The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-04-08
THE NATIONAL TRBuNE wAsH1NeoN D. c. THURSDAY.

precari0us moments. II have ordered the
frame to be broken aslil the canvas taken out
it is done, and the prsoious portrait placed in
the hands Of two gentadmen Of New York for
safe keeping
And now, dear siater, ] must leave this
house, or the retreating army will make me
o prisoner in it. by filing up the road am
directed to take.
when shall againswrite you, or where
shall be tomorrow I'cannot tell"
Their escape across the Potomac into Vir-
ginia, the pillaging andburning of the Capitol
and the White House are facts familiar to all.
The story that Mrs. Madison had issued
cards for a dinner party, not expecting the
enemy would reach thd;city that night-that
preparations for the dinner were going on,
and that the British soldiers found, when
they marched into the White House, a bountl-
full dinner spread with covers for 80 guests, is
only equalled by the one that she cut the can
vas of Gen. Washington's portrait out with
carving knife. Her own letter refutes that
and as to the dinner, an old and trusty sery-
ant who closed the house says. Such was
the excitement that day that no cooking was
done, scarcely even for the family" which is
altogether the most probable.
When they returned to the Capital, it was
w ilu0 tuC w Ililc IIOtISc Ill GStlcS, uud thC
smoke still rising from the heaps Of blackened
ruins.
Many offers of houses were made. Mrs.
Madison arrived first and went to her sister,
Mrs. Cults to await the return of the Presi-
dent, who. after looking about, rented the
house on the corner of New York Avenue and
Eighteenth street, called the "Octagon, . and
owned by Col Tayloe, where they lived that
Winter, and where the treaty of peace was
signed.
Late in the afternoon of Feb. IA, 1915,
there came laundering down Pennsylvania
avenue coach and four foaming steeds, in
which was Mr. Henry Carroll, the bearer OF
the treaty of peace between the American and
British commanders. The carriage was fol-
lowed by cheers and congratulations as it
sped on toward the Office of the Secretary of
State, James Monroe and then to the Presi-
dents, where the treaty was signed, in the
octagon room upstairs.
Mr.. Madison afterward rented the house on
the northwest corner of Pennsylvania avenue
and Nineteenth street, where they resided
until the Presidents House was rebuilt.
Mr.. Gobright, in his Men and Things in
Washington" says IAN old citizen has in
formed me that the levee' of Mr.. Madison,
in February, 1916, was remembered for years
as the most brilliant ever held up to that date
in the Executive Mansion"
At this congregated the Justices of the SUI
preme Court, present in their gowns, at the
head Of whom was Chief Justice Marshall.
The Peace Commissioners to Client, Gallatin,
Bayard, Clay and Russell, were in the COM
pany. Mr.. Adams was absent The heroes
of the War of 1872, Generals with their Aids,
in full Dress Federalists and Republicans of
both Houses of Congress, citizens and strangers
were thrown together as friends, to be thank
full for the present and to look forward with
delight to great future. The most notable
feature was the magnificent display of the
Diplomatic Corps.
1t was on this occasion that Mr.. Bagat, the
French Minister, made the remark, so famil-
lar to all, that Mrs. Madison looked every
inch Queen
Mr.. Madison was about &c years Of age
when he retired from public life to Montpelier,
to return to Washington no more.
Mrs. Madison, however after Mr.. Madi-
sons death, came to Washington and lived
for years in house on the corner of Fl street
and Lafayette Square Both sleep the sleep
that knows no wakingeat Montpelier, in West
Virginia. while the world continues to think
Of him as an honest, just man, and of her as
without rival in the queenly graces and
kindness of heart, which made her pre-emi-
nently the most popular woman who has ever
presided over the White House.
ITO be continted.l