The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1881-03-30
Execution Of Quakers on Boston Com.
mon In the Seventeenth Century.

mon in the Seventeenth Century.
Somewhere beneath the soil Of Boston
Common Lie the ashes OF four so.called
Quakers--three men and one woman-
who were cast into their rude graves af-
ter they had been executed on the gal
lows, between the years 1853 and 1901.
This deoth.penalty was the elimination
Of the successive infections to which
Puritan Legislators yainly had recourse
10 be rid Of an intolerable plague. u
was denounced upon such as, returning
afourth time after punishment aud ban
ishment, refused, even when on the gal.
lows, TO keep their lives on condition
that they would not again obtrude them
selves where they were 50 unwclcome.
Their refusal to comply with this condi.
ton convinced the magistrates, who
desired their lives absent rather
than their deaths present" that "thcy
courted death and thrust themselves
upon il.
Some readers may iud relief in the
fact that, even after the long trlul Of the
patience OF the magistrates, the iniItc-
ton Of the dc0,h-pnIMty was Effected
only by the vote Of bare majority Of
the court, and was most ycHcmgutly OPP
posed by earnest circumstances from
some OF the best people. Om historian,
Hutchinson, rightly balances ." the
strange delu-ion the QUakers were under
IN counting persecution, and the inn
prudence Of the authorities in crafty
ing this humor as far ~ 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 50 aduIira-
bly, qualified for testing their issues by
disputation and the tongue. Richard
Baxter foiled tho weapon Of one very
persistent Quaker, who had been argl.
ing that all men were illmined by the
inner hight by asking the question, of
HIl have it, why may not ! have it -,
What would have been the final work
ing out Of tho pitched conflict between
Quaker contumacy and Puritan persist
cncy had they been left TO the action Of
their own energies, without tle inter
vention Of an external mediating agency
1T would hardly have been difficult fDI
any but the most rcsOIutc and stern Of
the magistrates TO have forecast The
Quakers would have conquered by SIM
pie endurance. Their weapons were
what in the Immediate future were to DE
recognized as vital and effective truths.
But one Of the sufferers having gone 10
England and gained access to Charles
H., brought back from the monarch Il
peremptOry command that the death
penalty against the Quakcrs should be
no more inflicted, and that those who
were under judgment or inprisou should
be sent 10 England for triad.
The Kings interference with the stern
rule Of the Puritan commonwealth also
involved .Le immediate removal of the
restriction Of the franchise to church
members, and its extension 10 ull citi-
Hens who were in other respects entitled
TO it The court, however, managed to
eyade the concession hero required Of
them by substituting conditions which
substantially retained the rigid method
OF securing tho ballot On this point -
tho vital and all-cssential security of
tioh WISilhl D'llII -lltf htlb soon
compelled 10 yield, because the royal
mandate was reinforced by 30 strong
party of the uncoyenanted non-voters
within the colony insisting upon thor
rights
Not till the provincial was substituted
for the colonial charter was the spell Of
the Puritan domination efoctually
broken and then the Puritan common
wealth was Frustrated. Tho survival
from it in tradition, in influence, in the
sway Of manifold habits and customs
md In the lessons OF childhood retaining
their power over those who lived to ad-
yanced age, perpetuated very much Of
its austero and characteristic qualities
in this community. Nor even in these
days, among tho mixed and diversified
clements of our population aud nil the
relaxing and lberalizing results OF the
most radical social change, is tho hre in
the ashes of Puritanism wholly cxtin-
guished. --GCOrge n. HLiis