it was foreseen that the race submitted to them would
be savages, and under this foresight the necessary provision was made for
the event.

We cannot argue that this race was originally in a state of civilization,
and that from the introduction of certain laws amongst them, the tendency
of which was to reduce them to a state of barbarism, or from some other
cause, they had gradually sunk to their present condition; for in that
case how could those laws which provide solely for the necessities of a
people in their present state have been introduced amongst them? Neither
could they have been invented according to necessities and emergencies
which a savage state has produced, for under such circumstances it is
impossible that they could have been promulgated and enforced throughout
so wide a range of country, and amongst a dispersed race of barbarians of
such a variety of dispositions, who acknowledge no chief or lawgiver, and
are so characteristically impatient of restraint.

Without in this place attempting to form and to support any theories
founded upon the views I have just put forward, I may state my impression
that it would seem, from the laws and customs of the natives of
Australia, to have been willed that this people should until a certain
period remain in their present condition, which is consequently not the
result of mere accident, or of the natural constitution of man. From the
peculiar nature of their institutions it was impossible that they could
emerge from a state of barbarism whilst these remained in force, and from
the tenacity and undeviating strictness with which they are retained, and
the strong power they hold over the savage mind, it seems equally
impossible that they could have been abrogated, or even altered, until
the race subjected to them came into contact with a civilized community
whose presence might exercise a new influence, under which the ancient
system would expire or be swept away.

We may, I think, fairly produce this as a proof that the progress of
civilization over the earth has been directed, set bounds to, and
regulated by certain laws framed by Infinite wisdom; and, although such
views may by some be deemed visionary, I feel some confidence that these
laws are as certain and definite as those which control the movements of
the heavenly bodies. I believe moreover, that they are capable in some
degree of being studied and reduced to order, although no attempt to do
so has hither