TREATMENT OF THE ABORIGINAL INHABI- TANTS OF BRITISH SETTLEMENTS.

REPORT FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ABORIGINES, WITI1 THE MINUTES OF EVIDENCE, APPENDIX, AND INDEX. (Ordered ly the House a f Commons to be printed, 26th June 1837.) SIR JOIIN War.sit has coolly stated, that Crown Commissions, being more ductile, are better instruments of legislation and government than Parliamentary Committees. Ministers, says he, can manage the one at their pleasure, the other class may be troublesome. A wise politi- cian would have drawn other conclusions from the somewhat extensive experience this country has had of both. But Sir JOIIN WALSH is not very wise, or it would not have escaped him, that without neglect- iag the hint about ductility in some Commissioners, Ministers have also contrived, upon occasion, to moderate even the ruder humour of Committees of Parliament. This is forcibly shown in the Report of one before us ; in which much that is good is sadly marred, by its deter- mination, at all hazards, to excuse official inefficiency at the expense of the barbarous tribes. Now, however men differ about the merits of our Colonial Government in what exclusively concerns White people, the agreement of all parties is remarkable, that the Coloured Aborigines have been sacrificed to supposed Colonial interests. In this case, the Colonial Office in Downing Street has notoriously failed to elevate or to protect those Aborigines. Whether from incapacity, from want of sympathy, from ignorance, or from worse causes, the fact is indisputable, that the powers vested in that office on this head have not been successfully exercised.

Therefore, during three sessions, a Committee of the House of Commons has inquired extensively, although far from completely, into

the subject. The evidence collected in this inquiry tills nearly a thousand folio pages ; and Parliament has printed, concurrently with this inquest, a large mass of documents illustrating the evidence, and quite as valuable as it is. Except the great omission of Ceylon and the Mils of India, with several other barbarous people, whose present condition ought to be comprehended in such an inquiry in order to do it justice, all the multitudinous tribes of uncivilized men connected with us have on this occasion been brought under review with more or less accuracy. With such materials, it is ground of deep regret and some reproach, that the Committee should not have produced a better Report. The good parts of what they have produced may be summed up in a few words ; its omissions, and its sins of commission, may be as briefly pointed out.

After an able historical abridgment of a large portion of the evi- dence, the Committee arrives at the following

" CONCLUSION.

"Year Committee cannot recapitulate the evils which have been the result of the intercouse between civilized and barbarous nations, more truly than in the summary contained in the interrogation and responses of the Secretaries of the three Aliasionary Societies most conversant with the subject, and to which we have already referred. 4322. To Mr. Coates.] Is it your opinion that Europeans coming into contact with na- tive inhabitants of our settlements tends, with the exception of cases in which missions are established, to deteriorate the morals or the notices to int mance European vices to spread among them new and dangerous diseases; to accustom them to the use of ardent spirits; to the use of European arms and instrumeuts of destruction ; to the seduction of Twice females; to the decrease or the native population: and to prevent the spread of uif ills:nitro, education, commerce, and Christianity ? and that the effect of European striereuurse has been, upon the whole, a calamity on the heathen awl savage nations. ht the first place, is it your opinion that European contact ith native inhabitants. a.ways excepting the cases ill which missions have been established, tends to deterio-

rate the murals of the natives?-Yes.

