_LORD CHARLES RUSSELL_
A man can have no better friend than a good father; and this
consideration warrants, I hope, the inclusion of yet one more sketch
drawn "in honour of friendship."
Charles James Fox Russell (1807-1894) was the sixth son of the sixth
Duke of Bedford. His mother was Lady Georgiana Gordon, daughter
of the fourth Duke of Gordon and of the adventurous "Duchess Jane,"
who, besides other achievements even more remarkable, raised the
"Gordon Highlanders" by a method peculiarly her own. Thus he was
great-great-great-grandson of the Whig martyr, William, Lord Russell,
and great-nephew of Lord George Gordon, whose Protestant zeal excited
the riots of 1780. He was one of a numerous family, of whom the best
remembered are John, first Earl Russell, principal author of the
Reform Act of 1832, and Louisa, Duchess of Abercorn, grandmother
of the present Duke.
Charles James Fox was a close friend, both politically and privately,
of the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, and he promised them that he
would be godfather to their next child; but he died before the
child was born, whereupon his nephew, Lord Holland, took over the
sponsorship, and named his godson "Charles James Fox." The child
was born in 1807, and his birthplace was Dublin Castle.[*] The
Duke of Bedford was then Viceroy of Ireland, and became involved
in some controversy because he refused to suspend the Habeas Corpus
Act. When Lord Charles Russell reached man's estate, he used, half
in joke but quite half in-earnest, to attribute his lifelong sympathy
with the political demands of the Irish people to the fact that
he was a Dublin man by birth.
[Footnote *: He was christened from a gold bowl by the Archbishop
of Dublin, Lord Normanton.]
The Duke of Bedford was one of the first Englishmen who took a
shooting in Scotland (being urged thereto by his Highland Duchess);
and near his shooting-lodge a man who had been "out" with Prince
Charlie in 1745 was still living when Charles Russell first visited
Speyside. Westminster was the Russells' hereditary school, and
Charles Russell was duly subjected to the austere discipline which
there prevailed. From the trials of gerund-grinding and fagging
and flogging a temporary relief was afforded by the Coronation of
George IV., at which he officiated as Page to the acting Lord Great
Chamberlain. It was the last Coronation at which the procession was
formed in Westminster Hall and moved across to the Abbey. Young
Russell, by mischievousness or carelessness, contrived to tear
his master's train from the ermine cape which surmounted it; and
the procession was delayed till a seamstress could be found to
repair the damage. "I contrived to keep that old rascal George
IV. off the throne for half an hour," was Lord Charles-Russell's
boast in maturer age.[*]
[Footnote *: J, W. Croker, recording the events of the day, says:
"The King had to wait full half an hour for the Great Chamberlain,
Lord Gwydyr, who, it seems, had torn his robes, and was obliged
to wait to have them mended. I daresay the public lays the blame
of the delay on to the King, who was ready long before anyone
else,"--_The Croker Papers_, vol. i., p. 195.]
From Westminster Lord Charles passed to the University of Edinburgh,
where his brother John had preceded him. He boarded with Professor
Pillans, whom Byron gibbeted as "paltry"[*] in "English Bards and
Scotch Reviewers," and enjoyed the society of the literary circle
which in those days made Edinburgh famous. The authorship of the
Waverley Novels was not yet revealed, and young Russell had the
pleasure of discussing with Sir Walter Scott the dramatic qualities
of _The Bride of Lammermoor_. He was, perhaps, less unfitted for such
high converse than most lads would be, because, as Lord Holland's
godson, he had been from his schooldays a frequenter of Holland
House in its days of glory.[**]
[Footnote *: Why?]
[Footnote **: On his first visit Lord Holland told him that he
might order his own dinner. He declared for a roast duck with green
peas, and an apricot tart; whereupon the old Amphitryon said: "Decide
as wisely on every question in life, and you will never go far
wrong."]
