CHAPTER II.
THE SALEM WITCHES.
"You recollect, my dear children," said Grandfather, "that we took leave
of the chair in 1692, while it was occupied by Sir William Phips. This
fortunate treasure-seeker, you will remember, had come over from
England, with King William's commission, to be governor of
Massachusetts. Within the limits of this province were now included the
old colony of Plymouth, and the territories of Maine and Nova Scotia.
Sir William Phips had likewise brought a new charter from the king,
which served instead of a constitution, and set forth the method in
which the province was to be governed."
"Did the new charter allow the people all their former liberties?"
inquired Laurence.
"No," replied Grandfather. "Under the first charter, the people had been
the source of all power. Winthrop, Endicott, Bradstreet, and the rest of
them had been governors by the choice of the people, without any
interference of the king. But henceforth the governor was to hold his
station solely by the king's appointment and during his pleasure; and
the same was the case with the lieutenant-governor and some other high
officers. The people, however, were still allowed to choose
representatives; and the governor's council was chosen by the General
Court."
"Would the inhabitants have elected Sir William Phips," asked Laurence,
"if the choice of governor had been left to them?"
"He might probably have been a successful candidate," answered
Grandfather; "for his adventures and military enterprises had gained him
a sort of renown, which always goes a great way with the people. And he
had many popular characteristics,--being a kind warm-hearted man, not
ashamed of his low origin nor haughty in his present elevation. Soon
after his arrival, he proved that he did not blush to recognize his
former associates."
"How was that?" inquired Charley.
"He made a grand festival at his new brick house,” said Grandfather,
"and invited all the ship-carpenters of Boston to be his guests. At the
head of the table, in our great chair, sat Sir William Phips himself,
treating these hard-handed men as his brethren, cracking jokes with
them, and talking familiarly about old times. I know not whether he wore
his embroidered dress; but I rather choose to imagine that he had on a
suit of rough clothes, such as he used to labor in while he was Phips
the ship-carpenter."
"An aristocrat need not be ashamed of the trade," observed Laurence;
"for the Czar Peter the Great once served an apprenticeship to it."
"Did Sir William Phips make as good a governor as he was a ship-
carpenter?" asked Charley.
"History says but little about his merits as a ship-carpenter," answered
Grandfather; " but, as a governor, a great deal of fault was found with
him. Almost as soon as he assumed the government, he became engaged in a
very frightful business, which might have perplexed a wiser and better
cultivated head than his. This was the witchcraft delusion."
And here Grandfather gave his auditors such details of this melancholy
affair as he thought it fit for them to know. They shuddered to hear
that a frenzy, which led to the death of many innocent persons, had
originated in the wicked arts of a few children. They belonged to the
Rev. Mr. Parris, minister of Salem. These children complained of being
pinched and pricked with pins, and otherwise tormented by the shapes of
men and women, who were supposed to have power to haunt them invisibly,
both in darkness and daylight. Often in the midst of their family and
friends the children would pretend to be seized with strange
convulsions, and would cry out that the witches were afflicting them.
These stories spread abroad, and caused great tumult and alarm. From the
foundation of New England, it had been the custom of the inhabitants, in
all matters of doubt and difficulty, to look to their ministers for
counsel. So they did now; but, unfortunately, the ministers and wise men
were more deluded than the illiterate people. Cotton Mather, a very
learned and eminent clergyman, believed that the whole country was full
of witches and wizards, who had given up their hopes of heaven, and
signed a covenant with the evil one.
Nobody could be certain that his nearest neighbor or most intimate
friend was not guilty of this imaginary crime. The number of those who
pretended to be afflicted by witchcraft grew daily more numerous; and
they bore testimony against many of the best and worthiest people. A
minister, named George Burroughs, was among the accused. In the months
of August and September, 1692, he and nineteen other innocent men and
women were put to death. The place of execution was a high hill, on the
outskirts of Salem; so that many of the sufferers, as they stood beneath
the gallows, could discern their own habitations in the town.
The martyrdom of these guiltless persons seemed only to increase the
madness. The afflicted now grew bolder in their accusations. Many people
of rank and wealth were either thrown into prison or compelled to flee
for their lives. Among these were two sons of .old Simon Bradstreet, the
last of the Puritan governors. Mr. Willard, a pious minister of Boston,
was cried out upon as a wizard in open court. Mrs. Hale, the wife of the
minister of Beverly, was likewise accused. Philip English, a rich
merchant of Salem, found it necessary to take flight, leaving his
property and business in confusion. But a short time afterwards, the
Salem people were glad to invite him back.
"The boldest thing that the accusers did," continued Grandfather, "was
to cry out against the governor's own beloved wife. Yes, the lady of Sir
William Phips was accused of being a witch and of flying through the air
to attend witch-meetings. When the governor heard this he probably
trembled, so that our great chair shook beneath him."
"Dear Grandfather," cried little Alice, clinging closer to his knee, "is
it true that witches ever come in the night-time to frighten little
children?"
"No, no, dear little Alice," replied Grandfather. "Even if there were
any witches, they would flee away from the presence of a pure-hearted
child. But there are none; and our forefathers soon became convinced
that they had been led into a terrible delusion. All the prisoners on
account of witchcraft were set free. But the innocent dead could not be
restored to life and the hill where they were executed will always
remind people of the saddest and most humiliating passage in our
history."
Grandfather then said that the next remarkable event, while Sir William
Phips remained in the chair, was the arrival at Boston of an English
fleet in 1698. It brought an army which was intended for the conquest of
Canada. But a malignant disease, more fatal than the smallpox, broke out
among the soldiers and sailors, and destroyed the greater part of them.
The infection spread into the town of Boston, and made much havoc there.
This dreadful sickness caused the governor and Sir Francis Wheeler, who
was commander of the British forces, to give up all thoughts of
attacking Canada.
"Soon after this," said Grandfather, "Sir William Phips quarrelled with
the captain of an English frigate, and also with the collector of
Boston. Being a man of violent temper, he gave each of them a sound
beating with his cane."
"He was a bold fellow," observed Charley, who was himself somewhat
addicted to a similar mode or settling disputes.
"More bold than wise," replied Grandfather; "for complaints were carried
to the king, and Sir William Phips was summoned to England to make the
best answer he could. Accordingly he went to London, where, in 1695, he
was seized with a malignant fever, of which he died. Had he lived
longer, he would probably have gone again in search of sunken treasure.
He had heard of a Spanish ship, which was cast away in 1502, during the
lifetime of Columbus. Bovadilla, Roldan, and many other Spaniards were
lost in her, together with the immense wealth of which they had robbed
the South American kings."
"Why, Grandfather!" exclaimed Laurence, "what magnificent ideas the
governor had! Only think of recovering all that old treasure which had
lain almost two centuries under the sea! Methinks Sir William Phips
ought to have been buried in the ocean when he died, so that he might
have gone down among the sunken ships and cargoes of treasure which he
was always dreaming about in his lifetime."
"He was buried in one of the crowded cemeteries of London," said
Grandfather. "As he left no children, his estate was inherited by his
nephew, from whom is descended the present Marquis of Normandy. The
noble Marquis is not aware, perhaps, that the prosperity of his family
originated in the successful enterprise of a New England ship-
carpenter."
