John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO DL

The Right Honourable
(10 January 1834 19 June 1902) was an English Catholic historian,
politician, and writer. He was the only son of Sir Ferdinand Dalberg- The Lord Acton
Acton, 7th Baronet[1] and a grandson of the Neapolitan admiral Sir John KCVO DL
Acton, 6th Baronet.[2][3] From 1837 to 1869 he was known as Sir John
Dalberg-Acton, 8th Baronet.

He is perhaps best known for the remark in a letter to an Anglican

bishop, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts
absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men,..."[4]

Contents
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Politics
2.2 Religion and writings
3 Personal life
4 Professor at Cambridge
5 Death and legacy
6 Styles of address
Member of Parliament
7 Ancestry
8 Notable quotations for Bridgnorth
9 Works In office
10 See also 25 July 1865 1866
11 Notes Serving with John Pritchard
12 References
13 Further reading Preceded by Henry Whitmore
14 External links Succeeded by Henry Whitmore
Member of Parliament
for Carlow Borough
Early life In office
19 May 1859 25 July 1865
Acton's grandfather, who in 1791 succeeded to the baronetcy and
family estates in Shropshire, previously held by the English branch of Preceded by John Alexander
the Acton family, represented a younger branch which had transferred Succeeded by Thomas Osborne Stock
itself first to France and then to Italy. However, by the extinction of the
Personal details
elder branch, the admiral became head of the family. His eldest son,
Richard, married Marie Louise Pelline, the only daughter and heiress of Born John Emerich Edward
Emmerich Joseph, 1st Duc de Dalberg, a naturalised French noble of Dalberg-Acton
ancient German lineage who had entered the French service under 10 January 1834
Napoleon and represented Louis XVIII at the Congress of Vienna in Naples, Two Sicilies
1814. After Sir Richard Acton's death in 1837, she became the wife of
Died 19 June 1902 (aged 68)
the 2nd Earl Granville (1840).[3][1] Marie Louise Pelline de Dalberg
was heiress of Herrnsheim in Germany. She became the mother of John Tegernsee, Bavaria
Dalberg-Acton who was born in Naples.[2][3] German Empire
Nationality British
Political Liberal Party
party
From an old Roman Catholic family, young Acton was educated at Alma mater Oscott College
Oscott College under future-Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman until 1848 and
Occupation Historian, politician
then at Edinburgh where he studied privately. His attempt to be
admitted to the University of Cambridge failed because he was a
Catholic.[3] So Acton went to Munich where he studied at the University and resided in the house of Johann
Joseph Ignaz von Dllinger, theologian and forerunner of the Old Catholic Church, with whom he became
lifelong friends.[5] Dllinger had inspired in him a deep love of historical research and a profound conception
of its functions as a critical instrument, particularly in the history of liberty.[5] He was a master of the principal
foreign languages and began at an early age to collect a magnificent historical library, with the objectwhich,
however, he never realisedof writing a great "History of Liberty." In politics, he was always an ardent
Liberal.[3]

Career
Through extensive travels, Acton spent much time in the chief
intellectual centres reading the actual correspondence of historical
personalities.[5] Among his friends were Montalembert, Tocqueville,
Fustel de Coulanges, Bluntschli, von Sybel and Ranke. In 1855, he
was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Shropshire.[1] A year later, he
was attached to Lord Granville's mission to Moscow as British
representative at the coronation of Alexander II of Russia.[3]

Politics

In 1859, Acton settled in England, at his country house, Aldenham, in

Shropshire. He returned to the House of Commons that same year as
member for the Irish Borough of Carlow and became a devoted
admirer and adherent of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.
However, Acton was not an active MP, and his parliamentary career
came to an end after the general election of 1865, when he headed the
Portrait of John Acton byFranz Seraph
Liberal ballot for Bridgnorth near his Shropshire home. Acton
von Lenbach, circa 1879.
defeated Conservative leader Henry Whitmore, who successfully
petitioned for a scrutiny of the ballots, and thus retained his own seat
and Acton lost his new seat. After the Reform Act 1867, Acton again
contested Bridgnorth, this time reduced to a single seat, in 1868 but to no avail.[6]

Acton took a great interest in the United States, considering its federal structure the perfect guarantor of
individual liberties. During the American Civil War, his sympathies lay entirely with the Confederacy, for their
defence of States' Rights against a centralised government that he believed would, by what he thought to be all
historical precedent, inevitably turn tyrannical. His notes to Gladstone on the subject helped sway many in the
British government to sympathise with the South. After the South's surrender, he wrote to Robert E. Lee that "I
mourn for the stake which was lost at Richmond more deeply than I rejoice over that which was saved at
Waterloo," adding that he "deemed that you were fighting battles for our liberty, our progress, and our
civilization."[7]

