he may slip it into my pocket.' He put his hand behind,
pressed his pocket, and exclaimed : ' Good Heavens !
they have done it : there is the watch.' The police
arrived upon the scene ; the two men and Russell were
walked out. ' What am I to do ? ' thought Russell ; ' no
explanation that I can give will get rid of the fact that
61
LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN [1856
the stolen watch is in my pocket.' Characteristically he
came to the conclusion that the best thing he could do
was to take out the watch, hand it boldly to the police,
and trust to fortune and truth. He put his hand into
his pocket and found his snuff-box ! One of the other
men had the watch.
On November 6 Russell entered the Inn ; on the
1 1 th he wrote :
10 Norfolk Street, Strand.
... You ask me to tell you what my lodgings &c.
are like. Here follow full particulars : Norfolk Street
is outside the City gates a short way about three
stones' throw from Temple Bar and a minute's walk
from Exeter Hall to the heroes of which latter, as you
know, our country is so much indebted. I am in a capital
situation for sight-seeing within very convenient dis-
tance of all the principal theatres and places of public
amusement ; but when I tell you I haven't been to
the Crystal Palace, and won't this visit, and didn't
go a few yards out of my way (at the cost of a
few minutes) yesterday to see the Lord Mayor's great
Show, you'll easily believe that I've been very sober
indeed for a London visitor from the country. The
only two things which have indeed interested me are
matters which belong to a far-back past, and which rose
up in a time when England still held the faith which
Gregory gave her and when the Church was not rent
by schism I mean the old Tower of London and West-
minster Abbey. But, love ! I'm descending from the
garret which has had the honour of enclosing me within
its stony embrace this fortnight past without giving you
as full particulars as I think you would desire. Well,
dear ! my lodging is indeed a garret, or anyway a small
room on the fifth floor. The establishment of which it
forms a very insignificant part is a private hotel kept by
one Cornu, a Swiss. It is remarkably clean and most
62
JET. 24] CORRESPONDENCE
respectable. I only sleep and breakfast here having,
when I please, the use of the dining parlour in which I
now am. I dine principally at the Inn of my Court
Lincoln's Inn in company with some 100 men, like
myself, mixed with men already called to the B,ar. I
enjoy this part of the business very much : you meet
well-bred and well-informed men many of them distin-
guished as literary or professional men. At a table at
the end of the magnificent dining hall sit the presiding
powers of Lincoln's Inn consisting of such of the Judges,
Queen's Counsel, and Serjeants as happen to be members
of this Inn : for you should know, dear, that there are
three other Inns governed in the same way, but none of
which is equal to Lincoln's in point of numbers or re-
spectability. I have disposed of some half-dozen dinners
in state ; but, being a member of one of the Universi-
ties, three would have sufficed to get me credit for the
present term.
In 1857 he was again in England keeping his terms,
and on February 2 paid his first visit to the House of
Commons. He wrote :
Last night I enjoyed a new sensation ! I got into the
House of Commons ; saw the rulers of Great Britain
and her dependencies ; heard Disraeli, Gladstone, and
some others speak. I enjoyed it all immensely, but was
only in the Strangers' Gallery and had not as close a
view as I would have desired of the notabilities. I saw
Lord John very distinctly, and he reminded me very
strongly of Monsieur Badier minus the specs. Disraeli
is a very odd-looking character. Small and neat in
person, black hair, large black eyes, prominent forehead,
not remarkably large cranium, and bearing all the marks
and tokens of one very particular about his appearance.
Before he rose to speak one might have observed him
running his hand over his face, round his hair, eyebrows,
and whiskers, down over his handkerchief, waistcoat, and
63
LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN [1857
chain, until his fingers rested upon his glass with which
he (in a half-concealed manner) viewed the ' house ' and
scanned the public in the galleries. His speech was
good, but not remarkably stunning. I should say in
looks he is very like Duffy, but his cheek-bones are more
prominent, and give to his face a harsh look, which
Duffy's had not.
On February 24 he wrote again :
I was at Cardinal Wiseman's conversazione on
Tuesday and saw a number of Catholic notabilities : I
was rubbing elbows with M.P.'s and great folk of that
sort. It was, however, very pleasant. I was chatting
pleasantly with one or two people, and three hours slipped
by very agreeably. When I was leaving, the Cardinal
said very kindly he should be glad to see me any time
I called, and asked where I was stopping in town, and
how long I should remain. The secret of this is that I
had a letter from Dr. Russell of Maynooth.
