The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-06-13
miscellaneous.
EARL JOHN RUSSELL DEAD,
TuE LAST OF LADY HOLLANDS
GREAT DINNER-TABLE TALK.
A Statesman Who Left Ills Mark on the Statute
Books of the Realm In which lie was Sub
jeCt-An Author with ne Reputation.

The cable announces that Earl Russell
died at 1850 last night at his residence
in Richmond, England. No family in
England is more deservedly designated
historical than that of Russell. In the
reign of Edward l. Sir William Russell
was member for Southampton, and Sir
John Russell was Speaker in the reign
ofHenry vi, Although the rise of the
Russels into the highest importance was
reserved for the sixteenth century, they
had occupied almost from the Norman
conquest a considerable position at King
ton Russell in Dorsetshire, where to this
day stands the ancient homestead of the
family, now farm house. John, Duke
of Bedford, writes in bis diary, in 1867
"Iwent in the morning to Barwick place,
where my ancestors last lived in Dorset
shire. 1t is fine farm, but a dismal
place." 1t WAS due to one Of the most
remarkable examples of luck on record
that Russell jumped by rapid bonds
from the Dorsetshire squirearchy to be
the richest subject in the realm. A storm
drove a foreign duke into Weymouth
harbor, and Sir Thomas Trenchard a
neighboring gentleman, whose last de-
BCendant died few years ago, hastened
to prefer hospitality. But his distin.
guished guest only spoke Spanish, and
he only English. 1t was awkward A
happy thought struck him. A groom
was despatched with letter to beg his
charming cousin, John Russell, fresh
from q continental tour of courts and
camps, to come and help him out Of his
embarrassment. John Russell cam saw
and conquered, not only the royal Duke,
but a greater than he. The former took
such fancy to him that he must needs
have HE company to London where he
warmly commended him to the King.
That Russell's tact and address was Of
the rarest kind there can be no question.
The man who could hold his own with
Henry VIII, and with his daughter
Mary was 10 common Courtier. Mr..
Disraeli has called the Jews an eminent
ly acquisitye race. 1t is no doubt most
useful gift, this of acquisition, and 3lr.
Russell seems to have had as much of it
as Shylock himself Two centuries and
a half later Edmund Burke thns sCath. |
ingly reflected on the quality Of the first |
Earl when replying to his descendants |
objections to his modest pension
"The grants to the House of Russell |
were 80 enormous as not only to outrage /!
economy, but even to stagger Credbility |
The Duke of Bedford is the leviathan Of |
the Crown-everything of him and about |
him is from the throne. Is it for him to |
question the dispensation of royal favor? |
The first peer of the name was a Mr. Rus
sell, person of an ancient gentleman's
family, raised by being minion of Hem
ry VIII. AS there is generally some re
semblance Of character to create these re-
lations, the favorite was in all likelihood
much such another as his master. The
first of those immoderate grants was not
taken from the ancient demesne Of the
crown, but from the recent coDfsCaton
of the ancient nobility of the land"
THAT of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buck.
ingham, beheaded by Henry VII
IL llG nun ldNluE buChEu lIlt DIUOu VI
his prey, threw the odal carcass TO the
jaCkall in waiting. The second, infinite
ly improving on the enOrmity of the
first, was from the plumber Of the church.
My grant had not its fund in the murder
of any innocent person Of illustrious
rank, or iu the pillsge of any body of un-
offending men,"
But however questionable may have
been the conduct of the first Earl, this
much may fairly be said for him, that he
only did what most others would have
done could they have only got the chance
and the Russells, while doing we'll for
themselves have, on the whole, done
we'll for their country, and of none of
them is this more true than of the ven
cradle peer whose death we record to-
day. Lord Russell was third son of the
sixth Duke of Bedford, by his first wife,
daughter Of Byng Viscount TorriDgton,
and was born in 1892. He went to West
minister school as all her family had for
generations, and to college at Edinburgh ,
at that time the fashion, to be under Du-
gald Stewart, then he travelled, and in
1913 was returned for TavistoCk, one OF ;
the few close boroughs yet remaining, ,
for which his nephew, Lord Arthur, =,
(brother Of Lord Odo) now sits. Num- ;
bers of men early in life grow disquieted :
with reverse, and want to change their !
career. Wellington applied for an Ex.
else Commissionership, and there is no
telling how far the map of Europe at this s
time does not reflect the refueal he got;
and Lord Russell, after few years Of
Parliamentary life, in opposition, grew
hopeless and disquieted, and thought OF |
Burrendering politics for letters. But he V
was, happily, dissuaded from any precip.
itate steps, and presently, having en- C
braCed the scheme of reforming Parlia. Q
to it until it was an accomplished fact. Y
This he did in the face of difficulties il
which only those who realize what the v
domination of Toryism then was can [
fully appreciate. y
His next chief aim was to remove the t,
disabilities Of Irish Roman Catholics e
Minor acts affecting them were one by y
one repealed, followed at length in 1929 v
by the Catholic Emancipation act, and Il
two years later he saw the realization of
his hopes long deferred of parliamentary 5
reform. The history Of the Reform Bill c
of 1881 is a too oft told tale to be more S
than glanced at here, but it is not beyond I
the truth to assert that Lords Grey, AL
thrope (afterWard Earl SpenCeI) and 1
John Russell averted revolution from L
England. a
1t was not until he was 38 that Lord h
Russell had the chance of Office. En-. Ct
tering Earl Grey's ministry in 1880 as Ii
Paymaster of the forces, he was appoint. n
ed in the succeeding Melbourne admin h
istration Home Secretary in 1885, and in r,
1889 Colonial Secretary, which latter of. t
flee he held until the Peel administra- Ii
tion succeeded that of Lord Melbourne o
His county is indebted to him for many II
of the acts Of liberal tendency placed