 
 will have an interest for those who value his life-work and 
 venerate his memory. Maury was a stout man, and about five 
 feet six inches in height ; he had a fresh, ruddy complexion, 
 with cujling brown hair, and clear, tender blue eyes. His 
 massive head and strong neck surmounted broad and square 
 shoulders, and a chest deep and full. His arms were long 
 and strong, with hands small, soft, and beautifully formed — 
 he was apt to use them in graceful gestures while conversing. 
 
 Every featm-e and lineament of Ms bright countenance 
 bespoke intellect, kindliness, and force of character. His fine 
 blue eyes beamed from under his broad forehead with thought 
 and emotion, while his flexible mouth smiled with the 
 pleasure of imparting to others the ideas which were ever 
 welling up in his active brain. In early manhood his head 
 was well covered with fine soft, wavy brown hair, which 
 became thin before he reached middle age. Latterly, he was 
 quite bald, as is shown in Valentine's fine bust, taken when 
 he was siKty years old. 
 
 His conversation was enjoyed by all who ever met him ; 
 he listened and learned while he conversed, and adapted 
 himself to every capacity. He especially delighted in the 
 
 L 2 
 
1 48 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 company of young people, to whom his playful humour and 
 gentle consideration made him very winning. 
 
 In early youth he was careless in his dress, and expressed 
 contempt for those who judged of a man by his outward 
 appearance. " But," he said, " I soon perceived the folly of 
 this carelessness ; " and in later years he became scrupulously 
 neat in his attire. His enjoyment of the pleasures of the 
 table was refined : he liked good wine ; he carved well, and 
 entertained generously; and he was never more genial, 
 humorous, or interesting, than when surrounded by friends 
 about a well-served board. 
 
 ]Sr. P. Willis, of the Home Journal, said to a friend, speak- 
 ing of Maury, after travelling with him out West for four 
 or five days : — 
 
 "He made me subject to his personal magnetism, and 
 while with him I had secretly vowed myself and my pen to 
 the service of his interests and reputation thenceforward. . . . 
 Diu-ing the time that we were together on that trip, he was, 
 unconsciously to himself, to me an exquisitely interesting 
 study of character. I had long heard of him, and knew what 
 the public generally knew of his pursuits ; but my conviction 
 was strengthened every day that he was greatly undervalued 
 by common repute, and that he was of a far deeper intellect, 
 and much more of a natural philosopher, than the world, with 
 all his repute, gave him credit for. . . . Under Ms exceeding 
 modesty and reserve, there seemed to be a vein of the licroic 
 and romantic so hidden, that he was seemingly unconscious of 
 it, and I was quite sure before I parted with him that he was 
 one of the sans peur ct sans reproche class of men ; yet willing 
 to pass for only the industrious man of science which the world 
 takes him for. Under the strong magnetism of his sincere 
 and simple manner, I formed an irresistible attachment to 
 him, and longed to set the world right as to his qualities." 
 
MAURY WITH HIS CHILDREN. 149 
 
 One of his daughters says : — " When I can first remember 
 him he -walked with a limp, although without a cane, and his 
 locks had become few." In manner he was most affable 
 and courteous ; in conversation he was always evolving great 
 ideas — as Mr. Calhoun said of him, "He was a man of 
 great thoughts,'' and, when not conversing, he was either 
 ^VTiting or walking up and down the room as on a quarter- 
 deck, studying out some problem to be soon placed before 
 the world for its good. 
 
 But whether writing or thinking, no noise of the children, 
 no invasion of visitors, was ever an interruption. In the 
 midst of his most interesting pm'suits, on which he was 
 concentrating liis powers, he would lay down his pen and join 
 in the laugh at a good joke, and encourage the mirth to go 
 on. He had an ever-active sense of humour ; but scandal and 
 gossip he would not allow in his presence, and he would never 
 pass over any violation of liigh principle. He made loving 
 companions and friends of his children — in his walks, in his 
 talks, in his work, in his recreation, he was always one of 
 them. He invited their confidence, and freely gave them his ; 
 in that household there were no secrets — any step that was 
 about to be taken, any journey made, or any work projected, 
 was fully and freely talked over and discussed in family 
 conclave. And yet his word was law, that no one ever 
 dreamt of disputing ; so he was always the last to speak in 
 these family councils, and gave the " casting-vote," as he used 
 to say; the youngest voting or giving their opinion first on 
 the matter under discussion. 
 
 Most of his voluminous writings were thus freely sub- 
 mitted to the family council, or copied by them, and each one 
 invited and encouraged to criticise ; and thus, not only were 
 they made familiar with the workings of his mind, but were 
 taught to express their own thoughts. 
 He wrote or composed and dictated his greatest books in 
 
1 50 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 Ms parlour, surrounded by Ms family, and it seemed some- 
 times as if he possessed a dual consciousness, so quickly could 
 he abstract or concentrate his mind upon his writing. 
 
 Like few great men, he was the greater the closer one got 
 to him. Little children approached Mm confidingly, and 
 never left Mm without bearing away some good lesson, so 
 gently and simply taught as to be for ever planted in their 
 young minds. His especial pleasure was to say a kind 
 word and lend a helping hand to young men beginning the 
 battle of life. 
 
 Above all men, he knew the value of praise as an incentive 
 to Mgh endeavom", and wlien he had occasion to censure or 
 criticise, he did it with such obvious reluctance that it never 
 failed to do the good intended. 
 
 Wliile at home, he had been taught to respect women, to 
 love the trutli, and to reverence God ; and those teachings he 
 never forgot. One of Ms daughters writes as follows : — 
 
 " He never had a study, or anytMng like a sanctum, where 
 his wife and children could not come, preferring to work in 
 the midst of them wherever tliey congregated. He would sit 
 at the round marble-topped centre table, with his papers 
 spread out, the bright light falling on his bald head and 
 sMmng on his brown curls, wMle he sat unconscious of what 
 was going on around him ; whether it was music, or dancing, 
 or reading aloud, or romping, he would write away, or read 
 what he had written, or talk to himself and shake Ms head." 
 
 His daughters often served as Ms amanuenses, and some- 
 times he dictated to two at once, while one of the little ones 
 would balance herself on the rounds of his chair, and cm'l his 
 back hair over the red-and-blue pencil he always used. 
 
 Sometimes he would walk up and down the two parlours 
 wrapped in a light blue silk Japanese dressing-gown, quilted 
 with eider-down which was a present from Captain Jansen, 
 
MA UR y WITH HIS CHILDREN. 1 5 1 
 
 the long ribbons, which should have been fastened around his 
 waist, trailing beMnd him, or gathered up like reins in the 
 hands of one of the little ones, who trotted after him, back- 
 wards and forwards, calling out " Gee, woa ! " or " Back, sir ! " 
 — he paying not the slightest attention, but dictating gravely. 
 
 He used to say he was the youngest of the family except 
 the baby, and it was his habit, when dressing in the morning, 
 to seat the youngest (the little two-year-old) upon the 
 bureau, to hold the soap while he was shaving, while the rest 
 would stand around, one to hold or receive the razor, one 
 the brush, one the towel, and one or two the papers on which 
 to wipe the razor ; and we all would eagerly watch the pile 
 of lather which he made with the soap and hot water in his 
 shaving-can. He brushed his bald head with two immense 
 brushes at the same time, one in each hand. " For," he 
 assured us gravely, " you see, if I only use one at a time it 
 wiU. turn me round and round like one oar to a boat." And 
 we believed that that was the only way to brush hair. Then 
 he would ten us stories and anecdotes about his brothers and 
 himself — what they did and what they said in Tennessee, and 
 of his home-life there. These stories he would tell over and 
 over again, fitting'; them to the comprehension of the " two- 
 year-old," as she or he would come on (and there was always 
 a baby and always a "two-year-old" at regular intervals), 
 until we knew them by heart, and, with a clamour of 
 tongues, would set him right if he omitted any incident or 
 related it in the wrong order. And we knew exactly when 
 to laugh and applaud, and enjoyed it all the more because it 
 was so familiar. 
 
 Often he would take the whole tribe out for long walks, or 
 to gather fruit or nuts, or bright-coloured leaves ; and to 
 reach the high ones he would make what he called a 
 " Tennessee arm," which was a long pole with a crutch at the 
 end, with which he could twist them off, directing us where 
 
1 5 2 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INE MA UR Y. 
 
 to stand and hold up our little pinafores to catch the coveted 
 prize ; and then what laughter and hurrahs and congratulations 
 would be bestowed upon the fortunate catcher ! 
 
 He had pet names for all except the eldest ; he said she 
 grew up too fast for him to fit a name to her. There were 
 " Xannie Curly," " Goggen," " Davy Jones," " Tots," " Glum," 
 " Brave," and " Sat Sing." By these names he always called 
 us, and we knew we had displeased him, and hung our heads 
 with shame, if he gave us our baptismal ones. 
 
 I don't think I ever went to school more than three 
 months altogether. He was my loving and tender teacher 
 always ; and when Betty and I grew to be fifteen or there- 
 abouts, we had to take care of one or two of the younger 
 ones and teach them to read, write, and cypher, yet without 
 allowing this duty to interfere with our own lessons or our 
 regular tasks of sewing. 
 
 He taught us our lessons at the breakfast-table, and for an 
 hour or so after, his plan being to bid us — my sister Betty 
 and myself — " one at a time, tell him about the lesson." He 
 seldom asked us questions on it, unless we found a difficulty 
 in expressing ourselves, and he never asked those put down 
 in the book. After both had had our say, he would, taking 
 the lesson for a text, deliver the most delightful lectures. 
 He prescribed no set time for our preparation of these 
 lessons ; but we were required to master them thoroughly, 
 and give the substance to him clothed in our own words and 
 not in those of the book. He always expected and required 
 that we should not prepare them at night, but .should then 
 come into the parlour to receive and entertain and be 
 entertained by the distinguished men and women who 
 frequently gathered round Mm. He considered this a most 
 important part of our education. 
 
 He objected to the introduction of cards in the family 
 circle, as he said they interfered with intelligent and 
 
MAURY WITH HIS CHILDREN. 153 
 
 improving conversation, and that those who had recourse 
 to them for amusement were apt to depend on them, and 
 could not exert themselves to be agreeable as they should and 
 would do, if they had not this entertainment. He himself 
 did not know one card from another. 
 
 Our mother taught us our Bible lessons, and cateclusm, 
 and she and aunt Eliza, who was a beautiful needlewoman, 
 gave us regular tasks in mending and darning. We seldom 
 went to church more than once on Sunday, as it was so far 
 from the Observatory to St. John's (Eev. Dr. Pynes), so Papa 
 had us up regularly for the evening service, which we would 
 read verse about, " the stranger that was -^vithin our own 
 gates " generally taking part also. 
 
 He read aloud to us Scott's novels, Shakespeare's plays, 
 and many of the British poets, particularly Scott's poems, 
 Wordsworth's, and Mrs. Hemans'. Of these he was very 
 fond. 
 
 He would never allow us to read works of iiction whilst we 
 were students, and would punish most severely any departure 
 from the truth, or act of disobedience. These two sins, he 
 said, were the only ones he intended to punish his children 
 for ; and he was very careful not to make unnecessary issues 
 with them, and never to give an order unless he saw that it 
 was obeyed and not forgotten. 
 
 A punishment he once inflicted on Betty and myself I 
 shall never forget. Betty borrowed 'Helen,' one of a very 
 handsome and complete set of Miss Edgeworth's novels, from 
 cousin SaUy Fontaine in Washington, thinking, or persuading 
 herself, that Papa would not object, as that was so mild a 
 type of fiction, and we both read most of it. He found us at 
 it one Saturday. He didn't say one word, but took the book, 
 and one of us in each hand, marched us downstairs into 
 Mamma's room (which was opposite the front parlour, and 
 where there was almost always a small fire bui'ning on the 
 
154 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 hearth), and, to our horror, thrust the handsome borrowed 
 book into the flames, and held it there with the tongs until it 
 was entirely consumed. Oh, how we did cry! It seemed 
 such a terrible thing to burn a book — a precious book — of 
 which we had so few. And then oui- honour was touched to 
 the quick, for we had borrowed it. But for those very 
 reasons the lesson cut deep, and made the impression that was 
 intended. I for one would gladly have taken a whipping 
 instead, to be allowed to return the book uninjured.* 
 
 Another punishment that was never forgotten was this. 
 Finding I had quite a taste for natural science, my dear father 
 had given me a fine microscope, of which I was very fond, 
 and one day some instrument-maker sent an elegant brass- 
 mounted telescope about twice my length, and of sufficient 
 power to show the rings of Saturn, and the moons of Jupiter. 
 Papa told me if I would learn how to handle the big 
 telescope at the Observatory, and how to find any star I 
 wanted by obtaining the right ascension and declination from 
 the Nautical Almanac, and how to make and record an 
 accurate observation thereon, he would give me this beauty in 
 its handsome mahogany box for my own. 
 
 I joyfully acceded to these terms, and in less than a 
 month I came into possession. Oh, liow proud I was when, 
 on a clear night, I would mount my prize on its polished 
 tripod, on a big stone pillar in the garden, and show my little 
 friends anything they called for that was then within our 
 horizon ! But one sad Saturday Satan entered into me, and 
 I neglected to do my task of mending in the time allotted 
 to it, being occupied with my dear telescope. I was called 
 up, reprimanded, and told to have my task done in an hour 
 and a half. Going back upstairs to the library, I went 
 sky-scraping, through the big north window, with my 
 
 * He carefully concealed then from us the fact that he replaced the 
 volume, and years passed before we found it out. 
 
MA UR Y WITH HIS CHILDREN. 1 5 5 
 
 instrument, with the coloured lens screwed in for day- 
 observations. I thought, " I'll take one more look and then 
 hurry up my task ; " but that look took longer than I expected, 
 and very little of the task was done when the time was up. 
 The case was referred to Papa, who, without a word spoken, 
 boxed up my telescope and shipped it off — I never knew 
 where to this day. For years I could not speak of it without 
 tears. 
 
 When Betty and myself were almost grown up, and he 
 
 began to travel about the country to address the agricultural 
 
 societies of the different States about " Meteorology for the 
 
 Farmers," and " Crop and Weather Eeports," he said, as we had 
 
 been so faithful in teaching the little ones, he would take first 
 
 one of us and then the other wherever he went. So we made 
 
 two trips with him, and then came the Brussels Conference, 
 
 " to propose a uniform plan of observations at sea, and to 
 
 adopt a meteorological log."* He said such a chance might 
 
 never occur again, and, if he could " raise the wind," he would 
 
 take us both that time. " The wind " was raised somehow, 
 
 and we both went, accompanied by our two cousins, Ellen 
 
 Herndon and Ellen Maury. Betty, the eldest of the party, 
 
 was not seventeen when we sailed. Ellen Herndon was a 
 
 lovely blonde, Ellen Maury a very handsome brunette. Sure 
 
 such a merry party never sailed the broad ocean before ! We 
 
 were dubbed " The Magpie Club " by acclamation on board the 
 
 steamer. When landed at Liverpool, we found awaiting us 
 
 an invitation from Lord Wrottesley for us all to visit him at 
 
 Wrottesley Hall near Wolverhampton. The house was in 
 
 Cromwell's time the " Convent of Wliite ladies," and in its 
 
 park stood the " Eoyal Oak," in which Pdchard PenderHl hid 
 
 the fugitive prince after the disastrous battle of Worcester. 
 
 So we were wild to go, and the invitation was accepted. 
 
 Lord Wrottesley had been a correspondent of my father's for 
 
 * See page 72, 
 
156 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 several years, being himself a learned man and President of 
 the Eoyal and Astronomical Societies. 
 
 On this trip we visited many cities in England, France, 
 Holland, Belgium, and Germany with my father, and we 
 were feted and entertained everywhere. We were so proud 
 to be introduced by him to such men as Baron Humboldt, 
 Erenburg, Jansen, Quetelet, Le Verrier, Lieber, FitzRoy, and 
 others, 
 
SCIENCE AND REVEALED RELIGION. 157 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Maury's letter on the harmony between science and revealed religion 
 — The work of Colonel Smith of the "Virginia Military Institute — 
 Letters to his daughters after marriage — Correspondence during his 
 lecturing tour, and extracts — Letters to Bishop Otey — Maury's 
 address on the study of physical geography. 
 
 In the years immediately preceding the breaking out of the 
 war between North and South, Maury delivered a number of 
 popular lectures in various cities of the North and West, and 
 his correspondence during that period, both private and 
 official, is full of interest. In making a selection from 
 numerous letters, it is with intent to illustrate his character 
 and the direction his thoughts and opinions took, from more 
 than one point of view. In the present chapter we introduce 
 a letter on the harmony between science and revealed religion, 
 another on the labours of General Smith of the Virginia 
 Military Academy, and two letters of advice to his young 
 married daughters. Then follow some letters and notices 
 relating to his course of lectures. The letters to Bishop 
 Otey are memorials of a warm and lifelong friendship ; while 
 Maury's address on the study of physical geography, when 
 he laid the corner-stone of the University of the South 
 in East Tennessee, is a fitting conclusion to the period of 
 peaceful work. 
 
1 5 8 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR V. 
 
 From the Southern Churchman: — 
 
 Letter hj M. F. Mauey. 
 THE BIBLE AND SCIENCE. 
 
 Observatory, Washington, Jan. 22, 1855. 
 Your letter revived pleasant remembrances. Your 
 questions are themes. It would require volumes to contain 
 the answers to them. 
 
 You ask about the " harmony of science and revelation," 
 and wish to know if I find distinct traces in the Old 
 Testament of scientific knowledge, and in the Bible any 
 knowledge of the winds and ocean currents. Yes, knowledge 
 the most correct and reliable. 
 
 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades ? It 
 is a curious fact, that the revelations of science have led 
 astronomers of our own day to the discovery, that the sun is 
 not the dead centre of motion around which comets sweep 
 and planets whirl, but that it, with its splendid retinue of 
 worlds and satellites, is revolving through space at the rate 
 of millions of miles in a year, and in obedience to some 
 influence situated precisely in the direction of the star 
 Alcyon, one of the Pleiades. We do not know how far off 
 in the immensities of space that centre of revolving cycles 
 and epicycles may be, nor have our oldest observers or nicest 
 instruments been able to tell us how far off in the skies that 
 beautiful cluster of stars is hung " whose influences man can 
 never bind." In this question alone, and the answer to it, 
 are involved both the recognition and the exposition of the 
 whole theory of gravitation. 
 
 Science taught that the world was round ; but potentates 
 pronounced the belief heretical, notwithstanding the Psalmist, 
 wliile apostrophizing the works of creation in one of his 
 sublime moods of inspiration, " when prophets spake as they 
 were moved," had called the world " the round world," and 
 " bade it rejoice." 
 
 You remember when Galileo was in prison a pump-maker 
 came to him with his difficulties, because his pump would 
 not lift water higher than thirty-two feet. The old 
 philosopher thought it was because the atmosphere would 
 
SCIENCE AND REVEALED RELIGION. 159 
 
 not press the water up any higher ; but the hand of perse- 
 cution was upon him, and he was afraid to say the air had 
 weight. Now, had he looked to the science of the Bible, he 
 would have discovered tliat the " perfect man of Uz," moved 
 by inspiration, had proclaimed the fact tliousands of years 
 before — "He maketh weight for the wind." Job is very 
 learned, and his speeches abound in scientific lore. The 
 persecutors of the old astronomers would also have been 
 wiser and far more just had they paid more attention to this 
 wonderful book, for there they would have learned that He 
 " stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth 
 the earth upon nothing." 
 
 Here is another proof that Job was familiar with the laws 
 of gravitation, for he knew how the world was held in its 
 place ; and as for " the empty place " in the sky. Sir John 
 Herschel has been sounding the heavens with his powerful 
 telescope, and gauging the stars ; and where do you think he 
 found the most barren part — " the empty places " of the sky ? 
 In the north, precisely where Job told Bildad, the Shuhite, the 
 empty place was stretched out. It is there where comets 
 most delight to roam and hide themselves in emptiness. 
 
 I pass by the history of creation as it is written on the 
 tablets of the rocks and in the Book of Eevelation, because 
 the question has been discussed so much and so often, that 
 you, no doubt, are familiar with the whole subject. In both 
 the order of creation is the same. First, the plants to afford 
 subsistence, and then the animals, the chief point of apparent 
 difference being as to the duration of the period between " the 
 evening and the morning." " A thousand years are in His 
 si^ht as one day," and the Mosaic account affords evidence 
 itseK that the term " day," as there used, is not that which 
 comprehends our twenty-four hours. It was a day that had 
 its " evening and morning " before the sun was made. 
 
 I wiU, however, before proceeding further, ask pardon for 
 mentioning a rule of conduct which I have adopted in order 
 to make progress with these physical researches, which have 
 occupied so much of my time and so many of my thoughts. 
 The rule is, never to forget who is the Author of the 
 "reat volume which Nature spreads out before us, and always 
 
1 60 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 to remember that the same Being is the Author of the book 
 which revelation holds up to us, and though the two works 
 are entirely different, their records are equally true, and 
 when they bear upon the same point, as now and then they 
 do, it is as impossible that they should contradict each other 
 as it is that either should contradict itself. If the two 
 cannot be reconciled, the fault is ours, and is because, in our 
 blindness and weakness, we have not been able to interpret 
 aright either the one or the other, or both. 
 
 Solomon, in a single verse, describes the circulation of the 
 atmosphere as actual observation is now showing it to be. 
 That it has its laws, and is obedient to order as the heavenly 
 host in their movements, we infer from the facts announced 
 by him, and which contain the essence of volumes by other 
 men. " All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not 
 full ; " " Into the place from whence the rivers come, thither 
 they return again." 
 
 To investigate the laws which govern the winds and rule 
 the sea is one of the most profitable and beautiful occupations 
 that a man — an improving, progressive man — can have. 
 Decked with stars as the sky is, the field of astronomy 
 affords no subjects of contemplation more ennobling, more 
 sublime, or more profitable than those which we may find in 
 the air and the sea. When we regard these from certain 
 points of view, they present the appearance of wayward 
 things, obedient to no law, but fickle in their movements, 
 and subject only to chance. 
 
 Yet, when we go as truth-loving, knowledge-seeking 
 explorers, and knock at their secret chambers, and devoutly 
 ask what are the laws which govern them, we are taught, in 
 terms the most impressive, that " when the morning stars 
 sang together, the waves also lifted up their voice," and the 
 winds, too, "joined in the mighty anthem." 
 
 And as the discovery advances, we find the mark of order 
 in the sea and in the air that is in tune with the " music of 
 the spheres," and the conviction is forced upon us that the 
 laws of all are nothing else but perfect harmony. 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 M. F. Mauhy, Lieut. U.S. Navy. 
 
LETTER TO HIS DAUGHTER. i6i 
 
 To B. F. MiNOE, of Bidgway, Albemarle Co. 
 
 Dear FeANK, Observatory, July 25tli. 
 
 The chills have been treating me so badly, in spite of 
 the sun-flowers, that I declined, yesterday, a most inviting in- 
 vitation to accompany the directors of the Atlantic Submarine 
 Telegraph Company in a nice steamer, on a tour of inspection 
 as far as Newfoundland, to select the terminus there, and 
 other matters. They are to set off on the 1st of August. 
 
 What you say about Colonel Smith* illustrates my doctrine 
 about great men, for all useful men are great ; it's the talent 
 of industry that makes a man. I don't think that so much 
 depends upon intellect as is generally supposed ; but industry 
 and steadiness of purpose, they are the things. ... By the 
 way. Smith invites Major Mordecai and myself, in the name 
 of the State, to visit Lexington next June as a Board of 
 Examiners. Before answering, I wanted to know what would 
 be expected of us — to examine the boys, and show ourselves off 
 at their expense ? If so, then I can't go ; on the contrary, if 
 it be to look on and form our own judgment of teachers, 
 instruction, and pupils, then the case will be different. 
 
 To his eldest Daughter. 
 
 My dear DaUGHTEE, Buffalo, Nov. 26th, 1856. 
 
 My thoughts dwell with you, and my heart, brimful 
 of the most tender and affectionate solicitude, clings to you. 
 Alone in my room, there is sometliing which keeps you ever 
 present. The step you are about to take is the step of life — 
 with a woman it certainly is such. 
 
 You have given your hand to a young man of irreproach- 
 able character, of an amiable disposition, and a cultivated 
 mind, and were it not that he is of kin, the match would be 
 as free from objection and quite as promising as need be. 
 
 That you are both poor is no ground of solicitude ; happi- 
 ness is above riches, and if you are not happy, being poor, 
 wealth would not, I apprehend, make you happy. Poverty 
 has its virtues, and my struggles with it are full of pleasant 
 
 * Afterwards General Smith of the Va. Military Institute. 
 
 M 
 
i62 LIFE OF MA TTHEtV FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 remembrances. I hope your experience will tally with mine. 
 I do not say, strive to be content, for in that there is no pro- 
 gression ; but be content to strive. 
 
 I told Will you ought to live to yourselves. It would be a 
 high gratification to have him make my house his home ; but 
 I think, on your account, it would be better for you to betake 
 yourselves to housekeeping. True, if you do, it must be in 
 a very plain way. Your Mother and I commenced house- 
 keeping when my pay was $40 a month, and we lived as 
 happily then as we do now. 
 
 I attach great consequence to the manner and place 
 of life for the first year or two after marriage : it is then 
 that the mould for domestic happiness is cast; it is then 
 that true character and disposition develop themselves on 
 both sides, and that is the time for assimilation to take 
 place, each accommodating and moulding oneself to the 
 other. 
 
 If you go to yourselves you will have time to familiarise 
 yourself with your husband's affairs, which you will not do if 
 you live in a crowd ; and that, my daughter, should be your 
 first duty ; for thereby you fit yourself to become his coun- 
 sellor, companion, and friend in the broadest sense of the 
 term. 
 
 I found, when I arrived here this morning, a letter from 
 your Mother. She tells me there is a talk of your being 
 married before Lent. I am sure she is, as I am, entirely 
 disposed to consult your own wishes in this matter. 
 « * * * # 
 
 Tlih, morning. — I was dreaming of you, the sweetest of the 
 dreams of sweet sleep last night ; I waked again and again to 
 a consciousness of the pleasant visions, enjoyed them wakinw, 
 and dozed off to enjoy them over again in sleep, bless your 
 heart ! 
 
 There was a great jam at the lecture last night. Before 
 the doors were opened, the side-walks for three squares were 
 blocked up by people going an hour before the time to make 
 sure of a good seat. They tell me that 2 or 3000 were 
 turned away. I have lectured two nights in the rain to well- 
 filled halls ; I am as bright as a lark this morning ; they 
 
LETTER TO HIS DAUGHTER. 163 
 
 have procured the largest church in the city for this 
 evening. 
 
 My love and a kiss for Nannie. . . . Love to all hands. 
 God bless you, my child, is daily the prayer of 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 M. F. Matjey. 
 
 How does Dick come on with the drawing ? I am so 
 afraid he is becoming too reserved. Perhaps the wish may be 
 unreasonable, but it is a very earnest one, that my children 
 should treat me not only as their father and as their friend, 
 but as their companion too, in so far as companionship may 
 not be inconsistent with difference of age. . . . 
 
 Good-bye, and may God bless you and make you happy, 
 my child ! 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 First letter to Ids daughter Diana after her marriage to 
 Me. S. W. Coebin, of Farleyvale {Virginia). 
 
 My DEAE Nannie, Observatory, May 9th, 1858. 
 
 Yours was a sweet letter ; it and Mr. Corbin's did our 
 hearts much good. We miss you so much ; the flowers look 
 lonesome, and the songs of the birds sound loud. 
 
 This is little Lucy's birthday — seven years old. It will be 
 ten years, I reckon, before she will be coming out. Her 
 Mamma pitched into her and the boy (M. F., Jr.) last evening. 
 She found a moss-rose in flower this morning. Davy Jones 
 and the boy went in the waggon to fish at the Little Falls 
 yesterday ; they were gone all day, but didn't get a nibble. 
 
 As near as I can guess, it's just about seven years since you 
 went away. I have not seen Betty since, and we have heard 
 from Dick but once, and Glum twice. I went to the Capitol 
 with cousin Ann and Mary yesterday. Mit and Ellen are 
 with us. 
 
 Our hearts were touched by the conduct of those excellent 
 people, who greeted you with so much kindness and affection 
 on your arrival at Moss Neck. Such a welcome must have 
 gone far towards making you feel completely at home right 
 
 M 2 
 
i54 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 off the reel. Life is made up of trifles, and our greatest 
 happiness often depends upon a word, the glance of an eye, 
 the tone of the voice, or what is more expressive, but more 
 indescribable still, the manner. What a boon, a pleasure, and 
 a blessing are pleasant manners ! They give grace and confer 
 happiness, far more than pearls or precious stones. Culti- 
 vate day by day pleasantness of manner. Let us analyse it. 
 Of what, or in what does pleasantness of manner consist ? That 
 trait which gives elegance and grace to woman, comeliness, 
 and the power of doing good. 
 
 After church " Davy Jones " (John), your Mamma, and I 
 dined alone. The children staid down town to the Sunday 
 School celebration. But I was speaking of the Christian 
 graces and human virtues and those traits which you should 
 cultivate, and which embellish and adorn the character. The 
 one great point which, after duty to God, you are to keep 
 constantly in view is, to identify yourself with your husband, 
 and strive mutually each to make yourselves the companion 
 of the other. 
 
 There is but one way to do this, and that is by teaching 
 yourself, my dear, to take an intelligent interest in those 
 affairs and occupations which are from time to time employ- 
 ing your husband's thoughts and life. The husband's affairs 
 are, in the married life, the affairs of the State. He provides ; 
 and, to say the least, the wife who seeks to be posted up in 
 everything that concerns him, especially in the every-day 
 affairs of life, does nothing more than render a grateful 
 homage. Do you, my love, first set the example, and if you 
 do not win tenfold, I have much mistaken the character of 
 the man who has won your affections. 
 
 You must learn the servants on the plantation by name, 
 the cattle and the fields too ; you must learn of Wellford, in 
 the morning, what he is going to do during the day, and take 
 the same lively interest in his occupations as you would do 
 were they your own. The Farm Book * will help you to 
 do this, and if its dry details be mastered for the first year they 
 will be dry no longer, for then you can tell him when to sow 
 and when to reap, how the signs and seasons are. Then 
 
 * AlmJing to a large blank book he bad given ber for tbe purpose. , 
 
LETTER TO HIS DA UGHTER. 165 
 
 hospitalities and good-neighbourliood, a smile of welcome 
 from miae hostess and a gentle voice make a sauce that is 
 savoury for anything ; and the poor — I do not mean more 
 especially objects of charity, but those who are in a more 
 humble sphere of life than it has pleased God to place you — 
 never lack, as in your sweet little heart I am sure you never 
 do, in consideration for them. I must not caution you against 
 the bad taste of patronizing, for your manner of life and good- 
 breeding secure you against that. What I meant was merely 
 to caution you against the foolish habit of waiting to be 
 spoken to ; speak to everybody without waiting. 
 
 There is no trait perhaps more winning than that of a 
 generous confidence. Self-examination — constant, close self- 
 examinations — are indispensable ; there are some that may be 
 made all the better with the assistance of your husband — 
 make them. Confidence begets confidence. 
 
 I would have you both bear in mind that this is the time 
 for you to accommodate and adjust yourselves to each other, 
 and with two such comely dispositions to work upon, this may 
 be soon accomplished, and that so thoroughly that all your 
 future life will abound in the good results. 
 
 Then, too, my dear, you must not forget to treat with affec- 
 tion aU Mr. Corbia's friends and relations. They are dis- 
 posed to be kind and good to you — meet them a little more than 
 half-way. As for reading, with your good taste you cannot 
 go well amiss ; only, in selecting authors, do not select merely 
 for amusement — select for profit also. 
 
 I am writing you a very disjointed letter, my love, but I 
 have been thinking so much of you, and missing you so sorely, 
 and loving you so tenderly, since you went away, and my 
 heart was so full, and my head so empty, that I hardly know 
 what I have said. Did you plant the yellow jasmine at 
 Farleyvale ? 'Tis the grand scion of the one I courted your 
 Mother under, and I wish it, or a sHp from it, to be planted 
 over my grave. 
 
 The boy will go down to see you on his own hook next 
 Tuesday— great boy that ! You and "WeUford should write 
 by every mail to us. Good-bye, and God bless you both ! 
 
 Your affectionate Dad, 
 
 M. F. Mauky. 
 
1 66 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INE MA UR V. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Observatory, April 12th, 1858. 
 .... I am to go lecturing in Ohio from Nov. 22nd to 
 Dec. 3rd. I want to deliver six lectures a week, and raise 
 money enough to keep Dick at the University, pay off bills, 
 and have some shots in the locker. . . . 
 
 M.F. 
 
 Of these lectures the Cleveland Plain Dealer said, on Nov. 
 22nd, 1858 :— 
 
 " They have all the thrilling interest of romance, all the 
 charming simplicity of narrative, and yet the grandest and 
 most sublime principles of science are grappled with, and dis- 
 cussed with the erudition and ability of a master mind. In 
 securing this truly distinguished scholar, the Cleveland 
 Library Association has reflected credit, not only upon their 
 organization, but upon the taste and culture of our citizens. 
 
 " Lieutenant Maury's opening lecture was on the ' Atlantic 
 Telegraph,' with which great achievement Iris name is so 
 honourably connected. His other three lectures will be ' On 
 the Highways and Byways of the Sea,' on extending to 
 the lakes ' A System of Meteorological Observations,' and ' The 
 Workshops and Harmonies of the Sea.' 
 
 " Lieutenant Maury is particularly anxious that our business 
 men should listen to his third lecture, as he is most desirous 
 of carrying out for our lake commerce the system that has 
 proved so valuable to the ocean marine." 
 
 To Mrs. Mauey. 
 
 My dear Wife, Chicago, Nov. 20th, 1858. 
 
 Here I am in the midst of a great snowstorm. This 
 is my lecture evening ; I am afraid of empty benches. I am 
 to sleep at Colonel Graham's ; but, as I have things to attend 
 to, I shall not go there until after the lecture. 
 
 There was a great crowd at the Lecture Hall in Eochester. 
 
A LECTURING TOUR. 167 
 
 I got through, and left on the cars at 3.45 A.M. Travelled 
 all day; reached Ann Arbor at 8 p.m., found an audience 
 waiting for me; hopped out, went straight to lecturing, 
 delighted the audience, rode a mile to a party, took a hot 
 supper, and so back to the cars at 10 ; travelled all night in 
 a sleeping-car, and reached this place at 9 this morning ; so 
 here I am. Have just had dinner, and am going to try for a 
 nap presently. I told M., of the Eioral Neiv Ym^ker, to send 
 you a cheq[ue ; write your name across the back of it, send it 
 to the General, and ask him to get the money for you. 
 
 Where's my Betty, and where's my ISTannie ? I hope, if the 
 latter went, the former came. On the 22nd I lecture here ; 
 23rd in Kalamaso ; 24th, no place fixed — perhaps Indiana- 
 polis; 25th, Cleveland; 26th, Laporte, Indiana, I reckon; 
 27th, here ; 29th, Cincinnati. The weather is very cold. Kiss 
 all my children, and tell me you are all well and happy. I 
 want to astonish you with a present : tell Tots and Glum and 
 Lucy and the boy to put their heads together and teU me 
 what to bring. This is a furious storm ! Give my love to 
 Mary and sister E. ; I hope the latter continues to mend. 
 God bless us every one ! I am mighty tired of staying away 
 from home. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 M. F. 
 
 My DEAE Wife, Kalamaso, Mich., Nov. 23rd, 1858. 
 
 I had a time of it in Chicago. Last night it rained 
 worse than it rained Saturday night, and the attendance was 
 slim. I stopped at Colonel Graham's, you know ; he gave 
 me a nice party last night. He was a soldier ; he would 
 have me waked up in time for the cars at 6 ; he never got 
 left behind. He would have breakfast for me — at least, the 
 cook would ; but, bless your heart, honey ! not a soul waked up 
 till the cook came ; so I was up and dressed and off in about 
 ten minutes. When I arrived here, Senator Stuart, with a 
 committee, was at the cars to escort me to the hotel. He and 
 his wife leave for Washington Saturday ; they will stop at the 
 St. Charles. I wish you and Betty would call on her : I want 
 to invite them up to spend the day when I get back. 
 
1 68 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR V. 
 
 You must make a heap of calls, and leave my cards every- 
 where. Get a nice hack, and don't overdo the tiling by 
 breaking yourself down. Take several days. . . . 
 
 My DEAE Wife, Chicago, Nov. 27th, 1858. 
 
 Since last I wrote, I have lectured in Kalamaso, 
 Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Laporte ; make the children find 
 the places on the map. To-night I lecture here. It is now 
 10 A.M., and raining. I go to Colonel Graham's directly; 
 hope to find there a letter from you. I am very well except 
 a cold. I do long to get over this task ; it has been gloomy 
 weather ever since I've been in the lake country — for more 
 than a week. It is now snowing and storming furiously; 
 but I don't lecture on my own hook, that's a comfort ! 
 
 I had a packed house in Cleveland : they had to stop selling 
 tickets and turn off the people — house full. 
 
 I have travelled since I left home 1844 miles, have been 
 from home 12 days — 10 days on my lecture ground — and have 
 lectured nine times. I am dying to be with yoxi all ! 
 
 Your affectionate 
 
 M. F. 
 
 The following account of the lectures is from the CJiicago 
 Press and Tribune of November 23rd, 1858 : — 
 
 "The subject of Lieutenant Maury's lecture was the 
 importance of a ' Careful Meteorological Survey ' of the great 
 North- American Lakes. It was delivered before the Chicago 
 
 o 
 
 Mechanics' Institute. 
 
 " The subject is one of the highest interest and importance. 
 In Chicago, the great metropolis of the lakes, tlois distin- 
 guished savant and lecturer had a crowded house on the 
 occasion of his treating of a theme so important as the 
 navigation and commerce of these great inland seas, and the 
 benefits accruing to all from their complete and perfect 
 meteorological survey. 
 
 " The lecturer commenced by referring to the magnitude of 
 this chain of lakes, containing as they do one-third of the 
 
A LECTURING TOUR. 169 
 
 fresh water on the surface of the globe. . . . 'This great 
 chain of lakes has been estimated to contain 11,000 cubic 
 miles of fresh water.' To give an idea of the amount of this 
 vast body of water, after explaining his mode of careful 
 measurement of the Mississippi river at Memphis, the 
 lecturer said, ' that the lakes contained more water than the 
 Mississippi discharges into the Gulf of Mexico in one hundred 
 years.' In other words, were all the waste from the lakes by 
 evaporation and other causes to be cut off, and a sluice to be 
 opened, the size of the Mississippi channel, it would flow a 
 century in draining these vast inland seas. 
 
 "The lakes themselves contain a surface of 2000 square 
 miles, and they drain a territory, or their water-shed, of 
 50,000 square miles. 
 
 " From the above figures it may well be imagined that this 
 vast extent of fresh water maintains and subserves most 
 important influences and purposes, as pertaining to the 
 climate, temperature, and hygiene of their vast surrounding 
 or tributary region. 
 
 "There is a difference, not universally well understood, 
 between the effects on climate incident to their being fresh or 
 salt. Were the lakes salt, like the Caspian, they would give 
 to their region a warmer temperature ; the winters, latitude 
 remaining the same, would be milder, the summers more 
 sultry. This arises simply from the effects of evaporation : 
 fresh water, according to the observations of Professor 
 Chapman at Montreal, evaporates faster than salt, carrying 
 off more heat. 
 
 " The amount of the evaporation of the lakes was illustrated 
 as follows. The Cataract of Niagara represents the excess of 
 the precipitation, by rains upon the lakes and their water- 
 shed, over the evaporation. 
 
 " Thus in the lakes the evaporation may be represented as 
 five or six times the water at Niagara, and to produce this 
 
I lo LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR Y. 
 
 evaporation requires the same amount of heat that would 
 suffice to raise Niagara to boiling-point, if such a thing may- 
 be imagined ; and imagining this, we may conceive of what 
 is actually going on. The loss of this amount of heat, parted 
 with by the lakes, leaves them and their region colder in the 
 winter and summer. 
 
 "In salt lakes the water enters warmer than does 
 fresh water, from this loss of heat to the latter, and in 
 winter there is a further difference. When fresh water is 
 exposed to a change of temperature, it grows denser until it 
 reaches 30 degrees, or near freezing, when it expands, thus 
 rising to the surface. These lakes in winter have their 
 coldest water at the surface ; with salt water the reverse is 
 true, and the water, continuing to grow denser with a lower 
 temperature, sinks and leaves the surface-water the warmest ; 
 were the lakes salt water, navigation would continue the 
 entire year round. 
 
