The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-08-31
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
EDITORIAL OPINIONS OF THR LEADING JOURNALS
UPON oURRBEF ToPICs--CoMP1LRD EVERY
DAT PoR T8R EVENING TELEGRAPH,
Ll1 Lying for the Right.

met with. AT no other perlOu 10 tne liars
show themselves so fearlessly and are the lies
TO be seen in such abundance and variety. Of
course there is always plenty OF lying going on
around us, but at no other time is there sys-
tematic lying with reference to fixed object.
In ordinary times men lie loosely and indi-
vidually, for all sorts of objects, without order
or method. During the campaign they lie on
preconcerted plan, by columns of battalions,
every lie being uttered in combination with
thousands of others. The interest of the occa-
sion to the scientific observer may therefore be
imagined
The classification of lies devised by the New
York Tribune is now the one most generally
received, and on the whole it is, perhaps, as
good one as we are likely to have. But II
has one serious defect; aud it is defect which
well illustrates the justice OF John Stuart
Mill's remark, that "a true psychology is
the indispensable scientific basis of morals, OF
politics, of the science and art of education"
viz. that in its definition of a lie it entirely
oveileoks the fact that lie must be the pro-
duct of deliberate intention to deceive and
that therefore its phrase-or rather, the COM
mon phrase-"he lies, and he knows it" is
pleonasm. Nobody can lie without knowing
it. This being So a large number of assertions
which Mr.. Greeley places in the category
of simple lies must be taken out of
it, and placed in that OF unintentional
falsehoods. There is no doubt whatever
that the many false statements of his political
antagonists which he so frequently exposes
are made in good faith, and i'll the belief that
they are true. There are so many versions
of every political occurrence, SO many ways of
looking at the character of every political
man. and so many different inerences may be
drawn from the simplest bit of statistics, that
the cases are very rare indeed in which it is
safe to assert positively of political speaker
or writer that ''he lies" and is ''villain;" it,
indeed, the charge OF lying does not always
include that of villainy. But in the Iribuae'S
classification of well-marked or acllno Tledged
hes-such as most campaign attacks on the
character of candidates are-we doubt il any
improvement is likely to be made in our time.
The campaign, too affords striking illus
tration of the stimulus which the progress OF
society has given to lying, and the enormous
increase of power which the liar has derived
from it. In the ancient and medieval world
the public was doubtless more credulous, but
his powers Of reaching it were so limited that,
no matter how great his skill or energy might
have been. he could accomplish very little.
Very few of the great liars of antiquity or of
the Middle Ages were able to circulate lie
beyond the city in which they lived, and even
there only imperfectly. The slanaer of oppo-
nents, too, was, as weapon either OF ofense or
defense, comparatively worthless because it
required prodigious efforts to get slauder
before more than very small number OF
persons, or before them in perfect or
effective shape, SO rapidly do stories change in
passing from mouth to mouth. 1t therefore re-
quired only about half much virtue to be
truth-teller in old times as it requires now,
because the temptation to lie was only about
half as strong. The whole ancient and medi-
pval world offered no such example of the
triumph of moral principle as the modern
world offers in the person of truthful editor,
or telegraph operator, CT orator A lie told in
the agora of a Greek city was comparatively
feeble thing; lie told on the stump or in a.
Al, Il l.. Al
wings of the morning and flies to the utter
most ends of the earth. No one can say so
heartily as the modern liar, knowledge is
power" for no ones condition has the
growth of knowledge so much improved.
The invention of newspapers has, in fact, done
for the liar what the invention Of
gunpowder did for the man at arms-it
of no account on the battle field. In the ab-
sence of widely circulated periodicals, the
great or good man with the unbemished repu-
tation cared little for the mendacious Bohe-
mian. His name was known and his charac-
ter established ever wider area than the
Bohemian could possibly cover with his SLAM
ders. Now the Bohemian has him at his
mercy, just as a boy with revolver would
have knight armed cap.G.pie at his mercy.
When the Bohemian says to 10000 people
that the great man stole service of plate, or
was seen, the night before last, drunk in the
gutter, what can the great man do!
1t ought to be observed, however, that cam
paign lies are unlike the common lies of ordi-
nary periods, told upon a definite theory, and
that theory is that to do great right it is
sometimes lawful to do little wrong. There
is very little gratuitous and utterly wicked
lying in Presidential canvass. We have
no doubt whatever that even Brick Pomeroy
comforts himself with the reflection that his
lies are helping in the accomplishment of a
great end, and are therefore eXcusable. To
say that Grant is a beastly drunkard, or that
he uses stolen plate at his table, is a small
matter; whereas to defeat Grant, relieve the
South from her ''shackes," " and overthrow the
tyranny of the radicals, would be- great
matter Therefore it is we'll to lie on, the guilt
of lying, like the guilt of killing being depen-
dent on circumstances. We feel satisfied too,
that if an examination of motives could be
made, it would be found that large number
of the frauds on the Government are committed
on similar principle The amount that any
one man can steal from it, the cheat says, is
hardly felt by the nation, while 1t adds enorm-
ousy to his happiness and that OF his children,
and may produce marked improvement in
his character. OF course regular thief of
the lower grade does not number selfimprove-
ment amongst the objects of his stealing, but
there is no doubt a large number OF poor
pecuators who do. There are few poor men
who do not feel that they would find it far
easier to be honorable and conscientious il
they were we'll off, and plenty OF them put
their scruples to sleep by dreams of the
pious uses to which they will devote their
booty-the churches they will build, and the
widows and orphans they will comfort.