Russell's decision to go to the English Bar was com-
municated to Mrs. Mulholland in the following letter :
MY DEAR MRS. MULHOLLAND, There's one topic
you have desired I should speak.
My change of profession having been once made, the
question next presented itself where was it to be prac-
tised ? It may be that you looked upon it as a matter
of course that I should practise in Ireland without in fact
considering the question. The matter is not to be de-
termined in this way : it is one of very serious import
not hastily to be resolved upon, and requiring mature
consideration and attentive observation. Let us calmly
talk it over, my dear Mrs. Mulholland, and let me have
64
. 25] CORRESPONDENCE
the benefit of your calm judgment and advice. I begin
by saying that I think I have in Ulster a considerable
professional connection, and some name which would
probably be of material service to me as a barrister, but
I rejoice that . . , . .
\A page is here lost.~\
serve their country best who shut their eyes to anything
of politics or public affairs, and upon their business con-
centrate their energies. But you will say, very naturally,
Why cannot you do this then which you point out ? In
answering the query, my dear Mrs. Mulholland, you will
allow me to say that if this could be in the case of a
barrister if, without compromising any opinions I hold
sacred, I could remain in Ireland, endeavouring success-
fully to practise my profession even though the business
might be less even though the emoluments might be
smaller I would gladly, so gladly, say to myself, ' I'll
remain in Ireland to do or die ! ' It cant be so. I'm
not romantic in these notions, but because of no risk
whatever would I (now that we are speaking out our
minds on this subject) withhold the expression of all the
views I have in the matter, and the reasons on which
those views rest, and therefore I say plainly it's impos-
sible to strive for success at the Irish Bar, standing on
neutral ground you must either go with the tide or
oppose it the first with my ideas brings no honour, the
latter is impracticable. Who are the men who have of
late years risen, especially amongst the Catholics, to
places that are reputed stations of honour and dignity ?
Men who rose because they forgot their early instincts
which shot right up like the young sapling unbent by
the gardener's ligature, or who, if they didn't forget,
then acted as if they did : men who did dirty business
(excuse the speech) for the people in high places and
so got their wages : men who, amongst their brethren,
were not pre-eminent for learning and genius, but only
65 F
LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN [1857
remarkable for the yieldingness of their opinions, and so
a profession which once reckoned great men in its ranks
and stood marked for its independence would now be
more fitly characterised for its servility and its absence
of public virtue. But you say, ' You speak of those who
have attained judgeships and such like ; but these are
not aimed at by you, and, not being aimed at, you can't
suffer the inconveniences you point out.' Again you are
right : it is so my ambition extends to a decent com-
petence honourably obtained ; but, unhappily, the same
cancer is widespread, and though many, many honourable
men are in its ranks, yet as a whole the profession in
Ireland is tainted with the servility spoken of and can
it be otherwise ? If there be poison in the spring, you
must expect it in the stream.
Now, my dear Mrs. Mulholland, while I have thought
it necessary thus so graphically to explain my notions on
this subject, I hope you will understand me as speaking
from my point of view solely. While under no possible
circumstances will what is in itself wrong become right,
yet there are many courses of conduct which, not being
absolutely or in their nature wrong, will become right or
wrong just as people view them to be right or wrong ;
and hence it is that there are hosts of men of honour at
the Irish Bar who act in no way inconsistent with honour
and principle simply because their judgment approves
their conduct ; while the same actions performed by one
who has opinions identical with mine would be in a high
degree dishonourable as being contrary to what his judg-
ment approved of.
In May 1858 he went to London to pass his exami-
nation for the Bar.
On May 29 he announced the result to Miss Mulhol-
land in a letter :
Good news just to hand.
66
JET. 25] CORRESPONDENCE
I've got the first certificate of distinguished merit, and
am told I am only within a few very few marks of
the taker of the studentship who six months ago got his
certificate.
One poor Irishman stood out well the first two days
and half of the third, when (having sat up all the night
preceding) he fairly broke down and lost his ex. he
was said to have been a good man too.
