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enemy, and whei'e the result has been -what invariably happens, 
when a simple tribe of savages, used only to the i^rimeval customs of 
its forefathers, is all at once confronted -with the invaders of the 
highest type of civilization—' The place thereof hnoweth it no 
more.’ ” 
I fear, ladies and gentlemen, you will think I have chosen a 
very melancholy subject to address you upon, and I am compelled 
to admit that such is the case, but it can do us no harm to pause 
for a brief period and consider at what cost to other races of men 
and animals, the boasted spread of western civilization has been 
accomplished. This I have tried in some measure to do, and I 
would that any feeble effort of mine could in the least degree 
awaken us, as a nation, to the fearful responsibility which rests 
upon us more than any other people, inasmuch as the spread of 
colonization from our island home and its offsets has been so 
much greater. If, as seems to be the case, the native races with 
which we come in contact in our efforts to extend our commerce, 
and find fresh outlets for our surplus population, are doomed to 
rapid and inevitable extinction, surely this sad fact alone should 
be sufficient to insure their just and kindly treatment at our hands ; 
and in return for the soil, which we rightly or wrongly force theni 
most reluctantly to vacate, and which has too often been obtained 
rom them by means the most unjust, we are bound by common 
lumanity so to treat them as to win and deserve their confidence, 
and promote as much as possible their future happiness and 
welfare; whereas, it too frequently happens that the pioneers of 
colonization are the dregs of society, and that their cruelty and 
oppressmn leads to revolt, followed by reprisal, and ends in feud 
and ultimate extermination. 
That the indigenous faume of these distant lands should rapidly 
lose their distinctive characters is certain to follow, but the reckless 
way in which the result is brought about is too often matter of 
great regret, and perhaps loss to the colonists ; injudicious attempts 
at acclimatization often, unhappily too successful, forming one very 
prominent cause. But, as I have shown, the reckless destruction of 
life for trade piirpose.s, legitimate in themselves if kept within 
