Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 12.pdf/489

 454

OATHS. "HOW THIS WORLD IS GIVEN TO LYING." IT has often occurred to us as somewhat singular, that among the multitudinous reforms of this age of reformation, one of the greatest of the abuses which exist in our so ciety has been almost entirely overlooked; and while a vast deal has been said and done in relation to matters which are merely theo retical, a subject which is practical in all its bearings, and important in its results, has been neglected. We allude to the wide spread and shocking perversion of the judi cial oath. The subject is worthy of attentive consideration. It has an immediate relation to all our rights, because no controversy can be conducted before a legal tribunal, except through the medium of evidence — truth can only be arrived at by the examination of tes timony, and in the proportion that truth ceases to be respected, will the stream of justice be poisoned. There is also a question in morals, of no light import, involved in this discussion. Truth lies at the foundation of all the virtues, and whenever she shall cease to sustain the social edifice, the whole fabric will totter. If we reason from what we see, without suffering ourselves to be deluded by selfesteem, or national vanity, we cannot deny, that as a people, we are dreadfully addicted to the sin of falsehood. The prima facie evidence of this proposition is found in the multiplicity of asseverations with which we think it necessary to fortify our most trivial assertions, and the solemnities by which we endeavor to enforce integrity in the most or dinary civil transactions. Where there is so much precaution, there must be some dis trust. The man who asseverates to that which has not been denied, must either doubt the truth of what he is saying, or question the respectability of his own character; and the legislature which cannot intrust the per

formance of the most simple duties to a citi zen, without requiring of him an oath of fidel ity, can have little confidence in the virtue of the people, or the purity of public sentiment. Truth is simple and beautiful — majestic and imposing. It is in itself eloquent and convincing. It has been well said to be mig/ity. Like that purity, in the presence of which the lion is supposed to be tamed, truth is arrayed in a sacred and a graceful garb, which gives it irresistible power. But that strength is an inherent self-efficiency, whose simplicity is its greatest ornament, and strongest bulwark; and every artificial guard thrown around it by society, destroys some feature of its loveliness, or dismantles the citadel which nature erected, by drawing off its defences into the outworks contrived by art. Truth is confiding in its character : it neither suspects, or supposes itself to be sus pected. So well understood is this principle, that we always doubt the assertion of him who takes great pains to prove his own ver acity. The man who modestly and seriously states a naked fact, as having occurred with in his own knowledge, is usually believed; he stands in the position of an unim peached wit ness, whom no one will take the responsibil ity of contradicting. If to the assertion of a fact, he adds an argument, to convince his hearers that he has told the truth, he weakens his evidence by the admission that his verac ity may be distrusted; and if he voluntarily swears to the truth of his own statement, or calls a witness to prove it, he betrays a con sciousness that his own word is not worth}' of belief. If the character of our society be tested by this rule, how unfavorable must be the verdict. How seldom do we hear a narrative, or the expression of an opinion, which is not reinforced by an oath, or an ap