Evening Star Newspaper, February 16, 1930, Page 92

{ BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR. 7 T would be quite & problem to locate all / the homes at the National Capital occu- pied by the early foreign diplomatic representatives. Of course, it is said namely, those from England, France, Mexico and Sweden, but even to locate the stopping places of these four requires much patience. Of the first two representatives accredited to this country after the city was founded, George Hammons, who served from 1791 to 1795, ap- pears to have maintained his residence in Phil- adelphia, while Sir Robert Liston, his suc- cessor, undoubtedly did likewise. However, when Anthony Merry came here in 1803 to serve his Britannic majesty’s government, he Jeased the two houses built by Robert Peter at 2618-20 K street northwest, there being here Peter .were visited there by Gen. Washington, Mrs. Peter being the granddaughter of Mrs. Washington, and, before her marriage, Martha Parke Custis, daughter of John Parke Custis. state of preservation. The one to the west, with & ‘bay window which has been added in recent years, is where George Washington was a guest on August 5, 1799, upon the last occa- sion he visited this city. Tmsuusomenmnmnhmuonm Washington outside of Georgetown, and in addition to being the residence of friend of the United States, because of his contention for the rights of America previous to the War of 1812 He occupied it from 1805 to 1809. It was during Mr. Merry’s sojourn here that the poet Tom Moore was his guest, and also at that time a question of precedence arose between Mr. Merry and the great Democratic President, Thomas Jefferson, that left a bad taste in the mouth of the envoy. The dispute, we are told, was inspired by Mrs. Merry, and her husband nursed it till it “The President took care to show his prefer- ence fdr the Indian deputies on New Year il 58 g i <3Ei 1) F25ng 3pe8is 555585 servants to send for his carriage, he took her to table and sat by her—the half-ashamed and half-awkward President not even attempting &n excuse. “And this same scene was, for consistency’s sake, repeated nearly in the same manner at the house of the Secretary of State. Ever afterward Mr. Merry refused their invitations; messages were sent to beg he would dine with the President as Mr. Merry, putting aside his quality of British Minister; but this he well do without, as he thought, sanctioning some sort their previous treatment of the Tepresentative of Great Britain, as long as no #f & chair in the Senate on the right of the Vic? President, which had hitherto been en- THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, FEBRUARY 16, 1930, _iarly-En'Voys and Legations 1in Ca Interesting Tale Involves Attempt of Gen. Turreau to Dupe Famous Mme. Bonaparte, Who Had Been Widely Known as Miss Patterson of Baltimore—Mme. Bodisco’s Second Wedding at Old St. John’s Church—Coming of First Japanese Envoy. The first British legation in Washington, 1803, at 2618 and 2620 K street, the residence of Anthony Merry, Francis James Jackson and David Montagu Erskine. Joyed by foreign Ministers—the question hav- ing been debated in the and carried orthkhddmt—whlchnmlndlmm- what of a more recent controversy— Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith writes: “When Mr. Jefferson’s daughters were with him they visited and received visits on exactly the same terms as other ladies in the same soclety. There had been a great deal of diffi- culty about points of etiquette with foreign Ministers. The President had decided that our The Octagon, Eighteenth street and New York avenue, occupied by M. Servrier, French Minister in the early part of 1814. pital BARONIDUIBHARETURRIAU‘DIL!- NIERES, a marshal of Prance, came to Washington as the first French Minister, in 1804, and took up his residence in the corner house of the Seven Buildings (1901 to 1913 Pennsylvania avenue), or at the northwest ‘The general 1756 and died in 1816, and his diplomatic serv~ ice here extended from 1804 to 1811. the United States, occupied house 1905 in this row in 1816, and in 1864 it was the residence of Chevalier Joseph Bertinatti, Minister resie dent of Italy. Sir Augustus Foster, who first served in the diplomatic service here as secretary to the British legation under Mr. Merry, was evie dently not an admirer of Gen. Turreau, for in his notes he speaks of him rather harshly, and says: was concerned, who was then 48 years old, and she a mere girl filled with love for the fickle Jerome. Regarding this strategic, or diplomatic, ate tempt on the part of Turreau, Sir Augustus says: “I saw M. Jerome at Washington, at a party at Mrs. Smith’s, wife of the then Secretary of the Navy, and thought him a well mannered young man. His brother Napoleon did not at all approve of his marrying Miss Patterson, and, not content with declaring the act null and void according to the laws of France, endeavored as much as he could to invalidate it in the United States, for which purpose he wished to induce her to take another husband —no less a person than Gen. Turreau, his Minister Plenipotentiary, who used all his elo- quence to persuade her, proposing it as ‘une affaire de convenance,’ and urging that it was & shame she should vegetate in such a coun- try, whereas at Paris she would shine in the first circles, and he would be created a baron of the empire. A condition nevertheless was added, viz, that her son should be separated from her. “Mme. Jerome, however, as was very gen- erally reported, would not hear of his pro= posals; and no wonder she rejected them with indignation, both as coming from such a man, whose conduct to his late wife was sup- posed to have occasioned her death, and out of consideration for what she owed to her own character, as well as to the interests of her child.