New-York tribune., 1902-03-16

Would make me feel exceeding well
But alas! alas! Serene Payne
Still tells me can go TO HI
To which the Speakers reply was:
You may think I'll tell you no.;
But quick l say that you may go"
Every now and then remorse stirs the people Of
Washington because Of the treatment accorded
Charles L'Enfant the French engineer who laid
out the federal capital for which splendid work he
received neither money nor appreciation. but only
abuse and ridicule This remorse finds expression
In bills introduced into Congress providing for the
erection of a monument to his memory, which, be-
yond giving a :ew members opportunity 10 make
iorid speeches. come to nothing. The last bill Of
this kind introduced by Senator Gallinger early
in the session. 1t provides that $4,000.
thereof may be necessary. shall be appropriated
for the erection of statue to Major Pierre Charles
LEnfant. upon property belonging to the United
States in the city of Washington other than the
Capitol or Library grounds but. despite the un-
usual interest taken in LEnfant because of the
plans formulated by the Park Commission. which
a vindcation of the great engineer who made
the original plans for the laying out of Washington
since they follow the lines laid down by him, it
will, come nothing, but be buried in the same
grave that holds countless other bills of similar i'm
port. For the present at least. no memorial Will
be raised Enfant in the beautiful centre which
his contemporaries mockngly spoke of as a 'Phia-
delphia griddled across Versailles" with squares
in morasses obelisks in trees"
Some day, whether in this session of Congress or
a hundred years hence. the time will come when
such a monument will be built. but the builder of
II will have little to draw upon for a likeness of
the famous Frenchman, the only known portrait of
him being pencil sketch, the property of liuSh
Taggart. made from memory by artist of the
day for Mr.. Latrobe, who one of the early
architects of the pital. 1t depicts him. as the
late W. W. Corcoran, who remembered him well,
wont to describe him. tall, erect man, full six
feet in height, finely proportioned with promi-
nent and military bearing, a handsome, digni-
fed figure. proud and courtly. His dress, according
to his contemporaries, long gTeatCOat. the
surtout of our reat-grandfa theirs. and a bell
crowned hat, but, although at the beginning OF the
last century he a familiar figure in Washing
ton. little regarding his life and personality has
been preserved Mr.. TaESart. who has made
study or l. EnfantS life and career, establishes his
birth at Paris, August , l754. his authority being
the French War Office. whose records he was after
much circumlocutiOn, allowed TO consult.
nous firm of landscape artists In Paris to whom
that capital owes much of it's beauty spent a day
in Washington last week his way to Matan7as
whittier he goes to lay out estates. Last
summer when the members of The Park Commits
sion We're in Paris Mr. Andre entertained them and
acted as their guide to the famous places in and
about Paris. His mission here renew the
acquaintance so pleasantly begun. and To examine
the plans of the cOmmiSSi m. which have recently
been removed from the CorCoran Art Gallery and
installed in the Library of Congress. HIS admira-
tiOn of the plans of the commission. in
the plaster models. the drawings and phOtOgrap phS.
was most warmly expressed, and the whole scheme
Of improvement as explained TO him with
tanzas Mr.. Andre purposes to pass several days in
Washington.