144 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



a magistrate, one has decided against a man, there is 

 no wonder he should think you have decided contrary 

 to truth and right ; but .when one has decided in a 

 man's favour, it is a hard case when he meets you 

 and says, "God bless your honour; it was only 

 through you I got the better of that blackguard." 

 The man does not believe in the truth and right of 

 his own case, and thinks he won by favour. 



Untruth is at the bottom of the universal schem- 

 ing and jobbing that prevails. Without that such 

 scheming would be impossible, and the plausible 

 assurance and confidence with which it is all done 

 the assertion of the very highest motives only often 

 puts one in doubt whether to laugh or cry. 



The most painful proof of the depth to which un- 

 truth prevails amongst us is the way in which some 

 of the Bishops and most of the clergy of the Church 

 of Ireland have acted under the Disestablishment Act. 

 The jobbing and money-getting that has gone on, espe- 

 . cially under the power given of Compounding, was such 

 as no one could have believed possible. The Act gave 

 the power to compound, i.e. of selling out his annuity 

 for a lump sum, free from the claim the Church Act 

 gave, that the clergyman should continue to do duty 

 in the Church. It required the consent of the Eepre- 

 sentative Body, plainly in order that Compounding 

 might only be done under such arrangements as would 

 not be a loss to the Church. Compounding in some 

 cases, and to a moderate and fair extent, was a gain, 



