Life of Edward Livingston

Front matter

^MfM

.

I. t

Preface

Having been intrusted by the Editors of the "New American Cyclopsedia " with the task of preparing the notices of Robert R. and Edward Livingston which appeared in that work, I conceived an unexpected interest in the career of the younger of these brothers, and resolved to write a more extended sketch of his hfe, such as the pubHc and common sources of information would enable me to do. In pursuance pf that plan, a considerable part of the following work was composed, including the chapters upon the Livingston genealogy, the first congressional career of Edward Livingston, his controversy with Jefferson, and his system of penal law, which were finished in their present form. I was proceeding to fill up other parts of the outline, when an acquaintance which I formed with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Barton, the only survivors of Mr. Livingston's immediate family, led to my acquisition of the best materials for the remainder of the work. Besides taking the greatest pains to satisfy all my particular inquiries, they in the kindest manner, and without reserve or material restriction, placed in my hands the whole mass of papers left by Mr. Livingston at his death, a collection, it needs hardly be said, of great interest and value, as well for more general

X

PREFACE.

researches as for that to which my attention was devoted

In the use which has been made of these materials I have followed very strictly my own judgment and method, which was to confine myself to the presentation of such matter only as would place in the best and plainest light the genius and character of a man, an account of whose life, both full and concise, I thought our American biography not rich enough to well afford to dispense with.

I have received valuable hints, pieces of information, or clews to information, from several other friendly hands. Among these I may mention by name the late Honorable Charles J. IngersoU, the late Honorable Henry Carleton, (both of whose communications, though given with true vivacity, were spoken from the very door of the tomb,) Mrs. Joseph Delafield, Mrs. Henry D. Gilpin, Miss Mary Garretson, the Honorable George M. Dallas, the Honorable Gulian C. Verplanck, the Honorable George Bancroft, David Codwise, Esquire, Augustus R. Macdonough, Esquire, A. Judson Kneeland, Esquire, W. Coventry H. Waddell, Esquire, Henry B. Dawson, Esquire, George H. Moore, Esquire, and William Henry Forman, Esquire.

The late Honorable Henry D. Gilpin, who was Attorney-General in the cabinet of Mr. Van Buren, and one of the most accomplished among American public men, enjoyed a long political and personal intimacy with the subject of this volume. He was the author of the sketch of Mr. Livingston which appeared, before the death of the latter, in the "National Portrait Gallery." He afterwards read a necrological notice of Livingston before the American

PREFACE. xi

Philosophical Society, which has been published. And he intended, and began to write a more extended life of his friend, for which purpose he had in his possession the same manuscript materials which I have now employed. But he had not proceeded far in this task when its fulfilment was precluded by his own untimely end.

I am enabled to introduce my work by an estimate of the character of its subject, made by one whose studies all will recognize as qualifying him in an eminent degree to compare Livingston with the founders of the Republic. It is a satisfaction to find that my own impressions do not differ from those of the distinguished author of the Introduction, who, as it may be proper to say, is not responsible for any of the views or expressions in the text, of which he did not see any part until after it was printed.

C. H. H.

Nenjo York, November i8, 1863.

Introduction

The domestic virtues, the sweetness of temper, the charm of untroubled cheerfulness combined with high ability and culture, endeared Edward Livingston to his family and private friends ; for the country his life derives its interest from his intimate relation to the great epochs of its recent history.

Descended from families which at an early period came over from Scotland and from Holland, he had from childhood, in the conduct of his father, an example of a wise and deliberate support of liberty against the aggressions of authority, at a time when America held her liberties as colonies, and had to defend them against the king and the parliament of Great Britain.

As he was just passing out of the years of boyhood, the great event that instilled into his mind and affections the principles which he was to follow for life was the American Declaration of Independence; and this he took to heart with a peculiar interest, as his eldest brother, the guide of his early life, was one of the five to whom the framing of that instrument was intrusted.

The country was found to languish in the prosecution of the war, from a want of executive unity, xiv INTRODUCTION.

and for this a remedy was sought in the appointment of individuals to manage the several departments; as a consequence, the elder brother of Edward Livingston became the first American Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and while in that post took the prominent part in recognising the most generous code of maritime freedom as the rule of the United States. In this manner the younger brother grew familiar at once with the most liberal system of international law, and the necessity of a closer and firmer cohesion of the integral parts of his country.

