256
��Robert R. Livingston.
��always to have regarded his defeat with mortification and shame. Yet the con- test strengthened the growing Repub- lican party ; and when, in 1 800, the Republicans sought a candidate whose power and popularity would insure vic- tory, the name of Livingston was the first considered, and but for his deaf- ness (a misfortune that rendered his nomination impossible) Chancellor Liv- ingston would have occupied the posi- tion that fell finally to Aaron Burr. The three factions in New York were led by Clinton, Burr, and Robert R. Livingston. Livingston aside, the nom- ination for the vice-presidency lay be- tween Clinton and Burr, and was finally, through the all-powerful influence of the Livingstons, bestowed upon Burr, a man whom the Livingstons most cor- dially hated, but preferred to their more formidable opponent, George Clinton.
With the accession of Jefferson, who acknowledged the potent aid of the Livingstons, — and well he might, for Chancellor Livingston might easily have turned the Republican victory into a Federal triumph, — the Livingstons re- gained the dominion which for a num- ber of years Jay and the Federalists had wrested from them ; and Chancellor Livingston felt that at last the disgrace of his defeat by John Jay, in 1 798, was removed.
After refiising the secretaryship of the navy, Livingston finally was in- duced to accept the position of minis- ter to France as a reward for his faithful service in the cause of Republi- canism. Other members of his family were rewarded ; indeed, a majority of the political offices of the state passed into the hands of the Livingstons. Morgan Lewis, a brother-in-law of the chancellor, became chief judge of the
��Supreme Court ; Smith Thompson, whose wife was a Livingston, was ap- pointed judge ; Thomas Tillotson, bro- ther-in-law of the chancellor, received an appointment as secretary of state ; and John Armstrong, a relative, was elected to the United - States Senate. The young, yet able, Edward Livingston received a district-attomeyship ; while Brockholst Livingston became an asso- ciate justice of the United States.
Robert R. Livingston, after resigning ' his position of chancellor of the State of New York, an office which he had filled with great honor for nearly a quarter of a century, in 1801 sailed for France. His private correspondence indicates that he accepted that position, which was to prove the crowning glory of a great career, with reluctance.
The leaders of the Republicans never fully accepted Livingston as a member of their party. Federalists and Repub- licans alike honored him, desired his support, and feared his ambition. A growing feeling of opposition to the landed proprietors was developing in the population of the fast developing city of New York ; and Jefferson, shrewd- ly separating his fortunes from those of the Livingstons, removed the great rival of the Clintonians and Burrites by the tender of a foreign mission. A short quotation from a letter of Gouv- erneur Morris to his friend in Paris in- dicates the progress of party affairs in 1802, immediately after the departure of Livingston for France : " The Clin- tonian faction will, I believe, prepon- derate ; and their powerful adherents will be flattered, if not respected, until the Burrites shall be disposed of. When you return, you will be able to give many of your friends good advice ; but whether you can give them so much of your experience as may induce them
�� �
