was contended to be the prerogative of the cation, both in and out of the House. Read president to decide with the consent and everything that relates to the state of your advice of the Senate. He also brought for- laws, commerce, and finances. Form and ward a resolution for the protection of Ameri- perfect your plans, so as to bring them forward in the best shape. Forgive, my dear can seamen; and on each occasion found brother, both my freedom and my style. I himself measuring his strength with Madi- write from my heart, not from my head. Be son, Sedgwick, and Fisher Ames. His re- persuaded that no extent of talent will avail, election in 1796, was vehemently opposed in without a considerable portion of industry, to a manner and by a man that bore ample testi- make a distinguished statesman." mony to the importance he had obtained in the eyes of the antagonist party, the Federalists, who, at the instigation of Alexander Hamilton, made strenuous exertions to get a "Mr. Watson preferred to him, on the curious ground, actually put forward in a handbill of Hamilton's composition, that he kept a chariot; rendered more curious by the retorted fact that the Federalist candidate kept a chariot too. There is a passage in M. Nisard's Life of Armand Carrel alluding to "that cabriolet which had been made such a topic of reproach to him, either by men who would have sold the tombs of their fathers to have one, or by those friends of equality who call for it in fortunes to console them for the inequality of talents." But this was at a time when it was truly and wittily said of "young France" that each of them was striving to be the equal of his superior and the superior of his equal; and it is new to us that such an objection could be raised with effect in the freshly emancipated colony still clinging to the habits and modes of thought of the parent country. From the intelligence that is almost daily reaching us, also, of the present social condition of New York, we should infer that the display of wealth in equipages and dress is no longer typical of, nor associated in the popular mind with, aristocracy. The debates in which Livingston most distinguished himself in his third session possess an historical interest, and throw light on the contrasted progress of democratic and monarchical institutions. Two measures bearing a suspicious resemblance to the English “Gagging Bill," and a still stronger to the French Law of Public Safety, were introduced by the president (Adams) in 1798, popularly known as the Alien and Sedition Laws. The one made it a high misdemeanor, punishable with fine and imprisonment, to combine to oppose any measures of the government, or to traduce or defame the Legislature or the president by declarations tending to criminate the motives of either. The other invested the president with power to imprison or banish suspected aliens, or perpetually exclude them from the rights of citizenship, or to grant them licenses of residences revocable at pleasure. "Both these odious measures," says Mr. Hunt, "were passed under the spur of party discipline. Both excited at once the bitterest opposition of the Republican party, and presently incurred the hearty abomination of the country. Such experiments in legislation are not likely to be repeated while our form of government lasts." Never was there a more unfortunate prediction. It is precisely "our form of government" which has proved most fruitful of such measures. Arbitrary restrictions of personal liberty are at this moment rifest in North America, the pride of democracy, and under the French Empire, the boasted creation of universal suffrage; whilst the existing generation of Englishmen practically know nothing of exceptionally repressive or oppressive laws of "As I naturally feel myself much inter- any kind. The Alien and Sedition Bills were ested in your political career, I cannot but opposed at every stage by Livingston; and entreat you to consider that you are at this his principal speech against the Alien Bill moment making immense sacrifices of fortune On the occasion of his second candidature in 1796, Livingston received a letter from his elder brother, the chancellor, which may be read with advantage by many a rising lawyer who is looking to a seat in Parliament, or many a would-be statesman who under-estimates the conditions of success : and professional reputation by remaining in was printed on satin and largely distributed Congress. Nothing can compensate for these throughout the States. In one passage he losses but attaining the highest political dis- went the length of invoking popular resisttinction. But, believe me, this will never be ance to it if passed: it may be cited as a faattained without the most unwearied appli-vorable specimen of his style : "But if, regardless of our duties as citizens, and our solemn obligations as representatives, regardless of the rights of our constituents, regardless of every sanction, human and divine, we are ready to violate the constitution we have sworn to defend, will the people submit to our unauthorized acts? will the States sanction our usurped power? Sir, they ought not to submit; they would deserve the chains which these measures are forging for them, if they did not resist; for let no man vainly imagine that the evil is to stop here; that a few unprotected aliens only are to be affected by this inquisitorial power. The same arguments which enforce these provisions against aliens apply with equal strength to enacting them in the case of citizens. The citizen has no other protection for his personal security, that I know, against laws like