A
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1948.
Beginning A New Series Of Saturday Feature Articles
A kindly' Spanish priest invented the water torture
"PLEASANT, kindly, in- she and her husband, Ferdinand of be hauled before the dread inquisi- was the lot of the second class of
Arscou, proceeded
dustrious, able, modest, and deeply religious" man was the instigator and muster of ceremonies in the early and gloriest days of the Spanish In- quisition. His name was Thomas de Torquemada.
During the 18 years he was Inquisitor-general in Spain, Tor- quemada issued sentences, or approved sentences passed by his subordinate inquisitors after ludicrous trials, condemning at lenst 2,000 men and women to be burnt to death over slow fires.
Another 6,000 were burni етку пла had their property con- Asented, uncounted thousands more condemned to ghastly tortures, thousands more were confined In "dungeons vile, and some $7,000
• more suffered penalties and punish- ments of lesser degree.
Yet Frey Thomas de Torquemada was a benign and good-intentioned man. D devout Prior of brotherhood of the Dominicans--the
the
Domini canes, or "Mastiffs of the Lord." His cole idea, apparently, was to serve Christ by winning con- verts to the Church of Rome from the ranks of the Moslems. Jews, and other "heretics."
He was at one in that endeavour
with the com- tors to undergo the travealy of triat
gave them ordained by the Inquisition, paign which ultimately dominion of the peninsula, moro The proceedings before the In and more of these "Conversos" quisition were in the highest de come under their rule.
grees arbitrary. The suspect would In Seville, the ex-Jewish "new be arrested, lodged in prison as a Christians" were particularly suspect and deemed gulily until he numerous and powerful, and their could prove his innocence. Judaizing, or "back-sliding," wna The name of his accuser wan the subject of strong condemnation withheld from him, and his prosecu- by Alonso de Ojeda, the Prior of tors, the Inquisitors, were also his judges. Women, children and slaves the Dominicans of Seville,
He urged Isabella to institute the might net as witnesses against him, Inquisition. For six years she re- but could not be called in his de- jceled the suggestion." It was only fence,
The past decade has been blackened by the cruelties and criminalities of the Japanese Kompeitai and the Nazis who ran the extermination camps. But the deliberate slaughter of men and women in the mass is not new to history. Read how the notorious Torquemada, who initiated the Spanish Inquisition, con- demned over 2,000 persons to be burnt alive, and tortured countless others by methods not unlike those used by the Gestapo and the Kompeitai
BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
He was crippled with gout and bla suspects.
decision was encouraged by the watched Severer imprisonment for longer. Papal Court, which had terms and harsher penance were with jealousy and alarm the steady demanded of the violenters, while accretion in Torquemada's powers perpetunt imprisonment or death by and hnd repeatedly complained of áre were the punishments of those his abuse of them. who refused to repent of their un- orthodoxy.
on
Finally four "assistants" were. ap- pointed by Pope Alexander to re- Those rich enough could pur- leve the Inquisitor-general of some chase relief from their sentences. In of his most burdensome duties, this way, and through the confinen- the pretext of his advancing years. llon of properly of the condemned, A Judge of Appeals was niso op- vast wealth nccrued to
the Holy pointed by the Pope, and Torque- Office presided over by Torquemada. mada's rule was virtually ended. Not content with confiscating the Even so, for the last eight years of property of the ilving, Inquisitors his life he remained the guiding ordered the remains of thousands spirit of the Inquisition. of the dead to be dug up and tried, In the spring of 1498 he summon- with the result that their property ed the principal Inquisitors to the was confiscated, too.
monastery of St Thomas of Avila The wealth so gained went to to issue the fourth of his series of
directing the enrich the royal treasury and the enactments
the adminis- Church, and to finance the wars of tration of the Holy Ofee. Ferdinand and Isabella against the Shortly afterwards, on Septem- Moera,
ber 10 of the same year, he peace- fully went to account to his Maker, confident to the end that he had served Christ well.
