New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-06-13

arofivev Speaking IL is but short tlme sihce III
Europe believed as firmly In witchcrait as III 'ho
succession of the seasons, and New-Engand was
for six months as fully under the spell as England
IN the time Of Matthew Hopkins, France wn'ie
podin aourished, or Germany duringthe terrible
dominance Of Sprenger the dreaded lnquisitor anu
author of the MallOus Malefcarum.
Speaking of the latter work, which constitutes
,be most elaborate manual Of wtchcraft extant
T. is strange that it has never been translated INTO
English It could not, indeed, be translated litcr-
ollv and fully but probably three-fifths of 1T might
no used and it is perfect treasure-house OF
medieval superstition and fantastic doctrine
Sprenger, while responsible for thousands OF muir
ders. was conscientious and sincere, which cannon
be said OF Matthew Hopkins, the English WITCH
Gnder,p for he was coldblooded impostor. But
when one reflects upon the extent to which the
belief in w1tchcraft was held in Europe from the
Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Centuries, and the
amount of wrong perpetrated through that pehei
in entire honesty of purpose, it is not possible 10
deal very severely with the single spasm OF delir
ium which afflicted young New-England and cut so
bloody swath through the Salem community.
In all that period OF frenzy and panic but twenty
lives were sacrificed. Familiarity with all the
details Of the tragedy with the piteous case OF the
Rev. Mr. Burroughs, with the awful scene oil TILES
Carys cruel death, with the noble death speech Oh
Door Martha Cary, with the erudite infatuation oil
Cotton and Increase Mather, md all the ramifica-
tons of the psychological epidemic, tends to mag
nfv the Importance and the horror Of the delusion
But New-England was far less cruel, even in her
madness, than the Old World in dealing with
witchcraft. All the Salem victims save one died
ON the gallows Giles Cary was pressed to death
1 ha
not obtain Justice from Salem jury at that time
Salem juries repentcd presently in saekcloth and
ashes, and they have left u solemn memorial for all
time in the form Of confession Of their hallucina-
ton which can hardly be read even now without
emotion. When men like the Mathers famed the
fires of persecution; when books hike the Won
ders from the Invisible World" reinforced the
worst superstitions of the time; when tue wild
utterances of historical girls adduced as proof
positive of guilt and gravely commended to the
perplexed jurors by learned judges, how shall the
smple-mnded citizens escape error? On the other
side of the Atlantic the supposed duty OF Church
and State was carried out with far more ferocty.
There the stake famed and the rack mangled the
accused There the victims, when not burned
were often ESPECIALLY in Scotland) drowned by
being tied to stones placed the shore just below
highwater mark. This last was O refinement OF
cruelty dreadful to think OF now, but reverend
divines with their pious congregations stood ana
watched the long agony OF the doomed without
oualm Once and again such tragedy as that IN
Peru still occurs TO remind how slowly superstl-
tion dies and how hard. But the lessons OF the
past are Of little significance II in tracing the
errors and wrongdoings OF our predecessors we 90
not fully realize the conscientiousness which moved
them and fail to perceive how directly their action
proceeded upon the beliefs which they held.