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THE ARCHIVE OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN Sir Charles Russell (1832-1900) was undoubtedly the leading Irish-born lawyer of Victorian times. He was born in Newry, Co. Down, to a Catholic family in moderate circumstances. His uncle and brother were Catholic priests and three sisters became nuns. He qualified as a solicitor in 1854, spent a few years defending Catholics in trouble with the authorities, and then moved to London, determined to become a barrister. Although he had few contacts there, he succeeded through his intelligence, oratorical skills and hard work, and soon became a leading counsel. He entered Parliament in 1880 as Liberal member for Dundalk. He was appointed Attorney-General by Gladstone in 1886 and again in 1892, and played a leading part in promoting Home Rule legislation. Gladstone wished to appoint him Lord Chancellor (head of the legal profession), but found that by an old law this position was not open to Roman Catholics. In 1894 Russell became an Appeal Court Judge, and later the same year he was appointed Lord Chief Justice, the first Catholic to hold the position since the Reformation. As a barrister his greatest triumph was at the Parnell Commission, 1888-9, where his cross-examination of Richard Pigott exposed him as having forged the letters (allegedly by Parnell) at the heart of the case, by asking him to write down on a blank sheet a number of seemingly unconnected words, two of which were misspelt in the 'Parnell' letters. After the court rose Pigott signed a confession, and then fled to Madrid, where he shot himself when police came to question him. In 1893 Russell represented Britain at an international arbitration of competing claims in the Bering Sea; he became an appeal court judge the following year, taking the title of Lord Russell of Killowen (his native townland in Co. Down). In 1899 he again represented Britain at an arbitration hearing of the Venezuelan border dispute. Other notable judgements included the trial of those involved in the 'Jameson Raid', when he instructed the jury (against their evident inclination) they had no option but to convict the defendants. His archive of letters has been preserved by family descent, and is in excellent condition generally, although some letters have been pierced (probably by filing on a 'spike'), generally without significant loss. It includes seven letters from Charles Stewart Parnell, ten from Gladstone, and others from Lord Salisbury, Arthur Balfour, Joseph Chamberlain, William Harcourt, Lord Rosebery (about 20 letters), W. E. 'Buckshot' Forster, Charles Bradlaugh, Charles Dilke (whom he defended in the celebrated marital case), Cardinal Vaughan (Catholic Archbishop of Westminster), the Duke of Norfolk, John Morley, Lord Coleridge (Russell's predecessor as Lord Chief Justice), and many other leading figures in Victorian politics and the law. A. PARNELL COMMISSION 1888-9 An important collection of letters and documents, including - Special Commission Act 1888. Mr. Charles Stewart Parnell MP and Others. Complete Analysis of Evidence. Lewis & Lewis (solicitors for Parnell and other Irish MPs). Sir Charles Russell's copy (Parnell's leading counsel), with label inscribed with his name. 337 printed sheets loosely inserted in a stiff morocco folder, upper cover titled in gilt, title sheet with Russell's autograph signature, many sheets with his pencilled markings of significant evidence. Some marginal soiling or fraying, no loss, collated complete. A document of great importance, which would have provided the basis for Russell's nine-day closing speech, regarded as one of his finest performances. - Charles Stewart Parnell. Original autograph signed letter dated April 12 / [18]89, framed and glazed, to Sir Charles Russell: 'My heart was too full at the conclusion of your great speech today to attempt any immediate expression of my thoughts to you, and now I will only write that I felt you had added one other undying oration to those handed to us by history from the lips of the world's immortal advocates.' Praise indeed, from one celebrated orator to another. - Lord Aberdeen (John Campbell Gordon, 7th Earl, Lord Lieut. Of Ireland 1886). Autograph signed letter to Russell, April 12 1889, in pencil, on railway notepaper, congratulating him on 'that great achievement. I would not have missed, for a great deal, being in Court during that last half hour.' A little stained. - W.E. Gladstone (Prime Minister). A.L.S. from his home at Hawarden