Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George's Sound In The Years 1840-1: Sent By The Colonists Of South Australia By Eyre, Edward John
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"I Imagine That This Course Would Be More Merciful Than That At Present
Adopted; Viz.
To punish them for a violation of a law they are ignorant
of, when this violation affects a European,
And yet to allow them to
commit this crime as often as they like, when it only regards themselves;
for this latter course teaches them, not that certain actions, such, for
instance, as murder, etc. are generally criminal, but only that they are
criminal when exercised towards the white people, and the impression,
consequently excited in their minds is, that these acts only excite our
detestation when exercised towards ourselves, and that their criminality
consists, not in having committed a certain odious action, but in having
violated our prejudices."
Many instances have come under my own personal observation, where natives
have sought redress both against one another and against Europeans, but
where from their evidence being unavailable no redress could be afforded
them. Enough has however been now adduced to shew the very serious evils
resulting from this disadvantage, and to point out the justice, the
policy, the practicability, and the necessity of remedying it.
In bringing to a close my remarks on the Aborigines, their present
condition and future prospects, I cannot more appropriately or more
forcibly conclude the subject than by quoting that admirable letter of
Lord Stanley's to Governor Sir G. Gipps, written in December, 1842; a
letter of which the sentiments expressed are as creditable to the
judgment and discrimination, as they are honourable to the feelings and
humanity of the minister who wrote it, and who, in the absence of
personal experience, and amidst all the conflicting testimony or
misrepresentation by which a person at a distance is ever apt to be
assailed and misled, has still been able to separate the truth from
falsehood, and to arrive at a rational, a christian, and a just opinion,
on a subject so fraught with difficulties, so involved in uncertainty,
and so beset with discrepancies.
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