CHAPTER XIII.
Breaking out of the civil war—Maury's letter to Bishop Otey—His Appeals to the (Governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware—Letters to Mr. Hasbrouck of Newburgh—Lincoln's Proclamation calling on Virginia to furnish troops to subjugate S. Carolina—Reply of Virginia—Maury resigns his commission and leaves Washington—Offers from the Grand Duke Constantine and from France—Maury's reply—Defence of Maury decision in letters to a friend—Maury appointed Chief of the Sea-coast, Harbour, and River Defences in the South.
We have now followed the subject of this biography to the period when he had reached the highest point of his worldly prosperity. The National Observatory, under his able management, was daily increasing in usefulness; from nothing it had sprung into an institution of the first rank. An important astronomical work, on which he had been long engaged, entitled 'Astronomical Observations, Cataloguing the Stars' was progressing satisfactorily; other projects which he had devised for the advancement of science seemed on the point of realization, when the great storm of civil war burst upon him in the midst of his useful labours.
Maury made earnest efforts to avert war, maintain peace, and insure to the South her equal rights in the Union* He addressed pathetic appeals to the Governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware, "to stand in the breach and stop this fratricidal strife."
