in the record of the Council. The fact that Parris chiefly
depended upon the Church at North Boston, of which Cotton Mather was
Pastor, to sustain his cause, in a Council, whose whole business was to
pass upon his conduct in witchcraft prosecutions, is quite decisive.
That Church was named by him, from the first to the last, and neither of
the other Boston Churches. It shows that he turned to Cotton Mather,
more than to any other Minister, to be his champion.

It is further decisively proved that the reaction had become strong
among the Ministers, by the unusual steps they took to prevent that
Council being under the sway of such men as Cotton Mather and Torrey,
thereby prolonging the mischief. A meeting of the "Reverend Elders of
the Bay" was held; and Mr. Parris was given to understand that, in their
judgment, the Churches of Messrs. Allen and Willard ought also to be
invited. He bitterly resented this, and saw that it sealed his fate; but
felt the necessity of yielding to it. The addition of those two
Churches, with their Pastors, determined the character and result of the
Council, and gave new strength to the aggrieved brethren, who soon
succeeded in compelling Parris and his friends to agree to submit the
whole matter to the arbitration of three men, mutually chosen, whose
decision should be final.

The umpire selected in behalf of the opponents of Parris was no other
than Elisha Cook, the head of the party arrayed against Mather. Wait
Winthrop appears to have been selected by Parris; and Samuel Sewall was
mutually agreed upon. Two of the three, who thus passed final judgment
against the proceedings at the Salem Trials, sat on the Bench of the
Special Court of Oyer and Terminer. The case of the aggrieved brethren
was presented to the Arbitrators in a document, signed by four men, as
"Attorneys of the people of the Village," each one of whom had been
struck at, in the time of the prosecutions. It _exclusively_ refers to
Mr. Parris's conduct, in the witchcraft prosecutions; to "his believing
the Devil's accusations;" and to his going to the accusing girls, to
know of them "who afflicted" them. For these reasons, and these alone,
they "submit the whole" to the decision of the Arbitrators, concluding
thus: "to determine whether we are, or ought to be, any ways obliged to
honor, respect, and support such an instrument of our miseries." The
Arbitrators decided that they _ought not_; fixed the sum to be paid to
Parris,