towards them has, all through, been dictated by feelings of the purest benevolence. I admit, too, that, if in the adjustment of this difficult question, they have leaned to one side rather than the other, they have erred on the right one; for, although it be true that the settlers have but feeble means of making their grievances heard, the natives have none. Still there is a line, beyond which, indulgence to one man, is injustice to another; and if it appear that this line has been passed, and if, moreover, the result of this indulgence should prove to be injurious to the objects of it, by encouraging them in outrage, making them the victims of retaliation, and obstructing their advance towards civilization, by creating a breach between them and the settlers; if these consequences follow from the system, it is time that the subject should be fully investigated, and that some attempt should be made at improvement.
Closely in connexion with this subject is another, which I shall but lightly touch upon. This is the expediency of making the natives amenable to the British laws, for acts committed inter se. This comes recommended by the authority of Captain Grey, the present governor of South Australia. Theoretically they are, at this moment, amenable to the British laws for such offences,[1] but practically it is impossible to punish them for these, any more than for their agressions on the
- ↑ One of the cases tried in 1841, was the ease of Bon John, a native, tried for the murder of another of the aborigines. Judge Willis, having doubts on the subject of the jurisdiction of the court, referred a case to the Sydney judges, who gave an opinion in favour of the jurisdiction.
