The Irish standard., 1896-08-22
Lincoln's Inn in 1859 and pursued his

| Lincoln's Inn in 1859 and pursued his
course with phenomenal energy. Those
were the years when he found total abstl-
nence the best ally in laboriOus life, as ne
| mentioned in lecture at Lurgan in 1884.
Lord Russell is, however, not teetotaler.
| He has always been a tremendous worker,
and people who think his success sudden
have no conception Of the almost super
human energy which has built 1t up.
He is strangely like his brother, the Dub
lin Jesuit, who has been at one time or an
! other the helfpul friend and adviser OF all
young Irish literary folk. The likeness be-
| tween the brothers is incredibly great, see
ing how their expressions vary; for While
Lord Russells massive face has an express
son of one who pierces your inmost
thoughts, Father Russell's rosy visage looks
| nothing but cheerfulness and benignity.
However, the lord chief justice ls not man
! of force all compact His emotions are
sometimes stronger than Ills will to check
| them, and some of his noblest Oratorical
flights, notably his speech on the home
| rule bill, and the peroration of his tremen-
dous Parnel commission speech. were
| pointed with the acute sincerity Of tears.
Since his appointment to the lord chief JUS
| ticeship the papers have teemed with an
ecdotes of him and his characterlsttcs-nl
| love of horse, his strength Of muscle, his
skill at whist, and such gOssip-prof1tless
at best, though the world Graves to hear
! such things about the men it delights to
honor. His amazing success has not In
jured him. He has no cause to hate En-
glishmen, but he has never purchased a
title of their regard by abating anything of
his honest truth and faith to his own coun-
try and his own religion.
In no other nationality could be found so
happy a combination of defamation and
gesture, of eloquence and acting, Of force,
of logic and graceful tr.yiality. Like his
fellow countrynnen, Lord Dufferin, he con-
veys at first the impression that he has
kissed the Blarney stone of his native Isle,
and one starts with the determination to
regard his utterances as mere clever
piece of oratory. But when one sees his
eye resting upon him with somewhat
innocent, childlike expression; when one
hears his silvery voice, the exqulsitely
modulated tones of which insinuate and
persuade his auditors of the fervor of his
convictions; when, above all, one hnds his
words literally trembling with emotion
clears in the voice. as the French say
one loses sight of the point where the act
ing ends and the true feeling begins
On such groundwork as this he builds
up his case, phrase by phrase, argument aft
er argument, until by force of reasoning,
OF picturesque exposition and profound le-
gal knowledge he carries all present with
him and everything before him. 1t IS only
when it IS all over. when time is found for
sober reflection, and when the intoxication
of the moment has spent it's force that one
begins to ask whether, after all, the great
orator really meant all that he said, Wheth-
er his impassioned appeals to the heart
were not mere stage play; whether one has
not permitted ones self to be lured by
clever defamation into the temporary be-
lief that wrong is right and right Is
wrong.
Reference has been made in this article
to the Yelverton case, one of the most sen
sat;onal and romantic of modern times.
Lord Avermore, or Major Yelverton, as he
was then, having been badly wounded
while serving with the Royal artillery in
the Crimean war, was nursed back to
health and strength by one Of Florence
Nightingale's most charming assistants, a
Miss Longworth It was only natural that
the major should fall in love with his beau
tiful nurse. who was a girl of excellent
family. After the war was over they met
in Ireland, and one afternoon dropped
quietly down the Carlingford Tough to
K.llowen, where they were married ac-
cording to the rites of the Roman Catholic
church by one Father Moody. They sub
sequently lived together in Scotland, where
Major Yelverton, who was a Catholic, read
aloud the marriage service of the church OF
England with view to further consolidat-
ing the union of his Protestant wife. He
also introduced her everywhere in the Scot
tish capital as his wife, but subsequently
deserted her at Bordeaux and married a
rich widow, Mrs. Forbes, the daughter OF
General Sir Charles Atworth.
Mrs. Yelverton thereupon brought suit
in the London courts for the restitution OF
her conjugal rights, young Charles Russeli
figuring as one of her counsel and being
especially enthusiastic about her case. The
petition, however, was dismissed, on the
ground that Major Yelverton was an
Irishman and that the London court had
no jurisdiction in the matter. Thereupon
another action was brought In the court
of common pleas at Dublin, where Major
Yelverton denied that either the ceremony
dC EIllUWGu OE LudC III ILuluUul ndu OCCAA
of a valid character and asserted in the
most cynical manner that he had never
had the slightest intention of really maxi
ing Miss Longworth his legal wife. The
Dublin jury, however, found that there
had been legal marriage in Ireland and
a commn-law marriage in Scotland, and
gave verdict in favor of Mrs. Yelverton.
when the case was carried in appeal to
the house of lords the lord high chancel-
lor and also the famous Lord Brougham
gave it as their opinion that the union of
the plaintiff to the defendant had been
valid. and that his marriage. to the widow
Forbes was consequently of bigamous
character. But the majority of the law
lords decided against Mrs. Yelverton, who
therefore became once more Miss Longs
worth.
From that time forth there has been
scarcely a single trial of any Importance in
which Charles Russell has not played a
prominent part until three years ago as
advocate and since then as judge. Among
the most notable landmarks OF this
kind may be mentioned the Parnell COM
mission of 1883 and 1889; the Colin Camp
bell divorce, case: the great Belt VS.. LaWes
trial, in which ali the leading artists OF the
Royal academy were called to the witness
stand; the Wyndham lunacy petition, the
exposure of the card sharper known as
I,ambri Pasha: the Behring sea arbitration