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RUSSELL, LORD WILLIAM. 



RUSSELL, LORD WILLIAM 



212 



uings of the great Russian war, Lord John waa obliged to abandon his 

 favourite measure, or at least to postpone it to a more convenient 

 time. Nor was it long before he found occasion to differ with Lord 

 Aberdeen and the Peelite portion of the government on the conduct 

 of the war. Refusing to share the unpopularity attached to the 

 Aberdeen ministry on account of the disasters in the Crimea, Lord 

 John resigned his connection with it before its final disruption in 

 January 1856. Accordingly, when Lord Palmerston formed his 

 ministry for the more vigorous prosecution of the war, Lord John 

 consented to serve under him as Colonial Secretary. This connection 

 between two men whose antecedents had made them to some extent 

 rivals did not last long. When the Vienna conferences were agreed 

 upon with a view to the conclusion of a peace between Russia and the 

 Allies, Lord John accepted the offer made by Lord Palmerston that 

 he should be British plenipotentiary at the Conferences. The issue of 

 his lordship's negotiations in this capacity did not give satisfaction ; 

 and in June 1855 he resigned his place in the ministry, and left to 

 Lord Palmerston the honour and responsibility of concluding the war 

 in a manner that the nation would approve. 



From that time till the moment at which we write (April 1857) 

 Lord John's position in parliament has been that of an independent 

 statesman sometimes supporting and sometimes criticising Lord 

 Palmerston'a policy, and in the mean tune waiting, it is supposed, 

 till events recall himself to power and enable him to initiate a 

 new era of Whiggism by another Reform Bill. He was one of that 

 miscellaneous majority who supported Mr. Cobden's motion, con- 

 demning Lord Palmerston's government, on account of the hostile 

 proceedings against Canton, and so occasioned the dissolution of 

 parliament in March 1857. Public feeling so thoroughly going along 

 with Lord Palmerston on this " China question," it was supposed 

 that Lord John Russell would lose his seat for London, if he pre- 

 sented himself for re-election. Efforts were made to oust him ; but 

 he was bold enough to go to the poll ; and the recollection of his past 

 services so far prevailed over temporary dissatisfaction with him that 

 he was returned third on the list. At the present moment (April 

 1857) there is much speculation as to what may be his future 

 career. That he may yet lead the country in great home-questions is 

 everywhere regarded as a likelihood ; and it remains yet to be seen 

 whether Lord Palmerston's relations to him and his to Lord Palmer- 

 ston will be such in the new parliament that the country can have the 

 services of both without the spectacle of their rivalry. 



Lord John has been twice married first to Adelaide, eldest 

 daughter of Thomas Lister, Esq. of Armytage Park, and widow of the 

 second Lord Ribblesdale ; and secondly, to Lady Frances, second 

 daughter of the Earl of Minto. He has a family. Among his literary 

 appearances, besides those that have been mentioned, and besides 

 numerous political letters, &c., are ' A Selection from the Corre- 

 spondence of John, fourth duke of Bedford, from the Originals at 

 Woburn Abbey, with an Introduction,' 1842-3 ; ' Memorials and Cor- 

 respondence of Charles James Fox,' edited, &c., 1853 et seq. ; and 

 ' Memoirs, Journal and Correspondence of Thomas Moore,' edited &c. 

 1853-6. Lord John has also not unfrequently lectured at educational 

 arid other institutions : and some of these lectures have been pub- 

 lished the latest being one on ' The Obstacles which have retarded 

 Moral and Political Progress,' delivered in Exeter Hall before the 

 Young Men's Christian Association in 1856. He has recently an- 

 nounced his intention not to lecture in public any more but to 

 devote his time rather to furthering the cause of education as a 

 statesman. 



RUSSELL, LORD WILLIAM, was born in September 1639 : his 

 ancestors were early possessed of landed property in Dorsetshire. We 

 find John Russell in 1221 the constable of Corfe Castle, and his 

 descendants subsequently filling honourable situations : one of them, 

 Sir John Russell, was Speaker of the House of Commons in the second 

 and tenth year of Henry VI. A fortunate occurrence raised this 

 family to wealth and honour ; in 1506 Philip, archduke of Austria, 

 having been driven by a storm into the port of Weymoutb, was 

 hospitably entertained by Sir Thomas Trenchard, a neighbouring 

 country gentleman ; and Sir Thomas, knowing that the then head of 

 the Russell family had travelled and was a good linguist, invited him 

 to meet his unexpected guest. During this visit Mr. Russell so pleased 

 the archduke that he recommended him to the king, by whom he was 

 appointed one of the gentlemen of the Privy Chamber. " He after- 

 wards attended Henry VIII. in his expedition in France, and was 

 present at the taking of Therouenne and Tournay. In 1522 he was 

 knighted by the Earl of Surrey for his services at the taking of Morlaix 

 in Bretagne, and was created Lord Russell in 1539." The lands of 

 the abbey at Tavistock and of the dissolved monastery at Woburn 

 were afterwards conferred upon him, and he was made Earl of Bedford. 

 (' Life of Lord Russell,' by his descendant Lord John Russell, from 

 whose work the principal part of this article is derived.) He died in 

 1555, and was succeeded by Francis, the second earl, who left no issue. 

