They
are moreover forbidden, under the same penalty, to have anything to
do with the buying or selling of cattle, whether great or small.
The most curious portion of the above law is the passage in which
these people are declared not to be Gypsies by nation. If they are
not Gypsies, who are they then? Spaniards? If so, what right had
the King of Spain to send the refuse of his subjects abroad, to
corrupt other lands, over which he had no jurisdiction?
The Moors were sent back to Africa, under some colour of justice,
as they came originally from that part of the world; but what would
have been said to such a measure, if the edict which banished them
had declared that they were not Moors, but Spaniards?
The law, moreover, in stating that they are not Gypsies by nation,
seems to have forgotten that in that case it would be impossible to
distinguish them from other Spaniards, so soon as they should have
dropped the name, language, and dress of Gypsies. How, provided
they were like other Spaniards, and did not carry the mark of
another nation on their countenances, could it be known whether or
not they obeyed the law, which commanded them to live only in
populous towns or villages, or how could they be detected in the
buying or selling of cattle, which the law forbids them under pain
of death?
The attempt to abolish the Gypsy name and manner of life might have
been made without the assertion of a palpable absurdity.
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