The inefficiency of the confederate government having been proved by experience in war and in peace, the United States proceeded to the greatest achievement in the civil history of man, the formation of a more perfect Union, by the deliberate act and choice of the people. Of all the old thirteen States, New York should have been first in its zeal for the advancement of that sublime design : what evil spell of party spirit, what mistaken interpretation of the traditions of the past, what selfish, unenlightened narrowness, what unreasonable transfer of the well-founded jealousy of the power of king and parliament to the power of the people, could have led the State which should have been the eye and the guide of the nation, to doubt and seemingly resist the policy which was so fraught with blessings ? There again the elder brother of Edward Livingston separated himself from his misleading political friends, and in the hour of greatest need gave his influence and his voice for the new triumphant Union. At this moment both brothers were inspired by the same anticipation of the glory of their country and the advancement of the best interests of man.

INTRODUCTION. XV

Thus far Edward Livingston had been subordinate, and his opinions and zeal were effaced by the superior publicity and importance of the efforts of his brother ; the time was come for his own pubhc service. The Union was estabhshed, but even in the period of the Father of his Country it encountered one insurrection, and before John Adams had been a twelvemonth in the presidential chair, the largest State in the Union prepared by separate action, as its statute-book shows and its historian records, " to fight for her sovereignty." How to meet the danger was the question that agitated the nation : one party saw safety in aggressive acts of legislation, tending to restraint on the free expression of opinion, and to a dangerous exercise of discretionary power; the other sought to anchor the Union in the affections of the people. It was on this occasion that Edward Livingston first became known to the country by preeminent activity; and it was with his marked and most effective concurrence that the support of the Union was incorporated into the creed and the heart and the life of the democratic party. " We are all federalists, we are all republicans," was the official summing up of the result; the Union was set high above political conflict as the dearest possession of all; the executive powers were maintained and exercised in their plenary significance; and the government gained time to harden into firmness and endurance. It was even said that the powers of the General Government were enlarged.

Simple and frugal in his personal habits, he yet was overtaken by the severest calamity in his fortunes. Struck down by the yellow-fever, caught from his visits of consolation and mercy to the sufferers among xvi . INTRODUCTION.

the poor during the raging of that disease in New- York, he recovered from a desperate illness to find that he had been defrauded by a clerk, and that he was a debtor to the government beyond his means of immediate payment. Without a word of complaint, crimination, or excuse, he at once devoted his inheritance, his acquisitions, the fruits of his professional industry, to the discharge of his obligation to the government, and, for near a score of years, gave himself no rest, till he had paid it, principal and interest, without defalcation.

The acquisition of Louisiana opened a new field of activity to Edward Livingston, for he transferred his home to New Orleans, and the gentleness of his character, his decision, and his wisdom pointed him out as the fit legislator to blend harmoniously the conflicting elements of the territory. We had ransomed it from servitude to European masters with a price ; we gave a charm to that ransom by redeeming its French and Spanish inhabitants into civil equality and the fullest enjoyment of our highest political rights; we took no way to bind them to the Union forever, but by welcoming them as brothers to all its unequalled advantages and powers and hopes. It fell to the lot of Edward Livingston, as a legislator, to adjust the old municipal laws, derived from France and Spain, to the new condition of the connection with America. How great was this service may be judged by a comparison of the process in Louisiana with a similar process in the annexation of Canada to the British empire.

The country became involved in war : here Livingston, essentially a man of peace, was able to render effective aid; his habit of doing justice to men

INTRODUCTION. xvii

of every nation had made him the friend of all, and the unity of action of all the races of Louisiana in the defence of the common country may in some measure be traced to the timely wisdom of his counsels.

Once more the conflicts of party turned on the question of the preservation of the Union. A spurious aristocracy claimed a right for every State which they could rule, to nullify the laws of the United States to such an extent as would have made the Constitution like a ship at sea, water-logged, and at the mercy of every wave of political cupidity or passion. The salvation of the country turned on the right interpretation of the principles of democracy. Jefferson, its early leader, was no more ; but Madison lived long enough to expound its acts and resolutions of former days ; and Jackson, as President of the United States, having Livingston as his adviser, gave authority to that exposition. Who that looks back upon those days does not rejoice that the chief magistrate was Jackson, and that his adviser was Edward Livingston, who to the clearest perceptions and the firmest purpose added a calm, conciliating benignity and the venerableness of age, enhanced by a world-wide fame?

