The site for the legislative halls having been selected to the satisfaction of the President, the question of plans suitable to a building for the occupation of Congress took up the attention of the public authorities. In a letter of March 8, 1792, to David Stuart, one of the Commissioners, Washington writes :

" The doubts and opinions of others with respect to the permanent seat have occasioned no change in my sentiments on the subject. They have always been, that the plan ought to be prosecuted with all the dispatch the nature of the case will admit, and that the public buildings in size, form and elegance, should look beyond the present day." I would not have it understood from hence that I lean to extravagance. A chaste plan sufficiently capacious and convenient for a period not too remote, but one to which we may reasonably look forward, would meet my idea in the Capitol".

The following interesting advertisement, which appeared in the principal newspapers of the country during the same month, shows that the Commissioners had more land than money with which to reward intellectual excellence.