this, than the humane provisions I have cited from the constitution. You same month, was not anticipated. He probably began to see the importance of acting on his brother's advice by attending more to his professional prospects; for his retirement was almost immediately followed by his appointment to the office of attorney for the district of New York, as well as to the mayoralty of New York, then a post of dignity and importance. The celebrated De Witt Clinton, we are reminded, resigned, with a view to its acceptance, his seat in the Senate. Besides presiding over the deliberations of the Common Council, the mayor was ex-officio the chief judge of the highest court of this city, with jurisdiction civil and criminal. The emoluments were such that a few years' incumbency carefully managed was reckoned equivalent to a handsome competency. his varied duties were performed with spirit A favorite have already been told of plots and conspira-worldly prospect wore a smiling aspect, and Livingston was now thirty-seven; his cies, and all the frightful images that are necessary to keep up the present system of terror and alarm have been presented to you; but who are implicated in these dark hints, these mysterious allusions? They are our own citizens, sir, not aliens. If there is any necessity for the system now proposed, it is more necessary to be enforced against our own citizens than against strangers; and I have no doubt that, either in this or some other shape, this will be attempted. I now ask, sir, wheth-chanical Society to co-operate, was to found er the people of America are prepared for this? Whether they are willing to part with all the means which the wisdom of their ancestors discovered and their own caution so lately adopted, to secure their own persons? Whether they are willing to submit to imprisonment, or exile, whenever suspicion, calumny, or vengeance shall mark them for ruin? Are they base enough to be prepared for this? No, sir, they will-I repeat it, they will-resist this tyrannical system; the people will oppose, the States will not submit to its operations; they ought not to acquiesce, and I pray to God they never may! an establishment for insuring the employment of, first, strangers during the first month of their arrival; secondly, citizens who had been thrown out of work by sickness or casualties; thirdly, widows and orphans; fourthly, discharged or pardoned convicts. The leading feature of the project being the opening of public workshops, like the Ateliers Nationaux of 1848, the sound political economist will see at a glance that it could not have been carried out without a mischievous disturbance of the labor market; and the Mechanical Society wisely, we think, declined In the concluding sentences, he was copying, to concur in it. His practical philanthropy consciously or unconsciously, Lord Chatham's was of a nature that did not admit of denial famous burst: "I rejoice that America has or dispute. In the summer of 1803, the resisted; three millions of people so dead to yellow fever broke out in New York, and all the feelings of liberty, as voluntarily to spread rapidly in all classes. First amongst submit to be slaves, would have been fit in- the self-sacrificing portion of the community struments to make slaves of all the rest." was the mayor, who not only saw to the exeAs the part Livingston took on this occasion cution of the needful official regulations, but raised him to the height of popularity, it does kept a list of the houses in which there were not appear, nor does his biographer explain; sick, and visited them all in turn as well as why he retired from Congress in 1801; for the hospitals. At length he caught the conthe domestic affliction, the loss of his first tagion, and his life was in serious peril for wife, which occurred subsequently in the a period. “He was now," says Mr. Hunt, "the object of extraordinary popular grati- | public defaulter for an amount beyond his tude and regard. When his physicians called immediate or anticipated means to satisfy; for Madeira to be administered to him, not and the utmost that he could hope in the a bottle of that or any other kind of wine emergency was that a charitable interpretawas to be found in his cellar. He had him- tion of the circumstances would save him self prescribed every drop for others. As from disgrace. It was one of his duties and soon as the fact was known, the best wines perquisites in his official capacity to receive were sent to his house from every direction. certain moneys from public creditors through A crowd thronged the street near his door. the hands of agents, for whom he was responto obtain the latest news of his condition; sible. He never could be made to attend to and young people vied with each other for pecuniary transactions or accounts; a weakthe privilege of watching by his bed." ness or peculiarity for which his multifarious engagements were partially an excuse, especially in the fever year, when the chief deficit occurred. Five years later, in the course of a controversy to which we shall recur, he made a clean breast of the matter in terms which we cannot do better than adopt : Except in this absorbing crisis, he found time for science and literature, as well as for legislation and jurisprudence, and was always ready to promote parties of amusement, or to add his joyous laugh to the merriment of the gay and young. "I wish I could go to the theatre every night! "exclaimed a lively niece of sixteen. "Well, my dear," said the mayor, 66 you shall, you shall; and he actually took her night after night until she was compelled to cry enough. Escorting Theodosia Burr, yclept the celebrated, with a party to see a frigate lying in the harbor, he told her, as they neared the ship, "Now, Theodosia, you must bring none of your sparks on board; they have a magazine, and we should all be blown up." He had a mania for punning, but was obliged to own that the only tolerable pun he had ever made was whilst he was asleep. "He had dreamed that he was present in a crowded church, at the ceremony of the taking of the veil by a nun. The novice's name was announced as Mary Fish. The question was then put, who should be her patron saint. 