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 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 many through my slackness and negligence, but I forgive and desire to be forgiven. I cannot say much of great services, yet if my heart was lifted up, it was in the preaching of Jesus Christ. I die in the faith that the truths of God, which he hath helped the Church of Scotland to own, shall be owned by him as truths so long as sun and moon endure." His wife, seeing he was unable to say more, desired him to take leave of his friends. "I do not need to take leave of them," he said, our parting shall be only for a short time.” Then his benignant spirit passed to join the company of those of whom the world was not worthy. Thus died in banishment, in a foreign land, John Livingston, one of the sons of Kilsyth, and one of whom the parish has good reason to be proud. The date of his death was between the 14th and 21st of August, 1672. He was seventy years of age. Janet Fleming, his wife, survived him for over twenty years. She bore him fifteen children. Robert, born at Ancrum on the 13th December, 1654, was the fourteenth child, and he became the founder of the Livingston family of New York. CHAPTER IV. Declaration of American Independence-The Signatories— ROBERT LIVINGSTON-Birth and Removal to Holland -Emigrates--Settles in Albany-Marriage-AppointmentsIndian Raids and Negotiations-Lords of Trade-With Earl of Bellomont fits out Adventure Galley-William Kidd-The American Landowner-"Livingston" on the Hudson-Kidd turns Pirate-A Desperate Career-Livingston's Estates Confiscated-Captured-Again in London-Regains PositionColonial Speakership-Death. 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 just been given. Robert was born at Ancrum, Roxburghshire, where his father was minister, on the 13th December, 1654. His mother took him with her to Rotterdam in 1663, when she went to join her husband in banishment. Thus early removed to Holland, the boy attained to a complete knowledge and mastery of the Dutch language. It was his ability to speak English and Dutch with equal fluency which led to his subsequent promotion. At the age of eighteen, and upon the death of his father, the young man found himself thrown upon his own resources. Many different reasons in serious crises of their fortunes have tempted men to turn their eyes to America. Twice his venerable father had attempted to reach that country, that he might escape persecution, and worship God after a manner pleasing to his own conscience. Robert Livingston looked towards the land of the West, in the hope that it might provide him a field where he could earn for himself an honest livelihood, or afford him opportunities of embarking in a career that might possibly carry him forward to fame and fortune. Full of that enthusiasm which distinguished him in all the events of his life, having buried his father, he returned with his mother to Scotland, and on the 28th April, 1673, he took ship at Greenock for New England. Landed in the West, and finding that New York was on the point of being transferred from the Dutch to the English, he made his way with all haste to that State, and with considerable prescience sailed up the Hudson and took up his quarters in the town of Albany, after New York then the next important city in the State. Albany being near the Indian frontier, and the centre of a lucrative trade with the Indian trappers, his knowledge of Dutch and English stood him in excellent stead. The people being largely Hollanders, and the government British, he was the kind of man in demand from the very nature of the circumstances. He was at once appointed secretary to the Commissaries who superintended the officers of the Albany district. Discharging his duties with energy, the solitary, friendless young Scot rapidly rose in favour. In a short time he was appointed town-clerk, collector and receiver of customs, and secretary for Indian affairs. His position was strong, but he strengthened it still more by marrying, in 1679, Alida Schuyler, a bright young widow, in close connection with the best Dutch families, and only a year older than himself. Albany was his home until he transferred his residence to his house on his own lordly manor. Under Providence, Livingston's success may be attributed to his fortunate settlement in Albany, his knowledge of Dutch, and his marrying Alida Schuyler. Albany being a frontier town, and in close proximity to the hunting grounds of that powerful Indian federation—the Iroquois or the Five Nations-the authorities of the city required to exercise in their dealings with the Indians the very greatest circumspection. This was all the more necessary as the Iroquois were being continually worked upon by the French, who were then the holders of Canada. Being determined to gain the Indians to their own side, they were perpetually intriguing amongst them, and inflaming them against the English. Their swift wild raids kept the colonists in a state of perpetual trepidation. When consequently they were not engaged in fortifying themselves against their attacks, they were equally busy in carrying on with them peaceful negotiations. A raid in which the French and the Indians pounced upon an Albanian village, massacred the inhabitants, and carried off a number of prisoners, brought matters to a head. Leisler, the Governor of New York State, was furious, laid the blame on Livingston, |