The History of Freedom, and Other Essays

The Editors desire to thank the members of the Acton family for their help and advice during the preparation of this volume and of the volume of Historical Essays and Studies. They have had the advantage of access to many of Acton's letters, especially those to Döllinger and Lady Blennerhasset. They have thus been provided with valuable material for the Introduction. At the same time they wish to take the entire responsibility for the opinions expressed therein. They are again indebted to Professor Henry Jackson for valuable suggestions.

This volume consists of articles reprinted from the following journals: The Quarterly Review, The English Historical Review, The Nineteenth Century, The Rambler, The Home and Foreign Review, The North British Review, The Bridgnorth Journal. The Editors have to thank Mr. John Murray, Messrs. Longmans, Kegan Paul, Williams and Norgate, and the proprietors of The Bridgnorth Journal for their kind permission to republish these articles, and also the Delegacy of the Clarendon Press for allowing the reprint of the Introduction to Mr. Burd's edition of Il Principe. They desire to point out that in Lord Acton and his Circle the article on "The Protestant Theory of Persecution" is attributed to Simpson: this is an error.

J.N.F. R.V.L.

August 24, 1907.

CONTENTS

PAGE PORTRAIT OF LORD ACTON Frontispiece

CHRONICLE viii

INTRODUCTION ix

I. THE HISTORY OF FREEDOM IN ANTIQUITY 1

II. THE HISTORY OF FREEDOM IN CHRISTIANITY 30

III. SIR ERSKINE MAY'S DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE 61

IV. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW 101

V. THE PROTESTANT THEORY OF PERSECUTION 150

VI. POLITICAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHURCH 188

VII. INTRODUCTION TO L.A. BURD'S EDITION OF IL PRINCIPE BY MACHIAVELLI 212

VIII. MR. GOLDWIN SMITH'S IRISH HISTORY 232

IX. NATIONALITY 270

X. DÖLLINGER ON THE TEMPORAL POWER 301

XI. DÖLLINGER'S HISTORICAL WORK 375

XII. CARDINAL WISEMAN AND THE HOME AND FOREIGN REVIEW 436

XIII. CONFLICTS WITH ROME 461

XIV. THE VATICAN COUNCIL 492

XV. A HISTORY OF THE INQUISITION OF THE MIDDLE AGES. BY HENRY CHARLES LEA 551

XVI. THE AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH. BY JAMES BRYCE 575

XVII. HISTORICAL PHILOSOPHY IN FRANCE AND FRENCH BELGIUM AND SWITZERLAND. BY ROBERT FLINT 588

APPENDIX 597

INDEX 599

CHRONICLE

JOHN EMERICH EDWARD DALBERG-ACTON, born at Naples, 10th January 1834, son of Sir Ferdinand Richard Edward Dalberg-Acton and Marie de Dalberg, afterwards Countess Granville. French school near Paris. 1843-1848. Student at Oscott " " Edinburgh. 1848-1854. " " Munich University, living with Döllinger. 1855. Visits America in company with Lord Ellesmere. 1858-1862. Becomes editor of The Rambler. 1859-1865. M.P. for Carlow. 1862-1864. Founds, edits, and concludes The Home and Foreign Review. 1864. Pius IX. issued Quanta Cura, with appended Syllabus Errorum. 1865-1866. M.P. for Bridgnorth 1865. Marries Countess Marie Arco-Valley. 1867-1868. Writes for The Chronicle. 1869. Created Baron Acton. 1869-1871. Writes for North British Review. 1869-1870. Vatican Council. Acton at Rome. Writes "Letters of Quirinus" in alleging Zeitung. 1872. Honorary degree at Munich. 1874. Letters to The Times on "The Vatican Decrees." 1888. Honorary degree at Cambridge. 1889. " " Oxford. 1890. Honorary Fellow of All Souls'. 1892-1895. Lord-in-Waiting. 1895-1902. Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge Honorary Fellow of Trinity College. 19th June 1902. Died at Tegernsee.

INTRODUCTION