In 1869 Queen Victoria raised Acton to the peerage as Baron Acton, of Aldenham in the County of Shropshire.
His elevation came primarily through the intercession of Gladstone.[8] The two were intimate friends and
frequent correspondents. Matthew Arnold said that "Gladstone influences all round him but Acton; it is Acton
who influences Gladstone."[6] Acton was appointed to the Royal Victorian Order as a Knight Commander
(KCVO) in the 1897 Birthday Honours.[9][10]

Religion and writings

Meanwhile, Acton became the editor of the Roman
Catholic monthly paper, The Rambler, in 1859, upon
John Henry (later Cardinal) Newman's retirement from
the editorship.[11] In 1862, he merged this periodical
into the Home and Foreign Review. His contributions at
once gave evidence of his remarkable wealth of
historical knowledge. Though a sincere Roman
Catholic, his whole spirit as a historian was hostile to
ultramontane pretensions, and his independence of
thought and liberalism of view speedily brought him
into conflict with the Roman Catholic hierarchy. As
early as August 1862, Cardinal Wiseman publicly Lord Acton, with Dllinger and William Gladstone, 1879.
censured the Review; and when in 1864, after
Dllinger's appeal at the Munich Congress for a less
hostile attitude towards historical criticism, the pope issued a declaration that the opinions of Catholic writers
were subject to the authority of the Roman congregations, Acton felt that there was only one way of reconciling
his literary conscience with his ecclesiastical loyalty, and he stopped the publication of his monthly periodical.
He continued, however, to contribute articles to the North British Review, which, previously a Scottish Free
Church organ, had been acquired by friends in sympathy with him, and which for some years (until 1872, when
it ceased publication) promoted the interests of a high-class Liberalism in both temporal and ecclesiastical
matters. Acton also did a good deal of lecturing on historical subjects.[6]

In the March 1862 Rambler, Acton wrote: "The Celts are not among the progressive, initiative races, but among
those which supply the materials rather than the impulse of history, and are either stationary or retrogressive.
The Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Teutons are the only makers of history, the only authors of
advancement. Other races possessing a highly developed language, a speculative religion, enjoying luxury and
art, attain to a certain pitch of cultivation which they are unable to either communicate or to increase. They are
a negative element in the world." And: "Subjection to a people of a higher capacity for government is of itself
no misfortune; and it is to most countries the condition of their political advancement."[12]

In 1870, along with his mentor Dllinger, Acton opposed the moves to promulgate the doctrine of papal
infallibility in the First Vatican Council, travelling to Rome to lobby against it, ultimately unsuccessfully.[13]
Unlike Dllinger Acton did not become an Old Catholic, and continued attending Mass regularly; he received
the last rites on his deathbed.[14] The Catholic Church did not try to force his hand. It was in this context that,
in a letter he wrote to scholar and ecclesiastic Mandell Creighton, dated April 1887, Acton made his most
famous pronouncement:

But if we might discuss this point until we found that we nearly agreed, and if we do agree
thoroughly about the impropriety of Carlylese denunciations and Pharisaism in history, I cannot
accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favourable
presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way, against the
holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the
want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great
men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more
when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse
heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. That is the point at which the negation of
Catholicism and the negation of Liberalism meet and keep high festival, and the end learns to
justify the means. You would hang a man of no position like Ravaillac; but if what one hears is
true, then Elizabeth asked the gaoler to murder Mary, and William III of England ordered his Scots
minister to extirpate a clan. Here are the greatest names coupled with the greatest crimes; you
would spare those criminals, for some mysterious reason. I would hang them higher than Haman,
for reasons of quite obvious justice, still more, still higher for the sake of historical science.[4]
Thenceforth he steered clear of theological polemics. He devoted himself to reading, study and congenial
society. With all his capacity for study, he was a man of the world and a man of affairs, not a bookworm.[6] His
only notable publications were a masterly essay in the Quarterly Review of January 1878 on "Democracy in
Europe;" two lectures delivered at Bridgnorth in 1877 on "The History of Freedom in Antiquity" and "The
History of Freedom in Christianity"these last the only tangible portions put together by him of his long-
projected "History of Liberty;" and an essay on modern German historians in the first number of the English
Historical Review, which he helped to found (1886). After 1879 he divided his time between London, Cannes,
and Tegernsee in Bavaria, enjoying and reciprocating the society of his friends. In 1872 he had been given the
honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Munich; in 1888 Cambridge gave him the
honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, and in 1889 Oxford the Doctor of Civil Law; and in 1890 he received the
high academic accolade of being made a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.[6]

