Page:A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.pdf/79

Rh all seas of $10,000,000 a year. This estimate was based on the condition of shortening the voyage only one tenth (whereas the average length of the passage to all places beyond the equator has been shortened much more); and the estimate was again repeated at the last meeting of the Association in Liverpool. It has also been estimated that the value of these charts to the commerce and navigation of the United States is equivalent, in the saving of time, to several millions a year.' (Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, December 4th, 1854.)

"Such are, briefly, the origin, the design, and the utility of the Wind and Currents Charts and Sailing Directions of Lieutenant Maury; and now the question in the Senate's resolution, of the justice and expediency of making some remuneration to him for them, arises.

"Mr. Maury is an officer of the Government, and its agent within the legitimate scope of his authority, and to the Government are due his time and his talents. This work, though originated and executed by him, has been achieved by the authority and with the assistance of the Government. He is the Superintendent of the Astronomical Observatory, is charged with the Hydrography of the Navy; and the purchase, safe-keeping, and distribution of the nautical instruments required for the Navy also devolve upon him.

"His rank of Lieutenant entitles him to the pay of fifteen hundred dollars per annum; but for the performance of these various duties he receives three thousand dollars per annum and house rent; and while performing these duties, upon this pay, these charts have been, and are being, created by him, and published and distributed by the Government. Can Congress specially reward a valuable discovery or invention, achieved under such conditions, consistently with the public interests? And, if it can, do justice and expediency require it? Will such rewards have a tendency Rh