Torquemada himself had no de- sire for riches, for the portion that came to him he disbursed on build ing a
a monastery and in charitable works, while he lives a life of harsh; austerity.
Nevertheless, he was so feared and hated that he went in danger of bis life and way accompanied everywhere by a company of 240 trusted guards of the Holy Office.
Not only in Seville, but in Valen- la, Lerida and Saragossa, conspir- acies were hatched against the lives of the Inquisitors. At the lafter
ot
SIDE GLANCES
By Galbraith
galliwatte
COPA, 1947, OY NEA SERVICË, INC, T. H, RED, U. S, PAT. OFF.
"Come right back and wash your hands and neck! You can't get away with that 'summer tan' story any longer!!
He is Rank's Number 1
THOUGH millionaire
J.
with his monarch, the otherwise when her confessor, Torquemada, All who appeared were obliged to place in 1485, Peter Arbue, on ar- noble, generous and truly great added his velce to Ojeda's in
Rive de-
evidence, and trickery, long dent inquisitor was stale while Queen Isabella of Castle.
the heresies of
and torture the imprisonment.
were prayer in church. claring that
to Even the applied Perhaps Isabella's motives
Pope complained to extract confessions from were "new-Christians" slood in the way
Arthur Rank gets the not quite so altruistic as Torque- nf a completely united Spain that the accused. Witnesses, also, wers Isabella of the severity of Torque- But the In- dominant amblilon she agreed.
limelight, it is Mr John sometimes for her mada's,
tortured to force state- mada's sentences.
quisitor-general was a law
unto Davis, his collaborator and heir was to weld together united Spain The Inquisition, then, was insti- ments from them,
himself. In addition to seeking out under the sceptres of herself and tuted in 1480 on the condition that her husband, Ferdinand of Aragon. it was
The tortures most commonly in and punishing "heretics," he assum-apparent, whom most people in to be Independent of the use were the rack, the wheel and ed the authority to punish many the film world are discussing The slaughter and conversion to papacy. This condition was contest pulley. and the "water cure." In civil crimes against morality, and with equal interest, Christianity
but finally accepted by of Jews and Moslems ed, but
Pope the "water cure," the victim's nos- political crimes against the state. aided the fulfilment of that, ambi- Sixtus IV.
trills were plugged, his jaws held tion, and
and the vast wealth confiscat- The Spanish Inquisition took ad-
open by an iron prong, and a plece ed from them by the inquisitors vantage of this to claim an almost of linen placed over his mouth.
complete autonomy, and as a result many curious situations arose. Not the least curious was the rivalry that developed between Rome and
inquisitors of exemptions from penalties, such no Imprisonment and condemnation to the galleys and of dispensations
from the crime of secret Judaism.
financed her armies.
In the end, however, the confica- tion of the
commercial country's wealth, plus the slaughter and exile
thousands of its -of tens of
eltizens, ushered in an era of decay
that brought about the gradual de- cline, culturally as well as economi- cally, of a nation that' was once the richest and most powerful in the world.
A contemporary print depicting the 'water cure' used by the Spanish Inquisition to torture witnesses
Water was poured slowly into the
cloth, While the
Other anomalies crept In The
permit grand-inquisitor at Madrid ted books to be read that were cen-
Rome, sored in
vice-versa. and
dispensation or
from exemptions both authorities in order to be com- pletely sure of retaining their free dom, lives or properly.
water
the
whatever
one
He was the accountant in a South Wales coal and steel combine when be met a large Birmingham metal merchant: Young Davis made an impression of efficiency and per-
ham.
One
sonality, and was invited to join his now friend in business in Birming- day the metal merchant bought a cinema. He got into the habit of buying cinemas, and even tually owned the biggest chain of cinemas in Great Britain.
TILE
Early start
meetings. If a lull develops he a session swiftly to an end with "Any further questions gentlemen?"
Although
with a great gift for
Davis's position is hard to de- HERESY HUNT ENDS fine in one word-but the range THE Moors having been subjugat- of his authority in the Rank
metal merchant's name was ed In Granada, Torquemada organisation is enormous.....
