The Bushman

The Bushman

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Title: The Bushman Life in a New Country
Author: Edward Wilson Landor
Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7181] [Yes, we are more than
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THE BUSHMAN: LIFE IN A NEW COUNTRY
BY EDWARD WILSON LANDOR

(ILLUSTRATION: "KANGAROO HUNTING.")
----------------------------
THE BUSHMAN.
LIFE IN A NEW COUNTRY
BY
EDWARD WILSON LANDOR.

PREFACE.
The British Colonies now form so prominent a portion of the Empire,
that the Public will be compelled to acknowledge some interest in their
welfare, and the Government to yield some attention to their wants. It is
a necessity which both the Government and the Public will obey with
reluctance.
Too remote for sympathy, too powerless for respect, the Colonies,
during ages of existence, have but rarely occupied a passing thought in
the mind of the Nation; as though their insignificance entitled them
only to neglect. But the weakness of childhood is passing away: the
Infant is fast growing into the possession and the consciousness of
strength, whilst the Parent is obliged to acknowledge the increasing
usefulness of her offspring.
The long-existing and fundamental errors of Government, under which
the Colonies have hitherto groaned in helpless subjection, will soon
become generally known and understood -- and then they will be
remedied.
In the remarks which will be found scattered through this work on the

subject of Colonial Government, it must be observed, that the system
only is assailed, and not individuals. That it is the system and not THE
MEN who are in fault, is sufficiently proved by the fact that the most
illustrious statesmen and the brightest talents of the Age, have ever
failed to distinguish themselves by good works, whilst directing the
fortunes of the Colonies. Lord John Russell, Lord Stanley, Mr.
Gladstone -- all of them high-minded, scrupulous, and patriotic
statesmen -- all of them men of brilliant genius, extensive knowledge,
and profound thought -- have all of them been but slightly appreciated
as Colonial rulers.
Their principal success has been in perpetuating a noxious system.
They have all of them conscientiously believed their first duty to be, in
the words of Lord Stanley, to keep the Colonies dependent upon the
Mother Country; and occupied with this belief, they have legislated for
the Mother Country and not for the Colonies. Vain, selfish,
fear-inspired policy! that keeps the Colonies down in the dust at the
feet of the Parent State, and yet is of no value or advantage to her. To
make her Colonies useful to England, they must be cherished in their
infancy, and carefully encouraged to put forth all the strength of their
secret energies.
It is not whilst held in leading-strings that they can be useful, or aught
but burthensome: rear them kindly to maturity, and allow them the free
exercise of their vast natural strength, and they would be to the parent
country her truest and most valuable friends.
THE COLONIES OF THE EMPIRE ARE THE ONLY LASTING
AND INALIENABLE MARKETS FOR ITS PRODUCE; and the first
aim of the political economist should be to develop to their utmost
extent the vast resources possessed by Great Britain in these her own
peculiar fields of national wealth. But the policy displayed throughout
the history of her Colonial possessions, has ever been the reverse of
this. It was that grasping and ungenerous policy that called forth a
Washington, and cost her an empire. It is that same miserable and
low-born policy that still recoils upon herself, depriving her of vast
increase of wealth and power in order to keep the chain upon her
hapless children, those ambitious Titans whom she trembles to unbind.
And yet poor Old England considers herself