Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1907 — The Round Robin. [ARTICLE]

The Round Robin.

The “round robin” had its origin several centuries ago in France. It was used there by officers of the army as a method of expressing their dissatisfaction with the course of the king or his ministers. By signing in a circular form the leaders of the movement could not be ascertained and singled out for punishment. The first instance on record of the use of this form of protest In the navy occurred in 1025. At the Instigation of the Duke of Buckingham, the king’s favorite, an English fl<>et. under Admiral Bennington, was dispatched to Itochelle to assist in the coercion of the Protestant subjects of I.ouls XIII. of France. But the English tars, in common with their fellow countrymen, looked with favor upon the resistance of their coreligionists against the proselyting zeal of the French king, and they signed a “round robin” expressing their determination not to firg a shot against them, and without waiting for a reply they weighed anchor and brought their ships back to England. The admiral, however, received a peremptory order to return to Dieppe, whereupon the whole of the crews quitted the ships without further parley.—London Standard.