Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-20
MEMORY OF L'ENFANT
EFFORT IN CONGRESS TO HAVE
MONUMENT PLACED.
Removal Of Remains to Arlington Ma
tional Cemetery Included in
the Efforts.


If bill introduced by Representative
Mudd of Maryland becomes law scant
and tardy justice may be done by the pres
ent session Of Congress to the memory Of
Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the famous
Frenchman who planned and laid out the
city of Washington, who never received
cent of payment for his great work. and
| whose body is now buried on an abandoned
farm outside Of the city limits, without
monument or shaft to mark its resting
place. At various times during past years
efforts have been made by patriotic and
historic societies and by individuals to in
duce Congress to right the wrong in the
case Of the illustrious Frenchman and
friend of George Washington, but they
were uniformly unsuccessful. PROPOSE
ton has been now before Congress for
some time to inter L'Enfant's body in the
Arlington National cemetery, and to erect
at some suitable spot in Washington
monument to his memory. But Congress
is in a very economical and even niggard-
ly frame of mind this session, and the
prospects for action are not of the best.
Representative Mudd's bill appropriates
the large sum of $500 to erect a suitable
monument or slab over the famous French
mans grave on the old Riggs farm. Even
this amount Is not to be appropriated, ac-
cordng to the terms Of the bill, unless a
right of way for the road to the burying
spot and the grave plot itself Is dedicated
to the government in perpetuity. It seems
remarkable that the memory OF the man
who planned Washington should not have
been honored more than it is. Perhaps
LEnfant was himself in a measure re-
so onsible for this.
Maj L'Enfant was educated in the best
military schools of France, and when the
revolutionary war began he FASTENED, like
SO many other gallant Frenchmen, to the
aid of the struggling colonies. And he did
excellent service in teaching the unframed
officers continental
plan and erect fortiflcations, and 1t was
while engaged in this work that he attract
ed the attention of Gen. Washington, who
appointed him a major OF engineers on his
staff Later he remodeled and rebuilt the
city hall of New York for the use of the
first Continental Congress, and still later
the federal house in Philadelphia.
Location of Capital.
Subsequently, when Congress, after sew
eral years of debate and display of bitter
rivalry that threatened at one time to dis
integrate the newly organized republic
decided to locate the national capital
on the banks of the Potomac. 1t was to
Major L'Enfant that Washington turned
for the plans of the great and grand city
he had in view. The Frenchman seems to
time had come to him. and that If he
proved equal to the occasion his fame
would last for all time. He Immediately
took up the work and all through the spring
worked over his drawings.
One thing is certain, he did not plan
national capital for thirteen states and
three millions of people, The city he had
in mind, as be well seen from his
original drawings, now preserved In the
Congressional Library at Washington, was
one that would be an appropriate capital
for mighty republic Of fifty states and
five hundred million people. Day after day
he spent in an open boat on the Potomac,
and when he had studied the prospective
site of the city from that point and made
his plans, he lived for weeks on the heights
above Georgetown and on the Anacostia
hills across the Eastern branch 1t is APP
parent from his first drawings that the
old palace of Versailles in France was fire.
quently in his thoughts, but he drew away
from this idea, as Versailles had been laid
out solely with reference to the palace,
while he intended making Washington
forests of compiegne and Fontainebleau
with their long avenues meeting at Carre-
tours, and increasing in number according
to the Importance of the junction.
Letter to Jefferson.
On April 4, 1871, he wrote a letter to
Jefferson, who had not viewed his appoint
ment kindly, possibly because he himself
desired an important share in planning the
federal city, requesting that plans of some
of the cities of Europe, such London,
Paris, Amsterdam, Naples, Venice, Genoa
and Florence, be sent him. He said at the
time in his letter that he had no intention
of initiating any of the general plans OF
these cities, and added: II shall endeavor
to delineate In new and original way the
plan the contrivance of which the Presl-
dent has left to me- without any RESTRICTION
whatever. And the comparison of my plans
with defective ones will suggest a variety
of new ideas and is necessary to refine
and strengthen the judgment"
jefferson furnished the maps asked for
with the caustic comment that none of
them were comparable Ito the old Babylon
revived and exemplifed in Philadelphia"
l. Enfant, however, did not agree with JEFF
ferson, observing that Philadelphia was
laid out in squares like a chessboard, while
he thought that three or four great ave-
nues running obliquely would relieve the
monotony by introducing occasional curves
and angles and would facilitate communi-
cation as WELL He therefore combined
both features. Choosing Capitol Hill as
center, he first laid down streets parallel
to 1t, running east and west, designated by
the letters Of the alphabet, and another set
of streets running from north to south and
intersecting the lettered streets at right
angles which were designated by numerals
Radiating from the Capitol he laid out
magnificent avenues, cutting the checker
board at every variety of angles. and Great
ing those squares. circles, tr1angles ana
parallelograms which eighty years later,
during the renaissance of the city, formed
the basis of all work. and which with their
long avenues of trees render Washington
the most picturesque city on the continent
Connecting Outlying Points.
In making his plans, however L Enfant
wished primarily to connect the outlying
points of the city with the Capitol the
Presidents house and other public build
ings and to create vistas that they could
fiji, so that in whatever part Of the city
the observer should be placed, his glance
down one Of the avenues should rest on
the imposing pile Of the Capitol. the Treas
ury or some other public building.
L'Enfant never saw his plans engraved,
although they were formally approved. He
had a quick temper and an overbearfng
and arbitrary dispostion-the usual infirm-
ity of genius-and he soon became involved
In a hitter nuarrel with his Superiors. He