'I woke myself,' said Livingston, 'by exclaiming, "Why, St. Poly Carp, to be sure!""" "It is time that I should speak. Silence now would be cruelty to my children, injustice to my creditors, treachery to my fame. The consciousness of a serious imprudence, which created the debt I owe the public, I confess it with humility and regret, has rendered me, perhaps, too desirous of avoiding if nothing can excuse, may at least be acpublic observation, an imprudence which, counted for by the confidence I placed in an agent, who received and appropriated a very large proportion of the sum, and the moral certainty I had of being able to answer any call for the residue whenever it should be made. Perhaps, too, it may be atoned for in some degree by the mortification of exile, by my constant and laborious exertions to satisfy the claims of justice, by the keen disappointment attending this deadly blow to the hopes I had encouraged of pouring into the public treasury the fruits of my labor, and above all by the humiliation of this pub lic avowal." The fifth volume of Lockhart's "Life of The agent of whom he speaks was a confiScott" concludes with a laudatory quotation dential clerk, a Frenchman by birth; and it from Captain Hall, and the remark, “—with | will be fresh in the memory of most readers his flourish of trumpets I must drop the cur- that Thomas Moore was subjected to a simitain on a scene of unclouded prosperity and lar embarrassment by the failure of his deputy splendor. The muffled drum is in prospect." in Bermuda, and that the "disorder in the The stage of Livingston's life at which we chest," which compelled Theodore Hook to have now arrived might well justify a similar quit his treasurership at Mauritius was also pause, and suggest a similar train of reflec- mainly owing to a clerk. tion. He was in the enjoyment of almost every blessing, and not a cloud was visible in the horizon of his future, when a crushing blow fell upon him, shattering both fame and fortune, and dooming him to a series of severe trials for the best of his remaining years. In the autumn of 1803, he became a In his "Essay on Decision of Character," Forster relates the true story of a prodigal, who, having sold the whole of his paternal estate and spent the last sixpence of the proceeds, seated himself on a rising ground commanding a view of the property, made a solemn vow to get it back, and by dint of enterprise, and having made the resolution, did not lag in its execution. He at once arranged his affairs, procured all practicable means of extensive introduction to Louisianians, and leaving his children, from whom he had never yet been separated, in the care of his brother, John R. Livingston, whose wife was Eliza McEvers, the sister of their mother, he embarked, during the last week of December, 1803, within two months after retiring from the mayoralty, as a passenger on board a vessel bound to New Orleans. he had reserved out of his property and now All the money and pecuniary resources which carried, consisted of about one hundred dollars in gold, and a letter of credit for one thousand dollars more." industry and parsimony succeeded in so doing. The dream of Warren Hastings' life was the recovery of his ancestral home of Daylesford. Moore met his unmerited misfortune with an equanimity that extorted the half-comic praise of Rogers: "It is well you are a poet; you could never bear it as you do if you were a philosopher." Sir Walter Scott nobly put forth his full strength at all hazards and against all remonstrances, till, like the overtasked elephant, he broke down and died. But no victim or hero, genuine or apocryphal, could have displayed a finer, more chivalrous, or more self-denying spirit than Livingston. Having promptly satisfied himself of his liability, he at once, He almost at once assumed the lead of the without waiting for the formal adjustment, bar at New Orleans, where his knowledge of confessed judgment for the largest estimated amount, subsequently fixed at $43,666,- languages stood him in good stead; and soon assigned over all his property in trust for the after his arrival he was requested to draw up State, and resigned both his offices. The a Code of Procedure, which thenceforth regucitizens of New York on their part were not wanting in generosity; he was strongly urged to retain the mayoralty; and a highly laudatory address was voted and presented to him by the Common Council. But his mind was made up to quit the scene of the honors and the prosperity thus fatally reversed, and to quit it instantly for the field of exertion offering the best chance of the speedy redemption and restitution for which he panted. In the spring of that very year, 1803, Louisiana had been purchased by the United States of France. New Orleans was the rising commercial city, the El Dorado of the South, where talent and enterprise would have freer scope than in any more settled community. To New Orleans, therefore, he would go, and never return to New York till he could return free and independent, with