EARL RUSSELL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 129, 31 May 1878, Page 2

EARL RUSSELL.

The following biography of the late nobleman, whose death was reported iu our yesteiday's telegrams is from Min oj the Time-.-^ Russell (Earl), third son of John, sixth Duke of Bedford, by Georgiaua, dajghter of the fourth Viscount Torrington, was born in Hertford-street, Mayfair, August 18, 1792. He received his early education at Sanbury and. at Westminster School, and went to the University of Edinburgh, where he was for some time a pupil of the metaphysician Thomas Brown and of Dugald Stewart. Under the tuition of the latter, the liberal opinions which he inherited from his parents were strengthened and confirmed, and the social atmosphere of Edinburgh at that time was well calculated to second the professor's influence. On leaviug the University his lordship Spent some months on a foreign tour, and in 1813. after the formation of the Liverpool Ministry, was returned to the House of Commons as one of the members for his father's borough of Tavistock. The Whigs, with Lords Wellesley and Grenville at their head, had about this time been offered place, which, for obvious reasons, they declined. Negatively they possessed considerabla iufluence, and as soon as the war was concluded, in 1815, they devoted their energies to the advocacy of social and political reforms. The Whig party gained ground during George the Third's illness, through the debate on the income-tax and foreign treaties. On the latter subject Lord Russell delivered an eloquent speech, which gave him at once a high place among parliamentary orators. Believing that each nation had a right to its own internal government he resisted the "Northern Settlemeut" (as it was called), by which Norway and Sweden were to be united, and to which England aud .Russia made themselves parties. In 1817 he spoke strongly against the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act— a measure which the Ministry thought it necessary to propose iu consequence of increasing outbreaks amongst the suffering masses,— and urged the propriety of appeasing their feelings by timely concessions. The Government, however, persevered, and instituted State prosecutions against the chief offenders. Disgusted with the failure of the efforts of his party, Lord J. Russell seriously entertained the design of retiring from public life, from which he was dissuaded by his political friends, aided by the well-known eloquent appeal of Thos. Moore. He took up the question of Parliamentary Reform, aud by repeated motions on the subject, in which he was supported by public opinion, had the satisfaction of seeing the cherished object resisted each year by decreasing majorities; and he was regarded as the recognised leader of the movement, la Feb. 1820, he opened the assault by proposing a bill for the disfranchisement of four boroughs notorious for bribery and corruption, and the proposal, though carried in the Commons, was rejected by the House of Lords. The defeat was virtually a victory. In the Parliament of 1821, though he failed in carrying a resolution which affirmed the absolute necessity of a change, he succeeded iu striking the Borough of Grampound off the roll of constituencies. Nor was his attention confined to the question of Parliamentary Reform; he appeared as the avowed defender of Queen Caroline, an advocate of Catholic Emancipation, and an opponent of the Test aud Corporation Acts. With the accession of Canning to power, on the death of Lord Castlereagh, the question of Catholic Emancipation rose into paramount importance.^^But the nation at large was opposed to the ci^ge, and in 1826, in consequence of his advocacy of the principle, the County of Huntingdon rejectedLord J. Russell, who had represented it in the previous Parliament. Chosen for Bandon, in Ireland, he continued his course of persistent attack, and, though unable to effect any important change whilst Mr Canning lived, he renewed the campaign so rigorously on the accession of the Duke of Wellington to power in 1828, that the Test and Corporation Acts were repealed, aud in April, 1829, the Catholic Relief Bill became the law of the land. Reinforced in their crusade by the Catholic members, some forty or fifty having taken their seats in the Com- I mons m 1830, Lord John Russell and his friends renewed their agitation for a reform in the Parliamentary representation, and though repeatedly beaten in the Upper House, they had the satisfaction of seeing the measure carried in the summer of 1832", after more than one appeal to the country at large, aud the Reform Bill became part and parcel of the law of England on the 7th of June. Lord John Russell, now at the zenith of his fame, stood forth as the personal embodiment of progress. In 1830 he entered upon office for the first time as Paymaster of the Forces, in Earl Grey's Ministry, and in 1831 he was returned member for Devonshire. In 1834 Lord Grey was succeeded by Lord Melbourne, and the return of the latter to power, after a brief interregnum, during which the seals were placed in the bauds of Sir Robert Peel, was mainly due to the wellknown Appropriation Clause in the Irish. Tithe Bill, proposed by Lord John Russell, who became Home Secretary, and from J835 till 1841 was virtually the mainspring and guiding spirit of the Melbourne Administration, though iu office he did not carry out the appropriation principle, on which he, with his colleagues, had driven Sir 11. Peel from power. It must be admitted that the various alterations which were carried out in Municipal Reform, in the Irish Tithe question.' in Ecclesiastical Reform, aud in the regulation of the marriages of Dissenters, were mainly the results of Lord John Russell's efforts during the above period, in the latter

