ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. THE several distinguished members original proprietor to his youngest son, of the Livingston family whose names Robert, to reward him, it is said, for are recorded in American history, his agency in discovering and destroyWilliam Livingston, the governor of ing a plot formed by the Indians for New Jersey, Philip Livingston, the the massacre of the people of the prosigner of the Declaration, Robert R. vince. This Robert, the father of Livingston, the subject of our present Robert R. Livingston, held the office sketch, and the late Edward Livingston, of Justice of the Supreme Court of the are all descended from a common stock colony of New York, on the breaking of remote Scottish origin. Mr. Hol- out of the Revolution, when he was gate, who furnishes us with the descent separated from his colleagues of the in his "American Genealogy," traces bench, and sided with the colonists. the family downward from the worthy He was a member of the Stamp Act Dr. John Livingstone, a divine of note Congress of 1765, at New York. It in the days of persecution of the Cove- was his daughter who became the wife nanters, who was settled for awhile at of the gallant Richard Montgomery, Ancram, and afterwards driven for and it was doubtless by his influence conscience' sake to a refuge in Holland, that this officer was introduced to the where he died in 1672. His son, Provincial Congress, which met in the Robert, born at Ancram in 1654, was spring of 1775, after the battle of Lexthe first emigrant of the family to ington. The father-in-law did not live America. He came to New York, through the year, the last day of which where he received a liberal welcome. was to bring the brilliant young officer, We find him, in 1676, in responsible his companion, to the grave, from the employment at Albany, under the gory cliff of Quebec. The old Procolonial administration, and in 1686, vincial Justice, however, left a son established by Governor Dongan in who was long to represent him in the possession of the territorial manor of councils of the nation, Robert R. Liv. Livingston on the Hudson, acquired by | ingston, the subject of our sketch, purchase of the Indians. The manor popularly discriminated from other of Clermont, containing about thirteen members of the family by the office he thousand acres, was separated from this long held, as the Old Chancellor vast estate by the bequest of this He was born in the city of New York, November 27, 1747. story of his life, though an excellent subject for biography, has not yet been written at length, we are without any particular account of his early education, though we may infer that it was conducted with care, since we find him, in 1764, at seventeen, a graduate of King's afterwards Columbia-Collar biographies as "one of the signers." lege, then under the presidency of Myles Cooper, of Revolutionary celebrity. As the of Independence with Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and Sherman, though in consequence of being called to New York to the third Provincial Congress, of which he was a member, he had not the good fortune to place his signature to that instrument. He thus lost the opportunity of being enrolled in popu Young Livingston, who retained a taste for elegant literature through life, was, we may presume, not indif ferent to these advantages. At the termination of his college education, he studied law with William Smith, the distinguished councillor and justice of the province, and the historian of the colony, and also with his relative, William Livingston, of New Jersey. In October, 1773, he was admitted to the bar, and shortly afterwards appointed Recorder of the city of New York. The Revolution found him in this position, so that both father and son now relinquished at the same time important judicial stations, to take part with their fellow patriots in the liberation of their country. He was a member of the Provincial Convention, which assembled at New York in 1775, to choose delegates to the second Congress of the colonies at Philadelphia. He appears to have taken a leading part in the debates of that and the following year, when he was placed on the Committee to prepare and report a plan of confederation for the colonies. He was also on the committee to prepare the Declaration He was, however, rendering impor tant service in the Provincial Congress, in preparation for the defence of the Hudson, which had engaged his attention on his first appearance in Congress at Philadelphia. He was also one of the committee appointed to prepare the first Constitution of the State, in which Jay bore so prominent a part. He introduced into this instrument the section creating the Council of Revision, a body composed of the Governor, Chancellor, and Judges of the Supreme Court, which sat to revise all bills about to be passed into laws by the Legislature, and of which he himself became a prominent member.1 Other duties of a more active though not more responsible character, engaged his attention, as member of the Council of Safety, by which body he was charged with military powers to aid General Schuyler on the northern and western frontiers. When the plan of government, which he had aided in devising in the Provincial Congress, went into effect, under the Constitution, he was created First Chancellor of the State of New York. Notwithstanding The Court existed till it was abolished by the Conven tion of 1821, and its power lodged solely in the hands of the Governor, by the Constitution of that year. See Street's History of the Council of Revision. his holding this office, he was twice tion of the practical working of the sent as special delegate to Congress, in which body he was appointed, in 1781, Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the duties of which he discharged with great ability till 1783. This being considered a virtual abandonment of his chancellorship, he was then reappointed to that high office. The next year he was again at Philadelphia, a delegate to Congress. Confederation, which gave birth to the Declaration of Independence. It was the season, it will be remembered, before the meeting of the Federal Convention, a dark moment of our political history preceding the second dawn"another morning risen on mid-day." Disappointment he freely admits in respect both to "our internal and Federal Governments: either, to those who are In no public employment, involving disposed to view only the gloomy side important deliberations, does he seem of the picture, will afford sufficient to have been overlooked. He was in matter for censure, and too much the State Commission with Jay and cause for uneasiness. Many despond others, relative to the disputed rights ing spirits, misled by these reflections, of Massachusetts and New York as to have ceased to rejoice in independence, western territory, and when two years and to doubt whether it is to be conlater, in 1786, the Convention at An- sidered as a blessing." Turning from napolis was proposed for the considera- the constitutional methods of govern tion of some national regulation of ment in operation in the States, which trade and commerce, he was appointed he finds to lack only proper consideraa delegate with Hamilton, Benson, and tion on the part of the people, he turns Duane. He was not, however, present to the Federal Administration. "Noat this meeting, more important in its thing presents itself to my view, but a sequel than for what it accomplished. nerveless council, united by imaginary There Hamilton and Madison met to- ties, brooding over ideal decrees, which gether, and out of their joint delibera- caprice or fancy is at pleasure to annul tions with their fellow members, grew or execute. I see trade languish, pubthe Convention of the succeeding year lic credit expire, and that glory, which for the formation of the Constitution. is not less necessary to the prosperity Livingston was not a member of this of a nation than reputation to indibody, but sat in the State Ratification viduals, a victim to opprobrium and Convention, where he voted for the disgrace. Who will deny that the most adoption. serious evils daily flow from the debility of our Federal Constitution? but owns that we are at this moment colonies, for every purpose but that of internal taxation, to the nation from which we vainly hoped our sword had freed us? Who but sees with indigna tion British ministers daily dictating In 1787, Livingston was called upon to deliver the Fourth of July discourse before the New York State Society of the Cincinnati. It is an elegant production, written with warmth and feeling, occupied not with the customary eulogies of the day, but with the considera Who |