The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-01-29

pease the names OF the deceased sta esman
by making this frank avowal.
During the many years that we were on
one side of the Atlantic and Earl Russell
upon the other, our time occupied with pri-
vate affairs, and he controlling with consum-
mate ability the destinies Of the British
Empire. we never lost sight Of him. I'm.
mediately on our return to Europe in 1861,
we met him again, not through relations
established with the British Foreign Office
by Mr.. Yancey or Col. Mann, then resident
agents of the Cohfederacy in London, but
through Sir William and Lady HUT, with
whom we had formed cordial relat ions, which
soon rlpened into affectionate friendship.-
For months during the season, we met him
almost daily at the houses OF mutual friends.
! Sir William was member OF the Cabinet,
being Vice President of the Board OF Trade
-and M. ?. for Gibside, and the life long
friend of Lord John. Lady Hutt was a
member of the Walpole family, and thus a
| cousin Of Lady Francis Russell, the wife Of
Earl Russell's younger brother, Lord Fran
! els Russell, r. n, and daughter Of the late
| Rev. Algernon Peyton. D. D.. Dean Of
Ely, by his wife, Lady Mary Walpole, daugh-
| ter OF Horatio, Earl of Oxford. Lady
Hutt's connection with the Bedford family,
and her kinship to the Peytons, caused the
Hutts to take no small interest in US, which
they exhibited at this time and during the
long period Of our sojourn in England, by
| innumerable acts of hospitality and kind
ness. Lady HUT always claimed US as an
'sAmerican cousin" claim which we good
humoredly allowed without an appeal to
family records. Their disinterested friend
ship caused us to feel much less solitary and
more secure than would otherwise have
| been possible, and contributed much to the
pleasure Of our sojourn in England, and to
our travels on the continent, when we crossed
the channel together to enjoy an souting''
| in beautiful France.
In another place we have spoken of Earl
Russell as an eminent man, author, states
man and diplomatist, but better acquaintance
with him considerably modified our early
impressions. We had recently visited him
visit the details OF which we shall spare
the reader who cannot be much interested
in the way in which one gentleman meets
another in his family or in which man eats
his dinner with the assistance OF half doz-
en- footmen and butler. This visit to
Richmond, however, furnishes the opportu-
nifty or occasion for more extended notice
of him than has appeared in "The American
Crisis'' and which few men more richly de-
serve. We can give the salient points in bis
character and career very much as we receiv-
ed them from Sir Wm. HUT and others
partly now and partly at periods subsequent
to this time.
After his last retirement from office, Earl
Russell took up his residence at Pembroke
Lodge in Richmond Park, which was grant
ed to him for life by favour OF the Queen.
Since he has led secluded life, taking little
interest in what is said or done by the out
side world and had perhaps less knowledge
of the general public and OF the men who
most influence their fellows, than any polt.
ical leader has had during the present CEN
fury. Here he was passing his old age, hale,
hearty, affable, resigned to its condition,
thoroughly experienced, philosophic, full of
judgment. learning and sobriety. It is here
that he met during the recesses OF Parlia.
ment the small coterie of whom he was the
especial favorite; and the leaders OF that
old whig party of which he was at once the
historian, the centre and the traditional idol.
Few, if any,o the public men Of the country
have been more mixed up with the political
affairs of the nation during the last forty
years than Earl Russell. None of these
notabilities have rendered more important
services to their parties. yet we have not
found one of his contemporaries, and We
haye cOnversed with many Of them, willing
to admit that he is an eminent statesman
and still less a great man. In reference to
his long public career it is said that it was
no evidence whatever Of his possessing fine
parts. That some of the most momentous
events in English history occurred under
most Insignificant minds known to her par
liamentary annals. That the majority Of
the cabinets who directed and often misdi-
rected Wellington throughout the PENN
sular, he who won Waterloo, imprisoned
Napoleon, partitioned Europe and disposed
of the fortunes and nationalities of millions
OF the human race all over the world--the
Bexleys, Sidmouths, Vansttarts, Bathursts,
Liverpools and the rest-were miserable
mediocrities, execrated for their mingled
feebleness and ferocity while living, and
despised when dead, forgotten as fools or
| remembered as worse,'' as the satirist says
in his lines on Sheridan, who was the vic
tim of these malignant incompetents.
Whatever may be said by the rivals anc
contemporaries of Earl Russell, all impair
tial men will agree in our opinion that his
abilities, il not OF the first, are OF a very high
order, almost raising their possessor to the
rank of genius. One Of his marked charac-
teristics, said Sir VIM. HUT, is caution, still
he has always had the reputation among
friends and foes Of being rash, head strong,
self-willed and Indifferent to consequences,
provided he can carry, or thinks he can car
ry his point. 1t was this reputation which
| Chuscu CuG CClCUldCCu 1CmdIA Vi ClO uCy
Smith that Lord John would undertake the
command of the Channel fleet or the most
difficult operation in surgery with equal
sang froid, such was his self sufficiency and
precipitancy. Nothing could be more un-
| just than. this estimate of his character
Though he has occasionally given utterance
to indiscreet phrases and INDUCED in intern
perate language, retrospect Of his career
will show that he has always been prudent
and pains-taking. The best evidence of this
is the fact that at an early age he was put
forward by his party. the old Wings of the
Holland House School, as the conductor or
manager of the leading questions of the
time. To discharge the duties Of this posi-
ton required rare powers, and among the
most essential of them was supposed to be
those of a good debater. For forty years he
took the lead and obtained the ear OF the
| TT - ~. ,aI,n a.