practically no choice but to drop the matter, but in so doing adopted a
resolution that because of its desire that "a due respect for the majesty
of the people of the United States may not be hazarded by singularity,"
the Senate was still of the opinion "that it would be proper to annex a
respectable title to the office." Thus it came about that the President of
the United States is distinguished by having no title. A governor may be
addressed as "Your Excellency," a judge as "Your Honor," but the chief
magistrate of the nation is simply "Mr. President." It was a relief to
Washington when the Senate discontinued its attempt to decorate him. He
wrote to a friend, "Happily this matter is now done with, I hope never to
be revived."

Details of the social entanglements in which Washington was caught at the
outset of his administration are generally omitted by serious historians,
but whatever illustrates life and manners is not insignificant, and events
of this character had, moreover, a distinct bearing on the politics of the
times. The facts indicate that Washington's arrangements were somewhat
encumbered by the civic ambition of New York. That bustling town of 30,000
population desired to be the capital of the nation, and, in the splendid
exertions which it made, it went rather too far. Federal Hall, designed as
a City Hall, was built in part for the accommodation of Congress, on
the site in Wall Street now in part occupied by the United States
Sub-Treasury. The plans were made by Major Pierre Charles l'Enfant, a
French engineer who had served with distinction in the Continental Army
but whose clearest title to fame is the work which he did in laying out
the city of Washington when it was made the national capital. Federal Hall
exceeded in dignified proportions and in artistic design any public
building then existing in America. The painted ceilings, the crimson
damask canopies and hangings, and the handsome furniture were considered
by many political agitators to be a great violation of republican