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54 cannot demand nor purchase food from a neighbouring tribe; the men cannot cultivate the soil; and the soil of their territory can maintain but a certain number of human beings; and if a rule has been established in consonance with a law of Nature, are we right in rashly and rudely condemning as criminals those who practise obedience to the obligations which the rule enforces? Surely enough is known of the many crimes which our own social laws render inevitable to cause us to regard even infanticide amongst this people rather in the light of a custom which they are compelled to observe than as a crime—a crime which amongst civilized nations is justly considered heinous. No one would attempt to extenuate the practice—the Aborigines themselves are ashamed of it—but it is surely right to tell the truth about it.

It is only after they have been taught the truths of religion, and made acquainted with the solemn obligations which rest on the parents, and when they are provided with necessary food, that we can visit on them punishments for such offences.

Ignorant persons might regard what has been stated by authors respecting the customs of the natives of Australia as an apology for infanticide. They have, however, but made known the facts, and their statements are in themselves only a defence of the Aborigines against the injustice of imputing to them as a crime a practice perhaps necessary to their existence. Infanticide—the whites affect to believe—is a monstrous thing amongst savage and barbarous nations; but every newspaper one reads gives accounts of cases of infanticide, as practised by our own people, far more horrible than any known to the Australians or