HIS PART IN THE CIVIL WAR 163 



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 all 

 those who pride themselves in the great and noble 

 attainments of the human race. That your name is 

 well-known in Russia I need scarcely add, and though 

 'barbarians', as we are still sometimes called, we have 

 been taught to honor 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 my- 

 self called upon to invite you to take up your residence 

 in this country, where you may in peace continue your 

 favorite and useful occupations. 



"Your position here will be a perfectly independent 

 one ; you will be bound by no conditions or engagements ; 

 and you will 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 3^ou 

 have been accustomed to. I shall now be awaiting your 

 reply, hoping to have the pleasure of seeing here so 

 distinguished an officer, whose personal acquaintance it 

 has always been my desire to make, and whom Russia 

 will be proud to welcome on her soil". 



This invitation, coming at a time when Maury was 

 being thwarted in his efforts to serve the Confederacy, 

 must have been a great temptation. But he did not 

 hesitate in declining the offer; he had cast his lot with 



