The article states under the header “news from Spain” : “In the last days a terrible [amount of] dying has transpired that the gravediggers state that they have no recollection [of such a thing] since the Cholera. Most people die of lung and chest complications that follow from the flu.” 27-01-1848

Old Dutch is actually a lot like Old English, they’re both sister languages. Supposedly speakers of those languages were able to (mostly) understand each other, similarly to a dialect.

Old English is not similar enough to English for English speakers to understand, so this isn't particularly helpful.

https://www.public.asu.edu/~gelderen/hel/orosius.html

https://www.public.asu.edu/~gelderen/hel/chron.html

That's Old in the sense of the first millennium AD. This is "old" in the sense of two hundred years ago. Very different.