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ROBINSON, STUART: Presbyterian; b. at Strabane (13 m. s.s.w. of Londonderry), Ireland, Nov. 26, 1816; d. at Louisville, Ky., Oct. 5, 1881. He was graduated at Amherst College, 1836; studied theology at Union Theological Seminary, Va., and at Princeton; was ordained, 1$42; pastor at Kanawha Salines, W. Va., 1841-47; at Frankfort, Ky., 1847-52; at Baltimore, 1852-56; was professor of church polity and pastoral theology in the Presbyterian theological seminary at Danville, Ky., 1856-57; and pastor at Louisville, Ky., 1858-81. He was one of the most prominent clergymen of the South; and published The True Presbyterian; but, his loyalty being doubted, the paper was suppressed by the military in 1862, and he removed to Canada, preaching at Toronto. In 1866 he returned to his pastorate at Louisville and resumed his journal under the title Free Christian, Commonwealth. Expelled from the general assembly in 1866 for signing the " Declaration and Testimony " (a protest against political deliverances by the official bodies of the church), he induced the synod of Kentucky to unite with the general assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church in 1869. Among his published works are, The Church of God an Essential Element of the Gospel (Philadelphia, 1858); Slavery as Recognized by the Mosaic Law (Toronto, 1865); and Discourses of Redemption (New York, 1866; Edinburgh, 1869).

ROBSON, GEORGE: United Free Church of Scotland; b. at Glasgow May 8, 1842. He was educated at the university of his native city (M.A., 1861), the universities of Erlangen, Berlin, Tiibingen, and Geneva (1862-65), and United Presbyterian Hall, Edinburgh (1866). In 1866 he was ordained minister of Union Street Church, Inverness, where he remained until 1895, when he accepted a call to the pastorate of Bridgend Church, Perth. He retired from the active ministry in 1903, and since that time has resided in Edinburgh, although he still remains senior pastor of Bridgend. He has taken a prominent part in educational movements and was one of the founders of the Northern Counties Institute for the Blind. In 1874 he visited Norway to investigate recent religious movements in that country, and fifteen years later paid a similar visit to the Church missions in the West Indies. He has been the editor of The Missionary Record since 1891. His theological position is essentially conservative, and he has a strong desire for union among evangelical churches and for their cooperation in evangelistic work. In addition to translating and editing the first volume of the English version of I. A. Dorner's Geschichte der protestantisehen Theologie, besonders in Deutschland (Munich, 1867) under the title History of Protestant Theology, particularly in Germany (Edinburgh, 1871) and preparing the English translation of the seventh edition of G. A. Warneek's Abriss einer Geschichte der protestantischen Missionen von der Reformation, bis auf die Gegenwart under the title Outline of the History of Protestant Missions (Edinburgh, 1901), he has written The Story of the Jamaica Mission (Edinburgh, 1894).

ROCHELLE: A city on the west coast of France in the department of the Charente-Inf6rieure,

having a population of about 28,000. It is a suffragan bishopric of Bordeaux and a fortress of the first class. Its origin dates from the tenth century when the town grew up around a feudal castle built upon a rocky escarpment (Rupella, Rochella) in the midst of the marshes of the lower Charente. In the twelfth century it became the chief place of the feudal county of Aunis. The city and territory passed to England with the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II. (1151), and remained under English rule until 1224 when it was captured by Louis VIII. During the Hundred Years' War, it was taken by the English and formally ceded by France in the Treaty of Brdtigny (1360). But it continued to remain French in spirit. In 1372 the Rochellois refused to help the fleet of the Earl of Pembroke which was destroyed by a Castilian fleet in the service of France in the Bay of Biscay. In recognition of this service Charles V. confirmed anew the city's ancient municipal privileges. Its harbor became an important roadstead of the French marine and it was from Rochelle that the French discoverer Bethencourt sailed in 1402 for the conquest of the Canary Isles. The chief interest in La Rochelle, however, is religious, in connection with the Huguenot wars. About 1534 Calvinism acquired an important following in the region round about, and when the wars of religion began in 1562, Rochelle became an important Protestant stronghold in the west of France, rivaling Montauban and Montpellier in the south. Its peculiar importance lay in-the fact that it was open to the sea and had ready communication with its coreligionists in England and Holland. During the third civil war (1572-74), which was precipitated by the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, Rochelle was ineffectually besieged by the Roman Catholic forces under command of the duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX. The peace which terminated this war had an important part in shaping the ultimate settlement of the Huguenot question by the Edict of Nantes. In 1624, when the Huguenot troubles broke out anew, but under radically changed conditions (see RICHELIEU), Rochelle again was their chief stronghold. The situation was all the more dangerous to France because the Huguenots were operating in connection with the English under the duke of Buckingham, whose fleet had captured the Island of Re. Fortunately for the king Cardinal Richelieu was at the helm. On Aug. 15, 1627, the royal army invested the city. The difficulties of the siege were great. The walls were so strong that with the means which siegecraft possessed at that time it seemed impossible to force them. The chief difficulty, however, was the ready assistance of England. Richelieu did not lay siege to the place in regular form at once. He attempted one or two surprises, but sapping and mining were not effective and no assault was made. Instead a long line of redouts, some three leagues in length and connected by forts, was thrown up from one side of the bay to the other. It was then decided to close the bay. In accordance with the plans of an Italian engineer and a Parisian architect an enormous dike was built. The work was begun at the end of November, with a spur of masonry from each side of the bay, which when completed