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harbour, at the point intended as that of embarkation; and the 
English Government having refused to incur the expense of its 
removal, it would finally have been broken up in 1874, had not Sir 
J ames Alexander, who had long endeavoured to call public attention 
to the matter, personally interfered, and undertaken at his own 
expense a voyage to Alexandria, and, with the aid of the British 
consul-general, succeeded in rescuing it from destruction. On his 
return he renewed his exertions, so many years unsuccessful, and 
obtained the munificent pecuniary assistance of Sir Erasmus 
Wilson, by which after great difficulties the obelisk was transported 
to England and erected in its present site. The country must he 
considered indebted to Sir James Alexander’s persevering energy 
for its possession of this most valuable and interesting antiquity. 
It would be difficult to enumerate the various other works of 
public and private character, whether in England or abroad, in 
which he was constantly engaged, and bore a leading and prominent 
part ; these will long be gratefully remembered by those who bene- 
fited by his exertions. 
Of him may truly be said, that in all countries whatever good 
work he found at his hand to do that he did with heart and soul ; 
and in him those who had the privilege of his acquaintance recog- 
nised that highest type of character, the single-hearted, high- 
minded Christian gentleman, whose life was devoted to duty and to 
the promotion of the interest and welfare of his fellow countrymen, 
and the communities among whom his lot might be more imme- 
diately cast. 
Alexander James Russell, C.S. 
Mr Alexander James Russell, Clerk to Her Majesty’s Signet, 
Edinburgh, who died recently — 8th January 1887 — at the age of 
seventy-two, was head of the firm known formerly as Russell & 
Hicolson, C.S., and latterly as Russell & Dunlop, and the business 
which he carried on was one of the oldest in Edinburgh, dating- 
back to the end of the seventeenth century, and having descended 
in the direct line from father to son. 
His father, Mr John Russell, was principal Clerk of Session, and 
