5. The plea generally set up in defence of this principle is that the natives of this country are a conquered people, and that it is an act of generosity to allow them the full power of exercising their own laws upon themselves; but this plea would appear to be inadmissible; for, in the first place, savage and traditional customs should not be confounded with a regular code of laws; and secondly, when Great Britain insures to a conquered country the privilege of preserving its own laws, all persons resident in this territory become amenable to the same laws, and proper persons are selected by the Government to watch over their due and equitable administration; nothing of this kind either exists or can exist with regard to the customs of the natives of Australia; between these two cases then there is no apparent analogy. 6. I would submit therefore that it is necessary from the moment the aborigines of this country are declared British subjects, they should, as far as possible, be taught that the British laws are to supersede their own, so that any native who is suffering under their own customs may have the power of an appeal to those of Great Britain; or, to put this in its true light, that all authorized persons should, in all instances, be required to protect a native from the violence of his fellows, even though they be in the execution of their own laws. 7. So long as this is not the case the older natives have at their disposal the means of effectually preventing the civilization of any individuals of their own tribe, and those among them who may be inclined to adapt themselves to the European habits and mode of life will be deterred from so doing by their fear of the consequences that the displeasure of others may draw down upon them. 8. So much importance am I disposed to attach to this point that I do not hesitate to assert my full conviction that, whilst those tribes which are in communication with Europeans are allowed to execute their barbarous laws and customs upon one another, so long will they remain hopelessly immersed in their present state of barbarism: and, however unjust such a proceeding might at first sight appear, I believe that the course pointed out by true humanity would be to make them from the very commencement amenable to the British laws, both as regards themselves and Europeans; for I hold it to be imagining a contradiction to suppose that individuals subject to savage and barbarous laws can rise into a state of civilization which those laws have a manifest tendency to destroy and overturn. 9. I have known many instances of natives who have been almost or quite civilized being compelled by other natives to return to the bush; more particularly girls who have been betrothed in their infancy and who, on approaching the years of puberty, have been compelled by their husbands to join them.