 " These preliminaries passed, the speaker connected them 
 with the interests of the lake region, of which he proceeded 
 to speak. Quoting fully, and with honourable mention of 
 their author, the full and clear reports of Colonel Graham of 
 this city, he reviewed fully the perils to which lake fleets are 
 exposed. 
 
 " According to Colonel Graham's report for 1855 to the 
 department at Washington, the value of the shipping and 
 commerce interested in the construction of a single break- 
 water at Michigan city was $218,000,000. 
 
 " According to observations taken, the value of shipping 
 and commerce passing the flats of the St. Clair, on an average 
 of 230 days for the busy season, reached the daily average of 
 $1,029,223. The entire value of the lake commerce was 
 $200,000,000 to each lake, ranging more to Lakes Michigan 
 and Huron, less to Lake Superior ; and, as Erie is an outlet to 
 the others, the amount on that lake was $300,000,000. 
 
A LECTURING TOUR. 171 
 
 "And it is not the shipper, the vessel- owner, and the 
 mariner who are alone interested, but it is the producer, the 
 farmers of Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and their sister States, and 
 the consumers of the Eastern States. 
 
 " The effect of the commerce of the lakes and their 
 improvement even thus far has turned the Mississippi upside 
 down. It has actually placed one of its mouths at Sandy 
 Hook, so that the people along the Mississippi Valley have 
 no slight interest in the lake improvements. 
 
 " Study the rates of lake insurance : their figures should 
 have spoken in tones that should command attention — the 
 losses have been in millions of money. The shrieks of victims 
 by disaster should have been heard, and should have produced 
 the required system of improvements to the lake navigation 
 long ago. 
 
 " This nation is enlightened, our rulers never object to 
 appropriations for scientific purposes on scientific grounds 
 solely. . . . He then said the Government employes, the 
 lighthouse-keepers, &c., stationed throughout the entire chains 
 should be instructed to take observations and report them to 
 Colonel Graham of this city; the Lake Board of Under- 
 writers can instruct their agents in lake towns and cities to 
 do the same. 
 
 " He then eloquently referred to the aid to science furnished 
 by the electric telegraph, which had well-nigh given to the 
 meteorologist omnipresence. It will teU of the barometric 
 changes at distant points, foretell the coming storm. Then 
 the associated press is another agent : it will take up and bear 
 the news to the bulletin boards in distant cities, and to the 
 press, which with steam press and steam-driven car will 
 strike off and diffuse the intelligence to all quarters with 
 a speed ' Ehoderic Dhu' and Malise never dreamed of; and 
 thus aU will know of the coming storm while yet a thousand 
 miles away. 
 
172 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 "He insisted on the importance to the lake region of 
 telegraphic interchange of information as to barometric 
 changes, instancing interesting and striking examples. 
 
 " This part of the lecture was full of illustration and value, 
 but our space forbids us to do it justice. He said the lake 
 commerce has reached a iigure we should have deemed 
 chimerical a few years since for our ocean commerce. 
 
 " He would leave out of the question the value of such 
 intelligence to all other departments save commerce. In 
 four years, ending 1858, $10,000,000 and 866 lives were lost 
 on these lakes. 
 
 " Suppose but a quarter of this loss might be due to a lack 
 of meteorological foreknowledge shown to be attainable. 
 The same power exists to provide for the lakes, as for the 
 salt water. Government has held back because the lake 
 region has not come forward to ask it." 
 
 The following letter, from Maury to his wife, was written 
 after delivering another lecture at Cleveland on Dec. 1st, 
 1858 :— 
 
 My deae Wife, 
 
 .... I arrived here yesterday at noon, and seem to have 
 bewitched the people last night, as I did those of Cincinnati 
 the evening before. Nannie's is a charming letter. I am so 
 glad she is coming home on the 15th. I shall be turning my 
 face homeward about that time. 
 
 Last Monday there was a change of E. R time, which had 
 played sad havoc with me. I left Chicago at 8 P.M. Sunday 
 for Cincinnati, where I was due at noon Monday. But bridges 
 had been washed away. I did not get to Indianapolis till 
 1 P.M., 112 miles from Cincinnati. I was to lecture there at 
 7 . 30, and all the trains had gone, so I thought I would see if 
 I couldn't charter an engine and go down on it express. I 
 found the President of the road, told him who I was and 
 what I wanted, and he fitted up an elegant car, sent me down 
 in it alone, and would not let me pay a cent. I arrived at 7, 
 
FEARS FOR THE UNION. 173 
 
 and found an immense audience, lectured, got on the cars 
 directly aftei', came here, and had an elegant night's rest 
 Lecture in Chicago again Saturday, and Monday in St. Louis, 
 on the nth here, and in Buffalo the 10th and 13th, 1 think. 
 Don't go in that waggon any more. Wlien you feel well 
 enough to make calls, get a hack, take Nannie with you, and 
 leave my cards everywhere. 
 
 Your affectionate 
 
 M. F. Mauky. 
 
 The exposure and fatigue of this lecturing tour brought on 
 his first attack of rheumatic gout, from which he continued 
 to suffer, at intervals, until his death fifteen years afterwards. 
 
 The following letters, to his old friend the Bishop of 
 Tennessee, contain the first allusion to the threatened civil 
 war: — 
 
 To Bishop Otey, of Tennessee. 
 
 My DEAE old Bishop, Observatory, March 13th, 1860. 
 
 As for the Union, I see that it will have to drift. 
 The dissolution of it will, I fear, come before you or I would 
 be willing to see it. "With statesmanship among our rulers, 
 patriotism among our politicians, and virtue among the 
 people, it need never come. 
 
 I have laid by the sermon to read it aloud to all hands on 
 Sunday. 
 
 You recollect Mr. Malory, of Florida, was an active Navy 
 Board man, and that he was very unfair, to say the least, in 
 the Senate towards me. He has brought in a Bill to increase 
 the pay of all the ofiicers " except the Superintendent of the 
 Observatory," and two other officers. Now, what is to be 
 done with such an uncivil disposition ? I do not wish to 
 embarrass the Bill by any opposition to it, for the officers 
 stand greatly in need of more pay ; but I think I'll have to 
 suggest an amendment making the pay of the " Superinten- 
 dent of the ^Observatory" that of a Captain in command. 
 Tell me what you think of it. I send you the BiU. . . . 
 God bless you, my dear old friend, prays your 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
174 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 My excellent FkIEND, Fredericksburg, Aug. 20th, 1860. 
 
 I saw by the papers yesterday that you had had to 
 give up certain engagements on account of sickness. Im- 
 mediately my heart yearned towards you, and I said, " I'll 
 write him a letter to-morrow ; " so here I am, the first tiling 
 after breakfast, seated to carry out the resolve this beautiful 
 Monday morning. 
 
 I hope, my friend, your sickness is not grievous. Still, the 
 hope does not keep down my solicitude. 
 
 I am here on leave for a month, seeking such rest as 
 within that time will afford most relaxation. I noticed a few 
 weeks ago your advertisement from " University Place." 
 From that I infer that all goes on well with the grand under- 
 taking. You know my heart is always with you in that 
 undertaking. I begin to fear you will have it up not a whit 
 too soon, for I very much fear the Union is in danger. 
 Causes seem to be at work which are destined to destroy the 
 Union. . . . 
 
 I have been occupied, during the winter and spring, among 
 other things, with a new edition of the ' Physical Geography 
 of the Sea.' It is greatly_ enlarged, and, I hope, improved. It 
 certainly presents many fine subjects for thought and con- 
 templation. I know of nothing more profitable or ennobling 
 than the discovery of new relations in the physical economy. 
 To tell of these would require ■ space beyond the limits of a 
 letter. . . . 
 
 I have reason to believe that there is, about the South Pole, 
 a comparatively mild climate. The unexplored regions there 
 embrace an area equal in extent to about one-sixth of all the 
 known land on the surface of the earth. I am quietly seeking 
 to create in the minds of some an interest upon the subject, 
 hoping thereby to foster a desire in right quarters for an 
 Antarctic expedition. 
 
 We have in contemplation— Mrs. Maury, Nannie, Molly, 
 and I — a visit to Niagara, intending to tarry at Newburgh a 
 few days with Hasbrouck. 
 
 When you get well and are in the vein, let me hear from 
 
ADDRESS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 175 
 
 you ; tell me how you are, and how about the prospects and 
 everything connected with the University of the South. God 
 bless you, my friend ! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 M. F. Matjey. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 My DEAK Bishop, Observatory, Sept. 15th, 18G0. 
 
 Last Thursday Mrs. Maury and myself, with two of 
 
 the children, returned from a visit to Hasbrouck and Niagara 
 
 Falls, where we found your letter of the 3rd to help make our 
 
 hearts glad. It was Mrs. M.'s first sight of the great cataract. 
 
 Take care of your health, my dear friend, for you are one 
 of the men that your fellow-citizens cannot spare just now. 
 I am glad to see you giving signs of returning health, but am 
 sorry to recognise in these the marks of a health by no means 
 completely restored. 
 
 I had fixed upon the 15th October for England, but your 
 Corner-stone wOl put it off, I reckon, tiU the 20th. I'-feel 
 as though I must be present when the foundations of this 
 great University are to be laid. It is an institution in the 
 success of which I feel the most lively interest. If I possess 
 influence or weight with the public, it is a talent loaned, 
 and this is precisely one of the occasions on which I ought to 
 put it out. 
 
 So if you think my coming and my speech will help you 
 on in your good and noble work, here I am — count on me, 
 my friend. 
 
 If I leave here on Monday morning ; can I be with you in 
 
 time on "Wednesday ? 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 Maury's address at the laying of the corner-stone of the 
 University of the South, on the Sewanee Mountains in East 
 Tennessee, was delivered at the request of Bishop Otey on 
 Nov. 30th, 1860. 
 
176 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 " Physical geograiDhy," he said, " makes the whole world 
 kin. Of all the departments in the domains of physical 
 science, it is the most Christianising. Astronomy is grand 
 and sublime ; but astronomy overpowers with its infinities, 
 overwhelms with its immensities. Physical geography 
 charms with its wonders, and delights with the benignity of 
 its economy. Astronomy ignores the existence of man ; 
 physical- geography" confesses that existence, and is based on 
 the Biblical doctrine ' that the earth was made for man.' 
 Upon no other theory can it be studied- — upon no other 
 theory can its phenomena be reconciled. . . . 
 
 " The astronomer regards the light and heat of the sun as 
 emanations; as forces to guide the planets in their orbits 
 and light comets in their flight — notliing more. But the 
 physical geogxapher, when he warms himself by the coal fire 
 in winter, or studies by the light of the gas-burner at night, 
 recognises in the light and heat which he then enjoys the 
 identical light and heat which came from the sun ages ago, 
 and which, with provident care, have been bottled away in 
 the shape of a mineral, and stored away in the bowels of the 
 earth for man's use, thence to be taken at his convenience 
 and liberated at will for liis manifold purposes. 
 
 " Here, in the schools which are soon to be opened, within the 
 walls of this institution which we are preparing to establish 
 in this ATOod, and the corner-stone of which has just been 
 laid, the masters of this newly-ordained science will teach our 
 sons to regard some of the 'Commonest things as the most 
 important agents in the physical economy of our planet. 
 They are also mighty ministers of the Creator. 
 
 "Take this water" (holding , up a glassful) "and ask the 
 student of physical geography to explain a portion only of 
 its multitudinous offices in helping to make the earth fit for 
 man's habitation. There may be in it a drop of the very 
 same (for in the economy of nature nothing is ever lost or 
 
ADDRESS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 177 
 
 wasted) which watered the Garden of Eden when Adam was 
 there ; escaping thence, through the veins of the earth into 
 the rivers, it reached the sea. Passing along its channels of 
 circulation, it was conveyed far away by its currents to those 
 springs in the ocean which feed the winds mth vapour for 
 rains among these mountains ; taking up the heat in these 
 southern climes, where othermse it would become excessive, 
 it bottles it away in its own little vesicles. These are 
 invisible ; but, rendering the heat latent and innocuous, they 
 pass like sightless couriers of the air through their appointed 
 channels, and arrive in the upper sky. Tliis mountain 
 draws the heat from them ; they are formed into clouds and 
 condensed into raiu, which, falling to the earth, make it soft 
 with showers, causing the trees of the fields to clap their 
 hands, the valleys to shout, and the mountains to stag. 
 Thus the earth is made to yield her increase, and the heart of 
 man is glad. 
 
 " Nor does the office of this cup of water in the physical 
 economy end here. It has brought heat from the sea in the 
 southern hemisphere to be set free here for the regulation of 
 our climates ; it has ministered to the green plants, and given 
 meat and drink to man and beast. It has now to cater among 
 the rocks for the fish and insects of the sea. Eating away your 
 mountains, it fills up the valleys, and then, loaded with lime 
 and salts of various minerals, it goes singing and dancing 
 and leaping back to the sea, owning man, by the way, as a 
 taskmaster — turning mills, driving machinery, transporting 
 merchandise for him — and finally reaching the ocean. It 
 there joins the currents to be conveyed to its appointed 
 place, which it never fails to reach in due time, mth food in 
 due quantities for the inhabitants of the deep, and with 
 materials of the right kind to be elaborated, in the workshops 
 of the sea, into pearls, corals, and islands — all for man's use. 
 
 " Thus the right-minded student of this science is brought 
 
 N 
 
178 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 to recognise in the dewdrop the materials of which ' He who 
 walketh upon the wings of the wind maketh His chariot.' 
 He also discovers in the raindrop a clue by which the Christian 
 philosopher may be conducted into the very chambers from 
 which the hills are watered. 
 
 "I have been blamed by men of science, both in this 
 country and in England, for quoting the Bible in confirma- 
 tion of the doctrines of physical geography. The Bible, they 
 say, was not written for scientific purposes, and is therefore 
 of no authority in matters of science. I beg pardon ! The 
 Bible is authority for everything it touches. What would 
 you think of the historian who should refuse to consult the 
 historical records of the Bible, because the Bible was not 
 written for the purposes of liistory ? The Bible is true and 
 science is true, and therefore each, if truly read, but proves 
 the truth of the other. The agents in the physical economy 
 of our planet are ministers of Him who made both it 
 and the Bible. The records which He has chosen to make 
 through the agency of these ministers of His upon the crust 
 of the earth are as true as the records which, by the hands of 
 His prophets and servants. He has been pleased to make in 
 the Book of Life. 
 
 " They are both true ; and when your men of science, with 
 vain and hasty conceit, announce the discovery of disao-ree- 
 ment between them, rely upon it, the fault is not with the 
 witness of His records, but with the worm who essays to 
 interpret evidence which he does not understand. 
 
 " When I, a pioneer in one department of this beautiful 
 science, discover the truths of Eevelation and the truths of 
 science reflecting light the one upon the other, how can I, as 
 a truth-loving, knowledge-seeking man, fail to point out the 
 beauty and rejoice in its discovery ? Eeticence on such 
 an occasion would be sin, and were I to suppress the emotion 
 with which such discoveries ought to stir the soul, the 
 
ADDRESS ON PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 179 
 
 ' waves of the sea would lift up their voice,' and the very 
 stones of the earth cry out against me. 
 
 " As a student of physical geography, I regard earth, sea, 
 ail", and water as parts of a machine, pieces of mechanism, 
 not made with hands, but to which, nevertheless, certain 
 offices have been assigned in the terrestrial economy ; and 
 when, after patient research, I am led to the discovery of one 
 of these offices, I feel, with the astronomer of old, ' as though 
 I had thought one of God's thoughts,' and tremble. Thus, 
 as we progress with our science, we are permitted now and 
 then to point out here and there in the physical machinery of 
 the earth a design of the Great Architect when He planned 
 it all. 
 
 " Take the little Nautili. Where do the fragUe creatm'es 
 go ? What directing hand guides them from sea to sea ? 
 What breeze fills the violet sails of their tiny craft ? And 
 by whose skill is it enabled to brave the sea, and defy the 
 fury of the gale ? What mysterious compass directs the 
 flotma of the graceful Argonauts ? Coming down from the 
 Indian Ocean, and arriving off the stormy Cape, they 
 separate, the one part steering for the Pacific, the other stand- 
 ing for the Atlantic Ocean. Soon the ephemeral life that 
 animates these little navigators will be extinct ; but the 
 same power that cared for them in life, now guides them 
 after death ; for though dead, their task in the physical 
 economy of ouj planet is not yet finished, nor have they 
 ceased to afford instruction in philosophy. 
 
 " The fraO. shell is now to be drawn to distant seas by the 
 lower currents. Like the leaf carried through the air by the 
 wind, the lifeless remains descend from depth to depth by an 
 insensible fall, even to the appointed burial-place on the 
 bottom of the deep, there to be collected into heaps and 
 gathered into beds, which at some day are to appear 
 above the surface, a storehouse rich with fertilizing in- 
 
 N 2 
 
1 80 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INE MA UR V. 
 
 gredients for man's use. Some day science will sound the 
 depths to which this dead shell has fallen, and the little creature 
 will perhaps afford solution for a problem as yet unsolved ; 
 for it may be the means of revealing the existence of the 
 submarine currents that have carried it off, and of enabling 
 the physical geographer to trace out the secret paths of 
 the sea. 
 
 " Had I time I might show how mountains, deserts, 
 winds, and water, when treated by the light of this beautiful 
 science, all join in one universal harmony, for each one has 
 its part to perform in the great concert of nature. . . . 
 
 " The Church, ere yet physical geography had attained to 
 the dignity of a science in our schools, and even before man 
 had endowed it with a name, saw and appreciated its dignity, 
 the virtue of its chief agents. What have we heard here in 
 this grove by a thousand voices this morning ? A song of 
 praise, such as these hills have not heard since the morning 
 stars sang together the ' Benedicite ' of our mother Church, 
 invoking the very agents whose workings and ofiices it is the 
 business of the physical geographer to study and point out. 
 In her services she teaches her children in their songs of 
 praise to caU upon certain physical agents, principals in this 
 newly-established department of human knowledge ; upon 
 the waters above the firmament, upon the showers, dew, 
 wind, fire and heat, winter and summer, frost and cold, ice 
 and snow, night and day, light and darkness, lightning and 
 clouds, mountains and hills, green things, tree and plants, 
 whales, and all things that move in the waters, fowls of the 
 air, with beasts and cattle, to bless, praise, and magnify the 
 Lord!" 
 
 In the end of 1860, Maury had occasion to visit England 
 on business connected with the publication of his book. 
 While he was in London, he was the guest of the Eoyal 
 
DINNER WITH THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. i8i 
 
 Geographical Society at the anniversary dinnerof 1861, when 
 the late Lord Ashburton was in the chair. On that occasion 
 Maury advocated the exploration of the Antarctic Eegions, 
 with a view to selecting a proper place for the observation 
 of the next transit of Venus. He received the most sym- 
 pathetic applause from a large audience. When he returned 
 to America, the gloomy prospect of a great calamity was 
 already darkening the land. 
 
1 82 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 Breaking out of the civil war — Maury's letter to Bishop Otey — His 
 Appeals to the Governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and 
 Delaware — Letters to Mr. Haabrouck of Newburgh— Lincoln's Procla- 
 mation calling on Virginia to furnish troops to subjugate S. Carolina 
 — Keply of Virginia — Maury resigns his commission and leaves 
 Washington — Offers from the Grand Duke Constantine and from France 
 — ^Maury's reply — Defence of Maury's decision in letters to a friend 
 — ^Maury appointed Chief of the Sea-coast, Harbour, and lliver 
 Defences in the South. 
 
 We have now followed the subject of this biography to the 
 period when he had reached the highest point of his worldly 
 prosperity. The ISTational Observatory, under his able 
 management, was daily increasing in usefulness; from 
 nothing it had sprung into an institution of the fu-st rank. 
 An important astronomical work, on which he had been 
 long engaged, entitled 'Astronomical Observations, Cata- 
 loguing the Stars,' was progressing satisfactorily; other 
 projects which he had devised for the advancement of science 
 seemed on the point of realization, when the great storm of 
 civil war burst upon him in the midst of his useful 
 labours. 
 
 Maury made earnest efforts to avert war, maintain peace, 
 and insure to the South her equal rights in the Union. 
 He addressed pathetic appeals to the Governors of Penn- 
 sylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware, " to stand in 
 the breach and stop this fratricidal strife." 
 
EFFORTS TO A VERT THE WAR. 1S3 
 
 To Governor Packer, of Pennsylvania he wrote : — 
 
 Dear Sir, Observatory, Washington, Jan. 3rd, 18G0. 
 
 When the affaii's of a nation are disturbed, quiet 
 people, however humble their station, may be justified in 
 stepping a little out of their usual way. In all exertions of 
 duty, something is to be hazarded ; and I am sure you have 
 only time to hear what I wish to write — none to listen to 
 apologies for venturing to write you tliis letter. You 
 recollect that, in the nullification times of South Carolina, 
 Virginia stepped forward as mediator, and sent her com- 
 missioners to that State with the happiest results. But we 
 are now iu the midst of a crisis, more alarming to the peace and 
 integrity of the Union than those memorable times. We have 
 the people, in no less than seven of those States, assembling, 
 or preparing to assemble, in their sovereign capacity to decide, 
 in the most solemn manner known to them, whether they 
 will remain in the Union or no. The most remarkable feature 
 in the whole case is, it appears to me, this — that here we have 
 a national family of States that have lived together in unity 
 for nearly three-score years and ten, and that a portion of 
 them are preparing to dissolve these family ties and break up 
 the Union, because — because of what, sir ? Ask legislators, 
 ask governors, ask whom you will, and there are as many 
 opinions as to the causes of discontent and the measures of 
 redress, as there are leaves in the forest. At no time have 
 the people of any one of the discontented States, acting in 
 their sovereign capacity, even authorized a remonstrance to be 
 made to their sister States of the North against their course 
 of action. We have heard a great deal of tliis from poli- 
 ticians, partisans and others, but if the people of any one of 
 the Southern States, acting in their sovereign capacity, have 
 ever remonstrated with the people of the Northern States as 
 to the causes of dissatisfaction and complaint, and thus laid 
 the matter formally before you of the North, I cannot call 
 it to mind. Neither has any Northern State so much as 
 inquired of the people of any Southern State, either as to the 
 cause of their offence, or as to the terms and conditions upon 
 which they would be willing to remain in the Union. 
 
1 84 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR Y. 
 
 It does appear to me that in and out of Congress we are all 
 at sea with the troubles that are upon us ; that the people, 
 and the people alone, are capable of extricating us. You, my 
 dear sir, and your State — not Congress — have it in your power 
 to bring the people into the " fair way " of doing this. This 
 brings me to the point of my letter — then why will not the 
 great State of Pennsylvania step forth as mediator between the 
 sections ? Authorize your commissioner to pledge the faith of 
 liis State, that their ultimatum shall not only be laid before 
 the people of the keystone State, assembled likewise in their 
 sovereign capacity, but that she will recommend it to her 
 sister States of the North, for like action on their part, and 
 so let the people, and not the politicians, decide whether 
 this Union is to be broken up. 
 
 I am sanguine enough to believe that the great body of the 
 Southern people entertain opinions, sentiments, and feelings 
 in conformity with my own in this matter. With dis- 
 tinguished consideration, I have the honour to be, 
 
 Kespectfully, &c., 
 
 M. r. Mauey. 
 To His Excellency Grov. Wm. F. Packer, 
 Harrisburg, Pa. 
 
 To Judge J. S. Black, of Penn., he also writes : — 
 
 Deak Judge, Observatory, Jan. 3rd, 1860. 
 
 I have an abiding faith that if we can draw a propo- 
 sition from the people of any one of the Southern States 
 before things get too far, all may yet be well. 
 
 If you think with me, please lend a hand to stir up 
 Pennsylvania to mediate, and send a commissioner for the 
 purpose. 
 
 In haste, yours truly, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 To a Friend in Newhurgh. 
 
 Eight in the middle of the Atlantic, 
 
 On board steamer ' New York,' 
 My dear H., December 7th, 1860, 
 
 I sailed from New York 28th Oct., arrived in London 
 14th Nov., left again Nov. 27th, and sailed from Southampton 
 
EFFORTS TO AVERT THE WAR. 185 
 
 Nov. 28th, having accomplished the immediate object of my 
 ■visit, which was to copyright the new edition of the ' Physical 
 Geography of the Sea, and its Meteorology.' This is almost 
 a new work. In England, I have dedicated it to Lord 
 Wrottesley, who has assisted the cause (of meteorology) so 
 much; and in the XJ. S., I have dedicated it to Wm. C. 
 Hasbrouck, of Newburgh, who has been such a good and true 
 friend to the author from early youth till now. 
 
 Till now! Do we belong to the same country yet, 
 Hasbrouck ? A queer question to ask, you will say ; but you 
 must recollect that I left home before the elections — have 
 not seen a Southern paper since ; and the latest accounts I 
 have seen from the XJ. S. are contained in the New York 
 Herald of the 13th, 14th, and 15th of last month — over three 
 weeks ago ! The people of South Carolina and C. have been 
 more precipitate than I anticipated ; and now, my friend, 
 unless you good men of the North and South will bestir your- 
 selves, and take matters into your own hands, and out of those 
 of the politicians, I fear me — I fear me, we shall not be long 
 of one country ! . . . 
 
 I was very much engaged while in London with the 
 business that took me there. I received much consideration, 
 and was brought into social intercourse with the best people 
 of the realm, all of which was very charming, but, after all, 
 not worth the absence from my dear home, the sweet wife and 
 dear children with which each of us is blessed, and which 
 makes home the sweetest place on the face of this earth. 
 Good-bye. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 Deak H., Observatory, March 4:th, 1861. 
 
 .... The new President is now on his way to the capitol, 
 and the Express reports " All Quiet," as I took it for granted 
 it would be. I have no idea of any disturbance, or any 
 attempt even at a plot. Of course, you will see the Inaugural 
 as soon, if not sooner, than I shall, for, having the telegraph, 
 Mr. Lincoln may literally speak his polyglot through tongues 
 of fire. 
 
1 86 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR Y. 
 
 Officers of the Army and Navy — should war come between 
 the sections — will have a hard time ; and, indeed, who will 
 not ? No military man can permit himself to accept service 
 with a mental reservation.* All who are foes of his flag, and 
 whom his country considers enemies of hers, are enemies of 
 his ; therefore, if we have war between the sections, every 
 man who contiaues in "Uncle Sam's" service, is, in good 
 faith, bound to fight his own, if his own be on the other side. 
 The line of duty, therefore, is to me clear — each one to foUow 
 his own State, if his own State goes to war ; if not, he may 
 remain to help on the work of reunion. 
 
 If there be no war between the sections, we must hoist the 
 flag of re-annexation, to carry the elections of '64 upon that 
 issue, bring back the seceding States, and be happier and 
 greater, and more glorious than ever. As soon as the smoke 
 clears away, you will see that all the old party lines have been 
 rubbed out. . . . 
 
 Virginia is not at all ready to go out of this Union ; and 
 she is not going out for anything that is likely to occur short 
 of coercion — such is my opinion. . . . 
 
 Yours, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 DeaK H., Observatory, April 10th, 1861. 
 
 Civil war is like a conflagration ! There is no telling 
 when or where it will stop, as long as there is fuel to feed it. 
 So I have been thinking it might be as well to have that thing 
 that " pestered me so" backagain, or in some other shape. Pray 
 tell me what you think, and what you advise, and if, without 
 inconvenience, you could realise for me, and when. . . . You 
 know that in civil war men become fiends, and there is no 
 telling where our divisions will end. As for me, I am 
 getting old ; my life is not worth much now at any rate, and 
 if I do get knocked over, I would like to have my little 
 savings and scrapings where wife and children could get them. 
 Help me think how to arrange them. 
 
 I cannot tell you anything about public affairs, except what 
 
 * This in answer to Mr. H.'s plea that he might remain in the service, 
 and not be forced to fight the South. 
 
HISTORICAL RETROSPECT. 187 
 
 you see in the papers. But if war come, sure enough ^vith all 
 its horrors — as I fear it will, and that right soon — I suppose 
 that its seat will be not far from this place. 
 
 I have no idea of what Va. will do. If " the Convention " 
 pass a secession ordinance, it does not follow that the people 
 will ratify it ; but there is no such thing as speaking with 
 confidence about the matter — we, must wait and see, when 
 the people have recovered from the stirring events of the last 
 few days. 
 
 .... I am trying to get up an expedition to the South 
 Pole, and getting nautical monograph N"o. 3 ready for the 
 press. 
 
 My love to dear Maria and all the ladies. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 M. 
 
 It is not Avithin the pro"\dnce of this biography to discuss 
 at length the merits of the questions then at issue. But to 
 understand the motives which influenced Maury's course, and 
 to make them clear — particularly to such of our readers as may 
 not be residents of the United States — it wUl be necessary to 
 give a brief glance at the liistory of the country before the 
 war of 1776, in which we separated ourselves from England. 
 The thirteen colonies covering our Atlantic front were de- 
 pendent upon the mother country alone. Each colony was 
 ruled by a governor appointed by the Crown, together with a 
 representative body, after the fashion of a parliament, of 
 rather ill-defined local powers. So far as their political 
 relations were concerned, these infant States were absolutely 
 independent of each other, though bound together by ties of 
 kindred, neighbourhood, and preservation from the dangers 
 which threatened them — dangers from the Indian, and 
 dangers from the French, who were enclosing them by a 
 cordon of forts along their whole western frontier, from 
 Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, to make good their claim to 
 the great valley of the Mississippi. 
 
i88 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 The rupture with England came: each colony elected a 
 governor, from among its own people, to succeed his royal 
 predecessor, and became an independent Eepublic. To 
 carry on the war, these thirteen States formed a provisional 
 Union ; and after their independence of England had been 
 secured, and each State individually recognised by her as 
 an independent power, the draft of the present Constitu- 
 tion was prepared, and submitted to the States for con- 
 sideration. 
 
 In the whole of that period there was not a hint or a doubt 
 of the right of any one State to refuse to enter the Union 
 thus proposed ; and some States did not enter it for two 
 years after its adoption by the rest. 
 
 For the first quarter of a century, the Union was considered 
 quite in the light of an experiment, the feelings of patriotism 
 in the people clustering entirely around the original unit. So 
 strong was the feeling of jealousy against the plan of Union, 
 that, but for the immense influence of Washington, it is very 
 doubtful whether all the States ever would have adopted it. 
 The States delegated to the central government certain 
 specified functions, retaining their political organization to 
 administer iipon local affairs. 
 
 Fourscore years had passed, and the issue between the 
 Northern and Southern States culminated in secession. What- 
 ever the merits of the controversy may have been, in point of 
 fact those States had resumed their sovereignty. Was the 
 fealty of a citizen due to his State, or to the creation of the 
 State from which she had withdrawn ? This was the question 
 Maury was now called upon to decide for himself. 
 
 He had been opposed to the dissolution of the ' Union^ 
 feeling it to be, in the time and manner, an unwise step — 
 remaining where he was would bring the rich harvest of fame 
 and wealth, whose seeds he had so wisely sown — ^the new 
 Confederacy could offer him no personal advantages ; and yet> 
 
ESPOUSED THE CAUSE OF THE SOUTH. 189 
 
 believing as he did, that his duty was to liis State, he hesitated 
 not a moment to espouse her cause.* 
 
 On the 15th of April, 1861, Mr. Lincoln issued a proclama- 
 tion calling on Virginia to furnish 75,000 troops to subjugate 
 South Carolina, and force her back into the Union. Virginia's 
 immediate response was an ordinance of secession, and a call 
 upon her sons in the Federal Service to rally to her support. 
 Maury responded to this call on the 20th, and resigned his 
 commission in the United States Navy and went to Pdchmond, 
 where he was immediately appointed one of a Council of 
 three, the other two being Judge Allen, Chief Justice of the 
 State, and General F. S. Smith, (of the Virginia Military 
 Institute), to advise with the Governor, Letcher, as to the 
 best and quickest way of arming and protecting the State. 
 
 When he resigned and came to Eichmond, nothing had 
 been offered him by the Confederacy, and both the President 
 and his Secretary of the N'a^'y were unfriendly to him. He 
 was opposed to the war, a peace-loving man, a student, and 
 a philosopher ; but when Virginia called, he turned his back 
 upon his congenial scientific labours, upon all the plans that 
 he had organized for the good of mankind, and upon his 
 splendid discoveries and achievements, born of his genius, 
 developed by his original mind, children of liis own creation — 
 all were sacrificed to the inexorable law of duty. 
 
 Who but one who sympathised with him, and worked 
 with him, can tell the throes of his mighty heart at this, his 
 greatest, noblest act of self-sacrifice ! 
 
 " It is related of Socrates, that when his last hour had come, 
 and one of his young disciples brought liim the cup of 
 hemlock, the young man covered his face with his mantle, 
 weeping as he presented it, and, falling on his knees, he 
 buried his face on the couch where his dear master sat 
 
 * For Maury's views on tWs subject, expressed in his own words, see 
 Appendix, " Vindication of the South and of Virginia." 
 
igo LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR V. 
 
 awaiting his death. When Maury determined to leave the 
 service of the United States, he bade his secretary (Mr. 
 Thomas Harrison), write his resignation. That true and 
 loyal heart, which had served and loved him for almost 
 twenty years, and whose fluent pen had rendered him such 
 willing service, refused its office now ; and," presenting the 
 unfinished paper with one hand, he covered his eyes with the 
 other, and exclaimed, with a choking voice and gathering 
 tears, ' I cannot write it, sir ! ' He knew it was the death- 
 warrant to his scientific life — the cup of hemlock that would 
 paralyse and kill him in his pursuit after the knowledge of 
 nature and of nature's laws."* 
 
 When it became known in Europe that he had resigned 
 his place in the Federal Service, he was solicited to become 
 the guest of Eussia in the following letter from the Grand 
 Duke Constantine, Grand Admiral of Eussia, and brother to 
 the Czar. 
 
 St. Petersburg, 
 
 My dear Captain Maury, July 27th, I86I (August 8th). 
 The news of your having left a service which is so 
 much indebted to your great and successful labours, has made 
 a very painful impression on me and my companions-in-arms. 
 Your indefatigable researches have unveiled the great laws 
 which rule the winds and currents of the ocean, and have 
 placed your name amongst those which will ever be mentioned 
 with feelings of gratitude and respect, not only by professional 
 men, but by aU those who pride themselves in the great and 
 noble attainments of the human race. 
 
 That your name is well-known in Eussia I need scarcely 
 add, and though "barbarians," as we are still sometimes 
 called, we have been taught to honour in your person 
 disinterested and eminent services to science and mankind. 
 Sincerely deploring the inactivity into which the present 
 political whirlpool in your country has plunged you, I deem 
 
 * Mary H. Maury. 
 
OFFER FROM RUSSIA. 191 
 
 myself called upon to invite you to take up your residence in 
 this country, where you may in peace continue yoiir favourite 
 and useful occupations. 
 
 Yom- position here will be a perfectly independent one ; 
 you will be bound by no conditions or engagements ; and 
 you wUl always be at liberty to steer home across the ocean 
 in the event of your not preferring to cast anchor in our 
 remote corner of the Baltic. 
 
 As regards your material welfare, I beg to assure you that 
 everything will be done by me! to make your new home 
 comfortable and agreeable ; whilst at the same time, the 
 necessary means will be offered you to enable you to continue 
 your scientific pursuits in the way you have been accus- 
 tomed to. 
 
 I shall now be awaiting your reply, hoping to have the 
 pleasure of seeing here so distinguished an of&cer, whose 
 personal acq^uaintance it has always been my desire to make, 
 and whom Eussia will be proud to welcome on her soil. 
 Believe me, my dear Captain Maury, 
 Your sincere weU-wisher, 
 
 CONSTANTINE, 
 
 Grand Admiral of Eussia. 
 
 Maury replied to this iuvitation by pleading the call of 
 duty, which weighed mth him more than personal advantage. 
 
 AdmIEAI, Eichmond Va., October 29th, 1861. 
 
 Your letter reached me only a few days ago ; it filled 
 me with emotion. In it I am offered the hospitalities of a 
 great and powerful Empire, -with the Grand Admiral of its 
 fleets for patron and friend. Inducements are held out such 
 as none but the most magnanimous of princes could offer, 
 and such as nothiag but a stern sense of duty may with- 
 stand. 
 
 A home in the bosom of my family on the banks of the 
 Neva, where, in the midst of books and surrounded by friends, 
 I am, without care for the morrow, to have the most princely 
 means and facilities for prosecuting those studies, and con- 
 tinuing those philosophical labours in which I take most 
 
1 92 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INE MA UR Y. 
 
 delight: all the advantages that I enjoyed in Washington 
 are, with a larger discretion, to be offered me in Eussia. 
 
 Surely a more flattering invitation could not be uttered ! 
 Certainly it could not reach a more grateful heart. I have 
 slept upon it. It is becoming that I should be candid, and 
 in a few words frankly state the circumstances by which I 
 iind myself surrounded. The State of Virginia gave me 
 birth; within her borders, among many kind friends, the 
 nearest of kin, and troops of excellent neighbours, my children 
 are planting their vine and fig-tree. In her green bosom are 
 the graves of my fathers ; the political whirlpool from which 
 your kind forethought sought to rescue me has already 
 plunged her into a fierce and bloody war. 
 
 In 1788, when this State accepted the Federal Constitution 
 and entered the American Union, she did so with the formal 
 declaration that she reserved to herself the right to withdraw 
 from it for cause, and resume those powers and attributes of 
 sovereignty which she had never ceded away, but only 
 delegated for certain definite and specified purposes. 
 
 When the President elect commenced to set at naught the 
 very objects of the Constitution, and without authority of 
 law proceeded to issue his proclamation of 15th April last,* 
 Vii'ginia, in the exercise of that reserved right, decided that 
 the time had come when her safety, her dignity, and honour 
 requii-ed her to resume those " delegated " powers and with- 
 draw from the Union. She did so ; she then straightway 
 called upon her sons in the Federal Service to retire therefrom 
 and come to her aid. 
 
 This call found me in the midst of those q^uiet physical 
 researches at the Observatory in Washington which I am 
 now, with so much delicacy of thought and goodness of heart, 
 invited to resume in Eussia. Having been brought up in 
 the school of States-rights, where we had for masters the 
 greatest statesmen of America, and among them Mr. Madison 
 the wisest of them all, I could not, and did not hesitate ; I 
 recognised this call, considered it mandatory, and, formally 
 renouncing all allegiance to the broken Union, hastened over 
 
 * CalKng on Va. to furnish 75,000 troops to force South Carolina back 
 into the Union. 
 
OFFER FROM RUSSIA. 193 
 
 to the South side of the Potomac, there to renew to Father- 
 land those vows of fealty, service, and devotioni which the 
 State of Virginia had permitted me to pledge to the Federal 
 Union so long only as, by serving it, I might serve her. 
 
 Thus my sword has been tendered to her cause, and the 
 tender has been accepted. Her soil is invaded, the enemy is 
 actually at her gates ; and here I am contending, as the 
 fathers of the Eepublic did, for the right of self-government, 
 and those very principles for the maintenance of which 
 Washington fought when this, his native State, was a colony 
 of Great Britain. The path of duty and of honour is there- 
 fore plain. 
 
 By following it with the devotion and loyalty of a true 
 sailor, I shall, I am persuaded, have the glorious and proud 
 recompense that is contained in the "well done" of the 
 Grand Admiral of Eussia and his noble companions-in- 
 arms. 
 
 Wlien the invader is expelled, and as soon thereafter as the 
 State will grant me leave, I promise myself the pleasure of a 
 trip across the Atlantic, and shall hasten to Eussia, that I may 
 there in person, on the banks of the Neva, have the honour 
 and the pleasure of expressing to her Grand Admiral the 
 sentiments of respect and esteem with which his oft-repeated 
 acts of kindness, and the generous encouragement that he has 
 afforded me in the pursuits of science, have inspired his 
 
 Obedient servant, 
 M. F. Maury, Commander C. S. Navy. 
 
 To H.I.H. The Geand Duke Constantine, 
 G-rand Admiral of Eussia, 
 St. Petersburg. 
 
 He also declined a similar invitation from France,* because 
 Virginia wanted him. These letters were brought to Eich- 
 mond, under a flag of truce, by the Eussian Minister, Baron 
 Stacle; and the French Minister, accompanied by the 
 Prussian Envoy, Baron Gerolt, who came, they said, in person 
 
 * This letter has been lost. 
 
194 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 to pay their respects and make their adieus to the " philosopher 
 and man of science, who had given up all, everything 
 he had save honour, at the call of his native State in her 
 trouble." 
 
 On the breaking out of the war, when Maury moved all his 
 family away from Washington, his affectionate kinsman, John 
 Minor, offered his home in Fredericksburg' as an asylum to 
 the refugees. Maury responded to this invitation gratefully 
 as follows : — 
 
 Dear John, Richmond, April 28tli, 1861. 
 
