RUSSELL, Lord John, first Earl Russell, letters, autographs, documents, manuscripts



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RUSSELL, Lord John, first Earl Russell (1792-1878). Prime Minister 1846-1852 and 1865-1866).
Poignant Autograph Letter Signed to [Edmund] Hammond, 1 page 4to with integral blank leaf, 6 July 1866. Reflecting on his second and final departure as prime minister.

'I am very sorry to go out of office & only do so that the character of public men may not suffer in our hands.

'It was a great satisfaction to me to serve with a man so upright, so honourable, & so well qualified to judge of public affairs as yourself.
Farewell!'

After Palmerston's sudden death in late 1865, Russell again became Prime Minister, but his second leadership was short and frustrating. He failed in his ambition of expanding the franchise, and in 1866 party disunity again brought down his government.

Edmund Hammond (1802-1890) spent most of his working life in the Foreign Office, retiring after nearly fifty years' service. Appointed permanent under-secretary in 1854, he came to personify the Victorian Foreign Office, although at the time the appointment owed more to Lord Clarendon's failure to persuade his brother-in-law Sir George Cornewall Lewis to accept the position than to Hammond's merits. (Oxford DNB).
[No: 26287]


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