remembrance of such families and of the posterity of such as have been
sufferers, either in their persons or estates, for or by the
Government, of which the public records will give you many instances. I
should therefore be glad there might be a committee appointed by this
Court to inquire into the sufferings of the people called Quakers, in
the early days of this country, as also into the descendants of
such[ii.482] families as were in a manner ruined in the mistaken
management of the terrible affair called witchcraft. I really think
there is something incumbent on this Government to be done for
relieving the estates and reputations of the posterities of the unhappy
families that so suffered; and the doing it, though so long afterwards,
would doubtless be acceptable to Almighty God, and would reflect honor
upon the present Legislature."
On the 31st of May, 1749, the heirs of George Burroughs addressed a
petition to Governor Shirley and the General Court, setting forth "the
unparalleled persecutions and sufferings" of their ancestor, and
praying for "some recompense from this Court for the losses thereby
sustained by his family." It was referred to a committee of both
Houses. The next year, the petitioners sent a memorial to Governor
Spencer Phips and the General Court, stating, that "it hath fell out,
that the Hon. Mr. Danforth, chairman of the said committee, had not, as
yet, called them together so much as once to act thereon, even to this
day, as some of the honorable committee themselves were pleased, with
real concern, to signify to your said petitioners." The House
immediately passed this order: "That the committee within referred to
be directed to sit forthwith, consider the petition to them committed,
and report as soon as may be."
All that I have been able to find, as the result of these long-delayed
and long-protracted movements, is a statement of Dr. Bentley, that the
heirs of Philip English received two hundred pounds. He does not say
when the act to this effect was passed. Perhaps some general measure of
the kind was adopted, the record of which I have failed to meet. The
engrossing interest of the then pending French war, and of the vehement
dissensions that led to the Revolution, probably prevented any further
attention to this subject, after the middle of the last century.
It is apparent from the foregoing statements and records, that while
many individuals, the people generally, and finally Governor Belcher
and the House of Representatives emphatically, did what they could,
there was an influence that prevailed to prevent for a long time, if
not for ever, any action of the province to satisfy the demands made by
justice and the honor of the country in repairing the great wrongs
committed by the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the
Government in 1692. The only bodies[ii.483] of men who fully came up to
their duty on the occasion were the clergy of the county, and, as will
appear, the church at Salem Village.
What was done by the First Church in Salem is shown in the following
extract from its records:—
"March 2, 1712.—After the sacrament, a church-meeting was appointed to
be at the teacher's house, at two of the clock in the afternoon, on the
sixth of the month, being Thursday: on which day they accordingly met
to consider of the several following particulars propounded to them by
the teacher; viz.:—
"1. Whether the record of the excommunication of our Sister Nurse (all
things considered) may not be erased and blotted out. The result of
which consideration was, That whereas, on July 3d, 1692, it was
proposed by the Elders, and consented to by an unanimous vote of the
church, that our Sister Nurse should be excommunicated, she being
convicted of witchcraft by the Court, and she was accordingly
excommunicated, since which the General Court having taken off the
attainder, and the testimony on which she was convicted being not now
so satisfactory to ourselves and others as it was generally in that
hour of darkness and temptation; and we being solicited by her son, Mr.
Samuel Nurse, to erase and blot out of the church records the sentence
of her excommunication,—this church, having the matter proposed to them
by the teacher, and having seriously considered it, doth consent that
the record of our Sister Nurse's excommunication be accordingly erased
and blotted out, that it may no longer be a reproach to her memory, and
an occasion of grief to her children. Humbly requesting that the
merciful God would pardon whatsoever sin, error, or mistake was in the
application of that censure and of that whole affair, through our
merciful High-priest, who knoweth how to have compassion on the
ignorant, and those that are out of the way.
