Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/232

 128 PHILLIP 1790 and bags will be furnished ; and, finally, that no signal of amitj or invitation should be used in order to allure them to us, or if made on their part should be answered by us : for that such con- duct would not only be present treachery, but give them reason to distrust every future mark of peace and friendship on our part It is hardly necessary to say that the soldiers did not suc- ceed in surprising any of the suspected tribe. It is evident that Phillip at that time had not made himself acquainted NaUveson with the habits and customs of the natives when on the ' warpath, or he would not have entertained the idea of de- spatching a large armed force in order to seize the men he wanted. But his determination to inflict punishment for an act which he looked upon as wanton murder shows that his usual course of action towards the natives was not dictated by any misplaced feeling of sympathy, but was the result of his deliberate convictions on the subject. Lenient and for- bearing as he was towards them, he was not prepared to condone an unprovoked outrage on their part. In this instance there is some reason to believe that the opinion he had formed of the matter was not altogether a sound one. Tench informs us that " from the aversion uniformly shown by all the natives to this unhappy man (McEntire), he had long been suspected by us of having, in his excursions, shot and injured them." The manner in which the crime was committed would certainly lead one to suppose that it was entirely an act of revenge, provoked by some previous aggression on the part of the victim ; and so far it would serve to confirm Phillip's original theory with respect to the many attacks upon unarmed men of which complaint was made. Looking back now on his benevolent but unavailing efforts to civilise the natives, it seems matter for regret that so little should have been done by the Home Government — either in his time or in that of his successors — ^to establish some definite principles of action for the purpose of reclaim- ing them. The task of civilising a savage race was alto- An act of revenge. CiviliBaUon of the race. Digitized by Google