of this act. Mr. Vaughan devotes a whole chapter to it, and from the tone of the two leading British Reviews, one might be led to conclude that the question of Reform itself was not more momentous. In one respect, it certainly is important. If the conduct of Strafford is to be justified because the attainder is condemned, it will be as well to shut up the volume of history at once. Its lessons can do no good. If the man, who, from being a violent friend of popular rights, becomes a King's most arbitrary minister, and professes "thorough and thorough" to be his motto, in sweeping off the liberties of his country, is not to be held up to the indignation of posterity, or, on the contrary, is to be styled, as he is by the Quarterly Review, a most virtuous and suffering patriot, then it is the height of injustice for us to require any consistency in our public men, or to pass any censure whatever upon them. Benedict Arnold himself must be called an angel of light. We profess no sympathy for the fate of Strafford, although we have no hesitation in saying that his condemnation was a most illegal and arbitrary act.

• The impeachment itself was one of those acts of policy, effective in itself, but which can be supported only by those who love party better than we do. The evidence brought forward at the time, did not justify it. Strafford's own defence is too strong for it; and it is not too much to say, that the Commons were perfectly sensible of this themselves. Then came the act of attainder, in itself not justifiable, and much less so, when, as in this case, carried through by threats and intimidation. We can imagine no rule of more general application than this; that all prosecutions for the violation of law, should be themselves strictly within it. Otherwise, the very process to punish, justifies the offender. If such a rule should apply in common cases, how much more so on great occasions in representative bodies. The moral sense of these degenerates much faster than that of individuals. Perhaps they are more slow to feel power, but, once felt, they are quicker to forget right. Responsibility seems to rest no where. Inasmuch, then, as the impeachment and disgrace of a public man derive all their importance from his being a warning example to all who come afterwards, it would seem requisite for the production of this effect, that the justice of the proceeding should be apparent.

The popular leaders felt very soon that they had over-stepped the limit of right,-and the choice to them, was, to sink or to go on still more boldly. The great object became, to establish the authority of Parliament as supreme; and the Government of England soon took the shape of an oligarchy, as intolerable and intolerant as the preceding monarchy. It had not even the merit of the latter, for it was not energetic, and was constantly agitated by internal divisions. The tendency of things is in these cases constantly demonstrated; until some single mind starts forth to assume the superior station that is its due, and to restore order and success.

'Such a mind was Oliver Cromwell's. The crisis had arrived, when it was necessary to choose between long and disastrous confusion, or the supremacy of the king. This man saved the country from

both.

We will praise him where we think he deserves it. Cromwell was always a strenuous and consistent advocate of that liberty of religious opinion, which the Presbyterian party would never allow. His exertions effected a salutary change in this respect. Cromwell was in his own person a strictly moral man, and he was an admirable domestic character. Even his enemies confess this, by the romance they got up about the royalist reproofs of his daughter Claypool. Had we no high charges to bring against him, this would weigh down much of common error. Did we consider him as merely in the ordinary line of English kings, how would the acknowledged order and sobriety of his court and army, though both were splendidly and expensively supported, contrast with the venal prostitution and heartless, soulless profligacy of his successor! Lastly, Cromwell was never a mover of those extravagant and disorganizing opinions which were so popular in France in the last age, and which lead at once to the destruction of society. . . . .

We shall not enlarge upon the career of Cromwell as Protector. Had he only been one of the legitimate line, England's annals would not be able to boast of a more successful, a more vigorous, and a more patriotic prince. Which of them ever did so much of his own free will, to give the country a free and liberal government? Which of them more honorably sustained such generous spirits as Blake and Hale, and others, although he knew they were unfriendly to him? Which of them, with a powerful and enthusiastic army at his command, would have voluntarily called three Parliaments in three years, in each of which a majority thought, spoke, and acted against himself? The leading and irremediable defect that frustrated all his exertions, was the want of title to the place he held. The English people would not admit his right to rule over them. It was his perpetual labour to avoid resting this right upon his sword, and he was perpetually driven to it. We are rejoiced that he was. We are rejoiced that his usurpation was so glaring that no subsequent age can mistake it.'

The Reviewer does justice to the value and merit of Mr. Vaughan's Memorials, which is recommended as a moderate and 'candid exposition of a momentous period in history, made on genuine foundations of principle, and, though favourable to one side, not unjust to any. His work competently supplies a deficiency which was long felt, and furnishes the best refutation and exposure of Hume that has hitherto been given to the public. It is principally valuable in those respects in which Miss Aikin's work is, from its nature, defective, or may be deemed in execution a failure. But it would be unfair to institute a comparison between works of such different design and character, and which in no way interfere with each other, but throw much light, from different points, on their common topic. While this article is passing from our hands, we are happy to learn from the public prints, that the Council of the London University have unanimously appointed the Author of the Memorials and the Life of Wicliffe to the Chair of History. A more appropriate or judicious selection could not have been made.