That fame was due to the fact, that Edward Livingston, more than any other man, was the representative of the system of penal and legal reform which flows by necessity from the nature of our institutions. The code which he prepared at the instance of the State of Louisiana is in its simplicity, completeness, and humanity at once an impersonation of the man, and an exposition of the American constitutions. If it has never yet been adopted as a whole, it has proved xviii INTRODUCTION.

an unfailing fountain of reforms, suggested by its principles. In this work more than in any other may be seen the character and life-long faith of the author. The great doctrines which it develops will, as time advances, be more and more nearly reduced to practice, for they are but the expression of true philanthropy, and, as even the heathen said, " Man loves »his fellow-man, whether he will or no."

GEORGE BANCROFT.

Neau Tork, 14 November, 1863.

Contents

Page

CHAPTER I. Livingston Manor and the Livingstons. i

CHAPTER n.

Birth and Minority of Edward Livingston.

Birth of Edward Livingston — The Period of his Minority — His Father's Family — Judge Robert R. Livingston — Margaret Beekman — The second Robert Livingston — Judge Livingston's Action before and during the Revolution — His Character — Character of Margaret Beekman 15

CHAPTER HL

Education and Early Associations.

Departure of General Montgomery for Canada — School at Esopus ■— First Constitution of New York — Robert R. Livingston — Burning of Esopus by the British — Destruction of the Family Mansion at Clermont — Princeton College — Dr. Witherspoon — Study of Law — Cultivation of Philosophy and Poetry — Lafayette — The Family at Clermont 29

CHAPTER IV.

Early Professional Career.

New York in 1785 — The Bar — Federal Hall — The Mayor's Court — James Duane — The Case of Rutgers 'versus Waddington — Richard Varick — Egbert Benson — John Sloss Hobart — Brockholdst Livingston — Burr and Hamilton — Early Professional Career of Edward Livingston — His Marriage — Election to Congress.. . . 46

XX CONTENTS.

Page CHAPTER V.

Six Years in Congress.

A Political Canvass in 1794 — Eminent Men in the House of Representatives — Andrew Jackson — Address to the President — Trials of Randall and Whitney — Exertions in Behalf of American Seamen — Debates on Jay's Treaty — Lafayette at Olmutz — Establishment of Naval Department — Alien and Sedition Measures — Speech against the Alien Bill — John Marshall — Debate on the Case of Jonathan Robbins — Early Attention of Mr. Livingston to the Condition of Penal Laws — Election, in the House, of Jefferson to the Presidency 61

CHAPTER VL

Offices and Misfortunes.

Approaching Change in Mr. Livingston's Career — Death of his Wife — Appointment as Attorney of the United States, and as Mayor of New York — Variety of Functions — Germ of the Livingston Code — Manners and Tastes — Conduct during the Prevalence of Yellow- Fever in the City — The incurring of a Debt to the Government — Circumstances of the Affair — Conduct in that Difficulty — Resignation of Offices — Honors thereupon received

— The Purchase of Louisiana — Letter from Lafayette — Departure for New Orleans 89

CHAPTER Vn.

Emigration to New Orleans.

Voyage, and Arrival at New Orleans — The City and its Inhabitants in 1804 — Mr. Livingston's Exertions and Success at the Bar — His Homesickness — His Professional Character and Public Spirit

— His Code of Procedure for Louisiana — A Confusion of Tongues in the Courts — Eloquence of Livingston before a Masonic Lodge

— His Method as an Advocate — His Supremacy at the Bar — Note from Mazureau — Mr. Livingston's Social Traits — His Taste for Mechanical Invention — His Second Marriage — Prospects of Pecuniary Success — Obstacles — Calumnious Attack upon Mr. Livingston by General Wilkinson 1 1 1

CHAPTER VIIL The Batture Controversy. 135

CONTENTS. xxi

Page

CHAPTER IX.

Disappointment and Affliction.

Temper of Mr. Livingston — Condition of Affairs, caused by the Devotion of his Time to the Batture Enterprise — Anecdotes — A Scrap of Translation — Anxiety to end the Separation from his Children — Letters of Julia — Her Death — Letters to Lewis — The latter joins his Father 184

CHAPTER X.

The Battle of New Orleans.

