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downe's consent, selected and forwarded to me the correspondence of Lord Lansdowne with Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston; of Sir A. H. Layard, who handed to me the whole of Lord Russell's letters to himself; of Mr. George Dalhousie Ramsay, who gave me access to Lord John's correspondence with Lord Panmure; of Mr. Redington, who selected for me some valuable documents from his father's, Sir T. Redington's, papers; of Professor Fraser, who made careful research for me in respect to Lord John's life at Edinburgh; of the Duke of Westminster, Lord Granville, Lord Moncrieff, Mr. Russell Barker, and many others, who have placed either information or material at my disposal.

I have also thankfully to acknowledge the assistance which I have received from the Duke of Bedford, who has supplied me with the (almost) complete set of Russell literature from the shelves of Woburn Abbey; from Lord Arthur Russell; from your brother, Mr. George Elliot, who has a unique knowledge of Lord John Russell's papers; from your nephew, Mr. Arthur Elliot, who handed me the whole of the seventh Duke1 of

1 The Duke was for many years in the habit of writing almost daily to Lady Minto on political and other subjects. In one of these letters he writes, 'I have been much occupied during the whole of my illness both in Devonshire and here [Woburn] in destroying old letters. Clarendon says truly that no man has (or rather, had) such an interesting number of political letters. It has been disappearing daily for some months. To some future publisher they would have been invaluable.' I insert the paragraph because suspicion may otherwise be felt that I have not availed myself of correspondence which unfortunately no longer exists. The Duke's letters to Lord John and Lady Minto, however, form important relics of it,

Bedford's correspondence with Lady Minto; from Sir Henry Elliot, Mrs. Maurice Drummond, Mr. H. Villiers, and many others either related to or connected with your family.

So far as it was possible to do so, I have endeavoured to obtain the distinct authority of the descendants of the men whose letters I have published If I have, however, inadvertently omitted to make any such application, I trust that those whom I have failed to consult will accept my apology and excuse my neglect. In addition to those whose names have already been mentioned, my thanks are due on this account to the Dukes of Argyll, Devonshire, Wellington, and Westminster; to Lords Normanby, Bessborough, Cowley, Cowper, Derby, Durham, Fortescue, Grey, Northbrook, Pembroke, Selborne, Spencer, Strafford, Halifax, Brougham, Knutsford, and Rowton; to the Dowager Lady Lilford; to the Speaker of the House of Commons; to Mr. Gladstone, Mr. C. P. Villiers, Sir George Trevelyan, Mr. Evelyn Ashley, Sir Edward Grey, Sir R. Owen, Major Graham, Mr. Daniel O'Connell, Mrs. Trotter, Miss Hogarth, and others, for sanctioning the publication of letters.

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LIFE OF

LORD JOHN RUSSELL.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY YEARS.

I am

Woburn, August 18, 1803.-This is my birthday. eleven years old, 4 feet 2 inches high, and 3 stone 12 lbs. weight. The Duchess gave me a Shakespeare. It is a very hot day. Mr. Thornton and Mr. Higgins came here to-day; there was a ball in the evening.

The little boy who made this, the first, entry in his first journal was destined to lead the House of Commons for a longer period than any other successor of Mr. Pitt, and to become twice Prime Minister of England.

It is the common practice of biographers to anticipate the story of their hero's life by tracing the achievements of his immediate ancestors; and this custom, which is perhaps justified by the increased attention which thoughtful men are paying to the modern doctrine of heredity, may at first sight seem peculiarly applicable to the present memoir: for, if the qualities of a man be really derived from his forefathers, the eminence of Lord John Russell may be traced to circumstances antecedent to his birth. It is at least a striking circumstance that the statesman, who throughout his life was the uncompromising champion of civil and religious liberty, should have been the descendant of men one of whom was sacrificed by

VOL. I.

A

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