Corruption - Absolutely!

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. 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 , 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.

In the March Rambler , Acton wrote: 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. It was in this context that, in a letter he wrote to scholar and ecclesiastic Mandell Creighton , dated April , 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. 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. After he divided his time between London, Cannes , and Tegernsee in Bavaria, enjoying and reciprocating the society of his friends.

In he had been given the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Munich ; in Cambridge gave him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws , and in Oxford the Doctor of Civil Law ; and in he received the high academic accolade of being made a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. In , 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.

What's the meaning of the phrase 'Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely'?

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". His nephew was Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley — , a German count and political activist, and assassin of socialist Bavarian minister-president Kurt Eisner in Acton's reputation for learning gradually spread abroad, largely through Gladstone's influence.

Gladstone found him a valuable political adviser, and in , when the Liberal government came in, Lord Acton was made a lord-in-waiting. The Cambridge Modern History , though he did not live to see it, was planned under his editorship. Lord Acton became ill in and died on 19 June in Tegernsee. His 60,volume library, formed for use and not for display and composed largely of books full of his own annotations, was bought prior to his death by Andrew Carnegie in secret in order to secure the library for Acton's use during his lifetime, then upon Lord Acton's death, presented to John Morley , who forthwith gave it to the University of Cambridge.

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. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Serving with John Pritchard. Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet 9. Sir Ferdinand Richard Edward Acton Joseph Edward Acton 5. John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton Emmerich Joseph von Dalberg , Duke of Dalberg Marie Louise Pelline von Dalberg This section is a candidate to be copied to Wikiquote using the Transwiki process.

The Civil War in America: Its Place in History lecture; The Rise and Fall of the Mexican Empire lecture; Letters from Rome on the Council The War of lecture; The History of Freedom in Antiquity address; The History of Freedom in Christianity address; Introductory note to L.

Burd 's edition of Machiavelli's Il Principe A Lecture on the Study of History Introductory note to G. Property is always exposed to interference. It is the constant object of policy.

All liberty is conditional, limited and therefore unequal. The state can never do what it likes in its own sphere. It is bound by all kinds of law. End justifies the means. This is still the most widespread of all the opinions inimical to liberty.

Men thought they could make good the evil they did. He does the same thing as a judge who accepts a bribe. Like a judge he must consider what is right, not what is advantageous to a party or class. Else you might defend slavery where it is economically sound and reject it where the economic argument applies against it. A government is legitimate only if it is effectively limited. Morality depends on liberty. Thereby all power is limited.

It excludes absolute power of the majority. It is coordination instead of subordination; association instead of hierarchical order; independent forces curbing each other; balance, therefore, liberty.

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It requires the strongest execution of power -- power sufficient to interfere with property. Justice is followed by equality and liberty. It realized no liberty.