Vous êtes sur la page 1sur 7
20 Anthony Trollope among the castaways of Fortune, who condemns to assured ruin those who know not cither how to resist her, or obey; between thi Say, and the taking of your appointed part in the heroism of R resolving to share in the victory which is to the weak rather t strong; and the binding yourselves by that law, which, though through lingering night and labouring day, makes a man’s life to be as 4 tree planted by the water-side, that bringeth forth his f ET FOLIUM EJUS NON DI ET OMNIA, QUIECUNQUE FACIET, PROSPERABUNTUR* See also: Chamberlain; Beames; Blyden; Seeley; Tennyson; Trollope. ANTHONY TROLLOPE (1815-1882) As comparison with Froude's writing (4-v) will show, Trollope's think ing om race was ofa piece with imperial ideology of his tine. His bce ion concerning the inevitable extinction of the Aberigines ft sith socal evolutionist ideas based om the concept of ladder of being on hick some progresed and others were doomed to drop away. Trollope’ fierce antipathy 1 philanthropic ventures also deepened his race pes simism. Eleawhere in his book Australia, in which this chapler apped ‘and in South AfFica (1878), he emphasizes that the black man cannot be stvilzed except by learning how 10 work. Complicating this racial work ‘thie, homever, his concession that the Aborigines were in possesion of ia before the white man cane. rough, with the intention rishane;*—and I did so. of returning thence overland by Gympi Thad touched at Maryborough on my way northwards, and as I saw a luster of Australian black men at Maryborough than ‘elsewhere, and as the question of the treatment of the black men is at Anthony Trollope a1 from or may be given to them by their neighbox As the steamers run up the river they swim off, HY 2} Clowial & A998 {: Aw Auttalo dignity of deportment which is natu have seen it. To my eyes the deportment of the dignified ofa sapient monkey imitating the gait and manners te dandy. the race by the name officially given w it styles them ‘aboriginals’. We saw ‘Aboriginal Boney’ on the police-sheet, when he was standing his trial in respect of the bit of tobacco which he had not succeeded in stealing. ‘This is prt Woha, “ASABE. Oxford Caz. OU western coast in 1688, and again in 1699. He tried to make friends with tacked his men party, and at mentions with great regret make them work, but ey stood like statues, without motion, but 0 many monkeys... . so we forced to carry our water ourselves.” This we ean imagine very remembering that these Australians had never been called upon for an hour's work in their lives. Dampier tried to clothe s bur they preferred being naked. But the chiefs were pa us of one young warrior who was daubed with white pai cei, Cd. Evy Utoaturt A570 aus: Clete 6 22 Anthony Trollope beauty or for ornament, one would think, but, as some wi jd to do, he seemed thereby to design (his, his painting, added very mu for they all of them have the most u 1770, Cook encountered them at and he endeavoured to make “We thought it remarkable that of all me had the least appearance of ch people we had yet seen, the old woman herself beit ‘Adam and Eve went equal shame. Cook, however, certainly endeavoured to tr n ive in societies, but like other animals, were scattered about along the coasts, and in the woods. Of their manner of life, however, we could de, as we were never able to form the least connection ‘come near enough to parley; nor did they touch a single that we had left at their huts and places they frequented, on purpose for them to take away.* ‘When Governor Phil first governor —arrived on Cook's better with the blacks. He found asa matter ofcourse, —but they took the presents fh him and courteous. When the white men came to ctl in numbers round the grand inlet ofthe sea, which is now Sydney Harbour, the kangaroo ran away, and the fish became scarce inthe waters, and the black men lost their usual food. hey began to perish from starvation, and of ‘no man owned individual proper their confines Gaptain Hunter, who was with Gove afterwards himself governor, took great pains with th Anthony Trollope 3 starved, their accustomed food having been driven away, and others and colonization,—‘that on the 21st of August a large party of them Janded near the Observatory, attacked employed there, and killed a goat and carri re people who were A in triumph. This was the boldest attempt yet made and caused the governor himself to in pursuit. The live siock were so few in number that even the loss of a single goat was looked upon as a public misfortune. ‘The governor, however, neither succeeded in recovering the carcass of the goat, nor in overtaking the sable cattle stealers. In the following month the natives made another attempt on the stock. On this weep and goats were prepared the part of the 0 