The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-02-07

I ing for a Federal city on the Potomac
and George Washington delegated to Sc
lect the site.
Washington selected the present site Of
the Capital city and appointed commits
sioners to secure the land. Maryland
ceded five miles by ten on one side of the
Potomac and Virginia did the same on
/ her side, but this was :ater ceded back
and the Maryland side only. was used.
At that time there lived here. and for
nearly hundred years gone by, q colony
Of Irish and Scotch Catholics who. after
the overthrow of the House Of Stewart
| in England, fled to this country. They
owned the present site of Washington
and they had to be negotiated with. Their
land was purchased for $65 an acre, ex-
clusively of streets, and Jefferson COM
! plimented George Washington on the bar
gain he had driven
There is a box OF letters still in the War
( Department that show Washington's
method of negotiating for this townsite.
/ While they are very interesting to look
at on account of their age, the truth is
that good father George could take cards
and spades and his Kansas prototype in
truth and country-serving efficiency
Billy Edwards-would double discount
him in securing a townsite on the Orient
! railway.
/ On this scene now comes a genius-one
/ of the strangest beings of his time
/ Pierre Charles L'Enfant. a Frenchman
who came over at the beginning of the
Revolution and offered his life and his
sword to General Washington. He was
selected to make a design for the Federal
| city and this design, after his death, was
procured and is now in the Library Of
/ Congress. 1t is one of the most remark
J able plans ever made Tor a great city
/ Tom Jefferson wanted to build the New
/ Federal City after the style of ancient
Babylon but the Frenchman objected,
saying he would plan a city fit for coun-
/ try of fifty states and 100000 900 people
/ a wild prophecy that win be fulfilled
/ He made his design-the grandest ever
made by mortal man-and laid it out be-
! fore George Washington. whose heart
( swelIed when he beheld it.
/ The commissioners called upon I'm
/ FAINT for his plans that they might pub
/ lish them. but the honest artist and
! genius would not give them up for that
purpose. saying that If they were pub
/ lished men of money would purchase up
/ the choice places and that the purpose
{ of the city was too great to be made a
matter of speculation. He was dis
! charged
Thomas jefferson. who was actually 4
great man, proposed that the commits
I sioners should send a purse of gold, equal
! to 1900 and a deed to rne choicest lot
I in the city to Philadelphia to L Enfant,
and this was done, but the proud spirited
Frenchmen sent them back and would
listen 10 no proposition of reward. But
when the war of 1872 came on he rendered
/ his service to the government and plan
ned and built Fort Washington. He died
I in 1926 at a country-house in Maryland.
and was buried in the yard of it, Not
stone marks his grave. another exempt
/ fcation Of the ingratitude of republics.
: L Enfant planned an elaborate ground
work of squares circles. trangles and
paraIIelograms: streets, avenues and
parks; fountains monuments and statues;
and after 100 years q gradual effort is
being made by the government to get
back to his original plans.
A great deal of L'Enfants design for
the Federal city-all that could be Dor
rowed from the memory of twas adopt
ed by his successor, Andrew Ellicott, and
the beautiful Washington Of today IS, in
reality, the product of L'Enfant's genius.
He had two objects in cutting avenues.
of greath breadth. diagonaAy across the
checllerboards of Babylonian squares.
10 nd
ondly to provide better facilities for the
movements of troops towards the Capt.
toll and other public buildings in case
reign Of terror. such as occurred in Paris
a few years before.
Washington started not only with an
unprecedented design, but with an I'M
precedented purpose wei. 1nere was
no Romulus and Remus or Aenaes bust
ness about il. as there was in ancient
Rome nor any Queen Dido trick, as
there was in the case of Carthage Il
was not built with design of defense
such as old King Clovis had in his mind
when he laid out Paris. or that Charles
the Fifth had. when he established his
capital at Madrid. The purpose of es-
tabIishing the Capital at Washington
was ibis: the fathers wanted laws made
outside the influence of commerce. poll
ties and mobs The wisdom of this be
came APPARENT five or six months after
the government occupied Washington.
The contest between Aaron Burr and
Thomas Jefferson. for the Presidency.
was before Congress. The mobs IN the
Iareg cities were for Burr and if the case
was not going on in CITY without the
elements OF a mob. Burr would probably
have won and civil war would probably
have followed.
John Adams. then President moved 10
washington in the fail Of 1880 and took
charge of things. While 1 was coming
here it was reported that l had got lost
ard the Washington and some western
papers had considerable fun at MY ex
pense. I mention it merely 10 show that
II had been lost I would have q re-
spectacle precedent for II. While John
Adams was coming here with his family
to occupy the White House. he actually
did get lost IN the woods Of Maryland
ard had il not been for an Old negro. End
inE him eight miles out Of MS road. he
would probably have persisted. as the
weather was very severe
John aud Mrs Adams opened a sort Of
royal court at the White House and en-
60 RO