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 inquiry into the management of the war in January 1855, he retired from the administration. He then supported Roebuck's motion, which was carried by a large majority, and Aberdeen resigned. The queen sent first for Derby and then for Russell, but neither was able to form a government, and the task was entrusted to Palmerston. He became premier, retaining for the most part Lord Aberdeen's cabinet. Russell declined Palmerston's invitation to join the ministry, but accepted the post of plenipotentiary to the congress which was now assembling at Vienna in the hope of peace. While on the way at Paris he learnt that the Peelites (including Mr. Gladstone, Sir James Graham, and Sidney Herbert) had withdrawn from Palmerston's newly formed administration (23 Feb.). Russell now reluctantly accepted the colonial office, without, however, giving up his mission to Vienna. He arrived there in March, after visiting Berlin. Russia held out against the terms proposed, and Russell's view that a defensive alliance between England, France, and Austria afforded sufficient guarantee for the security of Turkey was not accepted by the ministry. The congress effected nothing, and Russell once more threatened to resign. Nevertheless he was persuaded to remain in office, and to defend the government's policy in parliament, a course which involved him in a charge of inconsistency, and raised a great outcry when his own proceedings at Vienna were revealed by Count Buol. Unable by reasons of state to account in full detail for his course of action, Russell resigned on 13 July.

For nearly four years he remained out of office devoting his leisure to literary work. He supported Palmerston's government during the Indian mutiny, but protested against the arbitrary seizure of the Arrow in Chinese waters, and against the Conspiracy Bill, introduced, at Napoleon's instigation, after the Orsini plot of 1858. This bill was defeated by nineteen votes, and the conservatives, under Derby, came into office in place of Palmerston and his friends. Russell supported the new India Bill, which transferred the government of that country to the crown, but led the attack on Disraeli's Reform Bill in 1859. In the general election which followed its defeat the liberals had a majority of forty-eight, Russell being again returned for the city of London. He now took office as foreign secretary under Palmerston. On 1 March 1860 he introduced a reform bill into the House of Commons, reducing the qualification for the franchise to 10l. in the counties and 6l. in towns, and effecting a redistribution of seats; but the measure fell a victim to Palmerston's antipathy and the popular apathy. The question that mostly occupied him was the war of Italian liberation. He was an ardent advocate of ‘Italy for the Italians,’ and his efforts had a considerable share in bringing about Italian unity. Less successful was his opposition to the annexation of Savoy by France. During the autumn of 1860 Russell accompanied the queen on her visit to Germany. In July 1861 he was raised to the peerage as Earl Russell of Kingston Russell and Viscount Amberley of Amberley and Ardsalla.

During the American civil war Russell maintained a strict neutrality between the belligerents. In September 1862 he wished to offer mediation between the north and south; but he failed to stop the sailing of the Alabama, whose depredations subsequently cost the government over 3,000,000l. Other important episodes during his tenure of the foreign office were the Polish insurrection and the seizure of Schleswig-Holstein. Russell sympathised warmly with the Poles, but was emphatic on the impossibility of England rendering any material assistance, and in the same way he saw the futility of England alone attempting to resist the Prussian and Austrian occupation of Schleswig-Holstein. On 22 Jan. 1862 he was created a knight of the Garter. There was little domestic legislation during this period, and in a speech delivered at the end of September 1864 Russell described the attitude of the country as one of ‘rest and be thankful.’

The general election of July 1865 confirmed the ministry in power, but on 18 Oct. Palmerston died. Russell became prime minister for the second time, with Mr. Gladstone as leader of the House of Commons. In March the government introduced a reform bill containing some of the provisions of Russell's abortive measure of 1860, with the addition of lodger enfranchisement. It met with lukewarm support in parliament, and the formation of the ‘Cave of Adullam’ led to the defeat of the government on 18 June 1866 [see ; ]. The consequent resignation of the cabinet and the formation of Derby's government brought Russell's official career to a close. He refused Mr. Gladstone's offer on 3 Dec. 1868 of a seat in the cabinet ‘without other responsibility.’

During the later years of his life he was occupied with political speculations and literary work. In the House of Lords he frequently took part in debate, and he was foremost in supporting the policy of conciliation in Ireland, which he had adopted and pressed