40 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



assistant under-secretary, who should be a post captain 

 in the navy and have general oversight over the various 

 bureaus. Then promotions would be taken out of poli- 

 tics, and the old saying that "a cruise of a few months in 

 Washington tells more than a three years' cruise at sea 

 in an officer's favor" would lose its significance. 



In his attempt to improve conditions in the naval 

 service, Maury had the sympathy of a large number of 

 his brother officers, some of whom gave practical expres- 

 sion to their feeling by clubbing together and having large 

 editions of the "Scraps from the Lucky Bag" printed for 

 free distribution. In the month of July, 1841 there 

 appeared a sketch of Maury in the Southern Literary 

 Messenger, in which his name was for the first time con- 

 nected with the authorship of the articles. It was 

 written by a "Brother Officer", who said that the 

 "Scraps from the Lucky Bag" had produced "an en- 

 thusiasm which has not subsided and will not subside 

 until the whole navy is reorganized". Such indeed was 

 the outcome. Congress took up the matter, and many of 

 Maury's suggested reforms were at once instituted, while 

 practically everything that he contended for was even- 

 tually adopted for the naval service. So famous did 

 Maury become through the publication of these articles 

 that the President was urged to place him at the head of 

 the Navy Department ; and at one time President Tyler 

 had actually made up his mind to make him his Secretary 

 of the Navy in spite of the fact that he was then but a 

 lieutenant. 



In November, 1841, Maury made another request for 

 active service. In order that his family and friends 

 might not defeat his purpose, he went to Richmond and 

 from there wrote to Secretary of the Navy George E. 



