The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-06-02
SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1866.
Have We an sInquisition'' Among USE


THE Southern journals are terribly exercised
over the horrid torture to which President
DAVIS has been subjected. That he has been
proved to be well fed, clothed, carefully tended,
and allowed the privileges of literature, is, we
are assured, rather an aggravation than an
amelioratIon of his condition. The Richmond
Times, in a column leader, gives ground for the
exciting inquiry, "Have we an Inquisition
among us2' Our Rich mond contemporary as
serts we have, and takes the following ground OF
argument
Those who have made the torture of their fellow
beings a profession and a study, know full well that
the victims the "Holy lnquistion" were invariably
well supplied with food and stmulants There were
various kinds torture praotsed by the assistants
OF the Grand InqusitOr. The Coarser and more
brutal forms were the rack" the "bOOt" the iron
glove" the "wedge" the 'grldron," and the "ca-
dron." With these instruments of torture the ordi-
nary of "heretics" were generally disposed OF N
fortnight or three weeks.
odica drop OF cold water" and the disturbance OF
the rest Of the prisoner were reserved Tor the more
distinguished class OF the guests who enjoyed at long
intervals the attentions of the lnquisitors The effects
of The torture OF dropping cold water upon the head
OF the victim have been described by many writers.
The head of the prisoner was trst shorn, and upon
the naked skull drop OF cold water was permitted
TO fall from great height every five seconds. This
soon produced the most acute and horrible agony,
and usually made the victim a ravlng mailman.
The desire of the editor of the Times to show
his extended literary accomplishments is an
excusable one; but does he mean to assert that
the dropping" system has been practised upon
president" DAVIS? If the Times does make such
an assertion, and has grounds for it, why does
it not publish a sketch of the great JEFFERSON,
with his head shaved, placed IN an iron block,
and the drops slowly coursing down his attenu-
ated face? Such picture would move a heart
of stone, and afford infinite political capital for
the RECONSTRUCTED" As the case now stands,
we hardly think that DAVIS will agree that
being well fed is an aggravation Of the ofense
of the Government. If the prisoners con-
science disturbs him, if the ghosts of the mur-
dered victims OF Belle Isle, Andersonville, and
Libby haunt HIM, if his nerves are unstrung as
he remembers the events of his career, who is
to blame? True it is, that the Inquisition
could desire no greater torture; but it is he,
and not his jailors who has made his bed, and
on it he must lie.
We are told that he is 'like man fiayed
alive and all his nerves exposed" But
"Nor poppy nor mandragora,
Nor all the drOwsy syrups OF the East,
Coud ever medicine thee that sweet sleep
That thou hadst yesterday"
1t is his crimes, and the fear of retribution,
which are wearing out his life and putting him
to far more exquisite torture than that of the
and not, as the Times asserts, "those God-for
saken, abandoned and eXecrated. brutes and
Wretches" who favor his retention in captivity.