Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/641

Rh R O D R O D 617 all the comforts of life, they spend the more in the purchase of luxuries, the production of which increases. A fundamental part of the teaching of Rodbertus is his theory of social development. He recognized three stages in the economic progress of mankind : (1) the ancient heathen period in which property in human beings was the rule ; (2) the period of private property in land and capital ; (3) the period, still remote, of pro- perty as dependent on service or desert. The goal of the human race is to be one society organized on a communistic basis ; only in that way can the principle that every man be rewarded accord- ing to his work be realized. In this communistic or socialistic state of the future land and capital will be national property, and the entire national production will be under national control ; and means will be taken so to estimate the labour of each citizen that he shall be rewarded according to its precise amount. An immense staff of state officials will be required for this function. As we have already said, Rodbertus believed that this stage of social develop- ment is yet far distant ; he thought that five centuries will need to pass away before the ethical force of the people can be equal to it. From temperament, culture, and social position Rodbertus was averse to agitation as a means of hastening the new era ; and, in the measures which he recommends for making the transition towards it he showed a scrupulous regard for the existing interests of the capitalists and landholders. He proposed that those two classes should be left in full possession of their present share of the national income, but that the workers should reap the benefit of the increasing production. To secure them this increment of pro- duction he proposed that the state should fix a " normal working day " for the various trades, a normal day's work, and a legal wage, the amount of which should be revised periodically, and raised according to the increase of production, the better workman receiv- ing a better wage. By measures such as these carried out by the state in order to correct the evils of competition would Rodbertus seek to make the transition into the socialistic era. The economic work of Rodbertus is therefore an attempt made in a temperate and scientific spirit to elucidate the evil tendencies inherent in the competitive system, especially as exemplified in the operation of the iron law of wages. The remedy he proposes is a state management of production and distribution, which shall extend more and more, till we arrive at a complete and universal socialism, and all based on the principle that as labour is the source of value so to the labourer should all wealth belong. It is therefore an attempt to place socialism on a scientific basis ; and he is certainly entitled to be regarded as one of the founders of "scientific socialism " (see SOCIALISM). The following are the most important works of Rodbertus : Zur Erkenntniss unserer staatswirthschafilichen Zustande (1842) ; Sociale Briefean von Kirchmann, (1850); Creditnoth des Grundbesitzes (2cl ed., 1876); "Her Normal-Arbeitstag," in Tub. Zeitschrift (1878) ; tetters to A. Wagner, <fec., Tub. Zeitschrift (1878-79) ; Letters to Rudolf Meyer (1882). Within recent years Rodbertus has received great attention in Germany, especially from Adolf Wagner (Tiib. Zeitschrift, 187S) ; see also Kozak's work on Rodbertus (1S82), and an excellent monograph by G. Adler (Leipsic, 1884). RODERICK. See SPAIN. RODEZ, a town of France, chef-lieu of the department of Aveyron and the see of a bishop, 412 miles south of Paris by the railway which continues to B6ziers, is built at a height of 2077 feet on a promontory surrounded by the Aveyron, a sub-tributary of the Garonne by the Tarn. In population 14,425 inhabitants(15,333in the commune) in 1881 it ranks next to the industrial town of Millau. The cathedral was built between 1277 and 1535. A great flamboyant rose window and a gallery in the same style are the chief features of the principal facade. Each tran- sept has a fine Gothic doorway. At the north side of the building rises a tower (erected in the beginning of the 16th century) which ranks by its height as one of the wonders of the south of France, and bears aloft a colossal statue of the Virgin surrounded by the four evangelists. The interior has a fine rood loft and several interesting tombs. The episcopal palace with its collection of sculp- tured stones; the church of St Amans, in the Romanesque style, but entirely restored externally in the 1 8th century ; and several curious old houses of the 13th, 15th, and 16th centuries, such as the Hotel d'Armagnac, on the site of the old palace of the counts, also deserve to be mentioned. The ruins of a Roman amphitheatre still exist, and the town is supplied with water by the old Roman aqueduct recently restored. Rodez, called Segodumim under the Gauls and Ruthena under the Romans, was the capital of a tribe allied to the Arvernians. In the 4th century it adopted the Christian faith and St Amans, its first bishop, was elected in 401. During the Middle Ages con- tests were rife between the bishops in the "city" and the counts in the "bourg." The Albigenses were defeated near Rodez in 1210. The couutship of Rodez depended in succession on the count of Toulouse, on the king of France, and from the close of the 13th century on the count of Armagnac. From 1360 to 1368 the English held the town. After the confiscation of the estates of the Armagnacs in 1473 it passed to the dukes of Alenon and then to the D'Albrets. Henry IV. finally annexed it to the crown of France. Neither the Protestants nor the Leaguers any more than in earlier days the Albigenses were able to make themselves masters of Rodez. RODNEY, GEORGE BRYDGES RODNEY, BARON (1718- 1792), English admiral, second son of Henry Rodney of Walton-on-Thames, was born there on 19th February 1718. His father had served in Spain under the earl of Peter- borough, and on quitting the army obtained command of the king's yacht. George was sent to Harrow when quite young, and on leaving entered the navy. By warrant dated 21st June 1732 he was appointed as volunteer on board the " Sunderland," a fourth-rate. While serving on the Mediterranean station under Admiral Haddock he was made lieutenant in the " Dolphin," his promotion dating 15th February 1739. In 1742 he attained the rank of post-captain, having been appointed to the " Plymouth," 9th November. After minor services of an active charac- ter in home waters, he obtained command of the "Eagle," sixty guns, and in this ship took part in Hawke's victory off Ushant, 14th October 1747, over the French fleet under L'Etanduere. On that day Rodney gained his first laurels for gallantry, under a chief to whom he was in a measure indebted for subsequent success. On 9th May 1749 he was appointed governor and commander-in-chief of New- foundland, with the rank of commodore, it being usual at that time to appoint a naval officer, chiefly on account of the fishery interests. Returning home, he was elected M.P. for Saltash in May 1751, and married his first wife, Jane Compton, sister to the earl of Northampton, 3d February 1753. During the Seven Years' War Rodney rendered important service. In 1757 he had a share in the expedi- tion against Rochefort, commanding the "Dublin," seventy- four. Next year, in the same ship, he served under Admiral Boscawen at the taking of Louisburg (Cape Breton). On 19th May 1759 Rodney became a rear- admiral and was shortly after given command of a small squadron intended to destroy a large number of flat- bottomed boats and stores which were being collected at Havre for an invasion of the English coasts. He bom- barded the town for two days and nights without ceasing, and inflicted great loss of war-material on the enemy. In July 1760, with another small squadron, he succeeded in taking many more of the enemy's flat-bottomed boats and in blockading the coast as far as Dieppe. Elected M.P. for Penryn in 1761, he was in October of that year appointed commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands station, and within the first three months of 1762 had reduced the important island of Martinique, while both St Lucia and Grenada had surrendered to his squadron. During the siege of Fort Royal his seamen and marines rendered splendid service oh shore. At the peace of 1763 Admiral Rodney returned home, having been during his absence made vice-admiral of the Blue and voted the thanks of both Houses of Parliament. In 1764 Rodney was created a baronet by patent of 21st January, and the same year he married Henrietta, daughter of John Clies of Lisbon. From 1765 to 1770 he was governor of Greenwich Hospital, and on the dissolution of parliament in 1768 he successfully contested Northamp- ton at a ruinous cost. When appointed commander-in-chief of the Jamaica station in 1771 he lost his Greenwich post, but a few months later received the office of rear-admiral of Great Britain. Till 1774 he held the Jamaica coin- XX. 78