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storm. The ſtench that aroſe from the putrefaction of the dead bodies, which remained for many weeks without interment (and to numbers of which the rites of burial could not be adminiſtered), occaſioned a kind of peſtilence, that ſwept away a great proportion of thoſe who had providentially eſcaped the firſt deſtruction. Almoſt every perſon in the town and neighbourhood was affected; and the faculty were rendered incapable, through, weakneſs, to attend their patients, many of whom perished from the inclemency of the weather, from want of attendance, or ſupply of food; and to add to the general apprehenſion, the negroes poured down in troops to the ſcene of devaſtation (and, I am ſorry to obſerve, that many white people were detected, opon the ſpot, of promiſcuous plunder); and having made free with the rum that was floating in the inundations, began to grow inſolent and unruly; and, by their threats and conduct, occaſioned an alarm which it was found neceſſary, by exertion and caution, at once to ſupprefs: and what the conſequences, at ſuch a time of general confuſion and dread, might have been, had not the puncheons been immediately ſtaved, can hardly, even at this diſtance of time, be reflected upon without horrour.

That the unenlightened negroes ſhould be led to plunder, when they could do it with ſafety, and without the curbs of morality and religion to restrain them, is a circumſtance not to be wondered at; as it is conſiſtent with the common depravity of human nature; but that thole who ought to be a check upon that licentiouſneſs which they themselves perhaps have taught, ſhould ſtand forward to diveſt miſery of its laſt ſupport, and even plunder penury itſelf of is utmoſt farthing, is a reflection upon thoſe who can diſtinguiſh black from white