wrote further that he had withdrawn from own class (the Resolutioners) "and retired house." At this juncture Livingston wa and sulky. When Cromwell asked him Edinburgh and confer with him," he pol himself. The meeting with Livingston, whi was so anxious to bring about, took place i 1654. Cromwell was determined to use gain the Protesters to his side. Both p Church were, however, equally loyal, and with equal warmth the charge of encouragi ism. Beneath the rupture there was a heart wish for the unity of the Church. Well, whe was in London, he was called upon to p Cromwell at Whitehall. Cromwell had man. The compliment did not influence I the very least. One part of his prayer ran a "God be gracious to him whose right it this place, and unjustly is thrust from it; sar of affliction unto him, and when our bones the dust, let our prayers be registrate in the that they may come forth in Thy appoint doing him and his family good. And as fo men that now fill their rooms, Lord be n them." As these words were uttered the whispering where Cromwell sat, and he was "Let him alone, he is a good man. Wha poor men in comparison with the kings o Oliver had had too much of John, and was glad to get quit of him. That the Protector held him in esteem notwithstanding his freedom of speech is apparent, because, in 1654, he appointed Livingston one of the ministers for settling the affairs of the Kirk and certifying such as were proper to be admitted to benefices. The news of the restoration of Charles II. to the throne of England filled Livingston with dismay. He clearly saw that it meant untold trial and suffering for the Church of Scotland. And his worst fears were more than realised. After the "Act Rescissory" was passed by the Scottish Parliament in a fit of loyalty in 1661, the heads of the northern leaders and people began rapidly to fall. Before the year was out the Marquis of Argyll had perished by the Maiden, and James Guthrie of Stirling on the scaffold. When Livingston was made aware that peremptory orders had been issued by the Privy Council for his appearance before them, he had only too good reason to fear that the fate of the protomartyrs of the second reformation was in store for him. The date of his appearance was the 9th December, 1662. Before the messenger of the Court reached him he repaired to Edinburgh. Had the scaffold been before him he intended to flee the country. Finding, however, that his sentence in all probability would be banishment, he compeared before the Court on the 11th December. Being pressed to take the oath of allegiance, he refused. The Lord Chancellor then asked—“Will you not take time to advise whether you will take the oath or not? Livingston replied " If I should take time to advise, it would import that I had unclearness, or hesitation, which I have not, and I judge it would be a kind of mocking your Lordship to take time to consider, and then return and give your Lordship the same answer. He was then sentenced to banishment from His Majesty's dominions, and, within forty-eight hours, to leave Edinburgh for the north side of the Tay. He was eventually allowed to remain at Leith till he took his departure. His petition for liberty to return to Ancrum and visit his wife, family, and parishioners was refused. When his friend, the erudite Robert Blair, saw the ship which was bearing Livingston to Holland sailing down the Firth of Forth, he was greatly touched, and celebrated the occasion. by the composition of some Latin verses :— "Care Livingston salve multumque valeto Tu lachrimis madefacte tuis, nos linguis in alto Sed Tralio et sociis suavis comes ibis in oras When Livingston landed in Rotterdam, in 1663, he received from the Scottish colony the warmest of welcomes. During the years of his banishment he solaced his mind with biblical studies. He found it a delight to make once again that close acquaintance with the Hebrew tongue which had given him so much pleasure in his St. Andrews years lying now so far behind. He prepared a polyglot bible, but the work was never published, through the death of Provost John Graham of Glasgow, who was to have borne the expense of the printing. In the congenial society of his wife and kindred spirits, and surrounded with his family, the closing years of Livingston's life were the happiest he enjoyed. To his friends who gathered about him on the day of his death he spoke some brief and kindly words. "I have my faults as other men, but God made me to abhor shows. I know I have given offence to sun and moon endure." His wife, seeing he was to say more, desired him to take leave of his "I do not need to take leave of them," he our parting shall be only for a short time." is benignant spirit passed to join the company of f whom the world was not worthy. died in banishment, in a foreign land, John ton, one of the sons of Kilsyth, and one of whom ish has good reason to be proud. The date of th was between the 14th and 21st of August, He was seventy years of age. Janet Fleming, e, survived him for over twenty years. She bore teen children. Robert, born at Ancrum on the ecember, 1654, was the fourteenth child, and he the founder of the Livingston family of New CHAPTER IV. Declaration of American Independence—The Signatories- THE Declaration of American Independence was signed at Philadelphia on the 4th July, 1776. The subscribers were Thomas Jefferson of Virginia; John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert Livingston of New York. Everything pertaining to the lives and careers of these several gentlemen is, as may well be imagined, of intense interest to the people of the United States. The ancestry and achievements of all the signatories have been subjected to the closest literary sifting. The result has been the concentration of attention on the extraordinary and romantic career of Robert Livingston, that ancestor of the last subscriber, who first came from Scotland, and settled at Albany, and finally, purchasing a vast estate on the Hudson, became one of the founders of America, and the progenitor of one of its leading families. Robert Livingston was the youngest son and fourteenth child of the Rev. John Livingston, of whom account has |