Lord Ampthill, the British Ambassador to Germany, died of peritonitis,
after but a week's illness, at his summer villa at Potsdam, on Monday morning last, at the age of fifty-five. He was the son, of Major-General Lord George William Russell, and till his brother became the Duke of Bedford was known as Mr. Odo Russell. It was as Mr. Odo Russell that he served his diplomatic apprenticeship, made his reputation by the ability with which he represented England at the Vatican, and was named Ambassador to Germany in 1871. He received the Grand Cross of the Bath in 1874, and was created Baron Ampthill in 1881. On all sides he has been recognised as probably the ablest Of our diplomatic corps, and as being especially qualified in every respect for the Embassy to Germany, where he was as much valued as by the British Government itself. He spoke French so well that Prince Bismarck suspected him of un-English qualities till he discovered that he spoke German equally well, and Italian probably not much less per- fectly than German, and that his character was in every respect of the kind dear to Teutonic peoples. We have attempted a slight study of Lord Ampthill's diplomatic character in another column, but may add here that he did great credit to the Ger- man Universities, to which be owed the chief part of his early training.
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