 Bless your heart for offering us shelter in these times ! * 
 There is no telling when we shall all be together again. I 
 have written to my wife to accept your kind offer, imtil we 
 can find out where we are to go. . . . 
 
 .... My office here, you know, is only advisory. 
 In haste my love, yours truly, 
 
 M. F. Mauky. 
 
 To William C. H., of Newlurgh. 
 
 Dear H., Eiclimond, Va., April 29tli, 1861. 
 
 When your letter reached me, I was just leaving 
 Washington. I left my beautiful home there with a heart 
 full and eyes overflowing on the 20th. 
 
 My little money " pesters me " mightily. Pray help me, 
 my friend, to put money-matters in a better train. . . . 
 But consider your discretion ample to do the best you can, 
 and to act as you do for yourself were you going to make 
 such a transfer; only don't go beyond the means in your 
 hands, for I cannot meet pressing necessities here. WiU you 
 not let me make over to you out and out my St. Paul 
 
 * He could not take refuge at Parleyvale (his son-in-law Corbin's 
 residence), because it was too near the Potomac, and would soon be close to 
 the enemy's lines. In fact, it was used soon afterwards as a Federal 
 Colonel's head-quarters, and Mrs. Corbin joined her mother and sisters, and 
 herself became a refugee. 
 
REGRETS. igi, 
 
 property? When peace comes — which God grant may be 
 soon ! — I can relieve you of taxes. Kiss my Maria for me. 
 
 Your friend always, 
 
 M. F. Maury. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Eiohmond, May 6tli, 1861. 
 I snatched time Saturday night to run up to Fredericks- 
 burg to see my family, who are all there except Betty, who 
 is still in Washington — Dick, who is here — and Dave, who is 
 at the University. 
 
 I asked John Herndon to make a deed in your favour of all 
 my Minnesota property. If I retain it, it will, I fear, be con- 
 fiscated ; so if I am to lose it, I would rather you should have 
 it than the State. . . . The mails here are so very uncertain 
 now that I am afraid to trust anything hke money through 
 them. ... I reckon you can reach me through Maury Bros., 
 N. Y., should the terrible war, which now appears to be 
 imminent, prove a reality. Of the funds in your hands, you 
 might as well reserve say $60 for taxes next year. . . . 
 Now, my friend, act as though you were acting for yourself 
 .... My most affectionate love and solicitude for Maria, 
 and love also to all of your dear household. 
 
 My friend, yours truly, 
 
 M. F. Mauet. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 Council Chamber, Richmond, May 11th, 1861. 
 Yours of the 8th, with enclosures, came to hand last 
 night. It gives expression to those deep and abiding 
 sentiments of friendship and affection which I knew were in 
 your heart. Nevertheless, your utterance of them is very 
 gratifying. These are difficulties which you and I have had 
 no part in making, and the estrangements which they are 
 destined to create have no business to come between you 
 and me, or yours and mine. , . . The President refuses to 
 accept my resignation. The object of this will be plain 
 enough to you. But in such a cause the halter has no more 
 
 2 
 
1 96 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INE MA UR Y. 
 
 terror than the bullet. Death is death. Our cause is just, 
 and we enter the contest in. . . . armour. However, I am in- 
 disposed to enter into any discussion with my friends on the 
 other side. I grant them sincere ; but I cannot but lament, 
 in the depths of my heart and in excruciating agony, that 
 their delusion is such as to have already allowed the 
 establishment of a military despotism. I am sorry I have 
 said so much ; but it is done. 
 My most tender love for Maria and for you and yours. 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 I wrote you in full this morning about the thirteen St. 
 Paul mortgages. . . . There is nothing like excitement here. 
 All of us are of one mind — very cool, very determined ; no 
 desire for a conflict. We are on the defensive. We have 
 nothing to fight the North about ; but if the North wants a 
 fight, it can have it. We are ready ; but the North must 
 come to us for it. 
 
 From all I see in the public journals here, we have no idea, 
 and never had any idea of attacking Washington, or of 
 invading any Northern right, or Northern soil. 
 
 M. r. Mauby, 
 
 To the same. 
 
 My DEAE FEIEND, Eickmond, May 12th, 1861. 
 
 I only saw last night the remarks of the Boston 
 Traveller about Lieutenant Maury's treachery, his desertion, 
 removing of buoys. It's all a lie ! I resigned and left 
 the Observatory on Saturday the 20th ult. I worked as hard 
 and as faithfully for " Uncle Sam " up to three o'clock of 
 that day as I ever did, and at three o'clock I turned everything 
 — all the public property and records of the ofiice — regularly 
 over to Lieutenant Whiting, the proper officer in charge. I 
 left in press, ' Nautical Monograph, No. 3 ' — one of the most 
 valuable contributions that I have ever made to navigation ; 
 and just as I left it, it is now in course of publication there 
 though I shall probably not have an opportunity of reading 
 
REGRETS. 197 
 
 proof, and cannot tell wliat errors or alterations may appear. 
 I have lost none of my interest in these enchanting fields of 
 physical research -which I have revelled in there for near 
 twenty years. I am here to war, not against science, but 
 against the oppressor, and for my fatherland. As for " the 
 buoys," I touched them not ! But I am here to defend the 
 right, and will do all and everything to discomfit the enemy 
 that is consistent with civilised and honourable warfare. A 
 price has been set on my head in Boston. I thank them for 
 the honour ; for I do not forget that in other days a price 
 was set upon the heads of the best men of that State, and the 
 catise in which I fight is far more righteous than that which 
 moved those great and good men to take up arms against 
 their mother-country. 
 
 Yours most affectionately, 
 
 M. r. Maury. 
 
 DeaE H., Kiohmond, Va., May 13th, 1861. 
 
 .... To show how I still delight in striving to do good 
 in all proper ways, even to those who are enemies in war, but 
 nevertheless friends in science, I enclose a bulletin of the 
 International Exhibition for 1862, London. I am now 
 engaged, snatching odds and ends of time, in replying to the 
 Commissioners, and in putting the people of the Northern 
 States in the way of an opportunity of exhibiting their 
 handiwork there. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 M. r. Mauey, 
 
 DeAE H., Riclimond, June 10th, 1861. 
 
 Betty and party passed safely through the lines, and 
 arrived in Fredericksburg last week. I have just returned 
 from the sweet old Burg, She told me all about your trip to 
 Washington. It was a touching act of friendship which 
 moved you to think even of a visit to Eichmond. I have, 
 you may be sure, my friend, weighed the matter well.* 
 
 You do not see, and at present cannot, I fear, understand 
 
 * He intended to come on to Eichmond and try to convince Manry 
 that he ought not to give up all for Va., but return to the Federal service; 
 
198 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 our cause in its true beariugs. Holy and just it is, as human 
 cause can be, and one for which we are all ready to lay down 
 life and sacrifice everything. I will not discuss it with you, 
 because I might in some way wound your or Maria's 
 sensibilities ; but, my friend, believe me, my sleep is sweet, 
 like that which the poet gives Eichmond on the battle-field. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 On the 10th of June, 1861, the Governor's Advisory 
 Council was abolished, and, on the same day, Maury was 
 appointed Chief of the Sea-coast, Harbour, and Eiver Defences 
 of the South. In this post he assisted in fitting out the 
 ' Virgiaia ' or ' Merrimac ' for her short but destructive 
 career. He also invented a most formidable torpedo to be 
 used both for harbour and land defence, besides contributing 
 in other ways to the protection of the Southern sea-board. 
 
TORPEDO WARFARE. 199 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 ToEPEDO Waefaee — Maurjr Invents an electric torpedo for Harbour and 
 Land Defence — Indifference on the part of the authorities — Maury's 
 experiment — He mines the James Eiver — Maiu:y's plans and drawings 
 fall into the hands of the enemy — Panic caused by fear of torpedoes 
 in the Federal Fleet — Maury on the necessity for a Confederate Navy 
 — The whole South arming for defence — Maury's two sons become 
 volunteers — Col. R. L. Maury shot through the, body — ^Lieut. J. S. 
 Maury slain at Vicksburg. 
 
 Mauky in England— Orders from the Confederate Secretary of the Navy 
 to proceed to England — Leaves Charleston with his youngest son — 
 Maury organizes a society ia England to promote cessation of 
 hostilities — Petition to the United States for peace — Letter from a 
 chronometer-maker offering Maury a home — ^Letters about his son at 
 school in England, and on news from home — Congratulation to the 
 Archduke Maximilian on going to Mexico. 
 
 ToEPEDO ■n'arfare ■^vas re-introduced to the world by our 
 civil war, and it was the practical mind of Mauiy which 
 appreciated its power and developed its efficiency. The 
 Federal Secretary of the Navy (iu his Eeport, December 4th, 
 1865) stated that, during the war, their "navy lost more 
 vessels by torpedoes than from all other causes whatever." 
 
 In pursuance of his plan for torpedo defence, Mamy, soon 
 after his arrival in Eichmond, sent an agent to New York to 
 piu'chase a quantity of insulating wire. The agent was foiled 
 in his mission, and returned empty-handed. 
 
 There was neither wire-factory nor insulating material in 
 the South, and though an establishment for the manufacture 
 of the former was soon put in operation, yet, all the Southern 
 ports having been placed under blockade, it was impossible 
 to obtaiti either gutta-percha or india-rubber from abroad, 
 
200 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 There was, moreover, a great prejudice against, or lack of 
 appreciation of this undeveloped system of defence, entertained 
 by the officials of the new Confederacy into whose hands the 
 defence of the South had fallen. 
 
 Finally, after a year had passed in futile efforts to impress 
 the Confederate authorities with the importance, value, and 
 economy of mining pa'Sses and channel-ways with magazines, 
 to be sprung at will by means of the electric spark, Maury 
 procured, in the summer of 1862, two barrels of powder from 
 the Governor of Virginia, who was himself in favour of the 
 plan, 'and prevailed on the Secretary of the Navy, and the 
 Chairman of the Committee of Naval Affairs in the Congress 
 of the Confederate States, to go down the river and see 
 him explode powder, by an ingenious contrivance, under 
 water. 
 
 Two magnificent jets went up ; and when the two gentlemen 
 heard the report of a barrel of powder, and saw the water 
 pagodas rising up some hundred feet in the air, they were 
 convinced. The next day $50,000 were placed at the service 
 of Commander Maury (for he now held this rank in the 
 Navy of the Confederate States) for mining the James 
 Eiver. 
 
 StiU poAvder was scarce, wire scarcer, and of gutta-pei'cha 
 and india-rubber there was absolutely none, except such as 
 might be collected by calling upon the patriotic women of 
 that noble old State for their india-rubber over-shoes ; but, by 
 a remarkable coincidence, it happened that the enemy, in 
 attempting to lay a submarine cable across Chesapeake Bay, 
 from Fortress Munroe to Eastville, had been forced to abandon 
 the attempt and had left the wire to the mercy of the 
 waves. 
 
 Mauiy had the good fortune to secure the prize ; it was 
 much cut up and broken by chafing on the rocks, but it was 
 better than anything of the sort that could be made out of old 
 
TORPEDO WARFARE. 
 
 shoes. This flotsam was found just after the first and only- 
 attack by the Federal gunboats upon the shore defences at 
 Drewry's Bluff on the James Eiver. 
 
 In the summer of 1862, Maury proceeded to mine the 
 James Eiver below all the defences. While engaged on 
 this important work, the success of which was to vindicate 
 the wisdom of his advocacy of this mode of defence, his 
 career in the Confederacy was brought to a summary con- 
 clusion. 
 
 "Without having been consulted, and strongly against his 
 wishes, he received an order to go to Europe to pmxhase 
 torpedo material in conjunction with another officer — a duty 
 that might have been performed by any junior officer in the 
 service. 
 
 The little steamer which he used, and his torpedoes, were 
 placed in the hands of Lieutenant Davidson, who continued 
 in charge of these defences tiU. the end of 1864. 
 
 Drawings and plans, with a chart of the torpedoes akeady 
 planted by Maury, were left in the vessel ; and not long after, 
 in attempting to plant others, she grounded during a falling 
 tide, and fell into the hands of the enemy. 
 
 At that time the Federals were as ignorant regarding this 
 means of defence as were the Southern officers ; but with these 
 captured plans and materials they tried the experiment, " a 
 la James Eiver,'' at Baltimore on a schooner, and " blew her 
 into tooth-picks," as related in their official report of the 
 transaction. 
 
 After this, there was no further attempt made by the 
 powerful Federal fleet to disturb the shore defences of the 
 James Eiver, and General Lee completed them at his leisure. 
 They gave the suspected part of the river a wide berth— till 
 the combined attack in 1864 by Grant on the north, Butler 
 on the south, and the fleet by water. 
 
 The fleet, while yet miles below where the torpedoes really 
 
202 LIFE OF MA TTHE W F ONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 were, came up with cutters and launches ahead, dragging and 
 searching for these machines and ascending at tlie rate of 
 about half-a-mile a day. They caught some of the mechanical 
 torpedoes, for there was wire enough for only a few electric 
 ones. 
 
 Finally, after having swept over and passed with their drags 
 one electric torpedo which had been in the water eighteen 
 months, a fine steam corvette, the ' Commodore Jones,' was 
 sent ahead to feel a coppice on the bank for masked batteries 
 and rifle-pits. Davidson, concealed in a marsh on the opposite 
 bank, with the two wires of the galvanic pile in his hand, 
 allowed her to pass, hoping that larger game would follow. 
 She had paused right over the torpedo and waited for the 
 row-boats, with their sweeps and grapnels, to go ahead 
 dragging again. Fearing that these boats might now foul his 
 wires, he determined not to let her pass his magic line. He 
 closed the circuit, and up she went! Engine and boilers 
 were blown clean out of the vessel for fifty feet. The hull 
 was shattered, and fragments of the wreck filled the air ; out 
 of a crew of 150 men only three escaped to tell the tale. 
 It was all the work of a minute. The terror-stricken enemy 
 stood still in his tracks, and fearing that the Confederates 
 might come down upon him at night with their torpedo-boats, 
 floating torpedoes, and little ironclad, he proceeded to sink 
 his own ships in the channel, to barricade the river, and to 
 blockade himself out of Eichmond. There was, at this time, 
 only one electrical torpedo in the whole river, the first 
 planted having been washed away in a flood of unpre- 
 cedented violence. The Confederates were quick to take 
 advantage of this blunder with the barricade. They imme- 
 diately mounted a battery above (" the Hewlett House 
 Battery "), which commanded it and prevented its removal 
 after the panic caused by the fate of the ' Commodore Jones ' 
 should have subsided. 
 
TORPEDO WARFARE. 203 
 
 This barricade was in the bend of the river.* In order to 
 get round it, General B. F. Butler conceived the unsuccessful 
 and much ridiculed plan of cutting " the Dutch Gap Canal." 
 Thus, by a single torpedo with its powers of " moral suasion," 
 that formidable fleet was paralysed and rendered impotent 
 during the whole time that Eichmond was beleaguered by 
 Grant with his armies and the whole Federal host on 
 land. 
 
 Admiral Porter confessed that, in his first attack with 
 Butler upon Fort Fisher (at Wilmington), it was the fear of 
 these electrical torpedoes which kept him from entering the 
 Cape Fear Eiver with his gunboats. He afterwards entered, 
 found no torpedoes, and carried the place. 
 
 Every one knows the dread that sailors have of hidden 
 rocks and sunken dangers ; but when those dangers may at 
 any time and at the bidding of an enemy burst out into live 
 volcanoes, the idea of encountering them is simply awful. 
 
 This James Eiver torpedo was planted on the bottom in seven 
 fathoms of water. It was an old steam-boiler, and contained 
 1800 pounds of common powder. The battery used was 
 galvanic, and the igniting arrangement was made by cutting 
 the wire and connecting the two ends by a bit of fine platinum 
 wire, which left a space of a quarter of an inch between the 
 two ends of the copper or conducting wire, then lashed firmly 
 to a bit of wood ; this was thrust into a small sack iilled 
 with fine rifle-powder, which was the exploding charge ; but 
 the whole wire, battery, and bursting-charge were mere make- 
 shifts. Much ingenuity was called into play to defend 
 Southern harbours by means of other submarine contrivances ; 
 such as mechanical torpedoes which, when struck by a vessel, 
 would explode by means of percussion or some other device. 
 
 * Just below the end of Farrar's Island. The Confederate battery erected 
 to prevent its removal was known as the Howlett House Battery, and well 
 performed its work until the close of the war. — E. L. M. 
 
204 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 The James Eiver torpedoes, when planted, were daily tested. 
 This can never be done with mechanical torpedoes. 
 
 After his arrival in England, Maury made this new method 
 of defence the subject of patient investigation and special 
 study. With means and appliances which the resources of 
 that country enabled him to bring into play, a power has been 
 placed in the hands of military men which has since assumed 
 the proportions that he predicted. 
 
 During the first and second years of the war, Maury 
 wrote a series of papers, published in the Eiclimond Enquirer, 
 over the signature of " Ben Bow," urging upon the Executive 
 the necessity of building a navy without delay, and especially 
 of protecting our bays and rivers with small floating batteries. 
 In the first of these articles he says : — 
 
 " At the commencement of our independence we not only 
 find ourselves without a navy, but in the midst of war ; with 
 ports blockaded, we are shut out from the marine resources 
 of the world. Nevertheless, we have caught up such water- 
 craft as we could lay hands on, we have strengthened some of 
 them as best we could, and, placing one or more guns upon 
 each, have commissioned them into service. 
 
 " These, however, are mere makeshifts. For the most part 
 they are fit only to contend against harmless merchantmen, 
 and they are few in number. If we are to have a navy, 
 surely no statesman would attempt to build it of such 
 material. 
 
 ". . . . The sums appropriated by the Government for 
 ' building and increase ' will indicate its policy touching a 
 navy, and show what, for the present, is proposed to be done. 
 
 " Two Navy Bills have passed since "Virginia seceded and 
 joined the Confederacy. One was passed in May at Mont- 
 gomery, and the other in Eichmond in August. 
 
 "In the Montgomery Bill there is not one dime for 
 construction or increase. The whole appropriation is |278,500, 
 
NEED FOR A SOUTHERN NAVY. 205 
 
 of whicli $100,000 is for equipment and repairs. Now a 
 navy without vessels is like lamps without oil. The Eich- 
 mond BUI gives $50,000 to buy and build steamers and 
 gunboats for coast defence, and $160,000 for two ironclad 
 gunboats for the defence of the Mississippi Paver and the 
 City of Memphis. . . . We may safely infer that $50,000 
 will neither purchase nor build a great many steamers or 
 gunboats, nor enable us to provide very efficiently for the 
 defence of all the rivers except the Mississippi, and of all 
 the harbours, bays, creeks, and sounds of our coast all 
 the way from Washington on the Potomac to Brownsville on 
 the Eio Grande. 
 
 " Thus we perceive that since Virginia and North Carolina, 
 with their defenceless, open, and inviting sea-front, seceded, 
 the sum of only $50,000 has been voted towards the 
 ' purchase or construction of a navy,' for the defence of the 
 entire sea-coast of the Confederacy ! 
 
 " From this analysis, and from all that we can see doing 
 on the water, it appears that the Government has not yet 
 decided to have a navy. 
 
 " Does the country want a navy ? If yea, can we afford to 
 have one ? That is the question ; and we hope the thinkers 
 and writers and men of the country wUl bring to bear upon it 
 fair minds and the right spirit. 
 
 " The first thing to be done is to get rid of all navy notions, 
 borrowed from the old navy at Washington, as to what 
 constitutes a navy, to cast about us and see what resources 
 we have, and then, considering the means and appliances 
 which, owing to our peculiar situation, we can bring into play, 
 to decide whether the best interests of the country call for a 
 navy or not. In this age, when commerce is king, no nation, 
 though it have cotton and the staples of the South for its 
 nobles, can hope to command the respect of its peers abroad 
 without a navy. Nor can our citizens, with such a neighbour 
 
2o6 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 as we are bound to have, be secure from daily outrage 
 unless we have a navy to protect them in peace as well as 
 in war. 
 
 " That the country is in great need of a navy now, is 
 patent to the world ; and that it will want one in the future 
 is obvious to every statesman. ... . . , 
 
 " In the first Eevolution we had a navy ; it did good 
 service, and experience approves it. This, our second, is 
 more holy than that, and our enemy is close at hand. He is 
 marauding in habit, and far less chivalrous in disposition 
 than the enemy we then had. Moreover, our sea-board 
 country now, while on the one hand it is far more tempting 
 to the robber, on the other it is far less secure from his 
 inroads. We cannot now, as we did then, depend on distance 
 and our faithful old allies, the wind and waves, to protect our 
 citizens from insult and pillage. Moreover, the epoch for 
 ' big guns and little ships ' is at hand.* Our enemy is not 
 prepared for it. We are. Let us be up and doing, and with 
 craft no larger than steam-tugs and pilot-boats, we may send 
 to the bottom, or chase away from our bays and offings, his 
 tall frigates. In the old war, none but stout ships could be 
 sent against us, for we were separated from the enemy by the 
 most stormy ocean in the world. 
 
 " . . . . The fact that the mouths of our rivers should 
 be blockaded with an old steam-tug, our shores ravaged, 
 plantations pillaged, and homes burned by a fleet of mere 
 passenger-boats, is neither gratifying to our pride at home, 
 nor will it be held abroad as indicative of any very high 
 degree of national spirit on our part. 
 
 " There seems then to be every reason of patriotism and 
 policy why we should set to work ' right off the reel,' and 
 with might and main build up a navy at least sufficient to 
 
 * See " Scraps from the Luoky-Bag," by " Harry Bluff," Southern 
 Literary Messenger of Oct. 1839. 
 
NEED FOR A SOUTHERN NAVY. 7.ai 
 
 command our rivers, bays, &c., to defend our shores, and 
 protect our inhabitants against the enemy. 
 
 "There are a good many citizens among us who say 
 ' cotton is king ; ' they hold that tins king is to do all and 
 more for us than it is possible for a navy to do. . . . 
 
 " All such are in a delusion. In the first place, cotton and 
 the staples of the South are only some of its nobles ; and 
 unless human nature be changed, they, without a navy, will 
 be powerless for protection. Unless we have the national 
 ability to put forth navy strength necessary to support the 
 dignity of the nation, its great staples will be a source of 
 weakness, for mere wealth is weakness, and, like unprotected 
 wealth everywhere, our commercial staples will invite to 
 outrage and wrong. 
 
 "There. seems to be a vague idea floating in the pubKc 
 mind of the South that, somehow or other, cotton is to enable 
 us to do, if not entirely, at least to a great degree, what other 
 nations require armies and navies to accomplish for them. 
 Because cotton-wool is essential to the industry of certain 
 people, and because we are the chief growers of cotton-wool, 
 therefore, say these political dreamers, we can so treat cotton, 
 in a diplomatic way, as both to enforce obedience to our 
 revenue laws at home and secure respect to our citizens 
 abroad. But can we ? Did ever unprotected wealth secm-e 
 immunity to its owner ? 
 
 " In the first place, cotton becomes, when handled in any 
 other way than the regular commercial way, a two-edged 
 sword, as apt to wound producer as consumer. Every 
 obstacle which we place between it and the channels of 
 commerce here, operates as a bounty for its production else- 
 where. 
 
 " It is a very current but mistaken idea to suppose that 
 this is the only country in the world properly adapted to the 
 cultivation of cotton. No such thing. Should even the 
 
2o8 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 present paper blockade continue for a few years, and cotton 
 rule at the present New York prices of 22 cents, or even at 15 
 cents, our political dreamers may wake and find the cotton 
 sceptre, if not entirely lost to our hold, at least divided in 
 our hand". - - 
 
 " Every one can see that in case the supply of American 
 cotton to foreign markets be materially interfered with, the 
 effect will be to enhance the value of other cotton. You will 
 not only stimulate those already engaged in the cultivation of 
 cotton abroad to increased production, but you tempt their 
 neighbours into the fields, and induce others successfully to 
 bring lands under cotton cultivation which, but for such 
 encouragement, would never have been thought of. Our 
 cotton interests cannot be tampered with without danger. . . . 
 
 "Suppose England and France do not choose for a few 
 months to come to break this paper blockade, which we 
 have not the naval strength to force, paper though it be, 
 does it follow that that blockade, weak and ineffectual as, up 
 to this time, it has notoriously been, will continue so until 
 those nations get ready to act ? 
 
 "The amount appropriated for the Lincoln navy during 
 the current year is upwards of $40,000,000. . . , We cannot, 
 either with cotton or with all the agricultural staples of the 
 Confederacy put together, adopt any course which will make 
 cotton and trade stand us as a nation in the stead of a 
 navy. . . . 
 
 "With two or three millions judiciously expended, it is 
 possible for us to put afloat, in a little while, a navy that 
 will give us the command of our own water. . . . 
 
 " .... In our present circumstances, the navy which we 
 most require is for smooth water and shallow places. Such 
 a one, consisting of small vessels, can be quickly and cheaply 
 built, and, for the most part, will not be required to keep the 
 sea but for a few days at a time. 
 
NEED FOR A SOUTHERN NAVY. 209 
 
 "A shell from a rifled cannon will, when rightly aimed, 
 tear a hole in the side of the largest ship sufficient to sink 
 her in a few moments. ... I do not mean by this that 
 every shell which strikes a ship is bound to sink her. The 
 true relation of a shell to a ship, is that of the musket-ball to 
 the soldier in battle. . . . 
 
 "Our smooth waters and the improvements of the day 
 enable us to send out a class of vessels that shall present 
 little more than a feather-edge as a target to the enemy, and 
 therefore be more invulnerable than the best shot-proof we 
 can build. A little ship intended for the protection of 
 Chesapeake Bay, or elsewhere in Southern waters, need not 
 be more than twenty or twenty-five feet broad, and, with coal, 
 crew, and gun on board, two or three feet above the water. 
 Now, why may not such a vessel engage, at long range, with 
 its rifled gun, the ' Minnesota,' for instance. We can shoot as 
 far and hit as hard as the ' Minnesota.' .... 
 
 " We, with our big gun and little ship, could watch our 
 opportunity and always be the attacking party. Head on, we 
 would approach the enemy on her beam. 
 
 " The cross-section of a vessel twenty feet broad and two 
 feet out of water, measures forty feet. Forty square feet 
 then would ^be the measure of the target- to be presented 
 on our side ; on the other hand, the dimensions of the 
 ' Minnesota ' are not far from three hundred feet in length by 
 twenty above the water — thus presenting a target, broadside 
 on, of six thousand square feet, or one hundred and sixty 
 times the size of ours. . . . 
 
 " Our necessities cry out for a navy in war ; and when 
 peace comes, it will profit us but little to be affluent and 
 free, if we are continually liable to be pillaged by all who 
 seek our custom. The breadth of our plantations and the 
 value of our staples will be of small advantage if the others 
 may have the mastery in our own waters." 
 
 P 
 
210 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 " Although he argued so wisely and so well, the heads of 
 the Government were unfriendly to Maury, and would not 
 adopt his suggestions. But by this time the whole South 
 was burning with military ardour. Every man was buckling 
 on his sword, and among the rest Maury's two eldest sons, 
 Eichard, aged twenty, and John, aged eighteen, volunteered. 
 Eichard joined the 24th Virginia Eegiment, participated in 
 the gallant charge on Hancock at Williamsburg,* was 
 wounded at ' Seven Pines,' was promoted to lieutenant- 
 colonel, and was shot through the body at Drawry's Bluff, 
 from the effects of which wound he has never recovered. 
 
 "John went from the University of Virginia with the 
 students when Harper's Ferry was seized. He afterwards 
 went to Vicksburg on General D. H. Maury's staff; and, 
 while making a reconnoissance alone, is supposed to have 
 met his death, for he was never heard of afterwards.f 
 
 " Of this sad loss, his father writes in the family Bible : — 
 ' Our noble son, John Herndon, went out from Vicksburg, 
 Miss., alive, on the 27th day of January, 1863, to reconnoitre 
 the enemy. A few hours afterwards his horse was seen 
 without a rider, but nothing was ever heard of him. Prom 
 the footprints and other signs and marks on the levee, it is 
 supposed that he was surprised by a scouting-party of the 
 enemy in ambush within our lines and done to death. 
 Comely in person, lovely in disposition, generous and brave, 
 he loved right and hated wrong. Precious in the eyes of his 
 parents, he was very dear to our hearts.' " 
 
 In the fall of 1862, Maury was ordered to England by the 
 Secretary of the ISTavy (Mr. Millory) to purchase torpedo 
 material, &c. He accordingly left Eichmond, accompanied 
 by his youngest son Matthew, whom he called "Brave," a lad 
 of some twelve or thirteen years, whom he intended to place 
 
 * See Eeport of Battle of Williamsburg, by Col. E. L. Maury, 
 f See Appendix B ; Fate of young Confederate Officer, 
 
SENT TO ENGLAND. 211 
 
 at a good school as soon as he shoiild reach the peaceful 
 shores of Old England. He proceeded to Charleston, S.C, 
 where they were detained a week or more awaiting a 
 favourable opportunity to leave the country on a " blockade 
 runner." While in Charleston, he wrote the following letters 
 to Ms wife : — 
 
 My dear Wife, Charleston, October 8th, 1862. 
 
 Your short note of the 4th has just come to hand. 
 We devoured it. " Brave " is at his lessons. He has an 
 engagement with Mr. Godon for a buggy ride this evening, if 
 we do not sail, of which there seems no prospect at present, 
 for the sky is cloudless. " Brave " read me, from the 
 " Calendar " this morning, that the moon rises Saturday 
 night by eight. We shaU certainly get off that night if not 
 before. The ' Hero ' will sail soon after, and letters sent here 
 to go by her, care of F. T. & Co., Liverpool, may get there as 
 soon as I do. After her, the ' Kate ' wiU go ; so tell aU hands 
 to write and keep writing, and to send their letters here to 
 F. & Co. This house is all the time running the blockade. 
 Their vessels generally go by Nassau, and, although by short 
 route, are often a long time in reaching England. Still it is 
 one of the channels of reaching me, and it should not be 
 overlooked. I shall be most anxious to hear about the 
 fighting at Corinth, and to learn how fared my "Da^y 
 Jones " * and Dabney.t I am expecting a telegram from you 
 about them, for Dabney has always been considerate in 
 sending early tidings. I refrain from telegraphing him, 
 because, in the first place, I do not know where he is exactly, 
 and in the next, if either my " Davy Jones " or he have been 
 hit, the telegraphic account would perhaps have things worse 
 than they really are, and so I should sail and be miserable 
 for a month or more in the absence of later information. 
 Wherefore, I have concluded that it is more philosopliical to 
 sail thinking " all's weU," and wait for letters to dispel the 
 delusion, if delusion tliis be. Tot's letter, which was mailed 
 
 * Son, John. 
 
 t Nephew, Gen, D. H. Maury. 
 
2 1 2 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FON TA INE MA UR Y. 
 
 before yours, has not been received. The stopping of Corbin 
 with the gunboat timber looks as though the enemy was 
 expected back in Fredericksburg. I don't want them to 
 catch you there again. I shall leave a note behind to be 
 sent you in case the carrier pigeon brings back word " all's 
 well." I am thinking and dreaming about you all the time. 
 I wrote Lucy yesterday ; Elic the day before, and Tot's 
 two days ago ; also Dick and Betty and Nannie. Kiss them 
 all, and may God Almighty bless and keep you ! 
 
 After several attempts and failures, Maury and Ms son 
 finally succeeded in getting off on board the ' Hero ' on the 
 24th of October, and when they were safe beyond the reach of 
 the Federal blockading fleet, he let fly a carrier pigeon with 
 a note tied under its wing, to be forwarded by Mr. F., of 
 Charleston, to his wife. The note contained the vessel's 
 latitude and longitude and " all's well." 
 
 My dear Wife, ' Hero,' off Charleston, Oct. 24th, 1862, 3 p.m. 
 " Brave " and I came off in a row-boat. It was a 
 long pull. We left at one, and are hungry. The table is 
 set. We expect to pass the bar at eight, and pray to be clear 
 of the enemy by eleven. We have about fifteen passengers, 
 some of them Jews. " Brave " and I have a nice room, next 
 to the Captain's, two berths in it. The sweetest of boys is 
 "Brave." He has been coursing about on deck, and has 
 come down to say, " Are you writing to ma again ? " 
 Yes. . . . With good luck we shall be in Halifax next 
 Tuesday. I hear the steward discussing dinner. Duck, 
 goose, potatoes, boiled mutton. Our appetite is keen. As 
 soon as " Brave '' is over with sea-sickness we will commence 
 our studies. Tell Betty, and Nannie, and Dick, and Sue, and 
 Will, and Corbin, and Tots, and Glum, to write me often, 
 and tell me all the news; and do you also, my precious 
 friend, keep me posted up in public as well as in family 
 affairs. . . . 
 
 I shall, you know, very much wish to keep the run of 
 public sentiment, and to be posted up in the various phases 
 of public affairs, 
 
VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 213 
 
 Bless my Lucy's heart, I think you have had her long 
 enough — eleven years. I wish she was here, and Tots and 
 Glum were along when we got over the other side. 
 
 The Captain is a Scotchman. Farewell ! Soup is on the 
 table. God bless and keep us aU ! 
 
 Here are some rose-leaves for L., IST. B., and W. 
 
 To his Wife. 
 
 My dear Feiend, Halifax, U.S., Nov. 10th, 1862. 
 
 We arrived here last night after a tedious and 
 boisterous passage of five and a half days from Bermuda. 
 " Brave " and I both suffered more from sea-sickness than we 
 did in the passage to Bermuda. The steamer in which we 
 came was quite equal in dirt and all uncomfortableness to 
 that between Calais and Dover. But, thanks be to God, here 
 we are at last, safe and well. This is Monday ; Thursday 
 night, at two, we shall take the steamer for Liverpool, and, in 
 nine days more, we are due in " Merrie Old England." 
 
 To-day I have been with " Brave " a-shopping, and I have 
 bought him a suit of clothes, which are to be finished to- 
 morrow, and a cap, two pair of flannel drawers. (It has been 
 snowing to-day). Two flannel shirts, a purse, and two pair of 
 gloves. When he gets his clothes he wants to have his 
 " type " taken to send you. We have been in hot weather 
 till now. This morning he was coasting about the room 
 enjoying the fire, and talking about your winter arrangements, 
 and the wood that he had stowed away for you. This is a 
 place of 25 or 30,000 inhabitants. They are strongly 
 " secesh " here. The Confederate flag has been flying from 
 the top of the hotel aU day, in honour, I am told, of our 
 arrival. There is a grand review here to-day. It is the 
 birthday of the Prince of Wales. They are celebrating it 
 with unusual pomp, as it is his 21st. " Brave " has gone with 
 some of the passengers to see the review. He wore his over- 
 coat — he is collecting pictures for Lucy ; he supposes Willy 
 has coUected any amount of old iron. I have let him off 
 from his lessons to-day. This is only to tell you of our 
 welfare ; I shall send it, via Boston, and if I get the " type " 
 
2 1 4 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR Y. 
 
 will send it the same way. The hand-organs have been 
 grinding " Dixie " under my window all day. I sent you a 
 box of shoes, &c., by the ' Harold ' from Bermuda. It was 
 directed to E. H. M., through F. & Co., Charleston. I have 
 not heard that the ' Harold ' has been captured, and therefore 
 presume it got in all safe, and I hope the things reached 
 you safely, and that each one is pleased with her share. 
 Eemember, there was no choice, and I had to take what I 
 could get. 
 
 Please send Mr. W., of F. & Co., $5 worth of stamps, and 
 write him a note to say they are to pay postage on letters 
 that I intend to send through their firm. 
 
 God bless you and us all, 
 
 M. 
 
 To the same. 
 
 My dear FkiEND, Halifax, Nov. 12th, 1862. 
 
 I have written you, via Boston, to tell you of our safe 
 arrival and of our expected departure to-morrow night in the 
 ' Arabia ' for Liverpool, that " Brave " is as bright as a lark, 
 and the greatest of comforts to me. He is making fine 
 progress with his Latin. Thinking nothing of doing a page 
 at a sitting. He has a nice new suit of clothes ; has gone 
 down now to have a little alteration made in the pants, and 
 to have his " type " taken in them and his new cap, to send 
 to yovi. 
 
 I have been received here with marked attention ; I had a 
 constant stream of callers yesterday from 10 till 4J. . . . 
 The people here are all as much " southern " as we are. 
 
 The chances of your getting this are slim. I must content 
 myself with few words. . . . 
 
 Accounts from Yankeedom are in by telegraph up to date. 
 They are most encouraging to us. B, has displaced McClellan. 
 I think hourly of Dick and Dave. Hand my letters round 
 to the family and kin. Perhaps S. will copy them for D. 
 and D. Bless their hearts. Love and kisses, and kind 
 messages to Nos. 1, 1^, 2, 2^, 3, 3^, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, and all 
 my good friends. I wonder where you are. 
 
 Yrs. 
 
 P.S. — We sail to-night at one. 
 
PE TIT ION FOR PEACE. 315 
 
 While in England Maury carried the olive branch in one 
 hand and the sword in the other ; for he did not cease to cry 
 aloud and make his voice heard on the side of peace, or at 
 least for an amelioration of the horrors of war. 
 
 He assisted in organizing a society " for the Promotion of 
 the Cessation of Hostilities in America," which had its office 
 at 215 Eegent Street, London, and which numbered among 
 its officers and members, leading men of the army, navy, 
 state, and church. 
 
 They^drew up the following petition (for the promotion 
 of peace in America), to the people of the United States ! 
 but their voice was not listened to, and the bloody strife 
 went on. 
 
 The Petition foe Peace in Ameeica. 
 
 "the people op the united kingdom op great 
 britain and ireland, 
 
 "to the people oe the united states, 
 
 " Greeting : 
 
 " We are of the same race, and many of you are our 
 brothers. Can we not, therefore, come to you as peace- 
 makers, and address you as friends ? We would ask you, 
 has there not been of strife and bloodshed, and misery and 
 suffering enough ; and is it not time to cease the cruel War 
 in which you are engaged? We believe there is not a 
 Christian man or woman amongst us whose heart does not 
 respond affirmatively to this question. With this conviction 
 we wish to speak to you as plain men, using plain language. 
 We have admired your free institutions, and have gladly 
 witnessed your rise as a people to eminence in wealth and 
 political power. You are of the Saxon blood, and we hoped 
 that you would make the Few World renowned for true 
 greatness. You promised to become one mighty people and 
 
2 1 6 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 a great nation, famed for the liberties of its citizens, the 
 triumphs of peace, and the conquests of its commerce. We 
 felt that you were] doing honour to the Mother Country. 
 When, therefore, this unfortune War began, our hearts were 
 more inclined towards you than towards your sister States, 
 because we believed with you that the action of the South 
 was but the work of a faction. The events of the struggle, 
 however, have convinced us that a more united people than 
 those of the Southern States never rose up in defence of 
 their rights. 
 
 "When you asserted that Secession was the work of 
 disappointed ambition, and promised to quell it within sixty 
 days, we accepted your assurances in good faith, and looked 
 for the speedy restoration of Peace. We did not wish to see 
 the American Union broken up. 
 
 " But so far from this promise being fulfilled (and 
 your efforts to accomplish it have been great), Peace and 
 the restoration of the Union are apparently as remote as 
 ever. 
 
 " Surely there must be many now among you who share 
 with us the conviction that it is utterly impossible to subdue 
 the South, or to restore the American Union, as it was in the 
 past days of the Eepublic. 
 
 " You have tried sufficiently, and found the gulf between 
 you and the Seceded States to widen with the effort that is 
 made to subdue them. 
 
 " Is it not time then to pause, and after calmly reviewing 
 all that you have accomplished, the distance which you have 
 travelled from your well-known landmarks, and the difficulties 
 and dangers that are yet before you, is it not time, we ask, 
 that you should take counsel together as to the best means of 
 restoring Peace % 
 
 " We cannot forget that the question of Peace or War was 
 never submitted to you for your serious consideration before 
 
PETITION FOR PEACE. 217 
 
 hostilities had actually commenced ; — that they came upon 
 you little by little ; — and that both Government and People 
 found themselves plunged into this fearful Contest almost 
 unawares ; nor have you as yet had an opportunity of con- 
 sulting together in General Convention, for the purpose of 
 making known your opinions and wishes about the War or 
 any of the vast issues growing out of it. 
 
 "The war has changed (for the present, at least) the 
 character of your Government. Wliat has become of the 
 freedom of speech, your free press, and the inestimable right 
 of habeas corpus ? 
 
 " What, permit us to ask, are the Southern people doing 
 beyond following the precepts and examples taught and 
 practised by your Fathers and theirs, when they withdrew 
 their allegiance from the Mother Country, and asserted their 
 right to establish a Government of their own ? 
 
