The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-04-27
World Celebration Of the American Peace After
the War Of 1872 viii Focus Attention the Interesting
Belgian City, the Scene Of the Historic Event.

| of the American commissioners. Both
halls are to be restored as fully as pos
sible to the condition in which they were
at that time.
The throne room has been used for
many years for the storing of municipal
archives. but its walls are fairly well
preserved. 1t is of fine proportions, with
ornamentation in the rich Flemish style,
which shows so strongly the influence of
Spanish taste. The throne used by the
Emperor Joseph ii when he was inau-
| gurated Count of Flanders in 1871 is to
be returned to its former place in this
hall. Several very large pictures which
looked down upon the company that was
assembled at the banquet in honor of
the American diplomats are now tempo
| rarily hung In the Archaeological Museum,
formerly the church of the Carmolite
Friars, near the great castle of the
Counts of Flanders, but they will again
be displayed in the throne room" in
the Hotel de Vile and will be sent there
on the centennial OF the treaty signing
All Of these canvases are reputed to
have been painted by De Crayer Charles
V, King of Spain and Emperor of Ger
many. who was born in Client, figures
in each Of them. They are not by any
artist, who was an able rival of Rubens
and who filled the churches of Client
with his nobler works, but they are of
extreme interest. The part of the Hotel
de Vile I'm which the throne room is
situated Is the oldest, and its exterior
presents one Of the best examples of the
fiorid Flemish type of Gothic architec-
ture that exists
In the first quarter of the nineteenth
arafIy hAfo -
locomotion and electric communication
it was something of an affair for five
American commissioners. with their Sec
rotary, to travel to Client, and after ar
irving there to make suitable arrange
ments for their comfort and convenience
during sojourn of indefinite length.
Commissioned Popular.
Those commissioners We're John Quincy
Adams. Henry Clay. Jonathan Russell,
]. A. Bayard. and Albert Gallatin, and
their secretary was c. Hughes, jr. One
of the remarkable things about their
stay in Client was the immense popu-
larity which they gained in contrast with
the exact opposite as regards the Brit
ish commissioners, who were Admiral
Lord Gambler, the Hon. Henry Goul-
burn, and DR.. Adam.
The Americans were made honorary
members of every important Flemish So
ciety, were invited everywhere and were
gorgeously entertained. Their signatures,
written by express request, are found in
the previously preserved albums or
'livres dor of several of the ancient
social. artistic, industrial and commercial
organizations of Client, notably in those
of the Societe de Sainte Cecile and the
Societe dAgriculture ct de Botanique
the latter representative of one of the
most important and widely celebrated in
terests of Eastern Flanders.
The Americans were most fortunate in
Immediately finding at the corner Of the
Rue des Champs and the Rue des Rou-
Ions fine mansion, fully and luxuriously
furnished, which was to be let The
Baron van Lovendeghem, its proprietor.
had just died. The mansion was spac-
ious and perfectly suited to the wants
Of the diplomats
But a great change has come over it
since then-not so great as to make it
wholly unrecognizable. although render
ing it unsuitable, unfortunately. for the
holding within its walls of any of the
functions of the coming centennial cele-
bration- One-half of it's generous
breadth now forms part of a modern
bazaar, the original property having been
divided and sold in two parts. The fine
large garden which was formerly behind
1t and extended along Rue des Fouslons
almost to the Rue Courte du Marais. fac
ing the present site of the university,
has been covered with very ordinary
houses 1t is cause for congratulation.
however, that half of the mansion has
suffered change only in its ground story.
which is now a large tobacco shop with
plate-glass show windows. The upper
facade on either street remains almost
tltv bum cd oro o.
The severe dignity of the late Renais-
sance architecture well illustrates the
period OF its construction Q71O. which is
boldly marked in Roman characters be-
meath the small middle pediment. The
arched windows are covered with sculp-
tured coats-of-arms and arabesques.
The great salon in which the alter
nate conferences with the British rep
were held was on the ground
floor.
Tablet for Wall.
The City of Client will place COM
plaque or tablet upon the ex-
terror wall of this house
The choice of the British ENJOYS fell
upon the old Carthusiar Convent as
temporary abode through an interesting
sequence of circumstances. Before men, |
tioning them it is worth while to look |
INTO CDe earlier HiStOTS A-thc ihooSC VI |
the Carthusians.
The first monastery on this site was |
that of the Brothers of Penance, whose |
patron was St. John the Baptist, and |
who followed the rule of the third order |
Of st. Francis. They had resided since |
the year 1904 in a different part of the !
City of Client, but in 1855 they erected |
the first of the buildings which are now |
known as the House of the Carthusians
ed their home there.
About the middle of the sixteenth CEN
fury Client underwent religious revo-
luton, and in 1866 the Calvinists drove
,ut the Brothers of Penance and for
,ade their return. The Carthusians also
we're expelled from the monastery near
Client, which they had occupied since
$40, and it was demolished. When the
religious and political reaction of 1854 was
,onsummated the Carthusians re-entered
he territory of Client, and were allowed
% take possession of the ancient con-
rent of the Brothers of Penance. They
hrove peacefully there for nearly CEN
ury, and then they were again expelled.
They returned four years later, but in
796, when the influence of the French
evolution was at its height. were forced
% leave the country third time. They
never came back again to their old habi-
alton, but their name still clings to it.
Was Military Hospital.
From that time it was devoted for