ST. MARY'S CATHOLIC CLUB, HOKITIKA

New Zealand Tablet, 6 June 1912, Page 36

ST. MARY'S CATHOLIC CLUB, HOKITIKA

In St. Mary’s Clubrooms last evening Rev. Father Clancy delivered a very interesting lecture on ‘ Lord Russell of Killowen ’ (says the West Coast Times of May 30). Mr. N. Warren (president of the club) occupied the chair and there was a large attendance of members and friends. Father Clancy traced the career of this truly great man from his birthplace in Armagh, in 1832, till his death in London, in 1900. Coming down from one of the Norman families he always maintained he was Irish to the core, and gloried in the exploits of the four branches of the Irish house of Russell, whose lives were sacrificed, and whose estates were confiscated for fighting at Aughrim and the Boyne for faith and fatherland. Born in 1832, Charles Russell was one of five children, all of whom (himself excepted) entered religion, three sisters becoming Sisters of Mercy, one of whom founded a flourishing hospital in San Francisco and Matthew Russell became a distinguished member of the Jesuit Order. For a short time Russell acted as solicitor at Belfast, but not finding sufficient scope 1 for advancement without sacrificing his principles, he resolved to try his luck at the English Bar. With a good head on his shoulders, £IOOO in his pocket, and a valiant companion at his side to cheer him on, young Russell burned his boats and faced the future with confidence and determination. His first year’s practice brought him in £ll7, his second £261, his third £441, his fourth £lOl6. In 1870 his income reached £4230; in 1873, £9300. One year, his most successful period, and his brains won £20,000. Thus he advanced by leaps and bounds, till his undoubted ability put him in the forefront; and, in spite of sinister warnings and warring elements, he became, in the words of Barry O’Brien, the one dominant figure and the most striking personality on the English Bench.’ Lord -Charles naturally figured in many causes celehres. In' 1878, Russell met Ballantine, the great London leader, in a great trial. The third day Ballantine fainted, and on the seventh Russell won his verdict in defence’of the late Henry Labouchere. In the same year the famous pleader was pitted against Sir Hardinge Gifford, now Lord Halsbury. Russell won; this was his second great victory. But the crowning forensic effort of his life was his defence of Parnell and the Irish Party in the Parnell-Tmes Commission. Having demolished the arch-forger, Pigott, he turned the tables on the ‘ Thunderer,’ and put the London Times hr the pillory. The victory of Parnell was unqualified; and Russell reached the zenith of his fame. Concluding a most interesting lecture, the Rev. Father Clancy further stated that Russell’s services to England were conspicuous in the Venezuelan Commission of 1895, the trial of the Jameson Raid, the Behring Sea dispute, in which he spoke for eleven days, and gained his contention. In 1895 he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England by Gladstone. For five years Lord Russell presided in this exalted position, and in the year 1900, full of honors, surrounded by his wife and children praying by his side, and on his lips the words, ‘ My God have mercy upon me,’ Charles Russell passed away, dying as he had lived, full of courage and full of hope.