433e, To Mr. Beecham.] Do you concur In that opinion?-Yes. 4.331. To Mr. Ellis.] Do you concur in that opinion?-Certainly. 4332. Dues it tend to introduce European vices?-Mr. Coutes.] Yes.-Mr. Beecham.] Yes.-Mr. liNtasJ Yes. .4333. Does it tend to spread Among them new anthlangerous diseases?--Mr. Cowers.;les.-Mr. Beecham] Yes.-Mr. Ellis.] Yes. 4:131. Dues it tent to accustom them to the use of orient spirits ? -Mr. Coates.: Yes. -Mr. Beecham] Yes.-Mr. Ellis.] Yes. .4335. And to the IlSil of En: opean alms and instruments of &stringiest ?-M r. Coate 9.: le.; Ant might I add a word u tact would go ratio r to expresso &Aid whether the ultinwee sesult q'thet be injorious to the swage nations/ but that it has the tendency teigg , rsted iu the quest ion, I have nu doubt.-Mr. Beecham.] Yes.--Mr. Ellis.] Yes. 43,4. To the seduction of native females ? -Mr. Coates.] Yes.-Mr. Beecham Yes. 1.1is.] Yes. 4337. To the decrease of population ? - Mr. Coates.] Yes.-Mr. Beacham.] Y es.- Ms. Ellis.] Yes. 4333. burs it tend to impede that chi:I:litho, which, if Europeans properly conducted Mt metres, ;night introdoced t -Mr. Cootes.3 CfAainly.-Mr. Beecham) Yes.- Mr. nit] 1 hate no doubt that it does. 4339. Tie sane as to education ?-Mr. C'eates.3 Certainly.-Mr. Beecham.; Yes.- Sir. Ellis.] Certainly. 4340. 'I he same us to commerce?-Mr. Coates.] Certainly.-Mr. Beecham.] Yes.— Sir. air.) Yes. 4.341. Is it your opinion t that it tends tu prevent the spread of the Christian Gospel? Mr. Coates.] Most assureo I v. -M r. Beecham.] Y M r. Edit.] Yes. 4342. Is it generally your opinionthat the effect of European intercourse, saving where missions have been established, has preen, upon the whole, hitherto it calamity upon the native awl savage nations whom we Lave visited 1-Mr. Coates.; That 1 have no doubt abont.-Mr. Beecham.] Yes, v Ellis.] Generally I 'Mould think it has 4343. As far as von know, in instances of couteution betweeis Europeans and natives, !rasa generally haltpened that the Europeans were in fault ?-Mr. Coates.] Universally, an far as I have intormatiou on the subject.-Mr. Beecham.] Yes.- Mr. Ellis.] I lute mot met still; an instance in which, when investigated, it has not been found that the aggression was upon the part or the Eurepeans. " These allegations have, we conceive, been clearly proved in the evidence of which we have given an absuact; and we hare also seem the effects of eon- 4"luttory conduct, and of Christian iristruction. One of the two systems we mina hays, to preserve oar own security and the pesos of oar riebniel borders; either an overwhelming military force, with all its attendant expenses, or a line of temperate conduct and of justice towards our neighbours. " 5 The main point which I would have in view said a witness before your Committee, ' would be trade, commerce, peace, and civilization. The other alternative is extermination ; for you can stop nowhere ; you must go on ; you

may have a short respite when you have driven panic into the people, but you must come back to the same thing until you have shot the last man.' Ftom

all the bulky evidence before us, we can come to no other conclusion ; and, con.• sidering the power and the mighty resources of the British nation, we must be- lieve that the choke rests with ourselves.

" Great Britain has, in former times, countenanced evils of great magnitude— slavery and th slave-trade: but for these she has made some atonement ; for the latter, by abandoning the traffic ; for the former, by the sacrifice of twenty millions of money. But for these offences there was this apology—they were evils of an ancient date, a kind of prescription might be pleaded for them ; and great interests were entwined with them. " An evil remains, very similar in character, and not altogether unfit to be compared with them in the amount of misery it produces. The oppression of the Datives of barbarous countries is a practice which pleads no claim to in- dulgence ; it is an evil of comparatively recent origin, imperceptible and un- allowed in its growth ; it never has had even the colour of sanction from the Legislature if this country ; no vested rights are associated with it ; and we have not the poor excuse that it contributes to any interest of the state. On the contrary, in point of economy, of security, of commerce, of reputation, it is a short-sighted and disastrous policy. As far as it has prevailed, it has been a burden on the empire. It has thrown impediments in the way of successful colonization ; it has engendered wars, in which great expenses were necessarily bleared, and no reputation could be won ; and it has banished from our con- fines or extermivated, the natives, who might have been profitable workmen good customers, and good neighbours. These unhappy results have not flowed from any determination on the part of the Government of this country to deal hardly with those who are in a less advanced state of society ; but they seem to have arisen from ignorance, from the difficulty which distance interposes its checking the cupidity and punishing the crimes of that adventurous class of Europeans who lead the way in penetrating the territory of uncivilized man, and from the system of dealing with the rights of the natives. Many reasons unite for apprehending that the evils which we have described will increase if the duty of coming to a solemn determination as to the policy we shall adopt towards ruder 1. ,tiuns be now neglected : the chief of these reasons is, the national neccssi-:. of findiar' some outlet for the superabundant population of Great Britain and Ireland. It is to be feared that, in the pursuit of this benevolent and f :nibble object, the rights of those who have not the means of advocating their interests or exciting sympathy for their sufferings may be dis- regarded. " This, then, appears to be the moment for the nation to declare, that with all its desire to give encourayemtett to emigration, and to find a soil to which our surplus population may retreat, it will tolerate no scheme which implies vio- lence or foam in taking possession of such ft territory; that it will no longer subject itself to the guilt of conniving at oppression ; and that it will take upon itself the task of &feuding those who are too weak and too ignorant to defend themselves."

