Excellent Women - Various
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"Thy faithful, affectionate, and obedient wife,
"R. RUSSELL.
"I seal not this till Sunday morning, that you might know all is well
then. Miss sends me word that she is so, and hopes to see papa quickly;
so does one more."
V.
In October, 1680, Lord Russell moved in the House of Commons a
resolution that they ought to take into consideration how to oppose
Popery and prevent a Popish successor to the throne. A Bill was
accordingly brought in for excluding the Duke of York from the crown,
which passed the House of Commons, but was thrown out by the Lords, to
whom it was carried up by Lord Russell, attended by nearly the whole of
the Commons. About the same time Lords Shaftesbury, Russell, and
Cavendish presented the Duke of York to the grand jury for Middlesex at
Westminster Hall, as indictable, being a Popish recusant. In January,
1680-1, the Commons resolved that "until a Bill be passed for excluding
the Duke of York, they could not vote any supply, without danger to His
Majesty and extreme hazard to the Protestant religion."
Things had come to this crisis after years of arbitrary power, and the
humiliation of England in its king being a pensioner of Louis XIV. As
far back as 1669 a secret treaty was made with France, Charles engaging
to declare war against Holland, France to pay the king L800,000 annually
and make a division of the conquests, of which France would have the
largest share. In 1670 Colbert mentions Charles's ratification of this
treaty, having the king's seal and signature, and a letter from his own
hand. This treaty was kept secret from his ministers, and a pretended
treaty _(un traite simule)_ was to be promulgated, to which the
Protestant members of the Cabinet were to be parties. Colbert further
states that he was told in confidence by the Duke of York that the king
was ready to declare himself a Catholic, and that he was determined to
rule independently of any parliament. The object of Charles was mainly
to obtain money from the French king, but the Duke of York had deeper
and more dangerous plots to carry out. The marriage of the Princess Mary
to the Prince of Orange in 1677 somewhat disturbed the understanding,
but a renewal of the treaty in 1678 brought England again to lie at the
mercy of the French king. The impeachment of Lord Danby, Lord Treasurer,
for the part taken by him in these disgraceful transactions, showed that
there were still many Englishmen prepared to act for the honour and
freedom of their country. To Lord Russell most men looked as the leader
of the patriotic party, and it was determined to get him out of the way
as the chief opponent of the arbitrary power of the king and the Popish
designs of his brother, who showed the most unrelenting hatred of
Russell. It was resolved that he should be brought to trial for treason,
as compassing the overthrow of the government of the king. He was
arrested on January 26, 1683; after examination was committed to the
Tower the same day, and afterwards removed to Newgate.
Lord Russell was found sitting in his study, neither seeking to conceal
himself nor preparing for flight. As soon as he was in custody, he gave
up all hopes of life, knowing how obnoxious he was to the Duke of York,
and only thought of dying with honour and dignity. The Earl of Essex was
at his country house when he heard of the arrest of his friend. He could
have made his escape, and when pressed by his people to fly, he answered
that "his own life was not worth saving if, by drawing suspicion on Lord
Russell, it might bring his life into danger." He was taken to the
Tower, where, it was announced, he killed himself on the morning of Lord
Russell's trial. It is more probable, as was generally believed, that he
was murdered, and the report of suicide was spread in order to
strengthen the charges against Russell. Monmouth had disappeared, but,
actuated by the same generous motive with Essex, he sent a message to
Russell, on hearing of his arrest, that "he would surrender himself and
share his fate, if his doing so could he of use to him." Russell
answered in these words: "It will be of no advantage to me to have my
friends die with me."
VI.
