accomplished by firmness, discrimination, and patience; but in the
course of a few years, considerable progress had been made in
subduing the prejudices and the barbarous customs of the Aborigines.
Although it had been declared by Royal Proclamation that the native
inhabitants were in every respect subjects of the British throne, and
as such entitled to equal privileges with ourselves, and to be judged
on all occasions by the common and statute laws, it proved to be no
easy matter to carry into practice these views of the Home
Government. People in England, who derive their knowledge of savages
from the orations delivered at Exeter Hall, are apt to conceive that
nothing more is requisite than to ensure them protection from
imaginary oppression, and a regular supply of spiritual comforts.
They do not consider that whilst they insist upon these unfortunate
creatures being treated exactly as British subjects, they are placing
a yoke on their own necks too heavy for them to bear in their present
condition. Primitive and simple laws are necessary to a primitive
state of society; and the cumbrous machinery of civilized life is
entirely unsuited to those who in their daily habits and their
intellectual endowments are little superior to the beasts that
perish. By declaring the savages to be in every respect British
subjects, it becomes illegal to treat them otherwise than such. If a
settler surprise a native in the act of stealing a pound of flour, he
of course delivers him over to a constable, by whom he is conveyed
before the nearest magistrate. Now this magistrate, who is an old
settler, and well acquainted with the habits of the natives, is also
a man of humanity; and if he were allowed to exercise a judicious
discretion, would order the culprit to be well flogged and dismissed
to his expectant family. But thanks to Her Majesty's well-meaning
Secretaries of State for the Colonies, who have all successively
judged alike on this point, it is declared most unadvisable to allow