 " The Declaration of Independence, which you hallow and 
 celebrate every fourth day of July, asserts as self-evident, 
 the right of the Southern people to set up a Government of 
 their own. 
 
 "But we would ask, suppose you should at the end of 
 another three years and a half, succeed in subduing the 
 South and restoring the Union by force of arms, might you 
 not then find out, when it was too late, that those pillars upon 
 which rests your form of Government had been violently 
 torn down, and that your own liberties had been buried in 
 the ruins ? If you will run the parallel between the South 
 now and the Colonies in 1776, and compare the course pur- 
 sued by the North now, and the Mother Country then, we 
 think you will discover some striking resemblances ; and 
 among them, that with you now, as with the Crown then, 
 rests the privilege of giving Peace to the American Conti- 
 nent. 
 " Why not then, without further delay, recognise the duty 
 
2 1 8 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 which attaches to your high privilege ? We appeal to you 
 in the name of Eehgion, Humanity, Justice, and Civilisation, 
 and believe that we shall not appeal tu vain. 
 " Peace be unto you." 
 
 Maury sent the petition to a cousin in America with the 
 following letter : — 
 
 My DEAK EuTSON, Bowdon, England, Aug. 30tli, 1864. 
 
 I have this morning your package of 13, enclosing 
 copies from WHl to his sister, his mother to you, of your 
 reply, of Corbin's to you, and reply ; also one from B. C. to 
 T. B. Also letters, md Bermuda ; but none from my people 
 direct. So that Will's, of July 10th, is the latest direct from 
 my own family. Thank you kindly for them. 
 
 The enclosed petition " for Peace in America," is what I 
 intended to send you in my last. It takes like " wild fire " 
 in Ireland. It was read last Sunday in many of the churches 
 there, and it is to be offered in all for signatures next Sunday. 
 Counting all who are represented by the societies, firms, &c., 
 that have already signed ; the signatures obtained in England 
 represent several millions of her Majesty's subjects. It is 
 " bread upon the waters " at best. 
 
 Please let it be known, especially if you think good may 
 come of it. I send several copies that the public may, if you 
 think proper, be apprised of this very important move. 
 Liverpool only is against it. 
 
 I am quite well again ; I hoped to find a report from Dick, 
 or something later from my precious people ; but I read in 
 the absence of such, that " no news is good news." Love to 
 all your messmates, those on leave as well, as those at the 
 table. 
 
 Yours, 
 M. 
 
 The great American hydrographer met with much sym- 
 pathy. His valuable labours and his books had secured for 
 him a host of sincere but unknown friends. Among them 
 
SYMPA THY IN ENGLAND. 3 1 9 
 
 must be included the worthy chronometer maker, who 
 expressed his feelings in the following letter : — 
 
 To M. F. Mauey. 
 From a chronometer maker, a plain English, machinist. 
 
 My DEAE Sie, Leicester, England, July 2nd, 1864. 
 
 The watch can scarcely be held in fonder remembrance 
 than your letter, received this morning, will be cherished 
 by me. 
 
 Devoted as my life has been to the retired pursuit of 
 mechanical art, it is not often that I have coveted great 
 wealth or worldly position ; but there have been times when 
 the possession of these would have enabled me to fulfil the 
 yearnings of my inclination — yearnings that were never more 
 strongly called into action than on your arrival in this 
 country a year ago, when I should have been gratified beyond 
 expression to have had the power to be amongst the first to 
 offer a secure and suitable asylum to yourself, and as many 
 of your family as could be snatched from the frightful war 
 which has devastated so promising a land for the last two 
 years ; not that my sympathies were called forth on any 
 political' grounds, for whenever either side has been victorious 
 and inflicted great injury on the other, I could only mourn 
 for it as an injury inflicted on itself, and regard it with the 
 same feelings as though a noble form were tearing itself to 
 pieces during the temporary absence of reason. Whatever 
 may be the result of the contest, it must be a source of 
 gratification for you to know, that, although you are not now 
 young, your life has chiefly been spent in the good work of 
 enabling mankind to cross the ocean with less risk from the 
 elements than formerly. I have never met with a scientific 
 man, who did not bear testimony to the great services you 
 have rendered to mankind. 
 
 Hoping that you will not think me presumptuous in thus 
 addressing you, 
 
 I remain, yours truly, 
 
 G. F. LOSEBY. 
 
220 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 The next letter, from a distinguished French scientist and 
 relative, must have been even more gratifying to Maury's 
 feelings : — 
 
 To Mk. M. F. Mauet. 
 
 \T!rmidation.'\ 
 
 At Toulouse, Paris, Dec. 25th, 1864. 
 My deae and honoueed Sie, 
 
 Permit me to address you from Paris, where the care 
 of my affairs has momentarily called me, my very sincere 
 thanks on the subject of your immortal work. That work 
 bears in the whole world a merited reputation, and I am 
 proud, I avow it to you, to bear a name similar to yours. 
 I regret not understanding the English language, so as to be 
 able to study, in a profound manner, the physical geography 
 of the globe, especially in the new point of view in which 
 you have presented it. It is a real discovery, and your 
 modesty should not allow that the publicity of your work 
 should be restricted. You should, my dear and honoured 
 relative, since you are so kind as to authorise me to give you 
 a title which honours me, translate into the most popular 
 languages of Europe, your nautical studies, the magnificent 
 work which you have published in English science, has no 
 frontiers, and its language should be understood throughout 
 the world, becaiise it is proper that all beings here below 
 should aid each other mutually. Whatever might be the 
 individual value of our life, is it not so short and fragile 
 already, that we should seek with care the occasions of being 
 useful to our fellow men ? Your rare merit permits you to 
 render great services to humanity. That surface liquid which 
 covers three-fourths of our planet had been considered by the 
 feebleness of our organs as a mass, awful and inert, where 
 reigned an eternal solitude, such as that which, we believe, to 
 exist in space. You have, sir, carried a shining light into the 
 eternal shades, and there in the depths of the abyss you have 
 rendered to the God of our fathers an homage which, for me 
 at least, is worth all that which men may come every day to 
 deposit at His feet. You have some imitators, and the furrow 
 that you have traced gives emulation to even the incredulous. 
 
LIVING WITH HIS SON " BRA VE." 221 
 
 And you have remarked already in the journals the care the 
 European Governments take to organize their meteorological 
 service. 
 
 You ought then, if you have not already done so, to 
 publish in the different languages illustrated editions of your 
 work. I say illustrated, because the cuts speak to the eyes 
 of the multitude, and often bring to notice things passed over 
 without notice. . . . Now allow me to express to you, at the 
 end of one year that rolls past, and another which 
 approaches in silence, the desire that all your holy vows be 
 fulfilled, the hope that all your family enjoy perfect health, 
 and that they keep constantly in the ways of our Saviour the 
 eternal, our God ; because only in these paths can they find 
 peace and light. I wish ardently that your unhappy country 
 may not long be torn by a fratricidal war, that you may take 
 up the course of your useful labours, and from afar you will 
 consider that there is one man at least who esteems you, 
 venerates you, and esteems himself that he has known you. 
 In these sentiments I am, my dear and honoured sir, your 
 devoted servant, whenever you shall please to put me to the 
 proof. 
 
 Theodoee Mauky. 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter to the Eev. F. W. 
 Tremlett, D.C.L., incumbent of St. Peter's, Belsize Park, 
 N.W., written while Maury was at Bowdon, England, where he 
 resided at this time to be near his son Matthew (" Brave "), 
 who was at school there : — 
 
 My quiet life here is like the pleasant visions of the 
 ni»ht. Brave's sweet company at breakfast in the morning 
 at 8 ; then he to school, and I to the indulgence of that last 
 o-reat blessing that was uttered in the gardens of paradise — 
 work, and the will to work — till 5 p.m., in the solitude of a 
 hermit. 
 
 When Brave's snuling face illuminates the enchanted 
 castle for twenty minutes. He says grace before soup, takes 
 his plate, and is back to school again from six to nine ; and 
 then the affairs of the family and nation, over a glass of milk 
 
222 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 and a bit of buttered toast, are discussed tUl ten ; and so to 
 bed. ... he rising at six. He is just now neck-and-neck with 
 the last of the boys that had reached him by doing " voluntary " 
 during the holidays. . . . 
 
 Our hearts were made glad, yesterday, by letters from 
 home. The " petition " (from England to America), praying 
 for the restoration of peace, had been received with great 
 delight and satisfaction. My love to the ladies. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 Maury wrote to his brother-in-law, lamenting the evils that 
 the war was bringing on his country and friends : — 
 
 DeAE BeODIB, Bowden, England, April 22nd, 1863. 
 
 War is a great scourge, and this has touched you and me 
 and many a good fellow with a heavy hand. As I look out 
 upon the landscape that lies before my window, and see the 
 men and women working in the fields, and the fields smiling 
 to man's husbandry, when I see no marks of the spoiler, and 
 recognise that each one is safe in his person and secure in his 
 possessions, then it is I see peace, and think of my poor 
 country with a sigh, and, oh, with what reflections ! 
 
 " Thoughts on thoughts a countless throng," bless your 
 hearts — ^you and John — for comforting, with so much solicitude 
 and affection, my poor dear wife in her affliction! Good 
 brothers are you both. How lovely and beautiful are the 
 memories of my Johnny ! I wonder if all parents think of 
 their dead as I do of mine. Bless that sleeping boy ! Never 
 did he, in his whole life, do one single act that either 
 displeased or grieved me or his mother. " He never offended." 
 What an epitaph ; and how proudly I write it ! But where 
 is the end of this war to find us — where you and yours, me 
 and mine, and where so many that are dear and near to us ? 
 Our charming circle of relations and friends is, I fear, broken 
 up, never, never to be restored on this side of the grave. 
 
 Where are you ? You have a hospital, I know ; but where 
 do you live ? Where, John ? Where, Charles ? Both 
 brothers-in-law! When we are done fighting the Yankees, 
 
THOUGHTS OF HOME. 223 
 
 we all, bald pates and gray heads, young and old, have to 
 begin to fight the battle of life over again. "Will and Corbin 
 
 and Dick and my J. no, he has got his discharge ; but you 
 
 and I, and ours, we all have to begin again ; and at what 
 odds ! Still, the house is on fire — ^let's put it out ; and then, 
 when it is all over, we can see, not what's best, but what's 
 left. So cheer up, old fellow, let's quit us like men, and trust 
 to God for the rest ! 
 
 A letter this morning from Eutson Maury of New York. . . 
 dated 6th April. No tidings of my boy. Send it with this to 
 his mother ; it is as much to her as to you, as, indeed, are all 
 the letters I write. Her gentleness has blessed us all, for, 
 with God's help, it was her goodness, her teachings, and her 
 example that made my Johnny the lovely character and 
 faultless son that he was. 
 
 Believe me ever, dear Brodie, 
 
 Yours lovingly, 
 
 M. F. M. 
 
 His tender heart was wrung by the sufferings endured by his 
 loved ones — at this time refugees (for the third time). He 
 says in a letter to Dr. Tremlett, written from the Duke of 
 Buckingham's palace at Stow : — 
 
 .... I had a letter to-day, of May 7th, from my daughter 
 Nannie, and she says "Flour has gone to $100 per barrel — too 
 high for us — but meal is cheaper, thank God !"..." We 
 had for dianer to-day soup made out of nothing, and after- 
 wards a shin. 'Twas good, I tell you ; we all dote on shins." 
 And again,' from my little Lucy, "Ham and mashed potatoes 
 to-day for dinner ; and, as it was my birthday (9th May), 
 Mamma said I might eat as much as I wanted." Here, you 
 see, there is no complaining, but only a gentle lifting of the 
 curtain, which in their devotion and solicitude they have kept 
 so closely drawn before me. With this pitiful picture in my 
 mind'« eye, I felt as if I must choke with the sumptuous viands 
 set before me on the Duke's table. Alas, my little innocents ! 
 
224 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 Mexico. 
 
 Maury's residence and occupation in England — ^Departure for the West 
 Indies — Tidings of tlie fall of the Confederacy — He surrenders his 
 sword — His son " Brave " returns home — Letter from Dr. Brodie 
 Herndon on the condition of Virginia after the war — Maury resolves 
 to go to Mexico — Tteception hy the Emperor Maximilian — Appointed 
 Commissioner of Immigration — Explains his motives and course of 
 action in a letter to Dr. Tremlett — The decree respecting immigration 
 — Maury's explanatory memorandum — His scheme disapproved by 
 friends — Letters from Commodore Jansen and General Lee — Maury's 
 defence to his cousin Rutson Maury — Arrival of his son Richard at 
 Mexico — Maury goes on leave to England — Mrs. Maury and her family 
 at Liverpool — Letters from Mexico to his wife and children — An 
 imperial dinner — Keeping house — Description of the journey from 
 Mexico to the coast — Maury's reply to the Emperor's intimation that 
 the immigration department was abolished — His introduction of the 
 Cinchona cultivation into Mexico — Causes which led to the fall of the 
 empire — Desertion of the French — Death of the Emperor — His tomb 
 at Kenia — Melancholy fate of the Empress — Her last letter to Maury. 
 
 MAtrBY's residence in England was a period of great anxiety. 
 It is true that his mind was much occupied with the 
 perfecting of discoveries, and the conduct of experiments 
 connected with torpedo warfare, in pursuance of the duties 
 on which he was employed, and that the companionship of 
 his youngest son gave him comfort, while the boy's education 
 was a constant source of interest. But the news from the seat of 
 war became less and less hopeful, while the separation from his 
 wife and the rest of his family, at such a time, was hard to bear. 
 At that time his wish was that his dear ones " should make 
 their way into Canada, and tarry there tiU this vengeful strife 
 
SURRENDER OF HIS SWORD. 225 
 
 is over." His own health had not been good, and the doctors 
 assured him that, by submitting to an operation, they could 
 set him up. This he did in March 1865, with satisfactory 
 results. Speaking of his young son, in a letter to his wife at 
 this time, he said, " He is my constant companion and nurse 
 in one. His manners are very soft and gentle, and he is as 
 watchful and solicitous about my health as a mother." Soon 
 the news came of the surrender of Lee, and the fall of the 
 Southern cause. The condition of his beloved Virginia was 
 indeed lamentable ; but he did not receive fuU details of the 
 ruin until after he had left England. 
 
 On the 2nd of May, 1865, Maury sailed from Southampton 
 with his son " Brave," under orders from the Confederate 
 Secretary of the Navy. He had sent out, in advance, a 
 quantity of torpedo material for the defence of the Southern 
 coasts and ports. This represented the results of his iaven- 
 tive genius, and of his studies during his residence in 
 Eno-land ; but when he arrived at St. Thomas, in the West 
 Indies, he received the crushing tidiags of the total coUapse 
 of the Confederacy, and of the assassination of Liucoln. He 
 went on to Cuba, whence he sent his son back to Virginia. 
 He considered it to be the wisest and most honourable course 
 for himself, now that all armed resistance on the part of 
 Virginia had ceased, that he also should surrender his sword, 
 which had been drawn by her order and for her defence. 
 His letter stating this intention was directed to " The United 
 States Ofacer commanding the squadron of the Gulf," and 
 was by him forwarded to the Government at "Washington.* 
 
 gjTj At sea, May 25th, 1865. 
 
 In peace, as in war, I follow the fortunes of my old 
 native State, Virginia. I read in the public prints that she 
 
 * Pablished in the Washington National Intelligencer of June I6th, 
 1865, without comment. 
 
 Q 
 
226 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR V. 
 
 has practically confessed defeat, and laid down her arms. In 
 that act mine were grounded also. 
 
 I am here without command, and bound on matters of 
 private concern abroad. Nevertheless, and as I consider 
 further resistance worse than useless, I deem it proper 
 formally so to confess, and to pledge you, on my word of 
 honour, that, should I find myself within the jurisdiction of 
 the United States before the formal inauguration of peace, to 
 consider myself a prisoner of war, bound by the terms and 
 conditions wliich have been, or may be, granted to General 
 Lee and his officers. 
 
 Be pleased to send your answer through my son. Colonel 
 E. L. Maury, a prisoner of war on parole in Eichmond, 
 Virginia. In the meantime, and until I hear to the 
 contrary, I shall act as though my surrender had been 
 formally accepted on the above-named conditions. 
 
 EespectfuUy, &c., 
 M. F. Mauey, Commander C. S. Navy. 
 To the OEScer commanding the United States 
 
 Naval Forces in the Grulf of Mexico. 
 
 In May 1865, his son Matthew ("Brave") reached 
 Virginia, and found the Maury family assembled at the 
 University. There were his sister Betty, with two little 
 girls ; Diana, with one little girl and a husband just returned 
 from nine months' weary imprisonment at Fort Delaware ; Sue 
 (Colonel Eichard Maury's wife), with a wounded husband 
 and one little boy ; his three little sisters, Molly, Eliza, and 
 Lucy ; his mother and her sister, Mary Herndon ; his aunt 
 Eliza, and her niece, Sally Fontaine Maury (Maury's ward), 
 with her husband and three children. 
 
 On the 1st of May, 1865, his brother-in-law. Dr. Brodie 
 Herndon, had written a letter to Maury from Eichmond, 
 which was not received until long afterwards. He said : — 
 
 In view of the state of the public mind in the North at 
 present, I think it would be decidedly unsafe for you to return 
 to this coimtry. Your absence abroad in a semi-diplomatic 
 
SAD NEWS FROM HOME. 227 
 
 character, your prominence, and the earnest part taken by 
 you in the cause, would make you a decided object of that 
 " vengeance against leaders " so openly proclaimed and so 
 plainly visible.* In time, I hope, these vindictive feelings 
 will subside, and then, and only then, would it be safe and 
 prudent for you to return. A good many of the young men 
 of the South will go abroad, and this is one of the gloomy 
 features of our future. Dick was here last night (his wife 
 and little boy have gone to Spottsylvania), and we had a 
 little talk. He is implacable, and declares that he cannot 
 live in this country. He and Betty are greatly opposed to 
 your return. They have just written to their mother begging 
 her to go to you. I believe sister Ann will be embarrassed 
 in her mind to decide what to do. But I think she will try 
 to possess her soul in patience, and wait to hear directly from 
 you, and know your plans and wishes. 
 
 Dick's health and strength in his legs are much improved. 
 He now walks pretty well without his crutches. You know 
 he went with Lee, in spite of his lameness, to Appomattox Court 
 House, and was parolled there. Since his return to Eichmond, 
 
 he and Sue have been the guests of Mr. B , in whose 
 
 family they have received every kindness. Will is terribly 
 cast down ; he can see no good thing ahead. His mother is 
 here, and I reckon he wOl accompany her to "Washington 
 .... and will probably live there again. ... It is 
 melancholy to see the men here sadly hanging round the 
 ruins of their places of business. Many of them have gone to 
 work in their gardens to raise at least vegetables to eat. I 
 can see from my window a lady — and a real lady, too — 
 dropping corn in the garden, whUe her husband covers it, 
 and another chopping wood. A few have a pig or a cow to 
 which they look for further subsistence. The city is full to 
 overflowing with Yankees and negroes. Tor the last week 
 the armies of Grant and Sherman have been passing through 
 
 * Mr. Charles Francis Adams, who was the United States Minister to 
 
 England at this time, said to a friend of Maury's, " All his friends should 
 
 advise him against going back to the U. S. yet. The feeling there is very 
 
 . bitter against him, and I believe the consequences of a step of that kind 
 
 on his part at this time would be very \mfortunate for him." 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 the streets— countless hosts of the best-looking and best- 
 equipped men I ever saw. How we stood up so long against 
 such terrible odds is a marvel indeed. General Lee is at his 
 residence in Franklin Street, and is a great lion with the 
 Yankees. They all want to see him. He advises obedience 
 to the law, and that the young men shall not leave the 
 country. It is with the greatest interest that we look from 
 day to day to see the development of the laws of the Federal 
 Government. We expect Governor Pierrepoint next week, and 
 the issuing of writs of election for members of the Legislature 
 .... We are all dead-poor ; but food and raiment can be had, I 
 believe, by those who are willing to work. . . . The people 
 in and about Fredericksburg have lived and are living by 
 their cows. We expect to return to the dear old place as 
 soon as the road is passable. Lucy was very desirous that I 
 should stay and try my fortune here ; but I am so attached 
 to the old place that I could not be happy out of it. I love 
 the hills of Stafford, and the little streams all round. . . . 
 Your Dick has determined to try his fortune here. He is a 
 fellow of most resolute purpose and determined wUl, and if 
 he undertakes it, he will succeed beyond a doubt. 
 
 Sue is a capital wife, and she will work with him wherever 
 and whenever he goes. 
 
 Corbin is the rich man of the family — and a very clever 
 fellow is Corbin — clever in every acceptation of the word. I 
 have a very great admiration for his character. We have 
 never seen his baby, but hear much of its beauty and of 
 Nannie's devotion. . . . We are all broken up ; but we will 
 not want. The old State, by-and-by, will recuperate, and 
 her sons with her. The transition from slave to free labour 
 will be attended with many inconveniences at first ; but we 
 wiU soon accommodate ourselves to our new condition. The 
 future of the negro is a most interesting problem. I would 
 like very much to hear your views upon these deeply 
 interesting subjects ; but I fear that it must yet be some 
 time before I can have the pleasure of your discourse in 
 person. I am decidedly of the opiaion that you ought not to 
 return until we see the course of events. Mr. Davis has just 
 been captured. Mr. Hunter has been arrested. We must 
 
SAD NEWS FROM HOME. 
 
 keep out of harm's way until we can see more of the 
 Northern purpose. The punishment of the leaders seems to 
 be determined on. Those who have exercised diplomatic 
 functions, officially or unofficially, will be sure to come in for 
 a share of the vengeance. . . . 
 
 If I could only have you to walk up and down the room 
 and hear you descant with perfect freedom on our prospects 
 for the future, and the causes of our downfall, how much I 
 would .like it! The "truth is mighty, and will surely 
 prevail " in the end ; but we may say with Pilate, " What is 
 Truth ? " May God give His Holy Spirit to His people, to 
 animate their hearts and minds and guide them aright ! 
 May He take away the spirit of resentment and hate, 
 and give to the North and to the South the spirit of 
 forgiveness, the spirit of wisdom and of sound mind ! May 
 He grant that we come forth from our sore trials a wiser and 
 a better people — a nation fearing God and working righteous- 
 ness ! If the North deals kindly with the South, I do not 
 think it impossible in time to heal the deep wounds that 
 have pierced so many hearts. It took more than a genera- 
 tion to efface the animosities we bore England; but they 
 were effaced. 
 
 The bloody civil war of Great Britain in Charles the First's 
 time did not leave irremediable hate and bitterness, though 
 Pmitan and Cavalier had no love for each other. 
 
 We shall not live to see the changes in character wrought 
 in the old dominion and the other slave States by the abolition 
 of slavery ; but our children will. We shaU no doubt gain 
 much ; I am full of hope myself. ... I believe the balance- 
 sheet wiU be much in our favour. 
 
 Maury was left at the Havanna without a country or a 
 home, and far from friends with whom he could consult. He 
 had always felt great regard and esteem for the Archduke 
 Maximilian, and when that excellent but unfortimate prince 
 undertook to attempt the regeneration of Mexico, Maury had 
 written to him, expressing his warmest wishes for the 
 success of the undertaking. Maximilian was now at Mexico 
 
230 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 as Emperor. Maury resolved to offer his services; and he 
 followed the letter in person, without waiting for a reply. 
 He reached Mexico in June, 1865. 
 
 The illustrious American hydrographer was warmly 
 welcomed by the Emperor and Empress. They at once 
 offered Mm a position in the Ministry, which he declined. 
 The appointment of Director of the Imperial Observatory 
 was, however, accepted by him. 
 
 In this letter to his constant friend, the Eev. F. W. Tremlett, 
 Maury explains his reasons for surrendering his sword, and 
 his subsequent action in Mexico : — 
 
 My dear EeIBND, Mexico, August 8th, 1865. 
 
 I have been a " looker-on here in Venice " for just 
 two months. I came in search of country and home ; for 
 the fortunes of war have lost me both. The " Ides of May " 
 found me, as you remember, on a voyage from happy 
 England, that rightfully rejoices in the best Government on 
 the face of the earth. Bound for some port — I knew not 
 what — of the unhappy Confederacy, disastrous news from 
 Virginia met me by the way. All was lost. But not knowing 
 how the brave men and noble women of that gallant State 
 would take it, and believing further resistance to be useless, I 
 thought it becoming so to confess. 
 
 The quickest way of making my opinion known to friends 
 at home was, though not in presence of the enemy, to lay 
 down my arms and so inform him. I did so. The note fell 
 into the hands of acting Eear- Admiral Sylvanus W. Gordon, 
 of the United States Navy. . . . 
 
 Early in the war, before a battle had been fought, an 
 unknown hand was found to have written, in the darkness of 
 the night, upon the walls of Eichmond, the words "Vaj 
 yictisj " The time has come, and the doom is now resting 
 upon that fair city, and spreading over a goodly land. Who 
 that can find rightful and honourable means, would not 
 invoke their aid for the rescue of kinsmen and friends so 
 situated ! 
 
 In contemplating this shipwreck of country, kinsmen, and 
 
EMIGRA TION SCHEME IN MEXICO. 231 
 
 friends, I recognised among the debris of the wreck the very 
 materials that are required to build, upon good and solid 
 foundations, the Mexican Empire. Never, since the Eevoca- 
 tion of the Edict of Nantes, has such a class of people been 
 found willing to expatriate themselves. From such a wreck 
 Mexico may gather and transfer to her own borders the very 
 intelligence, skill, and labour wliich made the South what 
 she was in her palmy days — except her bondage. 
 
 It would be dif&cult to say which have suffered, or are 
 suffering, most — the whites from the ravages of war, or the 
 blacks from the so-called kindness of their friends. Hoping 
 to find for them sympathy m the heart of a generous-minded 
 Sovereign, and an asylum in his Empire, here am I, the 
 advocate of Southern immigration, and a humane system of 
 African emancipation in the United States, as the quickest, 
 most certain and best means of affording relief to their 
 sufferiags, of giving quiet to this country, stability to the 
 throne, and peace to America. 
 
 Though many tof the negroes have been set free, and, owing 
 to the abrupt manner of closing it, have run riot, and are 
 afi9icted with both pestilence and famine, there are many of 
 them stiU true to their masters. Let us encom-age the 
 owners of these to emancipate also, and then say to the 
 former : " Now bargain with such as are willing to ac- 
 company you to Mexico as apprentices, bound to serve as 
 agricultural and other labourers, untQ they can learn the 
 language of the country, and make themselves acquainted 
 with its customs and its laws, while they are being instructed 
 in the crdtivation of the staples that are new to them, and 
 then emigrate with them to these fertile lands. At the 
 expiration of this term of service — say seven years — the 
 apprentice will have earned a home as one of the rewards of 
 his labour, and will be able to take care of himself. 
 
 For this, I am now charged by certain of the vindictive 
 prints of the North with "plotting" to re-open the 
 detestable African slave-trade. The negro was set free in 
 Mexico more than a generation ago. The Emperor, the laws, 
 and the people are all opposed to slavery ; and any one who 
 could be so wicked as to desire to re-open the African slave- 
 
233 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 trade, might as well attempt .to "plot" with the British 
 Government, as with this, for that pui'pose. Nothing seems 
 too absurd for the sensational press of New York. 
 
 Mexico is a country of perpetual harvests. On the way 
 from Vera Cruz to the capital, I saw corn in all its stages, 
 from the time of its scattering by the hand of the sower, till 
 it was gathered in the arms of the reaper. But agriculture is 
 in a rude state. I saw them ploughing with a stick, and 
 sawing with an axe, hoeing their corn with a shovel, and 
 grinding it with a pebble. A few of our clever farmers, 
 bringing with them their agricultural apprentices, would give 
 new life and energy to the country. By sprinkling the 
 Empire with settlers of this sort, they and their improved 
 implements of husbandry and methods of culture would 
 serve as so many new centres of agricultural life, energy, and 
 improvement. 
 
 The present population of Mexico is said to be eight 
 millions, more than seven of which belong to what with you 
 is called the labouring classes. Yet with tli^B richest of soils, 
 the finest of climates, their perpetual harvests, and 
 marvellous variety of productions, these seven millions of 
 people contribute annually less than £7,000,000 to the 
 commerce of the world. 
 
 The labouring classes of the South, though but little more 
 than half as numerous as these, enabled that country to throw 
 into the channels of commerce an amount of raw produce 
 annually that was worth more than $300,000,000, or 
 £60,000,000 sterling. 
 
 You may well imagine the effect, therefore, upon the 
 prosperity of this country, and the stability of the Empire, 
 which would follow the introduction of a few hundred 
 thousands of these very labourers, guided, as they should be, 
 by the skill and experience of their former masters. . . . 
 
 Maury had thus formed a grand scheme in his mind for 
 the colonization of a New Virginia in Mexico. He submitted 
 his plan to the Emperor, who at once adopted it, and 
 appointed Maury Imperial Commissioner for Colonization. 
 
EMIGRA TION SCHEME IN MEXICO. 233 
 
 A Decree was drawn up, offering the following liberal terms 
 to Southern sufferers from the American civil war who would 
 emigrate to Mexico : — 
 
 " We, Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, in consideration of 
 the sparseness of the population in the Mexican territory, in 
 proportion to its extent, desiring to give to immigrants all 
 possible security for property and liberty and having heard 
 the opinion of our Board of Colonization, do decree as 
 follows : — 
 " Article 1. Mexico is open to immigrants of all nations. 
 " Article 2. ImmigTation agents shall be appointed, whose 
 duty it will be to protect the arrival of immigrants, instal 
 them on the lands assigned them, and assist them in every 
 possible way in establishing themselves. These agents will 
 receive the orders of the Imperial Commissioner of Immigra- 
 tion, specially appointed by us, and to whom all the com- 
 munications relative to immigration shall be addressed. 
 
 " Article 3. Each immigrant shall receive a duly executed 
 title, incommutable, of landed estate, and a certificate that it 
 is free of mortgages. 
 
 " Article 4. Such property shall be free from taxes for the 
 first year, and also from duties on transfers of property, but 
 only on the first sale. 
 
 " Article 5. The immigrants may be naturalized as soon as 
 they shall have established themselves as settlers. 
 
 " Article 6. Immigrants who may desire to bring labourers 
 with them, or induce them to come in considerable numbers, 
 of any race whatever, are authorized to do so ; but those 
 labourers will be subject to special protective regulations. 
 
 " Article 7. The effects of immigrants, their working and 
 brood animals, seeds, agricultural implements, machines, and 
 working tools, will enter free of custom-house and transit 
 duties. 
 
234 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 "Article 8. Immigrants are exempted from military- 
 service for five years. But they will form a stationary 
 militia for the purpose of protecting their property and 
 neighbourhoods. 
 
 " Article 9. Liberty in the exercise of their respective 
 forms of religious worship is secured to immigrants by the 
 organic law of the Empire. 
 
 "Article 10. Each of our ministers is charged with carrying 
 out such parts of this Decree as relate to his department. 
 
 " Given at Chapultepec on the 5th day of September, 1865. 
 
 " Maximilian." 
 
 Commander Maury, the Imperial Commissioner of Immi- 
 gration, prepared the following memorandum, to be published 
 with the Decree : — 
 
 " The Government not only invites all well-disposed 
 persons to come and assist in the occupation of its vacant 
 lands, but His Majesty the Emperor, touched by the spectacle 
 of good men struggling with adversity in other lands, tenders 
 hospitality and homes especially to these. 
 
 " Moved by the generous impulses of his nature, he offers 
 them material assistance to enable them to reach this beauti- 
 ful land. To those of them who wish to change their skies, 
 make Mexico their homes, and identify themselves with the 
 country, a free passage by sea for their families and effects is 
 offered. 
 
 " To those who have lost aU their substance, is offered, not 
 only a free passage by sea, but a travelling allowance of a 
 real the league thence to their new homes wiU be made for 
 each member of these families, counting as members also 
 their apprentices or labourers. 
 
 " Agents for immigration will be stationed at convenient 
 points abroad, for the purpose of affording information to the 
 immigrants there as to the country, its lands, the best way 
 
EMIGRA TION SCHEME IN MEXICO. 235 
 
 of reaching them, and upon all other subjects appertaining 
 thereto." 
 
 He also added the following general remarks to accompany 
 the Decree : — 
 
 " In connection with the foregoing Decree, I beg leave to 
 add, for the information of those who are disposed to avail 
 themselves of the very liberal terms offered by it, a few 
 remarks upon the physical geography, the agricultural 
 resources and industrial pursuits of this beautiful country. 
 
 " The Empire of Mexico lies between the parallels of 15° 
 and 32° north latitude, and its shores are bathed by the 
 Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea on the one hand, 
 and by the Pacific Ocean on the other. It is celebrated for 
 its mines of gold ; copper and lead also abound. Though its 
 miaeral wealth has dazzled the world, its mineral wealth is, 
 as a source of riches, by no means equal to its soil. 
 
 " Its climates are genial, and its harvest perpetual ; under 
 good husbandry the yield is bountiful, being iifty, one hun- 
 dred, and sometimes two hundred-fold. On the way up from 
 Vera Cruz to Mexico I saw the cereals in all stages of culti- 
 vation. 
 
 " The seasons in Mexico are not marked by the vicissitudes 
 of heat and cold, but by wet and dry. The coldest time of 
 the year in this city is about the end of the dry season in 
 April or May. In the Tierra CaUente the rainy season is the 
 sickly season. Between the mountains and the sea there is 
 on both coasts a flat country varying in width from ten to 
 fifty miles or more. 
 
 " These lowlands reach back to the mountains, which form 
 the edge of the table-land or great central plateau. The low 
 coimtry corresponds to that j. which in Virginia and the 
 Carolinas Hes between the blue ridge and the sea. It is the 
 hot country of Mexico, the Tierra Caliente. Everything 
 
336 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 which delights in rich soil, bright skies, warmth, and 
 moisture, finds a genial habitat there. 
 
 " Ascending the mountains, which are timbered all the way 
 up, you reach the table-land, an immense plain from 5000 to 
 8000 feet above the level of the sea, and hundreds of miles 
 in breadth. In length it is commensurate with the Empire, 
 and in the lap of its western declivities lies the Tierra 
 Caliente of the Pacific coast. This table-land is the Tierra 
 Templada, or the temperate region of the Empire. Its 
 climates are delightful — a happy mean between heat and 
 cold. 
 
 " The surface of this table-land is diversified with hUls and 
 dales, with an occasional snow-clad peak, so that in descending 
 to the valleys, one may find, at a difference in level of only a 
 few hundred yards and in the distance of a few miles, the 
 productions and staples of all countries and latitudes, from 
 those of Virginia down to those of the Gulf of Mexico, and 
 thence through the West Indies to the equator or Brazil. 
 
 " Immigrants for Mexico, come at what season they may, 
 wiU always be in time to plant something. But the best 
 season for planting is generally in the spring, and the best 
 time for coming is in the dry season, from October to May, 
 when the new-comer may live in tents, put his seed in the 
 ground, and have time to buUd and get his family comfortably 
 housed before the rainy season sets in. 
 
 " The staples of agriculture are, in Mexico, as diverse as 
 its climates : there is no lack of range and pasture for cattle, 
 horses, and sheep ; nay, gentlemen who are from the grazing 
 lands of the Western States, and who have travelled through 
 the Northern part of Mexico, assure me that they have never 
 seen so fine a sheep-country." 
 
 The course adopted by Maury, in entering the service of 
 Mexico and attempting to form a colony of Virginians in 
 
ADVICE OF FRIENDS. 237 
 
 that country, did not receive the concurrence of his friends 
 either in Europe or in America. 
 
 Commodore Jansen, of the Netherlands Navy, the lifelong 
 friend of the great hydrographer, wrote to him from Delft, on 
 the 22nd of July, 1865, as foUows :— 
 
 Your family, I hear, intend to join you either at 
 Halifax or in England. From this I conclude that they do not 
 expect any result from your Mexican scheme — neither do I ; 
 and I hope by this tune you are in the steamer on your way 
 back to England. The people of Virginia have shown them- 
 selves to be as brave as any people ever have been ; but 
 courage is coupled, in patriotism, with perseverance in 
 suffering Tintil better times come for Virginia. All who love 
 her for what she has been and what she has done, ought to 
 love her enough to suffer with her and for her sake. If the 
 best people, who have made Virginia what she is, desert her 
 at this critical moment, it would be like children leaving their 
 mother in distress. There is no virtue without sacrifice, and, 
 if the Virginians possess the virtue of patriotism, they ought 
 to bring her now the sacrifice of pride. Don't emigrate ! 
 Stand by your country with stern courage ; learn the patience 
 to bear without shame and with all the dignity of self- 
 command. 
 
 .... I don't think that you can return now to Virginia ; 
 but, in three or four years, great changes wiU take place in 
 opinions, and you, nor your family, won't find a country 
 which would be able to give you anything like her sympathy, 
 or to take Virginia out of your hearts and souls. You ought 
 to go back to your dear State as soon as you can do so safely ; 
 and if you had followed my advice you would never have 
 left England, but would have asked Madame Maury to join 
 you there. 
 
 After a long journey and great inconveniences, perhaps 
 suffering in your health and mind, you'll come back without 
 gaining anything but a sad experience. 
 
 Even if the Emperor Maximilian would listen to you and 
 encourage you in your scheme, I should say don't do it, my 
 friend. "We have been able to raise money enough for the 
 
238 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 " testimonial " to buy you an estate in Virginia. " Brave " 
 can be, under Nannie's husband's guidance, your farmer. He 
 is young and intelligent, and has not suffered during the war 
 like Dick, and consequently he has not so great a hatred in 
 his blood. You and Madame Maury, with your little darlings 
 and Dick, can stay here till the time comes that you can 
 go back in safety, enjoying no public, but a farmer's life, 
 in ease and comfort, giving the world the benefit of your 
 genius. A man of sixty years of age does not commence a 
 new life, and can do no good in a new sphere of action. God 
 grant my j)rayer that you may soon be back in good health 
 among your friends in Europe ! 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 Jansen. 
 
 The heroic General Lee held the same views as Commodore 
 Jansen. He wrote the following letter to Maury on the 
 subject of the colonization of the empire of Mexico by 
 planters of the South : — 
 
 My deak Captain Mauey, Sept. 8th, 1865. 
 
 .... We have certainly not found our form of govern- 
 ment all that was anticipated by its origiaal founders ; but 
 this may be partly our fault in expecting too much, and 
 partly due to the absence of virtue in the people. As long 
 as virtue was dominant in the EepubUc, so long was the 
 happiness of the people secure. I cannot, however, despair 
 of it yet ; I look forward to better days, and trust that time 
 and experience — the great teachers of men under the guidance 
 of our ever-merciful God — may save us from destruction, and 
 restore to us the bright hopes and prospects of the past. The 
 thought of abandoning the country, and all that must be left 
 in it, is abhorrent to my feelings, and I prefer to struggle for its 
 restoration, and share its fate, rather than to give up all as lost. 
 I have a great admiration for Mexico : the salubrity of its 
 climates, the fertility of its soil, and the magnificence of its 
 scenery, possess for me great charms ; but I still look with 
 delight upon the mountains of my native State. To remove 
 our people to a portion of Mexico which would be favourable 
 
ADVICE OF FRIENDS. 239 
 
 to tliem would be a work of much difficulty. Did they possess 
 the means, and could the system of apprenticeship you suggest 
 be established, the United States Government would, I think, 
 certainly interfere ; and, under the circumstances, there would 
 be difficulty in persuading the free men to emigrate. Those 
 citizens who can leave the country, and others who may be 
 compelled to do so, will reap the fruits of your considerate 
 labours ; but I shall be very sorry if your presence will be lost 
 to Virginia. She has now sore need of all her sons, and can 
 ill afford to lose you. I am very much obliged to you for all 
 you have done for us, and hope your labours in the future 
 may be as efficacious as in the past, and that your separation 
 from us may not be permanent. Wishing you every 
 prosperity and happiness, 
 
 I am, most truly yours, 
 
 K, E. Lee. 
 
 The decided opinions of so many good and thoughtful 
 friends made it very difficult for Maury to trust the path 
 which he was pursuing. He was still in the full belief that 
 he was right, and he continued to be sanguine that his 
 scheme of colonization would succeed, as long as he remained 
 in Mexico. His most constant correspondent was his cousin 
 Eutson Maury, of New York. Although they had taken 
 different sides in the war, their friendship remained unim- 
 paired. It was to this cousin that Maury most fully explained 
 his side of the question. He said : — 
 
 There are a few friends, and you are one of them, that 
 I should like to impress now (for time will teU, if I live long 
 enough) with just conceptions of my present endeavour. The 
 war is over, and there is an end. It has made great changes, 
 and I prefer not to live under the rule of the victors. With- 
 out any motive of hostility to them, without any thought 
 whether they would like or dislike the move — for it is none 
 of their business — I have come here to provide a home for 
 such of the conquered people as Kke to emigrate. Suppose 
 they do not thank me — well, there is still useful and honour- 
 
240 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 able occupation for me here. There are many things here 
 with which I may identify myself and do good, such as 
 organizing the census, a land-survey for the Empire, a 
 system of internal improvements ; and though last, not least, 
 the introduction of chinchona cultivation. 
 