Deutsch.
of. Oscar
The chain
Previously this council had con- carrying it into the throat. urged upon Ferdinand, and Isabella and growing still.
cincinas he founded was the giant sceping general expulsion of the Jews from
monarchs complied through the cloth he experienced all Spain. The
His name appeared twelve Odeon chain. The young accountant sisted of Mr. Leslie Farrow, Mr the pangs of suffocation, but not so with an order to all Jews to em- times on page of the from the South Wales steel works Woodham Smith and the late C. M.
Christianity or leave much as to lose consciousness. And, brace
the Financial Times days ago. Each became Deutsch's right-hand man in Woolf, the latter of whom was re- the sponsible for Mr Rank entering the the as the process was repeated many country.
management-particularly mention in a stake in one of the
Alm business. times, so did he
Anoncial management of Odeon. experience again Torquemada forbade Christians to 22 companies which fit into When Deutsch died and the con- and again the agonies of death, by hold any communication suffocation.
trol of Odeon came into the hands with Jews, even lo supplying them Rank's £50,000,000 empire. Within four years Torquemada
of life. with
necessities
of J. Arthur Rank in 1940, Davis, DAVIS, no time waster, rules the had established inquisitorial, tribu- Estimates of the number of Jewish
John Davis's particular In- now the master of cinema exhibition while "heretics" bad to purchase nals all over Castile and had familles who
the terest is the Odeon circuit of finance, became chose to leave
J. Arthur Rank'e will bring set country rather than abandon the cinemas.
right-hand man. secured dominance over those
Papacy outside faith of their fathers vary from up earlier by the
Step by step Next door Castile-in Toledo, Valladolid, 1700.000 to 800,000.- Avila, Segovia and elsewhere.
With them went much of Spain's TE is a man of restless energy, MHIS was quickly followed by the organisation and the co-ordination Soon the prisons were Alled with commercial wealth and the braing11 with slightly_slaring eyes, and
formation of Independent Pro- of widely diverse interests, ite enn suspects charged with one of three and driving force of its commerce;]he occupies an office right up next ducers and the obtalaing of control become confused and fluff his lines
of offences-deviter categories
but the commercial to his chief in the palatial Rank of Denham and Pinewood Studios when in the centre of the limelight. In an Industry which starts work (light), vehementer (strong).
and
decay of Spain begen.
headquarters la South-street, Park and D.B. Pictures Ltd. John Davi The first might violenter (violent).
of Mr Rank at 10 am. J. D. has all the The subjugation of the Moarn and lane. W. I. It is here that J. D. has been at the side
the ata, from the top executiva escape with an admonition and the expulsion of the Jews saw no let us he is called by everyone in the during every
step forward in
the to the junior office hoy, busy Ly he had built up to the suppression prayers upon expresslug penitence. but the
imposition of fasts, pilgrimage or up in Torquemada's heresy huat.
group-presides over the meetings
march to put
British pictures on
He Is In his own office long expulsion of the of heresy, even amongst the
Jews of the various companies and pro- screens of the world in which
before this time. The additional penalty of im- marked the climax of Torquemada's duction groups. of the clergy of the Church of
like his chief, is a fanatical bellever,
He has a farm in the county prisonment and of being forced to work. Rome.
He was now 70. While re-
His say-30 in the decisions of the where he goes occasionally for long _stand_at_the_door_of_a_church wear-_taining the office.
huse production and subject week-ends, taking his work with.
him. His special pride on the farm benllo," "holding a lighted candle, convent he had built at Aviln
of pictures. has led to many battles
is his dairy, where he goes in for among the 24 or more man cheese-making. He has been heard directors in the £50,000,000 or to claim a home-made cheese "every
tbit as good as a Stliton."
ALL-POWERFUL TORQUEMADA was appointed sole Inquisitor-general over all the Spanish possessiong
devoted the powerful organisation
In 1483.
ond
ranks
and from this
_of__inquisitor-Davis's_arrival_in_films_rivals Banisations, particularly.
