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Rh tion. A memorable instance of this independent action was his hearty support of the Mexican war measures of Polk's administration, in spite of the violent opposition of the Whigs. On the accession of President Fillmore, Mr. Johnson resigned, and for more than twenty years afterward he was ex- clusively engaged in his profession- al duties, appear- ing during that time in the trial of celebrated cases in almost every part of the coun- try, from New England to Cali- fornia. In 1854 he was employed by some English claimants to ar- Ene a case in London before an Anglo - American commission. During his residence of several months in England he was received with marked attention by the barristers and judges of that country, and left a reputation be- hind him which had not been forgotten when, fourteen years afterward, he went as minister to the court of St. James. Whether in or out of office, Mr. Johnson was invariably outspoken in his opinions of all public matters. His decided oppo- sition to the proscriptive doctrines of the " Know- Nothing " party led him, together with many of the Whig leaders in Maryland, to unite with the Demo- crats in 1856 and in the subsequent support of Buchanan's administration. In the presidential contest of 1860 Mr. Johnson joined the Douglas wing of the party, and was active in his efforts to secure its success. He was a member of the peace congress in Washington in 1861 and in 1862. Throughout the civil war he supported the Na- tional cause, and sustained the measures of the ad- ministration. When peace was restored he urged the readmission of the southern states without de- lay. He voted for the first reconstruction bill, sup- ported that measure when it was vetoed by Presi- dent Johnson, and opposed the second bill. Dur- ing his term he was engaged by the government as an umpire in adjusting questions that had arisen in New Orleans during the civil war. In 1868 he resigned his seat in the senate, having been ap- pointed by President Johnson to succeed Charles Francis Adams as minister to England, where he negotiated the " Johnson-Clarendon " treaty for the settlement of the Alabama claims, which was rejected by the senate. In his negotiations with Lord Clarendon he procured a perfect recognition of everything that our government claimed in the international controversies growing out of the civil war. The failure of the senate to ratify the John- son-Clarendon treaty was due to party jealousy, and nothing more than was embraced in the terms of Mr. Johnson's protocol was afterward obtained from Great Britain. Mr. Johnson's popularity among Englishmen was proverbial, and his recall by President Grant, in 1869, and the nomination of his Republican successor became a party neces- sity. Although seventy-three years of age when he returned from England, he resumed his law practice with his early eagerness. In 1872 he sup- ported Horace Greeley for president. He was con- stantly employed in court and office practice un- til his death, which was caused by apoplexy, and which took place at the executive mansion in An- napolis, where he had been the guest of the gov- ernor, and was awaiting the call of a case in the court of appeals. In conjunction with Mr. Thomas Harris he reported the decisions of the Maryland court of appeals, known as "Harris's and John- son's Reports " (7 vols., 1820-'7).

JOHNSON, Robert, governor of South Carolina, b. in 1682 ; d. in Charleston, S. C., 3 May, 1735. He was the son of Gen. Sir Nathaniel Johnson, governor of South Carolina from 1702 till 1709, who left his son a considerable estate. On 30 April. 1717, he was commissioned governor by Lord Carteret, at a time when the disaffection of the colony toward the lords proprietors was rapidly developing into rebellion. One of his first orders was to equip a ship to act against the pirates that were then infesting the coast, and he com- manded in person in a victorious engagement with them off the bar of Charleston. The struggle be- tween the lords proprietors and the commons house of assembly culminated in the convention of 1719, of which Arthur Middleton was president. This convention established a revolutionary govern- ment, and requested Robert Johnson to assume the executive in the name of the king, which he declined to do. asserting the rights of the lords proprietors. The convention thereupon elected James Moore, and asserted their power by military force. In 1731 Johnson was appointed royal gov- ernor, and came from England to take possession of this office. Gov. Johnson aided Gen. Ogle- thorpe and the first settlers of Georgia by giving them food and escort, and during his term the set- tlement of Purrysbury, by the Swiss under Col. Peter Purry, was made. The general assembly erected a monument to his memory in St. Philip's church, Charleston.

JOHNSON, Robert Ward, senator, b. in Ken- tucky in 1814; d. in Arkansas about 1879. He re- ceived an English education, studied law, was ad- mitted to the bar, and removed to Pine Bluffs, Ark., where he practised his profession. He was elected to congress as a Democrat, and served from 1847 till 1853, when he was chosen U. S. senator. He was chairman of the committee on printing, and a mem- ber of those on military affairs and on public lands. He withdrew in 1861 when Arkansas passed an ordinance of secession, was elected to the Provis- ional Confederate congress, and in 1862 elected to the Confederate senate, in which he was an active member until the close of the civil war, after which he practised law in Washington, D. C.

JOHNSON, Rossiter, author, b. in Rochester, N. Y., 27 Jan., 1840. His father, Reuben Johnson (1791-1876), was one of the small company that, with three old guns, drove off the British fleet that bombarded Stonington, Conn., in 1814. He was educated at Williams, and was for many years a teacher in Rochester. The son was graduated at the University of Rochester in 1863, delivering the poem on class-day. In 1864-'8 he was connected with Robert Carter (q. v.) in editing the Rochester &ldquo;Democrat,&rdquo; a Republican newspaper, and in 1869-72 was editor of the Concord, N. H., &ldquo;Statesman.&rdquo; In 1873-'7 he was associated with Messrs. Ripley and Dana in editing the &ldquo;American Cyclopædia,&rdquo; and in 1879-'80 with Sydney Howard Gay in the preparation of the last two volumes of his &ldquo;History of the United States.&rdquo; In 1883 he became editor of the &ldquo;Annual Cyclopaedia.&rdquo; He devised and edited the series of &ldquo;Little Classics&rdquo; (16 vols., Boston, 1874-'5; two additional vols., 1880; 25th ed., 1887), and has also edited &ldquo;Works of the British Poets, with Biographical Sketches&rdquo; (3 vols.,