 In October 1865, Maury's son Eichard, with his wife and 
 little boy, arrived at Mexico to assist his father in the work 
 of his department, and to take his place when he should be 
 on leave of absence. Colonel Eichard Maury had been 
 severely wounded in the war, but he was able to be a great 
 help to his father. " He surprises me," writes Maury, " by 
 his business habits, tact, and capacity." 
 
 Having obtained leave of absence from the Emperor to 
 visit his family, Maury left Mexico on the 24th of February, 
 1866, arriving in London in the end of March. When he 
 departed, emigrants were crowding to his " Carlotta Colony," 
 at Cordova, and " everything looked as fair and smiling as 
 possible for my day-dream." Mrs. Maury, with her young 
 family, had arrived at Liverpool in November 1865, and had 
 sent young "Brave" to school, employing masters for her 
 daughters. 
 
 The following letters to his wife and children are interest- 
 ing. They describe the Imperial Court, Maury's domestic 
 arrangements in Mexico, and the country between the capital 
 and Vera Cruz. 
 
 On Sept. 12th, 1865, Maury wrote from Mexico to his 
 wife as follows : — 
 
 I never tire of writing to you and my children ; it is 
 my comfort, my happiness, and consolation. I hope this will 
 find you all safe and sound in England. Yesterday I received 
 a large batch of back-letters — one from "Brave," reporting 
 his arrival in Virginia ; one from Eliza, blowing me up for 
 coming here ; two from Dick, one from Betty, and three from 
 you, with any amount of press copies from others, which 
 
LIFE IN MEXICO. 241 
 
 good Eutson thought would give me pleasure and satis- 
 faction. 
 
 Eutson is like my uncle Toby, and has a heart twice as 
 big. He has been very kind to me and mine, and I praise 
 and thank him daily in my heart in the sUent hours of the 
 night. This package gave me reading for two days ; the day 
 it came I dined at Chepultepec. The Emperor has a palace 
 there ; he dines at 3.30 p.m. There were present the Empress, 
 and one of her ladies, four German naval officers, and a 
 Mexican — all were of his household, I believe. It was mail- 
 day for Europe ; the Emperor had been busy at the palace 
 writing (he told me) seventeen letters for the steamer. I got 
 there a moment before he did, so he went into the sitting-room 
 which joins the Empress's chamber. He opened her chamber- 
 door and said " Carlotta, here's Mr. Maury." She came out 
 immediately and commanded me to be seated, the Emperor 
 and the other gentlemen standing. Presently her lady-in- 
 waiting came in ; I rose, but she touched me gently on the 
 arm and said, " The Emperor wishes you always to be seated." 
 The lady stood also. In a few minutes dinner was announced. 
 The Emperor led off, and we all followed in single file. As 
 I passed through the door, one of the " aids " — a baron — 
 whispered in my ear, " On the Empress's left." The dinner 
 — excepting the wines, the number of servants, and the 
 liveries — reminded me very much of those Lucy Ellen* used 
 to give us in our summer visits to Eredericksburg. 
 
 After dinner (say three-quarters of an hour) we, the 
 gentlemen, led by the Emperor, went into the smoking-room. 
 Gilt cigars were handed round ; the Emperor did not smoke. 
 Here he drew an arm-chair up into the corner, and seated me 
 again, he and the others standing until their cigars were 
 nearly finished. Then he took a seat, and commanded the 
 others to be seated. Despatches were handed him, some of 
 which he handed to me to look into. Presently he dismissed 
 the gentlemen, and said, " Mr. Maury, you have something 
 to say to mel" "Yes, sire; I can't manage immigration 
 through the Ministers. I must transact business with you 
 directly, and not through them; nor must they have 
 * Mrs. Maury's sister-in-law. 
 
 K 
 
242 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 anything to do with it." " That's what I intend," said he. 
 Said I, " I have not seen my wife and children for three 
 years ; I want to be quick, organize immigration , and take 
 the steamer of 13th November for France." "Certainly," 
 said he. Then he said, " I wish you to continue the con- 
 versation with the Empress; I have something pressing to 
 do. She will make notes, give me verbal explanations, and 
 have it all ready for me by four o'clock in the morning, when 
 I will attend to it." Carlotta was walking in the garden. 
 He referred me to some books on the table, and went to look 
 for her. She came, and we commenced discussing matters, 
 she making notes nearly as fast as I could talk. Among other 
 subjects, I mentioned that of an office ; that I had sent for 
 Dick and family, who would be the first immigrants under 
 the Decree, and that a house had been offered me which 
 would answer the purpose of an office and a dwelling as well. 
 " Certainly." Then we discussed with approbation my going 
 to see you ; the appointments of agents in the South and 
 their salaries, and the organization of a land-office. She is 
 very clever, practical, and business-like. I told her I 
 thought she could do more business in a day than all of the 
 Ministers put together could do in a week. She said, " I beHeve 
 I could." She told me she had recently received a letter from 
 the Empress of France about me, and enclosing a copy of a 
 long letter I wrote in June to Admiral Chabanne about my 
 new " Virginia," commending the plan as a grand idea, and 
 asking Carlotta if she did not know me. . . . 
 
 16^A. — I shall take the house, servants and aU, which the 
 Soules have been living in, at say $150 per month. This 
 will be for office, and for Dick and me. The Soules are 
 fourteen in number ; they live extravagantly. I shall not ; 
 and the cost of living, including servants, is twenty-eight 
 cents a day. I want to get Dick a place with a salary of 
 |2500 if I can. This arrangement will enable me to 
 contribute $3000 towards your expenses in England, leaving 
 $2000 for helping the other children, supporting myself, and 
 paying my way to " wife's house." How is it now, that aU 
 my friends, except Dick, will say I am crazy to come here ? 
 
 " The Decree " has been injured in the translation. It is 
 
LIFE IN MEXICO. 243 
 
 not as good for the State or the immigrants as I drew it. 
 Still, the papers proclaim it to be the most important act of 
 the Empire. See then how much more desirable and 
 honourable my position here, than it would have been 
 in Eussia or in France! Here I am in the category of a 
 benefactor ; there I should have been almost a pensioner of 
 charity. If I can find here a home for my people, assist to 
 build up a good and stable Government — of which there are 
 reasonable grounds of hope — and surround myself by my 
 family and friends, surely goodness and mercy will have 
 guided me all my days, and my cup will be run over. Now, 
 compare this prospect with the plan that Eutson, in his good 
 heart and clear head, had chalked out for me. He urged my 
 stay in England, and that I must wait till I would be allowed 
 to return to the United States. In four years, perhaps, I 
 could return with diminished health and energy. I can go 
 back just as well from here as from England if I should find 
 it desirable so to do. It is true, all my friends — save Dick 
 and doubting little Nannie — have been of one mind against 
 me. Events seem now to bid fair to vindicate the propriety of 
 my course. Now will you not let me bring my Molly back 
 with me ? She can return to you with me when I make my 
 next visit; and then my Eliza, if she will be diligent at 
 school, will take her place ; and then the next time you and 
 my little Loo will come. . . . 
 
 I want to arrange it so that Dick can take my place here 
 wliile I am gone. . . . 
 
 I am so afraid that noble spirit of firmness and of 
 resolution, which has borne you up so manfully since we 
 parted, will give way under trial after trial to which I am 
 subjecting it. But then you know how children must be 
 educated, and there are no schools to speak of here. 
 
 Of course you will seek and take Tremlett's advice 
 whenever you are at a loss for a counsellor. Suppose I can't 
 get off in French steamer of 14th November, what shall I 
 do ? Come in December and return in March, or come in 
 April and return in September ? I want to take my Lucy to 
 the pantomime! Love to all friends, and kisses to the 
 children. God bless you my love ! M. F. Mauky. 
 
 K 2 
 
244 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 From Mauey to his Wife. 
 
 My dear Wife, Mexico, Sept. 23rd, 1865. 
 
 My heart is as big as a mountain and as heavy as 
 lead. Your letter is so sad at leaving friends behind and 
 going to a strange land. This is Saturday night. Perhaps 
 you sailed to-day, for tjie line of steamers in which I wanted 
 you to go sailed Saturday. I received ten days ago your 
 letters up to the 14th. You were then just making up your 
 mind to come here, and my letter telling you to go to 
 England would take you so by surprise. The last mail 
 brought me many letters from you and the children. I shut 
 myself up, threw myself on the bed, and wept and read and 
 wept and read all day long. 'Twas night before I got through 
 them. 
 
 Perhaps you'll feel better when you get to England 
 There you will not hear such constant discussions as to the 
 wisdom of my course, and the propriety of your coming here ; 
 and that, I am sure, will be a great relief Moreover, the 
 sacrifice is for the benefit of our children. There they can 
 go to good schools, and I can come and see you. If you 
 stayed where you are, you could have neither; if you come 
 here you must do without the schools. So you see you are 
 in the path of duty, and the reflection that it is so will 
 comfort and console you,' I am sure. Yesterday I received 
 my appointment as Director of the Observatory here; and 
 to-day my naturalization papers, whicli qualify me to hold 
 office. 
 
 My salary is $5000 to commence with June last. Last 
 night I submitted — by request — estimates for my staff and 
 office. . . . Dick and family, I suppose, will sail from New 
 York on 8th, and be here about tliis time next month. I 
 shall strive to interest Dabney's friend. General Wilcox, also, 
 the Talcotts, in them, so that I may not leave them friendless 
 in a strange land, when I come to see you; also Miss 
 Scarlett, a nice lady, the daughter of the British Minister. 
 
 I came to our new house the day before yesterday, and am 
 now housekeeping. It is a nice house. I have one-half of 
 the upper storey, the Talcotts the other — or are to have. The 
 
LIFE IN MEXICO. 245 
 
 houses here, you know, have no chimneys, and they have a 
 large yard in the middle. My side of the parallelogram is 
 nearly one hundred yards long. I have a very large parlour, 
 diniag-room, kitchen, and six other rooms, two of which I 
 shall use as an ofhce when I am put in charge of immigra- 
 tion. The house is ready-fiirnished. This arrangement will 
 make it cost me about $50 per month, leaving about $3000, 
 which will be a smart allowance for you and the children for 
 the year. I am by no means sanguine about my "New 
 Virginia " ; not but that there are plenty of people in the 
 South who are dying to come. I know more about that than 
 you do, for there are now about one hundred first-rate men, some 
 of them with their families, from various parts of the South, 
 looking for homes. Some of them have been sent by their 
 neighbours and friends to look at the country and report. 
 The Government is not yet -prepared to offer them lands on 
 any terms. AVe are not ready. Some of them have gone 
 home in disgust, and the golden, precious moments are 
 passing by. I am not yet in harness ; but if I can't carry 
 colonization, this is no place for me. And this the Emperor 
 also understands, for I have told him I could not stay if 
 immigration fails. At any rate, I now almost despair of 
 seeing it well in motion before this time next year. But 
 this will give me a long time with you and those precious 
 children. I am so proud of them. Their praises, coming 
 from the heart, are more than music to my ears. 'Tis joy 
 and comfort to my heart. Bless their sweet hearts ! Tell 
 them to study and be good and true. "Brave," I know 
 bears himself like our son, and a man. He is a noble boy. 
 Hug him six times, and kiss him twenty for me. 
 
 I have been entertaining visitors, and reading over again 
 that sweet budget of letters— especially yours — all day. 
 How I do wish I could take aU care from you, and make you 
 happy ! . . . 
 
 But, my dear sweet wife and noble mother of our noble 
 children, what can I do more than I have done — and I am 
 doing — to show myself worthy of you and of them, and do 
 homage to the great ambition that I have to deserve your 
 and their praise and love ? . . . You know what brought me 
 
246 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 here. I did hope — and still hope — to help to repair the ruin 
 that was made of the most righteous cause and noble people 
 that ever suffered the shipwreck of almost all that it is dear. I 
 may yet succeed in that. But I may fail, and if I do it will 
 not be because I spared myself or forgot your happiness 
 
 It becomes me to try this to a conclusion ; it becomes me 
 to use whatever power for good I may have acquired in the 
 world for the benefit of this people, who have suffered in the 
 same cause with us, and who are so near and dear to us. 
 Nay, my sweet companion and friend, it becomes me to be 
 up and doing, especially while, our good friends — Tremlett, 
 Jansen, and others — are so kindly exerting themselves on my 
 account. How would it have done for me, instead of trying 
 myself to do something, to have, folded my arms — as Eutson 
 and others suggested — until the Federal authorities would 
 have permitted me to come back — to what ? To poverty and 
 misery; and that too while Tremlett was undergoing the 
 fatigues and expense of that journey to Denmark, Sweden 
 and Eussia on my account ! 
 
 No ; rely upon it, my sweet friend and partner, that in 
 coming here I have done the wisest and the best thing that 
 under the circumstances, I could do. 
 
 Mexico, September 27th, 1865. 
 The plan for you I fancy most is to go where there is 
 some good school for girls. Take nice lodgings where you can 
 entertain your friends, or where the girls can receive theirs. 
 Let your landlady supply your meals, and so relieve you of 
 the housekeeping. You will be mighty lonesome, I fear ; but 
 you are in the path of duty, and you will find consolation in 
 that, and in watching for my coming, which will not be long 
 delayed, I can assure you. Last night I went to the Opera. 
 This is the third time, and a very good Opera it is. I am 
 often invited. . . . 
 
 I reckon you will sail next Saturday, the 30th. You were 
 preparing to quit, October 1st, anyhow. You got my 
 letters telling you to go to England on the 10th. Your 
 preparations then would not be much, and the longer you 
 tarried the longer the voyage. 
 
LIFE IN MEXICO. li,-] 
 
 This goes in the English Minister's bag, and wUl reach 
 you on the 20th or 29th of October, I reckon. I saw the 
 Empress yesterday, and arranged about my office and a land- 
 office, at the head of which I asked her to place Magruder,* 
 with a salary of $3000, which she did. 
 
 He will probably have a large force of surveyors under 
 him, aU or most of them Confederates. . . . 
 
 Keep up your spirits, my dear wife. 
 
 Your affectionate 
 
 " Cousin." 
 
 Froin M. F. Mauey to his Wife. 
 
 Office of Colonization, 
 My DEAK Wife, Mexico, Nov. 27th, 1865. 
 
 I/ick is a great help and comfort to me. Bless his 
 heart, he Avins upon me every day : so crippled yet so patient, 
 so devoted to liis new duties, and so hard-working, he sur- 
 prises and delights me with his business tact and capacity. 
 He is so handsome too, and in his new clothes looks, as he is, 
 every inch a gentleman. He was consulting me to-day about 
 buying some Cordova lands. I have it in my mind to bring 
 Corbin here and induce him to settle upon them ; and though 
 I believe he and Nannie would come, if I had urged them, 
 yet, in the face of so much opposition, I had not the heart to 
 do it. 
 
 In the olden times, Cordova was the garden spot of New 
 Spain. There stands on one side, and but a little way off, 
 the Peak of Orizaba, with its cap of everlasting snow, and on 
 the other the sea in full view. These lands were heavily in 
 debt to the Church, and as the Church property has been 
 confiscated (not by the Emperor, though) Max. took possession 
 of these lands for colonization. The railway hence to Vera 
 Cruz passes right through them ; and I am now selling these 
 lands to immigrants, as fast as they can be surveyed, at $1 
 the acre on 5 years' credit. There are about 40 of our people 
 already there. Perkius has bought himself a house and has 
 sent for his family ; so has Shelby, and so have a number of 
 
 * General C. S. A. 
 
248 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 others. Mr. Holdham, an Episcopal clergyman, with his 
 family — nice people — has been engaged by the settlement as 
 pastor and teacher. I am going to reserve land for a church, 
 cemetery, and school-house. Thus, you see, my sweet wife, 
 colonization is a fact, not a chimera. By the time these 
 lands are paid for they will be worth, even if no more 
 settlers come to the Empire, $20, $30, or even $100 the acre, 
 for they produce everything under the sun, and yield 
 perpetual harvests. 
 
 What do you think of coifee growing wild, of fig-trees 
 100 feet high and three feet in circumference, and the most 
 luscious pine-apples at a cent apiece ? 
 
 Now, if I can get Corbin here on one of these old Haciendas, 
 he would, with his skilful husbandry, make it bud and 
 blossom again. There is a great rush for this settlement, and 
 it is here that Dick wanted to go ; but as he was my son, 1 
 advised him against it, because there are not lands enough 
 there for all who want them. However, I am going to extend 
 the settlement, and then Corbin and ISTannie can come in, as 
 well as Dick and the rest. 
 
 Lafayette Caldwell, who used to be draughtsman at the 
 Observatory, has sent for his family, Newmarket for his, and 
 there are a number of nice families already there, some of 
 them established in the city ; but those are all going to break 
 np and go down to the new, dear old Spottsylvania. 
 
 Now, if I can only get lands surveyed in time — for there are 
 plenty of them — here is your " New Virginia." There are 
 other settlements forming in other parts of the Empire. 
 Colonization is a success, if we can only get instruments and 
 surveyors to bring the land into market. The people of the 
 South are restrained by political considerations from speaking 
 of their intentions ; but we have letters. Thousands are 
 dying to come ; and 1 hope to have a decree this week which 
 will put them in motion. 
 
 2'ith. — My hands are getting so full, and my time so liable 
 to interruptions, that I cannot write as often or as fully as I 
 used to do ; but my heart is always full of letters to you — 
 piled up, pressed down, and running over with loves, and the 
 most tendei; solicitude. . . . 
 
TRA VELLIXG LV MEXICO. 249 
 
 He wrote to his children, on the eve of his departure from 
 Mexico : — 
 
 My DEAE ChILDEEN, "Vera Cruz, March 1st, 1866. 
 
 The English steamer in which I have paid my 
 passage (49 pounds and 10 shillings), is now overdue ten 
 days, and her day for sailing again is the day after to-morrow. 
 I left Mexico on Saturday the 24th at 3 A.M. ; arrived at 
 Puebla at 7 p.m., where I pernocted in a room with divers 
 others for %2; was called at 1 a.m., and off again at 2, 
 over a very rough road — a very fatiguing journey. Passed 
 between long hedges of the lordly Maguey, shootuag up its 
 magnificent stems or stalks, as large and as high and as 
 straight as a common telegraph-pole. Indeed, unless you are 
 near enough to see the wires, I found it often difficult to tell 
 the one from the other. This pet of Mora's, with its enormous 
 height and proportions, is pushed up in the course of 6 or 7 
 days. 
 
 To compare small things with great, imagine an enormous 
 asparagus-stalk — say one day old, and before it had swelled 
 out suf&ciently to begin to burst and shoot out branches — and 
 imagine it to be 18 or 20 inches in circumference, and 30 or 
 40 feet high, and you have the Maguey, as I generally see it, 
 rising from its magnificent tuft of foliage 30 feet round and 
 12 feet high. Occasionally the more forward ones had 
 commenced to shoot out from the top, and horizontally, their 
 splendid flower bracts. The coach ascended the slopes of the 
 Cumbres, the highest range between Mexico and the Gulf ; we 
 left the " Court of Bacchus/' and entered the cloud region. 
 It was blowiag a furious gale ; the wind was howling among 
 the rocks and cliffs, and driving a cold and penetrating mist 
 through a wliite darkness so thick that you could see nothing 
 beyond the distance of a few feet. It was piercing cold. I 
 had on three flannel shirts ; but as we began to climb, I 
 began to draw around and button up, and finally found 
 myself wrapped in cloak and blanket and uncomfortably 
 cold. Presently we dropped down through the thick cloud 
 right into the bright sunshine, and the loveliest view that it 
 was possible for the heart of man to conceive. There was 
 
2SO LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 the lovely little valley of Aconcinga at our feet, and spreading 
 out miles away into the plains of Orizaba, which are 4000 
 feet above the sea. This valley was quilted over with 
 smiling crops in all the stages of growth, from the sprouting 
 corn to the ripe grain. The reapers were in golden iields of 
 the yellowest and the brightest barley I ever saw. The 
 wheat was just coming up, and immense herds of cattle, as 
 they fed on the rich pastures, lent a charm to the landscape 
 that made it altogether lovely. Passing a cascade of milk- 
 white foam as it leaped from the mountain, we entered the 
 valley, and felt what old Job had said about the " scent of 
 water." We were in the midst of fruits and flowers — orange- 
 trees loaded with ripe fruit and the peach-tree in all its 
 glory of blossom, hedges, and copses of roses. Oh, a 
 wilderness of the loveliest flowers and the gayest colours, and 
 such only as, I used to think, had never grown anywhere 
 except in the garden of " Beauty and the Beast ! " And it, too, 
 has its beast — for 2 months ago it had been here in the shape 
 of an earthquake, and had shaken down the adobe huts of the 
 village, which the owners were reconstructing of bamboo- 
 reeds, palm-leaves, and hides. After passing through these 
 beauties for 12 or 15 miles, at 6.30 p.m. we drove into Orizaba 
 in the midst of a rain-storm. Coffee, tobacco, the cereals, 
 and the banana, with other fruits, seem to be the chief 
 articles of cultivation. Here I pernocted again, in another 
 menagerie, when, as before, there was little chance for sleep. 
 I was called at 5, off at 6, and at 10 breakfasted at Cordova, 
 and at 2 arrived at Paso del Macho ; there I pernocted again, 
 as unsatisfactorily as before ; and the next day, at 6, 
 started in the cars for this place. Total expenses, $45.50. 
 The $5.50 being spent for extras, such as a cup of chocolate 
 or so, between the early hour of starting and the late one of 
 breakfast. 
 
 Two ship-loads of immigrants have just arrived. Sheridan 
 had refused to let them embark at New Orleans,* as he was 
 "determined to break up that Maury nest of Confederates 
 which was agitating the public mind of the South, and 
 
 * The U. S. Secretary of State required that all Southerners who 
 applied for passports to Mexico should take an oath wewr to return. 
 
ABANDONMENT OF THE EMIGRATION SCHEME. 251 
 
 preventing the people there from quietly submitting to 
 subjugation." I thank him for the encouragement. We are 
 going to have happy times, a fine country, and a bright 
 future here. Dick has got land in my Carlotta Colony — 640 
 acres ; he has sent to China for labourers — 12 or 15 — to work 
 it, and to Virginia for young Crutchfield to take charge of it. 
 I have such good irons in such good fires, that some of them 
 wUl surely be got to welding heat. 
 
 N"o sooner was Maury's back turned upon Mexico, than his 
 enemies, and the enemies of the Empire and of Maximilian, 
 brought such pressure to bear on the ill-fated Emperor that 
 he was forced to abandon the colonization policy of Maury 
 and to abolish the Department of Immigration. Just one 
 month after Maury's departure, the Emperor wrote to tell him 
 that their cherished plans and golden day-dreams must be 
 abandoned. The following was Maury's reply : — 
 
 To the, Empeeoe of Mexico. 
 
 SlE, London, July, 1866. 
 
 I read, in your letter of April 19th, fresh proofs of 
 your Majesty's confidence and friendly consideration ; I am 
 touched by them. I am grieved to learn that your Majesty 
 should be compassed with difficulties so serious as must be 
 those which made it necessary to abandon such a cherished 
 policy as I know that of colonization to have been. . . . 
 
 Colonization being suspended, I fear that my return to 
 Mexico would tend rather to increase the embarrassments 
 than to smooth any of the difficulties by which your Majesty 
 is surrounded. 
 
 This fear, my solicitude for the welfare of the Empress and 
 yourself, and the deep concern I feel for your success in one 
 of the noblest undertakings that ever animated the human 
 breast, make me pause. . . . 
 
 In stating this conclusion I hope I may not be considered 
 unmindful of obligations or insensible to kindness. Far from 
 it. Proof that I recognise both in their highest sense is 
 found in the fact, that m homage to them I forego the high 
 
2 5 2 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INK MA UR Y. 
 
 and honourable position so kindly offered me near the person 
 of your Majesty in the service of your Empire. 
 
 Connected with this subject, I beg leave to report, that of 
 the sum placed in my hands for the purchase of seeds and 
 instruments a balance will remain. H.B.M.'s Government 
 has kindly ordered chinchona seeds from India, because they 
 were required for yoxtr Majesty's service. Defraying the cost 
 of their transportation out of this fund, I shall be glad to 
 account for it, and pay over the balance due to any person 
 here that may be designated. 
 
 That God may ever have your Majesties in His lioly 
 keeping is the constant prayer of your earnest well-wisher and 
 humble friend, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 From the Empeeoe. 
 
 Palace of Mexico, 
 
 My deak Councilloe Mauey, Aug. leth, 186G. 
 
 It was with pride that I heard of the scientific 
 triumph just achieved, and due to your illustrious labours. 
 The Transatlantic cable, while uniting both hemispheres, 
 will continually recall to their minds the debt of gratitude 
 they owe to your genius. I congratulate you with all my 
 heart, and I am pleased at announcing to you that I have 
 appointed you Grand Cross of the Order of Gaudeloupe. 
 
 Eeceive the assurance of the good wishes of your very 
 affectionate 
 
 Maximilian. 
 
 Maury succeeded in conferring one permanent blessing on 
 Mexico, by introducing the cultivation of the febrifuge- 
 yielding chinchona tree. Before leaving England in 1865, 
 he had conversed with Mr. Clements Markham on the sub- 
 ject, who is the introducer of chinchona cultivation into 
 British India. Maury had compared the forest-covered 
 slopes above the Tierra Caliente, with the eastern slopes of 
 the Andes in Peru and Bolivia, which are the native habitat 
 of the chinchona, expressing his conviction that the trees 
 
CHINCHONA CULTIVATION IN MEXICO. 253 
 
 would flourish in Mexico, and his anxiety to introduce their 
 cultivation. Mr. Markham fully concurred, and pointed out 
 to Maury that Baron Humboldt long ago remarked, with 
 surprise, the presence of all the principal plants in the 
 Mexican forests which are found in the chinchona region, and 
 the absence of the chinchona itself. Mr. Markham, who had 
 established the chinchona plantations in British India, was 
 then in charge of all matters relating to them at the India 
 Ofiice. He promised to arrange that Maury should be furnished 
 with a supply of seeds, and wrote out to India to cause the 
 necessary arrangements to be made. In August 1866, he 
 forwarded three parcels of chinchona seeds to Maury ; and 
 steps were at once taken to form a plantation near Cordova, 
 In December it was announced that the seeds were germinat- 
 ing satisfactorily, and Mr. Markham addressed the following 
 official dispatch to Commander Maury : — 
 
 Sir, India Office, May 17t1i, 1867. 
 
 With reference to my letter of the 15th of August last, 
 forwarding three parcels of chinchona seeds for transportation 
 to the Mexican Government, I have the honour to transmit, 
 by direction of the Secretary of State for India, fifty copies 
 of a pamphlet on chinchona cultivation, in the Spanish 
 language,* for the guidance of those who have been charged 
 with the management of chinchona cultivation in that 
 Empire, and of those who may hereafter undertake the culti- 
 vation. 
 
 Sir Stafford Northcotet has received the intelligence 
 contained in the letter from the Secretary of the Mexican 
 
 * This pamphlet was compiled by Mr. Clements Markham, not only for 
 the use of Mexicans, but also of Peruvians, Bolivians, and Columbians who 
 might undertake chinchona cultivation. He wrote it in the hope that it 
 would prove useful to his South American friends, and as some slight 
 return for the kindness and hospitality he received from them while 
 engaged on the duty of making collections of chinchona plants and seeds 
 in South America. 
 
 t Then Secretary of State for India. 
 
254 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 Society of Geography and Statistics, dated the 11th of De- 
 cember last, that several thousands of chinchona seeds sent 
 from Madras according to your instructions have germinated 
 satisfactorily in the Mexican Mountains, with much grati- 
 fication. 
 
 I have, &c., 
 
 Clements E. Maekham. 
 To Councillor M. P. Maury. 
 
 The Mexican chinchona plantation was established near 
 Cordova, under the superintendence of Seiior Nieto. It has 
 continued to flourish.* If Maury did no other good by Ms 
 short residence in Mexico than was involved in this valuable 
 service, who can say that generations yet unborn will not bless 
 his name for the rich benefits conferred on the Mexican people 
 by the introduction of this inestimable febrifuge ? 
 
 To understand the position of affairs in Mexico it will be 
 necessary to refer to the powerful influences which were 
 being brought to bear upon her at this time by the United 
 States. France had availed herself of the opportunity 
 presented by the American civil war to try the experiment 
 
 * In June, 1866, a supply of cliinchona seeds, consisting of 3.20,000 of 
 C. succirubra, 90,000 of 0. Oalisaga, and 25,000 of C officinalis, was trans- 
 mitted from the Nilagiri Hills, in Southern India, to Mr. Markham in 
 London, and immediately forwarded to Mexico. A site was selected for 
 planting them at Cordova, about 3000 feet above the sea ; and Seiior Nieto 
 was appointed to take charge of the undertaking. SeEor Nieto received 
 the seeds on October 14th, 1866, and sowed the greater part of them in 
 wooden boxes filled with good soil, and protected by glass and light 
 movable curtains. The rest were distributed to Mr. Pinch of the Hacienda 
 Potrero, Don P. M. Sanchez Barcena of Jalapa, Mr. Grandison of Orizaba, 
 and Don Carlos Sartorius of the Hacienda Mirada, all intelligent planters. 
 In November, 1871, Mr. Markham, who was in regular correspondence 
 with Seiior Nieto, sent out a second supply of seeds, which arrived at 
 Cordova on April 25th, 1872. A plantation of chinchona trees was 
 established near Cordova, and Seiior Nieto worked on steadily, through 
 much discouragement, until hia lamented death in 1874. Samples of 
 the chinchona bark from Mexico were exhibited in the International 
 Exhibition of Philadelphia in 1876. 
 
FALL OF THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN. 255 
 
 of substituting an Imperial for a Eepublican form of Govern- 
 ment in the Aztec land. Maximilian sat on the throne of 
 the Montezumas, and was striving to restore the country to 
 peace and prosperity under the shadow of the wings of the 
 eagles of France. 
 
 It was not, however, part of the policy of the United 
 States Government to allow the establishment of such a 
 power on its southern frontier. While the civil war lasted 
 no other contest could be undertaken ; but the aspect of afPairs 
 was entirely changed after the fall of the Confederacy ; and 
 the United States Government peremptorily demanded from 
 Napoleon III. that liis troops should be withdrawn from 
 Mexico. The Emperor of the French was far too shrewd a 
 man to persist in a course which, owing to the unexpected 
 success of the North, had ceased to be profitable. He caused 
 his army to evacuate the country, leaving the Emperor of 
 Mexico to his fate. 
 
 Maximilian became fully aware of the deadly peril of his 
 position. He persuaded his faithful wife to visit France and 
 Austria, on the ostensible plea of negotiating a loan fro^i 
 either or both Governments, but really to remove her out of 
 danger. He was surrounded by foes and false friends, and 
 without a soul he could trust or a friend on whom he could 
 rely, among the Mexicans. He was finally taken prisoner — 
 through the treachery of one of his generals — at Queretaro, 
 in May, 1867, and shot on the 19th of June following. 
 After long delay, his remains were delivered to the Austrian 
 Admiral sent by his brother to receive them, and were finally 
 interred at Vienna with those of his ancestors. Maximilian 
 had given up Ms position in the Austrian Navy, and 
 abandoned the pleasures of his home in the charming palace 
 of Miramar from the purest motives. He laboured hard, and 
 devoted aU the resources of his cultivated mind to further 
 the welfare of his adopted country. The remains of no nobler 
 
256 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 and braver prince have their resting-place in the tomb of the 
 Hapsburgs.* 
 
 The afflicted Empress, on her arrival in Europe, entreated 
 Napoleon III. to send aid to her husband in Mexico. 
 Finding her appeals of no avail, she was overwhelmed with 
 such intense grief that reason forsook its throne. Maury 
 was deeply affected by the sad fate of these friends, involving 
 the destruction of all his beneiicent schemes for the good of 
 Mexico. The last letter he received from the unfortunate 
 Empress Carlotta enclosed photographs of herself and of the 
 Emperor Maximilian. 
 
 * The following description of the vault under the Capuchin Church in 
 Vienna, which is the last resting-place of the Imperial House of Hapsburg, 
 was furnished by a friend of the author, who visited it in 1881 : — 
 
 "We were admitted by a long and gloomy descent. The monk in 
 attendance first showed us with his candle the oldest tombs, which are 
 richly decorated. In the centre of the principal chamber is the stately 
 double sarcophagus containing the bodies of Maria Theresa and Francis I. 
 Surrounding them are the bodies of her fourteen children. The cofiBn of 
 Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, occupies an adjoining recess. The 
 position seems to have been specially chosen, and the sarcophagus is a 
 handsome one. It is still covered with wreaths ; and many similar tokens 
 «■ respect and love hang on the wall over it, with inscriptions. They are 
 sympathetic offerings of members of his family and of great men. Upon 
 the lid there rests a silver wreath of palm-leaves, placed there by his 
 unhappy widow." 
 
MAURY TESTIMONIAL. 257 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 In England, 1866-68. 
 
 Maury's arrival in England — Meeting -witli Ms family — The Maury 
 testimonial — Instructing Prencli ofEcers in defensive sea-mining at 
 Paris— Maury's Electrical Torpedo School — Defence of Wurtemberg 
 by electrical mines — Maury's memorandum on the use of electrical 
 torpedoes — Writing class-books on geography — Visits to Nottingham 
 and to Wrottesley Hall — Arrival of his daughter, Mrs. Corbia — Maury's 
 love for his grandchild — He joins the Church and is con6rmed with his 
 children — Made LL.D. at Cambridge — Accepts appointment as Professor 
 at the Virginia Military Institute — Returns to America — Occupations 
 at Eichmond. 
 
 Mauky arrived in England — from Mexico — on the 29th of 
 March, 1866. His wife and children had come from 
 Birkenhead to meet him in London, and they were once more 
 united at No. 30, Harley Street. But Maury was so com- 
 pletely altered by the sorrows, hardships, and anxieties of the 
 years of separation, that none of his children knew him. His 
 youngest daughter exclaimed when, he entered his wife's 
 room — " This is not my papa ! This is an old man with a 
 white beard ! " He had lost all his property in the States, 
 and the failure of a banker caused him the further loss of all 
 the money he had brought from Mexico. 
 
 The services of the great hydrographer to mankind were 
 not, however, forgotten by his friends and his numerous 
 admirers in Europe. A " Maury Testimonial " had been set 
 on foot, and subscriptions to it were actively promoted by 
 Commodore Jansen and by Dr. Tremlett, who visited 
 
258 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 Holland and Sweden for the purpose of making its object 
 known. Naval and scientific men in England and other 
 countries also came forward. On the 6th of June a banquet 
 was given in his honour at Willis's Eooms, and the illustrious 
 .A.merican was presented by Sir John Pakington,* who presided, 
 with the " Maury Testimonial," consisting of a purse contain- 
 ing 3000 guineas in a handsome silver-gilt casket. Among 
 the many distinguished men who were present on tliis 
 occasion, were the Mexican, Danish, and Argentine Ministers ; 
 General Beauregard, of the Confederate Army ; Earl Nelson ; 
 Admirals Sir John Hay, Halstead, and Young; Captain 
 Cowper Coles, E.N. ; General Sir Henry Lefroy, E.E. ; 
 Colonel Sir Henry James, of the Ordnance Survey ; Com- 
 modore Jansen, of the Netherlands Navy ; Admiral Boulaker, 
 of the Eussian Navy ; Captain Klerker, of the Swedish Navy ; 
 Lord Eichard Grosvenor, Mr. Beresford-Hope, M.P., Mr. 
 Charles Babbage, General Walker, Professor Tyndall, Mr. 
 J. Laird, M.P., the Eev. F. W. Tremlett, Honorary Secre- 
 tary of the Testimonial Fund, the Hon. J. B. Vivian, and 
 many others. 
 
 Almost immediately after his return to England, Maury 
 set to work with his electrical torpedo ; and during May and 
 June he was in Paris, where he was employed by the 
 Government of Napoleon III. His duty — for which he 
 received suitable remuneration — was to instruct a board of 
 French officers in his system of defensive sea-mining. He 
 displayed before the Emperor the power and capabilities of 
 the torpedoes which he had planted in the James Eiver four 
 years before. The French authorities were delighted. At St. 
 Cloud, the Emperor himself made the circuit and exploded a 
 torpedo, and Maury was invited to become a Frenchman, and 
 accept service under Napoleon. " But," he wrote, " I would 
 
 * First Lord of the Admiralty 1858-59 and 1866-67 ; afterwards Lord 
 Hampton, 
 
TORPEDO INSTRUCTION. 259 
 
 much rather find occupation in the civil avocations of Old 
 England." 
 
 On his return to London, Maury opened a school of 
 instruction in electric torpedoes, and Swedish, Dutch, and 
 other officers went through his courses between June and 
 August, 1866. For this work he was adequately remunerated 
 by the different Governments whose officers received in- 
 struction. 
 
 The followiug letter on the subject was addressed to the 
 Consul-General for Wurtemberg, on the 30th of June, 1866 :— 
 
 SlE, 30, Harley St., June 30th, 1866. 
 
 In reference to our conversation this morning, con- 
 cerning the electric torpedo as a means of defence in war, I 
 beg leave to state that I iutroduced it, on the side of the 
 South, in the late war in America, and that the Federal 
 Secretary of the Navy iu his last Eeport (Dec. 4th, 1865) 
 states that in that war their navy lost more vessels by 
 torpedoes than from all other causes whatever ; that in 1862, 
 I mined the James Eiver with them ; that they destroyed 
 every Federal vessel that attempted to pass them, and kept 
 that powerful fleet at bay during the siege of Eichmond by 
 General Grant; that since that time I have made the study 
 of them a speciality, and by a course of investigation and 
 experiment have made such improvements in their use and 
 application, both by land and water, as to take away the 
 superiority over the defence which rifled guns, hollow shot, 
 and ironclads appear to have given to the attack. Confining 
 my remarks to the land, it is in the power of the military 
 engineer to mine the way before an invading army, and to 
 spring volcanoes under its feet at wiU. 
 
 With small cost, and at short notice, the mountain-passes 
 and strongholds of Wurtemberg may be so effectually 
 defended from invasion and attack as to drive an enemy back, 
 or keep him at bay. The operator need not be stationed 
 near the scene ; he may be at the distance of several miles 
 when he discharges the exploding spark. He can explode by 
 
 s 2 
 
26o LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 the same touch, and instantaneously, any number that may 
 be required. 
 
 He can at any time send a telegraphic message through 
 his wires, and feel that the powder is dry and assure himself 
 that all is well. 
 
 I have demonstrated the principles of this new means of 
 defence, to one of the most powerful nations of the world,* 
 and it has been decided to introduce it there. I am now 
 doing the same for others. 
 
 I have the honour to be, respectfully. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 To the Consul of H.M. the King of Wnrtemberg. 
 
 A copy of the following paper was given to the Swedes, 
 one to Eussia, one to Holland, and one to France. All these 
 powers, and others, had sent agents to be instructed in the 
 use of the Maury electrical torpedo for harbour, coast, and 
 land defence. 
 
 " July 28th, 186G. 
 "We have treated of the electrical torpedoes under 
 water ; before treating of them on the land, I beg to say a few 
 words as to torpedo-boats and mechanical torpedoes, or those 
 which explode by striking or catching against a vessel. The 
 torpedo-boats used by the Confederates generally carried their 
 torpedoes — say forty pounds of powder — at the end of a pole 
 rigged out some twenty feet over the bow of the boat, and 
 inclined downward so as to strike the enemy five or six feet 
 at least below the water-line. Experiments showed that when 
 the torpedo was exploded at three feet the men were liable to 
 be blown out of the boat. In this plan the charge was 
 ignited by the striking of the torpedo against the enemy, 
 which set off a percussion, or broke a phial of acid, so 
 arranged within as to ignite the charge. 
 
 * France, 
 
TORPEDO INSTRUCTION. 261 
 
 " A torpedo-boat of steel, 33 feet long, was built at Mobile 
 and sent to Charleston by rail. She was intended to go 
 under the water and to carry a crew of nine men — one to 
 manage, the others to propel. Under favourable circumstances 
 she was expected to go four knots and remain below thirty 
 minutes, coming to the surface at pleasure. Her plan was to 
 run under the vessel and tow the torpedo after her, which, on 
 coming in contact with the side, would explode. 
 
 " Lieutenant Payne and eight others volunteered to attack 
 the blockading fleet off Charleston with her. As they were 
 just ready to put out, the swell of a passing steamer sunk her, 
 and aU hands, excepting Captain Payne, were lost. She was 
 raised, and he volunteered again, when, by another similar 
 mishap, she was swamped again, and all hands except Mmself 
 and two others were drowned. 
 
 " She was raised again, and sent round into the smooth 
 water of the Cooper Eiver for experiments in diving and 
 coming up again. Her commander was on her. He and 
 eight others went down in her and were all drowned. She 
 remained at the bottom several weeks, and then was raised 
 and fitted up again, under the command of Lieutenant 
 Dickson, of the Confederate army. With her he attacked and 
 sunk the sloop-of-war ' Housatonic ' ; but neither he nor any 
 of his daring companions were ever heard of again.* 
 
 " The best torpedo-boat, however, that was planned in the 
 Confederacy, was a steam-gig built of steel, light and strong, 
 calculated to hold five men, to go ten knots, and to carry coal 
 enough, without provisions, for a night. Instead of carrying 
 her torpedo — and she could carry several — at the end of a spar, 
 she carried it over her bow. Her bowsprit was eight feet long, 
 and so arranged, that when the enemy was struck it would 
 
 * For a more full and interesting ^account of torpedo operations against 
 the enemy in Charleston Harbour, see ' Military Operations of General 
 Beauregard,' by Col. Eoman, 2nd vol., pp. 181 to 184. 
 
263 LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 come in against a spiral, tlms acting as a buffer, and by 
 firing a gun which would send a shaft, to wliich the torpedo 
 was made fast by a cord several feet long, into the side of a 
 ship. Thus, the torpedo would be left hanging ; thence a cord 
 or wire, some fifty or sixty feet long, with one end attached 
 to the torpedo, the other to the boat, served to explode the 
 charge as soon as the boat got out of the way, and brought 
 it taut ; the explosion being effected either by electricity or 
 by the pulling of a trigger. 
 
 "The war ended before any of these boats were ready. 
 They might answer very well against wooden ships. Another 
 plan was prepared very early in the war, but was never tried. 
 The torpedo was to be in the form of a fish, with its tail 
 lashed to one side to serve as a rudder ; it was to be towed 
 astern by a long line in which were the conducting wires. 
 Being thus towed by a swift steamer past the enemy, the 
 effect was that the torpedo would be sheered off broad enough 
 to strike, when it would be exploded by an electric discharge. 
 I am not aware that any attempt was made to put this idea 
 into practice. 
 
 " In July, 1861, the Federal fleet, then lying off Portress 
 Munroe, was attacked with floating torpedoes. They were in 
 pairs, connected together by a span 500 feet long. The span 
 was floated on the surface by corks ; and the torpedo-barrels, 
 containing 200 pounds of powder, also floated at the depth of 
 twenty feet ; empty barregas, painted lead-colour so as not 
 readily to be seen, serving 'for the purpose. The span was 
 connected with a trigger in the head of each barrel, so set 
 and arranged that when the torpedo, being let go in a tide- 
 way under the bows and athwart the hawse had fouled, they 
 would be drifted alongside, and in so drifting tauten the 
 span and so set off the fuse, which was driven precisely as a 
 10" shot fuze, only it was calculated to burn 54", because it 
 could not be known exactly in which part of the sweep along 
 
TORPEDO INSTRUCTION. 263 
 
 tide the strain would be sufficient to set off the trigger. Tlie 
 torpedoes were launched at three fine frigates, the ' Min- 
 nesota/ the ' Eoanoke,' and the ' Cumberland ' (the blockading 
 fleet off the mouth of the James Eiver). 
 
 " Finding that they all missed, I attributed it to the fact 
 that such a fuse could not burn under a pressure of 20 feet 
 of water. The conjecture was confirmed by experiment. 
 The fuse could burn very surely at the depth of 15 feet — 
 never at 20 feet. 
 
 " Some time afterwards those torpedoes were discovered by 
 the enemy. Spans, barrels, and larrcgas were soon got up, 
 and carried off as relics. 
 
 " The enemy prevented any further attack in this way by 
 dropping the end of his lower studding-sail boom in the 
 water every night, anchoring boats or beams ahead, &c. 
 The first vessel destroyed by a torpedo was the ' Quaker 
 City ' — I think that was the name — in the Yazoo Eiver. 
 This torpedo was an old demi-john filled with powder, planted 
 in the channel- way, and having a string attached to a friction- 
 tube leading to the shore ; the observer, with it in his hand, 
 being concealed on the bank. She came ; he pulled, and down 
 she went. 
 
 " After this hasty sketch, I come to electrical torpedoes 
 for guarding mountain-passes and roadways, &c., for the 
 protection of strongholds and tlie defence of fortified positions. 
 Shells cast for the purpose should be used, but in an 
 emergency tin canisters, or any other prefectly water-tight 
 cases, will answer. I am not aware that electricity was used 
 by either of the belligerents in the late American war for 
 springing mines on land. 
 
 "The cases for land-torpedoes should be shells cast 
 expressly for the purpose. The thickness of the shell being 
 from one-fourth to an inch, and even more, or less, according 
 to the size and the probable handling in transportation, 
 
264 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 " They should be spherical, only, instead of a hole for the 
 fuse, as in a hollow shot, they should have a neck like a 
 bottle, with a cap to screw over — not in — the neck. The 
 case should be charged through the neck, and the wires let in 
 through two holes, counter-sunk, diametrically opposite, 
 the counter-sinking being for the purpose of receiving pitch 
 or other resinous matter to keep the water out. The fuse, 
 being adjusted to the wires, should be held in its place by a 
 string through the neck, while the wires are drawn out taut 
 and sealed within and without. Having proved the fuse, first 
 fill and then drive in a wooden peg. Then fill the space 
 between it and the screw-cap with red lead, and screw down 
 tight so as to make it water-tight. Now secure the tails of 
 the wu'es so that they will not be chafed or bruised, and the 
 mine is ready to be packed for transportation. They are 
 generally to be used in stone fugassees, the wire being buried at 
 convenient depths, and all marks of fugassees and trenches 
 removed as completely as possible. Any number, not 
 exceeding twenty -five or thirty, may be arranged in a siagle 
 circuit for the ebonite ; but if the magnetic exploder of 
 Wheattstone be preferred, and the ground be perfectly dry, 
 hundreds may be planted in a ladder- circuit, which you have 
 been handled. 
 
 "The operator may be at any distance from these mines 
 when he explodes them, provided only he has established 
 some mark or point which, on being reached by the enemy, 
 should serve as his signal. The area of destruction of one 
 fugassee, properly constructed, with a charge of twenty or 
 twenty-five pounds of powder, may be assumed to be that of 
 a circle seventy-five or eighty yards in diameter. Twenty 
 mines would therefore serve for a mile. Several miles may 
 be planted in a night, and . the assailants may be enticed or 
 invited out in the morning. Passes before an invading army 
 may be mined in advance, and thus, if he cannot be destroyed. 
 
TORPEDO INSTRUCTION. 265 
 
 his progress may be so retarded by dummies or sham mines 
 as almost literally to compel him to dig his way. 
 
 " The power to telegraph through these torpedoes is of 
 little consequence, inasmuch as there need be but one 
 station and one operator. Using the testing-fuse manu- 
 factured by Abel, and a weak voltaic current, the operator 
 can at any time satisfy himself as to continuity. Thus 
 bridges and gulfs or breaks are not required for the land as 
 they are in sea-mining. Ebonite has the further advantage 
 on land that it takes but a single wire. 
 
 " Forts may be protected against assault, and your own 
 rifle-pits from occupation by an enemy, simply by a proper 
 distribution of these new engines of war. They may be 
 planted line within line, and one row above another, and so 
 arranged that volcanoes may be sprung at will under the feet 
 of assaulting columns. 
 
 " The only attempt that was made in the late American 
 war to bring the electrical torpedo into play on the land, was 
 made by the Confederates at Fort Fisher, in 1865, just before 
 its fall. The narrow land-spit over which the attacking 
 party had to advance was mined. The officer in charge, used 
 the magneto exploder. 
 
 " But the mines would not go off, owing no doubt to 
 defective arrangements, for the instrument was new to him, 
 and he had not been posted up as to the virtues of the ladder- 
 circuit. The instrument used on this occasion was just such 
 a one as this before you. It was the first that had reached 
 the Confederacy. Here is then a most striking illustration 
 of the importance of previous study and drill in this new and 
 important arm of defence." 
 
 Maury was also very fully occupied in the preparation of a 
 series of geographical class-books for the use of schools. 
 While he was in Paris he had received a letter from Mr. 
 
266 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 C. B. Pdchardson, a New York publisher, proposing that he 
 should undertake this series; and a suitable arrangement 
 having been made with him, Maury set to work on this new 
 employment in good earnest. In August, 1866, he wrote : 
 " I am hard at work on Geography No. I., ' Brave ' drawing the 
 maps. Well, I could not wind up my career more usefully 
 (and usefulness is both honour and glory) than by helping to 
 shape the character and mould the destinies of the rising 
 generation." In the following month the family moved into 
 cheaper lodgings in Clarendon Terrace, where Maury con- 
 tinued to work hard at his Geography Series, receiving advice 
 and assistance from his friend Jansen, and this work fully 
 occupied him until the end of the year. In 1868, he 
 was also writing a popular book on astronomy, which, 
 however, has never been published. His industry at this 
 time, as throughout his useful life, was indefatigable. 
 During September 1866, Maury and his daughters were at 
 Nottingham, for the meeting of the British Association, 
 where they received a hearty welcome and cordial hospi- 
 tality ; and they also paid a pleasant visit at Wrottesley 
 Hall. " Brave " was pursuing his studies at the School of 
 Mines. 
 
 At about this time Mr. Corbin lost his house at Parley- 
 vale, near Fredericksburg by fire; and Maury asked his 
 daughter, Mrs. Corbin, to join him in London. She came 
 with her little girl ; and wliilo she was staying with her 
 parents her eldest son was born — an Englishman, and duly 
 registered as one. He was named, by his grandfather, John 
 Herndon Maury, after the gallant young uncle who was lost 
 at Vicksburg. This little boy afterwards became a great pet 
 with his grandfather, and it was touching and lovely to see 
 these two friends together. The child only survived his 
 illustrious grandparent ten days. " Lovely and pleasant were 
 their lives, and in death they were not divided." 
 
DEGREE A T CAMBRIDGE. 267 
 
 Although Maury had always been a devout Chiistian, it 
 was not until this year that he became a regular member of 
 the Church. He was confirmed, with his son Matthew 
 (" Brave ") and his young daughter Lucy, by Dr. Quintard, 
 the Bishop of Tennessee, who was then in London attending 
 the Pan- Anglican Assembly at Lambeth. The ceremony was 
 performed in Dr. Tremlett's church at Belsize Park, and it 
 was a beautiful and touching sight to behold that bald head 
 bending in lowly adoration between the two glossy young 
 brown ones he loved so dearly. 
 
 In 1868, the degree of LL.D. was conferred on Maury by 
 the University of Cambridge, in recognition of his literary 
 and scientific merits, and of his eminent service to mankind. 
 
 He went accompanied by his wife, his daughters MoUy 
 and Lucy, and the Eev. Mr. Tremlett. They were all guests 
 of the Vice-Chancellor. 
 
 AKred Tennyson received his degree on the same occasion, 
 and so did Max MiiUer and Mr. Wright (translator of 
 Egyptian manuscripts and hieroglyphics at the British 
 ]\Iuseum). There was a long oration, in high-sounding Latin, 
 made by the Dean to the four newly-made " learned Doctors," 
 each dressed in his University gown of bright red cloth lined 
 with pink satin, and with their "mortar-boards" on their 
 heads. Then the undergraduates, who filled the galleries, 
 gave three cheers, and proceeded to make whatever remarks 
 they chose in loud tones on the dress and deportment of 
 the LL.D.'s, and of the audience generally, greatly to their 
 embarrassment, of course. " You should take off your hat, 
 old gentleman ! " and " Did your mother forget to call you 
 early ? " &c. ; one called for three cheers for " the girl with 
 golden hair," and another professed loudly his admiration for 
 " the girl with the blue bonnet," till all were more or less 
 rapped over the knuckles. 
 
 The following is a translation of that part of the Latin 
 
268 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 oration which introduced Maury ; it is followed by extracts 
 from his daughter Molly's diary kept at the time : — 
 
 " I present to you Matthew Fontaine Maury, who while 
 serving in the American Navy did not permit the clear edge 
 of his mind to be dulled, or his ardour for study to be dissi- 
 pated, by the variety of his professional labours, or by his 
 continual change of place, but who, by the attentive observa- 
 tions of the course of the winds, the climate, the currents of 
 the seas and oceans, acquired those materials for knowledge, 
 wMch afterwards in leisure, while he presided over the 
 Observatory at Washington, he systematized in charts and 
 in a book — charts which are now in the hands of all seamen, 
 and a book which has carried the fame of its author into the 
 most distant countries of the earth. Nor is he merely a high 
 authority in nautical science. He is also a pattern of noble 
 manners and good morals, because in the guidance of his own 
 life he has always shown himself a brave and good man. 
 When that cruel civil war in America was imminent, this 
 man did not hesitate to leave home and friends, a place of 
 high honour and an of&ce singularly adapted to his genius — to 
 throw away, in one word, all the goods and gifts of fortune — 
 that he might defend and sustain the cause which seemed to 
 him the just one. ' The victorious cause pleased the gods,' 
 and now perhaps, as victorious causes will do, it pleases the 
 majority of men, and yet no one can withhold his admiration 
 from the man, who, though numbered among the vanquished, 
 held his faith pure and unblemished even at the price of 
 poverty and exile." 
 
 " . . . . When this address was finished, an official on the 
 left of the Vice-Chancellor came down from the dais, and, 
 taking papa by the left hand, led him up to the Vice-Chan- 
 cellor, and introduced him in Latin. The latter, taking 
 papa's right hand in his, held it while he welcomed him, in a 
 
PROFESSORSHIP IN VIRGINIA. 269 
 
 short but appropriate speech, as a Doctor of the University of 
 Cambridge ; after which the new Doctor toolc a seat on the left 
 of the Vice-Chancellor. Then came the other three I have 
 already spoken of, and then came nearly forty, in black-silk 
 gowns and furred hoods, who were to be created M.A.'s or 
 B.A.'s. They knelt down before the Vice-Chancellor one by 
 one, and put up their hands like a child saying its prayers ; 
 the Vice-Chancellor put his hands outside theirs and said in 
 Latin, ' By the right of my office and the power invested in 
 me, I create you Master of Arts or Bachelor of Arts (as the 
 case might be) in the name of the Father and the Son and 
 the Holy G-host. Amen.' 
 
 ". . . . Papa presently introduced me to Mr. Adams, 
 the Astronomer-Eoyal (the man who "predicted the planet 
 Neptune at the same time that Leverrier did). He went with 
 us and Mrs. Vice-Chancellor to the FitzWilliam Museum 
 that afternoon, and afterwards invited us to a strawberry- 
 feast in his garden." 
 
 In 1868 the political objections to Maury's return to his 
 native country had been removed by the enactment of a 
 general amnesty. He had been offered the Directorship of 
 the Imperial Observatory by the Emperor of the French, and 
 the Superintendency of the University of the South at 
 Suwanee ; but he declined both. He had accepted the Chair 
 of Physics at the Virginia Military Institute. The buildings 
 at Lexington are in a line with the Washington and Lee 
 University, over which the illustrious General Lee presided 
 as Eector. This fact had no small influence in Maury's 
 choice of Lexington for a home, so highly did he appreciate 
 the pleasure of a renewal of the friendship which existed 
 between them as neighbours in old times, when one lived at 
 the Washington Observatory, the other at his country-seat of 
 Arlington. The two houses were in full view of each other, 
 
270 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 with the Eiver Potomac flowing between them. General Lee 
 always earnestly wished that Virginians should not leave their 
 country, but work for her in adversity as in prosperous times. 
 As regards Maury, that noble and patriotic wish was now 
 gratified. 
 
 Maury's Commission to the Chair of Meteorology at the 
 Virginia Military Institute, 
 
 The, Virginia Military Institute, to M. F. Maury, LL.D. 
 
 Greeting : 
 
 Know you that, reposing special trust and con- 
 iidence in your virtue, intelligence, and great qualifications, 
 the Board of Visitors of the Virginia Military Institute, by 
 virtue of the authority invested in them by law, have ap- 
 pointed you Professor of Meteorology. 
 
 Given under my hand, as President of the Board of Visitors 
 and under the seal of the State, this 22nd day of February, 
 1868. 
 
 John Letcher, 
 
 President of the Board of Visitors of 
 Virginia Military Institute. 
 Seal. 
 
 Maury accepted this appointment in the following letter to 
 General Smith, of the Virginia Military Institute •.-^- 
 
 To General F. S. Smith, of Va. Military Institute. 
 
 General, London, April 21st, 1868. 
 
 I thank you kindly for your letter of the 3rd inst., 
 explaining my duties in the new Chair. They, being such as 
 therein defined, you have induced me to accept. 
 
 I should lack courage to undertake a regular course of 
 lectures as one of the faculty, simply because it would lead 
 me into an untried line of life ; and as my rule is to put my 
 heart into whatever I attempt to do, and -try my best, I 
 
FINAL DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. 271 
 
 should have to work overmuch — especially at the beginning 
 — and I am afraid of that. The consideration, therefore, that 
 I am not to be charged with a class, or expected to deliver a 
 regular course of lectures, removes a " sea of troubles," and 
 leaves me in a field of research in wliich I am not altogether 
 a " raw hand." 
 
 .... You certainly do draw a very bright picture of the 
 work that is before me* — of the results that are expected 
 from it, and of the success that is to attend my labours. 
 
 We do not weigh in the same balance the force that I can 
 bring to the work. Therefore, as bright as your picture is, I 
 have my fears of what there may be on the other side. 
 " Still, it's wise and brave to hope the best," and, bringing 
 willing hearts and ready hands to the work, we'll try to 
 rub even the dark side bright, should it be turned 
 towards us. 
 
 I have some private matters to attend to, previous engage- 
 ments and obligations to meet and satisfy, which may 
 prevent my being with yoa in June. 
 
 Will not your field-parties lack instruments ? If you have 
 the funds, had you not better make known your wants while 
 I am here ? Loseby — who Brooke will remember as my 
 " crack" chronometer-maker — has invented a pocket-barometer 
 that will give you orographic features, as you ride about the 
 country, with much nicety. With it you can read difference of 
 level by the way as you read time from the face of your 
 watch. A dozen of these barometers — say at $12 each — 
 would be invaluable. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 Maury bade a reluctant farewell to many warm friends 
 whom his talents and misfortunes had drawn around him. 
 He took the steamer at Liverpool with his family, and 
 arrived at New York early in July 1868 ; but his house at 
 Lexington was not ready for him until the beginning of the 
 following year. He went to Pdchmond in August, and thence, 
 
 * Physical Survey (and Report) of Virginia. 
 
273 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 with his daughters, to the White Sulphur Springs, intending 
 to devote the autumn to a study of the climate and pro- 
 ductions of Virginia, with a view to the preparation of a 
 report on its geographical position and commercial ad- 
 vantages. At that time the people of Holland were in great 
 hopes that Flushing, with improved facilities for ships, 
 would become an important commercial port. Maury re- 
 ceived a proposal for establishing a line of steamers from 
 Flushing to Norfolk in Virginia, and he welcomed the idea 
 as likely to confer great benefits on his beloved native land. 
 This gave a fresh spur to his ideas connected with an 
 industrial and meteorological survey of Virginia. 
 
 On the 10th of September, 1868, Maury was duly installed 
 in his Professorial Chair at Lexington ; but he was not able to 
 begin his residence until the following year. He spent the 
 winter at Eichmond, occupying himself with a preliminary 
 report on the material wealth and resources of Virginia, and 
 entertaining bright hopes from the new direct line of 
 steamers which Commodore Jansen was striving to establish 
 between Flushing and a Virginian port. By the spring of 
 1869, Maury and his family were established in their house 
 at Lexington. 
 
THE LAST HOME AT LEXINGTON. 273 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Description of Lexington — Manry settled in his last home — Virginia the 
 best route to the North- West — Scheme for a map showing a caste of 
 the atmosphere — Reaches his sixty-sixth birthday — Arrangement to 
 deliver addresses — Meteorological survey of Virginia — Resumes his 
 lectures on agricultural meteorology — His address delivered at Nash- 
 ville, St. Louis, and Richmond — In delivering his lectures on weather 
 forecasts for farmers Maury overtaxed his strength — Maury comes 
 home to Lexington to die — His last illness — The last scene — His death 
 — Sketch of his character — Particulars of his last days — Quotation of 
 a notice in Temple Bar — His wishes respecting his obsequies — Lines 
 by Mrs. Margaret Preston on his body passing the Goshen Pass on its 
 way to Richmond. 
 
 Lexington is a small town, beautifully situated on the 
 western side of the Blue Eidge, with picturesque views of 
 valley and mountain-ranges on every side. The academical 
 buildings are erected in a continuous line, facing a green 
 expanse of grass, interspersed with clumps and lines of trees. 
 Nearest the town are the edifices connected with the 
 Washington and Lee University, including the house of the 
 Eector, where General Lee passed the last years of his life, 
 the library and class-rooms, and houses of professors. A 
 little in advance is the memorial church containing the noble 
 recumbent statue of General Lee by Valentine, the great 
 Virginian sculptor. The grounds of the University are only 
 divided from those of the Military Institute by a gate and 
 iron railings. Here is the house occupied by Maury, with a 
 bright and cheerful landscape in fuU view from its windows, 
 the house of the Principal, General Smith, and the main 
 
 T 
 
274 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 building of the Institute with the marks of injuries, wantonly 
 perpetrated by the federal invaders, still visible on its walls. 
 
 Here, surrounded by old friendjS, and free to work at the 
 pursuits which were most congenial to him, Maury passed 
 the last four years of Ms life with his wife and family. At 
 last he had found a haven of rest ; but his busy and untiring 
 brain continued to be as active as ever in dcAdsing schemes 
 for the good of his country, as is evident from the following 
 letter : — 
 
 Virginia Military Institute, 
 My dear FkANK,* Lexington, June 13th, 1867. 
 
 Here we are in our new home, busy fixing up ; and 
 things begin to know their places. So we also begin to have 
 a home-feeling. People are very kind, the country is 
 beautiful, the views and the scenery lovely, and both 
 climate and air such that exercise is enjoyment. How I 
 wish I had you and Miss Louisa here with us ! ISTannie and 
 her two children are now on their way to us — by sea — from 
 New York. Dick has gone to West Virginia. Brave is 
 polishing off at the Institute. 
 
 The seat of Empire is fast settling down in the North- 
 West States. They already give the Presidents, and will 
 soon dictate the foreign policy of the country. They must 
 have a better way to the sea. They have been taught to 
 believe — erroneously — that the best way lies through Canada 
 and the St. Lawrence. It does not ; it lies through Virginia. 
 You will appreciate my feeling upon this subject, when 
 I remind you that grain is sent round Cape Horn from 
 California, and delivered at the ports along the Atlantic 
 seaboard at ten cents the bushel cheaper than it can now be 
 sent from Iowa and other North-West States ; that the 
 people throughout these States — and they are the grain- 
 growing States — know that, with a good highway to the 
 Atlantic seaboard, the value of their grain would be enhanced 
 ten, twenty, even thirty cents the bushel j and they think 
 
 * Dr. Tremlett, 
 
THE FUTURE OF VIRGINIA. 275 
 
 that Canada and the St. Lawrence can give them such a 
 way. 
 
 The greatest diificulty in teaching these people that their 
 best way to the sea lies through Virginia, not through 
 Canada, is to get our people to raise funds for the gratuitous 
 circiilation of the Eeports* in sufficient numbers between 
 this and the next meetiag of Congress in December. If we 
 can do that, the ISTorth-West States will raise their voices in 
 favour of the Virginia route, and demand the money to open 
 it. When that is done, they Avill not want Canada, and we 
 shall have peace. Thus you see, my friend, I am aiming 
 high and striking far. But with a few heads such as yours 
 to help, we would hit the mark as sure as a gun ! 
 
 Help me with your fervent prayers. God bless you ! 
 
 Yom-s, M. 
 
 P.S. In reading over tliis, it smacks of the " ego," that I, 
 a professor without a Chair, and upon a salary not so good as 
 three hundred of your yellow boys, should be talking about 
 bringing influences into play to prevent war between two 
 great nations ! But " tall oaks from little acorns grow." 
 
 I wish you would make me that visit you promised me 
 now that I have a nest of my own. The house is never too 
 full but what we can always find a place for you. If the 
 worst comes to the worst, we can rig up a pole out of the 
 window (Tennessee fashion) on which you can roost. 
 
 Early in 1870, Maury was busy with a map wliich should 
 serve as a " caste of the atmosphere " — a device which his 
 friend Brooke, the inventor of the deep-sea lead, had also 
 conceived the idea of. It is described in the following 
 letter to Eutson Maury : — 
 
 To Eutson Mauey. 
 
 Jan. 1870. 
 .... You remember, before the war, how hard I 
 tried to get up a Telegraphic Meteorological Bureau — writing 
 and lecturing about it — now as meteorology for the farmers, 
 
 * Maury's preliminary Report on the Resources of Virginia. 
 
 T 3 
 
276 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 now as storm-signals combined with crop statistics. When 
 I was in England, during the war, I proposed to FitzEoy, 
 and after his death to his successor, Toynbee, a plan for 
 making, by means of an elastic cloth stretched over his map, 
 a caste of the atmosphere, so that he might take in his whole 
 field of observation at a single glance, 'and so predict with 
 more certainty. Suppose, for instance, with his map pasted 
 on a table, he had bored a hole through London, Liverpool, 
 Portsmouth, &c., and stuck up in each place a little rod 
 graduated for the barometer ; that his elastic cloth was then 
 fitted to a slide so that he could set it at the height of the 
 barometer at each of the stations. Fancy each rod to be sur- 
 mounted by a wind- vane which could be drawn out or shoved 
 in, to show the force of the wind at each place. Thus you 
 would have a " caste of the atmosphere," and see all about it. 
 Brooke (" deep-sea lead ") has suggested just such a plan 
 to Meyers ; and Meyers, I have heard, has adopted it. The 
 idea, I think, was as original with Brooke as it was with me. 
 
 The following two letters, while recalling his advancing 
 years, prove also that Maury's activity and enthusiasm were 
 unimpaired by them : — 
 
 Virginia Military Institute, 
 Dear EuTSON, Jan. 15th, 1872. 
 
 Yesterday was my birthday — sixty-six. Eead my 
 mercies in the first of the morning psalms, 71st for the 14tli 
 day, and imagine the unction with which I joined in the 
 reading in church. . . . 
 
 Dear Eutson, July 14th, 1872. 
 
 .... I am to go to Boston on the 18th September, 
 to deliver an address by invitation, and in October to do the 
 same at Griffin Ga., St. Louis, and Norfolk. The Board of 
 Visitors won't accept my resignation ; speak in dulcet tones 
 about my presence here. ... I put it to the vote this 
 morning at breakfast, " V. M. I.* or Eichmond ? " Unanimous 
 for V. M. I. So here we rest for the present, at least. 
 
 The British Association wants me at Brighton. C. 
 
 * Virginia Military Institute. 
 
METEOROLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. 277 
 
 BuiTows (the Mayor) " requests the honour of my presence," 
 August 14th, and they have kindly made arrangements with 
 the Cunarders to take me there and back. ... It -would be 
 fine to set the British Association at work upon my meteoro- 
 logical and crop convention ; but I'm too poor — I must 
 decline. The foot took me bad the day before yesterday. 
 Yesterday it had me on crutches, and in the agonies there 
 came a fainting-fit, about 5 p.m. But this morning I feel 
 better, though stiU on crutches. 
 
 During the last four years of his hfe, Maury occupied 
 himself, as one of his professional duties at Lexington, in 
 making a meteorological survey of his beloved Virginia, 
 partly with the view of developing her resources, and partly 
 in the hope of attracting immigrants to her deserted farms. 
 This survey, as far as it had gone, he embodied in two 
 elaborate and valuable reports ; but he was not destined to 
 see the work fully accomplished. 
 
 1^0 man was more alive than he was to the fact that the 
 agriculture of the South Avas to her an unfailing soiu'ce of 
 renewed prosperity — that, like Antseus, it was from the 
 earth that she would gain restitution of her strength. 
 
 Hence he earnestly favoured and persistently urged all 
 measures looking to the improvement of agriculture. To 
 this end he resumed the series of lectures on the subject so 
 dear to his heart, which had been inten-upted by the war, 
 and visited, by invitation, cities in Alabama, Virginia, 
 Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Missouri. 
 
 In May and October 1871, he delivered .the following 
 address at St. Louis, Griffin in Georgia, Norfolli, and Eich- 
 mond, Nashville, which met with enthusiastic commenda- 
 tion : — 
 
 "I calculate, that in consequence of erroneous estimates 
 and the lack of such accurate crop statistics as we now seek, 
 the cotton-planters alone have received, for their last six 
 
278 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 crops, many millions of dollars less than they would have 
 received had they known, before selling, the actual cash 
 value of the crops as accurately as it was known after they 
 were sold. ... 
 
 " The crops may be regarded, in one sense, as a meteoro- 
 logical expression of the weather, from seed time to harvest ; 
 for that there is a physical relation between the weather and 
 the crops is obvious to all. . . . 
 
 " I wrote and lectured on this subject before the war, and 
 I promised then, that if you would give me a lock of cotton 
 from every bale, I would undertake, with that as a fund, to 
 defray all the necessary expenses for forecasting the weather 
 and crops for you, and to render to agriculture and the land 
 services far more signal and valuable than those which 
 commerce and navigation were then reaping from the Wind 
 and Current Charts, and my researches touching the physics 
 of the sea. jSTay, I went further, and promised to give back 
 your ounce of cotton, if you would lend me influence with 
 your representatives in Congress in favour of an Act just to 
 permit me to do for the land what I was already doing for 
 the sea. I simply sought leave to extend my observations 
 over the country so as to comprehend its industries, and 
 bring continents as well as oceans within my field of 
 research. 
 
 " I would, I have always thought, have carried the day 
 then, and won this great boon for science and for you, but for 
 official obstruction, which arrested its progress until the war 
 broke upon us. . . . 
 
 " The machinery for putting this plan into operation is, so 
 far as this country is concerned, all ready — all it wants is the 
 gearing up. You have your Signal Office where weather 
 reports are continually received by telegraph, and whence 
 telegraphic forecasts are issued daily. 
 
 " And though this work is so new to the officers engaged 
 
HIS LAST LECTURES. 279 
 
 in it, their progress so far is in the right direction. You 
 have also the AgTicultural Bureau, in the service of which 
 reports embodying many of the facts and observations 
 required are akeady made, or might be without any 
 additional expense. Many of the data which ^these two 
 offices seek to obtain stand somewhat in the relation of cause 
 and effect to each other — as, for instance, a dry season and 
 bad crops. Your fields have the same area and soil this year 
 that they had last. Why is not their yield the same ? 
 Simply because the seasons were different. Do you mean to 
 say that amid all the mind, means, and appliances of the age, 
 the relations between the weather and the crops are past 
 finding out ? If I could, with just such a system of researches 
 for the sea, sit down in my of&ce and tell the navigator how 
 he would find the wind, at any season of the year, in any 
 part of the ocean through which he wished to sail, am I 
 promising too much when I tell you, that by the plan I now 
 propose the relation Ijetweeu the weather and the crops is as 
 capable of scientific development as were the relations 
 between sea- voyages and the winds twenty-five years ago ? 
 
 " The new system of observations may be so arranged that 
 the two offices may co-operate, each giving the other what it 
 lacks to make its own observations and data complete. . . . 
 
 " I have drawn my illustrations chiefly fi-om cotton. But 
 the grain-growers have a larger interest at stake in this 
 matter than even the cotton-planters; and so are all who 
 are engaged in the cultivation of staples, of whatever kind, in 
 any part of the world. Proper co-operation having been 
 established between the Signal Office and Agricultural Bureau 
 at Washington, let us see what else is required to carry the 
 plan into effect in this country. . . . 
 
 " I believe the Agricultural Bureau has already in its 
 employ agents in the various States to collect agricultural 
 information. Its organization for receiving monthly or 
 
28o LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONTAINE MA UR Y. 
 
 bimonthly reports as to the staple crops of the various 
 sections may, for aught I know, be complete. . . . 
 
 " I am under the impression, however, that there is in this 
 Bureau abundant room for improvement as well in organiza- 
 tion as in conduct and management ; for its utterances as to 
 yield of crops do not, in commercial circles, seem to be 
 received with as much confidence as are the private circulars 
 of many produce-dealers. 
 
 " The conference I propose would deal with these defects 
 and give efficiency to both. 
 
 " But let us suppose, for the sake of illustration and by 
 way of showing the main features of my plan, that the proper 
 meteorological stations have been occupied. The meteoro- 
 logical of&ce, though more recently established, is the more 
 deserving of commendation. Its forecasts of the weather are 
 instructive ; but they are too vague, as yet, to be of much 
 practical value. Here is a fair sample of its predictions, 
 called 'Weather Probabilities.' I take this from the first 
 paper I happened to lay my hands on this morning. 
 ' Washington, August 11th. — A low barometer, with cloudy 
 weather ; cold local storms will probably extend during the 
 afternoon over New York and New England.' There is 
 nothing in these probabilities that you can utilise. There is 
 no reason why, with the means and appliances under the 
 control of that office, you should not reasonably expect to 
 have timely warnings, at least of certain great changes in the 
 atmosphere, that you can profit by. . . . 
 
 " But the time is coming — and my plan will hasten it — 
 when these ' probabilities ' will become certainties, and be 
 more specific and practical. ... Of what use can it be to 
 any living soul to know that a low barometer with local 
 storms will probably extend during to-morrow afternoon 
 over New York and New England ? Now, if it had said 
 what counties and parts of New York and New England 
 
HIS LAST LECTURES. 28 1 
 
 these local storms would reach, and give some idea of their 
 character and severity, whether rain, hail, wind, &c., we 
 should have something to count upon. 
 
 " But let us suppose, for the sake of illustration and by 
 way of showing the main features of the plan, that the 
 proper meteorological stations have been occupied, and that 
 the observers and co-operators report upon the crops as well 
 as upon the weather; and that, at first and in a tentative 
 way, a special crop-reporter be assigned to every district of 
 10,000 square miles in the States, who should travel over his 
 beat continually and keep the central of&ce posted, by 
 monthly reports at first, as to the state and promise of the 
 staple crops of liis district ; at the same time the meteoro- 
 logical observers in this district would send in their observa- 
 tions in detail for the same period, also by maU, while by 
 telegraph both observers keep up their daily reports, both as 
 to the weather and crops. This would give five crop-reporters 
 for Alabama, five for Tennessee, four for Kentucky, and so 
 on all over the country. In Europe, twelve for Great Britain, 
 nineteen for France, one for Holland, &c. . . . 
 
 " How to go to work about this, and how to interest all 
 people in a common plan, requires consultation, goodwill, 
 and co-operation among all nations. This we must seek 
 through their wise men and meteorologists, and to get them 
 in conference for that purpose, with their governments at 
 their back, is wherein your kindly aid and friendly offices, 
 with the administration are solicited. 
 
 " Europe is ripe for this scheme. There has just been held 
 there a ' Grand International Congress for the Advancement 
 of Cosmographic, Geographic, and Commercial Knowledge.' 
 A correspondent writes, 'Your resolutions for an Agricul- 
 tural and Meteorological Conference International were re- 
 ceived with cheers, and by unanimous vote ordered to be 
 printed.' " 
 
282 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 This paper was read before the International Congress at 
 St. Petersburg, &c., by M. Quetelet (see Le Moniteur 
 Belgique). 
 
 In pursuance of these suggestions, the following resolu- 
 tions were unanimously adopted : — 
 
 " Eesolved, first — That the President of this society be and 
 hereby is instructed to petition, in behalf of the farmers of 
 Tennessee, the United States Government — through the State 
 Department and the Executive — in favour of the establish- 
 ment, by international co-operation, of a general and systematic 
 IDlan of meteorological observations and crop reports, and to 
 request the Government, in furtherance of this object, to invite 
 all other nations to meet, in the persons of their leading 
 meteorologists, at an early day, in a conference similar to 
 that held in Brussels in 1853 : first, for the purpose of 
 connecting with the plan now proposed the system that was 
 then adopted for the sea ; second, for the purpose of arranging 
 details ; and third, for the purpose of providing for a general 
 system of telegraphic meteorology and crop reports, to the 
 end that our knowledge of the laws which control the 
 functions of the atmosphere may be increased, and that 
 accurate and useful forecasts may be made at frequent 
 intervals as to weather and crops in all countries. 
 
 "And the President of this society is desired also to 
 request that the United States Government will co-operate 
 in this system of research by causing the plan that may be 
 agreed upon in conference to be carried out in this country, 
 and to be adopted on board of the public cruisers. 
 
 "Eesolved, second — That the President of this society 
 transmit a copy of these resolutions to the State Government 
 and to each of the agricultural societies and journals in the 
 State,inviting their co-operation and requesting thera to support 
 the measure with their influence and with similar petitions." 
 
 Hon. Jacob Tompson submitted the following resolution : — 
 
HIS LAST LECTURES. 2S3 
 
 " Eesolved — That this Chamber of Commerce, approving the 
 general system of international meteorological observations 
 and crop reports as set forth by Commander Maury, do 
 appoint a committee of three, consisting of the President and 
 first and second Vice-Presidents, to petition the President of 
 the United States to take early measures to call the attention 
 of other nations to this subject, and thereby bring about a 
 meeting of the leading meteorologists of different nations, so 
 as to devise a uniform system of observation and crop reports, 
 and ensure their publication for the benefit of commerce and 
 agriculture throughout the whole world." 
 
 The resolution was unanimously adopted. 
 
 In his enthusiastic pursuit of this favourite scheme of crop 
 and weather forecasts for the farmers, and by an extended 
 and exhausting lecturing tour once more to urge this subject 
 upon the farmers, in the autumn of 1872, Maury overtaxed 
 his strength and brought on a return of an old disorder (gout 
 in the stomach), from which he never rallied. 
 
 At the National Agricultural Congress held in St. Louis in 
 October, 1872, he again strongly urged the importance of an 
 an " International Conference " between the leading agri- 
 culturists and meteorologists of all countries. Looking to 
 the definite organization of a system of crop and weather 
 forecasts, he pointed out the approval which it had received 
 from the most eminent men of science in the world, and the 
 benefits which would immediately accrue from it, and, while 
 regretting the indifference of the Federal authorities, he urged 
 the farmers to use their influence in its favour, in their 
 several States. " Private interest," said he, " in this matter, I 
 have none ; the success of the scheme will benefit all of you 
 more than its projector. I am under the ban of the Nation and 
 can hold no office in it, either State or Federal. The moment 
 the Government takes hold of it, my association with it ceases. 
 I cannot share in the honour of helping to organize or of 
 
284 LIFE OF MA TTHEW FONTAINE MA URY. 
 
 assisting to carry it out. I have no farm, neither do I culti- 
 vate a parcel of ground. Therefore I say, although I advocate 
 this measure so earnestly, and have done so for many years, 
 there is no one in the land who is less to be benefited by its 
 success than I." 
 
 His health gave way under the fatigue and exposure of this 
 last trip, before he had fulfilled all his engagements, and 
 about the middle of October he hurried home. He exclaimed 
 to his wife as he crossed the threshold, " My dear, I am come 
 home to die." Loving hands with heavy hearts helped him 
 to the bed from which he was never again to rise. For four 
 long months he lay, at times suffering mortal pain, but in 
 the intervals dictating and revising the last edition of his 
 ' Physical Geography.' A short time before the anniversary 
 of his birth, January 14th, he prayed aloud in the darkness 
 of the night that God would forgive him the few years he 
 lacked of man's allotted span, and take him home. He sent 
 for his son-in-law, S. Wellford Corbin, of Farleyvale, and 
 begged that he would stay by him and nurse him till the end. 
 This he faithfully did, and in his arms the last breath was 
 drawn. 
 
