Lord Acton
(1834-1902)


"It is easier to find people fit to govern themselves than people to govern others. Every man is the best, the most responsible, judge of his own advantage."

The "profusions of virtues and accomplishments" of the man were described by Gertrude Himmelfarb: "Those who met him did not know whether to be more impressed with his fabulous erudition or with his exalted social position ... When he was not himself entertaining on his English or Bavarian estate, he was likely to be a guest at one of the great houses of England or the continent ... He knew personally most of the distinguished historians and philosophers of Europe and America ... At table with his family he chatted in English with his children, in German with his wife, in French with his sister-in-law, and in Italian with his mother-in-law."

John Emerich Edward Acton was born at Naples in 1834, the only son of Sir Ferdinand Richard Edward Acton. At the age of three years, John Acton, with the death of his father, was to inherit a large estate and was to become the eighth baronet of Aldenham Park in Shorpshire. In 1840, his widowed mother was to marry Lord Leveson (1815-91). At the age of nine years, young John was sent off to St. Mary's College at Oscott; at the age of fourteen he was sent for private tutoring at Edinburgh; and then, at age 16, unable to obtain admission to Cambridge (Catholics were not acceptable) he was sent to Germany (Munich) to be placed in the care of a theologian, one who had taken orders in the Catholic church, Dr. Dollinger, with whom he was to have a life long connection. Other accruements to his education were to be had early in his career, when, as but a young man, he was to attend with certain key political players (through his stepfather's connections, no doubt) to international events in such places as Russia and America. In this process, Acton received a superb education, though he was never enrolled at any university.

In 1859, Acton became the "co-proprietor" and editor of the English periodical, The Rambler: the organ of the "Liberal Catholics." He wrote pieces for his own magazine, and, for a number of others; and thus he became a man of letters and was to be all of his life. It was too, in 1859, that Acton was elected as a Whig (following family traditions) for the borough of Carlow. (His parliamentary career, however, came to an end in 1868. In 1859, Acton closed down The Rambler but it soon arose as a quarterly with another name, The Home and Foreign Review. Through the years, as already mentioned, Acton was to contribute articles to other periodicals, including, the Chronicle and the North British Review.

In 1860, his mother, Lady Granville died, and Acton was to take her family estate the seat of which was in Germany, the Rhineland. In 1865, Acton was to marry Countess Marie Anna Ludomilla Euphrosyne Arco-Valley; and, was thus to fulfill a pledge made to his mother while at the side of her death bed.

To finish off: Acton, during 1886, was to found the English Historical Review; he received honourable degrees from both Cambridge (1888) and Oxford (1889); in 1891, he was appointed Lord-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria; and, in 1895, Regius Professor of modern history at Cambridge (the very same institution that refused him admission, circa 1850).

Acton was a Catholic; and, a Catholic in England was at a considerable political disability. However, this disability was significantly offset because of family connections. Though a lifelong Catholic, his beliefs did not jibe with the characteristic doctrines of Catholic orthodoxy. Acton was one of a group of Catholics labeled, "Liberal Catholics." They were critical of the church in respect to its authoritarian organization (specifically, the Infallibility of the Pope, and critical too of its past history (as for example: the Index, the Inquisition and the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Much of Lord Acton's writings dealt with these matters. His positions were to get him into difficulty with Rome and he came very close to being excommunicated, indeed, his mentor, Dr. Dollinger, did get excommunicated. As for Acton, he was one of the laity (unlike Dollinger), and one with high connections in the Protestant countries of Great Britain and Germany. Though his views were unorthodox, Acton, nonetheless, was a professed Catholic and the church recognized how important it was to it to have him in the ranks.

Though what we immediately recall when Lord Acton is brought to mind are his political remarks such as those that he made in respect to political power, he was more the historian then the political theorist. For years he cast about with a view to writing a comprehensive history (he eventually determined it was to be the history of liberty). Acton, however, never did produce a single full-sized volume for publication, in any subject. We know him to-day by posthumous collections of his periodical pieces, correspondence and lectures. He was, as Himmelfarb observed, to continually refer to the history he worked on and intended to write as one piece, as his "Madonna of the Future." Henry James wrote a story of an artist who dedicated his life to the creation of a single piece of art, a painting of the Madonna; and, at his death, they entered the studio of the artist and found on his easel but a blank canvas. Lord Acton, however did not leave behind a blank canvas but rather a wealth of rich diggings. I have his collected works, his Essays, in 3 volumes. The first volume contains the work which Acton did on the History of Liberty with essays on the Puritan Revolution, the English Revolution, Edmund Burke, Lord Macaulay, the Colonies, the American Revolution, and the American Civil War. The second volume contains his work on the Study and Writing of History, viz., the French Revolution, Charles II, Wolsey and the Divorce of Henry VIII, Machiavelli, et al. And, in the third volume, we see Acton's work on Religion, Politics, and Morality.

Though it is not my intention with this brief biographical sketch to deal with Acton's writings to any extent, I cannot help but touch upon of what Acton thought the role of government should be. Acton was against "programmes of reaction" and thought that there could be great reliance on those institutions that came about as the result of slow evolution. That, ultimately, what was to be trusted were those "changes arising from special historical situations rather than from the minds of presumptuous men [such as Comte and Rousseau]."

To conclude, I shall resort to quoting Sir Harold Butler, who wrote of Lord Acton:
"With his vast erudition and universal outlook Acton was better equipped than any modern English thinker to expound the true nature of the problems which now beset us. ... democracy was a revolt against the political autocracy of absolute monarchs or dictators, but democracy itself might breed a new kind of despotism. 'Popular power may be tainted with the same poison as personal power.' The authority of the people must be restrained by constitutional checks and balances [Acton in later life came to admire the American constitution] to safe guard freedom and the protection of minorities. 'The will of the people cannot make just that which is unjust.'"

                       

Courtesy of: http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Acton.htm