138 HOW TO LEGISLATE [PART I. 



no means shows his inferiority : the lion that tears 

 the deer into pieces is not therefore made of nobler 

 material. We, who with " firewater," with the 

 musket, and disease, war against the unoffending 

 tribes of coloured men, have no right to talk of 

 their inferiority, but should rather perceive a defi- 

 ciency in our own state of civilization. 



The subject of preserving the natives from exter- 

 mination by the spreading of colonization has been 

 the study of many excellent men ; perhaps it has 

 been thought more difficult than it actually is. If 

 we dismiss the belief that there is something in 

 their physical configuration or mental disposition 

 to prevent their continuance when in contact with 

 Europeans, or that there is any natural necessity 

 for their giving way to another race, and if we are 

 inclined to exercise what we profess by our laws 

 and our religion, I see no difficulty in legislating 

 for the different people amongst whom colonies have 

 been established, although the minutiae of a legis- 

 lative design must always be modified according to 

 the different races. I think there can be little dif- 

 ference of opinion as to the general principles ; but 

 to adapt them to a particular country must be the 

 result of a knowledge of the principal causes of the 

 decay of the natives in that country. In the follow- 

 ing pages I shall merely speak of the natives of New 

 Zealand, and attempt to show how that fate can 

 be averted which, in the opinion of many, seems 

 inevitably to await them. 



