NEW YORK METROPOLITAN. I. FOR several days after the inauguration Washington was occupied nearly every moment with public business, and the amount of official labor which he performed seems almost incredible. His first purpose was to acquaint himself intimately with the details of domestic and foreign affairs, and with this view he instructed Mr. Jay, General Knox, and the commissioners of the Treasury, (who continued to exercise their functions till Congress passed laws for the reorganization and support of their respective departments,) to present elaborate reports, which he read, and with his own hand reproduced, in abstracts, the better to impress their contents on his memory; and that he might more perfectly understand our relations with other governments he studied, from beginning to end, with pen in hand, all the correspondence which had accumulated in the foreign secretary's office since the treaty of peace and the termination of the war. In the midst of these arduous avocations he found time, nevertheless, to arrange with Samuel Fraunces,* his steward, the details of his household economy, and to attend to the more important * "Black Sam,” as Fraunces was familiarly called, must have been at this time not far from sixty years of age. Washington had long been familiar with him as a popular host, and had employed his daughter as housekeeper, at Richmond Hill, while the head-quarters of the army were calls of ceremony, courtesy and curiosity, though in regard to these he was relieved in a considerable degree by the serviceable interference of Colonel Humphrey, who instinctively understood what parties were best entitled to an audience, and in what manner to send away without offence those whom it was least necessary for the President personally to receive. in the city. It was by means of this daughter that an attempt to poison the Chief, during that period, was frustrated. As early as 1761, Fraunces kept a tavern, and sold "portable soup, catchup, bottled gooseberries, pickled walnuts, pickled or fryed oysters fit to go to the West Indies, pickled mushrooms, currant jelly, marmalade,” &c., at the "sign of the Mason's Arms, near the Green." He afterward opened the Vauxhall Gardens, in Greenwich street, and in 1771 his celebrated City Tavern, in Broad street, where Washington took leave of the officers of the army, on the fourth of December, 1783. There were several clubs in New York previous to the war; one, called "The Moot," and composed principally of lawyers, was organized in 1770, and held its last meeting on the sixth of January, 1775. To this belonged William Livingston, Robert R. Livingston, John Jay, Stephen De Lancey, Gouverneur Morris, James Duane, and about a dozen others, a majority of whom subsequently filled important public places. Another was the Social Club, which "passed Saturday evenings at Sam. Fraunces's, corner of Broad and Dock streets, in winter, and in summer at Kip's Bay, where they built a neat large room for a club house.” This club was broken up in December, 1775. in December, 1775. The following biographical list of its members, written by the John Moore whose name is at the end of it, is preserved in the library of the New York Historical Society: Became Member of Congress, a Resident Minister to Spain, Commissioner to make a good and amiable man. Member of Congress, Minister to France, &c. Minister to France, Chancellor of New York, &c. 66 District Judge, New York, and in the Legislature. A good man. Governor of New York, and a General in the war of 1812. "John Reade-Pro. and Con.-Would have proved loyal, no doubt, had not his wife's family been otherwise. "J. Stevens, Disaffected. "Henry Kelly, -Loyal-went to England, and did not return. "Stephen Rapelye--turned out bad. Died in the New York Hospital. "John Moore, - Loyal - in public life during all the war, and from the year 1765." It soon became apparent, however, that particular rules must be established for receiving visitors and entertaining company. The first step taken was a public intimation, two or three days after the inauguration, that he would receive visits on Tuesdays and Fridays, between the hours of two and three in the afternoon, and that visits of compliment on other days, and particularly on Sundays, would not be agreeable to him. He at the same time consulted several of his more immediate friends on the subject, intimating Washington's confidence in Fraunces's judgment had been illustrated in 1785, when he wrote to him from Mount Vernon: "As no person can judge better of the qualifications necessary to constitute a good housekeeper, or household steward, than yourself, for a family which has a good deal of company, and wishes to entertain them in a plain but genteel style, I take the liberty of asking you if there is any such one in your reach, whom you think could be induced to come to me on reasonable wages. I would rather have a man than a woman; but either will do, if they can be recommended for honesty, sobriety, and knowledge in their profession; which, in one word, is to relieve Mrs. Washington from the drudgery of ordering, and seeing the table properly covered, and things economically used. The wages I now give to a man, who is about to leave me in order to get married, (under which circumstances he would not suit me,) is about one hundred dollars per annum; but for one who understands the business perfectly, and stands fair in all other respects, I would go as far as one hundred and fifty dollars." The first public appearance of Fraunces in his new capacity was in the following advertisement, published in the newspapers: "WHEREAS, all servants and others appointed to procure provisions or supplies for the household of THE PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES will be furnished with monies for these purposes: Notice is therefore given, That no accounts, for