Page:A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.pdf/307

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
APPENDIX A.
293

of your laborious undertaking, and interested by the noble efforts now making by the Government of the U. S. for the advancement of the sciences which are so closely allied with the development of the common prosperity, desires to give to Lieutenant Maury, Superintendent of the National Observatory at Washington, a mark of his gratitude, by presenting him, through the hands of our Minister, M. de Gerolt, with the modal designed as a reward for distinguished works of science. Sensible also of the affection with which you have honoured me for so long a period, the King has deemed that he would be doing you a further pleasure by adding another medal—that which his Majesty had struck for mo upon the publication of my 'Cosmos.'

I pray you to accept, my dear friend, the renewed assurance of my highest and most affectionate consideration.

Your very humble and most devoted servant.
The Baron Al. von Humboldt.

Accompanying the medal struck in his honour, came the following letter from the Republic of Bremen:—

Sir, Washington, D.C., December 28th, 1855.

It affords me great pleasure to hand you, in the name of my Government, the accompanying gold medal; its German inscription may be thus rendered in English: "To the Promoter of Science, to the Guide of Navigators, Lieutenant M. F. Maury, an honorary acknowledgment of the Senate of the Republic of Bremen." This inscription, better than could any of mine, shows the sense of high appreciation in which your eminent merits, in regard to all maritime interests, are held in my country—the citizens of which are perhaps more generally engaged in navigation, and therefore more benefited by your valuable discoveries and directions than those of any other country. Your name, which has so long been an ornament of the U. S. Navy, is, and will ever be, gratefully remembered in Bremen. I beg leave to avail myself of this agreeable occasion to offer you at the same time a renewed assurance of the great personal respect and regard with which I have the honour to be

Your obedient servant,
R. SCHLIEDON,
Minister-Resident of the Republic of Bremen.