ings of humanity to tell 'peacemaking lies' occur every day--nay,
every hour, every petty officer of government, 'armed with his little
brief authority', is a little tyrant surrounded by men whose all
depends upon his will, and who dare not tell him the truth--the
'point of honour' in this little circle demands that every one should
be prepared to tell him 'peace-making lies'; and the man who does not
do so when the occasion seems to call for it, incurs the odium of the
whole circle, as one maliciously disposed to speak 'anger-exciting or
factions truths'. Poor Cromwell and Anne Boleyn were obliged to talk
of _love_ and _duty_ toward their brutal murderer, Henry VIII, and
tell 'peace-making lies' on the scaffold to save their poor children
from his resentment. European gentlemen in India often, by their
violence surround themselves with circles of the same kind, in which
the 'point of honour' demands that every member shall be prepared to
tell 'peace-making lies', to save the others from the effects of
their master's ungovernable passions--falsehood is their only
safeguard; and, consequently, falsehood ceases to be odious.
Countenanced in the circles of the violent, falsehood soon becomes
countenanced in those of the mild and forbearing; their domestics
pretend a dread of their anger which they really do not feel; and
they gain credit for having the same good excuse among those who have
no opportunity of becoming acquainted with the real character of the
gentlemen in their domestic relations--all are thought to be more or
less _tigerish_ in these relations, particularly _before breakfast_,
because some are _known_ to be so.[24]

I have known the native officers of a judge who was really a very
mild and worthy man, but who lived a very secluded life, plead as
their excuse for all manner of bribery and corruption, that their
persons and character were never safe from his violence; and urge
that men whose tenure of office was very insecure, and who were every
hour in the day exposed to so much indignity, could not possibly be
blamed for making the most of their position. The society around
believed all this, and blamed, not the native officers, but the
judge, or the Government, who placed them in such a situation. Other
judges and magistrates have been known to do what this person was
merely reported to do, otherwise society would neither have given
credit to his officers nor have held them excused for their
malpractices.