Page:LA2-NSRW-4-0154.jpg



Page 1645 : RUSSELL — RUSSIA

prime minister. Famine and rebellion in reland and troubles in England beset the ministry, which fell in 1852. In 1859 he became foreign secretary, an office which he held for six years. Among the features of his management of affairs were England’s unfriendly tone toward the United States in the Trent affair, her taking part in the Mexican expedition, the interference with Russia in favor of Poland and the friendly feeling of England, for Denmark during the Schleswig-Holstein War. In 1865 Lord John, now Earl Russell, became prime minister for the second time, but kept in power only for a year. He died on May 28, 1878. See Spencer Walpole’s Life of Lord John Russell.

Russell of Killowen, Baron Charles, distinguished British jurist and statesman, was born at Newry, Ireland, Nov. 10, 1833, and died at London, Aug. 10, 1900. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he began his career as a parliamentary leader-writer, and was called to the bar in 1859. From 1880 to 1885 he represented Dundalk and from 1885 to 1894 South Hackney in the house of commons, and twice was attorney-general in Gladstone’s administration. Though a Liberal and an ardent Home-Ruler, his political aspirations were subordinate to love of his profession, of which he became a great ornament. He was knighted in 1886. As a sound lawyer, acute cross-examiner and persuasive advocate, Sir Charles long was without a rival at the bar. In 1880 he increased his reputation by his masterly oration at the Parnell Commission, where he was counsel for the great Irish leader. He was one of the English counsel in the Bering Sea arbitration, and also served on the Venezuelan boundary arbitration tribunal. In 1896 he visited the United States and delivered an address on international arbitration before the American Bar Association. In 1894 he was appointed a lord-of-appeal in ordinary, with a life peerage, and later succeeded Lord Coleridge as lord chief-justice of England.

Russell, William, Lord, an English patriot, was born on Sept, 29, 1639. He studied at Cambridge and then traveled for a time on the continent. In 1669 he married Lady Rachel Wriothesley. In 1674 he spoke in the house of commons, of which he had been a silent member since the restoration, against the doings of the Cabal, the famous advisers of Charles II. From this time he was a leader of the commons. He believed in the popish plot and carried up to the house of lords the bill to shut out the duke of York from the throne. Russell, Essex and Sidney (q. v.) were arrested on suspicion of having taken part in the Rye House plot (q. v.). By means of infamous witnesses and a packed jury he was found guilty. His father’s offer of $500,000 for his life was refused; he would not accept a plan made for his escape; and on July 21, 1683, he was beheaded. Pity for his judicial murder and the letters of his noble wife, who at his trial appeared at court as his secretary, have served to keep his memory fresh as a Christian hero. See the Letters of Lady Russell and Life by Lord John Russell.

Russell, William Clark, English novelist, was born at New York, Feb. 24, 1844. He is the son of Henry Russell, who composed Cheer, Boys, Cheer; There’s a Good Time Coming; A Life on the Ocean-Wave. Young Russell went to sea at 13, and served eight years. Since that time he has been an English newspaper writer and novelist. His sea-tales rank with those of Marryat and Cooper, and are deservedly popular. Among them are Jack’s Courtship, My Shipmate Louise, The Wreck of the Grosvenor, A Sailor’s Sweetheart and An Ocean-Tragedy.

Russia (rŭsh′ä), Empire of, covers a large part of eastern Europe and northern and central Asia, a territory more than twice as large as Europe. Its main divisions are European Russia, with less than a fourth of the whole area but with three fourths of the population: Finland, Poland, Siberia, Caucasia, Turkestan and the Trans-caspian region, besides the dependent countries of Khiva and Bokhara.

Area and Seaboard. The entire area of the empire is 8,647,657 square miles, one seventh of the land-surface of the globe. This includes (besides European Russia) Poland, Finland, the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Turkestan, Siberia, the Transcaspian and the Amur region. The Arctic Ocean made up the whole Russian seaboard, till, at the end of the 17th century, she won the Baltic and Black Sea shores. On the north the Arctic Ocean and White, Kara, Bering and Okhotsk Seas are valuable for fishing and hunting, but these coasts are frozen a great part of the year, and Nova Zembla and the other islands are uninhabited. Vladivostok, at the head of the Gulf of Peter the Great on the Japanese Sea, is one of the finest roadsteads in the world. The chief Russian sea is the Baltic with the Gulfs of Finland, Bothnia and Riga, on which are four of the five chief ports — St. Petersburg, Reval, Libau and Riga. The Sea of Azov is the great gulf of the Black Sea, whose main ports are Odessa, Batum and Taganrog. The Caspian Sea furnishes fish for all Russia; into it falls the largest river of Europe, the Volga.

Surface and Drainage. Caucasus, Finland, Poland, Siberia and Turkestan are described under these heads. A plain 700 miles wide crosses European Russia from southwest to northwest. The Urals, a series of ranges running southwest to northeast, are highest at Mt. Iremel — 4,680 feet. The Niemen, Dwina, Neva, Onega and North Dwina rivers have their sources in the broad, central plain and in general flow

Individual articles:
 * Russell of Killowen, Charles
 * Russell, William
 * Russell, William Clark
 * Russia