IRELAND ITS SOCIAL STATE. 143 



expression, which I can never hear without laughing. 

 When any one wishes to convince you that another 

 may be believed about something in which his in- 

 terest is not concerned, he will say, " You know, sir, 

 Jack is a man who would not tell ye a lie for no- 

 thing." There is, no doubt, a distinction in this, 

 though the moral attainment of Jack may not be of 

 very high value. One has to judge mainly by proba- 

 bilities. Happily everybody in his heart is alive to 

 the untruth. The man himself feels it, and does not 

 expect to be believed, though he may hope it. Then 

 there is the enemy with his story on the other side ; 

 so that practically it is easier to make up your mind, 

 if you thoroughly know the people and their interests, 

 than could beforehand be thought possible. 



The first thing needful for any one who has to 

 deal with Irish questions, but who does not know the 

 people, is clearly to recognise this universal untruth. 

 If he takes that fairly and fully into account, he has 

 no great difficulty in forming a sound judgment. 

 Otherwise he is the prey of whoever can get his ear. 



It is not only the deliberate falsehoods, but the 

 unreliableness throughout, that has to be met. There 

 is an atmosphere of untruth and half-truth surround- 

 ing everything, so that those who are true themselves, 

 but have been brought up in this atmosphere, seem 

 unconscious of it, and treat want of truth with a for- 

 bearance it does not deserve. Nobody seems to 

 expect that truth and right shall prevail. When, as 



