A Short Account of the Bastinado, Supposed to Be Referred to In Hebrews 11:35.

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE BASTINADO, SUPPOSED TO BE REFERRED TO IN Hebrews 11:35 HEBREWS 11:35.

IV. On the 15th of Nov. 1779, Mr. Antes, returning from a short country excursion to Grand Cairo, was seized by some of the attendants of Osman Bey, a Mamaluke chief; and after stripping him of his clothes, they demanded money, which he not having about him, they dragged him before the bey, telling him that he was a European, from whom he might get something. In order to extort money from him, the bey ordered him to be bastinadoed. They first threw him down flat on his face, and then bent up his legs, so that the soles of his feet were horizontal; they then brought a strong staff, about six feet long, with an iron chain fixed to it at both ends. This chain they threw round both feet above the ancles, and twisted them together; and two fellows on each side, provided with what they call a corbage, held up the soles of the feet by means of the stick. When thus placed, an officer whispered in his ear, “Do not suffer yourself to be beaten; give him a thousand dollars, and he will let you go.” Mr. Antes, not willing to give up the money which he had received for the goods of other merchants, refused; the two men then began to beat the soles of his feet, at first moderately; but when a second application for money was refused, and then the demand was two thousand dollars, they began to lay on more roughly, and every stroke felt like the application of a red hot poker. Finding they could get no money, supposing he might have some choice goods, a third application was made to him by the officer; he told them he had a fine silver-mounted blunderbuss at his lodging which he would give. The bey asked what he offered; the officer sneered, and said, bir carabina, i.e. “one blunderbuss;” on which the bey said, ettrup il kulp, “beat the dog.” They then began to lay on with all their might. “At first,” says Mr. Antes, “the pain was excruciating; but after some time my feeling grew numb, and it was like beating a bag of wool.” Finding that nothing was to be got from him, and knowing that he had done nothing to deserve punishment, the bey ordered them to let him go. One of the attendants anointed his feet, and bound them up with some rags, put him on an ass, and conducted him to his house in Cairo, and laid him on his bed, where he was confined for six weeks before he could walk, even with crutches; and for more than three years his feet and ancles were very much swelled; and, though twenty years had elapsed when he published this account, his feet and ancles were so affected that, on any strong exertion, they were accustomed to swell.

He mentions instances of the bastinado having been applied for three days successively, and, if the person survived, the feet were rendered useless for life; but in general, he observes, when they have received between five and six hundred strokes, the blood gushes from their mouth and nose, and they die either under or soon after the operation.

How he felt his mind affected on this distressing occasion, he thus piously describes: “I at once gave up myself for lost, well knowing that my life depended on the caprice of a brute in human shape; and, having heard and seen such examples of unrelenting cruelty, I could not expect to fare better than others had done before me; I had therefore nothing left but to cast myself on the mercy of God, commending my soul to him; and indeed I must in gratitude confess, that I experienced his support most powerfully; so that all fear of death was taken from me; and if I could have bought my life for one halfpenny, I should, I believe, have hesitated to accept the offer.”-Observations on the Manners, &c., of the Egyptians, by J. ANTES, Esq. 12mo., Dublin, 1801, p. 146.

If this be the punishment to which the apostle alludes, it may justly rank with the most severe; and, all circumstances considered, this appears to be what is intended in the original word etumpanisqhsan, which we, not knowing what was meant by it, render they were tortured. These holy men needed no mercy from man; and they received no justice. The case above is a specimen of Mohammedan justice, and Mamaluke cruelty; and to rescue such wretches from the government of the French we spent torrents of British blood! It would have been a mercy to man to have left them in the hands of any power that might abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices. As to their being corrupted by French manners, that is impossible; the Mohammedans in general, and the Turks and Mamalukes of Egypt in particular, are too bad for the devil himself to corrupt. Pity, that political considerations rendered it necessary to restore that corrupt and abominable government. Reader, there is an infinite difference between the Bible and the Koran; the one is from heaven, the other from earth and hell. “Thanks be to God for his holy Gospel!”