RUSSELL, JOHN, EARL RUSSELL, K.G., an English statesman, third son of the 6th Duke of Bedford; born in London, August 18, 1792. Educated at Edinburgh University, he entered Par liament in 1813 before attaining his ma jority. In 1819 he made his first motion in favor of parliamentary reform, of which through life he was the champion. Though temporarily unseated in 1826, owing to his advocacy of Catholic Eman cipation, he carried a motion in 1828 against the Test Acts and thus led to their repeal. In 1831 he was paymaster general in Lord Grey's administration, and introduced the first Reform Bill to the House of Commons. He was home secretary from 1835-1839, when he be came colonial secretary. From 1841 till 1845 he led the opposition against Peel, with whom, however, he was in sympa thy on the Corn Law question; and when Peel resigned in 1846 Russell formed a ministry and retained power till Febru ary, 1852. He re-entered office in De
cember, 1852, as foreign secretary under Lord Aberdeen, and in 1855 became colo nial secretary in Lord Palmerston's cab inet. He represented Great Britain at the Vienna conference, but resigned of fice in July of the same year. In 1859 he became foreign secretary, the Trent affair with the United States occurring while he was in office. In 1861 he was raised to the peerage, and in 1865 suc ceeded Lord Palmerston in the leader ship of the Liberal party; but when his new reform bill was rejected in 1866 he went out of office. He was the author of numerous books and pamphlets, in cluding lives of Thomas Moore, Lord William Russell, and Charles Fox, and "Recollections and Suggestions" (1813— 1873), published in 1875. He died in 1878.