a difficulty in his way, he withdrew ; and Farrer, afterwards Lord Herschell, who upon his advice was accepted as the liberal candidate, was returned.
In 1876, on the death of Percival A. Pickering, Q.C., he applied with other leaders of the circuit for the vacant judgeship of the court of passage at Liverpool. The appointment was given to Mr. T. Henry Baylis, Q.C., a distinguished lawyer, in whose chambers the home secretary (now Viscount Cross) had been a pupil. The office would not have interfered with private practice. In 1880, after two unsuccessful attempts, he was returned to parliament for Dundalk. He stood as an independent liberal, and was opposed by home-rulers and Parnellites. He had been given to understand that he might expect personal violence, and an attempt was made to assault him ; but he gave such convincing proof of his courage and ability to defend himself that he was not further molested. When he entered parliament the national cause was represented in the House of Commons by a small minority of the Irish members. It was not till the franchise was lowered by the act of 1884, and as many as eighty-five members were returned from Ireland to support the demand for an Irish parliament, that he pledged himself, together with the majority of liberals, to the policy of home rule. But he was always a firm supporter of the Irish cause ; and before the alliance between Gladstone and Parnell he spoke constantly in Irish debates and voted usually with the national party. In February 1881 he opposed the coercion bill. W. E. Forster had stated that the measure was aimed at 'village blackguards.' Russell retorted with some effect that among them might be found some 'village Hampdens.' The prediction was verified in the following year when 'the suspects' were released from prison. Many of them were men of good repute, and the title 'ex-suspect' became in Ireland one of distinction.
In March 1882 he opposed the proposal for an inquiry into the working of the Land Act, and in the following April he supported the government in their change of policy which led to the release of Forster's prisoners. He resisted strongly the measure of coercion which followed upon the Phoenix Park murders, and after a brief truce renewed the warfare between the government and the Irish members. He sought by various amendments to mitigate the severity of the government proposals. In 1883 he delivered a long speech in the debate on the address, complaining that the legitimate demands for the redress of Irish grievances were disregarded ; and in 1884 he spoke in support of an inquiry into the Maamtrasna trials. He took little part in debates not connected with Ireland. In 1883 he spoke in favour of a bill for creating a court of criminal appeal, contending that the interference of the home secretary with the sentences of judges was unconstitutional; and during the same parliament he supported the granting of state aid to voluntary schools.
His opinions throughout these anxious times were wisely measured by what he considered practicable. On Irish questions he did not hesitate to differ from the government ; but the views he expressed were temperate and conciliatory. His parliamentary speeches between 1880 and 1885 did not add to his great reputation. The time was not propitious. The House of Commons was exasperated by the obstruction which Parnell was conducting with so much skill, and lent an unwilling ear to discourses on the well-worn topics that crime would be prevented by proper remedial measures, and that Ireland must be governed according to Irish ideas. In 1882 he was offered a judgeship. He was tempted to accept it, for he could not hope to retain an Irish seat. But he declined the offer, and determined to look for an English constituency. In 1885 he was returned for South Hackney, and was appointed attorney-general in Gladstone's government of 1886. His re-election upon taking office was opposed by the conservatives, but he was again returned. He threw himself with extraordinary energy into the home rule struggle. The alliance between liberals and Parnellites enabled him to give full play to his enthusiasm, and he travelled all over England addressing public meetings, great and small, in every part of the country. He seemed unconscious of what such exertions mean to most men in point of fatigue and weariness, and was content to forego the gratification, so essential to most politicians, of elaborate notices in the daily press. His speeches in the House of Commons on the home rule bill were probably his best parliamentary performances. In supporting the second reading he referred to 'the so-called loyal minority' as not being an aid but a hindrance to any solid union between England and Ireland. 'Their loyalty,' he said, 'had a close relation to their own status and their own interest.' At the general election of 1888 he was again returned for South Hackney, defeating his opponent, Mr. C. J. Darling (afterwards a
