114 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



there was no error in the case of Lieutenant Maury", 

 for he declared that his physical disability was sufficient 

 cause and he had repeatedly shunned sea service. There 

 seems to have been no personal animus in Mallory's 

 stand, which appears to have been merely the defense of 

 a party measure; indeed, only one year before, when it 

 was proposed in the Senate to make a remuneration of 

 $25,000 to Maury for the service to the country of his 

 wind and current charts, Mallory as chairman of the 

 Senate Committee on Naval Affairs made a long and 

 favorable report, in which he reviewed in detail Maury's 

 work and quoted words of praise from the reports of 

 Secretaries of the Navy Graham, Kennedy, and Dobbin. 

 His report concluded with these words: "This 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 rec- 

 ommend that a sum of 25,000 dollars be thus appro- 

 priated, and report a bill accordingly". Such a sudden 

 turn from eloquent support of Maury to opposition to 

 his interests was indeed remarkable, for it was a long 

 jump from the advocacy of a measure awarding him 

 $25,000 to one which reduced his salary from $3,500 to 

 $1,200 a year. Mallory was supported in his defense 

 of the action of the Board, as it affected Maury, mainly 

 by Senators Clayton of Delaware, Benjamin of Louisi- 

 ana, and Jefferson Davis of Mississippi. 



Eventually, however, the Senate Committee on Naval 

 Affairs reported a bill to amend the act entitled "An Act 



