30 



RUSSELL 



politic*. He made his first motion in favour of 

 parliamentary reform in 1819, anil continued to 

 tiring the subject almost annually liefore the 

 Home. He was also the strenuous advocate of 

 the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, of 

 Catholic Emancipation, and of other measures of 

 civil and religious liberty. At the general <!<<( ion 

 of 1830, caused by the death of George IV., the 

 rallying cry of reform won many fresh seat* for the 

 Lil>eral.s; the 'Great Duke' was driven from office, 

 and Earl Grey proceeded to form a ministry. Lord 

 John Iwcanie Paymaster of the Forces, without a 

 eat in the cabinet ; bat he was one of the four 

 members of the government entrusted with the 

 task of framing the first Reform Bill, and on him 

 devolved the great and memorable honour of pro- 

 posing it. The fortunes of the measure belong to 

 the history of the day ; enough that on 4th June 

 1832 it received the royal assent, and the country 

 was saved from the throes of revolution that at 

 one time seemed imminent. In November 1834 

 Lord John left office with the Melbourne govern- 

 ment, which had succeeded Grey's; in March 1835 

 he brought forward a motion in favour of applying 

 the surplus revenues of the Irish Church to educa- 

 tional purposes ; and the success of his motion 

 caused the downfall of Peel and the return of 

 Melbourne to power. 



As Home Secretary and leader of the Lower 

 House Lord John now attained the zenith of 

 his career, four measures with which his name 

 is associated being the Municipal Reform Act 

 (1835), and the Tithes Commutation, Registration, 

 and Marriage Acts (1836). In 1839 he exchanged 

 the seals of the Home for those of the Colonial 

 Office ; in 1841 he proposed a fixed duty of 8s. per 

 quarter on foreign corn and a reduction of the 

 duties on sugar and timber. Defeated by the 

 opposition, the Melbourne government appealed to 

 the country without success, so once more made 

 way for Peel. In this general election Lord John, 

 who meanwhile had sat for Hunts, Bandon Bridge, 

 Devon, and Stroud, boldly challenged the verdict 

 of London on free trade oy standing for the City. 

 He was returned by the narrow majority of 9, and 

 continued to represent the City until his elevation 

 to the Upper House. 



In November 1845 he wrote a letter from Edin- 

 burgh to his London constituents, announcing his 

 conversion to the total and immediate repeal of the 

 Corn Laws. This letter led to Peel's resignation ; 

 and Lord John on llth December was commis- 

 sioned by the Queen to form an administration. 

 He failed, however, owing to Lord Grey's anti- 

 pathy to Palmeretnn, so Peel was forced back to 

 office, and carried the repeal. On the very day on 

 which the bill passed the Lords the Peel ministry 

 was defeated in the Commons on a question of 

 Irish coercion by a coalition of Whigs and Protec- 

 tionists, whereupon a Whij,' ministry succeeded, 

 with Lord John for prime-minister ( 1846). It suc- 

 ceeded tr> a difficult position. |n Ireland there was 

 the famine, followed l>\ a foolish rebellion, whilst 

 at home there was Chartism and the so-called 

 ' Papal aggression,' which evoked from Lord John 

 an indignant protest, first in the form of a letter to 

 the Bishop of Durham, and next in the Ecclesiasti- 

 cal Titles Bill of 1851. In the winter of that year 

 Lord Palmers ton'- approval of the French mini 

 d'etat without the Queen's or Lord John Hussell s 

 knowledge procured him his dismissal from the 

 office of Foreign Secretary ; within two months he 

 'gave Kusscll his tit-for- tat,' defeating him over a 

 militia hill (February 1852). After a short-live.! 

 Derby government, Lord Aberdeen in December 

 formed a coalition ministry of Whigs and Peelites, 

 with Russell for Foreign Secretary and leader in 

 the Commons. 



