ginal tribes of New South
Wales, and the result of the attempts which have been made, under the
sanction of Her Majesty's Government, to civilize and protect these
people.

"I have read with great attention, but with deep regret, the accounts
contained in these despatches. After making every fair allowance for the
peculiar difficulty of such an undertaking, it seems impossible any
longer to deny that the efforts which have hitherto been made for the
civilization of the Aborigines have been unavailing; that no real
progress has yet been effected, and that there is no reasonable ground to
expect from them greater suceess in future. You will be sensible with how
much pain and reluctance I have come to this opinion, but I cannot shut
my eyes to the conclusion which inevitably follows from the statements
which you have submitted to me on the subject.

"Your despatch of the 11th March last, No. 50, contains an account of the
several missions up to that date, with reports likewise from the chief
Protector and his assistants, and from the Crown Land Commissioners. The
statements respecting the missions, furnished not by their opponents, nor
even by indifferent parties, but by the missionaries themselves, are, I
am sorry to say, as discouraging as it is possible to be. In respect to
the mission at Wellington Valley, Mr. Gunther writes in a tone of
despondency, which shews that he has abandoned the hope of success. The
opening of his report is indeed a plain admission of despair; I sincerely
wish that his facts did not bear out such a feeling. But when he reports,
that after a trial of ten years, only one of all who have been attached
to the mission 'affords some satisfaction and encouragement;' that of the
others only four still remain with them, and that these continually
absent themselves, and when at home evince but little desire for
instruction; that 'their thoughtlessness, and spirit of independence,
ingratitude, and want of sincere, straightforward dealing, often try us
in the extreme;' that drunkenness is increasing, and that the natives are
'gradually swept away by debauchery and other evils arising from their
intermixture with Europeans,' I acknowledge that he has stated enough to
warrant his despondency, and to shew that it proceeds from no momentary
disappointment alone, but from a settled and reasonable conviction.

"Nor do the other missions hold out any greater encouragement. That at
Moreton Bay is admitted by Mr