T is difficult to determine exactly how many Lodges formed the Grand Lodge of New York in 1784, when R. R. Livingston was elected to supreme command. The army Lodges had disappeared, but still, in many instances, retained a nominal connection. The negotiations resulting in Livingston's election, doubtless had for their basis some scheme of union between the Ancient and Modern Lodges in the Province-State, rather. The old authority vested in Sir John Johnson was still in existence, but he was a fugitive from his native land; his Deputy, Dr. Middleton, had died before the close of the struggle and the restoration of peace and the powers he possessed were not transferred, so far as can be learned, to any successor, so it came about that the charter held by the Ancients was the only active document in the State giving Masons the privilege of meeting in Grand Lodge. It is well, also, to remember that the echoes of the bitter fight across the Atlantic between the Ancients and Moderns as to the legitimateness and genuineness of what was called their various "systems," never really troubled the brethren in the State of New York to any very great degree. If anything, however, we would infer from our study that the hearts of most of the brethren in the new Commonwealth inclined to the Ancients. Certain it is that when

the troops left New York the only acknowledged Grand body existing in the city was that working under the Athol charter, and the policy of the administration of Grand Master Cock, if it had any avowed policy at all, seems to have been directed to filling up the gaps left by the retiring soldiery and loyalists by bringing into the fold over which he watched the brethren who owed allegiance to the "Modern" Grand Lodge in England. The way was made easy. The Ancients did not abate one jot apparently of their claims, but the process of healing which they insisted on the Modern recruits going through was more a matter of form than a ceremony of expatiation. They held out the olive branch of peace with generous smiles, and were cordial in their invitation, too. In selecting for their future standard bearer a man so beloved and so influential as Chancellor Livingston, they played the strongest card that the times afforded. He was not simply a New Yorker; the entire State claimed him and he was not long in office before the Grand Lodge spread its wings over the entire Commonwealth and it became in fact, as well as in name, the Grand body of the State. It seems likely that this great man, this notable leader in the craft, had himself to submit to the process of healing. He had served as Master of the old Modern Union Lodge of New York, a Lodge of which little

is known, but there seems no reason to question the correctness of the theory that the newer "Union Lodge" warranted by the Cock administration was simply a transference -possibly a revival of the former organization, and that its admission into the Grand Lodge was simply one of the steps by which the ascent of Chancellor Livingston to the Grand East was made easy. Undoubtedly, a better selection than he, at that critical time, could not have been made, and he rewarded the confidence of the brethren by bringing to bear in the high office all his deserved influence, all his executive ability and all the strength which comes from purity of motive and integrity of purpose. He found the Grand Mastership an office; he left it, after about sixteen years' tenure, a dignity.

Chancellor Livingston was not the only one of his name who was active in the Masonic annals of New York, and so it may not be out of place here to preface a sketch of his own career by some notice of his family. It is commonly said that the American patriots had no father, meaning by that, of course, that their fathers were of the commonplace order and were not worth mentioning except as links in a genealogical chain, of no more importance than the links in the chain supporting a gorgeous badge of office are to the gorgeous. badge itself. But the Scotch ancestor from which the American Livingstons sprung had a life history as interesting as any individual who ever founded a family, and in many senses much more important. For that reason we propose to refer to it here, for, although John Livingstone of Ancrum never saw America, it was not his fault. He made the attempt and the elements were against him. It is difficult to learn much about the progenitors of the American Revolutionary heroes, to know what manner of men they were, how far their careers were likely to influence their children and the principles which animated them while they were engaged in the battle of life. But the

character of the immediate ancestor of the American Livingstons is known by all who care to read his writings or study the records of his career and of his opinions which himself and others have handed down to us. In him we find all the features which made the family in America so prominent in public life. He was a typical Scotchman. He was steadfast, yet cautious. He stood resolutely for the truth, sacrificed everything rather than give up his convictions, and would have preferred passing through life in the character of a humble but devoted minister of the Gospel rather than that of the public defender of a principle which, in the long run, all the machinery and power of the Government were to be employed to crush out. His own ambition was to remain a minister-"a servant in the vineyard of the Lord," as he expressed it. Circumstances forced him to become also a leader; to carry on what has been called the evangelical succession in the Kirk of Scotland, after it had been in the hands of John Knox, Andrew Melville, and Alexander Henderson.

Robert Livingston, the first of the American family and the youngest son of this patriot preacher, was born in the manse at Ancrum in 1654. He was educated in Holland with the view of following a commercial career, and left that country for America about a year after his father's death. He first tried Charleston, but soon moved from there and settled in New York State, where he at once entered upon a successful career. In 1665 he became Secretary of the Commissaries at Albany, made money as an Indian trader and in the practice of law, and in 1686 became Town Clerk of the City of Albany, a position he held till 1721. In 1686 he received from Governor Dongan a large tract of land on the Hudson, the beginning of the vast territorial possessions of the family, and this Colonial grant was in 1715 confirmed by royal charter from George I., a charter which conferred manorial privileges on the holder of the estate. He served in the Colonial Assembly for many years, and was