"Do not imagine, Mr. Wigton, that I argue the impracticability of your scheme from any spirit of opposition; nothing is further from my intention. I am far rather desirous to accomplish their disenthralment, though I fear it cannot be effected without alienating them first from their own peculiar habits."
"I will not attempt to argue with you on the subject," replied Mr. Wigton, "because I cannot but deny the theory that questions the attributes of the Almighty. I will rather hope to prove to you the fallacy of your sophistry by results. You say that Jemmy Davies is educated; I can see that he is civilized; and can also perceive, from his attention to me yesterday, that he is willing to be instructed, and susceptible of the Christian impress. And I ask, why cannot the others of his tribe be made the same? His training has been purely of a secular kind; whereas it would have been as easy, while he was being taught the rudiments of the English language, to have had the truths of the gospel inculcated; and he would now have been in all probability, if not a Christian, at least a moral man, and less prone to return to his former barbarous nature. I would propose, while instructing the mature, to have a school for the young, so as to put them under a regular course of training; and I have no doubt whatever that the result would be a speedy regeneration."
"Then, my dear sir," replied Tom Rainsfield, "to effect it you would have to remove the children entirely from the influence of their parents; as otherwise you would never be able to retain them under you care. The parents would soon begin to feel the restraint of your tuition, and would remove to escape it; while the children, nothing loath to resume their freedom, would gladly accompany them. To make such a system effective I believe you would require to detain the children, even against the wishes of their parents; and, when their education was complete, remove them elsewhere to learn some handicraft so as to accustom them to labour. Then having been brought up in the comforts of the whites, and having learnt to earn a livelihood by the use of their own hands, they would have lost all yearnings after the life of their kindred; especially as their parents, by that time, would have been taught to look upon them as lost. In a word, to accomplish their amelioration, you must carry out a system of domestic expatriation, continuing to separate the young from the old until the former will all have been reclaimed, and the latter in the course of time (as a new generation grows up) will have totally disappeared."
"I think there is some feasibleness in your separation scheme," said Mr. Wigton, "but I think it would be a cruel alternative to dismember families in that way; and I do not despair of effecting the desired object without such stringent measures, which I question if the government and society would sanction. However, here we are at the camp; we will see the result of our present interview, and then have an opportunity of further speculation on this theme."
But as the party rode into the area of the camp they were surprised to see that it was empty. Not a black was visible; and to our friend's repeated "cooeys" not a return sound was to be heard, not even the distant bark of the aborigines' dogs. So they concluded that the camp had been broken up, and Jemmy Davies and his tribe retired to another part of the scrub; and as they turned, disappointed to retrace their steps, Tom said to Mr. Wigton, "I think you have in this conclusive evidence of there being no guarantee that without restriction the blacks will ever receive instruction."
CHAPTER X.
"Come let us fill the flowing bowl
Until it doth run over;