THE LAST OF HIS RACE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 238, 16 April 1869, Page 3

THE LAST OF HIS RACE.

(From the Sydney Morning Herald. ) The death of the " last man " of Tasmania is a touching event. In 1777, Captain Cook found 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 cause 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 list remnant of his race. With whom is the responsibility of this extinction ? When kindly treated they were not ungrateful. There are instances on lecord of friendly relations preserve.! with the natives, even through all their provocations. Dr Ross, who was connected with the Hohart ! Town 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 his dwellingplace. They rather promoted his safety by assisting in the pursuit of white robbers; and, even when they had 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 eaemips 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 step above them in moral sentiment, ensured their speedy destruction. The appearance of a black man was regarded as a source of danger. •Small parties were formed to pursue and hunt them down. " Five shot and one taken," was 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 J Arthur, to capture the entire black race and 1 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 io it'aiman's peninsula, and co bring them into captivity. Five thousand men, soldiers, and civilians, convicts and their masters, all ivurned out together, and accordingly formed j a line across the country. The natives for a j time relr ated, but were far too cunning to be so captured. I hus, after all the resources of war had been brought intooperation, the commander turned his eyes towards the rear, «nd there was the curling smoke of the files of the natives who had crossed the line, and so frustrated the scheme. One or two only were taken. Costly, however, as this movement was, aod unavailing in its immediate result, it was thought at the time that it inclined the blacks to parley, and facilitated the operations of Mr Kobinson who 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 of kindness and, of course, preserved from the causes which had tended to their destruction without averting it. Itepqits from time to time informed the public of the gradual reduction of their numbers. One man and two or three women weie all that remained, and now the last man has deceased j in the public hospital of Hobarfc Town. He] was followed to the grave by a large con-" course of people of all ranks, who were anxious to testify their sympathy and regret. What are we to say of the history of these people, so full of saddening details ? What of England, or of the colonies ? In wlvit degree is 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 Muck. 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 commnnity will not be held responsible, and that the remorse resulting from crime, may be confined to those whose memory taxes them with its actual participation. i It is indeed, we repeat, a sad and solemn thing to bury the laet man of a race ; to sum

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 towards 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 yet discovered hy which they can be raised and preserved. /The immense difficulty in every movement is that the blacks have no permanent abodesr-uo domestic animals to tend ; no oqcupatibr? that has any analogy to civilised life. To' pass the gulf which divides the two race 3 is, therefore, a task which requires a cautious and kindly guidance, and the absence, of those temptations which have hitherto proved so fatal. And where shall it be found ? ' • •'