Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/182

the earth, and possess it," implies something more than the mere obtaining a precarious subsistence from the casual bounty of nature; the thorn and the briar were to be rooted up, and the herb yielding food to be planted in its place; all noxious animals to be subdued, and those intended to minister to the wants of man reduced into proper subjection. These duties the savage has for centuries neglected, and thus, in my mind, abandoned his inheritance. Can it be for a moment supposed that a large portion of the globe—yielding to few in its means of production, to none in the amænity of its climate—could have been intended by its Creator to be reserved for ever as the hunting grounds of a handful of savages? As well might it be said that it should be left to the kangaroo and wild dog, "the native burghers of this desert city;" and indeed the whole argument smacks of the sickly philosophy of Jacques, "who swears in this sort we do more usurp, than doth our brother who hath banished us." Whatever opinion enthusiasts may form, that which I advocate is the one which the common sense of mankind will support, and the law of nature prompt them to act upon to the end of time, as they have done since the dawn of civilization. In any case it lies not in the mouth of those who are actually occupying the country, or of those who have sanctioned that occupation, at this period to question its propriety; few do so openly, but there is an uneasiness in dealing with the subject, which shows in many a consciousness that in their opinion our title is bad. This is one reason why I have thought it right to meet this question on its own ground, but there is