New-York daily tribune., 1859-07-07

busin@ss to arrest 1t; On tho co0trary IL mas oceo
the business of bosts Of interested parties to nass
il, and shameful to say, it is going TO this day
The illustrated portions Of W1kes's book, sod OF
the Hon. JEFF Dasis's raIrosd surveys, are among
the nosy fsersnt specimens Of scabdalous eItrs5s
esnce ever INDUCED in at the expense Of ussus-
pectipg people. II is q notorious fact ttat hua-
, dreds Of thousands Of dollars have beea w.sted
upon the utterly useless pictorial illustrations
which swell these inordinate volumes.
But these abuses are unfortunately no novelty;
they have often been discussed and condemned Ia
the Press and IN Congress We have nov another
to add to the list which is not so familiar
TO the public mind, but which We consider to be
about as great humbug as the greatest We al
lude to Lieut. Maury's Sailing Directions and Wind
and Current Charts- We do not know how uuch
money has been spent on these or how much is now
in process of expenditure. That the sum is very
great may be readily conjectured, from the masu
tude of the books their numerous editions and the
multiplicity Of charts, printed and executed evi-
IDENTITY without regard to expense. These S,ilins
Directions and Charts are gratuitousy furnished to
ship-masters to inform them how aud where to sail
their ships-as if this useful art hsd not been
well learned by them aud their predecessors long
ago.
Lieut.. M.ury is q very enthusiastic gentle
man. who has been commander Of q ship,
and We dare say, did his duty well enough
while acting in that capacity. But he went
ashore one day, and since then be has had
q sailor's love aud logging for the sea, and those
who navigate its waters. Seated in his office,
be has dreamed bis seadream over again. He has
watched the floating clouds, snuffed the salt sea
breeze, and felt the old glow along his veins
as the winds tave risen aud the storms begun to
howl How great his interest has been. and how
high bs excitement has mounted as he hss watched
the witchcraft Of his Thermometer and barometer.
the world will never know until Lieut.. M.ury hdl
inform them in some future edition Of bis Sailing
Directions which BY the way. is sort of general
compendium Of Lieut. Maury's thoughts feelings,
copjectures, emotions, aspirations, sentiments and
iDsgiBipgs.
Our Lieutenant having been, N we have said,
seafarng maD, has, Of course, been given to sea-
faripg subjects. He has watched the winds and
weather be has run after the currents Of the
sea; he has fuDg out his log here, aud he has
plunged the bulb of bis thermometer there in
imagination or BY proxy. He has studied the
green and blue waters, and knows their depths aud
temperatures He knows the BOUNDS of the Ssr-
gasso Sea to yard. He has even been down to
the bottom,
"wher. purple mulet and goldfish rove"
or be never would have discovered that telegraphic
plateau, made on purpose to hold Field, Alden
and Co.'S cable. The only thing the Lieutenant
failed to perceive in that astonishing providenhai
arrangement was the very high, sharp aud steep
ridge lying athwart the plateau" which broke the
cable, to cay nothing Of various minor inequalities
and distractions Lieut.. Maury has also got great
many of our clever shp-masters to fling leads and
drop thermometers into the sea, and keep q log OF
winds, weather, and distances run, and record Of
when they got into the I" horse latitudes" aad
when they got OUT when they struck the "trsdes,"
and when they reached the " doldrums." And the
Lieutenant enjoys it all-so he does. So does every
other old salt.
SO much being narrated concerning Maury, the
reader msy understand Maury, aud readily imagine
how Sailing Directions and Wind AID Current
lniTt5 BIoW Dut JUGS h"s cVA'os"S
problem how the Government should have been in.
ytiged into their publication at the national expense.
The charts form map, 10 sections on large scale,
of the great oceans of the globe On them wind
symbols abound in bewildering multiplicity. and
the routes of hundreds Of vessels are projected,
running from one point to apother, with toe winds
they encountered indicated BY signs. Toe tracks
cross each other, of course, in endless variety,
forming mass of compeIity and confusion hard
to be matched, and of about as little use to the
ordinary navigator as any collection Of chsckered
pasteboard any where to be found They serve no
practical purpose. No seaman would look twice
at them. What tie navigator wants is results,
aud not gigantic mass Of observations, crude
b. sp of Details that man would dread the perusal
of more than he would voyage across the At
lantic.
The Sailing DireO6sss are issued yearly, or
oftener, in huge guarto volume, sometimes con-
tanning 500, and sometimes 800 pages, With large
number Of plates in addition. Ihe letterpress
evidently embraces very considerable proportion
Of all that Lieut.. Maury has ever thought about,
coujectured or imagined; and this is saying
great deal, for a man as enthusiastic and ro-
mantle as our gallant and fanciful Lieutea-
ant The topics he treats, and their breezy aup'
fcatiop of treatment, as numerous and involved
as the routes Of the ships projected on the charts
THIS weary wilderness of speculation on all sorts
of themer, though ever 80 much elaborated and re-
dashed, and aided BY verbose extracts from other
writers on the various questions treated would not