With Americans of Past and Present Days Part 10

A handsome monument was unveiled two years later by Miss E.C. Morgan, the great-granddaughter of William Digges, who had befriended L'Enfant in his last days, the chief speeches being delivered by President Taft, and by the secretary of state, Elihu Root.[147] "Few men," Mr. Root said, "can afford to wait a hundred years to be remembered. It is not a change in L'Enfant that brings us here. It is we who have changed, who have just become able to appreciate his work. And our tribute to him should be to continue his work." The monument, by W.W. Bosworth, who, like L'Enfant had received in Paris his artistic education, is in the shape of a table, on which has been engraved a facsimile of the original plan of the city by the French soldier-artist. From the slope where it has been raised can be seen, on the other side of the river, the ceaselessly growing federal capital, called Washington, "a revered name," another French officer, the Chevalier de Chastellux, had written, when visiting, in 1782, another and earlier town of the same name in Connecticut, "a revered name, whose memory will undoubtedly last longer than the very city called upon to perpetuate it."

FOOTNOTES:

[80] Philadelphia, February 18, 1782. Washington papers, Library of Congress.

[81] Same letter.

[82] March 1, 1782. Washington papers.

[83] Brother of the minister to the United States, New York, December 10, 1787; unpublished. Archives of the French Ministry of Colonies.

[84] Mentioned before, p. 21.

[85] Brevet 14,302. Archives of the Ministry of War, Paris.

[86] Steuben writes him from West Point on July 1, 1783, sending him "a resolution of the convention of the Cincinnati of June 19, 1783, by which I am requested," he says, "to transmit their thanks to you for your care and ingenuity in preparing the designs which were laid before them by the president on that day." Original in the L'Enfant papers, in the possession of Doctor James Dudley Morgan, of Washington, a descendant of the Digges family, the last friends of L'Enfant. To him my thanks are due for having allowed me to use those valuable doc.u.ments.

[87] December 18, 1783. Rochambeau papers.

[88] Asa Bird Gardner, _The Order of the Cincinnati in France_, 1905, pp. 9 ff.

[89] An undated memoir (May, 1787?), in the Hamilton papers, Library of Congress.

[90] Text annexed to L'Enfant's letter to Rochambeau, June 15, 1786.

(Rochambeau papers.) On August 1, 1787, however, Francastel was still unpaid, for at that date one of L'Enfant's friends, Duplessis, _i.e._, the Chevalier de Mauduit du Plessis, who, like himself, had served as a volunteer in the American army, writes him: "J'ai vu ici M. Francastel le bijoutier qui vous a fait une fourniture considerable de medailles de Cincinnatus et qui m'a dit que vous lui deviez 20,000 livres, je crois, plus ou moins. Je l'ai fort ra.s.sure sur votre probite." (L'Enfant papers.)

[91] Only his orthography is corrected in the quotations. Orthography was not L'Enfant's strong point in any language. His mistakes are even worse in French than in English, the reason being, probably, that he took even less pains.

[92] Unpublished, n.d., but probably of 1784. (Papers of the Continental Congress--Letters, vol. LXXVIII, p. 583, Library of Congress.) His ambition would have been to be asked to realize his own plan, "as Brigadier-General Kosciusko, at leaving this continent, gave me the flattering expectation of being at the head of [such] a department."

[93] On this visit, see below, p. 225.

[94] New York, 3d November, 1785. Papers of the Continental Congress--Letters, I. 78, vol. XIV, p. 677.

[95] October 13, 1789.

[96] Taggart, _Records of the Columbia Historical Society_, XI, 215.

[97] Thomas E.V. Smith, _The City of New York in 1789_, p. 46, quoting contemporary magazines.

[98] _Ibid._

[99] C.M. Bowen, _The Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington_, 1892, pp. 15, 16.

[100] "Mr. Lear does himself the honor to inform Major L'Enfant that Mrs. Washington intends to visit the federal building at six o'clock this evening.--Sat.u.r.day morning, 13th June, 1789." (L'Enfant papers.)

[101] Martha J. Lamb, _History of the City of New York_, 1881, vol. II, pp. 321 ff.

[102] Ten had already voted the Const.i.tution, which made its enactment certain, for Congress had decided that an adoption by nine States would be enough for that. As is well known, there remained in the end only two dissenting States, North Carolina and Rhode Island.

[103] To James Madison, August 12, 1801.

[104] Number of July 24, 1788.

[105] Martha J. Lamb, _ibid._

[106] July 26, 1788.

[107] _New York Journal_, July 24.

[108] To his brother, Philadelphia, November 17, 1806. _Revue des Deux Mondes_, November 15, 1908, p. 421.

[109] Original (several times printed in part) in the Library of Congress, _Miscellaneous--Personal_. The rest of the letter treats of the necessity of fortifying the coasts.

[110] To David Stuart, November 20, 1791.

[111] W.B. Bryan's _History of the National Capital_, 1914, p. 127.

[112] _Records of the Columbia Historical Society_, II, 151.

[113] April 8, 1791. Hamilton Papers, vol. XI, Library of Congress.

[114] September 30, October 24, 1791. _Correspondence of the French Ministers_, ed. F.J. Turner, 1904, p. 62. "Salente," the ideal city, in Fenelon's _Telemaque_. During the War of Independence Chevalier Jean de Ternant had served as a volunteer officer in the American army. He was at Valley Forge, at Charleston, took part under Greene in the Southern campaign and was promoted a colonel by a vote of Congress.

[115] To Jefferson, March 11, 1791.

[116] To Hamilton, April 8, 1791.

[117] Same letter to Hamilton.

[118] L'Enfant's _Observations Explanatory of the Plan_, inscribed on the plan itself.

[119] First report to the President, March 26, 1791.

[120] For he was depended upon for that, too: "M. L'Enfant," Ternant wrote, "aura aussi la direction des batimens que le Congres se propose d'y faire elever." September 30, 1791. See also the doc.u.ments quoted by W.B. Bryan, _History of the National Capital_, 1914, p. 165, note.

L'Enfant actually made drawings for the Capitol, the President's house, the bridges, the market, etc., which he complained later the commissioners to have unjustly appropriated. _Records of the Columbia Historical Society_, II, 140.

[121] March 25, 1798.

[122] L'Enfant's _Observations Explanatory of the Plan_, inscribed on it.

[123] Conclusion of his third report.

[124] "Opinion on Capital," November 29, 1790. _Writings_, ed. Ford, V, 253.

[125] Which agreed perfectly with L'Enfant's constant desire to ever do things "en grand." Washington writes to him that, "although it may not be _immediately_ wanting," a large tract of ground must be reserved. The lands to be set apart, "in my opinion are those between Rock Creek, the Potowmac River, and the Eastern Branch, and as far up the latter as the turn of the channel above Evens's point; thence including the flat back of Jenkins's height; thence to the road leading from Georgetown to Bladensburg as far easterly along the same as to include the Branch which runs across it, somewhere near the exterior of the Georgetown Session. Thence in a proper direction to Rock Creek at or above the ford, according to the situation of ground." Mount Vernon, April 4, 1791, Washington's ma.n.u.script _Letter Book_, vol. XI, Library of Congress.