While in London at this time he seems to have
contemplated the possibility of settling in Australia. He
wrote :
Do you know I purpose writing to ask Dr. Cuming
to ask his good wife to write to Australia to get me,
through Mr. Duffy, all possible information about the
state of the legal profession in Melbourne ; but this is
entre nous.
His marriage with Miss Mulholland was fixed for
August 1858.
On June i he wrote to her :
Tell me, would you not like a three weeks at Kill-
owen, for its own and old times' sake, with a fair share
of walking, excursioning, boating ? I think we could
then start for London in tip-top health and spirits. Or,
if it were possible, the wilderness, and strangeness, and
romance of Boffin and the West generally would be
charming.
On August 10, 1858, Charles Russell was married
to Ellen Mulholland at St. Malachy's Church, Belfast,
by Dr. Russell of Maynooth. The honeymoon was
spent in the island of BofBn whither the young couple
crossed from Clifden in an open boat in half a gale of
wind.
67 F2
LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN [1858
They remained at Boffin for some ten days, and
then set out for England, stopping for a short time at
Liverpool, and reaching London early in September. In
November they took a small house at Earl's Court.
In January 1859 Russell was called to the English Bar,
and, fixing his quarters at Pump Court, Temple, pre-
pared to face the future. He had burned his boats, and
stood upon the threshold of the new life with a stout
heart, a high spirit, and a companion whose presence,
from the beginning to the end, was a solace and an
inspiration.
68
JET. 26]
CHAPTER VI
ENGLAND
ON the day of his wedding Charles Russell received
i,ooo/. from his mother. That was the capital on
which he began his career at the English Bar. He
brought with him to Liverpool a letter of introduction
from Dr. Russell of Maynooth to Mr. James Whitty,
an influential Irish Catholic woollen merchant in that
city. Whitty introduced him to John Yates, a leading
Catholic solicitor, and a member of the Corporation ;
and John Yates who proved the best friend man ever
had gave him his chance. Russell wanted no more.
It has been said that he at first settled in Liverpool.
This is untrue. From the start he settled in London.
In the early years his practice was, no doubt, mainly in
the Court of Passage, Liverpool ; but even from the
outset he had clients (secured mainly by the influence of
Yates) in London too. Irishmen and Catholics were of
course his sheet anchor ; and outside his profession he
was devoted to Irish and Catholic interests. In the year
of his call to the Bar the condition of Catholics in the
workhouses in England and the Catholic poor were
chiefly Irish attracted a good deal of attention in
Catholic circles. At the suggestion of Yates, Russell
took up the subject.
69
LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN [1859
In the summer of 1859 he published a pamphlet
entitled ' The Catholic in the Workhouse : a popular
statement of the law as it affects him, the grievances it
occasions, with practical suggestions for redress.'
The point of the pamphlet was to show that the faith
of the Catholics was in danger in the workhouse, the
remedy suggested being the appointment of Catholic
chaplains and schoolmasters, and the introduction of a
compulsory creed register.
The pamphlet seems to have made quite a stir in
Catholic circles. In June John Yates wrote :
The pamphlet capital. All honour to the author,
with a tiny bit for me for having originated the idea, and
for friend Whitty for having so zealously aided it. It
is just in the nick of time. Everybody desires to know
who is Charles A. Russell, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. I am
glad the Cardinal appreciates your efforts.
Most of the reforms advocated in this pamphlet have
since been carried out.
Besides practising his profession, Russell wrote a
' London Letter ' (for which he was paid six guineas a
month) to a Dublin newspaper the Morning News l
owned and edited by a brilliant Irishman, the late A. M.
Sullivan.
In September 1859 we find Mr. Sullivan writing to
him :
I have been for some time on the watch for half an
hour to tell you how truly pleased I am with the London
correspondence. You have gone on improving so as to
1 The Morning News was founded in April 1859 : it came to an end in
December 1864.
70
JEr. 27] < DUBLIN REVIEW '
elicit a notice of the fact from several critical readers. I
really see nothing to suggest for alteration or improve-
ment, and feel under an obligation to you for the ' hearty
goodwill ' with which evidently you aid us. ... I need
scarcely say that, next to the exceedingly interesting
contents of your letters, the regularity of their arrival
has given me great satisfaction, and that I count myself
exceedingly fortunate in engaging the aid of your grey
goose-quill.