In 1874, when Gladstone published his pamphlet on The Vatican Decrees in their Bearing on Civil Allegiance,
Lord Acton wrote during November and December a series of remarkable letters to The Times, illustrating
Gladstone's main theme by numerous historical examples of papal inconsistency, in a way which must have
been bitter enough to the ultramontane party, but ultimately disagreeing with Gladstone's conclusion and
insisting that the Church itself was better than its premises implied. Acton's letters led to another storm in the
English Roman Catholic world, but once more it was considered prudent by the Holy See to leave him alone. In
spite of his reservations, he regarded "communion with Rome as dearer than life".[6]

Personal life
In 1865 Acton married Countess Marie Anna Ludomilla Euphrosina von Arco auf Valley, daughter of the
Bavarian Count Maximilian von Arco auf Valley, by whom he had six children:[15]

1. Hon. Mary Elizabeth Anne Dalberg-Acton (18661951), married Lt-Col. Edward Bleiddian Herbert and
had issue.
2. Hon. Annie Mary Catherine Dalberg-Acton (18681917)
3. Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 2nd Baron Acton (18701924)
4. Hon. John Dalberg Dalberg-Acton (18721873)
5. Hon. Elizabeth Mary Dalberg-Acton (18741881)
6. Hon. Jeanne Marie Dalberg-Acton (18761919)

His nephew was Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley (18971945), a German count and political activist, and
assassin of socialist Bavarian minister-president Kurt Eisner in 1919.

Professor at Cambridge
Acton's reputation for learning gradually spread abroad, largely through Gladstone's influence. Gladstone found
him a valuable political adviser, and in 1892, when the Liberal government came in, Lord Acton was made a
lord-in-waiting. Finally, in 1895, on the death of Sir John Seeley, Lord Rosebery appointed him to the Regius
Professorship of Modern History at Cambridge.[5] He delivered two courses of lectures on the French
Revolution and on Modern History, but it was in private that the effects of his teaching were felt most. The
Cambridge Modern History, though he did not live to see it, was planned under his editorship.[6]

Death and legacy

Lord Acton became ill in 1901 and died on 19 June 1902 in Tegernsee. He was succeeded in the title by his son,
Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 2nd Baron Acton. His 60,000-volume library, formed for use and not for display
and composed largely of books full of his own annotations, was bought immediately after his death by Andrew
Carnegie and presented to John Morley, who forthwith gave it to the University of Cambridge.[6]

According to Hugh Chisholm, editor of the 1911 Encyclopdia Britannica:

 Lord Acton has left too little completed original work to rank among the great historians; his very
learning seems to have stood in his way; he knew too much and his literary conscience was too
acute for him to write easily, and his copiousness of information overloads his literary style. But he
was one of the most deeply learned men of his time, and he will certainly be remembered for his
influence on others.[6]

Styles of address
18341837: Mr John Dalberg-Acton
18371855: Sir John Dalberg-Acton Bt
18551859: Sir John Dalberg-Acton Bt DL
18591866: Sir John Dalberg-Acton Bt DL MP
18661869: Sir John Dalberg-Acton Bt DL
18691897: The Right Honourable The Lord Acton DL [a]
18971902: The Right Honourable The Lord Acton KCVO DL

a. Although The Lord Acton was a baronet, by custom the post-nominal of "Bt" is omitted, as Peers of the
Realm do not list subsidiary hereditary titles.

Ancestry
Ancestors of John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

8. Dr. Edward Acton

4. Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet

9. Catherine Loys

2. Sir Ferdinand Richard Edward

Acton

10. Lt-Gen. Joseph Edward Acton

5. Marianna Acton

11. Grfin Marie Eleanore Ber ghe von Trips

1. John Dalberg-Acton,
1st Baron Acton
12. Freiherr Wolfgang Heribert Kmmerer von W orms gen. von
Dalberg zu Herrnsheim
6. Emmerich Joseph von Dalberg, Duke
of Dalberg

