THE LATE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 41, 11 October 1900, Page 10

THE LATE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND.

The Home newspapers of all shades of politioal opinion were unanimous in their praise of the many eminent qualities of the late Lord Russell of Killowen and in their expressions of deep regret at his death. Lord Russell died on the anniversary of his wedding day. The deceased Judge took a deep and practical interest in any organisation having for its object the welfare of his co-religionists, and particularly was he interested in any movement for the reclamation of Catholic discharged prisoners. Co-operating with Cardinal Vaughan Lord Brampton, Judge Bagshawe, Lord Walter Kerr, and others, the late Lord Chief Justice, by means of the Catholic Prisoners' Aid Society, was enabled to give a fresh start in life to many Catholics who had suffered brief terms of imprisonment. The Prince of Wales sent a most kindly ietter to the relatives of the late Lord Chief Justice deploring the death of his friend. The Prince was specially represented at the funeral. Strange to think, (writes the Dublin correspondent of the Manrhfttrr Guardian), that the little town of Newry, the border town between north and south, between Protestant Ulster and Catholic Ireland, should have given birth in 20 years to Lord O'Hagan, the first Catholic Lord Chancellor of Ireland since the Revolution • to Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, the first Irish Catholic Prime Minister of Victoria ; to John O'Hagan, the first President of the Land Commission in Ireland ; and to Lord Russell, with his many claims to national recognition, besides the two famous so-called rebels of 1848 John Mitchell and John Martin. Report goes that young Russell did not escape the teachings of his great fellow-townsmen Mitchell and Martin, and I believe that in the annals of Castle puerility will be found a r. port of the dangerous goings-on of come disloyal persons of the ma'ure age of r>, of whom Charles Russell was by no means the least blameworthy. Had they not sung rebel songi and gone through drill against the peace of their sovereign lady the Queen her crown and dignity ? ' Unlike so many properous Irishmen (says a London correspondent), he was not ashamed of Ireland, and in his prosperity never forgot her distress. Everyone knows that he was a great betting man, and it would be mere prudery even at this moment to pretend otherwise. His passion for gambling in every Bhape or form was really part of that strong Celtic strain in his nature which found a keen imaginative joy in the caprices of chance. He would take as much pleasure in betting on his dinner aa he would in betting on a horse. But though it was a relaxation with him, he never allowed it to dominate him. His betting was a form of gaiety, and never a form of money-making. He never either lost or won much, and though many miy regret that he bet at all, those who honor him will always regard the trait with a kindly forgiveness and perhaps feel glad that there was one soft point in a nature essentially stern and severe. Of Lord Russell's large family, two sons are at the Bar, one, the double inhtritor of his father's name and talents, Mr. Charles Russell, is a solicitor, one is a stockbroker, and another, the youngest, is in the artillery, and iB now in South Africa. Of' four daughters one is the wife of a son of Lord Russell's old friend, Mr. Holmes, once member for Hackney. Three others are unmarried! of whom one has entered her novitiate as a nun. The late Lord Chief Justice happy in so many particulars, was particularly so in his domestic life ; and of his nine children there was not one who had ever given him a moment of anxiety. At the Pro-Cathedral, Kensington, and in all the churches in London and throughout the archdiocese of Westminster the following, dated August 11th, was rtud from his Eminence the CardinalArchbishop with reference to the death of the Lord Chief Justice of England .— ' The prayers of the clergy and of the faithful are earnestly requested for the repose of the soul of Lord Russell of Killowen (.Lord Chief Justice of England), a faithful son of the Church, who, after a life of distinguished public service, died yesterday, fortified by the Holy Sacraments, Herbert Cardinal Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster.' The late Lord Chief Justice, by a will which was only a few lines long, and which he executed during the last week of his life, has left all his property to Lady Russell of Killowen, who has been named as sole executrix of the will.