CIVILIZATION.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume I, Issue 38, 6 January 1844, Page 2

CIVILIZATION.

Much has been done by our countrymen at Home for the improvement of the condition of the Aborigines of New Zealand. Missions and Missionaries have been established at great expence in this country ; considerable success has [unquestionably attended these efforts. The condition of the New Zealanders has been materially improved in an intellectual, if not in a moral and religious point of view. Knowledge is spreading fast among them, and even the moral sentiments which are the lovely flowers, the sweet and ripened fruits of cultivated intellect, are in some (it may be rare) instances, being faintly developed. The propagators of morality and religion are often disappointed, and even disheartened at the manifestations of acute intellect and perception in barbarian people, and the almost total absence of moral sentiment and moral feeling, but a little acquaintance with the physiology of mind, would soon enable them to perceive that this state of things is precisely in accordance with the laws and provisions of nature, which ever true and considerate, adapts all men and all things to their peculiar circumstances and condition. The absence of the moral sentiments in the savage, however unfit it may render him for being the happy companion and associate of his civilized brother, is nevertheless an advantage to him in his present circumstances. A high developement of moral sentiment, without a corresponding amount of intellectual and physical knowledge, would not only be thrown away upon the individual, but would actually render him imbecile, and totally unfit for the place he occupied. The savage is as a matter of course, the first connecting link between the highly refined man and the lower animals. Like the animal, his chief pleasure, his almost only occupation is to obey the natural instinct which insists upon his making an effort to preserve his life. His means of subsistence are limited and difficult to be obtained. His ignorance of the laws and operations of the physical world, prevent him from making them available for his assistence. He trusts entirely to his own senses or perceptive faculties, which, to supply the want of knowledge (possessed by civilized men) are in the barbarian or savage, much more acute. But however well developed the perceptive faculties of the savage may 1 be, they are barely sufficient to enable •him to provide for the necessary requirements of his nature. His time is either occupied in collecting his food, or in the passive enjoyment of mere animal rest. In the progress of improvement, the intellect generally conies next to be cultivated. As the. knowledge of facts become more extensive, the reflective powers will be brought njore, or less into operation, and as the advanced acquaintance with the laws of nature will have be.en ingeniously used as a means both of procuring a certain supply of food, and of greatly abridging labour ; the individual will be gradually led to acquire a

regard for, and a desire after domestic comfort and social happiness,' which his comparative exemption from toil and care affords him the opportunity of cultivating. The exercise of the social virtues, the enjoyment of domestic peace and happiness will be eventually followed by the gradual and progressive developement of the moral sentiments. This is the onward progress of man towards high moral and intellectual improvement and refinement. — The decline or fall of society will to a certain extent be marked by similar facts and changes. The United States of America, and our own Colonies, are good illustrations. Many people have an idea that the inhabitants of the United States of America are in advance of those of Europe, and even England itself, in the march of human improvement. But this is a great mistake, and arises solely from the idea connected with the name of liberty and free institutions. But the representative of true liberty which America exhibits to the world, is a hideous mockery. A figure bearing something of the form, but actually fettered with the iron chains of slavery, and offensively destitute of every indication of the existence of refined feeling or moral sentiment. The reason of this in America and the Colonies, is the fact that a man, however well he may have been educated, even a moral and refined mind is placed at once into something like the condition of the savage ; he is to a certain extent denied the enjoyment and the pleasure of social intercourse, he is incessantly occupied with the necessary provision for the animal wants of his nature. Like the savage, the greater portion of his time is engaged in labour for his own maintenance. The moral sentiments which, regard his fellow-men or society, as the object of their exercise, are seldom or ever put in active operation. Intellectual occupations themselves are neglected ; the example and coni dition of a father in this respect are closely imitated by the son ; and society under these circumstances, will gradually degenerate as in some of the back states of America, until nothing of the man shall remain, but the mere keenly perceptive faculties. After a time it will doubtless again undergo a change more or less rapid, according to circumstances, until it shall eventually gain the point from which it started in its downwards course. In this general sense all mankind are alike ; some races are more susceptible of improvement than others, and will much more rapidly attain it, according to a natural, an original difference of intellect and mind. Ignorance, a*hd an improper appreciation of these facts prevail to a great extent both among the real friends and the enemies of the aborigines, and much to' the injury of the native in either case. A humane, a benevolent man, with the best possible wishes for the good of the aborigines is very apt, without a clear understanding of these facts, to become after a time disheartened, if not disgusted with the great selfishness, with the want of sensibility, and the perhaps total absence of conscientiousness in the uncivilized man, even after the intellect has been to a considerable extent enlightened. We might take the natives of New Zealand as an example. How many of their well-wishers have become faint-hearted and hopeless about their eventual improvement? not because they find that their intellects are not good, but because they find that the moral feelings are almost, if not altogether wanting ; but however superior the natural intellect of the New Zealanders" or any other race may be, it would be as absurd m their present condition to look for the existence of the moral sentiments among them as it would be for a gardener to expect to find an apple on the tree a month after it was grafted. Gratitude, benevolence, truth, conscientiousness, considerate kindness, delicacy of feeling, and refined sentiments are the latest, as the most valuable of the products of mental improvement and education. It is even quite possible to convey to a man a distinct idea of religion, to teach him really to believe in the existence of God, and yet that person may for a long time be perfectly and practically destitute of moral sentiments. How many examples of this kind could be found in the middle ages ? Many of the Grusaders have been persons of this description. It is reported that even Richard Cceur de Lion himself, delighted in feeding upon his Saracen enemies. The Attacotti ( are said by Roman Historians to have been cannibals. A Hume and a Robertson,- have in process of time appeared in their country, perhaps were descended from them ; and who shall say that the prophetic anticipations of Gibbon may not yet be realised by the appearance of a Hume or Gibbon at some future, and no far distant period among the once cannibal New Zealanders?