The trial of Lord Russell is one of the darkest events in the annals of
our courts of law, while it is also one of the most important in the
history of England. He was tried at the Old Bailey on the charge of
conspiring the death of the King's Majesty, and of raising rebellion in
the kingdom. Every point in the legal indictment was strained, and every
artifice resorted to, in order to obtain a verdict of guilty. When it
was objected that the jury were not freeholders, the objection was
overruled, although in a recent trial, when made in the king's behalf,
it had been admitted without any difficulty. The evidence of two or
three false witnesses was received, and was made to weigh against a mass
of testimony borne by the noblest and best men of the time. Nothing
could be proved against him, except that he had been seen in the company
of Monmouth, Shaftesbury, Algernon Sidney, and others known to be
opposed to the measures of the Government. Lords Anglesey, Cavendish,
and Clifford, the Duke of Somerset, Doctors Burnet, Tillotson, Cox,
FitzWilliam, and many others testified to his mild and amiable
character, his peaceable and virtuous life, and the improbability of his
being guilty of the charges brought against him. His public services in
defence of freedom and of the Protestant religion were the real causes
of the resolution to get rid of him. Towards the close of the trial, one
of his enemies, the notorious Jefferies, made a violent declamation, and
turned the untimely end of Lord Essex in the Tower into a proof of
Russell's being privy to the guilty conspiracy. This base insinuation
evidently had effect on the jury, who brought in a verdict of guilty.
The sentence was considered by all right-minded persons as a shameful
injustice. Burnet afterwards spoke of him as "that great but innocent
victim, sacrificed to the rage of a party, and condemned only for
treasonable words said to have been spoken in his hearing."
Among the incidents of the trial, one of the most memorable was when the
prisoner asked for somebody to write, to help his memory. "You may have
a servant," said the Attorney-General, Sir Robert Sawyer. "Any of your
servants," added the Lord Chief Justice Pemberton, "shall assist you in
writing for you anything you please." "My wife is here, my Lord, to do
it." "If my Lady please to give herself the trouble," was the civil
reply of the Lord Chief Justice. So the noble wife sat by his side
throughout the trial to assist and support her husband.
After the condemnation she drew up and carried to the king a petition
for a short reprieve of a few weeks; but this was rejected, though the
king saw at his feet the daughter of the Earl of Southampton, the best
friend he ever had. His answer was, "Shall I grant that man a reprieve
of six weeks, who, if it had been in his power, would not have granted
me six hours? Besides," he said, "I must break with the Duke of York if
I grant it." Seeking the king's life had never been made a charge, far
less attempted to be proved, though something had been said about
attacking the king's guards. But Russell denied with his last breath any
design against the person of the king. All considerations were weak
against the passion of revenge with which the king and the Duke of York
were actuated. The Duke of York descended so low in his personal
animosity that he urged that the execution should take place before
Russell's own door in Bloomsbury Square, but the king would not consent
to this. An order was signed for his being beheaded in Lincoln's Inn
Fields, a week after the trial. It is said that at that time Southampton
House, on the north side of Bloomsbury Square, was visible from the
place where the scaffold was erected.
Lord Cavendish generously offered to manage his escape, and to stay in
prison for him while he should go away in his clothes; but Russell would
not entertain the proposal. It was then planned that Cavendish, with a
party of horse, should attack the guard on the way to the scaffold, and
rescue the innocent victim; but this, too, was overruled, as Russell
refused to allow any lives being endangered to save his own. He prepared
to receive the stroke with meekness, and with a dignity worthy of
his name.
On the Tuesday before his execution, when his wife had left him, he
expressed great joy in the magnanimity of spirit he saw in her, and said
that parting with her was the worst part of his pain. On Thursday, when
she left him to try to gain a respite till Monday, he said he wished she
would cease from seeking his preservation, but he did not forbid her
trying, thinking that these efforts, though unavailing, might bring some
mitigation of her sorrows. On the evening before his death he suffered
his young children to be brought by their mother for the final parting.
In this trying time he maintained his constancy of temper, though his
heart was full of tenderness. When they had gone he said that the
bitterness of death was passed, and then spoke much of the noble spirit
of her whom he had so loved, and who had been to him so great a
blessing. He said, "What a misery it would have been to him if she had
not that magnanimit of spirit, joined to her tenderness, as never to
have desired him to do a base thing for the saving of his life. There
was a signal providence of God in giving him such a wife, where there
was birth, fortune, great understanding, true religion, and great
kindness to him; but her carriage in his extremity was beyond all. He
was glad she and his children were to lose nothing by his death; and it
was a great comfort to him that he left his children in the hands of
such a mother, and that she had promised to him to take care of herself
for their sakes."
[Illustration: PARTING OF LORD AND LADY RUSSELL. _Copied, by permission,
from the fresco in the Palace of Westminster_.]
It should be stated that when they partook of the Communion together for
the last time, she so controlled her feelings, for his sake, as not to
shed a tear; although afterwards she wept so much that it was feared she
would lose her sight.