This large foundation should have had a very different superstructure from that which the remainder of the Report presents. Whilst the Com- mittee thus admit that, " if the Europeans conducted themselves pro- perly, civilization might be introduced " among barbarous tribes ; "colo- nization might be successful ; " " commerce, peace, and civilization might be had in view, instead of extermination,"—whilst these admis- sions are most wisely made, the Report goes on to propound proposi- tions directly opposed to good and enlightened efforts for securing these results. With strong evidence before it that the wrongs inflicted by colonists on barbarous people have at all periods and in all places been mitigated by the just feelings of individuals, it has utterly neglected to show how those just feelings and the better tendencies of civilized society may be brought to bear on a large scale, in aid of missionaries, upon the fate of the millions of uncivilized men whom missionaries, unaided, cannot save from their enemies. This neglect is of great moment, and may be accounted for. The Colonial Office, instead of taking measures steadily and extensively to aid missionaries, huts often opposed them ; instead of fostering the better tendencies of individual colonists, that office has sheltered the oppressors of the natives. But the Committee has not gone sufficiently to this real origin of the evils which it has exposed. On the contrary, along with certain suggestions, excellent as far as they go, there follow upon the foregoing conclusion, we repeat, the most inconsiderate apologies for the conduct of the Colonial Office that were ever penned ; and some things even inure mischievous than those apologies are. The Report sets out with a proposal, mysteriously expressed, for making the "protection of natives to devolve on theExecutive,"(p. 77,)— us if some other author ity had done the mischief all complain of ; and as if the duty of correcting it did not rest with the Crown and Ministers already, in all cases, and exclusively too in many. For instance, in Australia, Van Diemen's Land, and in South Africa, the Crown and Ministers have always been omnipotent. Even in Canada, where there are Local Legislatures, the affairs of the Indians in regard to tLeir lands, and in the Indian department, have been entirely at the discretion of the Crown ; and the wretched result in all these countries should be laid at the door of the Executive. The Report declines to go into the Canada case, because " her Majesty's Government have for some time past been engaged in a correspondence respecting it with the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, arid because the case, although as :,et immature for decision, will probably engage the attention of Par- liament on the Estimates being voted." Then follows a passage which

"devolves" the protection of the natives on the Executive, with a ven- geance. " Your Committee," says this Report, (p. 56,) "are unwilling

to embarrass the Government by suggestions, which being offered during the pendency of the discussions on the subject, might proceed upon im- perfect grounds, and point to erroneous conclusions." This, being interpreted, means, the Colonial Office and the Governor of Upper Canada shall be let alone, whilst they are doing as much mischief as possible, under a system which the committee was appointed to examine and reform ; and after the mischief is dune, some other future Com- mittee shall " regret " it.

This most impotent conclusion comes after a statement in the pre- ceding narrative, (p. 6-9,) which shows that no form of misery has

been spared to the North American Indians under the existing system. Yet this part of the Report would intimate, that under the system, the Executive has no control over the circumstances in which the native people are placed.-as if the ease were parallel to that of the slaves in

the West Indian Colonies with Legislatures, and all would be veell by giving the Crown, i. e. the Colonial Office, more power; whereas in reality that office has misused the power it has long possessed.

In the way of apology, indeed, for the sins of the Colonial Office and of Colonial Governors, the Report is extraordinarily bold ; of which the case of the natives of Van Themen's Land is a melancholy example. The last scenes of that dreadful tragedy are now acting ; and the last scheme, which was one of removing the native people from their old homes, has had most grievous results. Yet, says the Report, that scheme was " an act of real mercy, though of apparent severity," (p. 84.) The character of this merciful act may be judged of from the descrip- tion given of it even by the individual himself who executed the scheme ; a description which has alarmed Lord GLENELG, and stopped u new plan of removal, built upon the failure of' the first.

"It is my opinion," says the agent, "that the aborigines of this island [the place to which the Governor has r.anared them] suffer much front mental irri- tation. Various circumstances produce this effect ; and although the deadas of the Osorignes at Flinder's Island, may be ascribed to other causes, as catarrh, inflammations &c. still it will be found that mental irritation accelerates, if not the disease, the suffering of the patient, amid in too many instances, I think, has proved fatal. When the aborigine is first afflicted, either from cold or other- wise, he immediately &spends, refuses natural sustenance, and gives himself up to grief. Mental irritation follows, and at length he dies in delirium. I think I am borne out io my opinion by the sudden dissolution of the wife after the death of her husband, although at the same time she may be in apparent health ; or that of the husbaud after the demise of the wile."—Appendix to Report, p. 124.

