The Irish standard., 1896-08-22
Sketch of Great Irish Lawyer
Who Has Risen to the
Highest Eminence.
BY Native Talent, Industry and
EIoquence He Won the Cow
eted Prize.
Has Been Engaged in All the Great
Legal Contests That Have
Arisen i'm His Time.


following sketch of his life: His visit will
not be the first Of England's great jurist tc
the United States. In 1883 he came here
in distinguished company, Lord Coleridge
Sir James Hannen, Patrick Martin, @. c..
Mr.. Bryce, NJ. p. and Sir Horace Davey
being his fellow voyagers. On that occa-
son he visited sister in San Francisco be-
fore returning to England.
Lord Russel comes to this country with
every recommendation in his favor. Re-
sides being shining light of the legal pro
fession, he is CONSPICUOUS as sportsman
and up to the date of his elevation to the
bench was standing counsel Of the jockey
club. He is an intimate friend Of Mr..
Gladstone, home ruler and so sturdy a
radical that when created lord chief JUS
tice of the realm he declined to accept the
hereditary barony offered to him, declaring
that he was perfectly content with the life
peerage which he had been compelled to ac-
cept as a member OF the court of appeal,
that he was averse to the principle of her
editary legislation and that If his son wish
ed for any title he could earn it for himself
He has at heart the welfare of the laboring
classes, and one Of his pet schemes is one
for the more equal distribution of working
people in districts where their efforts can
attain profitable results
The history of Lord Russell is one of
great successes He was born in 1888 in an
old gray house at Ballybot, in the outskirts
OF Newry, where his father had a brewery.
HIS ancestry is honorable. Arthur Rus
sells family had been settled 500 or 600
years at Killough, near Downpatrick. They
adhered to the old faith through centuries
of persecution, and their fa1thfulness IS
we'll initiated by this distinguished son. His
mothers family belonged to Belfast She
was a woman Of remarkable character,
clever and prudent. singularly active IN
mind and body. the children were brought
up In an atmosphere OF all the virtues, and
were especially taught to observe the char-
ity which is the queen OF all virtues. VI
the five children who played there all ex-
cept the Lord Chief Justice dedicated
themselves to religion
Lord Russell is the first Catholic to hold
the office of lord chief justice of England
since the days of the reformation. lie
comes from specially gifted family 10
his uncle, Rev. Father Russell, belongs the
credit of the conversion of Cardinal New
man to the church Of Rome, the cardinal IN
his "Apologia pro Vita Sua'' describing Dr'
Russell as the "dear friend to whom under
J.
Lord Russells brother, Father Matt
Russell of the Order of Jesuits, is the editor
of that lively and popular paper known as
the Irish Monthly. Father Matt" is the
very antithesis of the ordinary conception
of the "wily" Jesuit Simple, frank and
unselfish, he is never so .happy-learned
and able though he be--as when he is de-
voting himself to his labors as missionary
priest among the poor.
Originally intended for a solicitor, the
present lord chief justice. like so many
other distinguished men in Great Britain,
began his career as reporter for the press
in the gallery of the house of commons, de-
voting his spare tine to reading for the bar,
to which he was ultimately admitted at the
close of the '5Cs, his first brief Of any i'm
portance being that known as the celebrat-
ed Yelverton case. The latter evidently has
left a great impression on his mind, Tor
when, on being appointed justice OF the
court of appeal, he was called upon to Sc
lect a title, he decided to commemorate
this Yelverton suit by adding the name OF
Killowen. so intimately associated with the
affair, to his title of Lord Russell %
Early in Lord Russells childhood the
family removed to Seafeld, on the shores OF
/. Carlingford bay, under the shelter OF Kill
lowen mountains During those happy
days of growing up Lord Russell went near
to missing all his brilliant future. He and
his brother used to boat on Carlingford bay
in company with little fair-haired boy,
who was by and by to grow to the amazing
height Of 3 feet inches, and to be known
as James Murphy, the Irish giant One day
the trio, at low water ensconded them
selves in an oarless boat which was beached
near the shore. They were so engrossed in
their lazy conversation under warm sun
that they never noticed when the tide be-
gan to creep under the boat, till presently
they were in danger Of being either dashed
violently on shore or carried out to sea.
However they were rescued.
Charles Russell was called after his uncle,
Rev. C. w. Russell, who was then stu
dent at Maynooth college, and was after
/, ward, from 1857 to his death in 1880, the
president of the college. Lord Russell's
' first public school was a Mr.. Nolan's in
+ Newbury, and he spent some time later at
st, Malachy's Belfast, and at St. Vincent's
Castleknock, near Dublin. Some years lat
er he put his name on the books Of Trinity
college, Dublin, and took for his tutor Pro-
feSsor ]. K. Ingram, who has fame other
chan academical, as the author of the finest
Of Irish revolutionary ballads, 'Who Fears
20 Speak Of '98.'' At this time Lord Rus
1 Eel was already practic:ng as a solicitor in
Belfast, and he never took out his degree.
He was mere boy when apprenticed to
I 1 firm Of solicitors in Newry. Before leav-
ing Newry, in 1851, Lord Russell made his
] first public appearance. The Newry in
Z stitute had proposed as the subject of a
d prize essay, "The Age We Live In---1ts
Tendencies and Its Exigencies." The
prize fell to young Russell, then in his
1. e. .ghteenth year Lord Russell .practiced
4 as 81 solicitor in Belfast with which town
u u be; has more than one tie Of friendship and
Is.ndred. His wife. was Ellen, eldest
daughter of Joseph Mu,holland, NJ. D.,aof
4, Be,fast. Lady Russell is possessed Of dis
#stinguished literary gifts, which she has
q aehcsen I'd leave unused because the wide
saufse ses ot another life have claimed her: .sss
ssssSs Soon safter his marriage Lord Russe.l
S3eft md and tool mp the higher branch
"a entered "a