Mr. Livingston's Services in the Campaign — His Qualifications — His Previous Acquaintance with General Jackson — Meeting of Citizens in September, 18 14 — Appointment of a Committee of Safety — Address of the Committee to the People — Successful Defence of Fort Bowyer — Proclamations by Jackson — His Appearance and Reception in the City — His Intimacy with Livingston — Contrast and Concord between them — Multifarious Services of the latter during the Campaign — Proclamation of Martial Law — Gallantry of the young Lewis — Dangerous Service in the Night-battle of December 23d — Pleasantry under Difficulties — Rejoicings in the City after the Decisive Repulse of the Enemy — Influence of Livingston in Jackson's Military Councils — The Lafittes — The Draughting of Reports, General Orders, Addresses, etc. — Despatch of Colonel Livingston to the British Fleet to negotiate an Exchange of Prisoners — His Detention and Return to the City with News of Peace — Arrest of Judge Hall under Martial Law — Subsequent Arraignment of General Jackson for Contempt of Court — Defence of the latter prepared by Livingston — Miniature of Jackson presented by him to his Friend — Project of a Life of the General — Mutual Attachment established between him and Livingston 195

CHAPTER XL

Lewis Livingston.

Renewal of the Struggle for Pecuniary Independence — Necessity of again parting with Lewis — Return of the latter to the North — Letters from Father to Son — Labors of the former — Progress of the latter's Education — His Successful Mission to Canada to procure the Remains of General Montgomery — Scene at Montgomery Place on the passing by of the Escort, bearing the Hero's Ashes to xxii CONTENTS.

Page New York — Return of Lewis to New Orleans — Crisis in the Bat-

ture Litigation — An Adverse Decision — Fortitude of Mr. Livingston — His Services in the Legislature of Louisiana — Uneasiness on Account of the State of Lewis's Health — Voyage of the latter to Europe — His Letters — His Rapid Decline and Death — ■ Depth of his Father's Grief 211

CHAPTER Xn/

The Livingston Code.

Mr. Livingston's Commission by the Legislature to prepare a Penal Code — His Qualifications and Zeal — Report of his Plan — Approbation of the latter by the Legislature — Completion of the Code

— Its Destruction by Fire, and Restoration — State of Criminal Laws in Louisiana in 1820 — Original Features of the Livingston Code — Proposal to abolish the Punishment of Death — Details of the Proposed System — Explanatory Reports to the Legislature — Neglect of the latter to act upon the Reported Code — Effects of its Publication 255

CHAPTER XIIL The Reputation of the Code. 276"

CHAPTER XIV.

Six Years in the House again.

Election of Mr. Livingston to Congress — His Position in the House

— Speech on Roads and Canals — Letters from Jefferson and Du Ponceau — Intimacy between the latter and Livingston — Letters to Du Ponceau — Completion of the Livingston Code — Destruction of the Draught — Energy and Fortitude of the Author — Industry in reproducing the Code — Letter from Webster — Speech on the Bill to amend the Judicial System, and on the Equality of Rights among the States — Vindication of Chancellor Livingston's Services in the Purchase of Louisiana — Close Attention of Mr. Livingston to the Ordinary Business of Legislation — Payment of his Debt to the Government — Manners and Social Habits — General Jackson in the Senate — Growth of the Intimacy between him and Livingston — A Letter from the General — Zealous Support of him for the Presidency by Livingston — Public Dinner and Speech at Harrisburg — Defeat of Livingston as Candidate for Reelection to a Fourth Term in the House of Representatives— His Election to the Senate 282

CONTENTS. xxiii

Page

CHAPTER XV.

Senator of the United States.

The Satisfaction of Livingston's Ambition — His Social and Domestic Habits — Letter to his Daughter — Jackson's Desire to employ him in the Government — Offer of the Mission to France — Peculiar Attractions of the Post for Livingston — Letters from Lafayette

— Necessity of declining the Mission — Appearance in the Senate

— Speech on Foot's Resolution — Correspondence with Bentham — Project for adapting the Livingston Code to the Use of the Federal Government — Senatorial Independence 325

CHAPTER XVL

Secretary of State.