This document came home from Governor ARTHUR; who upon the faith of it recommended the removal of these unhappy people to South Australia, in order, among other better things, to detect any preconcerted act of hostility of the New Hollanders against our colonists, according to the old approved principle of getting rid of troublesome people by setting them against each other. Lord GLENELG'S rejection of this proposal is accompanied by the following remarks- " I cannot dismiss this subject without remarking on some of the facts which have particularly struck me in reading the reports of Mr. R. as to the state of the natives located at Flinder's Island.

" It does not appear from any of your despatches what was the total number of the natives who were induced to accompany him to that island ; although I observe that in January last their amount was estimated at one hundred and thirty. From the terms used by Mr. R. in his communication to vou, I gather that their numbers are fast decreasing; and lie even speaks of the change to South Australia as necessary to prolong their existence, and to preserve the remnant of them. He would also seem to infer that Hinder's Island does not furnish what to them may be deemed the necessaries of life, an adequate supply of game and fish ; and that it does not sufficiently furnish them with the amusement of the chase, the natural antidote to the mental irritation which is represented not only to add to their suffering in sickness, but in many cases to have proved fatal to them. " From the report on /limier's island, which accompanied your despatch of the 6th April 18:33, his Majesty's Government were led to anticipate far differ- eat results. The climate is there represented as very fine, and warmer than at Hobart Town ; the dimensions of the island such as might be supposed to atfurd ample scope for the exercise of the chase, while game is stated to be found in abundance."—Page 123.

Lord GLENEI.G then calls for a full report of the condition of the natives, their deaths, the causes of the decrease of sustenance, and the amount of food furnished them.

Now the Report slurs over this unhappy affair, without obtaining the answer to this despatch, doted in November 18:35; and whilst ex- cusing the removal as an act of mercy, although apparently severe, says not one word of the neglect of the Home Government and Of the Colonial Government, ever since the colony was founded, to do justice to the people whom we have destroyed. Such apologies, of which the foregoing example is not a solitary one, detract exceedingly from the value of this Report, and raise a suspicion that two other points made by the Committee are not dictated by an enlightened spirit. It is laid down in page 80, that as a general rule, treaties with barbarous tribes are inexpedient ; and it is asserted that their safety and welfare require their relations with their more cultivated neighbours to be diminished rather than multiplied (p. 8(1); which is only reviving the system of the Dutch Government of the Cape of Good Hope, remonstrated against forty years ago by a barbarian Catfre, who said that peace could be expected between neighbours only by encouraging intercourse. The Report has excellent recommendations on the duties of protectors of natives ; but it limits them to Australia, as if they were not needed in North America and in Africa quite as much. It also recommends political agents to be appointed among barbarous tribes ; but it is the tribes only of the South Seas who are selected for this wise measure. It is forgotten that the Indians of Canada and the people of Africa need them as much.

In shell, this Report, and the evidence and documents on which it is based, only form a mass of matter which will teach the way to better things. °There toilet be collected from the various goodly ele- ments scattered over the world, and devoted to this field of action, an array of strength calculated to check the evils now prevalent. Wisely combined, those elements will enable the people of England to go forth as well-rewarded benefactors among the numerous tribes who are at present almost everywheie dwindling away under the roost grievous and most undeserved sufferings. But experience proves that it is only the combination of good elements that is powerful enough to protect. Missionaries almost by themselves, as the Committee recommend, will fail now, as they have failed before. The Emirs, the BRAINERDS, and a host of such men, m born our missionaries are proud to call their fathers, left behind them in their own personal success, and in the ulti- mate ruin of their cause, a confirmation of the great lesson, that man does not live by bread alone. It is a capital error then, that, instead of aiming at a system of colonization that would secure extensively unmixed good to all, and which in a former passage the Committee admits may be devised, the Report revives dangerous and exploded doctrines of non-intercourse, and almost denounces colonization how- ever well contrived. It may be hoped that new light will convince the excellent men whose names are affixed to this document, Mr. &mote,

,Ir. Lusnieeeoe, and others, that the true policy lies in well guiding the active and intelligent men engaged in this foreign field, not in thwarting them ; and every year produces proof that public opinion

is improving on this important subject. The Legislature not long ago shared the apathy of the Government, in regard to the rights of the natives of new countries,—as the Report justly remarks in one page (12); although, in the conclusion above quoted at length, it erroneously states that the oppression of the natives never has had the colour of sanction from the Legislature. But it should have been added, that in the very case referred to—that of South Australia_ sogreat an improvement has taken place, that now more is stipuldell to be done there for the natives than has ever been promised since the days of PENN; and it may be said safely, that no bill will in our day be brought into Parliament on this subject, without the proposal of a far better system of protection and civilization of the natives than the Aborigines Committee has recommended. There are signs abroad of such a tendency as justify this remark; and wise men will not disregard them.