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and ft son , in Angust , 1704 . He did not * Imwfcvefr , arrive in America till September , 1795 , having been taken ptSoYfer sooft after sailing from Faltttdufch * by a French squadron * and detained in Brest harbour , notwithstanding the immediate intercession of the American minister .
Many interesting circumstances tnight be related respecting his capture , detention and subsequent stay for a few months in France ; but this would be going beyqnd the bounds of the present sketch . It would also be transgressing the limits prescribed
to enlarge on his residence in America , where he continued almost five years , and was gratified by the notice of the most distinguished characters there , and chiefly by that of the founder of American independence . This illustrious hero he visited at Mount
Version , after he had retired there from . public life . A friendly intercourse followed between them , and several of ^ General Washington ' s letter * remain amongst Mr . R . ' s papers . Mr . Iftuasell ' s family being less partial to America than liimseK he
complied with their desire to return to England , but determined himself to tike France in his way , to visit an estate which had been assigned to hftu by an American gentleman who was largely indebted to him ; there
he intended to remain only a few rnonths , but war breaking out , lie W 3 s prevented from joining his family in England , and though lie was beyond the age of the proscription then issued against the English , ( Mw ,
1802 , ) yet all the favour he could obtatin was permission to retire to his property in Normandy , where he continued during the whole war , only disturbed by some occasional alarms as to his personal safety . His benevolent disposition procured him , in the
neighbourhood of Ardennes , the apgelTation of " Le pere des pauvres . " The situation he was in afforded him , indeed , the means pf being extensively useful amongst the surrounding poo *; , Who had very scanty means of r ^ ltef from their great distress : of this distress he was accustomed to draw a
roost feeling picture . 0 u the return of peace , Mr . ft . hastened , ^ viih his sou , &c . to revisit his native country , where he landed on
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& 6 th OetoiWr ^ 1 $ 14 * ffc 1 ^ now 74 years of age , and though his day of activity was over , yet he retained ,
in a sttrpirsiiFg manner , that strength of constitution and vigour of intellect whtefc lie tofmerty tmJoyM . Had there been no other obstacle , his
increased deafness would alone have prevented his entering again into publie life , at the same time that it essentially curtailed those social pleasures he was so well qualified to partake of and to impart ; but he never jpcfrmitted the mortifying consequences of
this infirmity to depress his spirits his convivial powers Were still . { jreat , and by a constant and quick attention to the lips of persons speaking , hfc % i £ < I learnt to comprehend what was saidi with surprising facility . A 3 the power and inclination to
occupy himself in the busy concerns of life diminished , he betook himself with more ardour to the comforts of religion , and rejoiced incessantly that he had been alive to them in his earliest
youth , as well asttirou ^ h Yaiying scenes which had succeeded . He was a grfeat advocate for family dfe ' vo * tion , which he constantly practised , and now eitiployed much of his time
in composing a seft of prayers for this purpose , of which he had a few fria ~ DUvseript copies made for his particular friends . Never did truer piety emanate from a more entire conviction of the truth of Christianity , and a more absolute dependence on its promises . This was strikingly apparent on ithe bed of death . When all around him
was fading away , and he felt himself gradually but certainly withdrawing from existence , he was at this moment not only resigned and complacent , but almost joyful ; firmly persuaded he was about to undergo a happy change , arid that the assurance would be verified in bis case as in
that of all mankind , that Jesus Christ was the fteKurrection ancl the JLife * Since his return froiu ^ France , he "had spent more th&n tfcree year ^ at U ^ ifon-Mpon-Severii , in the bosbmf <> f hfe family ancj friends , who whij ^ th ^ y ( Je ^ p ly lament ims lqs § , Nfiect ^ W sati ^ Faction jpn th ^^ anqttiflrty 6 t %% ** latter days , m& specially Qf tm } 0 ? i niotnents . 0 is illness wa » ^ hott and fortiiiiaitely * tte » dfe& wi ^ h HtO e l ^ ijy paib . THte e ^ bifW dh 26 th J ^ mary
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^ 54 Memoir the late William Russell , Esq
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1818, page 154, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2474/page/2/
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