RUSSELL, JOHN RUSSELL, Earl, KG., English minister and statesman, third son of the sixth duke of Bedford, was born in Hertford street, Mayfair. London, Aug. 18, 1792, educated at Westminster school, whence he was sent to Edinburgh, at that time preferred to the English universities by the great whig families. Here he pursued his studies with industry and success, under the care of prof. Dugald Stewart; and here, at the meetings of the speculative society, he first exercised his powers of debate. In 1809 he proceeded on a continental tour, and France being closed against English travelers, he directed his steps to Portugal and Spain. In 1821 appeared his Ilistory of the British Constitution, and in 1824, Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe from the Peace of Utrecht. In more recent years he compiled front the family archives and gave to the world the Cor respondence of John, Aura Duke of Bedford, which throws much light on the secret his tory of the early part of George III.'s reign; the Life, Diary, and Letters of Thomas Noore, in pursuance of a promise made to the poet several years before; the Correspond ence of Charles James Fox, and Life and Times of that great whig statesman. Having now noticed his career as an author, we may briefly pass in review his long, honorable, and consistent career as a politican. In 1813 he was elected for the family borough of Tavistock, and vigorously but vainly opposed the repeal of the habeas coqms act in 1817. He made his first motion in favor of parliamentary reform in 1819, and continued to bring the subject almost annually before the lower house, until he stood forward as a minister of the crown to propose the great measure of 1831. He was also the strenuous advocate of the repeal of the test and corporation acts, Roman Catholic emancipation, and other measures of civil and religious liberty. In 1828 he carried by a large majority his motion for the repeal of the test and corporation acts, although it was opposed by the duke of Wellington's government. In 1829 he supported the Catholic emancipation hill. At the general election of 1830, caused by the death of George IV., the rallying cry of parliamentary reform sent many additional liberals into the house of commons. The "great duke" was driven from office; and earl Grey being appointed prime minister, proceeded to form a cabinet pledged to peace, retrenchment, and reform. Russell did not receive a seat in the cabinet, but he was appointed to the lucrative office of paymaster of the forces, and was one of the four members of the government to whom earl Grey intrusted the task of framing the draft of the first reform bill. The great and
imperishable honor next devolved upon Russell of proposing the bill (Mar. 1, 1831). The fortunes of the measure belong to the history of the time; suffice it to say, that on June 4. 1832, the bill obtained the royal assent, and that the country was saved from the throes of revolution and civil war, which at one period appeared imminent. Russell left office with the Melbourne government (which had sueceeded•to that of earl Grey) in Nov., 1834. In Mar., 1835, he brought forward a motion in favor of taking into consideration the temporalities of the Irish church. It was opposed by the government, but after three nights' debate, was tarred by 322 votes against 289. On April 4 he carried a resolution in committee in favor of appropriating any surplus which might remain, after fully providing for the spiritual wants of the members of the Irish church, to the general education of all classes of Christians. The report of the committee hav ing been affirmed by the whole house, the government of sir Robert Peel was dissolved, and that of lord Melbourne restored. Russell now became home secretary, with a seat in the cabinet. On June 5, 1835, he brought in an important bill for the reform of the municipalities of England and Wales, which was carried after some mutilation, and secured an effective reform of municipal institutions. Next session he proposed and carried the government plan for the commutation of tithes in England. Also a bill for a general registration of marriages, births, and deaths, the value of which, in social and statistical inquiries, can scarcely be overrated; and a bill for the amendment of the marriage laws, which enabled dissenters to be married in their own chapels. He like wise passed an English church reform bill, making a new distribution of episcopal dio ceses and incomes. In 1837 he carried a series of bills for further amending the criminal law, by which capital punishment was finally removed from forgery and all offenses except seven. An Irish tithe bill was also passed. but the " appropriation clause" being always rejected by the lords, Russell was obliged to accept the bill divested of the clause. Ho exchanged the seals of the home for those of tile colonial office, when the Canadians broke into rebellion in 1839, :mud sent over lord Durham, who recognized the right of the Canadians to self-government; and who, with his successor, lord Sydenham, brought the Canadas into loyal and harmonious relations with the mother-country, which have never since been disturbed.