portion of which he held the office of Secretary for the Colonies. From 1841 till 1846, whilst the late Sir 11. Peel was iu power, Lord John Russell led the Opposition ; but the carrying of Free Trade by that able minister broke up his party ; and, on the rejection of the Irish Coercion Bill iu 1846, Lord John Russell succeeded to the premiership, which he held until 18.32, Jn office his lordship showed an indisposition to take the initiative in any marked measure of progress and advancement. As a consequence, he could only depend upon a very small and uncertain majority in Parliament ; and the inefficiency of his Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, accompanied; nearly at the.same time, by the secession of his colleague Lord Paimerston, forced him, early i n 1852, to resign the seals of office into the hands of Lord Derby. Under the administration of the Earl of Aberdeen, his lordship field the portfolio of Foreign Affairs for a short time, a seat in the Cabinet without office, and the post of Lord President of the Council. In the latter capacity he brought forward, .in 1854,auother Reform Bill, which proposed to swamp tht, smaller boroughs, by joining to them other neighboring districts fol: electoral purposes. Thfe measure was withdrawn, on aee'oiint of the war with Russia. His lordship, who resigned ii few days before. Mr Roebuck's vote of censure on the Coalition Ministry came on for discussion, accepted office under Lord Palmcrstou sis Colonial Secretary, in Feb., :555, represented England at the Vienna conferences, and in consequence of the dissatisfaction caus-d by his mode of conducting the negotiations, again resigned. lie i resumed office as Minister for Foreign Affairs, with a seat in the Cabinet, on Lord Palmerston's return to power iu 1859. Important events occurred in various parts of the world, giving rise to political difficulties, towards the solution of which his lordshipj es Foreign Minister, bore a conspicuous part. Amongst these may be mentioned the protests made by the British Government to thatof Hu.-sia- against the oppression practised on the unhappy Poles; its urgent endeavours to deter the great German powers from pursuing an aggressive policy towards Denmark; and the troublesome disputes that arose between the United States and this country through the neutrality we were obliged to observe between the contending parties in the deplorable civil war — disputes which at one time assumed a very threatening aspect. It must he adinitted, with respect to some of these vexed questions, that however unsuccessful the efforts of Great Britain may have been, through the backwardness of the allies, in averting the evils it sought to counteract, the sincerity of its intentions, as evinced in iLs| diplomatic action under the auspices of Earl Russell, has been clearly manifest. Lord John Russell, rejected for South Devonshire in May, 1835, was, during the same month; elected for Stroud, which he continued to represent till June, IS4I, when he was returned fourth on the poll for the city of London, aud retained this seat till he was raised to the peerage as Earl Russell, July 30, 1861. After the death of Lord Paimerston, Oct. 18, 1365, Earl Russell, for the second time, became Prime Minister, and, in conjunction with Mr Gladstone, found himself at the head of the Liberal party, with a majority of between seventy and eighty in the liouse of Commons. During the session of ISGG they introduced a Reform Bill, and the refusal of Earl Russell and Mr Gladstone to take counsel with the Liberal leaders, or to make any concessions, led to a hostile vote on a modification proposed June 18. by the late Lord Dunkellin, and soon afterwards the Ministry resigned. Since that period Earl Russell has pursued a career of independent and unofficial liberalism in the House of Lords, in which he introduced a Hill, April 9, 18G9, empowering the Crown to confer a limited number of life peerages. The Bill passed through committee on June 3, but on July 8 it was rejected, on the motion for the third reading, by 106 rotes against 77. On June 20, 1870, he introduced a motion for a commission to inquire into the relations between the mother country and the colonies, especially with reference to the defeuce of the latter which motion, after a debate, was withdrawn. His lordship married, first, April 11, 1835, Adelaide, daughter of Thomas Lister, Esq , and widow of Lord Ribblesdale; aud secondly, July 26, IS4I, Lady Frances Anne, a daughter of the late Earl of Minto ; and was elected Rector of the University of Aberdeen iu 1863. His lordship has written " Life of Lord William L. Russell," "Essays and Sketches of Life and Character," " Letters written for the Post, and not for the Press," published in 1820; "Nun of Arronca: a Tale/' and "Don Carlos : a Tragedy," in 1822; "Essay on the History of the English Government," in 1823, " Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe," in 1524-9; "Establishment of the Turks in Europe," iu 1828; and " Essay on Causes of the French Revolution," in ,1832; and has edited "Memoirs and Correspondence of Thomas Moore," in 1852-6; " Selections from the Correspondence of John, fourth Duke of Bedford," in 1 853-4; " Inaugural Address," delivered in the capacity of President of the Social Science Association, at the second annual meeting of that body, held at Liverpool in 1858; "The Life and Times of Charles James Fox," 3 yols., 1859-66; a new edition of his " Essay on the History of the English Government and Constitution," 1865, translated into French the same year by C. B. Derosne; " Inaugural Address, delivered at Tavistock, at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Devon Association for the Advancement of Literature, Science, aud Art," 1866; three " Letters to Mr Chichester Fortescue on the State of Ireland," 1868-9; and "Selections from Speeches of Earl Russell, IS 17 to 1841; and from Despatches, 1859 to 18G5. With Introductions," 2 vols., 1870.