 One of his daughters thus wrote : — 
 
 He loved to have us all assembled round his bed, and if 
 we were not all within the range of his vision he would call 
 out the names of those he missed. Gazing earnestly in the 
 face of each, he would say something appropriate and 
 affectionate, always ending with "You see how God has 
 answered my prayers, for I know you every one ; " adding, " I 
 shall retain my senses to the last. God has granted me that 
 as a token of my acceptance. I have set my house in order, 
 my prayers have all been answered, my children are gathered 
 round my bed — and now Lord, what wait I for ? " He 
 repeated the following prayer of eleven petitions, wliich he 
 wished each of his children and grandchildren to use every 
 day: 
 
DEA TH OF MA UR Y. 285 
 
 " Lord Jesus, thou Son of God and Eedeemer of the world, 
 have mercy upon me ! Pardon my offences, and teach me 
 the error of my ways ; give me a new heart and a right mind. 
 Teach me and all mine to do Thy will, and in all things to 
 keep Thy law. Teach me also to ask those things necessary 
 for eternal life. Lord, pardon me for all my sins, for Thine 
 is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever and 
 ever. Amen." 
 
 He had composed this prayer for liimself thirty-four years 
 before, when his leg was broken, and had repeated it every 
 night since. At another time he prayed, " Lord, touch my 
 lips with hallowed fire, like Isaiah's of old, that I may testify 
 to Thy love and mercy to me, who am but as a little child in 
 all but wickedness." 
 
 After we had sung the last hymn he ever heard on earth 
 — " Clirist is risen " — the evening before his death, he ex- 
 tended both hands, and said slowly and distinctly, "The 
 peace of God which passeth all understanding be with you all 
 — all ! " As the supreme hour drew near, he said to his 
 eldest son, Colonel Eichard L. Maury, who had been his 
 constant and devoted nurse, " Are my feet growing cold ? Do 
 I drag my anchors ? " On being answered in the affirmative, 
 he faintly exclaimed, "All's well." About fifteen minutes 
 before death he said he wished his wife and daughters to 
 leave the room that they might not be needlessly distressed 
 by witnessing his last struggle. Notwithstanding this, I 
 lingered where I could see and hear without being seen, 
 and observed him in the last moments lift his hands 
 toward Heaven like a little child who wants to be taken 
 up. He breathed his last at 12.40 p.m., on Saturday, 
 February 1st, 1873. 
 
 The simplicity and fervour of his Cln'istian faith, the com- 
 pleteness and child-like humility of his trust in God, and his 
 entire resignation to the Divine will, were alike remarkable. 
 All of these, owing to the length of his la'fet illness, were 
 allowed unusual scope for development, and the remembrance 
 of them constitutes a precious heritage to his family. His 
 
286 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 tenderness as husband and father were at the same time 
 beautifully illustrated, and this, as well as the other qualities 
 mentioned, were at times lightened by flashes of that quaint 
 humour which had always been one of his characteristics. 
 He derived great comfort from a visit of a week made him in 
 December by his brother-in-law and life-long friend. Dr. 
 Brodie S. Herndon, of Savannah, in Georgia, though his 
 professional judgment as to the nature of the malady, which 
 was ulceration of the stomach, was no more encouraging than 
 that previously given by his regular attendant, Dr. E. L. 
 Madison, of the Virginia Military Institute. 
 
 The cliief pleasure of his long confinement seemed the 
 society of his family, on whom, individually and collectively, 
 he loved to invoke the choicest blessings of Heaven. His 
 youngest grandchild, an infant of a few weeks, was in the 
 house, and he told her father that when lie saw loiiia fading 
 fast he must bring the little one to receive his blessing. 
 " It may be that the prayer of a repentant sinner will be 
 answered," he added. It is needless to say that this request 
 was complied with. He said he almost felt as if this child 
 had come to take his place-^she just entering life, he just 
 leaving it. 
 
 To two friends at a distance — Commodore Jansen and the 
 Eev. F. W. Tremlett — he sent loving farewell messages. He 
 directed one of his daughters to write to the former at the 
 Hague, and tell him how ill he was ; how he longed to see 
 him, and what a solace his love was, and had always been, to 
 him. The latter was the friend by whom, some years before, 
 he had been admitted to the full communion of the Church. 
 " When I am dead," he said, " write to Tremlett and teU him 
 that I think with gratitude of him as a means of bringing me 
 to the communion of Christ, and that I love him. Tell him 
 that when I die and go there " (raising his eyes upward), " I wQl, 
 if a repentant sinner may, intercede for a mansion for him." 
 
DEA TH OF MA UR V. 287 
 
 The following notice of his death appeared in Temple 
 Bar of March, 1873 :— 
 
 " .... Of Maury's private character it is scarcely possible 
 to speak in terms of too high eulogy. His unimpeachable 
 integrity and strict sense of honour shed a halo of content 
 over his whole life. He tried, through life, never to do 
 anything of which his conscience disapproved, and he studied, 
 even in minutest matters, exactitude and moderation. His 
 general knowledge was very extensive, and in his own special 
 science he excelled all other men. Yet his modesty was so 
 great, and his simplicity so charming, that a child would feel 
 at home in his company. 
 
 " His religious feeling was deep and personal. He never 
 obtruded his views upon others, though he died, as he lived, 
 in open profession and full communion of the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church. 
 
 " On his death-bed, he bequeathed a prayer to his children 
 which, like the famous one of Dr. Johnson, the great 
 lexicographer, is touching and sublime in its simplicity. 
 
 " For the Bible he entertained the highest veneration, and 
 its testimony, to his mind, was ever strengthened by the 
 progress of scientiiic discovery. 
 
 "The Book of Job and the Psalms of David were his 
 favourite parts of the Old Testament, especially the 107th 
 Psalm. Very early in life he felt ' That they who go down 
 to the sea in ships, and do business in great waters, see the 
 works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.' 
 
 " This great pioneer of meteorological science passed away, 
 in the calm dignity and faith of the Christian philosopher, 
 at the ripe age of sixty-seven. ' His eye was not dimmed, 
 nor his natural force abated.' " 
 
 In respect to the place of his interment, he expressed no 
 definite wish, saying that his parents, brothers, and sisters 
 
288 LIFE OF MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 all lay widely separated, and his dead boy (John) he knew 
 not where. 
 
 To the request of his wife that she might be allowed to bury 
 him in Eichmond, where she herself expected to lie, he replied 
 gently, " Very well, my dear ; then let my body remain here 
 until the spring, and when you take me through the Goshen 
 Pass* you must pluck the rhododendrons and the mountain- 
 ivy and lay them upon me." 
 
 His body lay in state in the library of the Institute, the 
 breast covered with the various decorations he had received 
 from Foreign Powers. Thence, on the following Wednesday 
 (February 5th), after the burial service, read by the Eev. 
 William N. Pendleton, D.D., it was borne to its temporary 
 resting-place in the Gilham vault in the cemetery, immediately 
 opposite the tomb of " Stonewall Jackson." 
 
 THROUGH THE PASS. 
 
 I. 
 " Home, bear me home, at last," he said, 
 
 " And lay me where your dead are lying ; 
 But not while skies are overspread, 
 
 And mournful wintry winds are sighing ! 
 
 II. 
 "Wait till the royal march of Spring 
 
 Carpets the mountain fastness over — 
 Till chattering birds are on the wing, 
 
 And buzzing bees are in the clover. 
 
 * This is a far-famed lovely Pass, where the North Anna breaks 
 through the mountains. Close along the bank of the river and under 
 overhanging chffs and boulders of granite, among which grow and chmb 
 great clusters of the above-named flowers in the wildest and most beautiful 
 profusion, the stage-road winds its perilous way to the nearest station on 
 the Chesapeake and Ohio Eailroad. 
 
BORNE TO HIS GRA VE. 289 
 
 "Wait till the laurel bursts its buds, 
 And creeping ivy flings its graces 
 
 About the liohened rocks — and fl.oods 
 Of sunshine fill the shady places. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Then, when the sky, the air, the grass, 
 Sweet Nature all, is glad and tender — ■ 
 
 Then bear me through the G-oshen Pass,* 
 Amid the hush of May-day splendour." 
 
 V. 
 
 So will we bear him — human heart 
 To Nature's own drew never nearer; 
 
 And never stooped she to impart 
 Her love to one who held it dearer. 
 
 The stars had secrets for him ; seas 
 
 Revealed the depths their waves were screening; 
 The winds gave up their mysteries; 
 
 The tidal flows confessed their meaning. 
 
 Of ocean paths the tangled clue 
 He taught the nations to unravel, 
 
 And showed the track where safely through 
 The lightning-footed thought might travel. 
 
 And yet unspoiled by all the store 
 Of Nature's grander revelations, 
 
 Who bowed more lovingly before 
 The lowhest of her fair creations ! 
 
 No sage of all the ages pastj 
 Ambered in Plutarch's limpid story, 
 
 Upon his living age has cast 
 
 A radiance touched with truer glory. 
 
 See page 319. 
 
29 o LIFE OF MA TTHE W FONT A INE MA UR Y. 
 
 X. 
 
 His noble living, for the ends 
 
 God set him — duty underlying 
 Each thought, word, action — ^naught transcends 
 
 In lustre, save his nobler dying. 
 
 Do homage sky, and air, and gi'ass — 
 
 All things he cherished sweet and tender — 
 
 As through our gorgeous mountain-pass 
 We bear him in his sunset splendour! 
 
 Lexington, Va. Mabgaeet J. Pbeston. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 COEEESPOSDENCE EELATING TO THE HONOURS CONFEEEED UPON 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 
 The Emperor of Eussia made Maury " Knight of tlie Order of 
 St. Ann " ; tlie King of Denmark made him " Knight of the 
 Dannehrog " ; the King of Portugal, " Knight of the Tower and 
 Sword " ; the King of Belgium, " Knight of the Order of St. 
 Leopold " ; the Emperor of France, " Commander of the Legion 
 of Honour " ; while Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Holland, Sardinia, 
 Bremen, and France struck gold medals in his honour. The 
 Pope also forwarded a complete set of all the medals which had 
 been struck during his pontificate as a mark of his appreciation 
 of Maury's services in the cause of science. To all these was 
 afterwards added the decoration of " Our Lady of Guadeloupe,'' 
 presented by the unfortunate Emperor of Mexico. His services 
 were also recognised by numerous learned Societies, both at 
 home and abroad. 
 
 He became Corresponding Member of the " Natuurkundige 
 Vereeniging in Nederlandsch Indie." Batavia, 17th Feb. 1853. 
 
 Member of " Die Naturforschende Gesellsohaft in Emden." 
 Emden, March 22nd, 1854. 
 
 Member of the " Societe des Sciences, des Arts et des Lettres 
 de Hainault." Mons, Bee. 7th, 1854. 
 
 Member of the " Academie Imperiale des Sciences de Eussie." 
 St. Petersburg, Bee. 29th, 1855. 
 
 Member of the " Academie Eoyale des Sciences, des Lettres 
 et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique." Brussels, Bee. 17th, 1854. 
 
 Corresponding Member of the " New York Lyceum of Natural 
 History." New York, June 18th, 1865. 
 
 Correspondent of the " Philadelphia Academy of Natural 
 Sciences." Philadelphia, Feb. 22nd, 1858. 
 
 U 2 
 
292 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Member of " Die Gesellschaft zur Beforderung der Gesamm- 
 ten Naturwissenscliaften in Marburg." Marburg, 'Feb. IStli, 
 1856. 
 
 Member of the " Historical Society of New Jersey." Trenton, 
 Way yiih., 1856. 
 
 Member of the " Historical Society of Tennessee." Nashville, 
 Se^t. 3rd, 1857. 
 
 Member of " Die Gesellscliaft fiir Erdkunde in Berlin." Berlin, 
 4pn7 18tli, 1858. 
 
 Member of the Bohemian Eoyal " Gesellschaft der Wiasen- 
 schaften." Prague, January 13th, 1858. 
 
 Director " del Observatorio Nacional." Mexico, 1865. 
 
 " Consejero Honorario de Estado." Mexico, 1865. 
 
 " Miembro honorario de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geografia y 
 Estadistica." Mexico, 1865. 
 
 " Miembro de la Imperial Academia Mexicana de Ciencias." 
 Mexico, 1865. 
 
 LL.D. of the University of Cambridge. England, 1867. 
 
 He was also a member of many other learned bodies, of which 
 the records have been lost during the war. 
 
 All the letters are inserted here that accompanied these 
 honours from the different sovereigns of Europe, except those 
 which were lost or destroyed during the late war. They begin 
 with the letter from Baron Humboldt, presenting the great gold 
 medal of science from the King of Prussia, and also the Cosmos 
 medal. 
 
 My dear and illustrious Friend, Berlin, Feb. sid, 1895. 
 
 It is now a great many years since you have been so 
 kind as to enrich with your generous contributions the most 
 iuiportant institutions^the Admiralty, the Academy, the School 
 of Navigation, and Libraries — of my country. Your immense 
 labours on currents and soundings, and the direction of vnnds at 
 different seasons and latitudes, have exercised the most beneficial 
 influence on the commerce of nations, by shortening in a sur- 
 prising manner the passages by sea, and augmenting the 
 Security of navigation in all seas. The result has been the 
 opening of new paths to navigators who have been penetrated 
 by the correctness of your views, and an increase of the 
 facilities previously derived from the application of steam. My 
 Sovereign, the King of Prussia, sensible of the eminent merit 
 
APPENDIX A. 293 
 
 of your laborious undertaking, and interested by tits noble 
 efforts now making by the Government of the U. S. for the 
 advancement of the sciences which are so closely allied with 
 the development of the common prosperity, desires to give to 
 Lieutenant Manry, Superintendent of the National Observatory 
 at Washington, a mark of his gratitude, by presenting him, 
 through the hands of our Minister, M. de Gerolt, with the 
 medal designed as a reward for distinguished works of science. 
 Sensible also of the affection with which you have honoured me 
 for so long a period, the King has deemed that he would be 
 doing you a further pleasure by adding another medal — that 
 which his Majesty had struck for me upon the publication of 
 my ' Cosmos.' 
 
 I pray you to accept, my dear friend, the renewed assurance 
 of my highest and most affectionate consideration. 
 
 Your very humble and most devoted servant. 
 
 The Baeon Al. von Humboldt. 
 
 Accompanying the medal struck in his honour, came the 
 following letter from the Eepublic of Bremen : — 
 
 SiE, Washington, CO., December 28th, 1855. 
 
 It affords me great pleasure to hand you, in the name of 
 my Government, the accompanying gold medal ; its German 
 inscription may be thus rendered in English : " To the Pro- 
 moter of Science, to the Guide of Navigators, Lieutenant M. F. 
 Maury, an honorary acknowledgment of the Senate of the 
 EepulDlio of Bremen." This inscription, better than could any 
 of mine, shows the sense of high appreciation in which your 
 eminent merits, in regard to all maritime interests, are held in 
 my country — the citizens of which are perhaps more generally 
 engaged in navigation, and therefore more benefited by your 
 valuable discoveries and directions than those of any other 
 country. Your name, which has so long been an ornament of 
 the U. S. Navy, is, and will ever be, gratefully remembered in 
 Bremen. I beg leave to avail myself of this agreeable occasion 
 to offer you at the same time a renewed assurance of the 
 great personal respect and regard with which I have the 
 honour to be 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 L'. SCHUEDON, 
 Minister-Besident of the EepuWie of Bremen. 
 
294 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Sir, Legation of Denmark, Nov. 11th, 1856. 
 
 I have great pleasure in informing yon, by order of my 
 Government, that His Majesty the King of Denmark, being 
 desirous of testifying his high sense of the eminent services 
 you have rendered to science by your important and compre- 
 hensive researches with reference to the physical geography of 
 the sea, its winds and currents, recorded in the valuable 
 publications of the National Observatory under your superinten- 
 dence. His Majesty has been pleased to confer on you the Cross 
 of a Knight of the Dannebrog. I shall have the honour to 
 transmit to you the insignia of the Order as soon as received by 
 the Legation here. I shall have the honour to be, with high 
 consideration, sir, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 TOEBIN BiLLE. 
 
 SlE, U. S. National Observatory, Nov. 14th, 1856. 
 
 Your letter of the 11th inst. has been received and read 
 with a high degree of satisfaction. In it you have the kindness 
 to inform me that His Majesty the King of Denmark, to testify 
 his high appreciation of the services rendered by myself in the 
 cause of science, has signified his wish to confer upon me the 
 Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog. I consider myself 
 fortunate, so to have wrought in my humble office that my 
 labours in the service of my own country should have com- 
 mended themselves to the favourable consideration of His 
 Majesty ; and I feel myself highly honoured that he should 
 deem them worthy of such a signal mark of royal favour. 
 
 The organic laws of my country, however, will not allow one 
 
 of its officers to accept a title from any foreign potentate. Permit 
 
 me, therefore, to plead this in excuse of the request that you 
 
 will proceed no further in carrying out the honourable and 
 
 friendly intentions expressed in your letter. 
 
 I have the honour to be your obedient servant, 
 
 M. F. Mauey. 
 Tq Me. Tobin Bille. 
 
 Count, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris, Nov. 6th, 1858. 
 
 The Government of the Emperor has been struck with 
 the great services every day rendered to navigators of all 
 countries by the remarkable works of which Lieut. Maury, of 
 
APPENDIX A. 295 
 
 tlie navy, is the author. I have accordingly agreed with the 
 Minister of the Marine to solicit from His Majesty, as an 
 evidence of the high esteem placed upon these works, the 
 nomination of Mr. Maury to the Order of the Legion of Honour. 
 I should not be willing at any time to carry out this intention 
 before having informed Mr. Mason, and obtained the assur- 
 ance that the Government of the XJ. S. would see no objection 
 thereto. The Minister of the United States replied that the 
 Constitution of the Union prohibits every American citizen 
 occupying any position in the employ of the Government from 
 accepting anjf emolument, present, charge, or other titles con- 
 ferred by any foreign government, and that it is only from 
 Congress that authority can emanate for Mr. Maury to accept 
 the distinction proposed. He added, moreover, that he would 
 write to Washington upon the subject. 
 Eeceive, Count, the assurance of my high consideration. 
 
 "Walewski. 
 
 The following letter accompanied a valuable present of books 
 and charts from Admiral Hammelin, Minister of Marine at Paris, 
 Imperial Marine Director-General of the Department of Charts 
 and Plants : — 
 
 Dear Sir, p^^^' ^eb. 24th, i860. 
 
 I hasten to transmit to you by the present courier a 
 letter of Admiral Mathieu's relative to the present which we 
 are preparing for you of our hydrographical collections. I make 
 to you also on this occasion my very sincere compliments. You 
 should be convinced, dear sir, that we shall always be disposed 
 to be useful or agreeable to you. I only regret that we are not 
 able to send you something of importance on the subject of 
 vnnds and currents ; but we are scarcely yet organized. I hope, 
 however, that we shall yet in time bring one stone at least to 
 that edifice which you have so carefully reared, and that we 
 should follow in the fruitful path which you have opened 
 for us. 
 
 Eeceive, dear sir, the assurance of my entire devotedness, and 
 
 of my respects. 
 
 A. DE LA Maeohe. 
 
 To M. Matjet, Director of the Observatory, 
 Washington. 
 
296 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Paris, Feb. 24tli 1860. 
 Sib, aud highly honoured Colleague, 
 
 Independently of the great gold medal whioli the 
 Grovernment of the Emperor has decreed yon, as a mark of 
 esteem for the eminent services which you have rendered to 
 navigation, Admiral Hammelin, Minister of Marine, had de- 
 termined to give yon an especial mark of his gratitude for the 
 communications so important and so numerous which you have 
 addressed to the department. Admiral Hammelin has instructed 
 me to send two complete collections, bound, of our Charts and 
 Nautical Instructions, the one intended for the Observatory, and 
 the other for yourself personally. 
 
 The copy which is destined for you bears on the inside of 
 the binding the following words : " His Excellency, Admiral 
 Hammelin, Minister of Marine, to Lieutenant Maury " ; and they 
 have just been sent through the Legation of the United States 
 at Paris. 
 
 I pray you accept my sincere congratulations, and to be 
 assured of the devoted affectionate sentiments and of the high 
 consideration with which you will ever be regarded by your 
 
 Very obedient servant, 
 
 A. Mathieu, 
 'Rear-AdmiraX and Director-General. 
 To Lt. Mauey, Director of the Observatory, 
 Washington. 
 
 P.S. Our Meteorological Service, under the active and ex- 
 perienced Director of Engineers, De la Marohe, is now organized. 
 As soon as we shall have collected sufficient data, we will 
 communicate them to you. 
 
 SlE, Milan, December lOtb, 1857. 
 
 I avail myself, with real pleasure, of the opportunity 
 given me by your kind offer of the Sailing Directions, to express 
 to you my warm and sincere thanks for it ; to tell you how since 
 years I observed, with intense interest and admiration, your 
 noble and unequaled efforts, in order to forward the improve- 
 ment of the scientific part of our profession. 
 
 I trust you will accept this little present as a token of my 
 gratitude towards a man whom all seafaring nations are bound 
 to look upon with respect and thankfulness. 
 Believe me, sir. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Ferdinand Maximilian. 
 
APPENDIX B. 397 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 Mysterious Fate of a young Confedebate Officer. 
 
 In tte winter of 1863, while Grant's army was lying before 
 Vioksburg, a young gentleman of Virginia, serving in the 
 Confederate Army of Vioksburg, disappeared under circum- 
 stances of extraordinary mystery, and to this day his fate 
 remains as inexplicable as it was on that when he was first 
 missed by his comrades. 
 
 On the 27th day of January, 1863, the Confederate army 
 occupying Vioksburg and its vicinity numbered near thirty 
 thousand effectives. Major-General Carter L. Stevenson was in 
 chief command, and Major-General Dabney H. Maury was next in 
 rank, and commanded the right wing, holding the lines from 
 Hayne's Bluff on the Yazoo Eiver to the city of Vioksburg. 
 
 On the morning of January 27th, General Maury, accom- 
 panied by Colonel William E. Burnett, his Chief of Artillery, 
 and by his young aide-de-camp, John Herndon Maury, son of 
 Commander Matthew F. Maury, rode to General Stevenson's 
 head-quarters in Vioksburg, and, after concluding his business 
 there, sent those two gentlemen of his staff to make a recon- 
 noissance of certain positions near the Big Black Eoad. This 
 was about 10 a.m. He has never seen his young aide-de-camp 
 and kinsman John Maury since that moment ; nor has he ever 
 been able to ascertain with certainty what has been the fate 
 of the young man. 
 
 Burnett returned to dinner at head-quarters, and reported that 
 about one o'clock p.m., having finished their business about the 
 Big Black Eoad, young Maury left him in order to ride down to 
 a point opposite the mouth of the canal, and observe what the 
 enemy was about there. No uneasiness was felt on account of 
 his non-return that night. But when ten o'clock had passed next 
 morning, and " Johnny," as all called him, had not yet been seen 
 or heard of, a vague anxiety began to make itself felt. This was 
 soon increased by hearing that on the previous evening, at about 
 three o'clock. Generals Stevenson, Barton, and other officers from 
 Fredericksburg, Virginia, of which town John H. Maury was 
 
298 APPENDIX B. 
 
 a native, had seen a riderless horse resembling his grey mare 
 on the far side of a crevasse in the levee of the plantation of 
 Mr. Smedes, about four miles below Vioksburg. On hearing 
 this, General Maury, accompanied by several officers and 
 couriers, rode to the point indicated by General Stevenson, and 
 there found his young kinsman's horse with saddle on and 
 bridle hanging loose. A strong levee had been built by Mr. 
 Smedes from the Highlands, more than a mile distant, down to 
 the Mississippi Eiver, in order to shut out the waters of a bayou, 
 which at some seasons would otherwise inundate his planta- 
 tion. Eeoently this bayou had torn its way through this levee, 
 making a breach of about twenty yards width, through which the 
 water was now running deep. The trail of the mare led from 
 the Highlands along the levee, entered the bayou at the crevasse, 
 and passed out on the other side. From the point of exit the 
 mare had been running back and forth so much that the party 
 were unable to follow the trail further, but concluded that 
 Maury had been drowned in the attempt to cross the water, and 
 immediately procured boats and commenced an active search 
 for his body. This was continued without ever discovering any 
 trace of the missing man until the next evening, when Colonel 
 Burnett, an experienced Texas hunter, reported that he had 
 been carefully examining the trail of the mare, and that he 
 observed she was evidently mounted when she emerged from 
 the bayou beyond the crevasse ; that she had then been ridden 
 at a trot along the levee to a point not far from the river ; 
 that at this point her footprints on the levee ceased, she having 
 turned off from it into the overflow, made a detour, and come 
 up upon it again nearer to the crevasse ; that from that point 
 where she had thus come upon the levee she had galloped 
 (riderless) back to the brink of the crevasse, near which she 
 remained until she was found there ; that, at the point where 
 the mare had turned off, he found the paper cases of several 
 cartridges, different from any used in our army ; also a piece of 
 india-rubber or gutta-percha, such as Confederates could not 
 procure, which had been used to cover the cone of a rifle. 
 There were also at this point evidences of a scufSe, and on the 
 brink of the Mississippi Eiver, a few hundred yards distant, he 
 found the edge of the bank freshly broken off, and signs that 
 several men had there embarked in a small boat. 
 
 Although the space in which the body must lie — had the 
 
APPENDIX B. 299 
 
 young man been drowned, as at first supposed — -was small and 
 easily examined, no one of the searching party had discovered 
 any trace of it. Therefore, on hearing Burnett's report, the 
 conclusion was adopted that Maury had been captured by some 
 scouting party from the army across the river, and had been 
 borne, a prisoner, to the other shore. 
 
 Next morning Major Flowerer, Adjutant-General of Maury's 
 division, was sent under a flag of truce to General Grant to 
 make inquiry about Lieutenant Maury. To our grief and sur- 
 prise, he returned in the evening with the report that nothing 
 was known of him by the Federal Commander ; but with the 
 courteous assurance from General Grant and Admiral Porter, 
 who knew young Maury well, that they would take all possible 
 means to ascertain whether he had been made a prisoner by any 
 of their party, and would communicate to General Maury the 
 earliest intelligence they could procure. 
 
 General Grant had been personally acquainted with General 
 Maury at West Point and in Mexico, where they had served 
 together; and the unfortunate young officer whose fate was 
 under investigation was known to Admiral Porter and to other 
 officers of the United States Navy, who had met him while he 
 was a boy at the Observatory of which his father was so long 
 the Chief. The conviction was then positive, as it is now, that 
 those officers were sincere in their desire and active in their 
 efforts to find the poor boy. 
 
 Soon after the fall of Vicksburg (July, 1864), General Maury, 
 then in Mobile, received an ill-written letter (from an unknown 
 and evidently uneducated writer) informing him that his young 
 cousin had been made prisoner, and had died of pneumonia, on 
 the third day after his capture, on board a Federal gunboat 
 lying off Vicksburg. At the time very little importance was 
 attached to this letter. But not long after. Colonel Underbill, 
 a gallant young Scotchman who had resigned his commission 
 in the British anny to serve in that of the Confederacy, wrote 
 to General Maury a very clear and consistent narrative, which 
 he had received from a Captain Smith of the 13th Iowa Eegi- 
 ment. United States Army. 
 
 Captain Smith and Colonel Underbill were natives of the 
 same county in Scotland, and met during a truce before the 
 lines of Vicksburg, Underbill then being aide-de-camp to 
 General Stephen D. Lee. During a sociable conversation on one 
 
300 APPENDIX B. 
 
 oooasion, Smitli told Underhill tliat on the 27th of January he 
 had crossed from the mouth of the canal with a party of four or 
 five men to the levee on Smedes' plantation, in order to ascertain 
 if we were constructing any hatteries there. That soon after 
 reaching the levee he observed a Confederate officer riding 
 down it towards the point where he and his scouting party were. 
 Lying close, they waited until the officer had come up to them 
 and dismounted. While he was looking through his field- 
 glasses at the Federal works on the opposite hank, Smith and 
 his men sprang upon him and secured him. The mare broke 
 away, ran out into the "overflow," and, surmounting the levee, 
 galloped back to the point whence she had come. As soon as it 
 became dark, Smith recrossed the Mississippi with his prisoner, 
 and sent him to Grant's head-quarters, where he believed he was 
 when General Maury's flag of truce came to inquire for him 
 two days after. Captain Smith showed Underhill the opera- 
 glass which he had taken from his prisoner, and retained as a 
 trophy of his exploit. The glass was that which General 
 Maury had on that morning lent to his cousin (with his name 
 and rank upon it). 
 
 There are several points in this narrative which give it every 
 appearance of truth. It agreed, in the main, with Burnett's 
 observations, and the theory deduced from them, of which 
 neither Underhill nor Smith had ever heard. The opera-glass 
 seemed to fix the fact of capture, while the respectable standing 
 of the two gentlemen, and the absence of any motive or object 
 for such a fiction, leave us no right to question any part of their 
 story. 
 
 As to Smith's belief that young Maury was at Grant's head- 
 quarters while that General was denying all knowledge of him, 
 we must remember that Smith could only know that Maury 
 had been sent up to head-quarters, while Grant, having just 
 arrived at the army with large reinforcements, and being occupied 
 in organizing his forces, could not be expected to be interested 
 in, or even informed, of the capture of a lieutenant. Therefore 
 we are justified in believing young Maury was captured and 
 borne across to the Federal Army. What was his subsequent 
 fate is the mystery which has never yet been revealed. 
 
 For more than fifty years the father, the uncles, and many 
 others of the kindred of this young gentleman have been well- 
 known officers of the naval and military service of the United 
 
APPENDIX B. 301 
 
 States. Having passed almost his whole life at the National 
 Observatory at "Washington, he was himself well-known to 
 scores of navy officers. These circumstances, considered to- 
 gether with his position as Staff-Officer of the General second in 
 command of the army then at Vickshurg ; the immediate, 
 active, and persistent search made for him ; the cordial interest 
 evinced by General Grant, Admiral Porter, Captain Breeze, and 
 other officers of the Federal Service, in the investigation thus 
 made about his fate, combine to make the mystery which 
 enshrouds it as extraordinary as it has been inexplicable ; 
 while the beautiful traits, the fine intellect, the excellent 
 attainments, and the gallant yet gentle and polite bearing of 
 the young man, invest it, to all who know him, with a peculiar 
 and most painful sadness. 
 
 " His parents are now in the decline of life. Exiles from 
 their homes, they are borne down by this mysterious sorrow. 
 If there be any one living who knows facts relative to the time 
 and manner of young John Maury's death, we beg such an one 
 to make them known. Let not this cruel silence be longer 
 kept." 
 
 This appeal was made by General Maury through the 
 columns of the 'Richmond Whig, in 1867. It was immediately 
 copied into many Southern papers, among others by the Mobile 
 Advertiser and Begister, which says : — 
 
 " We published a week ago an article from the Biichmond Whig 
 upon the subject of the mysterious disappearance, at Vicksburg, 
 in January, 1863, of Lieutenant John Herndon Maury, of the 
 Confederate Army, a son of Commodore M. P. Maury, at that 
 time serving upon the staff of his relative, Major-General 
 Dabney H. Maury. 
 
 " On the day when that article appeared — that is, on Sunday 
 last — a stranger called at the office of this paper and stated that 
 he had some information upon the subject of the mysterious 
 disappearance of the young officer. 
 
 "This gentleman gave his name as W. H. Harris, of 
 Louisiana, formerly in the Confederate service as a scout. 
 Under the orders of General Stephen D. Lee. 
 
 " None of the editorial corps of the Advertiser and Begister 
 •Were in when Mr. Harris called. A memorandum of the 
 information given by him was hastily taken by one of the 
 clerks of the office; It is very imperfect and unsatisfactory, 
 
302 APPENDIX C. 
 
 and we have refrained from puUisliing it in the hope of 
 learning something more upon the subject, hut have not been 
 able to do so. 
 
 " Mr. Harris states, according fo this memorandum, that 
 Lieutenant Maury was captured by a party of the enemy and 
 taken across the Mississippi Eiver, and that he was then shot, or, 
 in other words, murdered, by order of one GrifSn, a deserter 
 from the Confederate Service. 
 
 " He says that six balls were shot through his body, and that 
 he was buried on the spot, about eight miles below Vicksburg, 
 on the opposite bank of the river.'' 
 
 Many attempts have been made by Maury's family to 
 communicate with this Mr. Harris ; but he has never been heard 
 from since. 
 
 If any one who reads this book can throw any light upon the 
 awful fate of this young officer, in God's name let them 
 communicate without further delay with his sister, Mrs. S. W. 
 Corbin, of Tarleyvale, near Fredericksburg, Virginia ! 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 " A Vindication of the South and op Virginia," 
 BY M. F. Maury. 
 
 One hundred years ago, we were thirteen British Colonies 
 remonstrating and disputing with the Mother Country in 
 discontent. After some years spent in fruitless complaints 
 against the policy of the British Government towards us, the 
 Colonies resolved to sever their connection with Great Britain, 
 that they might be first independent, and then proceed to 
 govern themselves in their own way. At the same time they 
 took counsel together, and made common cause. They declared 
 certain truths to be self-evident, and proclaimed the right of every 
 people to alter or amend their forms of government as to them 
 may seem fit. They pronounced this right to be an inalienable 
 right; and declared that when a long train of abuses and 
 
APPENDIX C. 303 
 
 usurpations eyinces a design on the part of the Government to 
 reduce a people under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is 
 their duty, to throw off such Government. In support of these 
 declarations, the people of that day, in the persons of their 
 representatives, pledging themselves, their fortunes, and their 
 sacred honour, went to war, and in the support of their cause 
 appealed to Divine Providence for protection. Under these 
 doctrines, we and our fathers grew up ; we were taught to 
 regard them with a reverence almost holy, and to believe in 
 them with quite a religious belief. 
 
 In the war that ensued, the Colonies triumphed ; and in the 
 treaty of peace. Great Britain acknowledged each one of her 
 revolted Colonies to be a nation, endowed with all the 
 attributes of sovereignty, independent of her, of each other, and 
 of all temporal powers whatsoever. These new-born nations 
 were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Ehode Island, Connecticut, 
 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, 
 Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia — thirteen 
 in all. 
 
 At that time, all the country west of the Alleghany 
 Mountains was a wilderness. All that part of it which lies 
 north of the Ohio Eiver, and east of the Mississippi, called the 
 North-West Territory, and out of which the States of Ohio, 
 Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of Minnesota, 
 have since been carved, belonged to Virginia. She exercised 
 dominion over it, and in her resided the rights of undisputed 
 sovereignty. These thirteen powers — which were then as 
 independent of each other as Trance is of Spain, or Brazil is of 
 Peru, or as any one nation can be of another — concluded to 
 unite, and form a compact called the Constitution, the main 
 objects of which were to establish justice, secure domestic 
 tranquillity, provide for the common defence, and promote the 
 general welfare. To this end they established a vicarious 
 Government, and named it the United States. The compact 
 had for its corner-stone the aforementioned inalienable rights. 
 With the assertion of these precious rights — which are so dear 
 to the hearts of all true Virginians — fresh upon their lips, each 
 one of these thirteen States signatories to this compact, 
 delegated to this new Government so much of her own foreign 
 powers as were deemed necessary for the accomplishment of its 
 objects, reserving to herself all the powers, prerogatives, and attri- 
 
304 APPENDIX C. 
 
 iDutes not specifically granted or specially emimerated. Never- 
 theless Virginia, through abundant caution when she fixed her 
 seal to this Constitution, did so with the express declaration, in 
 behalf of her people, that the powers granted under it might be 
 resumed by them whenever the same should be perverted to 
 their injury or oppression ; that " no right of any denomination 
 given by that instrument could be cancelled, abridged, or 
 modified by the Congress, by the Senate and House of Eepre- 
 sentatives, acting in any capacity, by the President or any 
 department or officer of the United States, except in those 
 instances in which power is given for those purposes." * With 
 this agreement, with a solemn appeal to the " Searcher of all 
 hearts " for the purity of their intentions, our delegates, in the 
 name and in behalf of the people of Virginia, proceeded to 
 accept and to ratify the Constitution for the Government of 
 the United States. 
 
 Thus the Government at Washington was created. But it 
 did not go into operation until the other States — parties to the 
 contract — had accepted by their act of signature and tacit 
 agreement the conditions which Virginia required to be under- 
 stood as the terms on which she accepted the Constitution, and 
 agreed to become one of the United States. Thus these 
 conditions became, to all intents and purposes, a part of that 
 instrument itself; for it is a rule of law and a principle of right 
 laid down, well understood, and universally acknowledged, that 
 if in any compact between several parties any one of-, them be 
 permitted to enter into it on a condition, that condition inures 
 alike to all. 
 
 Notwithstanding the purity of motive and singleness of 
 purpose which moved Virginia to become one of the United 
 States, sectional interests were developed, and the seeds of 
 faction, strife, and discord appeared in the very convention 
 which adopted the Constitution. At that time African negroes 
 were bought and sold and held in slavery in all the States. 
 They had been brought here by the Crown, and forced upon 
 Virginia when she was in the Colonial state, in spite of her 
 oft-repeated petitions and remonstrances ; and now siace she — 
 with others — were independent and masters of themselves, 
 they desired to put an end forthwith to this traffic. To this 
 the North objected, on the ground that her people were 
 
 » Proceedings of the Va. Convention, 1788, pago 28, Code of Va., 1860. 
 
APPENDIX C. 305 
 
 extensively engaged in kidnapping in Africa, and transporting 
 slaves thence for sale to Southern planters. They had, it was 
 added, such interests at stake in this business that twenty 
 years would be required to wind it up. A-t that time the 
 political balance between the sections was equal ; and the 
 South, to pacify the North, agreed that the new Government 
 should have no power until after twenty years should have 
 elapsed to restrict their traffic ; and thus the North gained a 
 lease and a right to fetch slaves from Africa into the South 
 till 1808. That year, one of Virginia's own sons being 
 President of the United States, an Act was passed forbidding a 
 continuance of the traffic and declaring the further prosecution 
 of it pirac}'. 
 
 Virginia was the leader in the war of the Eevolution, and 
 her sons were the master-spirits of it, both in the field and in 
 the Cabinet. For an entire generation after the establishment 
 of the Government under the Constitution, four of her sons — 
 with an interregnum of only four years — were called, one after 
 the other, to preside, each for a period of eight years, over the 
 affairs of the young Eepublic, and to shape its policy. In the 
 meantime Virginia gave to the new Government the whole of 
 her North-West Territory, to be held by it in trust for the 
 benefit of all the States alike. Under the wise rule of her 
 illustrious sons in the Presidential chair, the Eepublic grew, 
 and its citizens flourished and prospered as no people had ever 
 done. 
 
 During this time the African slave-trade having ceased, the 
 price of negroes rose in the South. Then the Northern people 
 discovered that it would be better to sell their slaves to the 
 South than to work them ; whereupon acts of so-called 
 emancipation were passed in the North. They were pro- 
 spective, and were to come in force after the lapse generally of 
 twenty * years, which allowed the slave-holders among them 
 ample time to fetch their negroes here and sell them to our 
 people. This many of them did ; and the North got rid of her 
 slaves for value received, rather than through any real desire 
 to set her bondmen free. 
 
 About this time also, Missouri — into which the early settlers 
 had carried their slaves — applied for admission into the Union 
 as a State. The North opposed it, on the grounds that slavery 
 
 * Slavery did not cease in New York till 1827. 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 existed there. The Soutli appealed to the Constitution, called 
 for the Charter which created the Federal Governraent, and 
 asked for the olaiise which gave Congress the power to 
 interfere with the domestic institutions of any State, or with 
 any of her affairs, further than to see that her organic law 
 ensured a Kepublican form of government to her people. Nay, 
 she appealed to the force of treaty obligations, and reminded 
 the North that in the treaty with France for the acquisition of 
 Louisiana, of which Missouri was a part, the public faith was 
 pledged to protect the French settlers there, and their 
 descendants, in their rights of property, which includes slaves. 
 The public mind became excited ; sectional feelings ran high|; 
 and in 1820-21 the Union was in danger of being broken up 
 through Northern aggression and Congressional usurpations. To 
 quiet the storm, a son of Virginia came forward as peace- 
 maker, and carried through Congress a Bill that is known as 
 the " Missouri Compromise." So the danger was averted. This 
 Bill, however, was a concession, simple and pure, to the North 
 on the part of the South, with no equivalent whatever, except 
 the gratification of a patriotic desire to live in harmony with 
 the sister States and preserve the Union. This compromise 
 was to the effect that the Southern people should thereafter 
 waive their right to go with their slaves into any part of the 
 common territory north of 36° 30'. Thus was surrendered up to 
 the North for settlement, at her own time and in her own way, 
 more than four-fifths of the entire public domain, with equal 
 rights with the South in the remainder. 
 
