It would appear that in
proportion as the law was harsh and severe, so was the Gitano bold
and secure. The fiercest of these laws was the one of Philip the
Fifth, passed in the year 1745, which commands that the refractory
Gitanos be hunted down with fire and sword; that it was quite
inefficient is satisfactorily proved by its being twice reiterated,
once in the year '46, and again in '49, which would scarcely have
been deemed necessary had it quelled the Gitanos. This law, with
some unimportant modifications, continued in force till the year
'83, when the famous edict of Carlos Tercero superseded it. Will
any feel disposed to doubt that the preceding laws had served to
foster what they were intended to suppress, when we state the
remarkable fact, that since the enactment of that law, as humane as
the others were unjust, WE HAVE HEARD NOTHING MORE OF THE GITANOS
FROM OFFICIAL QUARTERS; THEY HAVE CEASED TO PLAY A DISTINCT PART IN
THE HISTORY OF SPAIN; AND THE LAW NO LONGER SPEAKS OF THEM AS A
DISTINCT PEOPLE? The caste of the Gitano still exists, but it is
neither so extensive nor so formidable as a century ago, when the
law in denouncing Gitanismo proposed to the Gitanos the
alternatives of death for persisting in their profession, or
slavery for abandoning it.
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