Page:The State and Position of Western Australia.djvu/39

 was a gallant and enterprising officer. The great utility of a few mounted police in the colony was very apparent in this skirmish.

Though the loss of life in this affair is a very painful consideration, and deeply to be deplored, yet it seems manifest that without some severe defeat to convince this tribe of their inferiority in power to the whites, a petty and harassing warfare might have been indefinitely prolonged, with ultimately much heavier loss on both sides. It may now be confidently expected that this tribe will cease to assume a hostile attitude, and will follow the example of the tribes on the Swan and Canning rivers, who are evincing, as before shown, a desire to be on friendly terms with the settlers.

The author cannot let this opportunity pass, without calling the attention of the public to the claims which the natives of New Holland have upon it. It must be confessed that to those tribes, hitherto, British example and connexion have, for the most part, been found the very reverse of beneficial. It is impossible for a moment to maintain or vindicate the abstract right of civilized nations to establish themselves in the territories of savage tribes, without, at least, acknowledging that such intrusions involve the settlers, and the nation to which they belong, in deep and lasting responsibilities: in other words, that the latter are bound, by the strongest ties of moral obligation, to assist the natives in accommodating themselves to the great changes they have to undergo; for it is incumbent upon us ever to bear in mind that, by our entry into, and establishment in the country, the natives are gradually deprived of their