The scene of the parting in prison is not only memorable in history, but
has been a favourite theme in art, and one of the frescoes in the new
Houses of Parliament commemorates it. Many poets have written about the
death of Lord Russell, among them Canning, in a supposed letter to his
friend Lord Cavendish, in which the noble character of his wife is
celebrated as well as the virtues of her husband.
The execution took place not on Tower Hill, as usual with persons of
high rank, but in Lincoln's Inn Fields, in order that the citizens of
London might be humbled and terrified by the sight, as he was carried in
a coach to the scaffold through the City. The effect was very different
from what was intended. The death of this one man made many enemies to
the king, and though the triumph of liberty and religion was delayed for
a few years, the execution of Lord Russell did much to secure the
overthrow of arbitrary power, and the defeat of Popery in England at no
distant time. The trial took place July 13 and 14, and the execution on
July 21, 1683.
VII.
Lord Russell died for the civil and religious liberties of his country.
All men, even those who were far from agreeing with his political
principles, agreed in regarding him as a man of probity and virtue, and
the model of a patriot. He passed through this world with as great and
general a reputation as any one of the age, and his memory will be held
in everlasting remembrance.
"Bring every sweetest flower, and let me strew
The grave where Russell lies, whose tempered blood
With calmest cheerfulness for thee resigned,
Stained the sad annals of a giddy reign;
Aiming at lawless power, though, meanly sunk
In loose inglorious luxury."
So sang of him the poet of the Seasons, Thomson, in his famous
apostrophe to Britannia as the land of liberty.
One of the first Acts of King William III. after the Revolution, was to
reverse the attainder of Lord Russell. In the preamble of this Bill,
which was the second that passed in his reign, after receiving the Royal
assent, his execution was called a murder: and in November of the same
year, 1689, the House of Commons appointed a committee "to inquire who
were the advisers and promoters of the murder of Lord Russell." In the
year 1694 his father was created Marquis of Tavistock and Duke of
Bedford. The reasons for bestowing these honours were stated in the
preamble of the patent in these terms: "And this, not the least, that he
was the father of Lord Russell, the ornament of his age, whose great
merits it was not enough to transmit by history to posterity, but they
(the King and Queen) were willing to record them in their royal patent,
to remain in the family as a monument consecrated to his consummate
virtue, whose name could never be forgot, so long as men preserved any
esteem for sanctity of manners, greatness of mind, and a love of their
country, constant even to death. Therefore, to solace his excellent
father for so great a loss, to celebrate the memory of so noble a son,
and to excite his worthy grandson, the heir of such mighty hopes, more
cheerfully to emulate and follow the example of his illustrious father,
they entailed this high dignity upon the Earl and his posterity."
The first Duke of Bedford (fifth Earl) lived till September, 1700. He
had six sons and three daughters, besides the martyred son. William,
married to the daughter of the Earl of Southampton. They had one son,
Wriothesley, who succeeded his grandfather as Duke of Bedford in 1700,
and died of small-pox, in 1711, in the 31st year of his age. Of two
daughters, the elder married William Lord Cavendish, afterwards Duke of
Devonshire, and the second married John Manners, Lord Ross, afterwards
Duke of Rutland. A third daughter died unmarried.
A striking anecdote is recorded of King James II. addressing himself in
the time of his extremity, in 1688, to the aged Earl of Bedford, saying,
"My Lord, you are an honest man, have great credit in the State, and can
do me signal service." "Ah, sir," replied the Earl, "I am old and
feeble, I can do you but little service; but I had a son once that could
have assisted you, but he is no more." James was so struck with this
reply, that he could not speak for some minutes, and it is to be hoped
that he felt remorse for the death of Lord Russell.
When the attainder on Russell was removed by King William III., the
same justice was done to his friend Algernon Sidney, who is united with
him in the famous lines of Thomson's patriotic remembrance:
"With him
His friend the British Cassius, fearless lad,
Of high determined spirit, roughly brave,
By ancient learning to the enlightened love
Of ancient freedom warmed."