He was a man of 03, son of Don the garb of a sinner, the "san- general he decided to retire to a surprise Rank's own entry through
Pedro Ferdinando, lord of Torque- inada, a small town of Old Castile, and nephew of a famous cardinal, Johannes de Turrecremata, who, like him, had been born in Valla- dolid and had spent a lifetime as a "Mastiff of the Lord" in the Do- minican order.
For
been
the flour business.
THE LAST CHANCE
HE death or glory boys of 22 years Torquemadagne T the Liberal Party Bre null Cruz in Segovia where he had being their colours come confessor to the infant Isabelia
to the mast and taught her the political advan-again, despite the gloomy tid- tages of religion,
ings that Liberal candidates had to forfeited deposits at three by- With the marriage of Isabella Ferdinand and her accession to the elections within a fortnight. The Inquisitor (meaning simply throne, he had become confessor to an "enquiry"In the ecclesiastical them both, a trusted councillor of Mr. Fothergill, rotund, mellow. sense, into religious practices con- state, and custodian of the benefices voiced chairman of the Liberal trary to Catholic orthodoxy) had its under the royal patronage.
Party organisation, repudiated origins, way back in the fourth cen- All-powerful, fearless, and with any thought of a pact with the fury, when Priscillian, it Spanish no ambition but a fanatical desire Tories in a speech at Bath, while
exterminating. orthodox Catholi- Lord Samuel, leader of the doctrine of stern asceticism forbid cism, Torquemada became a name Liberal peers, and Mr. Isauc ding the clergy
inspiring fear and terror to marry.
through- Foot, Liberal president, were Two centuries before Torque out Spain,
thing Inaugurated lying much the same mada, Pope Innocent III. had in-
elsewhere. stigated the crusade which had led to the complete annihilation of the Albigenses, a sects in France heretical to Church of Rome.
WIES
excommunicated to serve Christ by
aheresies against
theologian, and burnt alive for preaching
The Inquisition was
by Torquemada in Seville where he established the Italy Office, first In
The decline of the Liberal Party gains speed Only one course lies open-if Liberals are to re- main
a force in British politics
by
CHARLES WINTOUR
Je
D
At the studios
URING the past weeks there has been a definite indication that Arthur Rank himself is not taking
ganisation. Davis, today a quiet, dimdent, fair man, fortyish, with a disarming simplicity, is the keystone of the Rank business. He is man- ing director of Odeon, apart from Islington by-election which
Mr. his other clutch of directorships. Malindine lost, after a gallant fight,
In his suite at the Dorchester he quite so close an interest in the One of his actual mechanics of lm-making, early in September. If these asso-entertains discreetly. elations and party members display closest companions is Sidney Wynne, Hitherio he has read most scripts such reluctance to slump up when son-in-law of Foreign Minister and has even come down to the they were given a good run for Ernest Bevin, and former pubile different studios of his crgonisation their money, how will they feel after relations officer at the Ministry of and given his criticisms of what was inking three
ree doses of Epsom salts Supply. Wynne is now in charge going on. in quick succession?
The membership of the party is people. undisclosed. It is unlikely greatly of the
to exceed the circulation
Liberal this compares with 1,100,000 servatives and 045,000 individual
members of the Sociallst Party.
Con-
of selling Mr Rank
minimum of £rty of raising the brain, at the first
to the British
Davis
Recently, however, John has been playing on increasingly effective part in the production side. Inner circle
For instance, one of the. favourite News, or about 30,000. And JARO (the initials by which the J. Rank projects has been the malt!ug
15 of £20,000 films at a special Arthur Rank organisation
studio would
provide Brcond known throughout the Alm Industry) which was created in 1040 when it w features for British cinemas. These be maile under Now what possible chance has this announced by Leslie Farrow, City were intended to
postwar world Hank's personal benevolence, If not little penurious
to film convention held in London that observation, and he did at first make required finance 600 candidates at a General John Davis had now joined the inner visits to the studio. Lately, how- council sur ever. "J.D." has been inakun studio Election, quite apart from the extra circle of the advisory
visits-alone. But just where do the Liberals group of religious tha Convent of St Paul, and later think they
lens of thousands needed to pay rounding Mr Rank. ara the in the grim fortress of Triana with frequently boast that 2,000,000 votes amounted to £10,000, compared with diminishing force in British politics.
heading? They
So the party's regular income for the lost deposits?
