Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 143]
2
the assault, and stated that he had received abuse for interference on behalf of the young aboriginal woman ! Neither the black woman who was assaulted, nor the young aboriginal man with whom she was sleeping when she was violently forced from him, could be put into the witness-box as evidence, because of the present anomalous state of the British law, and thus the magistrates were compelled to dismiss the case ! I am made acquainted with murders at Newcastle amongst the tribes, and which will yet occasion more, but nothing can be done to prevent these acts of cruelty one with the other, in our present state of judicature, and yet they are all British Subjects, and the bench publicly and solemnly pronounces them under the protection of British law !
Since the transactions related took place, the royal disallowance of the " Act to allow the aborigines of New South Wales to be received as competent witnesses in criminal cases," has been gazetted, and thus leaves them without any hope of redress, exposed to the violence of any one, excepting proof can be obtained from white witnesses, which is most easily avoided in this Colony. I had apprised them of the expected piece of justice to the aborigines ; I am now perfectly at a loss to describe to them their position. Christian laws will hang the aborigines
for violence done to Christians, but Christian laws will not protect them from the aggressions of nominal Christians, because aborigines must give evidence only upon oath ; though the Sovereign Head of Christian nations commands to "SWEAR NOT AT ALL." Thus a strict adherence to an anti-Christian practice, derived from heathen authorities, involves us in difficulties respecting the aborigines, as precludes this helpless people from due protection ; treats them not as men, but as the beasts that perish ; permits them to bite and devour each other with impunity ; and after all affords no stronger guarantee for eliciting truth than could be obtained by a solemn declaration in a court of justice, subject to all the pains and penalties of perjury : " for a good man will speak the truth without an oath, whilst the most solemn oath will not bind a wicked one :"conviction of, and punishment for perjury, being the only dread in the minds of those who regard not Him who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins. An appeal to the every-day practice of our courts of justice will too abundantly prove the lamentable truth of the assertion, without the remotest fear of contradiction. Should it be assumed, that the minds of the aborigines are not susceptible to ensure veracity in their evidence, it is evidently erroneous, for though they are naturally without the knowledge of God our Saviour, yet they have a secret fear of some unknown being, whose name they mention with awe. This sacred veneration keeps possession of them, even when some dawn of the light of our heavenly Saviour has shone in their darkened mind ; for instance-an aboriginal lad, now named William Burd, who has resided with me for some months, was asked if he knew who was the Saviour ? to which he replied, "Yes." The question was then put ; " What is his name." to which he answered, that " he did not like to mention it, because it was sacred ! " and when further pressed, he hesitated, until assured that it was not irreverent to mention it with solemnity. Nor is this a solitary instance ; I have noticed a similar feeling in others. And yet this aborigine, whose mind is impressed with sacred awe at the name of Jesus, is excluded from all protection in our courts of law through a very questionable Christianized-heathen custom of legal appeals to the deity ! Surely a Christian nation can never intend to preclude her able subjects, whom she has compelled to be amenable to her laws, from the pale of her humanity, and leave them to certain destruction ! But should it be replied, " Teach them to swear ; instruct them to observe our oaths, if their minds be in the state described, and then they will have protection." Be it so ; but then it would be also necessary to point out to them the authority from the new covenant dispensation, to instruct them from " the commandments of the Lord," to swear by his holy name, or by " Him who sitteth on the throne," and instantly it would become our duty to teach the aborigine how to swear according to the most sacred obligation of the law of Christ, than which there can be no higher authority in the universe. But what must an aborigine think at present of the sincerity of our profession as a boasted Christian nation, when not an individual can be legally believed, from the most exalted on the throne to the meanest that holds the staff of office in our Christian state, excepting that individual speaks under the sacredness of an oath ? And yet we are a Christian people, subject to that divine law which says, " Let your communication be Yea, yea : Nay, nay : for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil!" When the South Sea Islanders renounced heathenism, embraced Christianity, and desired of us a code of laws, no swearing, nor oaths of any description were introduced in their judicatory system ; and to guard against false witnessing, the penalty attached thereto was, whatever punishment would have befallen the falsely accused person through deceitful testimony, would be inflicted on the guilty witness. Twenty years have now nearly elapsed, and no inconvenience has arisen from the exclusion of oaths, and why new countries like Australia should be encumbered with oaths, requires the grave consideration of the statesman and the divine.
The cases already mentioned show the pitiable state in which the aborigines are abandoned