.. SELECTIONS FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FIRST LORD ACTON ~ 1 'I A FRIEND sends me La l·'lanare LibCrale of Ghent for August 21st, with this article marked in heavy blue pencil. I publish it without any comment whatever. ," "CATHOLIC TOLERANCE /~ / }' :?£, "The punishment of death for heretics. ' "Fr. Lcpicia, professor of theology at the College of Prop- . aganda in Rome, is the author of a text-book in common use by the future priests who study at Rome. The book is entitled: Ooncerning the Stability ana the Proorese 01 Dogma. It was reissued with augmentations in 1910. A new edition has just appeared, bearing the approbation of high Church authorities. And here is what one reads on page 103: "'Q. Can heretics be tolerated, and if so, on what condi- tions?' "'A. As soon as one proclaims in public a heretical doc- trine, and tries to corrupt others by words or example, he can not only be excommunicated (to speak abstractly) but he ought to be killed, in all justice, to the end that he may not corrupt I a very great number by contamination. For a bad man is worse than a wild beast, and he docs more harm, as Aristotle says t (Ethic8 I, vil, in fine). So as it is not evil to kill a noxious beast of the forest, it is good to take away the life of a heretic who denies divine truth and hinders the salvation of others.' "And on page 200 this sentence is to be found: "'To the Church returns, in truth, the right of pronouncing sentence of death against heretics.' Who then can say that the Roman Catholic Church is becoming more tolerant? Nunc erudimini/" '00.-- __ > _ i, ~-..... --~.. ,.... / SELECTIONS FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FIRST LORD ACTON EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN NEVILLE FIGGIS, LITT.D. HONORARY FELLOW OF S. CATRARJ:\E'S COLLEGE, CA"BRlDGE AND REGINALD VERE LAURENCE, M.A. FEI.LOW AND SENIOR TUTOR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CA~JjItIDGE VOL. I CORRESPONDENCE WITH CARDINAL NEWMAN, LADY BLENNERHASSETT W. E. GLADSTONE AND OTHERS LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, ~EW YORK BOMBAY. CALCUTTA. A~D :MADRAS PREFATORY NOTE THANKS are due to the owners of many letters in this volume. In particular we desire to thank the repre- sentatives of Mr. Gladstone, Cardinals Newman and Manning, Dean Church, Mrs. Drew, Lady Renouf, Lady Blennerhassett. This volume is only an instalment. Acton's letters to Dollinger are the most important that he wrote. Of these we made a selection some years ago. This will be published as soon as the translator is ready. We would add that the selection is our own choice, and that the views expressed in the Introduction must be taken as our own interpretation. We desire,to take full responsibility for our choice. J. N. F. R. V. L. I TABLE OF CONTENTS rAGK INTRODUCTION. lX I. EARLY LETTERS . I II. ECCLESIASTICAL CORRESPONDENCE- A.-NEWMAN, DOLLINGER, DUPANLOUP. 31 B.-THE VATICAN COUNCIL AND THE VATICAN DECREES 84 III. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE- A.-MR. GLADSTONE IS8 (a) Budgets 1S8 (6) University Education 162 (c) Acton's Peerage 169 (d) Acton and Office 170 (~) British Museum 173 (f) Ireland 175 (g) Foreign Affairs 188 (h) Liddon 196 (t) Dean Church 201 (k) I Robert Elsmere' 206 (I) Old Testament Criticism 218 (m) Bishop Butler 223 (n) Mr. Gladstone's Romanes Lecture . 227 (0) Acton's Library 232 yil viiI LORD ACTON'S CORRESPO~DENCE 'ACIf A.-MR. GLADSTONE (contituml)- (p) Women's Suffrage • (q) Mr. Gladstone's Retirement (r) Mr. Gladstone's Biography. (s) The Naval Estimates of 189<4 245 (t) Anglican Orders and Reunion 252 (u) Miscellaneous 254 B.-LADY BLENNERHASSETT- (a) Madame de Stael 268 (0) TaJleyrand • 283 (c) George Eliot. 288 (d) MisceJlaneous 293 c. -MISCELLANEOUS 302 INDEX 317 ERRATA Page 100, note, for "Is Healthful Reunion Possible? II l'eQ4/. "Is Healthful Reunion Impossible? " Page 276, line rr , JOT" qui .. read" que." INTRODUCTION OUT of a large mass of letters we have chosen those which throw most light on Acton's development. We do not offer, them as affording a complete account. Indeed, two volumes of Acton's letters have already appeared. Light is thrown on many of the topics here discussed in the letters to Mrs. Drew, and also in those to Richard Simpson and others, which Cardinal Gasquet has published in the volume, Loyd Acton and his Circle. This book begins, naturally, with the letters of early youth. _ Some of these were needed in order to show what were Acton's surroundings and education. At Oscott he was not happy. Nor was his sojo~m in Edinburgh-with a few uncongenial companions much more satisfying. In later life he used to say, "I never had any contempor- aries." This