The Liberala deep below the river were cast for Liberalism
rapidly the the £60,500 avaliable to the General Election with only by issuing a general
308 Socialists.
The polarisation of votes is leading Liberal candidates in tho field. TN the intervening 200 years there edict ordering all Judaizers and
•had been a series of Inquisitions in other back-sliders" to appear be. They declare that they will put up headquarters can draw on the Italy, Germany, France, and per- fore the inquisitors and confess their not 300 but 000 candidates at the secutions in the Balkan-States. fault; 17,000 promptly fed to seek next General Election.
alms at collecting £125,000 in five Liberals are still in a position to TN the columns of that news- Hangover, has seen strange flashes
in the night sky. The In fact, the Inquisition had been the protection of the Court of Ar- This is
paper to which all good letters seismologist, M. Goudriole, of Mont- the plainest eyewashi. years. This fund was launched with play an important role at the next Marquess of Cadiz Introduced to Spain 50 years before cos, the
of election. This may be their last Torquemada suggested it to other Castilian nobles.
Out of the 35 by-elections since the a great flourish in the spring chance to do so, but none the loss 80 when they die I came across pellier, says that his seismograph General Election, the Liberals have 1040 and got away to fably good. Their property was confiscated fought only 12--about a third. At start. Within nine months over their influence should not be under- & reply to something or other, has recorded an earthquake millions
THE "CONVERSOS”
Не
ils dungeons Guadalquivir.
began
been sporadic persecutions, mas- the heretics.
forced bap- sacres en masse, and Elsms instigated by the clergy,
and
and
of
at
ero
д
to the gradual collapse of their In addition, of course, Liberal
party.. called Foundation.
But, desplio their decline, which
the
BY THE WAY by Beachcomber
Fund,
N some
£70,000 in
20
to 30
have
eminent
Isabella.
Castile, the domain of Isabella, and those who sheltered them were
over this signature; Head of of miles away, perhaps on the moon. and But no word has come from the had no Inquisition, though papal ordered to return them to the prison seven of these contests they forfeit- £00,000, payable over the next five estimated.
of Philosophy Section had years, been raised. But since briefs bad urged its institution; but, of the Inquisition under threat of cd their deposits.
At the by-elections from the 13th century on there had the same penalties as imposed upon stituencies where Liberals also con- been rising very slowly. It touched the Liberal organisation are siM | Cultural
In
Humanistic Studies, United Na- expedition, and little attention is con- the beginning of 1847 the total has
'almost Intercopted constituencies tions Educational, Scientific and paid to the claim of Major Rolling tested
Organisation. All message though It is admitted that the sent in 1945 (City 6 £62,000 In April and The rich "new-Christians"
Lopdon, Bromley, Bournemouth,
October. Only 28,000 had Seville, Ind-by one, Susan, const Kensington, Combined Scottish Unl- added in seven months
been strong enough to have a fair chance written out like that in full, the Doctor would probably try
get in touch with his observatory at of winning the seat in a straight Out of these persecutions a class ed to murder the inquisitors, but
from the Avenue Kleber in Waggling Parve, now in charge of A grandiose "GE" Flan, designed @ght. Ih many others, perhaps u versities, Howdenshire and Epsom) "Conversos" had arisen, Jews, were of
betrayed by Susan's on the total Liberal poll has declined to finance the 600 Liberal candidates hundred, the intervention of Paris..
• Professer Mortimer Crookbotham. Mohammedans who had pro- daughter, La Herniosa Fembra.