innocent, — should stamp out and mi abandon his purpose of peopling A\ thropical advocates for themselves the enemies of the is taken for petty sure that no unfairness either on one side or other can lead to good results. ‘The Australian grazier can defend his cattle. The pi distriets, I believe in all districts, would have absolutely destroyed the flocks and made grazing in Australia impossible, had not the squatter defended himself either with a red hand,—or with a hand prepared to be red if occasion required. The stealing of cat tribes of black men,—or rather the slaughter ‘man never has an idea of taking away the cattle and making them his 4 Anthony Trollope own, and desires to but, nevertheless, bbe done with a tribe of Australian the Jedburgh kind,* or there ble slaughter;—bu yw has interfered whe 1ce has been attainable, and ‘men have been hung for their barbarity. There seems to be an prevalent with many that the black man is not defended by the law. This is an erroneous idea. The black man has been treated with all possible tenderness by the law;—but his life is such that the law ‘can hardly reach him either to defend or to punish. as scarcely atthe of the number of aborigines whose ding the words of they stood in lonely situations, frequently attemy ives. ... The governor also signified his determ any of the natives were taken in the act of robbing the settlers, to hang them in chains near the spot as an example to others. Could it have riate no more than he can eat at the time, Anthony Trollope 25 driving away their kangaroos, taki them, and hanging them in ch was only natural and right. The white man, of course, introducing civilisation; but the black man did not want civil He wanted fish, kangaroos, and liberty. And yet is there any one bold ‘enough to go back to the first truth and say that the white man should not have taken the land because it belonged to the black man;—or that if since the beginning of things, similar justice had prevailed throughout the world, the world would now have been nearer the truth and honesty in its ways than it is? ‘These people were in total ignorance of the use of metals, they went naked, they ill-used their women, they had no houses, they produced nothing from the soil. They had not even flint arrow-heads. ‘They practised infanticide. In some circumstances of life they practised cannibalism. They were and are savages of the lowest kind. to these two propensities, th cach other and obeying the laws, Mr Bennet gives the tree bears fruit is very restricted, and it bears in profusion only once in about three years. When this occurs the supply is vastly larger than can be consumed by the tribes within whose territory the trees are found, Consequently, large numbers of strangers visit the district some of them coming from very great distances, and all are welcome tw consume as much as they desire; for there is enough and to spare ‘during the few months while the season lasts. The fruit is ofa richly farinaceous kind, and the blacks quickly fatten upon it, But alter a short indulgence on an exclusive vegetable diet, having previously Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope a entirely upon animal food, they dare not mngaroos, ‘possums, and bandicoot are alike sacred from their touch, because ‘necessary for the existence of the friendly tribe ‘vhose hospitality they are partaking, In this condition some of the ranger tribes resort to the horrible practice of cannibalism, and ‘curifice one of their own number to provide the longed-for feast of humanity, o the information, —who think that the : except under ith the fate of the poor creatures of inferior races with ‘whom he comes in contact on the distant shores to which his search for wealth may lead him. ‘The settler, a a matter of course, i in quest of fortune, and is one who, become rough and less se When this philanthropy first becam England, we were ourselves the own 1 great and glorious task of abol other nations might afterwar its expression in in our own colonies, tat horror for ourselves, had to be of the necessities oftheir existence, and the in the severe pressure on the supply of food which, under ordinary ‘Gircumstances, must have prevailed among the aboriginal tribes. The Strangers dared not, in their utmost longing, touch the wild because they were absolutely necessary for the exist to which the district belonged. ‘They might eat thei bbunya-bunya, because that was in profusion, and preser given them the right to it. Such a singular condition of ¢ protected. Some years since I ventured to express my opinion on that franer* OF all te sbecrdtos in politcal cconemy which T ever ‘encountered, that of protecting the labour of the negroes in Jamaica ry eyes the most gross. And it appeared 10 parliament, statesmen, or even merchants, was by the very nature of the man. ‘That a rac in Queensland; general among the Australian blacks.