.

In the present lamentable instance, however, the natives could not have
acted under the influence of an impulse like this. Here the Europeans had
been long located in the neighbourhood, they were known to, and had been
frequently visited by the Aborigines, and the intercourse between them
had in some instances at least been of a friendly character. What then
could have been the inducement to commit so cold and ruthless an act? or
what was the object to be attained by it? Without pausing to seek for
answers to these questions which, in the present case, it must be
difficult, if not impossible, to solve, it may be worth while to take a
view of the conduct of the Aborigines of Australia, generally, towards
the invaders and usurpers of their rights, setting aside altogether any
acts of violence or injury which they may have committed under the
influence of terror, naturally excited by the first presence of strangers
among them, and which arise from an impulse that is only shared by them
in common with mankind generally. I shall be borne out, I think, by facts
when I state that the Aborigines of this country have seldom been guilty
of wanton or unprovoked outrages, or committed acts of rapine or
bloodshed, without some strongly exciting cause, or under the influence
of feelings that would have weighed in the same degree with Europeans in
similar circumstances. The mere fact of such incentives not being clearly
apparent to us, or of our being unable to account for the sanguinary
feelings of natives in particular cases, by no means argues that
incentives do not exist, or that their feelings may not have been justly
excited.

If we find the Aborigines of Australia ordinarily acting under the
influence of no worse motives or passions than usually actuate man in a
civilised state, we ought in fairness to suppose that sufficient
provocative for retaliation has been given in those few instances of
revenge, which, our imperfect knowledge of the circumstances attending
them does not enable us satisfactorily to account for. In considering
this question honestly, we must take into account many points that we too
often lose sight of altogether when discussing the conduct of the
natives, and more especially when we are doing so under the excitement
and irritation arising from recent hostilities. We should remember:--

First, That our being in their country at all is, so far as their ideas
of right and wrong are concerned, altogether