But Time Would Fail, And I Fear It Would Be Deemed Too Prolix, Were I To Attempt To Particularise In Ever So Small A Degree, The Previous State, Condition, And Declension Of The Original Inhabitants Of So Extensive A Province."

Upon the same subject, His Honour the Superintendent of Port Phillip thus writes:

-

"On this subject, I beg leave to remark that great impediments evidently do interpose themselves in the way of instituting proper judicial inquiry into the causes and consequences of the frequent acts of collision between the settlers and the aboriginal natives, and into the conduct of the settlers on such occasions. I am quite ready to lament with the Protectors, that numerous as the cases have unfortunately been in which the lives of the Aborigines have been taken in this district, IN NO SINGLE INSTANCE HAS THE SETTLER BEEN BROUGHT BEFORE THE PROPER TRIBUNAL."

Many similar instances might be adduced to shew the little chance there is of evidence enough being procurable, even to cause the aggressor to be put upon his trial, still less to produce his conviction.

Independently of the instances of wanton outrage, which sometimes are perpetrated on the outskirts of the settled districts by the lowest and most abandoned of our countrymen, there are occasions also, when equal injuries are inflicted unintentionally, from inexperience or indiscretion, on the part of those whose duty it is to protect rather than destroy, when the innocent have been punished instead of the guilty [Note 52 at end of para.], and thus the very efforts made to preserve peace and good order, have inadvertently become the means of subverting them.

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