Hi- inopportune Reform Bill (1854), the Crimean 

 mismanagement, his resignation {January 1855), 

 and his bungling that -ame year at the Vienna 

 Conference, all combined to render him thoroughly 

 unpopular ; and for four years he remained out of 

 office. But in June 1859, in the second 1 'aimer 

 ston administration, he became Foreign Secretary, 

 which office he held six years, having meanwhile 

 in 1861 l>een created Earl Kus-cll. He iliil much 

 for the cause of Italian unity ; still, nun inter- 

 vention was his leading principle e.g. dining the 

 American civil war and the Slexu ick Holstein 

 difficulty. On Palmerston's death in 1865 Earl 

 Russell for the second time became prime minister, 

 but the defeat in the following June of his n>-\\ 

 Reform Bill left no alternative hut tcsigmuion. 

 He continued, however, busy with tongue and pen 

 till his death, which took place at his residence. 

 Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, on 28th May 

 1878. He is buried at Cheneys. Kail Ku-sell \\a- 

 twice married, and by his second wife, a daughter 

 of the Earl of Minto, was the father of John 

 Viscount Amberley (1842-76), who was author of 

 the posthumous Analysis of Religious Belief, and 

 whose son succeeded as second earl. 



The ' Lveurgus of the Lower House,' as Sydney 

 Smith dUMMa him, this 'little great man"' was 

 honest in all his convictions, in none more so than 

 in his belief in himself, 'fie knew he was right' 

 gives the key to both his career and his character. 

 Of his voluminous works, a score in numl>cr, and 

 including a tale and two tragedies, need only be 

 mentioned his Life of William Lord Russell ( 1819 ), 

 Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe ( 1824), The Corre- 

 spondence of Joint, fourth Duke of Stafford (3 vols. 

 1842-46), and the Memoirs of Fox and Moore. 



See his Selections from Spteehet and Drt/tatchr ( 1870), 

 his Recollections and Stiggrttiont (1875), and Spencer 

 AValpole's Lift of Lord Jokn Ruuell (2 vok 1889). 



Russell, WILLIAM CLARK, a popular nautical 

 novelist, was born in New York, 24th February 

 1844, son of the vocalist Henry Russell (liorn c. 

 1810), the composer of 'Cheer, Hoys. Cheer,' 

 'There's a Good Time Coming,' 'A Life on the 

 Ocean Wave,' &c. He had his schooling at 

 Winchester and in France, and went to sea at 

 thirteen. After about eight years' service he left 

 the sea to devote himself to the life of letters. 

 He was employed writing for the Newcastle Jini/i/ 

 Chronicle and the London Daily Ttlryriij'h, hut 

 from 1887 reserved his energies mainly for fiction, in 

 which he had already scored a remarkable success 

 with John Jfoldswort/i, ('/,,',/ M,,tr (1874), The 

 Wreck of the Grosvenor ( 1877 ), A n Ocean free Lance 

 (1880), The Lady Maud (1882), Jack's Courtship 

 ( 1884 ), and A Stranqe Voyage ( 1885 ). Later novels 

 were The Death ship (1888), Marooned (1889), My 

 Shiiniint'- I anise ( 1890), An Ocean Traijedy ( 1890), 

 ami MIJ hunish Sweetheart (1891). Other works 

 are his collections of papers : Round the Galley 

 Fire (1883), In the Middle Watch ( 1885), and On tile 

 Fok'ste Hem! ( 1 H84 ) : a short Life of Nelson ( 1890 ), 

 and another of Collins-wood (1891). 



Kusscll. WILLIAM HOWAKP, the first nnd the 

 most famous of 'special correspondents.' was horn 

 at Lilyvale in County Dublin, '28th Maich IK21, 

 had his education at Trinity College. Dublin, joined 

 the staff of the Timm in 1S4:1. and was called to 

 tin' liar in 1850. He went out to the ( Yiniea at the 

 beginning of the war, and there remained till the 

 close, writing home those famous letters which 

 opened the eves of Englishmen to the shameful 

 sufferings of the soldiers during the winter siege of 

 1854-55, and ijuickly brought about the fall of the 

 Aberdeen ministry. He next witnessed the events 

 of the Indian Mutiny, ret inning to England in 

 1858. He established the Army and Navy Gazette 