* “Their laws, especially with regard to marriage, are complex and wonderful. ‘Their corroborees, or festival dances, are very wonderful “Their sagacity, especial ‘wonderful, The skill with which they which they possess is very wonderful. But for years, probabl inany centuries, they have made no progress, and the coming of the i ‘them has had no tendency to civilise,—only a them. {question Lam now endeavouring to discuss is that ofthe white ‘duty in respect to these blacks,—and also the further question, ‘ther the white Englishman in Australia has done his duty. There Fea strong sect of men in England,—a sect with whom I fully Sympathize in their aspirations, though I have sometimes found ‘on equal terms with the white man, and that any land, state oF ict in which the negro is empowered for awhile to have ascend ‘ency over the white man by number of suflrages or other causes, will Ihave but a woeful destiny till such a condition of things be made to -. White men will quit such land in disgust,—or the white 28 ‘Australian aboriginal. The idea prevails that he also may be a member “That he is infinitely lower in be no doubt, Civilisation among the African tibes is mot very high, ‘and our knowledge as to the point which it has reached is st fective. But where he has come within the compass of the white man’s power, he has been taught to work for his bread, —which ofall teaching is the most important. The Australian black man has not ‘been so taught, and, in spite ofa few instances to the contrary, [think Tam justified in saying that he cannot be so taught, Individual instances are adduced,—instances which are doubtless true,—of ‘continued service having been rendered by aboriginals; but they are se few,_-so contrary to the life of the tribes as any traveller may see town, or more frequ« distance by his gin, which wealthy idleness i toil. His sinews are neve ‘cunning good: his native savagery, and would be more dangerous we in this begging, sk y of deportment. ‘Our friends at home with the phil Australian colonist repeatedly nothing but his vices,—and they mean the charge to cont bitterest reproach, A man going out among other men gets taught learn. ‘The aboriginals have become drunkards af and thieves; and it is said of them, that they sel ‘men, That there are white drunkards and white thieves in Australias Anthony Trollope and de ‘is countenance the fact that he has resolved to beg, ypossum,—and at any rate to be free from toil. This Ihas to me been the most odious part of his altogether siognomy. When he has mixed much among white men, and “d that he is quite safe in numerous communities from the ine tumoured impudenee which is more revolting than Anthony Trollope 29 certainly true; and no doubt there is immorality in regard to ‘women,—though in new colonies and inhabited countries such vice is always less prominent than in the large town |, aman and a brother, or what not gifts than the African negro there can wives. Women are kindly, unexa black men learned also some of has been made to teach them one who will reflect of how great value would have been their thews and sinews if only they could have been induced to work can you teach any good lesson to a man who will only hold his head erect ashe grins and asks you for sixpence, ora glass of grog, or a bit of tobacco, ora pair of old trousers? Ifhe gets the sixpence, no doubt he will drink it;—with some sirtuous publican obeys the law. But all publicans are not virtuous, and so fri may be said with truth that we tech the black man our vices. So far asthe aw can protect the black man from the learning of tice it has striven to do s0;-—but no law in any country was ever efficacious to such purpose. Its difficult to make intelligible to those who know nothing of ‘of these people,—the mixture of nd good-humour, which pre- is heart despise the fe upon him and his tribe if he employed ata distance, he exchanges his ferocity for confiding in his black gamekeeper a5 he to carry. When he hat he ing life, fopic mantle it he has taught the black an aboriginal might be _ swallow al the wine. Children of mixed breed, —of white fathers and black mothers are ‘women to white icine | Anthony Trollope ‘become a race as they have done in the western nd heard of instances in which girls so born have world. I have teen brought up as domestic servants. But it seems that they always. return to the bush and become some black man’s gin,—or strive to do 0.1 heard of one girl who hacl been trained to take eare of children till een. She had never known savage life, and had become ate, But at fourteen she vanished into the bush. In .w a girl about fourteen waiting at table, and was Thad made repeated attempts at escape. I ventured