Elizabeth Buford Phillips

“ If Maury erred in seeking remunerative service in Mexico, then every Southerner, similarly situated, who left that impoverished section, whether for religious, business, or political reasons, likewise erred. Truly, the South, at that time, sorely needed every loyal son, but wise and loyal sons may use self-determination as to how to render the best service to the homeland. Besides, the human instinct of self-preservation, as we have seen, breeds exiles. It is also true that self-interest is a powerful factor in the spread of civilization. ”

“ 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 honor and an office singularly adapted to his genius—to throw away, in a word, all the goods and gifts of Fortune—that he might defend and sustain the cause that seemed to him the just one. ”

“ It was from this Spotsylvania home, in 1810, that Richard Maury, heeding the call of the West, set out with his family, by the wagon trail, for the Blue Grass Region of Tennessee, and settled on the Big Harpeth River near Franklin. That tedious journey of more than 500 miles may be more easily imagined than described, but at last it ended on the borderland of the Golden West. They were again domiciled—father, mother, and eight children, all except John Minor, a lad of seventeen, already four years a midshipman in the United States Navy. ”

“ In that day's work, typical of England's ever-advancing civilization, Cambridge honored herself in honoring a man, the exponent of high character and of world-wide service. But we may not linger there, even to enjoy with the Maurys the Strawberry Festival in the garden of Britain's Astronomer-Royal, John Couch Adams, co-discoverer, with Le Verrier, of the Planet Neptune. ”

“ Work in plenty awaited them, and to the question, Wherewithal shall we be fed and clothed, came the answer in the abundant harvests garnered by father and sons and in the spinning, weaving and knitting of the mother and daughters. ”

“ In his report to Congress, Maury says of the Brussels Conference:
"Rarely has there been presented to the scientific world so sublime a spectacle, all nations agreeing to unite and co-operate in carrying out, according to the same plan, one system of philosophical research with regard to the sea. ”

“ His property, accumulated during thirty-six years' naval service, had been swept away by the harsh fortunes of war; without a home or an acre of land to cultivate, he must provide for his wife and four minor children, refugees and in need. Moreover, his life was no more jeopardized in Mexico under the rule of the best of the Hapsburgs than in Virginia under constitutional government. Charles Francis Adams, United States Minister at the Court of St. James, had advised English friends of Maury to counsel him against returning to Virginia while passion still held sway in Washington. ”

“ As we eagerly read the daily "Weather Reports" we realize, truly, that the world has run away with his "thunder," while but few remember whence "the lightning came"!
The interest excited by the practical application of meteorology to navigation enabled Maury in 1853 to assemble at Brussels under the auspices of King Leopold a Congress of the chief commercial nations of the earth. At this Congress Maury represented the United States. ”

“ This led to an international benefit to navigation, as well as, indirectly, to meteorology. Maury attempted to organize co-operative meteorological work on land, but the Government did not, at that time, take any steps in this direction. His oceanographical work, however, received recognition in all parts of the civilized world.
Of his meteorological work on land, with prophetic vision Maury said, [wrote to a kinsman] "Take notice now, this plan of crop and weather reports is my thunder; if you see some one in Washington running away with it, then recollect where the lightning came from." ”

“ This service is now owned by his granddaughter, Miss Ann Maury of Richmond, Virginia.
In Europe many learned societies elected him an honorary member of their bodies, orders of knighthood were offered him, and medals were struck in his honor. Though thus honored in business circles and by learned societies at home and abroad, sinister methods, born of ignoble motives, began to manifest themselves in national legislation. Congress, in 1855, passed a bill to Promote the Efficiency of the Navy. Under this Act, the Navy Retiring Board placed Maury on the retired list. ”

“ James H. Otey, afterwards Bishop of Tennessee, and his assistant, William C. Hasbrouck, later an eminent lawyer of New York, recognized the rare gifts and high character of the young student and became his life-long friends and mentors. ”