13. Freiin Maria Elisabeth Augusta Ulner von Diebur g

3. Marie Louise Pelline von Dalber g

14. Antonio Giulio III Brignole-Sale, 9th Marquis of Groppoli

7. Marie Pellegrine Thrse Brignole-Sale

15. Anna Maria Gaspara V incenza Pieri -Serriciardi

Notable quotations
History is the arbiter of controversy, the monarch of all she surveys.[16]
Universal History is ... not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.[17]
 There is not a more perilous or immoral habit of mind than the sanctifying of success. [said of Oliver
Cromwell][18]
The strong man with the dagger is followed by the weak man with the sponge.[19][20]
The science of politics is the one science that is deposited by the streams of history, like the grains of
gold in the sand of a river; and the knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is
eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future.[21]
Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin.[22]
Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.[23]
The wisdom of divine rule appears not in the perfection but in the improvement of the world... History is
the true demonstration of Religion.[24]

Works
The Civil War in America: Its
Place in History (lecture; 1866).
The Rise and Fall of the Mexican
Empire (lecture; 1868).
Letters from Rome on the Council
(1870).
The War of 1870 (lecture; 1871).
The History of Freedom in
Antiquity (address; 1877).
The History of Freedom in
Christianity (address; 1877).
Introductory note toL.A. Burd's
edition of Machiavelli'sIl
Principe (1891).
A Lecture on the Study of History
(1895).
Introductory note toG.P. Gooch's
Annals of Politics and Culture
(1901).
Posthumous
Letters of Lord Acton to Mary,
Daughter of the Right Hon. W.E.
Gladstone (1904).
Lectures on Modern History
(1906).[25]
The History of Freedom and
Other Essays (1907).
Historical Essays and Studies
(1907).
Lectures on the French
Revolution (1910).
Selections from the
Correspondence of the First Lord
Acton (1917).
Articles
"Mill on Liberty," Part II, The
Rambler (185960).
"The Roman Question,"The
Rambler (1860).
"The State of the Church,"The
Rambler (1860).
"Hefele's 'Life of Ximenes',"The
Rambler (1860).
"The Political System of the
Popes," Part II, Part III, The
Rambler (186061).
"Dllinger's 'History of
Christianity'," The Rambler
(1861).
"Notes on the Present State of
Austria," The Rambler (1861).
"Political Causes of the
American Revolution,"The
Rambler (1861).
"Cavour," The Rambler (1861).
"The Catholic Academy," The
Rambler (1861).
"Dllinger on the Temporal
Power," The Rambler (1861).
"Mr. Goldwin Smith's Irish
History," The Rambler (1862).
"The Protestant Theory of
Persecution," The Rambler
(1862).
"Nationality," Home and Foreign
Review (1862).
"Secret History of Charles II,"
Home and Foreign Review
(1862).
"Confessions of Frederick the
Great," Home and Foreign
Review (1863).
"The Waldensian Forgeries,"
Home and Foreign Review
(1863).
"Ultramontanism," Home and
Foreign Review (1863).
"Medival Fables of the Popes,"
Home and Foreign Review
(1863).
"The Munich Congress,"Home
and Foreign Review (1864).
"Conflicts with Rome,"Home
and Foreign Review (1864).
"Material Resources of the
Papacy," The Chronicle (1867).
"Fra Paolo Sarpi," The Chronicle
(1867).
"The Case of Monte Cassino,"
The Chronicle (1867).
"Dllinger on Universities,"The
Chronicle (1867).
"The Ministerial Changes in
Italy," The Chronicle (1867).
"Secret History of the Italian
Crisis," The Chronicle (1867).
"The Secret Bull," The Chronicle
(1867).
"Reminiscences of Massimo
d'Azeglio," The Chronicle
(1867).
"The Next General Council,"The
Chronicle (1867).
"Ranke," The Chronicle (1867).
"M. Littr on the Middle Ages,"
The Chronicle (1867).
"Mr. Goldwin Smith on the
Political History of England,"
The Chronicle (1867).
"Nicholas of Cusa,"The
Chronicle (1867).
"Maurice of Saxony," The
Chronicle (1867).
"The Acta Sanctorum,"The
Chronicle (1867).
"The Queen's Journal,"The
Chronicle (1868).
"Ozanam on the Fifth Century,"
The Chronicle (1868).
"The Massacre of St.
Bartholomew," The North British
Review (1868).
"The Pope and the Council,"The
North British Review(1869).
"The Vatican Council," The
North British Review(1870).
"The Borgias and their Latest
Historian," The North British
Review (1871).
"Wolsey and the Divorce of
Henry VIII," Quarterly Review
(1877).
 "Sir Erskine May's 'Democracy
in Europe'," Quarterly Review
(1878).
"George Eliot's Life," The
Nineteenth Century (1885).
"German Schools of History," "Dllinger's Historical Work,"
English Historical Review English Historical Review
(1886). (1890).
"Wilhelm von Giesebretch,"
English Historical Review
(1890).