to ask the lady by what right she was retained, and how caught when she as to retention, and told me she was fou slavery,—for th ‘cognised by any legal transfer of service. She had been picked up, and used kindly,—and was now the possession of the ‘escape and become a gin ‘one of the colonies and a ‘black man has not yet learned to be a fine gentleman deportment, barely taking the trouble to open his mouth as he asks for sixpence and tobacco. does hardly reach him in those known only to his tribe, who do not recognise our law, and interference. He cannot be traced. ‘The very hue of his face lence as to his identity. He cannot be found, and he is sant squatter, whom he attacks or whose beasts 1 he must be redhanded himself, or that the black ask for prevents € never missed. The he kills, knows Anthony Trologe man wll zo unpunished: an ia be punish ie or him ont int for pty pilerings thr he means of living. ng. ‘The black men mined 1 be his enemies, and Is himself bouns ‘but scruples won't — resolves itself 0 this—had men who were its the country from the bla its owners, and have the he black sill go westward and northwoed een PoeeesiNg colonists who ward in search ive the black men back, secing safe creat lana the right 1 together? IF they have mo such ght olive wrong to do ee that they cannot live hen as the whole colons, emery colonizing system of Great ir nations su the Portuguese, the hands, pe Deh ie : ao aoe 80 should we have ‘ ined;—or wi jak F 32 John Beames tribes, who knew nothing of them, ar as enemies. Which party was to blame for this bloodshed,—the Messrs. Jardine who were risking their own lives to save the inhabitants of a distant settlement, —or the poor blacks who were against unknown and encroaching enemies? In this case no thoughtless arrogance, no white would have been glad enough to have made their progress without fighting battles, and fought when they did fight simply in sel protection, And yet the blacks were invaded—most unjustly and cruelly as they must have felt, (OF the Australian black man we may certainly say that he has to {go That he should perish without unnecessary suffering should be the aim of all who are concerned in the matter. But no good can be done by giving to the aboriginal a character which he does not deserve, or by speaking of the treatment which he receives in language which the facts do not warrant. ‘See also: Clarke; Kingsley; McKay, ‘Cudjoe Fresh From de Lecture’ Woolf. JOHN BEAMES (1837-1902) Jokn Beames's Memoirs of his thirty-five-year carcer in the Indian Ci ‘Service gives a clear impression of the daily office routine—"the day workin Kipling'sphrase—on which the empire resied, not only in India, ‘but also in the many other more recently established native colonies where ‘administration was generally modelled on the Indian system. Work, as Beames points out, is rule; and rule is processing petitions, making grammars, working efficiently and on time. As Leonard Woolf (4.v:) ‘would find out more than thirty years later in Ceylon, through ‘utmost punctuality and strictness’ a young Englishman fresh from Oxbridge could rapidly gain promotion tothe pesition of minor despot ofan entire district. John Beames 33 officers in India is its variety. One has no fear of getting wearied by ‘monotonous routine, or by perpetually hammering away at one unchanging task. In the course of one day's work one has a dozen or ‘more different things to do, cach presenting some new feature of fatigue of keeping mind and body on the stretch’ ‘ever-varying calls on one’s attention, and the joy (than wl no greater—and which I sigh for now in my unemployed old age) of that one is working and ruling and making oneself useful God’s world. A brief outline of an ordinary day’s work may be given once for al. We got up at five or thereabouts, drank a cup of tea while cour horses were being brought, and went for a ride. IFT had official work to do, I went alone, but mostly my wife and I went together. On ends and rode with them, oF stopped to ik and 8, discussed any mat ‘was settled in my study for two hours’ work at my big book, ‘my Comparative Grammar* At wen, bath and breakfast and off to ccutcherry* in my brougham, a drive of three miles, during which 1 read oficial leters or thought over the day’s business. On reach- ing office about eleven, the first thing was to take the Faujdari or Magistrate’s work. ‘The public crowded into my large court-room and presented many petitions, each of which was read to me by a clerk and orders passed thereon. Most of them were plaints in criminal cases, which were made over to the various subordinate “Magistrates for disposal. Then came the great police charge-book, ‘which were entered all the criminal cases sent up that day from the

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi