"How are we to save Washington without an army?" cried the president, whose mind was wholly occupied with the safety of the capital.
To this, Terrence responded with his stereotyped:
"Lave it all to me."
Mrs. Madison, at the White House, had already been apprised of danger, by a messenger sent by her husband on the flight of the militia. Her carriage was at the door ready for flight, and she had already sent away to a place of safety silver plate and other valuables. While waiting anxiously for her husband, she cut out of the frame for preservation a full length portrait of Washington, by Stuart. At this moment, her husband's messengers, Mr. Jacob Barker and another man, entered the house. Mr. Barker cried:
"Fly, Mrs. Madison, the day is lost, and the British are coming!"
"Where is my husband?" she asked.
"Safe, and he will join you beyond the Potomac."
Pointing to Washington's picture on the floor, she cried:
"Save that picture! save or destroy it, but do not let it fall into the hands of the British!"
Then, snatching up the precious parchment on which the Declaration of Independence was written, and which contained the names of the fifty-six signers of that document, she entered the carriage with her sister and two others, and the four were driven away to a place of safety beyond the Potomac. The picture was saved, and it now adorns one of the reception rooms in the White House.