Montgomery Place — Mr. Livingston's Retirement for the Congressional Vacation of 183 1 — A Summons to Washington — Dissolution of the Cabinet — The Secretaryship of State pressed upon Mr. Livingston — Letter to his Wife — Acceptance of the Office — His Views of the Position — Letters — Foreign Transactions of the Government — Personal Characteristics of the Secretary of State — Anecdotes — Character and Influence of Mrs. Livingston — Proceedings in the Senate on the Confirmation of the Cabinet — Dignified Course of Mr. Livingston on that Occasion — Independent Conduct in Office — Course on the President's Bank Policy — Nullification — Draught of the Proclamation of December 10, 1832 — Notes from the President to Mr. Livingston — Amendment of a Single Paragraph — The Growth of Mr. Livingston's Reputation abroad — Election to the Institute of France — The French Mission — Letter from Lafayette — Marriage of Mr. Livingston's Daughter — His Appointment as Minister to France — De Tocqueville 355

CHAPTER XVII.

Minister to France.

Unsuccessful Attempts by Mr, Livingston to keep a Diary — Extracts

— Appointment to the French Mission • — Voyage to France — Objects of the Mission — Active Exertions of Mr. Livingston — The Treaty of July 4, 1831 — Failure to fulfil it by the French Government — Effiarts of the King, and Opposition by the Chamber of Deputies — A Draft for Money drawn by the Secretary of the xxiv CONTENTS.

Page Treasury upon the French Minister of Finance — Refusal to pay it by the latter — Failure of the Necessary Appropriation in the Chamber of Deputies — Irritation evinced by President Jackson — Message to Congress — Effect of the Message in France — Offer of Passports to Mr. Livingston — His Refusal to accept them unless ordered to leave by the Government — Elaborate Letter to the Comte de Rigny — Approval of his Course by the President — Conditional Appropriation by the Deputies of the Money due the United States — Mr. Livingston demands Passports — His Parting Address to the Due de Broglie — His Continued Attention to the Subject of Penal Legislation — Increase of his Reputation as a Publicist — Letters from Villemain and Victor Hugo — His Efforts to promulgate his System — Letter to the Howard Society of New Jersey — Death of Lafayette — Last Letter from the General — Journey through Switzerland and Germany — De Sellon's Monument — Anecdote of Mittermaier — Livingston's Social Traits and Temper

— His Correspondence with Public Men — Letter to his Sister — Farewell to Davezac — The Homeward Voyage — Popular Reception at New York — Public Dinners, etc. — Unanimous Approbation in America of Livingston's Conduct of the Mission — Defiant Sentiment of the Nation toward France — Speech of John Quincy Adams

— The President's Approval of Livingston's Course 386

CHAPTER XVIIL

Conclusion

Retirement of Livingston to Montgomery Place — Pursuits, Associations, and Views — Visit at Washington — Last Appearance in the Supreme Court — Allusion to Jefferson — Mr. Barton's Return from France — Culmination of the Difficulty between the two Governments — Letter of Advice from Livingston to the President, respecting the Message to Congress on that Subject — Mediation in the Affair by Great Britain — Settlement of the Dispute— Extract from Livingston's Last Letter to his Wife — Return to Montgomery Place — Illness and Death — Honors paid to his Memory — The Author's View of Livingston's Character 423

LIFE OF EDWARD LIVINGSTON.

CHAPTER I.

LIVINGSTON MANOR AND THE LIVINGSTONS,

THE Livingstons of the State of New York have a long and genuine pedigree, — one that is so easily verified and embraces so many important individual names, besides showing a certain continuity of strong character outlasting many generations, as perhaps to render pertinent in this place a sketch of it more extended than commonly befits the biographical notice of a j)rominent man belonging to one of our republican families.

On the death of James I. of Scotland, in 1437, Sir Alexander Livingstone, of Calendar, was appointed by the estates of the kingdom one of two joint regents during the minority of James II., being himself made Keeper of the King's person, while his associate, Crichton, received the office of Chancellor. Buchanan and others relate minutely how the two regents quarrelled; how the Queen -Dowager sided with Livingstone; how the Chancellor got })ossession of the King, and kept him in Edinboro' Castle ; how His Majesty's mother, by a stratagem, delivered him back to Sir Alexander ; how a difference of opinion between the latter and the royal matron sprung up, which ended in his putting her in prison ; how Crichton, by another strategem, got possession of the youth a second time ; and how all parties g LIFE OF EDWARD LIVINGSTON.

thereupon came to a reconciliation which restored the monarch to^his lawful guardian. The latter thenceforth experienced several vicissitudes of public disgrace and favor, and died soon after being appointed, in 144<9, Justiciary of Scotland and Ambassador to England.

