Excerpt from Irish Nationalism: An Appeal to History Counsel is really presenting either facts or arguments in their true relation. N 0 such understanding how ever exists, or ought to exist, in the case of. Statesmen and politicians. They have no professional duty or right to be unscrupulous, or passionate, or even care less and one-sided in dealing with history. The interests of society do not demand from them any sacrifice of the strictest regard for truth in any of its forms, and especially for historical truth. On the contrary, the public interest, as regards political questions, is bound up with the most faithful truth fulness in using the records of the past. That there is a very large element of Opinion in the presentation and interpretation of historical facts is undeniable. But this only renders it all the more incumbent on Statesmen to' deal as completely and fairly as they can, at least with the facts to be quoted, or referred to, in support of political contentions. Moreover, this duty rises in the scale of obligation In proportion as those contentions may affect the vital interests of any political society with which we may have to do. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.