, 1879-02-16
LYING AS A FINE Art.

LYING AS FINE ART.
It is doubtful if that peculiar figure OF
rhetoric commonly called lie can be cla'med
to be of modern origin. We believe there
have been few periods of the worlds history
when it has not been known; indeed, It's re-
corded use goes back RS far as ADAM and the
Garden of Eden. The existence OF TINS
artifice thus early in the childhood OF the
race would seem to Indicate that, Like the
use Of metaphor and other rude figures OF
speech, it is primarily natural endowment
rather than an acquired trait. The theory
receives confirmation in the prevalence OF
this propensity among the rude and uncIVl-
ized races. Missionaries tell us that one OF
the first characteristics which they observe
among savage tribes is that they are fearful
Liars: though it is but just to the heathen
to note their claim to discovery Of the same
foible, in more elaborate and refined form,
among their more civilized visitors
But, while this tendency to exaggerat1on or
obscurity of speech has doubtless existed IN
a crude form among most primitive peoples,
it is only in recent periods aud among highly
civilized societies that it can justly be said
to have risen to the rank of a fine art. II is
an art with SO many branches that volume
Y. .ould bo needed for an elaborate treatise
upon them all. We can note only one at
this time, and that is, lying done in the
witness-box. Whether or not our age may
be entitled to any special pre-eminencs as
regards a capacity for lying in general,
we think it may be SAFELY claimed
to have done more than any other
to develop and bring to perfection this
particular form of the art. While lying is
practiced in a careless, humdrum sort OF way
in most of the ordinary walks Of life, as 1t
very likely always has been, the really great
and brilliant efforts in that line are in our
time reser7ed for courts Of justice or investi-
CATION Had the cynic who said in his heart
ssAll men are liars" lived till our day ho
would have been able topowerfully reinforce
his somewhat sweeping generalization by
attending one of our trials at law, or church
investigations, or Congressional inquisitions,
or military inquiries. He might then have
perhaps added that, while all men are liars,
the greatest liars are those who preface their
lies by solemn oath to tell the truth. He
would have found that our court~rooms and
other places created for the discovery of.
truth are the scenes of the most artistic and
colossal lying.
While the old question, "What is truth p
is in an abstract sense one not likely soon
to be settled, and making all allowance for
in6rmities Of memory and other inevitable
elements of disagreement in human testl-
mony, it is yet singular that our methods Of
discovering the truth as to matters of act
ual occurrence should be so unsatisfactory
and discouraging in their results. When
ever there are several witnesses Of an event
or transaction, we might reasonably expect
a concurrence in their testimony respecting
its leading features. But their statements
of the plainest matters of fact are usually
hopelessly opposed; and the hearer who
listens to one side thinks he or the wit
nesses must be dreaming when he comes to
hear the other. Not al the cunning of
lawyers and the Judicial power and wisdom
Of Courts suffice to elicit truthful state
if honest, all witnesses should substantially
agree. There has not been o famous civil,
military, POLITICAL or ecclesiastical trial Of
late years that has not caused the public to
stand aghast at the avalanche Of lies which it
let loose upon them. The wonder is not SO
much that there are liars in community
and in all the various walks Of life as that SO
many of them should get places on the wit
ness-Est.
It would seem as if there were grand
contest going on at the present time for the
championship Of lying, and that the places
selected for the contests were the Witness
boxes of courts, or committees, or synods,
or courts-martial Certain it is that
some Of the grandest liars Of his
tory have stepped into their dubious
fame from these uncomfortable pedestnls-
The POTTER Committee nre entitled to the
credit or discredit of having brought into
notice some of the most prominent competi-
tors for the prize. ANDERSON was thought
to be not only the great lying hero of that
investigation, but the champion liar of
North America ~; when along came Nephew
fPEL1oN, whose statement that he was author
ICED to buy Florida or anything else for sale
is met by TnDES's coming into court and
quietly '' confessing unto him that he never
knew him,"-and thus becoming, though
aged and past the natural period Of active
strife, a promising contestant with the
younger men for the championship. But
this must not be awarded hastily. There
orc other competitors besides the politicians.
The art of lying, IN which they are indlspu-
tably proficient, is not unknown to other pro-
fessions.
Fen ministers, they ha' been ken'd,
In holy rapture,
rousing Whid at times to venc4
An nailt wi Scripture.
It was remarked by prominent divine
that in oil great ecclesiastical trials each side
thinks the other side is lying; and he added,
with pleasing candor, that both are usually
correct. The BEEcHEK trial, both in court
and council, in which most of the important
witnesses were either clergymen or prom
inent church-people, would have been speed
ily aud justly settled if all parties had simply