Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/300

274 was apprenticed to a wheelwright. On attaining his 'majority he returned home and assisted his father in the work of the farm, devoting his leisure time to study. In 1798-'9 he was chosen to the assembly, and in 1807 to the state senate. He was then elected to congress, serving from 4 Nov., IS] 1, till 2'8 Feb., 1*14, and attaining note, particu- larly in his support of measures relating to the war of 1812. Pending the consideration of a declaration of war he made an able speech, closing with the words : " I repose safely on the maxim, ' Never to despair of the republic.' " Mr. Roberts had the entire confidence of Mr. Madison, who availed him- self of his services in many important emergencies. During this period he wrote largely for public journals, many of his letters appearing in the "Aurora," his writings, notably a series of letters addressed to John Randolph, of Roanoke, attraet- ing general public attention. When, in May. 1812. the president informed congress that there was no hope that Great Britain would abandon her ag- gressions, and an effort was made to adjourn con- gress, it was largely due to Mr. Roberts that, an ad- journment was prevented, and his call for the pre- vious question forced the vote on the war bill, 18 June, 1812. He urged a vigorous prosecution of the war, was a member of the committee of ways and means, and came to be regarded as the repre- sentative of Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treas- ury, on the floor of the house. While serving his second term he was chosen to the senate, and en- tered on his duties, 28 Feb., 1814. In the senate he became notable for the part that he took in the famous controversy growing out of the bill to ad- mit Maine into the Union. When the bill was re- ported with an amendment admitting Missouri also, Mr. Roberts moved the further amendment that slavery should be prohibited in the latter state. The debate on this motion, which lasted through three weeks, is historic. On its defeat came that of Mr. Thomas, of Illinois, known as the " Missouri compromise," which Mr. Roberts ably and determinedly opposed. After completing a full term of service in the senate, he was chosen again to the state assembly, and he was subse- quently appointed by the governor one of the canal commissioners. For twenty years he took a chief part in Pennsylvania in the opposition to Andrew Jackson, both before and after the latter became president. Mr. Roberts was an early and an active supporter of the protective tariff. In this interest he was a member of the national conventions that met at, Harrisburg in 1827 and at New York in 1830. He was a delegate in 1840 to the convention that nominated Gen. Harrison for the presidency, giving his support to Henry Clay, and on behalf of the IVimsylvania delegation he nominated John Tyler for the' vice-presidency. When, on the death of Harrison, Tyler succeeded to the presidency, he appointed Mr. Roberts collector of the port of Philadelphia, which post he filled from April, 1841, till the following year. In the contest that arose between Mr. Tyler and the Whig party, the president asked Roberts to remove about thirty officials in the customs department and to replace them with partisans of the president. This .Mr. Roberts refused to do, nor would he resign. Mr. Roberts had been a member of the Society of Friends, but was disowned by them because of the part he had taken in furthering the war of 1812. His sun, Jonathan Manning-, investigator, I), in Montgomery county, Pa., 7 Dec., 1*21 ; d. in Bur- lington, N. J., 28 Feb., 1888, studied law, was ad- mitted to the bar at Norristown, Pa., in 1850, and practised his profession for about a year, but abandoned it and engaged in commercial pursuits. These proving financially successful, he found time to gratify his desire for metaphysical investiga- tions. He also took an interest in politics, being an enthusiastic Whig and strongly opposed to slavery. He was a delegate to the Free-soil con- vention at Buffalo, N. Y., that nominated Martin Van Buren for president in 1848, and subsequently canvassed New Jersey for that candidate. When the so-called spiritual manifestations at Rochester, N. Y., first attracted public attention, Mr. Roberts earnestly protested against the possibility of their having a supernatural origin. After several years of patient inquiry he came to the conclusion that they were facts that could be explained on scien- tific principles and resulted from the operation of natural causes. This conviction led to his estab- lishing an organ of the new faith at Philadelphia in 1878 under the title of "Mind and Matter." His tearless advocacy of his peculiar views involved him in litigation and caused his imprisonment. Finding the publication of a journal too great a tax on his resources, he abandoned it, and devoted the rest of his life to study and authorship. Among his manuscript, of which he left a large amount, is "A Life of Apollonius of Tyana" and "A His- tory of the Christian Religion," which he completed just before his death.

ROBERT'S. Joseph, soldier, b. in Middletown, Del., 30 Dec., 1814; d. in Philadelphia, 18 Oct., 1898. He was graduated at the U. S. military acad- emy, and served in the Florida war of 1836-'7 as captain in a regiment of mounted Creek volunteers. From 1837 till 1849 he was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at the U. S. military academy, and he was made 1st lieutenant on 7 July, 1838, and captain on 20 Aug., 1848. In 1850-'8 he was engaged in hostilities against the Seminoles in Florida and on frontier duty in Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska, and in 1859 he was assigned to the artillery-school for practice at Fort Monroe, Va., where he was a member of the board in ar- range the programme of instruction in lSof)-'(!l. He was appointed major on 3 Sept., 1861, licr.-nnc' chief of artillery of the 7th army corps on 19 Sept., 1862, and commanded Fort Monroe in 1863-'5 and Fort McHenry, Md., in 1865-'6, receiving the appointments of colonel of the 3d Pennsylvania heavy artillery, 19 March, 1863, and lieutenant- colonel, 4th artillery, 11 Aug., 1863. He was bre- vetted colonel and brigadier-general, U. S. army, to date from 13 March, 1865, and brigadier-general of volunteers on 9 April, 1865, for meritorious and distinguished services during the war. On 9 Nov., 1865, he was mustered out of the volunteer service. From 1 May, 1867, till 1 April, 1868, he was acting inspector-general of the Department of Washing- ton, when he was made superintendent of theoreti- cal instruction in the artillery-school at Fort Mon- roe, Va., serving until 13 Feb., 1877. He was pro- moted colonel in the 4th artillery on 10 Jan.. 1*77, and was placed on the retired list on 2 July, 1877. ,Gen. Roberts is the author of a " Hand-Book of Artillery" (New York, 1860).

ROBERTS, Joseph Jenkins, president of Liberia, b. in Norfolk. Va.. 15 March, 1809 ; d. in Monrovia, Liberia, 24 Feb., 1876. He was a negro and the son of " Aunty Robos," as she was familiarly called in Petersburg, Va.,whence she emigrated with her three sons to Liberia in 1829. When the colony of Liberia vas founded by the American colonization society he was first lieutenant-governor and then governor of the colony, and. upon the formation of the republic in 1848, he was elected its first president, serving four years. When there was a revolt