On leaving Edinburgh, Lord Charles Russell joined the Blues, then
commanded by Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, afterwards King of Hanover;
and he was able to confirm, by personal knowledge, the strange
tales of designs which the Duke entertained for placing himself or
his son upon the throne of England.[*] He subsequently exchanged
into the 52nd Light Infantry, from which he retired, with the rank
of Lieutenant-Colonel, in order to enter Parliament. In December,
1832, he was returned at the head of the poll for Bedfordshire,
and on Christmas Eve a young lady (who in 1834 became his wife)
wrote thus to her sister:
"Lord Charles Russell is returned for this County. The Chairing,
Dinner, etc., take place to-day. Everybody is interested about
him, as he is very young and it is his first appearance in the
character. His speeches have delighted the whole County, and he
is, of course, very much pleased." This faculty of public speaking
was perhaps his most remarkable endowment. He had an excellent
command of cultivated English, a clear and harmonious voice, a keen
sense of humour, and a happy knack of apt quotation.
[Footnote *: _Cf. Tales of my Father_, by A. F. Longmans, 1902.]
On the 23rd of February, 1841, Disraeli wrote, with reference to
an impending division on the Irish Registration Bill: "The Whigs
had last week two hunting accidents; but Lord Charles Russell,
though he put his collar-bone out, and we refused to pair him,
showed last night." He sate for Bedfordshire till the dissolution
of that year, when he retired, feeling that Free Trade was indeed
bound to come, but that it would be disastrous for the agricultural
community which he represented. "Lord Charles Russell," wrote Cobden,
"is the man who opposed even his brother John's fixed duty, declaring
at the time that it was to throw two millions of acres out of
cultivation." He returned to Parliament for a brief space in 1847,
and was then appointed Serjeant-at-Arms--not, as he always insisted,
"Serjeant-at-Arms to the House of Commons," but "one of the Queen's
Serjeants-at-Arms, directed by her to attend on the Speaker during
the sitting of Parliament." In 1873 the office and its holder were
thus described by "Jehu Junior" in _Vanity Fair_:
"For the filling of so portentous an office, it is highly important
that one should be chosen who will, by personal mien and bearing
not less than by character, detract nothing from its dignity. Such
a one is Lord Charles Russell, who is a worthy representative of
the great house of Bedford from which he springs.
"For a quarter of a century he has borne the mace before successive
Speakers. From his chair he has listened to Peel, to Russell, to
Palmerston, to Disraeli, and to Gladstone, and he still survives
as a depository of their eloquence. He is himself popular beyond
the fair expectations of one who has so important a part to play
in the disciplinary arrangements of a popular assembly; for he
is exceptionally amiable and genial by nature, is an excellent
sportsman, and has cultivated a special taste for letters.[*] It is
rarely that in these times a man can be found so thoroughly fitted
to fill an office which could be easily invested with ridicule,
or so invariably to invest it, as he has, with dignity."
[Footnote *: He was the best Shakespearean I ever knew, and founded
the "Shakespeare Medal" at Harrow. Lord Chief justice Coleridge
wrote thus: "A munificent and accomplished nobleman, Lord Charles
Russell, has, by the wise liberality which dictated the foundation
of his Shakespeare Medal at Harrow, secured that at least at one
great Public School the boys may be stimulated in youth to an exact
and scholarlike acquaintance with the poet whom age will show them
to be the greatest in the world."]
Sir George Trevelyan writes: "You can hardly imagine how formidable
and impressive Lord Charles seemed to the mass of Members, and
especially to the young; and how exquisite and attractive was the
moment when he admitted you to his friendly notice, and the absolute
assurance that, once a friend, he would be a friend for ever."
Lord Charles Russell held the Serjeancy till 1875; and at this point
I had better transcribe the record in _Hansard_:
* * * * *
_Monday, April_ 5, 1875:
Mr. Speaker acquainted the House that he had received from Lord
Charles James Fox Russell the following letter:
HOUSE OF COMMONS,
_April_ 5_th_, 1875.