the payment of which the public might be considered as responsible, are to be opened with any of them. "May 4th, 1789. SAMUEL FRAUNCES, Steward of the Household." "We are happy to inform our readers, in addition to the preceding notification," says Fenno's Gazette, "that the President is determined to pursue that system of regularity and economy in his household which has always marked his public and private life. As a proof of this, we learn that the steward is obliged, by his articles of agreement, to exhibit weekly a fair statement of the receipts and expenditures of moneys by him, for and on account of the President's household, to such person as the President may appoint to inspect the same; together with the several bills and receipts of payment for those articles which may be purchased by him, where such bills and receipts can be obtained. And it is likewise strongly inculcated on the steward to guard against any waste or extravagance that might be committed by the servants of the family.” An anecdote illustrative of the President's personal economy refers to the following winter. Fraunces, it is related, was always anxious to provide the first dainties of the season for his table. On one occasion, making his purchases at the old Vly Market, he observed a fine shad, the first of the season. He was not long in making a bargain, and the fish was sent home with his other provisions. The next morning it was duly served, in the best style, for breakfast, on sitting down to which Washington observed the fragrant delicacy, and asked what it was; the steward replied, that it was a fine shad." "It is very early in the season for shad: how much did you pay for it?" "Two dollars." "Two dollars! I can never encourage this extravagance at my table, take it away-I will not touch it." The shad was accordingly removed, and Fraunces, who had no such economical scruples, made a hearty meal upon it in his own room. that it was his wish to adopt such a system, as, without overstepping the limits of republican simplicity, would best maintain the dignity of the office, and secure to the President such a command of his time as was necessary to the proper performance of his duties. About a week after the inauguration, at his request, Mr. Hamilton addressed to him a letter, embracing such suggestions as he deemed appropriate, and these were in the main adopted. The customs thus introduced have ever since governed the intercourse of the executive with society. It was decided that the President should return no visits, that invitations to dinner should be given only to official characters and strangers of distinction, and that visits of courtesy should be confined to the afternoon of Tuesday, in each week. Foreign ministers and strangers were, however, received on other days, and the President was always accessible to persons who wished to see him on business. At a subsequent period his house was open in the same manner on Fridays for visits to Mrs. Washington, which were on a still more sociable footing, and at which the Chief was always present. Mr. Jefferson, in his "Anas," has this statement: "When the President went to New York, he resisted for three weeks the efforts to introduce levees. At length he yielded, and left it to Humphreys and some others to settle the forms. Accordingly an ante-chamber and presence-room were provided, and when those who were to pay their court were assembled the President set out, preceded by Humphreys. After passing through the ante-chamber, the door of the inner room was thrown open, and Humphreys entered first, calling out with a loud voice, 'The President of the United States!' The President was so much disconcerted by it that he did not recover in the whole time of the levee; and when the company was gone, he said to Humphreys, Well, you have taken me in once, but, by God, you shall never take me in a second time."" How entirely erroneous this is, in every particular, may be seen from Washington's own statement respecting the institution of the levees, as given in a letter to his relation, Dr. Stuart. "Before the custom was established," he says, "which now accommodates foreign characters, strangers, and others, who from motives of curiosity, respect to the chief magistrate, or any other cause, are induced to call upon me, I was unable to attend to any business whatever; for gentlemen, consulting their own convenience rather than mine, were calling after the time I rose from breakfast, and often before, until I sat down to dinner. This, as I resolved not to neglect my public duties, reduced me to the choice of one of these alternatives: either to refuse visits altogether, or to appropriate a time for the reception of them. The first would, I knew, be disgusting to many; the latter, I expected, would undergo animadversion from those who would find fault, with or without cause. I therefore adopted that line of conduct which combined public ad vantage with private convenience, and which in my judgment was unexceptionable in itself. These visits are optional; they are made without invitation; between the hours of three and four, every Tuesday, I am prepared to receive them. Gentlemen, often in great numbers, come and go; chat with each other, and act as they please. A porter shows them into the room, and they retire from it when they choose, without ceremony. At their first entrance they salute me, and I them, and as many as I can, I talk to. What 'pomp' there is in all this I am unable to discover." On Sundays the President attended church, in the morning, unless detained by indisposition, passed the afternoon in his own apartment, at home, and in the evening remained with his family, without company, though sometimes an old or intimate friend was admitted for an hour or two. Every night it was his custom to retire to his library at nine or ten o'clock, and to remain there an |