"2. It was proposed whether the sentence of excommunication against our
Brother Giles Corey (all things considered) may not be erased and
blotted out. The result was, That whereas, on Sept. 18, 1692, it was
considered by the church, that our Brother Giles Corey stood accused of
and indicted for the sin of witchcraft, and that he had obstinately
refused to plead, and so threw himself on certain death. It was agreed
by the vote of the church, that he should be excommunicated for it; and
accordingly he was excommunicated. Yet the church, having now testimony
in his behalf, that, before his death, he did bitterly repent of his
obstinate refusal to plead in defence[ii.484] of his life, do consent
that the sentence of his excommunication be erased and blotted out."
It will be noticed that these proceedings were not had at a regular
public meeting, but at a private meeting of the church, on a week-day
afternoon, at the teacher's house. The motives that led to them were a
disposition to comply with the act of the General Court, and the
solicitations of Mr. Samuel Nurse, rather than a profound sense of
wrong done to a venerable member of their own body, who had claims upon
their protection as such. The language of the record does not frankly
admit absolutely that there was sin, error, or mistake, but requests
forgiveness for whatsoever there may have been. The character of
Rebecca Nurse, and the outrageous treatment she had received from that
church, in the method arranged for her excommunication, demanded
something more than these hypothetical expressions, with such a
preamble.
The statement made in the vote about Corey is, on its face, a
misrepresentation. From the nature of the proceeding by which he was
destroyed, it was in his power, at any moment, if he "repented of his
obstinate refusal to plead," by saying so, to be instantly released
from the pressure that was crushing him. The only design of the torture
was to make him bring it to an end by "answering" guilty, or not
guilty. Somebody fabricated the slander that Corey's resolution broke
down under his agonies, and that he bitterly repented; and Mr. Noyes
put the foolish scandal upon the records of the church.
The date of this transaction is disreputable to the people of Salem.
Twenty years had been suffered to elapse, and a great outrage allowed
to remain unacknowledged and unrepented. The credit of doing what was
done at last probably belongs to the Rev. George Corwin. His call to
the ministry, as colleague with Mr. Noyes, had just been consummated.
The introduction of a new minister heralded a new policy, and the
proceedings have the appearance of growing out of the kindly and
auspicious feelings which generally attend and welcome such an era.
The Rev. George, son of Jonathan Corwin, was born May 21, 1683, and
graduated at Harvard College in 1701. Mr. Barnard, of Marblehead,
describes his character: "The spirit of[ii.485] early devotion,
accompanied with a natural freedom of thought and easy elocution, a
quick invention, a solid judgment, and a tenacious memory, laid the
foundation of a good preacher; to which his acquired literature, his
great reading, hard studies, deep meditation, and close walk with God,
rendered him an able and faithful minister of the New Testament." The
records of the First Church, in noticing his death, thus speak of him:
"He was highly esteemed in his life, and very deservedly lamented at
his death; having been very eminent for his early improvement in
learning and piety, his singular abilities and great labors, his
remarkable zeal and faithfulness. He was a great benefactor to our
poor." Those bearing the name of Curwen among us are his descendants.
He died Nov. 23, 1717.
The Rev. Nicholas Noyes died Dec. 13, 1717. He was a person of superior
talents and learning. He published, with the sermon preached by Cotton
Mather on the occasion, a poem on the death of his venerable colleague,
Mr. Higginson, in 1708; and also a poem on the death of Rev. Joseph
Green, in 1715. Although an amiable and benevolent man in other
respects, it cannot be denied that he was misled by his errors and his
temperament into the most violent course in the witchcraft
prosecutions; and it is to be feared that his feelings were never
wholly rectified in reference to that transaction.
Jonathan, the father of the Rev. George Corwin, and whose part as a
magistrate and judge in the examinations and trials of 1692 has been
seen, died on the 9th of July, 1718, seventy-eight years of age.