his debts paid and his position no longer open to a reproach. "He now had need of all his philosophy. He was considerably past the period of life when usually, if ever, a man undertakes for the first time such an adventure, and to this one all his habits and associations, his tastes, and his affections, opposed themselves. It was to quit the scene of his long prosperity and happiness, his family, his friends, and the fresh graves of his wife and eldest son; while the comfort and safety of his two remaining children, now nine and five years old, the objects of his tenderest feelings, would require them to be left behind for years. Nevertheless, he resolved upon the With lated the practice of the courts. Fearne, the "My brethren, have you searched your Here the speaker was interrupted by the sudden movement of two of the audience, who rushed into each other's arms. They were real brothers, who had quarrelled, and not been on speaking terms for several years. | enjoying the suspense of the members, till he "No triumph at the bar or tribune," said named Mr. Alexander, and proceeded, "As Livingston, "could be worth the satisfaction to Mr. Livingston, I have evidence that Dr. I felt at that moment." Bollman brought a draught upon him for $2,000 and upward, which he paid." In 1805, he married his second wife, Louise Moreau de Lassy, the young widow of a gentleman from Jamaica, and a native of St. oath might be taken to the truth of the char"He finished by asking the court that his Domingo. She is described as exceedingly ges he had exhibited. He raised his hand, as beautiful. "Slender, delicate, and wonder-if to have the oath administered, when the fully graceful, she possessed a brilliant intel-court mildly suggested the propriety of reduclect and an uncommon spirit." Two months ing the statement to writing. He then hesitatafter their marriage, he wrote to his sister, ed. One of the judges offered him a seat at Mrs. Tillotson,— "I have now, indeed, again a home, and a wife who gives it all the charms that talents, good temper, and affection can afford; but that home is situated at a distance from my family, and in a climate to which I cannot, without imprudence, bring my children." For a time everything seemed succeeding to his wishes. Besides receiving a large income from his profession, he had made money by successful speculations in land; and he was beginning to calculate the time-three or four years at the utmost—before he could return with credit and comfort to New York. But twice before that consummation could be reached, he was destined to be flung back and be pressed down by the heavy hand of power, arbitrarily and wrongfully stretched forth beneath that young tree of liberty which was to overshadow the world with its branches. A private debt due from him when he left New York had been assigned to Aaron Burr, who, in July, 1806, wrote to him by one Dr. Bollman respecting it, and arrangements were forthwith made with Bollman for its discharge. When Burr's conspiracy broke out, General James Wilkinson, commander-in-chief of the army of the United States and governor of Upper Louisiana, then at Orleans, ordered the military arrest of Bollman and two others on a charge of misprision of treason: and on a habeas corpus being granted, personally attended on the return-day of the writ, to enforce its discharge. In the course of a speech which he thought fit to address to the startled judges, he said he had taken this step for the national safety then menaced by a lawless band of traitors associated under Aaron Burr, "whose adherents were numerous in the city, including two councillors of that court." He then cast his eyes slowly around the bar, his side on the bench, and proposed himself to take down the charges and testimony. This the general declined; upon which the court suggested that one of the judges would wait on his excellency,' at any time that might be convenient to him, to take his deposition. This offer the conquering hero condescended to accept, and retired from the bar, after receiving the thanks of the presidapology for the trouble the business had ing judge for his communication, and an caused him. "But just as Wilkinson was about to withdraw, Mr. Livingston, who, till then, during this shocking scene of judicial sycophancy, had sat in melancholy silence, arose to demand and then to entreat of the court that his accuser should not be allowed to leave the bar without substantiating his charge upon oath, in order that, if it should appear that he was guilty, he might be immediately committed to prison, and if not, that he should not be compelled to go home loaded with the suspicion of crime. The appeal was fruitless, and the general went his way, promising, however, to make good the charge on the following day." Of course he never did make good the charge, the utter groundlessness of which was thoroughly and fearlessly exposed by Livingston without delay; but the general went on his way exulting, with as little dread of responsibility or regard to consequences as might be supposed to influence Marshal von Wrangel, General Butler, or any other military despot at this hour. "When he returned to his house after the scene in court, in which the accusation of Wilkinson had fallen suddenly as a thunderbolt upon him, his young wife, then the mother of their only child, but a few months old, besought him earnestly not to withhold have not lived long together,' she said, and from her any part of his confidence. We you may not know the whole strength of my character or of my affection. Whatever may have been the scheme of Burr, if you have |