TRUTH.
" MAGNA est veritas," says every orator in rounded phrase, " et pnevalebit" ; and then, with chivalrous magnanimity, he pro- ceeds at once to " lie like a chambermaid,"—of course,. for the benefit of his antagonist. It is wonderful to see how stanch and universal is the conviction, how universal the breach of it in practice. The French have swept away royalty, tyranny, false- hood, and other analogous vices, and have set up an honest go- vernment of the people : " veritas prmvalet " among that candid and dignified people : strange, that at the same time that public oracle the telegraph has assumed a habit of lying the most shameless. Not a mail arrives in Paris that is not preceded by an astounding lie—" Conflagration of Warsaw," " Abdication of King Frederick William," " Slaughter in Berlin," " Defeat of 6,000 Piedmontese by the Austrians"; or "Revolution in Lon- don." It looks as if a Government based upon truth kept an Alex- andre Dumas to compose a daily "express in anticipation of the mail."
But splendid mendacity is not an exclusively French elegance : it is expected in all civilized countries. Sir George Grey only fulfilled his duty, the other night, when he went through the form of averring that the great bulk of the Irish people are firm in their loyalty. We do not see what possible advantage can accrue from assertions of that transparent texture; but the House cheered. Nor is the fashion exclusively aristocratic : the Char- tists, in Convention, had no end to assertions that they would muster hundreds of thousands at their meeting ; that they would march to the House of Commons, though it were through " blood," &c. ; all pure fiction. A perpetual fire of equivocation, as to the numbers, intent, and projects of the Chartists, the Irish Repealers, the Confederates, is kept up with emulous assiduity. The shameless utterance of incompatible assertions that absolutely contradict and stultify each other is a commonplace with all— like the simultaneous " war " and " peace " professed by Irish agitators. The "six millions" of signatures to the Chartist pe- tition turn out to be less than two—men, women, and children, including many most shameless fabrications. Yet if any class ought to rely on pure truth, it is the working class.
We see no parallel to this universal self-treachery so apt as a story current in the Scotch papers just now— "A merchant in Easter Rosse, in his anxiety to cheat the poor, lately nailed a lump of lead to one of the scales. Fortunately for his customers, he selected that scale which held the weights; and continued doing himself with the greatest satisfaction for several months."
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