It only remains to record the course of the village church and people
in reference to the events of 1692. After six persons, including
Rebecca Nurse, had suffered death; and while five others, George
Burroughs, John Procter, John Willard, George Jacobs, and Martha
Carrier, were awaiting their execution, which was to take place on the
coming Friday, Aug. 19,—the facts, related as follows by Mr. Parris in
his record-book, occurred:—
"Sabbath-day, 14th August, 1692.—The church was stayed after the
congregation was dismissed, and the pastor spake to the church after
this manner:—
"'Brethren, you may all have taken notice, that, several sacrament days
past, our brother Peter Cloyse, and Samuel Nurse and his wife,[ii.486]
and John Tarbell and his wife, have absented from communion with us at
the Lord's Table, yea, have very rarely, except our brother Samuel
Nurse, been with us in common public worship: now, it is needful that
the church send some persons to them to know the reason of their
absence. Therefore, if you be so minded, express yourselves.'
"None objected. But a general or universal vote, after some discourse,
passed, that Brother Nathaniel Putnam and the two deacons should join
with the pastor to discourse with the said absenters about it.
"31st August.—Brother Tarbell proves sick, unmeet for discourse;
Brother Cloyse hard to be found at home, being often with his wife in
prison at Ipswich for witchcraft; and Brother Nurse, and sometimes his
wife, attends our public meeting, and he the sacrament, 11th September,
1692: upon all which we choose to wait further."
When it is remembered that the individuals aimed at all belonged to the
family of Rebecca Nurse, whose execution had taken place three weeks
before under circumstances with which Mr. Parris had been so
prominently and responsibly connected, this proceeding must be felt by
every person of ordinary human sensibilities to have been cruel,
barbarous, and unnatural. Parris made the entry in his book, as he
often did, some time after the transaction, as the inserted date of
Sept. 11, shows. What his object was in commencing disciplinary
treatment of this distressed family is not certain. It may be that he
was preparing to get up such a feeling against them as would make it
safe to have the "afflicted" cry out upon some of them. Or it may be
that he wished to get them out of his church, to avoid the possibility
of their proceeding against him, by ecclesiastical methods, at some
future day. He could not, however, bring his church to continue the
process. This is the first indication that the brethren were no longer
to be relied on by him to go all lengths, and that some remnants of
good feeling and good sense were to be found among them.
But Mr. Parris was determined not to allow the public feeling against
persons charged with witchcraft to subside, if he could help it; and he
made one more effort to renew the vehemence of the prosecutions. He
prepared and preached two sermons, on the 11th of September, from the
text, Rev. xvii. 14: "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb
shall overcome them: for he is[ii.487] Lord of lords, and King of
kings; and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful."
They are entitled, "The Devil and his instruments will be warring
against Christ and his followers." This note is added, "After the
condemnation of six witches at a court at Salem, one of the witches,
viz., Martha Corey, in full communion with our church." The following
is a portion of "the improvement" in the application of these
discourses:—
"It may serve to reprove such as seem to be so amazed at the war the
Devil has raised amongst us by wizards and witches, against the Lamb
and his followers, that they altogether deny it. If ever there were
witches, men and women in covenant with the Devil, here are multitudes
in New England. Nor is it so strange a thing that there should be such;
no, nor that some church-members should be such. Pious Bishop Hall
saith, 'The Devil's prevalency in this age is most clear in the
marvellous number of witches abounding in all places. Now hundreds
(says he) are discovered in one shire; and, if fame deceive us not, in
a village of fourteen houses in the north are found so many of this
damned brood. Heretofore, only barbarous deserts had them; but now the
civilized and religious parts are frequently pestered with them.
Heretofore, some silly, ignorant old woman, &c.; but now we have known
those of both sexes who professed much knowledge, holiness, and
devotion, drawn into this damnable practice.'"
The foregoing extract is important as showing that some persons at the
village had begun to express their disbelief of the witchcraft doctrine
of Mr. Parris, "altogether denying it." The title and drift of the
sermons in connection with the date, and his proceedings, the month
before, against Samuel Nurse, Tarbell, and Cloyse, members of his
church, give color to the idea that he was designing to have them
"cried out" against, and thus disposed of. It is a noticeable fact,
that, about this time, Cotton Mather was also laying his plans for a
renewal, or rather continuance, of witchcraft prosecutions. Nine days
after these sermons were preached by Parris, Mather wrote the following
letter to Stephen Sewall of Salem:—
Boston, Sept. 20, 1692.