Russell also wrote for a London Catholic newspaper
the Weekly Register and in 1 860 contributed at least
one article to the Dublin Review. The subject was
the ' Civil Correspondence ' of the Duke of Wellington,
while Irish Secretary, 1807-09. I shall quote from the
concluding paragraph :
But Sir A. Wellesley's Government in Ireland had
its merits as it had its grievous faults. The faults were
rather of omission than commission. His rule bore too
much the nature of military command in a newly con-
quered country. But he showed no petty bigotry against
the Catholic body, and did not strive, as the law gave
him ample power to do, were he so minded, to harass
and annoy them. He did not suffer himself to be led by
the savage counsels of the Orange supporters of the
Government, and in no one instance was he betrayed
into cruelty towards that oppressed body. But one looks
in vain in his administration for any signs of a great and
magnanimous policy. ... He was not up to his oppor-
tunity ; he lost a great chance for a great experiment
of conciliation. His policy was to repress rather than
redress. He was content to keep down the active signs
of discontent ; he did not strive vigorously to remove its
cause. There was a want of breadth about his policy.
He governed with no foresight, but for the day and in
the interest of his party. He made no effort to weld the
LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN [1861
different elements which composed the Irish people into
one body, compact and united in name and interest. He
rather fanned the flame of religious discord. He did not
do one act, or utter one word, to inculcate in the Irish
people the noble lesson :
No matter that at different shrines
They prayed unto one God ;
No matter that at different times
Their fathers won the sod ;
In fortune and in fame they're bound
In stronger links than steel,
And neither could be safe or sound,
But in the other's weal.
Nor, on the other hand, was his policy pointed to
make that union with England which Lord Castlereagh
had wickedly consummated by the act of a blind, bad
Parliament a union in fact, in feeling, in interest. The
Irish people then stood out as distinct as ever, a separate
body, and they were so treated. He dealt with them
like a subdued, an alien people. . . . When concession
did come, it came not as a pledge of humane and
beneficent policy. To the receivers it was an admission
of growing strength : from the givers it came with a
grudge, for it was an admission of growing weakness.
It had lost much of its virtue. It failed to conciliate. It
were needless to say that the errors of Sir Arthur
Wellesley's administration have not been uncommon in
the history of the government of Ireland. They have
steadfastly followed and marked, with few notable ex-
ceptions, the current of its history. They have taught
the lesson, fruitful of distrust and deep-seated disaffection,
that concessions to Ireland are concessions made not
from a sense of right and justice, but yielded to necessity. 1
In December 1861 Russell appeared in his first im-
portant case, the well-known Windham lunacy inquiry.
1 Dublin Review, xlviii. 525-6.
72
. 29] THE WINDHAM CASE
William Frederick Windham, of Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk,
the only son of Mr. Howe Windham, and great-grandson
of Charles Windham, came of age in August 1861,
succeeding to the Felbrigg estates and other valuable
properties. From infancy he had shown signs of mental
incapacity, and his infirmities grew with his years. He
was notoriously foolish and eccentric. He married a
prostitute, made ridiculous settlements upon her, and
generally mismanaged his affairs. His uncle, General
Windham (who with his mother, Lady Sophia Elizabeth
Giubilei, had been his guardian), applied for a Commission
de lunatico inquirendo. The Commission, 1 having sat for
thirty-four days from December 16, 1861, to January 30,
1862 decided that Mr. Windham, though eccentric,
was not a lunatic, and left him in control of his affairs.
Russell watched the case in the interest of the mother,
and, to use his own words, made a speech, and ' a good
little speech too.' He said :
My client has no personal interest in this case apart
from the interest of her son ; but the Lords Justices
thought that in an inquiry into the mental sanity of her
own child she should not be doomed to be a mere passive
spectator, and I think it will be admitted that her counsel
has not hitherto abused the power granted to her to be
present and take part in the proceedings. Mr. Chambers,
in his able opening speech, stated that Lady Sophia is to
be taken as concurring in the petition against her son.
That statement is not correct. Lady Sophia has never
concurred she does not now concur in these proceed-
ings ; but, on the contrary, all her sympathies, interest,
and wishes are with her son. It would be unnatural
1 Samuel Warren, Q.C., author of Ten Thousand a Year, was the Com-
missioner.
