SPECIMENS OF TORY PROFICIENCY IN FALSEHOOD. FERDINAND MENDEZ PINTO was
a liar of the first magnitude ; but had he lived in our day, he would have met equals or superiors in the noble art he pro- fessed, in more than one Tory coterie, and in various Tory newspaper-offices. To make a collection of all the falsehoods which have been propagated for party purposes during the last fortnight, by the organs of the defeated faction, is more than we can undertake; but we select a few choice specimens out of the masa of lies. I. On Thursday week, the Times published, in a letter signed " VERITAS," that on the previous Monday Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Colonel Fox were dragged out of a coach at Maidenhead ; that Lord JOHN was dressed in woman's clothes; and that the landlord of the inn, suspecting an elopement, compelled him to unrobe, and disclose himself. This turned out to be as false as it was ex facie ridiculous. 2. On Friday, the Times declared that Lord WELLESLEY had resigned the place of Lord Chamberlain, because of O'CoNNELL's ascendancy in the Govern- ment of Ireland. Next day this was proved to be a lie, on the authority of Lord MF:LBOURNE. 3. On Monday, the Times speaking of the Staffordshire election, said- " Colonel Anson is forced to turn tail, and fly before the fight begins; and Sir F Goodricke, the Conservative candidate, walks unopposed into the representation of the county. Is there no reaction here? Mr. Littleton used to have Staffordshire in his pocket. But the gentleman, a man of an old and popular Family in that county. standing upon his own interest combined with that of Mr. Littleton, dares not appear upon the hustings, or demand a poll? What will Lord Melbourne say to this?" Lord MELBOURNE might say truly, " It is all a lie; Colonel Axsoir never thought of resigning."
4. The Standard announced, on Monday, that Lord LILFORD had declined
supporting the Administration. This was immediately contradicted, and is false.
B. The next day, the Standard published the following communication from "a West-end.Correspondent," as a leading article.
" House of Commons, Twelve o'Clock.
Great commotion prevails here ; all the Committees are in confusion ; and the order-list is so made out, that it appears to be the intention to have no House to-night. as two Election Committees most be balloted for, it is scarcely possible to avoid this, but every effint will be made. The reason assigned for this blame is, that Mr. Spring Rice, after declaring that he cannot lead the House, has resigned." All this was a fabrication : there was no commotion in the House of Com- mons' and Mr. SPRING RICE did not resign, or refuse to lead the House. 6. The Times stated, one day last week, that Colonel Fox was to be made a Canadian Commissioner, in return for giving up the borough of Stroud to Lord JOHN RUSSELL. This was at once contradicted, and is untrue. 7. On Friday, the Times asserted that -;be " Repeal of the Union" was drunk in the presence of Mr. O'Lotearraes:, the Irish Solicitor-General, at an election:-dinner at Dungsrvon. Lord WICK Low, on the authority of the Times, repeated the calumny in the Rouse of Lords. This was another lie : Mr. O'Louc Imes has himself declared its falsehood. 8. On the authority of the Dublin Evening Mail, confirmed by the English Tory journals, Lords LONDONDERRY and WICKLOW charged Lord Mu I.GRAVE with coantenancing seditious and illegal conduct in the multitude that escorted him to Dublin. But Lord MELBOURNE stated, on Thursday, that there was not the slightest ground for this accusation ; and Lord WseeLow said, in that case, a "grosser misrepresentation" never appeared in an Irish newspaper. In short, it was a lie.
9. To influence the Staffordshire election, the Chairman and Deputy Chair- man of Sir FRANCIS GOODRICKE'S Committee published a handbill, in which the lie was insinuated, that the Duke of SUTHERLAND was opposed to Colonel ARSON ; whereas the Duke had notified to his tenantry, that he wished the Colonel to be successful.
Is not this a pretty catalogue? We dare say most of our readers will be able to add to it from their own observation, but this is sufficient for one week. It should be observed, that when a lie originates in one Tory journal, it is the usual practice of the others to pretend that, "after due inquiry, they can con- firm the statement of their well-informed and much-esteemed contemporary ;" thus gaining a title to joint paternity in the falsehood.
By the way, this leads us to remark, that the Chronicle on Monday in- fringed a little on the Tory patent for lying. Our contemporary strangely as- serted, that Lord ALBEMARLE had resigned his post in the Household ; but, instead of confirming the story after the fashion of their Tory contemporaries, the other Ministerial journals at once contradicted it ; and then the Chronicle, very clumsily, endeavoured to palm off the falsehood on the Tories, who, it was pretended, had put it into circulation. Really the Chronicle must take some lessons in the art of misrepresentation, before it attempts to compete with the Tories in this line.
Previous page
