The Economist Offers Advice of a Torturer

Yesterday, The Economist send out a tweet quoting Francis Bacon with some advice about getting information out of people.  

Bacon was well experienced at this.  For instance, in April, 1597, he signed the report of the examining board at the Tower of London as a witness of the interrogation of Fr. John Gerard, a Jesuit who later wrote:

They put my wrists into iron gauntlets and ordered me to climb two or three wicker steps. My arms were then lifted up and an iron bar was passed through the rings of one gauntlet, then through the staple and rings of the second gauntlet. This done, they fastened the bar with a pin to prevent it from slipping, and then, removing the wicker steps one by one from under my feet, they left me hanging by my hands and arms fastened above my head. The tips of my toes, however, still touched the ground, and they had to dig away the earth from under them.  They had hung me up from the highest staple in the pillar and could not raise me any higher, without driving in another staple.

Hanging like this I began to pray.  The gentlemen standing around asked me whether I was willing to confess now.

'I cannot and I will not,' I answered.

But I could hardly utter the words, such a gripping pain came over me.  It was worst in my chest and belly, my hands and arms. All the blood in my body seemed to rush up into my arms and hands and I thought that blood was oozing out from the ends of my fingers and the pores of my skin...The pain was so intense that I thought that I could not possibly endure it, and added to it, I had an interior temptation...The Lord saw my weakness with the eyes of His mercy and did not permit me to be tempted beyond my strength.

John Gerard, The Autobiography of a Hunted Priest, Chapter 15, Tower and Torture

The editor adds an interesting footnote on the current science and practice of torture: "Suspension by the hands in the manner described by J.G. avoided the dislocation and damage effected by the rack.  There had been a revulsion of public opinion in London against the cruelties practised by Norton, the Queen's 'rack-master', and Topcliffe, licensed by Elizabeth to torture in private, introduced this refinement which was known as the 'manacles or gauntlet'."

We are "surprised" and "laid open" by The Economist's choice of philosopher and lament the 300+ retweets and favorites garnered by this cruel man.