We regret to notice the death of Mr. A. Russel,
for thirty years the Editor of the Scotsman, and the stoutest upholder of Liberalism in Scotland. He was a man of great humour, great knowledge, and great courage, even venturing, in Scotland, and while dependent on his paper, to resist the foolish outcry for the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. His hold over the opinion of his country was extraordinary, and the more to be remarked, because writing perpetually on ecclesiastical affairs, he wrote as one who detested ecclesiasticism and believed very little in religion. It is said that his style in this respect did injustice to his mind, he being a Broad-Churchman, and a constant attendant on Dr. Lee's services, but there can be no doubt that he left this impression. The Scotch, however, though Calvinistic in belief, are sceptical in speculation, and for a generation Mr. Russel remained the one critic whom the clergy dreaded. No one is likely to fill his peculiar place, and his loss will be keenly felt in Edinburgh, where everything which corrects the tendency to provincialism is in- valuable.
Previous page
