The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-10-31 00:00:00

nerall;

Oct. 27,1921.
Stn—The mantel sacrifice of human lives ma epi-
- rienite and pestilential diseases, 1 have estimated,
upan probable data, at several millions annually.- Of.
each million of persons, who thus perish, in Christian
communities, where alone the belief in contagion, and
the consequent restrictions of plague police, prevail,
nine hundred and fifty thousand, may, upon an aver-
age, be regarded as victims of the consequences of those
barbarous restrictions, and of that absurd belief. To
explain fully the grounds of these conclusions would
be here impossible. They are detailed at length in
try several works upon this subject. The tragical
consequences of the belief in the doctrine of conga-
gion, as they are now passing at Barcelona, are so ap-
paling, that I should think the most infatuated be-
liever cannot imagine any effect of such a power. iflt
roally existed, could be more dreadful or destructive'
to the inhabitants of th it city. if flying in despair,,
from a contagion which has no existence, they escape
the pestilent air, which is the real cause of the ma-
lady, it is only it seems to fall by the bayonets of the I,
soldiers ; or, if they succed in breaking through the'
holy cordon of troop', it is only to perish from hunger
io the woods, or, when unable to defend themselves. to be I
eaten by the wolves ; and if, half famished, they at-
tempt to escape death from etarvation, by deserting the
woods, and dying again to human society, they are
met a sreond time by the bayonets of the soldiers.l
What kind of contagion—what possible virus, if it
existed, and were left to produce its full effect, with
out even the intervention of individual precautions,
cauld be productive of such afflicting calamities? it i
is entirely beyond the reach of my faculties to com-
prehend the existence of such a power, compatible
with the duration of societies. Perhaps the partis ins
df contagion u ill be pleased to demonstrate this com-
patibility. if, then, nothing short of the annihilation of
. human societies could be worse than the consequences of
the/mew:non:pursued, in times of pestilence, to avert
that Mewl ty,u onld it not be a most reasonable thing th at
some measures should be adopted to ascertain the neces-
sity,or utility, or innoxioasness of thew, previous to their
application ? But these mortal precautions have, with
constantly increasing improvement in absurdity and
mischief, been practised by Christian Governments,
for nearly three hundred years, without a single for-
mal enquiry having been instituted into the validity of
the doctrine which is *opposed lo render them inilis-
pensible. It is called " ;rover .in_; " to give men the
option of dying by foul air, iseyonets, or starvation.
The first official enquiry ever instituted into the vali-
dity of this extraordinary doctrine, was rendered
_null by the bad faith and tricks of the parties, and
truth smothered by the extinguisher of authority.
'Thus, the mnrilerona precautions which are now pro-
ducing each havoc in various quarters of the globe,
are still inhumanly persisted in, either because public
authorities have too much pride to acknowledge error,
or an interest in supportin4 delusion. And we con-
tinue to be very gravely informed, that in places where
these maladies do nut appear, the contagion has been
prevented from spreading only by quarantine, lace-
retto., and bayonets. Thus, the intendants of the
public health at Marseilles oracularly assure the Bri-
'tish Consul. that " the very prompt and energetic
measures, which have been adopted at that place,
have removed every reason for apprehension, at the
rery instant when such apprehension might have been
entertained." The French journals also tell us, that
" the precautions adopted by the French authorities,
continue to be rlgoronaly enforced, with salutary ef-
fects;" that is, it is most logic illy inferred. the ex-
istence of contagion, in epidemic diseases, being al-
ways taken for granted, that the contagion is only pre-
vented from ~reading universally, by the interruption
which it experiences from the precautions of plague
police ; and these precautions are, accordingly, now
amongst Christians, almost every where enforced. Pied-
• mont adopts precautions against France; France against
Spain; Leghorn against Batavia, in the East Indies;
the Baltic against the Levant; Britain against Ame-
rica ; aad I will venture to predict that we shall have
the fever of Spain, when we are favoured with the of-
ficial reports upon the subject, iaspartea from a greet
variety of foreign places. as well as of local or domes-
tic origin ; and probably also, as the offapring of sponta-
weeper generation, according to the views of the investi-
.gators respectively. The versions of the doctrine of con-
tagion, like all matter, of faith., are numerous or ra-
ther innumerable : they all, however, agree in one
point, that the suspension of human, intercourse tan.
not be too rigorously enforced., When the chief of
the Holy Alliance shall becomelnaster ut that portion
of the Ottoman empire, for which he has to long
been yearniag. what additional happiness may we
not anticipate for Turkey. in the enjoyment of qua-
reutine and lazarettos throoghout the towns of the Le-
vant ? And how strange will it then appear tie
that the population of these towns shanld have here
fore survived so many peitlience.i. notwithstanding
absence of these precantioua ? The Mahommedaa phi-
losophers have been too little • serial ever to have be.
come contagionisto.
I have. within these few days. received a pulidica-I
tioo. which has been transmitted 4 me by the author,'
from Bengal. in whiCh he treatsof the epidemic. which
ravaged India in 1817 and Itild, under the title of
Cholera Minims. In that Work it is stated. that is
these years, two millions of persons most have fallen
victims to that malady:. Yet it wea'Oot generally isn-
pelted to the contagion even by As faculty, nor were.,
any preeaatioas agaiait each a cans. 'resorted- to in
any official form. Aa attempt. Indeed. was mask• to
iatrodace that belief. with all its terrors. into the die.