See also
Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty

Notes
1. Dod, Robert P. (1860). The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland. London:
Whitaker and Co. p. 83.
2. Chambers Biographical Dictionary, ISBN 0-550-16010-8, p. 6
3. Chisholm 1911, p. 159.
4. Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887 (http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/165acton.
html) published in Historical Essays and Studies, edited by J. N. Figgis and R. V. Laurence (London:
Macmillan, 1907)
5. Gronbacher, Gregory (2008). "Acton, Lord (18341902)" (https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3
TkJYC). In Hamowy, Ronald. The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE; Cato
Institute. pp. 45. ISBN 978-1412965804. LCCN 2008009151 (https://lccn.loc.gov/2008009151).
OCLC 750831024 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/750831024). doi:10.4135/9781412965811.n3 (https://
doi.org/10.4135%2F9781412965811.n3).
6. Chisholm 1911, p. 160.
7. 4 Nov 1866, letter to Robert E. Lee, The Acton-Lee Correspondence (http://archive.lewrockwell.com/ori
g3/acton-lee.html) at lewrockwell.com, accessed 21 February 2011.
8. Norman, Edward (1988). Cannon, John, ed. The Blackwell Dictionary of Historians. Oxford; New York:
Basil Blackwell Ltd. p. 1. ISBN 0-631-14708-X.
9. "No. 26871" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26871/page/3819). The London Gazette. 9 July
1897. p. 3819.
10. "No. 10900" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/10900/page/673). The Edinburgh Gazette.
13 July 1897. p. 673.
11. MacDougall, Hugh A. (1962). The Acton/Newman Relations: The Dilemma of Christian Liberalism.
Fordham University Press.
12. The History of Freedom and Other Essays, eds. J. N. Figgis and R. V. Laurence (London: Macmillan,
1907). Chapter: VIII: MR. GOLDWIN SMITHS IRISH HISTORY (http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=co
m_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=75&chapter=42908&layout=html&Itemid=27)
13. Tonsor, Stephen J (1959). "Lord Acton on Dollinger's Historical Theology". Journal of the History of
Ideas. 20 (3): 329352. doi:10.2307/2708113 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2708113).
14. Thurston, Herbert (1907). "John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, Baron Acton". In Herbermann,
Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
15. John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton of Aldenham (http://www.thepeerage.com/p145.
htm#i1445) at thepeerage.com
16. http://www.firstthings.com/article/2011/03/whig-history-at-eighty
17. Lectures on Modern History (1895) (http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/18685/pg18685.html)
Appendix I. at Project Gutenberg.
18. Lectures on Modern History (1895) (http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/18685/pg18685.html) Lecture
XI, The Puritan Revolution. at Project Gutenberg.
19. Lectures on the French Revolution (1910) (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27488/27488-h/27488-h.htm)
Macmillan, p. 92, at Project Gutenberg.
20. quoted in Forbidden Knowledge (1996) (https://books.google.com/books?id=5u3se3N0bZQC&pg=PA25
5&lpg=PA255&dq=%E2%80%9CThe+strong+man+with+the+dagger+is+followed+by+the+weak+man
+with+the+sponge.) by Roger Shattuck, p. 236
21. A Lecture on the Study of History, 1895 (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25720/25720-h/25720-h.htm)
Macmillan (1911), p. 3, at Project Gutenberg.
 22. John Acton Quotes (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_acton.html) from
brainyquote.com Accessed 21 February 2011.
23. as quoted in The American Political Science Review vol.56, 1963 (https://books.google.com/books?cd=3
&id=G5cuAAAAIAAJ&dq=Liberty+is+not+the+power+of+doing+what+we+like%2C+but+the+right+o
f+being+able+to+do+what+we+ought&q=Rambler#search_anchor) from The Rambler Volume 2 (http
s://archive.org/stream/therambler02newmuoft#page/146/mode/2up/search/liberty) (1860) p. 146.
24. http://www.bu.edu/historic/riha/core.html
25. Willert, P. F. (January 1907). "Review of Lectures on Modern History by the late Right Honourable John
Edward Emerich, First Baron Acton; edited by J. N. Figgis and R. Vere Lawrence" (https://babel.hathitru
st.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4815158;view=1up;seq=176). The English Historical Review. 22: 164166.

