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.