that, bad the
Alia of, Ale poi
introduced, wherever.the. Cholira Mob'

jelled, for. sissy bunrise4l -theuesett.- time pew...,
twenty hundred thousand would have died. And
then, instead of attributing the pritkciel part of
_this
istribli Mort&Tifk to its propsr source, the many .pre-
cautions adopted to preventit, it would have been con-
fidently asserted, that, but fur these precautions, the
mortality would have been still greater—with such
ease do the partisans of contagion accommodate their
doctrine to every occurrence.
CiWES NIACLEAI4.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STA'TESMAS.

Sett—Tire commerce of Great Britain cannot be regu-
lated by a restrictive policy without effectually checking
enterprise, and giving to ether nations tit/ increased
means of forestalling us in some of the most important
branches of our trade. Our knowledge, our enterprise,'
and our vast capital, put us in the possession of advan-
tages which, if directed upon a liberal and wise system,
would secure to us the superiority in every part of the
habitable globe. Misguided policy at home, the
surly indifference, even insolence, which enterprise
meets with at every step from the guardia'ns of oar
Revenue ; the encouragement of unwise monopolies,
the multiplied enactments adapted to a limited com-
merce in remote times, and now applied, wilt modern
additions, to its present extended state, impose difficul-
ties which embarrass the shrewdest merchant, and render
commercial pursuits subject to hazards and vicissitudes
numerous beyond any former precedent. Nor is the
scale of dirties applied to imports calculated to encourage
or extend barter, the parent of legitimate commerce.—
The interchange of the talents and industry of one
country with another, ought nut to be fettered by any
regulations in the present age, which had their origin
in days of ignorance, or in times of hostility. Nor can
it be expected that the bolstering system of patching
up a Revenue, to make a quarterly !thew for the time
being, is to last much longer; its ruinous effects become
alarmingly apparent, and the continuance cannot fail
to impart to our colonies and dependencies the same
misery which exists at home. Viewing our commercial
relation' with other nations, I can discover no branch
of our trade that can be declared in a flourishing con
dition; but on the contrary, perceive a tontinually in-
creasing diminution. The measures we unfortunately
adopt seem calculated to banish trade from the kingdom
rapidly. Why, I may ask, do we persevere in destroy-
ing our warehousing system, and look tamely upon the
indefatigable efforts of our continental neighbours to
build so tine a structure as this at our expense? The
oppressive laws enacted fur the protection of our Reve-
nue, and perpetually enforced in a spirit beyond even
their strict intentirpa, check the ardour of the merchant,
who never call consider himself disengsfed from the
penalty of his bonds. The immense charm for landing
and warehousing, encouraged by Doak atisiofolins. dello'
,
away from us this one of the most Wise branches of
our commerce. The proprietors of cargoes brought for
British as well as foreign account to * port in the Chan-
nel, for orders to proceed to a market, are sent, almost
invariably, to the continent, where they can be dis-
charged free from penal liabilities ; free also from the
indiscreet acts of a corrupt band of Revenue Officers,
(who here would seize a straw, and be sure to be award-
ed a handsome satisfaction for their vigilance,) and are
then housed at ar: trivial expense. Thus are we de-
prived of a vast.transit trade. By giving the utmost
latitude and encouragement to our import trade, excit-
ing a free competition amongst our backs and Ware-
houses, and adopting a milder and more respectful sys-
tem of treating our occasional visitors, we.might expect
to regain a very large proportion of our warehousing,
and, consequently, transient trade. Lint we may look
for this in vain ; nothing is attended to, but what is re-
commended by Officers of the Revenue. To alter and
amend the beautiful practice now adopted in our ware-
housing or bonding system, would lint a check to their
rapacity. Like rats, they must be fed, and finding this
numerous family of independent spirits affected let rob.
bing or ruining the fair trader or merchant, err Ors of
every description are regarded as frauds. So vigilantly
le they pursued that the practice of the Solicitits to
tle Revise is said to exceed 50,000/. annually. The
complete developement of the practices resoited to in this
.
branch is practicable, and when enforced lilt convey the
perfect meaning of what the laws of thelgaisury term
their " hearty commendation.," and skew that many
thousands are annually wrung from the trading commu-
nity, upon the most frivolous pretexts, for the avowed
purpose of protecting the revenue, but the real one of en-
riching a sordid mass of imps of patronage. The *buil-
dsw of all fines to siezinf officers would relieve the mer-
cantile community from runt% devolution, 1106- bum•
merable impediments; while the revedne'wonid derive
an increase mitred of a diminution, and oni country
be relieved from the baneful effects of' such disgusting
practieea.

