Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/674

Rh 642 M A U M A U are under Government control. But many of the laws have been so unjust to the coloured people, and so much to the advantage of the planters, that gross evils and abuses have arisen. And, unjust as the laws are, their administration has often been still more unfair. The evil grew at length so glaring that in 1871 a royal commission was appointed, which sat for a long time investigating the subject. Various reforms were recommended, and since then some improvements have been effected. But many of the Creole planters are not remarkable for their respect for the rights of coloured people, and the system is liable to gross abuse unless under vigilant control by higher authority. Much yet remains to be done for the moral and religious instruction of the labourers ; and the presence of a large heathen population, and the prevalence of crime, has been at times a very serious consideration for the colony. The number of coolies arriving in and leaving the island varies very largely, from a few hundreds annually to several thousands. The dependencies of Mauritius are the Seychelles group, the islands of Rodriguez and Diego Garcia, the Chagos group, and seventy other smaller islands scattered over a large extent of the Indian Ocean, and having a total population of about 16,000 souls. Rodriguez is situated 300 miles east of Mauritius and is cultivated chiefly by colonists from that island. Literature. The following works supply fuller details than can be given in this article :Ch. Grant, History of Mauritius, or the Isle of France and Neigh- louring Islands, 1801; J. Jlilbert, Voyage pittoresque a VIle-de-Frante, &.C., 4 vols., 1812; Aug. Billiard, Voyage attx Colonies orientates, 1822; D Unienville, F. r. Hemyng, Mauritius, or the Isle oj trance, lbb 2; , tius, its Commercial and Social Bearings,&quot; Soc. Arts Jour., 1862; A. Erny. li Sc jour & 1 ile Maurice,&quot; in vol. vii. of Tour du Monde, 1863 ; Ch. J. Boyle, Far Away, or Sketches of Scenery and Society in Mauritius, 18G7 ; L. Simonin, Lcs Pays lointains, Notes de Voyage (Maurice, &amp;lt;tc.), 1867; N. Pike, Sub-Tropical j. jnouiUD| r. ruciuur, mm r*. von jnurbeiioj amroyv zut jut ere.f{i&amp;lt;irtu cr j/coei Mauritius wid der Seuchellen, Berlin, 1SSO ; G. Clark, A Uritf Notice of the Fauna of Mauritius, 1881. (J. S., jr.) MAURUS, ST, according to the Roman Breviary (January 15), was a Roman of noble birth, and while still a child was placed by his father Eutychius under the discipline of St Benedict, where he soon became a model of all the virtues and endowed with the gift of miracles. Sent by his master into Gaul, he founded a monastery over which he presided for forty years. When he died in 565 he was over seventy. The monastery referred to is that of Glanfeuil or St Maur-sur-Loire. In point of fact it may be said that everything relating to the introduction of the Benedictine order into France, unless the name of him who introduced it be made an exception, is purely legendary. The famous &quot;Congregation of St Maur&quot; dates from the 17th century, having received papal sanction in 1621 and 1627; it arose out of an earlier &quot;congregation&quot; of reformed Benedictines, which took its name from St Vannes near Verdun, and was sanctioned by Clement VIII. MAURY, JEAN SIFFREIN (1746-1817), cardinal and archbishop of Paris, the great opponent of Mirabeau in the constituent assembly, and esteemed his rival in eloquence, was the son of a poor cobbler, and was born at Valreas in the Venaissin, the district in France which belonged to the pope. His quickness was soon observed by the priests of Avignon, where he was educated and took orders, and he determined to get what he could by it. He tried his fortune by writing eloyes of famous persons, then a favourite practice ; and in 1771 his eloye on Fenelon was pronounced next best to Laharpe s by the Academy. The real founda tion of his fortunes was the success of a sermon he preached on St Louis before the Academy in 1772, which caused him to be recommended to the king for an abbacy on the spot. In 1772 he published isJEssai sur I eloquence de la chaire, which, as well as his Pi uicipes ^ eloquence, contains much good criticism, and remains a French classic. He became a favourite preacher in Paris, and was Lent preacher at court in 1781, when King Louis XVI. said of his sermon, &quot; If the abbe&quot; had only said a few words on religion he would have discussed every possible subject.