h Madame Lagnado received at the
hands of a European functionary, when she visited him on behalf of her
husband, who died under the torture. Had he visited Signor Merlato,
the Austrian Consul, a man whom all Christendom must respect, he might
have satisfied his eyes respecting the barbarity of the torture, and
that the sufferers had not at that time recovered from its effects.
Long after that period I saw men who, after the lapse of five months
from the infliction of the bastinado, had their feet and legs swelled
to a form as if produced by elephantiasis. The correspondent of the
_Times_, whose very just description of the state of Syria and
Palestine lends an undue importance to his opinion on the case of the
Jews, would have been persuaded that there were cases in which foreign
influence was used with the Pasha to encourage the application of the
torture when some old men, too feeble to survive for a moment the
infliction of the bastinado, were subjected a second time to the
torment of sleeplessness, under the bayonets of the Egyptian soldiers.
But it is indeed too unreasonable and unjust to lay on the Pasha of
Damascus the whole blame of these proceedings, unequalled in atrocity
since the days of the fourth Antiochus. The guilt must be equally
shared by those who delivered up an innocent people into his hands;
indeed, their share is greater. He may plead that he was obliged to do
these things by the nature of his office. The persecutors of the Jews
cannot even shelter themselves under such a plea as that. Indeed, if
they be blameless, then is the Spanish Inquisition blameless also; the
Auto-da-Fe being, in the last result, certainly the result of the
civil power. In short, the charges and recommendations of the Jews
against their persecutors are of such enormity as to make them, it is
to be hoped, if they be conscious of their innocence, anxious that the
whole matter should be sifted to the bottom by a process more rational
than the bastinado, and before a judge less suspected of foreign
influence than Sheriff Pasha. Although I trust you will persevere in
your meritorious exertions for the sake of humanity and truth, yet,
as you ask my opinion as to the practicability or prudence of
proceeding at once to Damascus, I must say that I do not think it
advisable. Though Damascus may have submitted to the Sultan, and the
Emir Beshir would be happy to grant you, if necessary, an escort
through the mountains, yet I am afraid