Castle, Apr. 16 1889, to Russell, on mourning paper, 2 pp, 'I fear you will be overwhelmed with congratulations on that great effort and the great result. But I must add my own, and I give it the form of a sanguine hope that it will form an epoch, and a point of departure, in the eventful Irish question', with an invitation to dine at his home. - Charles Stewart Parnell. A.L.S. on House of Commons paper, March 19 / [18]89, 2 pp, to Russell, an earlier letter concerning 'the question as to a choice of London or Dublin for the Times action, which depend upon questions of English & Irish Law'. - Charles Stewart Parnell. A.L.S. on House of Commons paper, July 15 / [18]89, 4 pp (two sheets), confirming his conclusion 'that as the Judges held that they were precluded by the terms of the reference from investigating the origin of the charges & allegations, the means that were used in their fabrication, or the persons engaged in promoting the conspiracy against us, that the enquiry has become one-sided & that I did not desire to be further represented there', and so withdrawing his instructions to Russell as counsel. 'I shall always remember with affection and admiration your splendid vindication of our motives and actions & of the movement with which we were identified during a most trying period of Irish history.' [After the exposure of the Pigott forgeries, the Special Commission continued to enquire into other allegations against Parnell and the Irish members, who decided to withdraw from the hearings]. - H.H. Asquith [later Prime Minister]. A.L.S. on House of Commons paper, 15 July 1889, 2 pp, to Russell, confirming that all the Irish Party members wish to cease to be represented. [Asquith, then a young barrister, was Russell's assistant throughout the 'Times' hearings. - Charles Stewart Parnell. A.L.S. on House of Commons paper, 2 pp, to Russell. 'I am exceedingly sorry to hear of your illness .. Your absence this morning was the only thing which detracted from the completeness of a most dramatic scene, the end of the ''Times'' forgeries. I am most satisfied with the result, & am absolutely certain that your judgement in the matter was correct and has secured the very utmost that could have been attained even as the result of costly litigation.' A significant letter. There had been suggestions that Parnell should sue for libel on foot of the ''Times'' forgeries, but Russell advised him to rest content with the vindication he had achieved. - Patrick Egan [sometime Treasurer of the Land League]. A.L.S., 3pp, on plain paper, 18th April 1889, from Lincoln, Neb[raska, USA] to Henry Labouchere MP, mentioning the 'vile calumnies against my character concocted by the miserable forger & perjurer Pigott and published by the London Times', and asking for advice from Labouchere and Sir Charles Russell as to whether he should sue the Times for �50,000. Endorsed at rear by Labouchere, a Liberal MP and supporter of Parnell, 'I suppose that something must be settled in this matter'. In 1883 Egan went from Paris to the United States, where he became a successful businessman and politician. He was suspected of having financed the 'Invincibles', responsible for the Phoenix Park murders, and Parnell would not have welcomed any association with him. Letters from him are rare. - Harris, James Howard (third Earl of Malmesbury). A long and interesting letter to Russell, 7 pp (two sheets), on his addressed paper, dated July 13 (no year, probably 1888), marked 'Private', discussing the issues in the 'Times' enquiry. 'I do hope that you will take seriously into consideration whether the inquiry is safe. Strictly between you and me, I believe that he did write the letters - this of course is only an opinion, but I have arrived at it from the conflicting statements that he has at various times made to me - & from his evident dislike of an inquiry - & from the curious nature of the man - indeed I have always looked upon him as a little wrong in the head ..' It is interesting that Russell kept this letter, which of course ran entirely counter to his instructions. Malmesbury was a former MP, an experienced diplomat, and a man of some consequence. His views may have echoed doubts among others of Parnell's supporters; indeed, it has been said that Parnell himself was not certain the Pigott letters were false until he had seen them. A unique and important collection, nine original letters and the printed analysis of evidence, together illuminating one of the central events of Irish legal and political history of the late 19th century.