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Lord John Russell: A Biography
by Paul Scherer (1999)
"As a result of the recent biographical interest in Lord Salisbury, there can no longer be any doubt that Lord John Russell is the most unjustly neglected of nineteenth-century British political figures. Russell was prime minister twice, for over six years in total. He also led the House of Commons between 1835 and 1841, taking responsibility for a raft of important Irish, church, education, and clinical law reforms, and more briefly in the 1850s. Moreover, he should take much of the credit for the Reform Act of 1832 and the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts in 1828. Yet he is given little more than a walk-on part in most historical syllabuses. The high profile given by modern historians to his rivals Peel and Palmerston goes some way to explaining this. So does the success of Peelites and Palmerstonians, especially in the 1850s, in circulating hostile propaganda about him, which weakened his ability to challenge for leadership. He made bad blunders in that decade which facilitated their task, and he was too proud and shy to pay much attention to public relations himself.
Paul Scherer's new biography of Russell is to be welcomed for redressing that long neglect. He is the first scholar to publish a Life since John Prest in 1972. His book differs from Prest's in important respects, of which three stand out. It is much fuller on Russell's career after 1852. It is particularly strong on foreign policy, which is Scherer's primary field of expertise: there are useful chapters on the Eastern Crisis of 1840, the Crimean War and the tensions over Italy and Denmark. It is also successful in making a case for Russell's Irish policy, in 1834, 1835-41 and 1846-52. All these chapters, like the book as a whole, are lucidly and judiciously written and deserve to become standard accounts. The book is the result of long and careful reflection. It takes Russell's side, unostentatiously but effectively, on a number of key issues, in particular his response to the Irish famine and his contribution to foreign policy."
Paul Scherer's new biography of Russell is to be welcomed for redressing that long neglect. He is the first scholar to publish a Life since John Prest in 1972. His book differs from Prest's in important respects, of which three stand out. It is much fuller on Russell's career after 1852. It is particularly strong on foreign policy, which is Scherer's primary field of expertise: there are useful chapters on the Eastern Crisis of 1840, the Crimean War and the tensions over Italy and Denmark. It is also successful in making a case for Russell's Irish policy, in 1834, 1835-41 and 1846-52. All these chapters, like the book as a whole, are lucidly and judiciously written and deserve to become standard accounts. The book is the result of long and careful reflection. It takes Russell's side, unostentatiously but effectively, on a number of key issues, in particular his response to the Irish famine and his contribution to foreign policy."
Albion, Fall, 2000 <Top>
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