My dear and my very obliging Stephen,—It is my hap to be continually
... with all sorts of objections, and objectors against the ... work
now doing at Salem; and it is my further good hap to do some little
service for God and you in my encounters.[ii.488]
But that I may be the more capable to assist in lifting up a standard
against the infernal enemy, I must renew my most importunate request,
that you would please quickly to perform what you kindly promised, of
giving me a narrative of the evidences given in at the trials of half a
dozen, or if you please a dozen, of the principal witches that have
been condemned. I know 'twill cost you some time; but, when you are
sensible of the benefit that will follow, I know you will not think
much of that cost; and my own willingness to expose myself unto the
utmost for the defence of my friends with you makes me presume to plead
something of merit to be considered.
I shall be content, if you draw up the desired narrative by way of
letter to me; or, at least, let it not come without a letter, wherein
you shall, if you can, intimate over again what you have sometimes told
me of the awe which is upon the hearts of your juries, with ... unto
the validity of the spectral evidences.
Please also to ... some of your observations about the confessors and
the credibility of what they assert, or about things evidently
preternatural in the witchcrafts, and whatever else you may account an
entertainment, for an inquisitive person, that entirely loves you and
_Salem_. Nay, though I will never lay aside the character which I
mentioned in my last words, yet I am willing, that, when you write, you
should imagine me as obstinate a Sadducee and witch-advocate as any
among us: address me as one that believed nothing reasonable; and when
you have so knocked me down, in a spectre so unlike me, you will enable
me to box it about among my neighbors, till it come—I know not where at
last.
But assure yourself, as I shall not wittingly make what you write
prejudicial to any worthy design which those two excellent persons, Mr.
Hale and Mr. Noyse, may have in hand; so you shall find that I shall
be, sir, your grateful friend,
C. Mather.
P.S.—That which very much strengthens the charms of the request which
this letter makes you is, that His Excellency the Governor laid his
positive commands upon me to desire this favor of you; and the truth
is, there are some of his circumstances with reference to this affair,
which I need not mention, that call for the expediting of your
kindness,—_kindness_, I say, for such it will be esteemed as well by
him as by your servant,
C. Mather.
In order to understand the character and aim of this letter, it will be
necessary to consider its date. It was written Sept. 20, 1692. On the
19th of August, but one month before, Dr. Mather[ii.489] was acting a
conspicuous part under the gallows at Witch-hill, at the execution of
Mr. Burroughs and four others, increasing the power of the awful
delusion, and inflaming the passions of the people. On the 9th of
September, six more miserable creatures received sentence of death. On
the 17th of September, nine more received sentence of death. On the
19th of September, Giles Corey was crushed to death. And, on the 22d of
September, eight were executed. These were the last that suffered
death. The letter, therefore, was written while the horrors of the
transaction were at their height, and by a person who had himself been
a witness of them, and whose "good hap" it had been to "do some little
service" in promoting them. The object of the writer is declared to be,
that he might be "more capable to assist in lifting up a standard
against the infernal enemy." The literal meaning of this expression is,
that he might be enabled to get up another witchcraft delusion under
his own special management and control. Can any thing be imagined more
artful and dishonest than the plan he had contrived to keep himself out
of sight in all the operations necessary to accomplish his purpose?
"Nay, though I will never lay aside the character which I mentioned in
my last words, yet I am willing, that, when you write, you should
imagine me as obstinate a Sadducee and witch-advocate as any among us:
address me as one that believed nothing reasonable; and when you have
so knocked me down, in a spectre so unlike me, you will enable me to
box it about among my neighbors, till it come—I know not where at
last."
