re I had to attend to another. In a word,
I held no leisure to read or to answer the despatches that were pouring
in upon me from all quarters."

As usual, Washington sought the advice of those in whom he had
confidence. To Vice-President Adams, Jay, Hamilton, and Madison, he
addressed a series of nine questions, and desired them to reflect upon
and answer them. These all had reference to his intercourse with the
public: whether a line of conduct equally distant from an association
with all kinds of company on the one hand, and from a total seclusion
from society on the other, would be proper; how such a system should
best be made known to the public; whether one day in every week would
not be sufficient to devote to visits of compliment; whether he should
receive direct applications from those having business with him, setting
apart a certain hour every morning; whether the customs of the
presidents of the old Congress, in giving large dinner-parties to both
sexes twice a-week, ought not to be abolished, and invitations to dine
at the president's house, informal or otherwise, be limited, in regard
to persons, to six, eight, or ten official characters, including in
rotation the members of both houses of Congress, on days fixed for
receiving company; whether the public would be satisfied if he should
give four great entertainments in a year, on such occasions as the
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the alliance with
France, the peace with Great Britain, and the organization of the
general government; whether the president should make and receive
informal visits from friends and acquaintances, for purposes of
sociability and civility, and, if so, in what way they should be made so
as not to be construed into visits from the president of the United
States; and finally, whether it might not be advantageous for the
president to make a tour through the United States during the recess of
Congress, in order to become better acquainted with the people, and the
circumstances and resources of the country.

"The president," he said at the close of his queries, "in all matters of
business and etiquette, can have no object but to demean himself in his
public character in such a manner as to maintain the dignity of his
office, without subjecting himself to the imputation of
superciliousness or unnecessary reserve."

To these queries the gentlemen addressed promptly responded in writing.
The vice-president, who, as mi