The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-18

LORD Acton, Lectures on Modern m

throughout the English speaking world IL
the volume entitled Lectures on Modern
History, by Lord ACToN Macmillans). These
lectures were delivered at the University
Of Cambridge in the academical years
1896 1901 by the author al occupant OF the
chair of regius professor Of modern his
tory, n post corresponding TO that whicn
Mr.. Goodwin Smith formerly held at Ok
ford. These lectures are here preceded
nv tho authors inaugural lecture on the
Study ~ History" which was delivered
ia 1895, AGO an appendix contains a docu-
ment which exhibits in detail the methods
and aims Of the colossal undertaking which
he planned and which the MaCmillanr nre
now publishing, to-wit: The Cambridge
Modern History" In a second volume will
be published the lectures on the French
Revolution. and still other volumes will
reproduce the authors essays and reviews
INC give a general account OF his career.
In the absence of biography readers will
appreciate the brief introduction In which
the impression made by Acton upon Cam-
bridge is recorded. Such an introduction
il the more needed because, IA one OF his
friends points out, there has been In some
auarters q tendency to belittle the academic
cal activity Of the late professor, a tendency
which indicates the same limited intellso-
tuaI horizon as the denial that he was a
historian because he never produced an
extensive history like THE Decline and
Fall The writer's OF the introduction are
justified in saying that, when we remember
that Acton came 10 Cambridge at the age
Of 81, that he was familiar neither with
teaching nor with examining, much less
with administration, and hat his effective
tenure of his Office was only six years. we
ought to be surprised at the quantity of
his achievements and the quality OF his
activities. There arc, Of COURSE, three
fields which form the province OF a uni
versity professor, 10 wit: teaching, the
organization of bis department, and re-
search. Under the existing conditions a
professor of history who gives himself
entirely 10 research leaves half untulhlled
the duties Of his Office. He must take his
place AS head of a school n strive to
guide the thought and work Of younger
Students, besides inspiring a larger public
by means of lectures. The delivery Of the
latter is now an Imperative duty, and
no future occupant OF the chair Ia likely
90 follow the example Of Gray, regius
professor in the mideighteenth century,
who was thought to have shown unwonted
conscientiousness in spending four years
gathering materials for an inaugural,
although he died without delivering or even
writing it. So far as the purely administra-
tive side Of his professorship was concerned.
il seems that Acton dischar ged his functions
"A tripos examiner and was always ready
with advice or criticism when lists OF
authorities were being drawn up. As a
guide OF the thought and work Of younger
students he was markedly successful.
No professor was ever more accessible.
He was willing to give advice to any one,
and nobody who consulted him went empty
away. We are told that If any student went
to him for information he would get more
than he supposed his question to involve
and would probably find on his arrival
home that Acton's servant had preceded
him with a pile Of books In half a dozen
languages and a note stating that more
would follow. As for his lectures. they were
crowded from the first. No me-, says an
auditor, could fail to recognize how the
speakers mind was possessed with the
greatness Of human affairs with the moral
(or immoral) aspects OF political and coolest
astical dexterity; above all, with the final
supremacy of the soul over circumstances,
as the real ground for asserting the sacred
ness Of truth and the inalienable glory
Of liberty. His high seriousness gave him
the influence which, despite all detraction,
he Enthusiastically welded. No bearer how
ever intelligent, no student however anti
sentimental, could fail to find in Acton's
austere Judgments, in the dignity of his
language, in the tones of his voice, a warn
ing against any treatment OF history that
was mean or utilitarian, and against any
view Of human nature that demands OF IL
less than "may become a man. He felt
keenly the contempt with which some Of his
contemporaries have regarded history.
To him history was the teacher Of political
wisdom; not a pursuit but a passion, not a
mere inst run but a holy calling. That
men who we're themselves scholars, and
therefore presumably lovers Of truth,
should regard what was to him the noblest
of studies with indifference or hostility
he felt almost as a personal wrong.
It is well known that Acton's conception
Of the way in which history should be writ
ten was antithetical to that exemplified
by Gibbon. We may add that il il fatal to
any attempt TO make historical composition
an art. From his point OF view history
disavows all relation to art and claims TO
he exclusively a science. According to
his original plan for the preparation OF
the Cambridge Modern History" every
chapter was to be written by the most
competent available expert, wherever he
might hail from; nothing written at second
hand was to appear. This was at last
feasible. he thought. since -the long con-
-spiracy against the knowledge of truth
was at an end and competing scholars
all over the civilized world are taking ad-
vantage Of the change 1t might there
fore be hoped that Cambridge would pro-
duce 'the best history OF modern times
that the published or unpublished sources
of information admit But II each chapter
was to he written by the mar most thorough
ly equipped with first hand knowledge
Of it's subject it was idle to expect anything
hut a minute subdivision OF labor. No
man could he the first living authority
save on a small period. The writer's of
the introduction testify. however, that
here a. elsewhere Acton was the foe of
pedantry. The notion Of history which
reduces II to n form N photography had no
charm for him; he had not, like Freeman,
"A horror Of calling Charles the Great by