Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1832-06-26

act of tho 25th OF Edward Ill, known by tho |
name of the Statute of Labourcrs; which, on &C |
count of "thc insolcnce OF servants, who cndco-
vorcd to raise their wages upon their masters" or
daincd that they should be contentcd with the same
wages and livercs which they had been accustom
cd 10 receive in the goth year of the king In spite
of his statute high wages continued to be given
by people who preferred doing to losing the
grain and other fruits of the EARTH till Edward
forced obedience TO it by severe measures both
against masters and labourcrs. The enforcement
of this statute is said by old writer's to have pre-
vented famine from raging in England, similar
to the which afflicted the other countries that
had undergone the visitation of the pcstilcncc.
How far it could have produced sautary an CT
feet, however, may well be questioned.
The last drcga of this calamity were drained by
that unfortunate race, the Jews. A belief spread
over several countries that they had produced the
pestllence by poisoning the wells and fountains;
and, IN many places they were massacrcd in thou
sands by the niuriatcd populacc. In several parts
of Germany, where this persecution chiefly ragged,
the Jews were literally cXterminatcd. Twelve
thousand of them were murdered in the Jingle city
OF Mentz; and multitudcs of them, IN the extremi-
W oil their despair, shut themselves up in their
houses, and consumed themselves, and their fami-
lies and property, with fire. The extent OF such
atrocities, III barbarous age, may well be lima GIN
ed, when we remember the outrages which were
produced by the cholera panic, only few months
ago, in some parts of the continent.
Though the postence ceased in England in
l3l9, yet the destroying angel continued his pro-
gress through other regions for several years lon
GER marks of his presence remaining on record
down to the year 1862. The world has suffered
no similar visitation snce does its older hsto-
ry afford any ins auco of calamity of the same
kind, equally extensive and destructive. Even the
pcstience, so eloquently described by Gibbon,
which ravagod a great part of the Roman empire,
seems to have been inferior in magntude; and the
famous plague OF Athens, was confined within a
still narrower compass. In almost every momora-
bic instance of the plague, it has been limited to
particular district, even particular city.
Our present object has been merely to collect
some circumstances of the history of this most re-
narkable event, and not to enter into the qucs-
ton of tho theory of pestilencc. We may howe.
yer, observe, that not only was the great plague
OF which we have been speaking, preceded and
accompanied by disorders of the elements tend
ing to produce general corruption of the atmos-
phcre' but the very same phenomena recorded
IN the other cases where the plague extended it
self over various regions. In those eastern coun-
trcs too, where the plague is founded to prevail al
most constantly, it always at times and pla-
ces where the atmosphere is corrupted, either by
physical causes or by the shockngly filthy habits
OF the inhabitants, or by both together. That u
corrupted state of the atmosphere, therefore, is
! cause OF the plague, cannot be doubtcd and it is
question whethc, To this certain cause, it is ne
ccssary to join the additional cause of contagion.
AS the ascertaincd cause suflces to account for
every fact connected with the disease, we confess
we do not see the necessity for having to
two separate causes for tho same effect. And it
Is a strong circumstance, that in those countries
where the disease is most fainarly known, little
fear is entertained of contagion. 1.-The more intel
lIgent among the Turks" says a recent writer on
this subject, ''seem to be aware that the parue is
not contagious; and we assured that they do
not destroy the bedding clothes of those who lie
| oil the dstcmpcr, but often Immediately put them
on and wear them, without any i'll effects or the
smallest apprehension from contagon"