The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 1888. Killing Slayers

Feilding Star, Volume IX, Issue 89, 14 January 1888, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 1888. Killing Slayers

I - — , Telegrams from Sydney havo informed us that the Natives on Pentecost Island have killed several slavers "wh'6 were 'attempting to steal the said Natives in order to sell them into bondage. The telegrams do not speak quite bo plainly as we do ; it is delicately and euphemistically called" rt la» r i bor recruiting." We are told several j murders are known to have been committed at the same spot, but it is { not said whether by white or colored ! savages. We have not an atom of I sympathy with men, white or black, I who enter into Ahe slave trade, no • matter under what nanoe it is disguised. If, in the course of their nefarious pursuit, they are shot with trade rifles, or their brains knocked out with the primitive stone axe of the aborigine, they bave well earned and deserved their fate. At one time, we believe, the unfortunate and innocent Natives were willingly enough, as "apprentices," lured by cheap rubbish in the shape of gaudy prints or glittering, glass beads which, to their/ eyes, were treasures of inestimable value; but when those who remained discovered their fathers and brothers I who went away seldom or never r^- ; turned, their suspicions were naturally aroused. When, time after time, " vessels visited them in their island homes, and tempting tbe men and - women on board — no very difficult task when rum was the bait— sailed awajr with the unfortunates to sell their, bodies to the slave dealers under the title r.of "blackbirds," they 'became alarmed, and doubly suspicions pf the character and honesty of the intentions : pf. white men -who visited them in . trading or " recruiting" vessels. We know of one instance where a cargo of slaves was so obtained, and; the kidnapped Natives, men and women and HttleychUdren,; although -far out of of land, with one impulse, leapt overboard into the sea. Some were caught by a boat sent in chase, but the remainder were shot in tlie water by theinaster and mate Irom tlie deck offthe vessel £ one or two women were fortunate, and died from drowning. The two men who were guilty of these abominable murders met tlieir fates, in due time. -The master had his brains knocked out with the tiller used in steering his own vessel,; by a man he had threatened to shootf; aiid the mate died. a_ miserable -brokendown diseased pauper in a New Zea- - land hospital or poor-house. Under these circum 3tances, and wi*,h this awful knowledge of the desperate wickedness of those who come to steal . or .entice them away, is it surprising these . poor ., ignorant , savages should endeavor; to guard their lives and liberties to the best of their power, according to their own modes of defensive jwarf are? No! it is perfectly , natural; and we hope there is no Engjli^hman under the sun who would not 'act in the same manner under similar circumstances.. To add intensity to: the {.crimes of ; blood— already of too frequent, occurrence in the beauti- • ful islands oithe Pacific — an English man-of-war , is sent .down to;, avenge the so-called murders. All the me--1 chanical skill and valor in war of .English seamen ; the grand marine artillery of the nineteenth century^ as employed iv a British man-of-war, . are' to be directed against afe nr poor, naked, and wretchedly armed savages, whose only desire is to live in peace and content on t h eir own land, because ; they have resisted oppression, Jand slaughtered. thpse who would deprive them of their liberties and sell them into a fate worse to them than death itself. We hope the' day is not far off when this hideous blot on the face of the mighty Pacific wijl be wiped out; and slavery quelled with the iron hand of avenging justice.