Perjury
Perjury is the most extreme violation of verbal trust, more severe than lying in that it involves either breaking or abusing a formal oath in a matter of great personal or even national importance. Whereas lying may not lead to any serious consequences, the punishments for perjury are severe and public. However, not all cases are discovered.
English history has witnessed some sensational examples, two of the most notable concerning Catholic conspiracies, with different outcomes. The notorious equivocation of the Jesuit Father Garnet over his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot (1605, covered in the entry for William Shakespeare ) was discovered almost immediately, was widely publicized, exacerbated already powerful anti-Catholic feelings, and permanently tarnished the name of Jesuit . By contrast the Popish Plot (1678) came to light when Titus Oates and a collaborator, Israel Tonge, both fervent anti-papists obsessed by the Jesuit menace, made a deposition to a magistrate claiming to have uncovered a conspiracy to kill King Charles II and the Duke of York, a Catholic. Such was the vehemence of anti-Catholic feeling that the conspiracy was widely believed, Oates becoming a national hero and being awarded a pension for several years. However, when the conspiracy was exposed as a cunning fabrication, Oates was publicly disgraced, placed in the pillory, pelted with eggs and rubbish, and publicly whipped through the streets of London. The initial success of the Popish Plot shows the efficacy of Adolf Hitler’s observation: “The broad mass of a nation will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one” ( Mein Kampf , 1925, vol. I). As the entry for Jews shows, he himself and the Nazis fell victim to the anti-Semitic propaganda of Protocols of the Elders of Zion , also a fabrication.
User Comments Add a comment…