 That posterity may fairly appreciate the extent of this 
 exaction by the North, and of the sacrifice made by the South 
 to satisfy it, to maintain the public peace and preserve the 
 Union, it is necessary to refer to a map of the country, and to 
 remember that at that time neither Texas, New Mexico, 
 California, nor Arizona belonged to the United States ; that 
 the country west of the Mississippi which fell under that com- 
 promise is that which was acquired from France in the purchase 
 of Louisiana, and which includes West Minnesota, the whole of 
 Iowa, Arkansas, The Indian Territory, Kansas, Nebraska, and 
 Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, 
 Washington, and Oregon, embracing an area of 1,360,000 square 
 miles. Of this the South had the privilege of settling Arkansas 
 alone, or less than the one twenty-fifth part of the whole. The 
 
APPENDIX C. 307 
 
 sacrifice thus made by the South for the sake of the Union, will 
 be more fully appreciated when we reflect, that under the 
 Constitution Southern gentlemen had as much right, and the 
 same right, to go into the territories with their slaves that men 
 of the North had to carry with them there their apprentices and 
 servants. Though this arrangement was so prejudicial to the 
 South, though the Supreme Court decided it to be uncon- 
 stitutional, null and void, the Southern people were still 
 willing to stand by it ; but the North would not. Backed by 
 majorities in Congress, she only became more and more 
 aggressive. Furthermore, the magnificent country given by 
 Virginia to the Union came to be managed in the political 
 interests of the North. It was used for the encouragement of 
 European immigration into the free States ; and such was the 
 rush of settlers from abroad to the polar side of 36° 30', and for 
 the cheap and rich lands of the North- West Territory, that the 
 population of the North was rapidly and vastly increased — so 
 vastly, that when the war of 1861 commenced, the immigrants 
 and the descendants of immigrants, which the two sections had 
 received from the Old World since this grant was made, 
 amounted to no less than 7,000,000 souls more for the North 
 than for the South. This increase destroyed the balance of 
 power between the sections, placed the South in Congress 
 hopelessly in the minority, and gave the reins of the Govern- 
 ment over into the hands of the Northern factions. Thus, the 
 two hundred and seventy millions of acres of the finest land on 
 the continent, which Virginia gave to the Government to hold 
 in trust as a common fund, was so managed as to increase 
 Northern votes and power. Nor was this all. Large grants 
 of land, amounting to many millions of acres, were made from 
 this domain to certain Northern States, for their railways and 
 other works of internal improvement, for their schools and 
 corporations ; but not an acre to Virginia. 
 
 In consequence of the Berlin and Milan Decrees, and the 
 Orders in Council, the embargo and the war with Great Britain 
 which followed in 1812, the people of the whole country 
 suffered greatly for the want of manufactured articles, many of 
 which had become necessaries of life. Moreover, it was at that 
 time against the laws of England for any artisan or piece of 
 machinery used in her workshops to be sent to this country. 
 Under these circumstances it was thought wise to encourage 
 
 X 2 
 
3o8 APPENDIX C. 
 
 manufacturing in New England, until American labour could 
 be educated for it and the requisite skill acquired for the 
 establishment of workshops. The Southern statesmen took the 
 lead in the passage of a tariff to encourage and protect the 
 manufacturing industries of the North. But in course of time 
 these restrictive laws in England were repealed, and it then 
 became easier for New England to import than to educate labour 
 and skill. Nevertheless the protection continued, and was so 
 effectual that the manufacturers of New England began to 
 compete in foreign markets with the manufacturers of Old 
 England. Whereupon the South said, " Enough. The North has 
 free trade with us ; the Atlantic Ocean rolls between this 
 country and Europe ; the expense of freight and transportation 
 across it, with moderate duties for revenue alone, ought to be 
 protection enough for these Northern industries. Therefore, 
 let us do away with tariffs for protection. They have not, by 
 reason of geographical laws, turned a wheel in the South ; 
 moreover, they have proved a grievous burden to our people." 
 Northern statesmen did not see the case in that light ; but 
 fairness, right, and the Constitution were on the side of the 
 South. She pointed to the unfair distribution of the public 
 lands, to the unequal dispensation among the States of the 
 Government favour and patronage, and to the fact that the 
 New England manufacturers had gained a firm footing and were 
 flourishing ; therefore, protection had accomplished its purpose. 
 Moreover, peace, progress, and development had, since the end 
 of the French wars, dictated Free Trade as the true policy of 
 all nations. Our senators proceeded to demonstrate by example 
 the hardships of submitting any longer to tariffs for protection. 
 In their arguments they quoted examples to this effect : — 
 The Northern farmer clips his hundred bales of wool, and 
 the Southern planter picks his hundred bales of cotton. So far 
 they are equal, for up to this stage the Government affords to 
 each equal protection in person and property. But the Govern- 
 ment would not stop here. It went further — re-protected the 
 industry of one section and taxed that of the other ; for though 
 it suited the farmer's interest and convenience to put his wool 
 into his own waggon and to send it to a New England mill to 
 have it made into one hundred bales of cloth, it also suited in 
 a like degree the Southern planter to put his cotton in his own 
 ships, and to send it to Old England to have it made into one 
 
APPENDIX C. 309 
 
 hundred bales of calico. And now came the injustice and the 
 grievance. They both, so the case was made to run, preferred 
 the Charleston market ; they both, the illustration assumed, 
 arrived by sea and proceeded together, each with his invoices of 
 one hundred bales, to the Custom House. There the Northern 
 man is told that he may land his hundred bales duty free ; but 
 the Southern man is required to leave forty of his in the Custom 
 House for the privilege of landing the remaining sixty.* It 
 was in vain for the Southerner to protest, or to urge, " You 
 make us pay bounties to Northern fishermen under the plea that 
 it is a nursery for seamen. Is not the fetching and carrying of 
 Southern cotton across the sea in Southern ships as much a 
 nursery for seamen as the catching of codfish in Yankee 
 smacks ? But instead of allowing a bounty for this, you 
 exact taxes and require protection for my Northern fellow- 
 citizens at the expense of Southern industry and enterprise." 
 The complaints against the tariff were, at the end of ten or 
 twelve years, followed by another compromise in the shape of a 
 modified tariff, by which the South again gained nothing, and 
 the North everything. The effect was simply to lessen, not to 
 abolish, the tribute-money exacted for the benefit of Northern 
 industries. 
 
 Fifteen years before the war, it was stated officially from the 
 Treasury Department at Washington, that under the tariff then 
 in force the self-sustaining industry of the country was taxed 
 in this indirect way in the sum of |80,000,000 annually, none 
 of which went into the coffers of the Government, but all into 
 the pocket of the protected manufacturer. The South, more- 
 over, complained of the unequal distribution of the public 
 expenditures; of unfairness in protecting, buoying, lighting, 
 and surveying the coast She laid her complaints on grounds 
 like these : for every mile of sea-front in the North, there are 
 four in the South. Yet there were four well-equipped dock- 
 yards in the North to one in the South ; large sums of money 
 have been expended for Northern, small for Southern defences ; 
 navigation of the Southern coast was far more difficult and 
 dangerous than that of the Northern ; yet the latter was better 
 lighted, and the Southern coast was not surveyed by the Govern- 
 ment until it had first furnished Northern ship-owners with good 
 charts for navigating their waters and entering their harbours. 
 * The tariff at that time was about 40 per cent. 
 
310 APPENDIX C. 
 
 Thus dealt by, there was cumulative dissatisfaction in the 
 Southern mind towards the Federal Government, and Southern 
 men began to ask each other, " Should we not be better off out 
 of the Union than we are in it ? " Nay, the public discontent 
 rose to such a pitch in consequence of the tariff that nullification 
 was threatened, and the existence of the Union was again 
 seriously imperiled. Dissolution might have ensued had not 
 Virginia stepped in with her wise counsels. She poured oil 
 upon the festering sores in the Southern mind, and did what she 
 could in the interests of peace ; but the wound could not be 
 entirely healed : Northern archers had hit too deep. 
 
 The Washington Government was fast drifting towards 
 centralization, and the result of all this Federal partiality, of 
 this unequal protection and encouragement, was that New 
 England and the North fattened upon the tribute forced from 
 the South, and prospered as few people have ever done. 
 
 But our grievances had not yet culminated. Other difficulties 
 sprung up in quick succession. By the Constitution, a citizen 
 of the South had a right to pursue his fugitive slave into any 
 of the States, apprehend and bring him back ; but so unfriendly 
 had the North become towards the South, and so regardless of 
 her duties under the Constitution, that Southern citizens, in 
 pursuing and attempting to apprehend runaway negroes in the 
 North, were thrown into gaol, maltreated, and insulted in spite 
 of their rights. Northern people loaded the mails for the South 
 with inflammatory publications inciting the negroes to revolt, 
 and encouraging them to rise up, use the midnight torch, and 
 murder their owners. Like tampering with the negroes was 
 one among the causes which led Virginia into her original 
 proposition to the other Colonists — that they should all, for the 
 common good and common safety, separate themselves from 
 Great Britain and strike for independent existence ; which they 
 did. In a resolution unanimously adopted in convention for a 
 declaration of such independence, it was urged that the King's 
 representative in Virginia was " tempting our slaves by every 
 artifice to resort to him, and training and employing them 
 against their masters."* To counteract the attempt by the 
 New England people to do the like, the Legislatures of Virginia 
 and other Southern States, felt themselves constrained to curtail 
 
 * Eeaolution of Va. for a Declaration of Indepenclenoe, unanimously 
 adopted 15th May, 1776, page 1, Code of Va., ISOU. 
 
APPENDIX C. 
 
 the privileges of the slave, to increase the patrols, and for the 
 public safety to enact severe laws against the black man. This 
 grated upon the generous feelings of our people the more, 
 because they were thus compelled in self-defence to spread 
 hateful laws upon the Statute-book of the State. It was a shaft 
 that sank deep and rankled long ; it brought to mind Colonial 
 times, and put into Southern heads the idea of another separation. 
 But this was not all. Societies were formed in the North to 
 encourage our negroes to escape and to harbour the runaways ; 
 emissaries came down to inveigle them away; and while the 
 evil-minded among them were engaged in this, the Northern 
 States aided and abetted, by passing Acts prohibiting their 
 officers to assist the Southern citizens in the capture of run- 
 aways, and hindering him from doing it himself. At length 
 things came to such a pass, that no Southern gentleman, 
 notwithstanding his right, dared, when he went to the North 
 either on business or pleasure, to carry with him, as he formerly 
 did, a body-servant. More harsh still — delicate mothers and 
 invalids with their nurses, though driven from their Southern 
 home, as they often are, by pestilence or plague, dared not seek 
 refuge in the more bracing summer climates of the North ; they 
 were liable to be mobbed, to see their servants taken away by 
 force, and, when that was done, they found that Northern laws 
 afforded no protection. In short, our people had no longer 
 equal rights in a common country. 
 
 Finally, the aggressive and fanatical spirit of the North came 
 to such a pitch against us, that, just before the Southern people 
 began to feel that patience and forbearance were both exhausted, 
 a band of raiders, fitted out and equipped in the North, came 
 down upon Virginia with sword and spear in hand. They 
 commenced in the dead of night to murder our citizens, to arm 
 the slaves, encouraging them to rise up, burn and riot, kill and 
 slay through the land. The ringleader was caught, tried, and 
 hung. Northern people regarded him as a martyr in a righteous 
 cause. His body was carried to the North for ovation ; f hey 
 paid homage to his remains, sang pseans to his memory, and 
 amidst jeers and taunts for Virginia, which to this day was 
 reverberated through the halls of Congress, enrolled his name 
 as one who deserved well of his country. 
 
 These acts were well calculated to keep the Southern mind 
 in a highly feverish state and in an unfriendly mood ; and there 
 
312 APPENDIX C. 
 
 were other influences at work to excite sectional feelings and 
 lieget just indignation among tlie Southern people. The North 
 was commercial, the South agricultural. Through their fast- 
 sailing packets and steamers Northern people were in constant 
 communication with foreign nations ; the South rarely except 
 through the North, Northern men, and Northern societies. This 
 gave the North the ear of Europe. She took advantage of this 
 circumstance to our prejudice — defamed the South and abused 
 the European mind with lihels and slanders and evil reports 
 against us. They represented Southern people as a lawless and 
 violent set, where men and women were without shame ; they 
 asserted, with all the effrontery of impudent falsehood, that the 
 chief occupation of the gentlemen of Virginia was the breeding 
 of slaves like cattle for the shambles. To this day the whole 
 South is suffering under this defamation of character ; for it is 
 well known that in consequence of this immigrants from 
 Europe now refuse to come and settle in Virginia. 
 
 This long list of grievances does not end here. The popula- 
 tion of the North had, by reason of the vast numbers of 
 foreigners that had been induced to settle there, become so 
 great that the balance of power in Congress was completely 
 destroyed. 
 
 The Northern people became more tyrannical in their disposi- 
 tion. Congress more aggressive in its policy. In every branch 
 of the Government the South was in a hopeless minority, and 
 completely at the mercy of an unscrupulous majority for their 
 rights in the Union. Emboldened by tlieir popular majorities 
 at the hustings, the master-spirits of the North now proclaimed 
 the approach of an irrepressible conflict with the South, and 
 their representative men in Congress preached the doctrine of a 
 " higher law," confessing that the policy about to be pursued in 
 relation to Southern affairs was dictated by a rule of conduct 
 unknown to the Constitution, not contained in the Bible, but 
 sanctioned, as they said, by some higher law than the Bible 
 itself. Thus, flnding ourselves at the mercy of faction and 
 fanaticism, the Presidential election of 1860 drew nigh. The 
 time for putting candidates in the field was at hand. The 
 North brought out their candidate, and by their platform pledged 
 him to'acts of unfriendly legislation against us. The South 
 warned the North and protested, the political leaders in some 
 of the Southern' States publicly declaring that if Mr. Lincoln, 
 
APPENDIX C. 313 
 
 their nominee, were elected, the States would not remain in the 
 Union. He was truly a sectional candidate. He received no 
 vote in the South, but was, under the provisions of the Consti- 
 tution, duly elected nevertheless ; for now the poll of the North 
 was large enough to elect whom she pleased. 
 
 When the result of this election was announced, South 
 Carolina and the Gulf States each proceeded to call a convention 
 of her people ; and they, in the exercise of their inalienable 
 right to alter and abolish the common Government, and to 
 institute a new one, resolved to withdraw from the Union — 
 peaceably if they could. They felt themselves clear as to their 
 right and thrice-armed ; for they remembered that they were a 
 Sovereign people, and called to mind those precious rights that 
 had been solemnly proclaimed, and in which and for which we, 
 and our fathers before us, had a most abiding faith, reverence, 
 and belief. Prominent among them was, as we have seen, the 
 right of each of these States to consult her own welfare and 
 withdraw or remain in the Union in obedience to its dictates 
 and the judgment of her own people. So they sent Commis- 
 sioners to Washington to propose a settlement, the Confederate 
 States offering to assume their quota of the debt of the United 
 States, and asking for their share of the common property. 
 This was refused. 
 
 In the meantime Virginia assembled her people in grand 
 council too; but she had hitherto refused to come near the 
 Confederate States in their councils. She had laid the corner- 
 stone of the Union, her sons were its chief architects ; and though 
 she felt that she and her sister States had been wronged without 
 cause, and had reason good and sufficient for withdrawing 
 from a political association which no longer afforded domestic 
 tranquillity, or promoted the general welfare, or answered its 
 purposes, yet her love for the Union and the Constitution was 
 strong, and the idea of putting down, without having first 
 exhausted all her persuasives, and tried all means to save what 
 had cost her so much, was intolerable. She thought the time 
 for separation had not come, and waited first to try her own 
 " mode and measure of redress." She considered that it should 
 not be such as the Confederate States had adopted. Moreover, 
 by standing firm, she hoped to heal the breach, as she had done 
 on several occasions before. She asked all the States to meet 
 her in a Peace Congress. They did so ; and the North being 
 
514 APPENDIX C. 
 
 largely in the majority, threw out Southern propositions and 
 rejected all the efforts of Virginia at conciliation. North 
 Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, all remained in the Union 
 awaiting the action of our State, which urged the Washington 
 Government not to attempt to coerce the seceded States, or 
 force them with sword and bayonet back into the Union — a 
 thing, she held, which the Charter which created the Govern- 
 ment gave it no authority to do. 
 
 Eegardless of these wise counsels, and of all her rightful 
 powers, the North mustered an army to come against the South, 
 whereupon, seeing the time had come, and claiming the right 
 which she had especially reserved, not only for herself but for 
 all the States, to withdraw from the Union, the grand old 
 Commonwealth did not hesitate to use it. She prepared to 
 meet the emergency. Her people had been already assembled 
 in convention, and they, in the persons of their representatives, 
 passed the " Ordinance of Secession," which separated her from 
 the North and South and left her alone, again a free Sovereign 
 and independent State, without a single entangling alliance. 
 This done, she sounded the notes of warlike preparation. She 
 called upon her sons who were in the service of the Washington 
 Government to confess their allegiance to her, resign their 
 places, and rally around her standard. The true men among 
 them came. In a few days she had an army of 60,000 men in 
 the field ; but her policy was still peace — armed peace, not war. 
 Assuming the attitude of defence, she said to the powers of the 
 North, " Let no hostile foot cross my borders." Nevertheless, 
 they came with fire and sword ; battle was joined upon her own 
 soil, victory crowned her banners then and afterwards on many a 
 well-fought field ; but she and her sister States, cut off from the 
 outside world by the navy they had helped to establish for the 
 common defence, battled together against fearful odds at home 
 for four long years,! but were at last overpowered by mere 
 numbers ; and then came disaster. Her sons who fell died in 
 defence of their country, their homes, their rights, and all that 
 makes native land dear to the hearts of men. 
 
APPENDIX D. 315 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 Notices of Mauey's Death — Peoposed Memorial to his Memoey — 
 Extracts from his Will. 
 
 The papers througliout the States, and the joTirnals of almost 
 all the countries of Europe, vied with, each other in expressions 
 of sympathy and respect for Maury's memory. 
 
 An " eye-witness " wrote as follows in the Bichmond Dispatch 
 of Fehruary 3rd, 1873 :— 
 
 " It was announced in all the churches in Lexington yesterday 
 that the remains of Commander M. P. Maury would lie in state 
 in the hall of the library of the Military Institute from three 
 o'clock this afternoon till Wednesday, in order that all friends 
 and admirers of this great and good man might he enabled to 
 see his face once more. The gallery round the hall was 
 festooned with black. A large anchor and a cross of evergreens 
 were placed at alternate angles. The columns were draped 
 spirally. The wall was covered with maps constructed under 
 the supervision of the deceased. Inclining at an angle of 
 45 degrees, on opposite sides of the gallery, were placed two 
 flags, the one of his native State, the other of his adopted State 
 — Virginia and Tennessee — both heavily draped. Near the 
 bier stood a large globe tastefully draped, and the inscription 
 was striking in its appropriateness — ' The whole world is 
 mourning for Maury." The bier was in the centre of the hall, 
 and was covered with black broadcloth. 
 
 " At 4 P.M. the coffin was borne from the late residence of the 
 deceased to the hall by twelve commissioned officers of the 
 cadet battalion, in full-dress uniform, wearing sash and belt, 
 followed by the Faculty of the Institute. 
 
 " The coffin having arrived at the hall, and the lid having been 
 removed, a pall was thrown over the lower part of the body, 
 the face and upper part remaining uncovered ; then, at a motion 
 from the officer in charge, the corporal placed his sentinel on 
 the solemn beat alongside the bier. 
 
 " The body was dressed in a plain suit of black ; on the breast 
 had been carefully placed the various Orders that had been 
 
3i6 APPENDIX D. 
 
 conferred upon him by different crowned heads in Europe in 
 recognition of his distinguished services in the cause of science. 
 The corpse was the most beautiful and life-like I ever saw : a 
 sweet and gentle smile rested upon the cold lips, and he looked 
 ab peace. After the corps of cadets had passed in and looked 
 their last upon the face of their dead professor, and the crowd 
 of mourners had gone, the hall was deserted by all save the 
 lonely sentinel pacing his round." 
 
 " For three days the body lay in state in the library," says 
 the Norfolk Journal, " and to-day, at ten minutes past one 
 o'clock, the remains of Commander Maury, the great American 
 meteorologist, were laid in their temporary resting-place in a 
 vault in the cemetery at Lexington. Among the decorations 
 on the breast of the dead Maury, were the ' Legion of Honour,' 
 given by Napoleon III. ; the Portuguese Order of the ' Tower 
 and Sword,' given for ' valour, loyalty, and merit ' ; Order of 
 ' St. Ann of Eussia ' ; Order of the ' Dannebrog,' given by the 
 King of Denmark ; Order of our ' Lady of Guadeloupe,' given 
 by the Emperor of Mexico, and placed upon him by the hands 
 of the Empress Carlotta, and others." 
 
 A solemn funeral service was held in the hall by the Eev. 
 Wm. Pendleton, D.D., of Grace Church, of which the deceased 
 was a member. The cofSn was placed in a hearse, drawn by 
 four led horses, and taken to the vault, attended by the cadet 
 battalion in full force and the Faculty of the Institute, 
 professors and students of Washington and Lee University and 
 citizens generally. The senior class of the Institute acted as 
 pall-bearers. 
 
 The business houses were all closed, the beUs of the churches 
 and public buildings were tolled, and guns were fired at regular 
 intervals from the camp. The vault is of native mountain- 
 granite, and is immediately in front of the grave of " Stonewall 
 Jackson." 
 
 The New York Herald, February 10th, 1873, published a 
 letter from " A British Sailor," who proposed to show the 
 appreciation and gratitude of seafaring men by raising a 
 substantial subscription for the benefit of Commander Maury's 
 family. In commenting on this the New York Herald says, " We 
 need only add to this merited testimonial of Commander Maury's 
 services and appeal for his family, that we shall be happy to 
 receive any contributions for the noble object proposed," 
 
APPENDIX D. 317 
 
 The communication from " A British Sailor " was translated 
 into French and published in the Courier des ^tats-Unis, 
 and in another French paper, and in many leading papers of 
 the United States. "When his widow was told of this she was 
 deeply moved, and exclaimed to her children, as she burst into 
 tears, « No, no ! If your father has left me a little, that little 
 shall be enough. Write at once to the papers and tell them I 
 do not wish a subscription started there in my behalf " — which 
 was done. 
 
 The following resolutions of respect and sympathy were 
 passed by the General Assembly of Virginia, Monday, Feb. 3rd, 
 1873. 
 
 SENATE. 
 Lieutenant-Governor J. L. Morye in the Chair. 
 
 THE MEMORY OF COMMANDER M. F. MAURY. 
 
 The following preamble and joint resolutions were offered by 
 Mr. Anderson, of Eockbridge, after the reading of the despatch 
 to the Governor announcing the death of Commander Maury : — 
 
 " The intelligence of the death of Commander Matthew 
 Fontaine Maury has been received by the General Assembly 
 with heartfelt sorrow and profound regret. 
 
 " The learning and labours and genius which through a busy 
 lifetime he consecrated to the highest uses of his country and 
 mankind, and his self-sacrifice and devotion to the State, render 
 it proper that Virginia should recognise at the grave the 
 virtues of her illustrious son. 
 
 " In the general grief which pervades thousands of hearts in 
 both hemispheres, we but give expression to the sentiment of 
 all who knew him when we point to his noble, earnest, and 
 unselfish life as a beautiful illustration of what the most ardent 
 votary of science, animated by lofty Christian principle, may 
 accomplish for humanity. But while Virginia admires the 
 virtues and genius of her lamented son, there is no need that 
 she should show them to the world. The world knows him 
 already. His fame, like his usefulness, has been limited only 
 by the confines of commerce and of civilisation, and history 
 will perpetuate the recollection of his character and achieve- 
 ments. Virginia mourns his loss, and with the loved ones of 
 his household grieves over the sad event which has ended his 
 
3i8 APPENDIX D. 
 
 labours on eartb, and rejoices in tlie assurance tHat lie has been 
 borne from scenes of suffering here to the blessedness and peace 
 of a happier and brighter world." 
 
 " Eesolved (the House of Delegates concurring) that the 
 foregoing paper be adopted by the General Assembly, and be 
 spread upon the journals of the Senate and House of Delegates, 
 and be communicated to the family of Commander Maury and 
 to the Faculty of the Virginia Military Institute." 
 
 Mr. Anderson, of Eockbridge, in presenting the resolutions, 
 made a fine eulogy upon the character, life, and services of the 
 deceased. Mr. "Wynne seconded the resolutions, and also 
 eulogised Commander Maury, not only for his great scientific 
 attainments, but as a Christian gentleman and as a Virginian 
 who loved his native State with a warmth beyond comparison. 
 
 The resolutions were unanimously adopted and communicated 
 to the House. 
 
 HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 
 Speaher Hanger in the Ohair. 
 
 Senator Anderson, of Eockbridge, came with a message 
 bearing the Senate resolutions on the death of Commander M. 
 P. Maury. 
 
 After eulogies upon the character and abilities and services 
 of the deceased savant and patriot, by Messrs. Progue, G-ilmer, 
 and Douglas, the resolutions were unanimously adopted, and on 
 motion of Mr. Donald the House adjourned. 
 
 Eemarks of Mr. Anderson, of Eockbridge, in the Senate, upon 
 moving the adoption of resolutions in relation to the death of 
 Commander Maury : — 
 
 " The melancholy intelligence which you have formally 
 announced, Mr. President, will occasion deep sorrow wherever 
 it is received. 
 
 " In the presence of this sad event, I can hardly trust myself 
 to speak of the character and the history of the great man who 
 has just been removed from the scenes of his earthly labours 
 and usefulness. 
 
 " It was, sir, vouchsafed to no man of his generation to live 
 to see so much good accomplished as the direct result of his 
 own efforts and discoveries ; and perhaps no man, living or dead, 
 
APPENDIX D. 319 
 
 has ever contributed more to the practical welfare of mankind. 
 This is not strange, for he devoted his life to the advancement 
 and improvement of his race, and, forgetting self, worked for the 
 good of humanity. 
 
 " History will place his name and character in the same rank 
 with Newton and Humholdt, for the field of his researches was 
 no less extensive than theirs, and the benefits conferred upon 
 the world have been as great. 
 
 " I doubt whether we yet fully realise the greatness of the 
 work which he accomplished, and the fame which he achieved. 
 His simple and unostentatious and laborious life was only 
 rendered conspicuous by its results. His triumphs were the 
 mastery of the laws of matter, and were bloodless and noiseless, 
 but they were more beneficial, and not less glorious, than the 
 victories of war. 
 
 " There is not a ship that moves on the ocean, there is not an 
 article of commerce used by civilised men, which does not tell 
 the story of his labours and his genius, and throughout civilisa- 
 tion, and especially throughout the maritime world, he is rightly 
 regarded as one of the greatest benefactors. 
 
 " Others have perfected the systems which his genius ori- 
 ginated, and have to a great extent reaped the fruits of his 
 discoveries ; but the world will, sooner or later, accord to him 
 the debt of gratitude and the meed of praise which are his 
 due 
 
 " The crowning honour of Commander Mauiy's life was that, 
 a devotee to science, he was a faithful servant of the living 
 God, and a fearless searcher after truth ; he was an humble and 
 earnest soldier and follower of Christ. 
 
 " He has been an honour to Virginia, an honour to America, 
 and an honour to civilisation, and in gratefully recognising this 
 we do but honour ourselves." * 
 
 The road from Lexington to the then nearest railway-station 
 passed through a beautiful gorge in the Blue Eidge Mountains 
 known as the Goshen Pass. When the bereaved family were 
 moving to their future home in Eichmond, bearing the remains 
 of their dead with them for interment at that place, this pass 
 was decorated with flowers by loving unknown hands, in 
 response to the touching request made before his death, " When 
 you carry me through the Goshen Pass, let it be in the spring- 
 
 * Extract from the Biclimond Whig of Monday, Januafy 26th, 1874. 
 
320 APPENDIX D. 
 
 time, and pluck tlie rhododendron and the laurel and shower 
 them on my bier." 
 
 His hody now lies in Holywood, between the last resting- 
 places of Ex-Presidents Monroe and Tyler, on a lovely knoll 
 overlooking the James Eiver. 
 
 PROPOSED MEMOEIAL TO COMMAKDEE MAUEY. 
 
 The following is a copy of a communication transmitted to 
 Governor Kemper : — 
 
 SlE, Richmond, Va., Jan. 23rd, 1874. 
 
 The Superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute 
 has received a communication from Commodore Jansen, of the 
 Eoyal Netherland's Navy, proposing the construction of a light- 
 house on the Eocos Banks as a memorial to the distinguished 
 services rendered to mankind by the late Commander M. F. 
 Maury, LL.D. 
 
 This proposition has received the endorsement of the Eoyal 
 Geographical Society of Great Britain. We are permitted to 
 submit the following extracts from letters on this subject : — 
 
 London, 21, Eccleston Square, S.W., 
 My deae Jansen, May istli, 1873. 
 
 The President and Council of the Geographical Society 
 have authorized me to tell you, that as soon as the proposal for 
 the " Maury Memorial " takes regular shape, they will be glad to 
 give the plan their cordial support. Sir Henry Eawlinson 
 thinks that the plan should originate in America. Will you 
 ask General Smith, as soon as the plan is well under way, to 
 write officially to our Geographical Society and to the Societies 
 on the Continent ? 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 Clements E. Maekham. 
 
 My dear General, Delft, Holland, May 15th, 1878. 
 
 From Markham's letter you will see that the Eoyal 
 Geographical Society will give the " Maury Memorial," in the 
 
APPENDIX D. 321 
 
 shape of a lighthouse on the Eocos, their cordial and hearty- 
 assistance and support, if it is set on foot on your side. 
 
 Now can't you find in every State, among the leading men, 
 admirers of Maury, to club together into a memorial committee 
 by which the circular can be issued to the scientific societies all 
 over the world inviting their co-operation, and asking the 
 Emperor of Brazil's sanction to erect a lighthouse by private 
 international subscriptions to the great hydrographer ; and if 
 the Emperor would like to accept it for maintenance and repair, 
 and by so doing let his contribution take this shape, that the 
 lighthouse shall be built by His Majesty out of the committee's 
 funds, and be lighted and maintained out of the Brazilian 
 exchequer ? 
 
 Most truly yours, 
 
 , Jansen, 
 
 To General Fbancis H. Smith. 
 
 Maui-y, in his Sailing Directions, had called the attention 
 of the United States Government to the importance of a light- 
 house on the Eocos, as may be seen by the following extracts, 
 Vol. 2, 8th Ed., 1859, p. 348 :— 
 
 " The trans-equatorial trade of Europe, as well as that of 
 America, is interested in the establishment of a lighthouse or 
 beacon on the Eocos. Grass Island is ten feet or more — so says 
 Lieutenant Lee — above the water, and the cocoanut would grow 
 finely there. It is to be hoped that the request contained in 
 the following letter will be complied with at an early day. 
 
 gjP^ Observatory, Washington, October 29tli, 1858. 
 
 The new routes to the line have brought the Eocos of 
 Brazil in ' the fair way ' of all vessels bound thence to Eio, to 
 California, India, China, Australia, or any of the ports beyond 
 either of the two Great Southern Capes. 
 
 These shoals (the Eocos) were well surveyed by Lieutenant 
 S. P. Lee, in the ' Dolphin,' in 1852, when she was sent, under the 
 law of 1849, to assist in the investigations of this ofSce. They 
 are in lat. 3° 51' S., long. 33° 49' W. Two small islands, 
 Grass and Sand Islands, are on these shoals. They are a few 
 feet above the water. The first warning that a navigator has of 
 his approach to them is generally by the breakers. 
 
 Captain Sam G. Brooks, of the bark 'Inman,' thinks that 
 
322 APPENDIX D. 
 
 cocoanut-trees would grow on them, and serve as an admirable 
 beacon to ships that pass that way. Seeing that these shoals 
 lie in such a great thoroughfare — for they are also in the track 
 of all homeward-bound traders from South America and coasters 
 from California — and considering the importance of the sugges- 
 tion, I have to request that some of the vessels on the Coast of 
 Brazil be directed to procure both the nut and the plant of the 
 cocoanut-palm, and plant them on the Eocos as they pass that 
 way. 
 
 The vessels of the Paraguay Expedition, as they return home, 
 afford an excellent opportunity of carrying out the suggestion. 
 
 EespectfuUy, "&c., 
 
 M. F. Madey, 
 
 Superintendent. 
 To Hou. Isaac Toncey, 
 
 Secretaiy of the Navy, 
 
 The above letters impart great interest to the ' Maury 
 Memorial,' and with the encouraging prospect afforded by 
 them of the hearty co-operation of foreign governments and 
 societies in giving effect to the scheme, we are well assured that 
 your Excellency will take pleasure in laying the subject before 
 the general assembly for such moral support as may most fitly 
 be given by the representations of a State which gave Maury to 
 the world. 
 
 In behalf of the Board of Visitors of the Virginia Military 
 Institute. 
 
 John Letchek, 
 
 President of the Board, 
 To His Excellency, James L. Kempee, 
 Governor of Virginia." 
 
 The Peterehurg Index Appeal thus wrote : — 
 
 " . . . . Here is a signal and assuring instance of great 
 labours faithfully done, in honour of which the world now raises 
 its voice of emphatic acclaim and praise. The proposed erection 
 of a lighthouse, to be named after Maury, is a fitting expression 
 of the world's appreciation of his services, and reflects credit on 
 the governments which have united in this tribute to the good- 
 ness and the greatness of the dead." 
 
 Virginia took no further steps in the matter, however, and 
 
APPENDIX D. 323 
 
 the whole scheme fell to the ground and was forgotten. 
 Twelve years afterwards a leading Southern journal said : — 
 
 " The value of Maury's services is incalculable, and that the 
 Government has forgotten him gives all the more reason that 
 the South should protect his memory and strive to perpetuate 
 his fame. 
 
 " He was the greatest teacher that ever gave his talents to her 
 service, and he gave up the surroundings and the work of his 
 life to enter it. He has been dead now nearly twelve years, and 
 yet no memorial marks his career and shows that of his stamp 
 and kind are the men the South delights to honour." 
 
 ExTKACTS FiioJi Mauky's Will. {S.) 1862. 
 
 By the grace and mercy of my blessed Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ, I, Matthew Fontaine Maury, being of sound mind 
 and healthful body, do make this my last Will and Testament. 
 
 Should I fall in the war in which my country is now, in this 
 month of February 1862, unhappily engaged, I wish no efforts 
 to be made by my family to recover my body. A sailor's or a 
 soldier's burial is all, in such a case, that I desire at the hands 
 of men. But I pray the Lord to have mercy on my soul, be- 
 seeching my Eedeemer from this day to the last to strengthen 
 my hands to fight, and to deliver my feet from falling, that I 
 may walk before God in the light of the living. 
 
 Should it please my Heavenly Father to let me die in the 
 bosom of my family, then a pine coffin, a plain funeral, and a 
 simple burial, with an evergreen to mark the spot, will con- 
 stitute the burial, the tomb and the epitaph, that under the cir- 
 cumstances, are most grateful to me. But whether I die in 
 peace, surrounded by family and friends, or whether I fall in 
 battle, I hope my wife and children will not grieve because I 
 am gone before, but that they will be comforted, and abstain 
 from the outward signs of mourning. 
 
 After my death, I wish the expenses of my burial and all my 
 debts to be paid. The remaining portion of my possessions. 
 
324 APPENDIX D. 
 
 save only the medals, I leave to my dear wife, who deserves all 
 and more than I can give. I thank her for her example of 
 piety and religion. I love her for her love and gentleness, and 
 I honour myself by confessing to my children our obligations to 
 her for all her goodness as wife and mother and friend. 
 
 My children, too, they have been dutiful, obedient and affec- 
 tionate, giving me calm and comfort, for which I humbly 
 thank them. Very precious are they to their Father's heart. 
 
 They will comfort and cherish their mother when I am gone, 
 as they have done to both when I was living. 
 
 In token of my gratitude and affection and in memory 
 
 I leave to my daughter Betty, the Kosmos Medal of Hum- 
 boldt, awarded to me at the instance of that illustrious philo- 
 sopher, by the King of Prussia. 
 
 To my daughter Nannie I leave the " Great Prussian Gold 
 Medal of Science." 
 
 To my son Eichard, the Gold Medal which the King of 
 Sweden and Norway caused to be struck in my honour. 
 
 To my son John, the Gold Medal which the King of Holland 
 caused to be struck for me. 
 
 To my daughter Mary, the " Great Austrian Gold Medal of 
 Science." 
 
 To my daughter Eliza, the Sardinian Gold Medal. 
 
 To my son Matthew, I bequeath the Gold Medal which the 
 Senate of Bremen caused to be struck for me, and because he is 
 to be a Latin scholar, I leave to him the set of thirteen Medals 
 presented by His Holiness the Pope. 
 
 I leave to my daughter Lucy, the Gold Medal presented by 
 the Emperor of the French and the diamond breast-pin pre- 
 sented by the Archduke Maximilian. 
 
 All these medals were presented in acknowledgment of the 
 services rendered to commerce and navigation through the 
 Wind and Current Charts and the researches connected there- 
 with. 
 
 I leave to my grand-daughter, Nannie Bell, the Gold Medal of 
 the French Exhibition. 
 
 I leave to my son-in-law, Wm. A. Maury, a copy of all 
 my works and of the Various editions of which there are dupli- 
 cates. 
 
 To my son-in-law. Lieutenant S. W. Corbin, C. S. Navy, I 
 leave the publications of the French Hydrographical Office, 
 
APPENDIX D. 325 
 
 whicli are bound in red, and were presented by tlie Minister of 
 JIarine. 
 
 To my friend and nepbew, D. H. Manry, who has been as a 
 son to me, I leave any article among my present effects that 
 will be most grateful to him to have as a " keepsake." (A subse- 
 quent will designated the Medals presented to him by the 
 Pope.) 
 
 I desire that my dear, kind, and faithful sister-in-law, Mary 
 Hemdon, shall continue to reside in my family as heretofore, so 
 long as it may be agreeable. 
 
 To my sister-in-law, Mary Hemdon, I bequeath my Hexapla 
 Testament. 
 
 To my brother-in-law, John Hemdon, I leave the walking- 
 cane of tortoise-wood which his brother Lewis brought me from 
 the Amazon. 
 
 To my brother-in-law, Brodie Herndon, the cane that I may 
 use in my last walk upon earth. And to Charles, a pair of my 
 best London razors. 
 
 To my sister Betsy and her daughter Diana I wish a ring or 
 a breastpin of my hair presented. 
 
 Thanking all my good friends and affectionate relations for 
 their many kindnesses, and lamenting my own unworthiness, I 
 commend them to God's holy keeping, and my soul to His gentle 
 mercies. 
 
 Given under my hand and seal in the city of Eichmond, this 
 4th day of May, Anno Domini 1862. 
 
 M. T. Mauey. 
 
 Witness, 
 
 EoBERT H. Maury, Jr. 
 E. H. Mauey, 
 
 May 1869. 
 
 Extracts from Codicil to his last Will and Testament 
 dated m Ma;/, 1862. 
 
 The war has made of no effect several clauses of my last Will 
 and Testament dated as aforesaid, in that my darling boy John 
 
 Grod rest his noble spirit ! — is no more, and in that the books 
 
 left in token of esteem and affection to my two well-beloved sons- 
 iu-law, William A. Maury and Spottswood Welford Corbin, have 
 
326 APPENDIX D. 
 
 been lost or mutilated, or otherwise rendered of no avail as such 
 tokens. 
 
 In writing the school-hooks, I was greatly assisted hy my 
 three unmarried daughters — God bless them! — and especially 
 by my precious Eliza ; and also in the torpedo experiments by 
 my companion and friend in exile, my affectionate son, Matthew 
 Fontaine. 
 
 From these two sources my present means are mainly derived, 
 and as these four much-loved children are not established, I wish 
 my wife to bear that fact in mind, and while always helping 
 according to her means that one of our chUdren that may be 
 most in want, I would fain, when claims are equal, she should 
 remember how these four have, in the absence of the others, 
 wrought with me. 
 
 Should any of these my three youngest daughters be un- 
 married at my dear wife's death, I desire especial provision to be 
 made for such, so as to secure each one an annuity of not less 
 than ^700 as long as she is single. With this reservation, I 
 desire the rest of my estate, after the death of my wife and the 
 payment of her debts, to be equally divided among our other 
 children. 
 
 Let my Portuguese and my Danish Decorations be returned. 
 
 My dear brother, John Hemdon, is no more. The London 
 razors for Charles were lost in the war, and my walking-cane 
 for Brodie has been worn out. It is in my heart to leave this 
 dear friend and kinsman a more substantial memento than it is 
 in my power to bestow. In brotherly affection and in gratitude 
 for his friendship and his kindness, I leave him my gold 
 spectacles, and hope that he will think of me sometimes, and, 
 when he thinks, wear them. 
 
 I appoint my wife my executrix, and desire that she may 
 qualify without security. 
 
 tOHDON: PRINTED BT WM. CLOWES AND EONS, 1.I5IITED, 
 SMWrOBD STREET AND CilAB:8G CllOSS. 
 
' ^'^/5M#4i'