HIS PART IN THE CIVIL WAR 165 



why he had followed the fortunes of Virginia. 'The 

 path of duty and of honor", he wrote in closing, "is 

 therefore 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 and his noble 

 companions-in-arms. When 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 Atlan- 

 tic, and shall hasten to Russia that I may there in person, 

 on the banks of the Neva, have the honor and the 

 pleasure of expressing to her Grand Admiral the senti- 

 ments 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 in- 

 spired his — Obedient servant, M. F. Maury, Com- 

 mander, C. S. Navy". 



In this decision, Maury acted like another great scien- 

 tist, Louis Pasteur who, when he was offered a professor- 

 ship in Italy in 1871 during the Commune, would not 

 leave France but said, "I should consider myself a 

 criminal deserving a penalty for desertion if I left my 

 country in her unhappiness to seek a better paid position 

 than she can give me". 



In March, 1862, Maury began to take a hand in the 

 foreign affairs of the Confederacy. At this time he 

 submitted to Colonel Orr, Chairman of the Senate 

 Committee on Foreign Affairs, a paper setting forth the 

 basis of a treaty with France. About a week later he 

 wrote a long letter to Captain De Le Marche, Depot de 

 la Marine, Paris, stating the commercial reasons why 

 France ought to recognize the Confederacy; and these 

 reasons were presented to President Davis for his 