Oct. 29. IS2I •

Alw.

RODEur
COPT. .
Delnmere House. orthwi
Oct..2lth. 11321.

the 25th instant, I am convinced. that
ime may be laid to the charge of Sir Robert
Wilson, the siontlnct of his Majesty's Government haw
been unjust and arbitrary in the extreme, in inillicting so
severe a punishment without allowing him the means of
exculpation. I conceive it to be the duty of every Eng.'
Tishman who values his civil rights, and especially of
every officer, whose Commission is purchased under the
sanction of the Commander.in-Chief, and who ought not
to hold his means of subsistence by so precarious a tenure
as is implied by the late violent measui4, to protest
against it as a most dangerous exercise of the King',
prerogative. I inclose a Bank-note of 201. which I beg '
you will have the goodness to add to the Subscription.
My motive in sending this trifle, is not so much with the
view of indemnifying the (Janata General for the pecu-
niary loss he has sustained, as to join with others in
expressing my decided indignation at the iniquitous pit o
ceedings of the Government.
I have the honour to be,
Sir, your most bumble obedient Servant,
GEORGE WII.RRAHAM.
Robt. Hall, Esq. Secretary, Re.. Three Tuns, Southwark

.eittai OF STOCIiS TH
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DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK.
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BIOS WATER AT LONDON-RRIDGE TO-MORROW.
Morning 41 mia. after b.—Evening 12 min after O.

16.

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;
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THE PI.AGUIi OF PESTILENCE, • FortojitibtpitAiVed. Net
'IIE LONDON COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, AND .t t M e ns, asalbitillerto been •e t
THE CITY OF BARCELONA.• . ar
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N eery moth exaggerated. But, whatever it was, fees
TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE STATESMAN.
... perftitly confident, that, bad lie doettint of contagion
...a...irivla
.
• LETTER Iv. " lad this niiiiriarapliernalia of; plague police, been ite- The lilies of
_ -.. ....-,1 __II.. :—...—.lw—A ..1......w.ti55t Chalks fifotbns Ore- ivhsteeee erim