Indeed, Parris and his coadjutors, at Salem Village, to whom these passages refer, had, without authority, been, all along, exercising the functions Mather desired to have bestowed upon him, by authority. They had kept a controlling communication with the "afflicted children;" determined who were to be cried out publicly against, and when; rebuked and repressed the calling out, by name, of the Rev. Samuel Willard and many other persons, of both sexes, of "quality," in Boston; and arranged and managed matters, generally.
The conjecture I have ventured to make, as to Mather's plan of procedure, explains, as the reader will perceive, by turning back to the Minister's _Advice_, [_Pages 21, 22, ante_] much of the phraseology of that curious document. "Very critical and exquisite caution," in the _third_ Section; "that all proceedings thereabout be managed with an exceeding tenderness towards those that may be complained of," in the _fourth_; "we could wish that there may be admitted as little as possible of such noise, company and openness, as may too hastily expose them that are examined," in the _fifth_; and the entire _seventh_ Section, expressly authorize the suppression, disregard, and _disbelief_, of _some_ of the Devil's accusations, on the grounds of expediency and public policy.
Mather's necessary absence from the Court, at its first Session, prevented his "skill and care" being availed of, or any attempt being made to bring forward his plan. The proceedings, having thus commenced in an ordinary way, were continued at the several adjournments of the Court; and his experiment was never made.
The fallacy of his ideas and the impracticability of his scheme must, indeed, have become evident, at the first moment it was brought under consideration. Inexperienced and blinded, as they were, by the delusions of the time and the excitements of the scene, and disposed, as they must have been, by all considerations, to comply with his wishes, the Judges had sense enough left to see that it would never do to take the course he desired. The trials could not, in that event, have gone on at all. The very first step would have been to abrogate their own functions as a Court; pass the accusers and accused over to his hands; and adjourn to wait his call. If the spectre evidence had been excluded from the "noise, confusion and openness" of the public Court-room, there would have been nothing left to go upon. If it had been admitted, under any conditions or limitations, merely to disclose matter of "presumption," a fatal difficulty would meet the first step of the enquiry. To the question, "Who hurts you?" no answer could be allowed to be given; and the "_Minister_," to whom the witness had confidentially given the names of persons whose spectres had tormented her, sitting, perhaps, in the Court-room at the time, would have to countenance the suppression of the evidence, and not be liable to be called to the stand to divulge his knowledge.