lack we can trace at an early age. Always Acton suffered from want of the "give and take" of English school life. In all societies in' which he moved he remained a somewhat aloof figure. Dollinger captured him from the first. The friendship \ remained unbroken until the. death of the elder man. Latterly, at least, Acton was aware of an increasing gulf between himself and his teacher. These letters take Acton to Munich. One letter, that to his stepfather, Lord Gran- ville, sets out his own plans for the future. It will be useful. to all who desire to appreciate the peculiar affinities and exclusions QfActon's mental life. Passing from these early letters, we were faced with the problem of arranging the material, which is very diverse, Ix \ x LORD ACTON'S CORRESPONDENCE and does not represent all seasons equally. We thought it unwise to keep a purely chronological order. Instead, we have preferred an arrangement under topical headings. These are grouped into two main classes-ecclesiastical and general. Some overlapping has been inevitable. But we hope that something like a clear picture will impress itself. All this has been the more difficult, that letters of Acton appear in biographies previously published, more especially in Mr. Lathbury's two volumes of the Ecclesiastical Corre- spondence of Mr. Gladstone, and in Wilfrid Ward's Life of John Henry Newman. Many readers will need no further introduction. Yet, since Acton has been often misunderstood, we may be par- doned for proceeding a little farther in the way of interpre- tation. These letters afford evidence of the mingling in Acton of political and religious interests with those of the enthusiastic scholar and with a certain flair for getting to know about people. Incidentally they witness to the beginning and the gradual growth of the intimacy with Gladstone. We see, too, how great and how long continued was his influence on him. We see Mr. Gladstone sending him writing after writing, in order to have the knowledge and judgment of the younger man at his disposal: and the minute and elaborate criticisms which resulted. The key to the development and to some of the limita- tions of Acton lies in his association with Dollinger. The letter to Lord Granville, beginning on page 23. shows how deep and vital was that influence at the most impressionable period of a boy's life. This influence did not cease when tutelage was over. but grew for 'a long time in intensity. waning a little after I870. The same letter shows that thus early was Acton clear about his purpose. He would follow knowledge, but the pursuit must have a practical end. The notion of Acton as a dry-as-dust is ludicrous. INTRODUCTION xi Elsewhere he prides himself on his elaborate study of politi- cal thought. The principles which he had adopted at Munich form a criterion for all his later judgments, and determined his course alike in religious and in political con- troversies. This is not to say that he underwent no further development. Even in theology his critical bent developed more as years went by. There was a subtlety of mind which was reflected in the subtlety of his later style, so unlike the pedestrian English of his earlier days. It is possible that the Acton of the eighties and the nineties would not have seemed intelligible to the enthusiastic knight-errant of the Church, who thought in 1860 to win the whole world to a synthesis of learning, Liberalism, and Catholicism. This mayor may not be. What is certain is the unity of the main thoughts which governed Acton. That thought is the idea of freedom as an absolute end for all men. Freedom is not to Acton one among many human goods to be balanced with others by the politician. Rather it is the governing principle of true statesmanship, the determining element in political thought, the criterion of all constitutions. This sense that freedom is a spiritual principle made for Acton a religion of politics. He felt that he was divided by a gulf from men who might put wealth or social comfort, or power, or efficiency, or even intelligence, as of superior or even concurrent importance. With such principles, it was natural that Acton should dislike Bismarck, condemn Carlyle's cult of strong men, and regard Prussian domination with something more than mistrust. It It is the greatest danger which remains to be encountered by the Anglo-Saxon race," were his prophetic words at a Cambridge Iecture.! Yet we should get a one- 1 Lectures on Modern History, p. 289. The whole passage should be consulted for its prescient judgment of the danger involved in the rise of Prussia. xii LORD ACTON'S CORRESPONDENCE sided picture if we think of Acton as mainly haunted by the dangers of monarchical militarism.