New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-02-28
TIE HITCH HINT BTCENTENART

There have in recent years been many ami
vcrsaricS more important and commanding moro
general and moro impressive Observance than
that which Tomorrow will receive the attention
of the historically inclined in salem, Danvc~
and other towns Of the Old Bay State Scarcely
any has been Of moro interest As q reminder that
this is after all not such new country aS ""
sometimes think. and that it is really rla |
intimately to medieval Europe, with all It's men
tai and moral darkness. Ono cannot avoid being
somewhat startled at the thought that American
history dates back 50 far ~ 10 include belief IN
sorccry and approval Of the torturc-chambcr n
an adjunct To the court Of justice. But We shall
perhaps more adequately appreciate the growth
America has made IN civilization for thus being
reminded holr far bacl, in ignorance and super
stition it started, two centuries and a half ago.
This is the consideration that naturally presents
itself most conspcuouSly 40 the two-hundrcdth
anniversary Of the commencement OF the salem
,vitchcraft; trials II is useless, and indeed UNI
lust. to dwell upon the tragic events of 1892 AZ
unrivalled in horror, and an indebc dis
grace 10 the Massachusetts colony. Such ideas
have often been put forward by those who love
10 dcfame New England and to revle Puritan
society But the truth Of history countenanccs
no such libcis To hang number Of innocent
and virtuous mon and women as SorccrcrS, come
Of them after subsection to lnqulSitorla t0rments
was certainly bad enough But il was only part
and parcel and a rather light part and parcel.
of what had been done, and was bong done, and
was for many a year thereafter done, by the best
civilized peoples on the globe The Salem colo
nists came from England at time when to disbe-
lievc in sorccry was TO proclaim one sell Sor-
ccrcr and when in the most enlightened conn-
tries Of the Continent men and women and chill
drcn Of tender years were being burned at the
stake by hundreds for alleged wtchcrlft. Natu-
rally. they brought those beliefs hihcr with
them Cast among the indians, with their wild
incantations and pruresScd magic, it would not
have been strange had those beliefs bnn in
tensilied. and the cooniSts more backward in
emancipation from them than the people Of the
old countries.
But what, on the contrary, do we sec? While
all through the seventeenth century the witch
hunts OF Europe rushed on in full cry, in New
England there was only a single outbreak Of the
mania. and that short-vel and speedily p,,cnted
Of in public humiliation. There is no other Ie-
corded fact that speaks more plainly and more
convincngy than that for the SteadinesS of
mind, the libcrality Of view and the general
superiority of character, Of these very Puritans
who have 50 much been rallied against rs fanat-
ical, bigoted and cruel. One docs not look to a
story OF tragic persecution Tor cause OF pride
and yet it j. not eXtIaVagant 10 ray that this
anniversary does not bring more 0f shame than
Of cXultTi0n. The shame Of Salems early cti-
ZcDS il only this that they shared III some de-
gree the ignorance and the superstition Of the
rest of mankind Their pride is this that they
were subject to these base influences less, and