31 Aug. 1812

Evidence Introd

Introd

Ch. 15. Preappointed

'. Obstacles.

There is not a more effectual recipe for introducing confusion, and giving facility to fraud than the connivance at falshood in accounts notorious to one set of men falsehood is a secret to another: notorious to those who have the means of taking advantage of it and applying it to some fraudulent purpose to their own benefit, it is a secret to others whose duty it would be to prevent it, and in the much greater number of those whose interest it is that it should be prevented though without the power to prevent it. In this case what is generally to a certain degree notorious is among the true statements there are false ones: what is not know is, what the false ones are nor to what amount. While those that are false are regarded as true, others that are true are regarded as false: and by that means they are rendered less serviceable to any good purpose for which they may have been designed to distinguish the one from the other becomes matter of difficulty, and the opportunity of making the distinction is confined to a few. A sort of false science is thus formed; labour is thrown away in learning it: and while labouring to detect existing falshood men learn how to fabricate more falsehood and apply it to their own cases.