Upon obtaining the document requisite to the fulfilment of his design,
he did "box it about" so effectually among his neighbors, that he
succeeded that next summer in getting up a wonderful case of
witchcraft, in the person of one Margaret Rule, a member of his
congregation in Boston. Dr. Mather published an account of her
long-continued fastings, even unto the ninth day, and of the incredible
sufferings she endured from the "infernal enemy." "She was thrown,"
says he, "into such exorbitant convulsions as were astonishing to the
spectators in general. They that could behold the doleful condition of
the poor family without sensible compassions might have entrails,
indeed, but I am sure they could have no true bowels in them." So far
was he successful in spreading the delusion, that he prevailed upon six
men to testify[ii.490] that they had seen Margaret Rule lifted bodily
from her bed, and raised by an invisible power "so as to touch the
garret floor;" that she was entirely removed from the bed or any other
material support; that she continued suspended for several minutes; and
that a strong man, assisted by several other persons, could not
effectually resist the mysterious force that lifted her up, and poised
her aloft in the air! The people of Boston were saved from the horrors
intended to be brought upon them by this dark and deep-laid plot, by
the activity, courage, and discernment of Calef and others, who
distrusted Dr. Mather, and, by watching his movements, exposed the
imposture, and overthrew the whole design.
Mr. Parris does not appear to have produced much effect by his sermons.
The people had suffered enough from the "war between the Devil and the
Lamb," as he and Mather had conducted it; and it could not be renewed.
Immediately upon the termination of the witchcraft proceedings, the
controversy between Mr. Parris and the congregation, or the
inhabitants, as they were called, of the village, was renewed, with
earnest resolution on their part to get rid of him. The parish
neglected and refused to raise the means for paying his salary; and a
majority of the voters, in the meetings of the "inhabitants,"
vigilantly resisted all attempts in his favor. The church was still
completely under his influence; and, as has been stated in the First
Part, he made use of that body to institute a suit against the people.
The court and magistrates were wholly in his favor, and peremptorily
ordered the appointment, by the people, of a new committee. The
inhabitants complied with the order by the election of a new committee,
but took care to have it composed exclusively of men opposed to Mr.
Parris; and he found himself no better off than before. He concluded
not to employ his church any longer as a principal agent in his lawsuit
against the parish; but used it for another purpose.
After the explosion of the witchcraft delusion, the relations of
parties became entirely changed. The prosecutors at the trials were put
on the defensive, and felt themselves in peril. Parris saw his danger,
and, with characteristic courage and fertility of resources, prepared
to defend himself, and carry the war upon any quarter from which an
attack might be apprehended. He[ii.491] continued, on his own
responsibility, to prosecute, in court, his suit against the parish,
and in his usual trenchant style. As the law then was, a minister, in a
controversy with his parish, had a secure advantage, and absolutely
commanded the situation, if his church were with him. From the time of
his settlement, Parris had shaped his policy on this basis. He had
sought to make his church an impregnable fortress against his
opponents. But, to be impregnable, it was necessary that there should
be no enemies within it. A few disaffected brethren could at any time
demand, and have a claim to, a mutual council; and Mr. Parris knew,
that, before the investigations of such a council, his actions in the
witchcraft prosecutions could not stand. This perhaps suggested his
movements, in August, 1692, against Samuel Nurse, John Tarbell, and
Peter Cloyse. He did not at that time succeed in getting rid of them;
and they remained in the church, and, with the exception of Cloyse, in
the village. They might at any time take the steps that would lead to a
mutual council; and Mr. Parris was determined, at all events, to
prevent that. It was evident that the members of that family would
insist upon satisfaction being given them, in and through the church,
for the wrongs he had done them. Although, in the absence of Cloyse,
but two in number, there was danger that sympathy for them might reach
others of the brethren. Thomas Wilkins, a member in good standing, son
of old Bray Wilkins, and a connection of John Willard, an intelligent
and resolute man, had already joined them. Parris felt that others
might follow, and that whatever could be done to counteract them must
be done quickly. He accordingly initiated proceedings in his church to
rid himself of them, if not by excommunication, at least by getting
them under discipline, so as to prevent the possibility of their
dealing with him.