References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.
(1911). "Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton), 1st Baron". Encyclopdia Britannica. 1 (11th
ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 159160.

Further reading
Acton, Harold (1961). "Lord Acton". Chicago Review. 15 (1): 3144. doi:10.2307/25293642.
Boyd, Kelly, ed. Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writers (Rutledge, 1999) 1:1-2
Brinton, Crane (1919). "Lord Acton's Philosophy of History". The Harvard Theological Review. 12 (1):
84112. JSTOR 1507914. doi:10.1017/s0017816000010300.
Chadwick, Owen (1976). Acton and Gladstone. London: Athlone Press.
Chadwick, Owen (1998). Acton and History. Cambridge University Press.
Deane, Seamus F (1972). "Lord Acton and Edmund Burke". Journal of the History of Ideas. 33 (2): 325
335. doi:10.2307/2708878.
Drew, Mary Gladstone (1924). "Acton and Gladstone." In: Acton, Gladstone, and Others. London, Nisbet
& Co., ltd., pp. 131.
Engel-Janosi, Friedrich (1941). "Reflections of Lord Acton on Historical Principles". The Catholic
Historical Review. 27 (2): 166185.
Fasnacht, George Eugene (1952). Acton's Political Philosophy: An Analysis. London: Hollis.
Gasquet, Abbot (1906). Lord Acton and His Circle. London: Burn & Oates.
Himmelfarb, Gertrude (1952). Lord Action: A Study in Conscience and Politics. Chicago, Illinois:
University of Chicago Press.
Hill, Roland (2000). Lord Acton. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.
Kirk, Russell (1994). Lord Acton on Revolution. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Acton Institute.
Lang, Timothy (2002). "Lord Acton and 'The Insanity of Nationality' ". Journal of the History of Ideas.
63 (1): 129149. doi:10.2307/3654261.
Laski, Harold J. (1918). "Lord Acton: Idealist," The Dial, Vol. LXV, pp. 5961.
Lilly, W.S. (1911). "Lord Acton and the French Revolution," The Dublin Review, Vol. CXLVIII, pp. 213
229.
Lyttelton, Maud (1904). "Mr. Gladstone's Friendship with Lord Acton," Lippincott's Magazine, Vol.
LXXIV, pp. 610616.
Mathew, David (1946). Acton: The Formative Years. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.
Mathew, David (1968). Lord Acton and His Times. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.
Massey, Hector J (1969). "Lord Acton's Theory of Nationality". The Review of Politics. 31 (4): 495508.
doi:10.1017/s0034670500011827.
Murphy, Terrence (1984). "Lord Acton and the Question of Moral Judgments in History: The
Development of His Position". The Catholic Historical Review. 70 (2): 225250.
Nurser, John (1987). The Reign of Conscience: Individual, Church, and State in Lord Acton's History of
Liberty. London: Taylor & Francis.
Pezzimenti, Rocco (2001). The Political Thought of Lord Acton: The English Catholics in the Nineteenth
Century. Leominster: Gracewing.
Poole, Reginald L. (1902). "John Emerich, Lord Acton". The English Historical Review. 17 (68): 692
699. doi:10.1093/ehr/xvii.lxviii.692.
 Schuettinger, Robert Lindsay (1976). Lord Acton: Historian of Liberty. Open Court Publishing Company.
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External links
Making History biography
Podcast on Power and corruption (see footnote in article for link to podcoast
Works by John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton at Internet Archive
Works by Lord Acton at Liberty Fund
Works by Lord Acton at Hathi Trust
Acton Institute: Research on Lord Acton sources from the Acton Institute
"Archival material relating to John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton". UK National Archives.
John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton at Goodreads
Tocqueville-Acton Centre for Studies & Documentation (Italian and English)
Lord Acton, Nationality (1862)

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Member of Parliament for Carlow

Preceded by Succeeded by
Borough
John Alexander Thomas Osborne Stock
18591865

Preceded by Member of Parliament for Bridgnorth Succeeded by

Henry Whitmore 18651866 Henry Whitmore
John Pritchard With: John Pritchard John Pritchard

Peerage of the United Kingdom

Baron Acton Succeeded by

New creation
18691902 Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton

Baronetage of England

Baronet
Preceded by Succeeded by
(of Aldenham)
Ferdinand Dalberg-Acton Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton
18371902

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Acton,_1st_Baron_Acton&oldid=802594701"

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