BUT I shall pursue this Point no farther: the rather because a very learned Physician among themselves has since, both by strong Reasoning and undeniable Instances, evinced the Reality of =Contagion=[11].
IN a word, the more I consider this Matter, the more I am convinced that the Precepts I have delivered, both with regard to the Preventing the Plague from coming into a Country, and the Treatment of it when present, are perfectly suitable to the Nature of the Distemper, and consequently the fittest to be complied with. But how far, in every Situation of Affairs, it is expedient to grant the =Powers=, requisite for putting all of them in Practice, it is not my proper Business, as a Physician, to determine. No doubt, but at all Times, these =Powers= ought to be so limited and restrained, that they may never endanger the Rights and Liberties of a People. Indeed, as I have had no other View than the Publick Good in this my Undertaking, and the Satisfaction of doing somewhat towards the Relief of Mankind, under the greatest of Calamities; so I should not, without the utmost Concern, see that any Thing of mine gave the least Countenance to Cruelty and Oppression.
BUT I must confess, I find no Reason for any Apprehensions of this kind, from any thing I have advanced. For what extraordinary Danger can there be, in lodging =Powers= for the proper Management of People under the Plague, with a =Council of Health=, or other Magistrates, who shall be accountable, like all other Civil Officers, for their just Behaviour in the Execution of them? Though this I must leave to those, who are better skilled in the Nature of Government. But sure I am, that by the Rules here given, both the =Sick= will be provided for with more Humanity, and the Country more effectually defended against the Progress of the Disease, than by any of the Methods heretofore generally put in Practice, either in our own, or in other Nations.
THE Usage among =Us=, established by =Act of Parliament=, of =Imprisoning= in their Houses every Family the =Plague= seizes on, without allowing any one to pass in or out, but such as are appointed by Authority, to perform the necessary Offices about the Sick, is certainly the severest Treatment imaginable; as it exposes the whole Family to suffer by the same Disease; and consequently is little less than assigning them over to the cruellest of Deaths: As I have shewn in the Discourse.