 The title now passed to the only son of Sir William Russell, by name 

 Francis, who is known among other things for his drainage of the 

 fens of Lincolnshire by the Bedford level. He died in 1641, and was 

 succeeded by William Russell, who married Lady Anne Carr, daughter 

 of the Countess of Somerset, known for her participation in Sir Thomas 

 Overbury's murder, and had issue, three daughters and seven sons, of 



whom Lord William Russell, the subject of this memoir, was the third. 

 The eldest died an infant, and the second in 1678. 



Lord William Russell was educated at Cambridge, afterwards resided 

 at Augsburg, spent a considerable time in different parts of the Con- 

 tinent, returned to England at the Restoration, and was elected 

 member for Tavistock. He married, in 1669, Rachel Wriotheely, 

 second daughter of the Earl of Southampton, and widow of Lord 

 Vaughan, the eldest son of Lord Carberry, a woman distinguished for 

 ardent and tender affection, pious, reflecting, firm, and courageous ; 

 alike exemplary in prosperity and adversity, when observed by multi- 

 tudes or hidden in retirement. 



In the company of his excellent wife Russell would have continued 

 to enjoy without interruption all the happiness of a private life, had 

 the government been conducted with security and honour. But his 

 indignation and fears being awakened by the hypocrisy and shameless 

 venality of Charles II., and the avowed desire of the Duke of York to 

 restore the Roman Catholic religion, he entered the lists of political 

 contention, ranging himself with the defenders of Protestantism and 

 the opponents of the king's devices. He gave great strength to the 

 popular cause ; " I never knew," says Burnet, " any man have so 

 entire credit with the nation as he had. He quickly got out of some 

 of the disorders into which the court had drawn him, and ever after 

 that his life was unblemished in all respects. He had from bis first 

 education an inclination to favour the nonconformists, and wished the 

 laws could have been made easier to them, or they more pliant to the 

 law. He was a slow man and of little discourse ; but he had a true 

 judgment when he considered things at his own leisure. His under- 

 standing was not defective, but his virtues were so eminent that they 

 would have more than balanced real defects if any had been found in 

 the other." Lord Cavendish, Sir W. Coventry, Colonel Birch, Mr. Powle, 

 and Mr. Littleton were the principal members of the party with which 

 he acted, and which, by proceeding at first with moderation, gained 

 so great an influence in the country, that the king suddenly prorogued 

 the parliament, and when it re-assembled, found his opponents so 

 strong that it was hopeless to attempt the continuance of the Dutch 

 war. Thus the alliance with France was dissolved, and the troops by 

 which Charles had wished to make himself absolute were dispersed ; 

 the Cabal ministry was broken up, and Buckingham and Shaftesbury 

 were converted into popular leaders. The king's intrigues with France 

 were speedily renewed, arid engagements entered into, for the per- 

 formance of which he was again to receive a stipulated sum of money. 

 These intrigues were further opposed by Russell ; the country party 

 recommended war with France, promoted the impeachment of the 

 king's minister and favourite Lord Danby, and voted the exclusion of 

 the Duke of York from the succession to the throne. These were 

 violent measures, but they were justified by the condition of the 

 country, the king's baseness, and the fear of despotism and the re-estab- 

 lishment of the Roman Catholic religion. The struggle augured a 

 second civil war, and had Charles, like his successor, attacked the 

 church as directly as he did the constitution, an immediate civil war 

 would have been the probable result ; as it was, the foundation of a 

 future revolution was laid. 



Some of the principal Whigs were accused of having conspired to 

 take the king's life, to raise a rebellion in the country, and to establish 

 the Duke of Monmouth, the king's illegitimate son, upon the throne. 

 This was called the 'Rye-house Plot,' from the name of a farm near 

 Newmarket, at which it was said that the conspirators agreed to 

 meet, in order to attack and dispose of the king as he returned from 

 Newmarket races. There had doubtless been many meetings of 

 disaffected persons, in which Russell took part. The court ascribed 

 the king's safety to his return from Newmarket somewhat earlier than 

 was expected, and prepared to take advantage of the opening which 

 now offered for the annihilation of their political adversaries. Russell, 

 Essex, Sidney, and a number of less important persons \vere imme- 

 diately committed to the Tower. Some were convicted and executed 

 before Russell was brought to the bar. On the 13th of July 1683 he 

 took his trial at the Old Bailey for high treason. He was indicted 

 " for conspiring the death of the king, and consulting and agreeing to 

 stir up insurrection ; and to that end to seize the guards for the 

 preservation of the king's person." A full account of the proceedings 

 is given by Lord John Russell (' Life,' p. 184), and in Phillips's ' State 

 Trials.' We believe that the extent of his error was having attended 

 a meeting where a general rising was spoken of, and where there was 

 some discourse of the feasibleness of seizing the king's guard. It was 

 not shown that he consented to either of these schemes, which were 

 never matured or determined on. An illegal construction was put on 

 the 25th of Edward III., the statute under which he was indicted. The 

 evidence against him was contradictory and insufficient ; no one charge 

 in the indictment was proved : but in the nomination of the panel, the 

 sheriffs, who were creatures of the court, had secured his conviction. 

 He was found guilty and sentenced to death. 



From the time that the sentence was passed till the day of his exe- 

 cution, he manifested great piety, and maintained a dignified calmness. 

 He was accompanied to the scaffold by Bishop Burnet and Dean Tillot- 

 son. Burnet, who likewise attended him during his imprisonment, has 

 written an account of his latter days. He delivered to the sheriffs, at 

 the time that he was beheaded in Lincoln's Inn Fields, on the 21st of 

 July 1683, a paper containing an explanation and statement of his 



