THE LAST OF HIS RACE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2579, 12 April 1869, Page 3

THE LAST OF HIS RACE.

i ufJPrtm. the Sydney Morning Herald. ) tfbe death of the “ last man ” of Tasmania is * touching event. In 1777, Captain Cook fqpnd the natives, as recorded by the surgeon of the Resolution, “ a mild and cheerful race.” They were subsequently numbered at 2000, divided into several tribes, speaking different dialects, keeping to their own portions of the country, and living on the produce of their daily hunt. Every cauce that can lead to the destruction of a people conspired against them; and now, in 1869, King Billy, so called, “ the last man,” has carried to the grave the name, the sorrows, and the lest remnant of his race.

With whom is the responsibility of this extinction ? When kindly treated they were not ungrateful. There are instances on record of friendly relations preserved with the natives, even through all their provocations. Iff Boss, who was connected with the Hobart T6wn Press, states that he had intercourse with them, renewed every year, and that they were useful in many ways. They eagerly assisted to extinguish the flames which were kindled too near bis dwellingThey rather promoted his safety by assisting in the pursuit of white robbers; and, even when they bad inflicted dreadful outrages on many others, provoked by extraordinary maltreatment, they still preserved their kindness for him. Such is the testimony of one whose position enabled him to know both the good and the evil of their character. We need hardly, however, wonder at the exasperation which made them the enemies of the colonists, and led the colonists to seek their destruction. Their contact with men, often of the most infamous character, who, having all the pride of race, were not One stop above them in moral sentiment, ensured theur speedy destruction. The appearance of a man was regarded ss a source of danger, Sfball parties were formed to pursue and hunt them down. “Five shot and one taken,’ w|ta no unusual bulletin. Law or justice or public opinion could hardly be effective beyond the towns, and thus year after year the natives diminished until they were reduced to a few score, and this number, though incapable of any resistance to civilised warfare; were sufficient to keep the colony in constant alarm. The campaign of Colonel Arthur, to Capture the entire black race and place them in some retreat where they Should be prevented from mischief and preserved from oppression, was known as “ the black war.” The plan was to form a line across the island and to sweep the natives on to Tasman’s peninsula, and so bring them into captivity. Five thousand men, soldiers, and civilians, convicts and their masters, all turned out together, and accordingly formed a line across the country. The natives for a time retreated, but were far too cunning to be so captured. Thus, after all the resources of war had been brought into operation, the commander turned his eyes towards the rear, and there was the curling smoke of the fires of the natives who had crossed the line, and so frustrated the scheme. One or two only were taken. Costly, how-ever,-as this movement was, and unavailing far its immediate result, it was thought at the time that it inclined the blacks to parley, and fMtyitated the operations of Mr Robinson into gained their confidence and at last brought them in. Flinders Island was their home for a while, but they were unhappy and wasted away. They were afterwards removed to Tasmania, and there they continued a small remnant treated with excess otkindness and, of course, preserved from the causes which bad tended to their destruction without averting it. Reports from time to time informed the public of the gradual reduction of their numbers. One man and two or three women were all that remained, and aow the last man has deceased in the public, hospital of Hobart Town. He waa followed to the grave by a large concourse of people of all ranks, who were anxious to>tostify their sympathy and regret. What are we to say of the history of these people, so full of saddening details ? What of tSngland, or of the colonies ? In what degree ds a community responsible for the crimes of its predecessors ? For the most part those who committed this cruelty have gone to their account. Death has dealt equally with both white and black.'’ Is England free from reproach that, in disregard of the inevitable consequences, she planted in the midst of aborigines the most vicious of her offspring ? If the statesmen of that day were censurable, and if the colonists who participated in such wrongs were criminal, still have the present Government or people incurred no moral responsibility in reference to their fate ? This is one of the questions of which the solution is far more difficult when applied to a practical case, than when considered in a system of morals. All wrong, oppression, and injustice leave an imprint upon the national character, and so the appropriate punishment is too evident to be questioned. But it is equally certain that numbers of men throughout all those times maintained the principles and practices of humanity. They repressed the disorders which they could not wholly prevent. They exposed the crimes which they could not punish. They assisted, by mild counsels, and gentle methods, to rescue the remnant from violent extinction. We may therefore perhaps hope that in the’ distribution of censure and blame the 1 community will not be held responsible, and that the remorse resulting from crime, may be confined to those whose memory taxes them with id actual participation. It is indeed, we repeat, a sad and solemn thing to bury the last man of a race ; to snm up the vast catalogue of a wrong and cruelty which have led to a result so contrary to natural laws. It is no doubt fully accounted for, and every step in the progress toward! this destruction is clear and plain. Causes of a similar nature are producing elsewhere effects equally disastrous. While the destruction of the barbarous tribes in contact with civilised man is the inevitable alternative, there has been no instrumentality Jyel discovered by which they can be raised and

preferred. The ipmewdifflaulty in every movement is that the blacks have no permanent abodes—no domestic animals to tend ;nq occupation that has any analogy to civilised life. To pass the gnlf which divides the two races is, therefore, a task which requires a cautions and kindly guidance, and the absence of those temptations which have hitherto proved so fatal. And where shall it be found ?