Among the exploits of this Sir Alexander, performed in conjunction with his late enemy, Crichton, was one of those treacherous and horrid murders, which the gentlemen of his day sometimes indulged in with impunity and royal approbation. The story is thus related by Burke : —

"Soon after their reunion, Livingstone and Crichton, dissembling their intentions, asked the Earl of Douglas to sup at the royal table, in the Castle of Edinburgh ; the Earl was foolhardy enough to accept the invitation, and proceeded to his sovereign's presence. At first he was received with apparent cordiality ; but shortly after he had taken his place at the board, the head of a black bull, the certain omen, in those days, in Scotland, of immediate death, was placed upon the table. The Earl sprang to his feet and attempted to escape ; but being speedily seized and overpowered, he was hurried, along with his younger brother, David, and Sir Malcolm Fleming of Cumbernauld, one of his chief retainers, into the court-yard of the Castle, where they were stripped of their armor, and all three in succession beheaded on the same block. The death of the young and princely Earl of Douglas excited universal detestation, and his untimely fate was lamented in the ballads of the time : —

' Edinboro Castle, Tonne and Toure, God grant thou sink of Sin, And that even for the black dinoure Earl Douglas gat therein.' " *

* Vicissitudes of Families, Second Series, i860.

LIVINGSTON MANOR AND THE LIVINGSTONS, g

Tlie family of Sir Alexander then claimed considerable antiquity, and a Hungarian origin. He was the ancestor of a large race, which numbered many active spirits during the turbulent centuries which followed. His son James became the first Lord Livingstone. Alexander, the fifth lord, through whose line the Livingstons of New York branch from the family tree, was one of the two guardians of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. His appointment to that office was in 1543; in 1548 he accompanied his royal ward to France, and he died in that country in 1553. His daughter, Mary Livingstone, was one of the four Maries, playmates and maids of honor to the queen. Some gossip respecting the circumstances of her marriage with the son of Lord Sempill makes one of the characteristic pages of John Knox's lively " Historic of the Reformation of Religion within the Realm of Scotland."

In 1600, Alexander, the seventh Lord Livingstone, was created first Earl of Linlithgow, a title which descended to the fifth earl, who, in 171^5 was made a peer of the United Kingdom. Two years later, the latter joined the Earl of Mar and the cause of the first Pretender. He lost his earldom in consequence, and it has not been restored to his descendants.

The first Earl of Linlithgow had four brothers, the third of whom was, in 1623^ made a baron of Nova Scotia. This title came to the eleventh and present baronet, as he claims to be, Sir Alexander Livingstone, in 1853. He is also, as he alleges, the heir and representative of the attainted Earl of Linlithgow, whose lineal race is extinct. The claim of Sir Alexander is, however, at present, the subject of litigation. The tenth baronet dying childless, his younger brother, Thurstanus, the father of Sir Alexander, is the medium through whom the latter claims the succession. This Thurstanus, though the brother of an admiral, had gone to sea as a common sailor, and, after leading a life in all respects on a level with that vocation, died in great poverty in 1839, at the age of seventy years.*

Three other titles, with estates, were conferred upon enterprising- younger sons of the House of Livingstone : the Earldom of Calendar, in 1641, which in the course of descent became merged in that of Linlithgow ; the Earldom of Newburgh, in 1660, which is now extinct; and the Viscountship of Kilsyth, in 1661, which was forfeited by the heir in the Rebellion of 1715.

But to return, for the clew which leads to our subject, to the fifth Lord Livingstone, guardian of Mary Stuart. His son, John Livingstone, being slain at the Battle of Pinkiefield, in 154^7? was succeeded by a son, Alexander, the first of three generations of ministers of the Scottish church. The latter and his son William, whatever may have been their labors or their virtues, appear to have made no such noise in the world as leaves any posthumous echo, and, but for the circumstance of their having served as links between generations of more conspicuous men, could never have received mention in any book written at a time so remote from their own as the present. But the Reverend John Livingstone, son of William and grandson of Alexander, was a celebrated preacher, was prominent in Scottish ecclesiastical history, and, in 1650, was one of the two commissioners appointed on the part of the kirk to proceed, in conjunction with those conunissioned by the Parliament, and to negotiate with Charles II. at Breda the terms of that king's admission to the throne of Scot-