Algernon Sidney, unlike Russell, was in theory not averse to
Republicanism, but the accusations are false as to his being a sceptic
or a deist, as his own dying apology attests. He says: "God will not
suffer this land, where the Gospel has of late flourished more than in
any part of the world, to become a slave of the world. He will not
suffer it to be made a land of graven images; He will stir up witnesses
of the truth, and in His own time spirit His people to stand up for His
cause, and deliver them. I lived in this belief, and am now about to die
in it. I know my Redeemer liveth; and as He hath in a great measure
upheld me in the day of my calamity, I hope that He will still uphold me
by His Spirit in this last moment, and giving me grace to glorify Him in
my death, receive me into the glory prepared for those that fear Him,
when my body shall be dissolved. Amen." These were the last words of
Algernon Sidney. It is noteworthy that the Duke of Monmouth, in his
Declaration against James II, among other things, accuses him of
ordering the barbarous murder of the Earl of Essex in the Tower, and of
several others, to conceal it; and he gave as a reason for his appeal to
arms, in his unhappy rebellion, the unjust condemnation of Sidney and
of Russell.
VIII.
It has been remarked that the incidents in the life of Lady Russell,
apart from the one memorable public event of her husband's trial and
death, are so few and her merits confined so much to the domain of
private life and feminine duties, that her character, unlike that of
most heroines, deserves to be held up more to the _example_ than the
_admiration_ of her countrywomen. Few of her sex have been placed in
such a conspicuous situation, but fewer, after behaving with unexampled
fortitude and dignity, have shrunk from public notice, and in the sight
of God only have led unobtrusive, quiet lives in the daily performance
of domestic duties as a careful and conscientious mother and guardian of
her children.
It is this that makes the record of her life so valuable for all time.
If she, who had such an unusual and terrible affliction, was enabled,
by the grace of God in the exercise of reason and religion, to show such
complete submission to the Divine will, and such patient continuance in
well-doing, her example is well fitted for the comfort and succour of
all who in this transitory life are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness,
or any other adversity.
One of the earliest letters, written to a friend who sought to comfort
her in her deep sorrow, reveals the noble spirit and wise resolution of
a true Christian. She says: "Fresh occasions recalling to my memory the
dear object of my affections must happen every day, I may say every hour
of the longest life I can live. But I must seek such a victory over
myself that immoderate passions may not break forth, and I must return
into the world so far as to act that part incumbent upon me, in
faithfulness to him to whom I owe as much as can be due to man. It may
be that I may obtain grace to live a stricter life of holiness to my
God, who will not always let me cry to Him in vain. On Him I will wait
till He hath pity upon me, humbly imploring that by the mighty aid of
His Holy Spirit He will touch my heart with greater love to Himself.
Then I shall be what He would have me. But I am unworthy of such a
spiritual blessing, who remain so unthankful a creature for those
earthly ones I have enjoyed, because I have them no longer. Yet God, who
knows our frames, will not expect that when we are weak we should be
strong. This is much comfort under my deep dejections." And in a letter
to Doctor Tillotson she said: "Submission and prayer are all we know
that we can do towards our own relief in our distresses. The scene will
soon alter to that peaceful and eternal home in prospect."
It is interesting to know that one who helped to bring her to this state
of mind was the Rev. John Howe, a man noted for wisdom as well as piety,
who had been chaplain to Oliver Cromwell and to his son Richard
Cromwell. Although too long to insert in full, some sentences selected
from the letter are worthy of quotation.
"The cause of your sorrow, madam, is exceeding great. The causes of your
joy are inexpressibly greater. You have infinitely more left than you
have lost. Doth it need to be disputed whether God is better and greater
than man? Or more to be valued, loved, and delighted in? And whether an
eternal relation be more considerable than a temporary one? Was it not
your constant sense, in your best outward state, 'Whom have I in heaven
but Thee, O God, and whom can I desire on earth, in comparison of Thee?'
(Psalm lxxiii. 25). Herein the state of your ladyship's case is still
the same, if you cannot with greater clearness and with less hesitation
pronounce these latter words. The principal causes of your joy are
immutable, such as no supervening thing can alter. You have lost a most
pleasant, delectable earthly relation. Doth the blessed God hereby cease
to be the best and most excellent good? Is His nature changed? His
everlasting covenant reversed or annulled, which is ordered in all
things, and sure, and is to be all your salvation and all your desire,
whether He make your house on earth to grow or not to grow? (2 Samuel
xxiii. 5).
