3]

Now, had Professors Playfair and Lyndley entered this man's house
instead of the agents of the _Times_, no doubt his case would have been
before this on the table of the House of Commons. Nor could we be much
surprised that all should be taken as truth, when we consider his
admirable state of preparation. The diseased potatoes selected and
placed ready to be appealed to, as if they were the bulk of the crop.
The bed-tick stowed away, "and all clear for action." _We are indebted
for the discovery of the cheat solely to the fact, that his statements
would, if uncontradicted, have damaged Mr O'Connell._ "Neither,
unfortunately, can this be considered an isolated case; the bulk of the
population are actuated by the same motives; and are, we lament to say,
not only willing to deceive, but ready, no doubt, if need were, to
substantiate their assertions by their oaths."

Hence arises the difficulty of ascertaining the true state of things in
Ireland--hence the signal failures of the different commissions which
have from time to time been appointed by the government of the day, when
the truthfulness of their reports came to be tested by the working of
the legislative measures founded upon them--"hence it comes, that out of
2,800,000 Irish persons reported to be in a state of utter destitution
by the Poor-law Commissioners, _not more than 68,000 could in any one
year, since the establishment of the Poor-law, be induced to accept the
relief which Parliament provided for them_;" and for this reason it is,
that the condition of the most idle and indolent people in Europe is
compassionated, as if it resulted from the misconduct of others rather
than their own; and that "the patient endurance" of the most turbulent
and bloodstained peasantry on earth is pronounced, in Lord Devon's
report, "as deserving of the highest commendation, and as entitling them
to the best attention of the government."

It also most unfortunately happens, that in Ireland you can always find
men--ay, and sometimes men in respectable stations in life too--who not
only take the most opposite views of the same subjects, but who give a
totally different explanation of the same facts--even when bound by the
solemn obligations of an oath. Let any man look into Lord Devon's
blue-book, and he will find ample evidence in support of our assertion;
unhappily, the dicta of those least worthy of credit are generally
adopted, because they pander to the popular feeling