O Kleber, strong Alsatian soldier, Later: The huge object which fell In the Arst fessed conversion to Christian faith
auto-da-fe (demon- from some 47,000 votes to roughly at the next election, was also started Liberal candidate, leading to a split
a feld outside Carlisle stration of faith or ceremony to save their property and lives.
31,000, a drop of about one-third. of
In the summer. But I hear that this anti-Socialist vote, might possibly would that I could hear your com Into scheme has hardly netted enough to cause the defeat of a Tory candidate, ment! Meanwhile, may I suggest that night was an elephant on the way These "new-Christians" had been trial)
Inquisitors in hold by the
cover the initial cutlay involved on
on this hairy great organisation, Section by air from one Zoo to another. Are Liberal leaders banking on and all, will always be Dalsy to me. Jed granted rights equally with "old- Seville, the conspirators were
this blocking can printing and stationery.
power to bring ecclesiastical Christians" to
and in procession through the streets to ULE myth that the Liberals
I draw secular offices of power and
on immense private re- au- the meadows of Tablada, and burn-
Even more interesting is the stato about some sort of an electoral bar. Write to me at the offices of the See Her niece was there
TEAR SIN. of Preprosterous, Ludicrous DMy niece, Mrs. Twatford, was sources in the Lloyd George Fund of
fund. gath with ed to death,
the Liberal by-election
the Tories whereby
and Ridiculous Enquiries, Inter- The fires that consumed Susan hus died hard. Yet this fund With the aptitude for accumulat-
AL was Under this scheme all constituency Liberal candidates, maintaining ing wealth peculiar to their race, and his conspirators lit a holocaust never under the patty's control, and 'associations were invited to guaran-, least a nominal independence, are national Re-educational, Reorienta- standing in a
for Cultural, Co- haddock pla last Tuesday, when the the Jewish Conversos" had grown of fanaticism throughout Spain. for the past 18 years the Liberals sice £1 to the election expenses of given a clear run in a few selected tonal Society and Co-ordinational shopkeeper suddenly shouted, "About rich and powerful. Many of them, Judaizers who did appear to confess have enjoyed no support from that Liberal candidates at by-elections. constituencies? It is
is significant that operational
thority:
1
own
were Individual Liborals
́guarantee Sa.
tion
queue for
last
finned
Wo
Telegraphic address: turn. Come In the back way." too, had grown arrogant, continued their fault on the promise of pardon quarter.
turned round, and, the rear of the asked to one of the most prominent, Liberals, Byntheses. to practies their inherited faith in they did so found that they could
defeated in 1045, has recently given Techee.
queue was now the front. When secret, and by virtue of their posi save their lives only by betraying The Liberals дго thus thrown On November 28 the Liberal a not unfavourable reply to over. Where is the Moonbeam? got to the back of the shop, he said.
entirely on their and wealth
ja tions of power
had others of their faith.
resources. News, the Liberal weekly issued by tures from the Tory Association
tho Moonbeam? There's no tinned haddock ple, so of WHERE aroused the enmity and jealousy of Soon every "New-Christian" or How Blender. these are may be seen the party organisation as a revenue East Wolverhampton.
about the order Similar W Scientists are growing anxious, it doesn't matter "old-Christians."
anyone with a tinge of Jawish or from the published
concluded Professor Homer G. Ruggfurth, of in which you go back to the front accounts for collecting device, revealed that 48 negotiations have been When Isaboila
Observatory, reports of the shop." If this is equality of inherited the Moslom blood went in daily fear of 1940. Subscriptions and donations Liberal associations and 187 person between Mr. Hopkin Morris, Inde the Nashville throne of Castile in 1474, horesy was their lives, not knowing at what totalled £13,000, of which £3,000 al subscribers had still to put their pendeat Liberal MP for Carmar- what looks like a new crater on the sacrifice, we prefer the old days. not rife within her domain, but as hour of any day or night they might | was listed as a "begudet,”
contributions in the kitty for the then, and the local Tories..
moon, and Mrs. Glideod, of Topham
Disgusted."
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