"Let, I beseech you, your mind be more exercised in contemplating the
glories of that state into which your blessed consort is translated,
which will mingle pleasure and sweetness with the bitterness of your
afflicting loss, by giving you a daily intellectual participation
through the exercise of faith and hope in his enjoyments. He cannot
descend to share with you in your sorrows; but you may thus every day
ascend and partake with him in his joys."
After much devout reasoning of this kind, the good and wise preacher
makes a practical appeal: "Nor should such thoughts excite over-hasty,
impatient desire of following presently to heaven, but to the endeavour
of serving God more cheerfully on earth for your appointed time, which I
earnestly desire your ladyship to apply yourself to, as you would not
displease God, who is our only hope; nor be cruel to yourself, nor
dishonour the religion of Christians, as if they had no other
consolations than the earth can give, and earthly power can take from
them. Your ladyship, if any one, would be loth to do anything unworthy
of your family and parentage. Your highest alliance is to that Father
and family above, whose dignity and honour are, I doubt not, of highest
account with you."
Mr. Howe wrote to Lady Russell without revealing his name, but she laid
to heart the excellent counsel he gave. The style of the letter, and
some special phrases in it, discovered who was the author, and Lady
Russell, as we learn from Dr. Calamy, Howe's biographer, wrote to him a
letter of warm thanks, and told him he must not expect to remain
concealed[1]. She promised to endeavour to follow the excellent advice
he had given. She often afterwards corresponded with him, and the
friendship lasted during Howe's life.
[Footnote 1: Cf. _John Howe_, Biographical Series, No. 94 (R.T.S.).]
IX.
In the great public affairs of the time she could not but feel interest,
and her letters abound in references to the most striking events as they
occur. Her sister, Lady Elizabeth Noel, was in Paris at the time of the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and describes the terrible scenes of
which she heard or witnessed. Hundreds of thousands were driven into
exile, their property seized by their persecutors; those who remained
being exposed to the cruelty of the dragonnades. Then there were the
excitements at home, following the Monmouth rebellion and the bloody
assizes where Judge Jefferies obtained his notoriety. The trial of the
seven bishops; the overthrow of the Stuart cause; the glorious
revolution of 1688 and the accession of King William and Mary; the war
in Ireland, where the de Ruvignys served under William and the Mareschal
Schomberg; the reign of Queen Anne and the Hanoverian succession under
George I.; all these historical events are referred to in Lady Russell's
correspondence which she carried on with the most notable persons of the
time. A letter of hers to King William about the King's favourable
designs for the Duke of Rutland and his family was found in his pocket
when he died. Several letters are addressed to Queen Mary. The great
Duke of Marlborough told her that if ever there appeared a chance of
Popery getting again the upper hand, he would retire from public
affairs. Even the proud Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, regarded Lady
Russell with marked deference and respect. In reference to the accession
of King William she wrote, "Regard for the public welfare carried me to
advise the princess to acquiesce in giving William the crown. However,
as I was fearful about everything the princess did while she was thought
to be advised by me, I could not satisfy my own mind till I had
consulted with several persons of wisdom and integrity, and particularly
with the Lady Russell of Southampton House, and Dr. Tillotson,
afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. I found them all unanimous in the
opinion of the expediency of the settlement proposed, as things were
then situated."
Her friends and her country shared with her own family the heart and the
correspondence of Lady Russell. Her children she lived to see well
provided for in honourable and influential positions. Her second
daughter was married to the son of her husband's dearest friend, Lord
Cavendish, and she became the Duchess of Devonshire. The eldest daughter
was unmarried, but the third became the Duchess of Rutland. Her only
son, afterwards Duke of Bedford, was in high favour in the reign of
William and Mary, and acted as High Constable of England at the
coronation of Queen Anne. His education and training was carefully
directed by his mother. One of her letters is to his grandfather, then
Earl of Bedford, interceding with him for one of the errors of her son's
early life. He had been tempted, as many young Englishmen still are, to
gamble when on his travels, but his debt taught him a lesson which saved
him from ever after getting into trouble in this way. Lady Russell,
while pleading for his forgiveness, undertook to be answerable for the
whole loss which had been incurred. It is a sensible and
motherly letter.