CHARLES RUSSELL, BARRISTER.1
By Bruce Wyman.
IT will take at least four men to replace
you," so Coleridge wrote Russell (p. 103).
Indeed it is a strenuous life that this biog
raphy discloses. Advocate, legislator, At
torney General, Lord Chief Justice — Lord
Russell of Killowen in his time played many
parts. This man as we see him here is always
in action. He says to a young barrister in
a chair at a club : " Why don't you do some
thing — anything — only do something" (p.
258). This extract will show that Russell
lived life according to that idea. " ' Russell
always wished to be doing something,' says
one 'devil.' The following record of a
week's doings which I chance to remember
will illustrate how untiring he was, in work
and play alike. The week in question was
that of one of the Newmarket spring meet
ings. On the Tuesday night he travelled,
after having been in court all day, down to
Newmarket; Wednesday. he spent at New
market, and, immediately after the races
were over started for Stowmarket, where he
was advertised to speak at a political meeting
at eight. After the meeting he returned
from Stowmarket to London, arriving at four
o'clock on Thursday morning. All Thursday
he was in court, and in the afternoon again
went to Newmarket, returning to London on
Friday night. On Saturday morning he was
again in court, and Saturday afternoon, after
the courts had risen, was devoted to some
difficult cases for opinion. While he was
going through these, a telegram was brought
into the room; he passed it to me, and I saw
that the purport of it was that the funeral of
some friend of his was to take place in Dub-
lin on the next day. He said, ' I think I will go,' and thereupon sent to order a sleep ing berth at Euston. He attended his friend's funeral in Dublin on the Sunday, arriving in London again early on Monday morning. All Monday he was again in court, and, on the rising of the court, started for Ely to attend a meeting in the evening at which he had promised to speak. In gaug ing the fulness of the week like this, it must be remembered that each day spent in court entailed careful preparation, and the mastery of at least one new set of facts" (p. 352). So it was from the beginning of his career to its end. It was Charles Russell, advocate, who made the highest mark. He will be longest remembered in awe as the great barrister. This man was a force. Let this instance witness this : " It is a story of the Northern Circuit. You were engaged in a case at Liverpool. It was an uphill case. The judge and jury were dead against you. The trial had lasted for two days. You had failed to shake the witnesses in the cross-examination. You made no way. The case seemed hope less. You were horribly irritable, and swore at every one. On the third day you began your speech. You spoke for nearly an hour without apparently producing much effect. Then the foreman asked a question which showed that at length you had staggered the jury. You answered the question. The judge did not like the answer and interposed. You faced the judge and stood by your guns. There was an altercation between you and the Court. It was the crisis of the case. After a hard fight you had got hold of the 1The Life of Lord Russkli. of Killowf.n. By R. Barry Obrien. New York: Longmans, Green and jury. The judge interfered to take them out of your hand. Would he succeed? That Company, 1901. (viii 405 pp.).
