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* ROBERTSON. 191 ROBESPIERRE. Writings of WiJUain liohcrtsuti (Edinburgh, 1S12J. ROBERTSON, William H. (1823-98). An Aiii>iic;in iioliticiiin, born in Bcdl'ord, Westches- ter Lounty, X. Y. lie received an academic edu- cation, studied law, and bef;an practice in liis native town. His political career beyan in 1S4!I with his election as a Wilis to tlie State Assem- bly. In 1854 he was elected to the State Senate, and in the same year was elected county judge of Westchester County, and remained on the bench until 18G6. He allied liimself with the Kcinibli- can Party at its organization, and in ISOO lie was elected a member of the Fortieth Congress. From 1872 to 1881 he was again a member of the State Senate. In 1S81 his appointment as collector of the port of Xew York by President Garfield, whose nomination he had been largely instru- mental in securing, by leading a part of the New Y'ork delegation at the national convention in 1880 to desert the tirant column, caused a serious split in the Republican Party. His nomination, made without consulting the wishes of the two Republican Senators, Roscoe C'onkling (q.v.) and Thomas C. Piatt (q.v.), was confirmed by the Senate, and led to the resignation of the two Senators from that body. In the bitter struggle between the 'Stalwart' and 'Half-Breed' factions which followed, Robertson was active in the campaign that resulted in the election of new- Senators in the place of C'onkling and Piatt. Judge Robertson held the collectorship until 1885, when he resumed his law practice, and in 1888 was again elected to the State Senate. ROBERVAL, ro'bar'val'. Gilles Personne DE (lt)02-75). A French mathematician, born at Roberval, whence the name by which he is com- monly called. After four years' study in Paris he was appointed professor of philosophy at the Col- lege Gervais (1G31). and in 1033 succeeded ilorin in the chair of mathematics at the CoU&ge de France, a position which he retained till his death. He was an eager fighter and quarreled bitterly with Cavalieri, insisting on the priority of his own discovery of the methods of the in- divisibles, although he published nothing. Des- cartes he attacked because liis method of con- structing tangents ajipeared about the same time as his own; and with Torricelli he carried on an angry polemic as to which first discovered the method for determining the area of a cycloid. He is best known from the Robervallian lines, which he discovered, curves of infinite length inclosing a finite space. He also occupied him- self with mechanics and physics, and is the in- ventor of a balance bearing his name. He was. a member of the Academy of Sciences since its foundation in 166G. Gallois collected his writ- ings and published them in the Recueil of the French Academy of Science (1(593). ROBERVAL, Je.4.n Francois de la Roqie, Sieur de (c.1500-?). A French colonist in Canada, born in Picardy, France. After the return of Jacques Cartier (q.v.) from his first voyage, in 1536. Roberval was commissioned by Francis I. to lead an expedition to Canada for the purpose of making new discoveries, and probably of establishing a settlement, he being appointed lieutenant-general and Cartier cap- tain-general. Roberval sailed in April, 154'2 — Cartier having preceded him by almost a year — arrived at Newfoundland on June 7th, and win- tered at Cape Rouge, his followers sulTering terribly from starvation and cold. After June, 1543, when he seems to have started for the 'Province of Seguenay,' all iiuthentic record of him is lost. According to 'Ihevet, liis friend, ho returned to France and was killed in Paris; ac- cording to other accounts he ilied lit Hen. ROBESPIERRE, r.*ib'sp€-nr', Aucvstin Bon JosKiMi (17H4'.)4). The younger brother of JIaximilien Robespierre, born at .rras. He was educated at the College l,ouisle-(irand nt Paris, and then began the practice of law at Arras. He embraced the ideas of the French Revolution, and after holding a local oflice he was elected a member of the National Convention. In general he followed the policy of his brother. As a Deputy on mission he was present at the siege and capture of Toulon, where he recognizee! the genius of Bonaparte, whom he made one of his intimates. On his return to Paris he tried to inllucnce his brother to milder measures, but finally acquiesced in the sterner policy and vol- untarily shared his brother's fortunes fin the Hth Thermidor. He was guillotined July 28, 1794. ROBESPIERRE, Maximii.ikn Makie Isidore (175S-!I4). .V French Revolutionar.v leader. He was born at Arras May U, 1758, the eldest of the four children of ilaxiniilien Bartlifdenii Francois de Robespierre and .Taequeline Margue- rite Carraut. After some time spent in the col- lege at Arras, JIaximilien was given a scholar- ship by the Bishop of Arras which enabled him to complete his education in the College I.ouis-le- Grand at Paris. His brilliant career as a student gave him a reputation which proved of no little value ujjon his return to Arras in 1781 to begin the practice of his profession. His jiatron. the Bishop, appointed him criminal judge of the diocese of Arras in ilarcli, 1782, but he soon re- signed the place rather than pronounce a death sentence. His literary tastes .secured him an election to the Academy of Arras in 1783, and led him to compete, though with slight success, for prizes offered by the provincial acadeinies. That he was reckoned one of the wits and dandies of the town is shown by his niemliership in a con- vivial society, the Rosati, of which Carnot was also a member. The summons of the States- General a'roused him as it did hundreds of his fellows to political activity. Taking the popular side, he wrote pamphlets, engaged in discussions, andabove all took care to look after his own for- tunes. He was elected fifth Deputy of the Third Estate of the Province of Artois. Entering the States-General at the age of thirty-one, he, was almost unknown and without a personality that would command attention, so that in the reports of the early sessions the Parisian journalists referred to him simply as 'a Deputv.' Always adopting the popular ami radi- cal view, he spoke frequently, with such care in preparation and with such earnestness of man- ner that he soon overcame the defects of a shrill voice, small stature, pale nervous face, pnd twitch- ing eyps Jiartlv concealed by greenish glasses, which he constantly raised and lowered as he de- livered his long and polished periods with meas- ured accents. His former school friend Caniillc Desmoulins took pleasure in acting as the self- appointed press agent of the brilliant young radical, and the pages of the Revolutions d-- France et de Brabant made the name of Robe-