This important new book tells the story of the attempt to create a “humanitarian” policy for the British Empire in the early nineteenth century. It focuses on the network of protectors appointed after 1837 to mediate between aboriginal peoples and settlers and to shield natives from the violent dispossession that accompanied colonization. Their story is told through the individual protectors who worked in Australia and New Zealand and particularly the antipodean governors, Lt. Governor Sir George Arthur and Sir George Grey.
Lester and Dussert’s careful research throws new light on this episode in the history of the Empire. They have much to say that is thoughtful and interesting, but there are two methodological difficulties with the book. The first is their tendency to conflate “humane policy” with the work of the protectors, which entailed a wider and more complicated set of measures and discourse than Lester and Dussart imply. The...