&quot; In 1781 he obtained the rich abbey of Lions, worth 20,000 livres a year, and in 1785 he was elected to the Academy. His morals were as loose as those of his great rival Mirabeau, but he was famed in Paris for his wit and gaiety as well as for his eloquence and his immorality. In 1789 he was elected a member of the states-general by the clergy of Peronne, and from the first proved to be the most able and persevering defender of the ancien regime. It is said that he attempted to emigrate both in July and in October 1789 ; but, whether he did or not, he after that time held firmly to his place, when almost universally deserted by his friends. His life was often in danger among the people, but his ready wit always saved it, and it was said that one Ion mot would preserve him for a month. At last, in 1792, he found it necessary to fly from Paris ; the Revolution had gone too far. When he did emigrate he found himself regarded as a kind of martyr to the church and the king, and was at once named cardinal, archbishop inpartibus, and extra nuncio to the diet at Frankfort, He was finally made bishop of Montefiascone, and settled down in that little Italian town, but not for long, for in 1796 the French drove him from his retreat, and he became ambassador, but with hardly any pay, of the exiled king Louis XVIII. to the pope. Such a life soon wearied a man who had been accustomed to wealth and reputation, and in 1804 he began to prepare his return to France by a well-turned letter to Napoleon, congratulating him on restoring religion to France once more. In 1806 he did return; in 1807 he was again received into the Academy; and in 1810, on the refusal of Cardinal Fesch, was made archbishop of Paris. On the restoration of the Bourbons he was sum marily turned out of the Academy, and sent to Rome to answer for his disobedience to the pope. There he was imprisoned in the castle of Sb Angelo for six months, and died in 1817, a year or two after his release, of disease contracted in prison, and of chagrin. There are two sides to Maury s character to be discussed. As a critic he was a very able writer, and Sainte-Beuve gives him the credit of discovering Bridaine, and giving Bossuet his rightful place as a preacher above Massillon ; as a politician, his wit and eloquence make him a worthy rival of Mirabeau, and an interesting character in the early years of the Revolution. If in later years he forsook his old tenets, and joined Napoleon, his punishment was terribly severe, and it would have been a graceful act if Louis XVIII. had remembered the courageous supporter of Louis XVI., and the pope the one intrepid defender of the church in the states-general. The (Euvres choitis du Cardinal Maury (5 vols., 1842) contain what is worth pre serving. For his life and character see Vie du Cardinal Mauri/ par son ncveu, 1827; Poujoulat, Cardinal Maury, sa vie et ses oiuvres, 1855; Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du Lundi, vol. iv. MAURY, MATTHEW FONTAINE (1806-.873), American naval officer and hydrographer, was born in Spottsylvania county, Virginia, January 14, 1806. In 1825 he entered the American navy as midshipman, circumnavigating the globe in the &quot;Vincennes,&quot; during a cruise of four years. In 1836 he was made lieutenant, and gazetted astronomer to an exploring expedition. In 1839 he met with an accident which resulted in permanent lameness, and unfitted him for active service. Maury was placed in charge of the Depot of Charts and Instruments, out of which have grown the United States Naval Observatory and the Hydrographic Office. He laboured assiduously and with complete success to place the depot in a state of efficiency. W 7 hile in the &quot; Vincennes,&quot; and in subsequent cruises, Maury made many observations as to the winds and currents, and when in charge of the Hydrographic Office he set himself to collect further data by distributing to captains of vessels specially prepared log-books. So successful was he in this enterprise that in the course of nine years he had collected a sufficient number of logs to make two hundred manuscript volumes, each with about two thousand five huudred days observations. One result was to show the necessity for combined action on the part of maritime nations in regard to ocean meteorology. This led to an