The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-06-02
EXECUTION OF QUAKERs ON BOs-.
TON COMMON IN THE SEVEN
TENTH CENTURY.

Somewhere beneath the soil OF Boston
Common lie the ashes of four so.called
Q lakers-three men and one woman
who were cast into their rude graves
after they had been executed on the gal.
lows, between the years 1859 1851.
This death penalty was the elimination
Of successive infiCtion to which Puritan
legislators vainly had recourse to be rid
of an intloerable plague. 1t was de-
nounced upon such as, returning fourth
time after punishment and banishment,
refused, even when on the gallows TO
keep their lives on condition that they
would rot again obtrude themselves
where they we're 30 unwelcome. Their
refusal to comply with this condition
convinced the magistrates, who desired
their lives absent rather than their
deaths present." that "they Courted
death and thrust Themselves upon it,"
Sore readers may fnd relief in the
fact that, even after the long trial of the
patience of the magistrates, the infiction
Of the death-penalty was effected only
by the vote of bare majority of the
court, and was most vehementy opposed
by earnest remonstranCes from some Of
the best people. Our historian, Hutch
inson, rightly balances "the strange de-
lusion the @ lakers were under in court
ing persecution, and the imprudence Of
the authorities in gratifying this humor
as far as their utmost wishes could carry
them" One may all the more regret
the heady temper, the rancor, and the
violence shown on either side because
the parties were 30 admirably qualified
for testing their issues by disputation
and the tongue. Richard Baxter foiled
the weapon of one very persistent @ lak-
or, who had been argu ng that all men
were illuminated by the inner light, by
asking the question, "If all have it, why
may not have it2"
What would have been the final work.
ing out OF the pitched conflict between
Quaker contumaCy and Puritan persist
enCy had they been left to the action of
their own energies, without the inter-
v9ntion of an external mediating agen-
Cy, 1t would hardly have been difficult
for any but the most resolute and stern
Of magistrates to have forecast. Tne
/ Qlakers would Lave conquered by sim.
| pie endurance. Their weapons were
what in the immediate future were to be
recognized as vital and effective truths.
But one OF the sufferers having gone to
England and gained access to Charles
II. brought back from the monarch per-
emptory command that the death penal
ty against the @ lakers should be no
more inflicted, and that those who were
under Judgment or in prison should be
sent to England for trial.
The Kings interference with the stern
rule of the Puritan commonwealth also
involved the immediate removal of the
restriction of the franchise to church
members, and it's extension to all Citi.
zens who were in other respects entitled
to it. The court, however, managed to
evade the concession here required of
them by substituting conditions which
substantially retained the rigid method
of securing the ballot. Ole point-the
vital and all essential security of their
original polity-they wers soon compell-
ed to yield, because the royal mandate
was reinforced by so strong party Of
the uncovenanted non.voters within the
colony insisting upon their rights.
Not till the provincial was substituted
for the colonial charter was the upell Of
the Puritan domination effeCtually bro
ken; and then the Puritan common
wealth was prostrated. The survival
from it in tradition, in inhueuoe, in tha
sway of manifold habits and customs,
and in the lessons of childhood retain
ing their power over those who lived to-
advanced age, perpetuated very much of
its austere and characteristic qualities in
this community. Nor even in theas
days, among the mixed and diversified
elements of our population, and all the
relaxing and liberalizing results of the
most radical social change, is the fire in
the ashes of Puritanism wholly extin--
guished,-LGeorge E. Ellis.