Lord Acton gave his first lecture as Professor of Modern
History at Cambridge on Tuesday. It was a very successful performance, full of thought and epigram, the brightness of which is often concealed by the exceeding condensation of She report. We have noticed some points in the lecture else- where, but may mention here that Lord Acton, who is a Roman Catholic, showed no sign of religions partiality. He accepts Luther's revolt as the beginning of a new period, and points out that it has been specially marked by Protestant development, the rise of England into world-wide power having been followed by that of Prussia, so that "the pro- ducts of the centuries (i.e., the strong nations) favour the development of the new religious forces." Man has arrived at last at "the storm-laden principle of the equal right of every man to be unhindered by man in his duty to God," which we call religious liberty. We take it Lord Acton approves that liberty ; and indeed he seems ready to go even further than we should, for he says, "History, as now understood, began when the art of exposing falsehood dawned on the keen Italians of the Renaissance." Did not they, with their humanism, destroy as many truths as falsehoods, or does Lord Acton think that truth is indestructible ? With Lord Acton's final advice, however, we can heartily concur : "Never debase the moral currency, or suffer any man to escape the undying penalty that history inflicts on wrong."
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