73
LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN [1861-62
indeed for a mother, except on the clearest grounds and
for the most incontestable reasons, to assist in branding her
own child with the stamp of mental incapacity. Perhaps
the only gratifying feature in this case is that Mr. Wind-
ham, of whom it has been said that his heart is not
capable of good, and that he has no moral feeling, had
during his whole life, beginning from his earliest youth,
constantly expressed the deep and earnest affection which
he entertained for his mother. It is not surprising,
therefore, that Lady Sophia, instead of concurring in the
petition against her son, should disapprove and condemn
it. She regretted and grieved over the faults which un-
doubtedly had stained his youth ; but those features of the
case had been greatly softened by the evidence for the
defence, and Lady Sophia looked forward with confidence
to the result of the interview which the master and the
jury proposed to have with her son. .The jury have to
decide upon a case surrounded by prejudice and false-
hood, but I trust they will rivet their attention upon its
real merits. I hope they will pause long before they fix
upon Mr. Windham the stain of insanity before they
take from him, on the very threshold of manhood,
that which makes manhood a thing to be prized
the sense of personal freedom and personal responsi-
bility. You have been told that this inquiry will
have a sobering effect upon him, enabling him to
distinguish real from pretended friends, and if so it will
serve a great and beneficial end. By a verdict in his
favour you will give him an opportunity of retrieving
the follies of his youth the follies of a riotous, unre-
strained, and untutored youth and of playing a part
which, though not conspicuous by great deeds, might not
be altogether unworthy of the name which he bears, and
of the social position into which he was born. 1
1 Mr. Chambers, Q.C., Mr. Field, and Mr. H. Williams appeared for the
petitioners ; Sir Hugh Cairns, Q.C., Mr. Karslake, Q.C., and Mr. Milward for
Mr. Windham ; and Mr. Coleridge, Q.C., for Mrs. Windham.
74
. 29-30] MURDER CASES
About the same time Russell appeared at the Liver-
pool Assizes in a case which, at the moment, created
some public interest. A soldier in the 32nd Regiment,
named McCaffrey, was indicted for the murder of Colonel
Crofter and Captain Harkam. McCaffrey had been
sentenced to fourteen days' drill and confinement to
barracks, and one night's imprisonment on the charge
made by Captain Harkam of neglect of duty. 1 On
being released he saw the Colonel and Captain walking
in the Barrack Square, and shot them both. Russell
defended the prisoner, directing his efforts to reduce the
magnitude of the crime from murder to manslaughter.
But McCaffrey was convicted and sentenced to death.
Russell's speech in this case is not a good specimen of
his style ; it is diffuse and lacks directness and force.
The case, however, was quite hopeless. A few years
later he appeared in another case which also attracted
some public interest. A woman named Cotton was
indicted for murder. She had insured the lives of several
persons her husband, her children, her paramours
and poisoned them to get the insurance money. Russell
prosecuted her and she was hanged.
Campbell tells us that Lord Ellenborough ' disdained
the notion of attending Quarter Sessions, and always
was inclined to sneer at young gentlemen who tried to
force themselves into notice by writing a law-book.'
Russell was not above these simple devices for push-
ing his way to the front. He attended Quarter Sessions,
and, in April 1862, published a book on the practice of
the Court of Passage a work which still holds the field.
1 He had failed, while on guard, to keep the children away from the
officers' quarters.
75
LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN [1863
In March 1863 Russell left 3 Earl's Court Gardens and
took up his abode at Montague Place, Russell Square.
This, in brief, is the record of his first four years at the
Bar. Chatting with me in later years of these times, he
said :
1 1 was called to the Bar in 1859. I never lived in
Liverpool. That is a mistake about me. I always lived
in London. I practised in the Passage Court in Liver-
pool an important Court at the time. Herschell prac-
tised there too. My other competitors were Holker,
Gully, Pope. I remember receiving my first brief.
I got it in London the day of my Call. It was for
an opinion on a will case, and was marked 2/. 25. I
wrote an elaborate treatise on the law of wills and never
got paid. I do not know that I felt very anxious about
my career, though I suppose I ought to have felt
anxious. Still, I think I took matters coolly enough. I
had a fair business from the start. I made about I2O/.
in my first year, and doubled my income every year for