EARL RUSSELL.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2898, 30 May 1878, Page 2

EARL RUSSELL.

The fo''owing biographical notice of one of Engle.ad'a greatest statesmenwhose death at the age of 86 was reported by calogram this morning—is from " Men of the Time :"—

Russell (Earl), better known as Lord John Russell, third son of John, sixth Duke of Bedford, by Georgiana, daughter of the fonrth Viscount Torrington, was born in Hertford street, Mayfair, August 18,1792. He receiv d. his early education at Sunbury 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 doubtless strengthened and confirmed, and the social atmosphere of Edinburgh at that time was well calculated to second the professor's influence. On leaving the university his lordship spent some months on a foreign tour, and in 1813, after the formation of the Liverpool ministry, was returned t« 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, whbh, for obvious reasons, they declined. .Negatively they possessed considerable influence,- 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 Settlement" (as it was called), by which Norway and Swsden were to Jbe united, and to which England and Eussia made themselves parties. In 1817 he spoke strongly against the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act—a measure which the Ministry thought it necessary farpro> v pose in. conseqence of increasing outbreaks amongst the suffering masses—and urged the propriety of appeasing therr 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 scricv.rly entertained the desig.l of retiring tram public life, from whic"- Lie was dissuaded by his political friends, aided by the wellknown eloquent.appeal of Thomas Moore. He took up the question of Parliamentary Reform, and by repeated motions on the subject, in which be was supported by public opinion, had the satisfaction of seeing the cb.e»l?hed objecj resisted each year by decreasing majorities; and he was regarded as the recognised leader of tin movement. In February, 1820, he opened the assault by proposing a bl'l 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. Tab defeat was virtually a victory. In the Parliament of 1821, though he failed in carrying a resolution which affirmed the abstract necessity of a change, he succeeded in 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 Koman Catholic Emancipation, and an opponent of the" Test and Corporation Oaths. With the accession of Canning to power, on the death of Lord Castlereagh, the question of Koman Catholic Emancipation rose into paramount importance. But the nation at large was opposed to „ the change, and in 182 C, in consequence

of his advocacy of the^ principle, the county of Huntingdon rejected Lord J. Russell, who had represented it in the previous Parliament. '(Jhosen 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 vigorously on the accession of the Duke of Wellington to power in 1828, that the Test and Corporation Acts Were repealed, and in April, 1829, the Roman Catholic Relief Bill became the law of the land. Reinforced in their crusade by the Roman Catholic members, some forty or fifty having taken their seat 3in the Commons in 1830, Lord John Russell and his friends renewed their agitation ior 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, and the Reform Bill became part and parcel of the law of England June 7. Lord John Russell, now at tft^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, pud in 1831 he was returned member for Devonshire. In 1834 Lord Grey was succeeded by Lord Melbourne, and the return of the latter to

ower, after a brief interregnum, during tvhnh the seals were placed in the hands of Sir Robert Peel, was mainly due to the well known Appropriation Clause in ihe Irish Tithe Bill, proposed by Lord John Russell, who became Home Secretary, and from 1835 ill 1841 was virtually the mainspring and guiding spirit of the Melbourne Administration, though in office he did not c.rry out the appropriation principle, on which he, with his colleagues, had driven Sir It. Peel from power. It must be admit! Ed that the various alterations which were carried out in Municipal reform, in th? Irish Tithe question, in Ecclesiastical Reform, a.. 1 in the regulation of the mar iagea of Dis* senters, were mainly the rrvults of Lord John Russell's efforts diving the abcve period, the latter portion of which he held the office of Secretary for the Colonies. From 1841 till 1846, whilst Ibe .'-.to Sir B. Peel was in power, Lord John Russell led the Opposition; but the carrying of Free Traue by that able Minister broke up his party; and, on fhe rejection of the Irish Coercion Bill in 1846, Lord John Russell succeeded to the Premiership, which he held until 1852. In office his Lordship showed an indisposition to take the initiative in any mark'd measure of progress and advancement. As a consequence he could only depend upon a very' ■null and uncertain majority in Parliament ; and the inefficiency of h?s •' Ecclesiastical Titles Bill," accompanied, nearly at the same time, by the secession of his colleague, Lord Palmerston, forced him, early in 1852, to resign the seals of office into the hands of Lord Derby. Under the administration of the Earl of Aberdeen, his Lordship held the portfolio of Foreign Affairs for a shorttime, 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, another Reform Bill, which proposed to swamp the smaller boroughs, by joining to them other neighboring districts for electoral purposes. The measure was withdrawn, on account of the war with Russia. His Lordship, who resigned a few days before Mr Roebuck's vote of censure on the Coalition Ministry came on for c':.scussion, accepted office under Lord Palmerston as Colonial Secretary, in February, 1855, represented England at the Vienna conferences, and, in consequence of the dissatisfaction caused by his mode of oonductingthe negotiations, again resigned* He resumed office as Minister for Foreign Affairs, with a seat in the Cabinet, on Lor 4 Palmerston's return to power in 1859. Important events occurred in Tarious parts of the world, giving rise to political difficulties, towards the solution of which his Lordship, as Foreign Minister, 'has borne a conspicuous part. Amongst these may be mentioned fie protests made by the British Government V•> that of Russia against the oppression ■ actised on the unhappy Poles; its urgent endeavors to deter the great German powers from pursuing an aggressive policy towards Dennark ; and the troublesome disputes that arose between the United States and this country through the neutrality we wero obliged to observe between the" contending parties in the deplorable civil war—disputes which at one time assumed a very threatening aspect. It must be admitted, with respect to some of these vexed questions, that however unsuccessful the efforts of Great Britain may have been, through the backwardness of allies, in averting the evils it sought to counteract, the sincerity of its intentions, as evincsd. in,its 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, 1841, when ha.was returned fourth on the poll for typ pity of London, and retained this seat till hie was raised to the Peerage as Earl Russell,. July 30, 1861. After the death of, Lord Palmerston, October 18, 1865, 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 House of Commons. During the session of 1866 they introduced a Reform Bill, and the refusal of Earl Russell and Mr Gladstone to take counsel with the Literal leaders, or to make any corcessions, led to a hostile vote on amodification proposed June 18, by the late Lord Dunkellin, and soon after the Ministry resigned. His Lordship manied, first, April 11, 1835, Adelaide, daughter of Thomas Lister, Esq., and widow of Lord Ribblesdale; and, secondly, July 26, 1841, Lady Frances Anne, a daughter of the late Earl of Minto ; and wes elected Rector of the University of Aberdeen in 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 Arrouca : A Tale," and " Don Carlos : A Tragedy," in 1822; " Essay on History of the English Government," in 1823; " Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe," in 1824-9; " Establishment of the Turks in Europe," in 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 1853-4; " Life of Charles James Fox," in 1853-6; and " Memorials and Correspondence of Fox," in 1859. A new edition of his "Essay on History of English Gdyeinment," appeared in 1865.