and will, in all coming ages, render the name of Salem notable
throughout the world. Wherever the place we live in is mentioned, this
memorable transaction will be found associated with it; and those who
know nothing else of our history or our character will be sure to
know, and tauntingly to inform us that they know, that we hanged the
witches.

It is surely incumbent upon us to possess ourselves of correct and
just views of a transaction thus indissolubly connected with the
reputation of our home, with the memory of our fathers, and, of
course, with the most precious part of the inheritance of our
children. I am apprehensive that the community is very superficially
acquainted with this transaction. All have heard of the Salem
witchcraft; hardly any are aware of the real character of that event.
Its mention creates a smile of astonishment, and perhaps a sneer of
contempt, or, it may be, a thrill of horror for the innocent who
suffered; but there is reason to fear, that it fails to suggest those
reflections, and impart that salutary instruction, without which the
design of Providence in permitting it to take place cannot be
accomplished. There are, indeed, few passages in the history of any
people to be compared with it in all that constitutes the pitiable and
tragical, the mysterious and awful. The student of human nature will
contemplate in its scenes one of the most remarkable developments
which that nature ever assumed; while the moralist, the statesman, and
the Christian philosopher will severally find that it opens widely
before them a field fruitful in instruction.

Our ancestors have been visited with unmeasured reproach for their
conduct on the occasion. Sad, indeed, was the delusion that came over
them, and shocking the extent to which their bewildered imaginations