Evening star., 1909-04-28

lators and judges, or a commercial one,
with the splendid possibilities afforded
by the river. or a mixture Of both?
Would 1t be planned in view of tho
present or the future, and of what sort
of future? To plan the city, Washing
ton selected French officer, whose
qualities of character and faults of tenn
per he had for thirteen years many ~oc-
casions to appreciate; gifted. plucky.
energetic. but difficult to handle-Maj.
Pierre Charles L'Enfant.
lone of the earliest enthusiasts of the
in Paris on the second of August, 100.
TO the little that is known of his early
days l am able to add an item OF some
interest. He WAS the son OF Pierre l. En-
FAINT, painter in ordinary to the king. IN
his manufacture Of the Gobelihs.' and of
Charlotte Leullier. From his father doubt
less the future officer derived those artis-
tic dispositions which allowed him TO re-
model the city hall Of New York. to de-
sign the insignia OF the Cincinnati and
I'm March. 177. flotiIla of ten mer-
chant ships was sailing from Brest, the
property. it was said. of the firm Of .-or-
taleZ & Co., that imaginary firm which
m rchais as its moving spirit. One of the
ships was called. after the minister who
was to sign the alliance with America,
LIE Comte de Vergennes,' a name, wrote
Beaumarchais, "ft to bring luck to the
cargo which is superb The superb
cargo. consisted in guns and war sup
plies; also in men who might be OF no less
use for the particular sort of trade Hor-
talez & Co. were carrying on. Some
good engineers and some cavalry officers
writing to Congress. One OF the good
engineers was a brevet-lieutenant of twen-
ty-three, our Pierre Charles l. L'Enfant.' He
had proved really one of the early en-
oorfn fnvs
was q month later only that sailed the
ship called La Victoire,' which brought
to these shores on his first voyage La
fayette.
Served in the Great War.
"I,Enfant, as is well known, served
throughout the war Of independence, first
as q volunteer and at his own expense
in the army of Washington, then as a
captain. fighting for three years in the
south, left on the battlefield severely
wounded at Savannah, where he had led
the vanguard Of one Of the columns of
attack and lost two-thirds Of his men.
Made prisoner a little later he suffered
what, in one OF his letters, he calls
ward exchanged for Capt. Won Heyden, a
Hessian. He thereupon Joined again the
army Of Washington and continued to
serve till the end, making himself par
tlCuldfly uSGlul DIS Ill CASlLCcE duu DIS
a driller of troops.
"When peace came those officers who
had fought shoulder to shoulder with the
Americans returned home. bringing to the
old continent new and fruitful Ideas: All
those young men, Talleyrand wrote in his
memoirs. who had enrolled for the cause
Of independence became permanently at
tached to the principles they had gone
to defend Much of what was best In
our revolution was derived from yours.
l. LEnfant, who had been promoted by
Congress to the rank of major. and on
whom the French government had be-
slowed small pension of 300 livres, went
back with the others. desirous of seeing
once more the old painter, his father; de-
termined. however. to return to the
United States and settle there. A proof
of Washington's favorable disposition had
been given him on this occasion. for he
the care of organizing the French branch
Of the Cincinnati. he himself being a
member. He succeeded easily; the wear
ing of foreign orders was FORBIDDEN then
in my country, but that one was allowed:
1t could scarcely be considered foreign
one for France.
His Dream Of the U. S. A.
mo wonder that when the new capital
had to be planned Washington thought
Of L'Enfant, with his good service. his
valor. his enthusiasm for America. his
sociations He knew, too, that L'Enfant
was willing and that the work would be
for him a work of love. The major set
to his task Immediately. On the 18th of
April. 1871. the first boundary stone of
the new District was solemnly set, and
before the year was over Maj. LEnfant
produced his plan of the city intended
for the permanent seat of the government
OF the United States A mere glance at
the work showed that the officer had de-
cided not to work for a patton of thir-
teen states, but for one of fifty. The
streets were of width unexampled any
where: gardens. parks. fountains, stat
ues to famous men-all were devised in
view of a great and powerful nation. the
nation Of today. Explanations were
added on the margin. making clear the
views of the author, who seems to have
foreseen present greatness in all its as
poets. even the last acquired one, the one
Of which the American nation Is SO justly
proud-her navy. On the point marked c