The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1881-02-03
Colonization VI Human Rights.

The literature of all nations abounds
with definitions of human rights. The re-
ligions of all nations abound with beau
tiful ethical principals and maxims. But
I'LL history demonstrates that the only
rule which has been followed by man.
kind from the earliest times till now, in
their dealing with weaker peoples, has
been the law of force. This has been
very clearly illustrated in the matter of
colonization. Whenever an advanced
nation has found it expedient to establish
branches in other parts of the world, it
has adopted the convenient theory that all
races which could not meet it on an
equality in battle should be treated as
inferior creatures, and as having no
rights-not even the right to life-which
the superior race was bound
to respect. This rule has
been followed with an almost I'M
deviating persistency from the begin
ming. To comprehend the real ethical
character of it, however, it will be
necessary to put ourselves for the mo-
ment in the position of an ''inferior"
race. Suppose then that hitherto I'M
known race of men, as far in advance of
us as we are in advance of the Red In
dian. should some day appear with a
fleet on the American coast Suppose
that they should land force armed with
such weapons of destruction as would
place us completely at their mercy. Sup
pose they should proceed to appropriate
all the territory they needed, ousting the
present possessors or killing them. Sup
pose that presently they should be joined
by fresh bodies of their countrymen,
and that they should then push their
way into the heart of the land, over
throwing our civilization everywhere and
substituting their own for it, trampling
upon our institutions, destroying our
industries, suppressing our religious OBJ.
servances, and enforcing their strange
laws upon us. Should we be disposed
to find excuses for this kind of invasion,
or should we hold, as has been held here
tofore by all so-called ''civilized" races
that the superior advancement of these
new corners entitled them to do as they
pleased with us and ours? Occasionally
case occurs in which we get glimmer-
ing perception of the monstrous wrongs
which civilization perpetrates in this
way, but even then we fail to realize that
there is nothing new in the principles at
work. Take for example the case of the
Beers of South Africa, whose struggle
for independence is just now involving
them in hopeless contest with England.
These brave and fanatical pioneers
have certainly better right to the terri
tory they have acquired than England
can have. They have been holding their
own in the wilderness, maintaining their
religion and their primitive institutions
for something like two centuries. It is
true that they established their colony in
the usual way, namely, by invasion. AT
first they were the superior race, and
they acted after their kind. Presently O
nation more powerful came on the scene,
and then they pushed forward into the
unexplored wilderness again. But what
ever rights they may be supposed to
have acquired for themselves, it is evil
dent that the Kaffirs and Basutos and
Zulus and the other Indigenous tribes
are the only real owners of the land, and
that so far as these have been dispos-
sessed they have been dispossessed with
out shadow of justice.