Читать книгу Poison Under Their Lips - Mark Svendsen - Страница 2

The Capricornian,

Rockhampton, 1876

The information which came to hand on Wednesday, stating that a man named Paddy Morris, well-known in Rockhampton, had been murdered by blacks at a spot between Westwood and Windah Station, will probably serve to convince our authorities that the time has not yet arrived for lessening the black police force, nor for removing the small bodies of men now stationed near the various outside townships further into the interior. Settlers must be protected by the Government, or they will protect themselves; the latter means, of course, extermination. There is such a thing as being severe without being cruel. If proper measures be adopted, the blacks can be kept away from thickly populated districts, and deterred from being dangerous in the sparsely inhabited parts of the country; and if this be accomplished, it would be a merciful policy compared to that of allowing the settlers and the blacks to fight out their own battles. It is too late to inquire into the respective rights of the whites and blacks; the former have taken possession of the country and will keep it; they are gradually spreading out over the whole of this grand island continent, and as the former multiply and increase, so in proportion do the latter decrease; the foot of the white man is as fatal to the aboriginal as was the cross on the heel of the Wandering Jew to mankind, wherever it was seen, from the far northern steppes to the burning sands of the south — therefore the question before the Government is not as to whether they can humanize, civilize, christianize, and educate the doomed race, but how they can render their passage towards the inevitable extermination as easy and as painless to them, and as creditable to us as possible.

The only thing that can be done without positive injustice and cruelty is to keep them outside the ever-widening ring of society — as we advance they must retire, or the land will be soaked with the blood of the black man. To keep them outside this ring a police force is peremptorily necessary; that force cannot be kept in an efficient condition without men, and men cannot be obtained without money. Thus the whole question turns upon a question of expenditure, and we are quite under the belief that the people of Queensland would not begrudge the annual outlay of a large sum of money in order to secure ends in every way so desirable. It must be borne in mind that a fearful retribution follows upon the shedding by a black of the blood of one white man, who in nine cases out of ten is the original offender and who is regarded by those who slay him, not only as one who has committed a wrong, but who is an invader and a spoiler. The rooting out of the Heathen has been under the Christian dispensation very successfully performed — half a century hence the labour of love will cease in Queensland — there will be none left to root out.

Psalm 140

(King James Bible)

Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man:

preserve me from the violent man;

Who imagine mischiefs in their hearts;

continually are they gathered together for war.

They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent;

adders’ poison is under their lips.

Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;

preserve me from the violent man;

who has purposed to overthrow my goings.

The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords;

they have spread a net by the wayside;

they have set gins for me.