Art. II. 1. Narrative of Voyages to explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar; performed in H. M. Ships, Leven and Barracouta, under the direction of Captain W. F. W. Owen, R.N. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1833. [Concluded from Page 203.] 2. Travels and Researches in Caffraria: describing the Character, Customs, and Moral Condition of the Tribes inhabiting that Portion of Southern Africa. With historical and topographical Remarks, illustrative of the State and Prospects of the British Settlement in its Borders, the Introduction of Christianity, and the Progress of Civilization. By Stephen Kay, Corresponding Member of the South African Institution. 12mo. pp. xvi. 509. (Map and Plates.) Price 6s. London, 1833.

IN

N resuming our notice of Captain Owen's Survey, we are glad to avail ourselves of the additional information collected by Mr. Kay, in his interesting, though not very original volume, (which has appeared since our former article,) with regard to that part of the African coast comprised under the vague denomination of Caffraria. In many old maps, this name is extended to an immense division of Africa, reaching northward to Abyssinia. But the part now occupied by the numerous nations generally designated Kaffer,' Mr. Kay remarks, is much more limited, ' and lies altogether on the southern side of the Equator; while 'far more limited is that portion of it which our most extended explorations at present embrace, forming a comparatively small 6 tract indeed.' Those tribes with which we have become acquainted, and to which Mr. Kay's researches relate, lie along the eastern coast, from the boundary of Cape Colony, in lat. 33° S., to about lat. 26° S.

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There is little propriety, however, in retaining the word in our maps, as the specific appellation of this tract of country, now that it seems to be ascertained that tribes of the same race and language are in possession of the whole region between the eastern and western coasts, as far northward as the southern frontier of Abyssinia, eight degrees north of the Equator; an extent ranging through 40 degrees of latitude. Nay, the Reviewer of Captain Owen's work, in the last No. of the Quarterly, asserts, that these Kaffers, or Zoolos,' are the same nation that are known under the general name of Gallas, who have overrun the finest provinces of Abyssinia itself. We know not upon what evidence this assertion rests. Zoola, or Amazoola, is the specific designation of a very peculiar tribe. Captain Owen refers to the Gallas as having, like the Caffers, an unconquerable aversion to the sea'; owing to which trait in their character, insular stations are safe from their attacks. They are much dreaded by the Arabs of the coast, who dare not venture into the interior.

c

The Galla,' continues the narrator, are said to have no houses, but wander through the woods in the wildest state of barbarism. Professed enemies to every nation and tribe around them, they hunt and are hunted, frequently committing indiscriminate slaughter upon an unresisting multitude to-day, and themselves becoming victims to a similar treatment on the morrow. Like their brother savages of America, they consider a relic from the body of a slain foe the most honourable and distinguishing emblem they can wear of their military prowess.......They unite subtlety and want of faith with their ferocity of temper: consequently, the commerce between them and the Arabs is carried on entirely in the towns of the latter. These they will sometimes venture to harass, but seldom with less than two thousand men, armed with bows, arrows, and assagayes.

Besides the Galla, there is another race of savages in the vicinity, termed Dowla, who are far more tractable and settled in their habits; and with these the Arabs constantly traffic and keep up an amicable understanding.

The Galla of this part of the country' (the banks of the Ozy, which falls into the northern extremity of Formosa Bay,) bear the same savage character as those near Lamoo, and are equally inimical to the Arabs; but the chief of Kow contrives to carry on some little trade in ivory with them, by means of an annual present to their chief, which is forfeited by any act of hostility or robbery committed by his subjects during the year. They have a great dread of fire-arms, and will enter no house where they are.' Owen, Vol. I. pp. 392, 397.

These are the only notices that we find, descriptive of this formidable race, and they are too vague to warrant any inference with regard to their probable origin or affinities. The Galla of Abyssinia are said to be distinguished from the negro race by their low stature, deep-brown complexion, and long hair. Malte Brun styles them African Tatars,' and describes them as worshipping trees, stones, and the heavenly bodies. The Quarterly Reviewer, on the authority of Barrow, describes the Kaffers or Gallas' as exhibiting manly and gigantic forms, with a complexion having the tinge of bronze.' Mr. Kay thus describes the Southern Kaffers, or Kosas :

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'While I cannot go the lengths of some, who have panegyrized the Kaffers as the finest race of men ever beheld, I may, without fear of contradiction, state, that there are many remarkably fine and wellmade men amongst them. Many of them are tall, robust, and very muscular: their habits of life induce a firmness of carriage, and an open, manly demeanour, which are altogether free from that apparent consciousness of fear and suspicion which generally characterizes uncivilized nations. In stature, they vary from five to six feet ten inches; and a cripple or deformed person is seldom seen among them.......Neither the Kaffer nor the Tambookie women, however, are any thing so near well-formed as the men. They are mostly of low stature, very strong-limbed, and particularly muscular in the leg,-more especially

when advanced in years. They have no traces whatever of the thick lip, which forms so prominent a trait in the features of the African negro; and as widely do they differ, both in person and character, from the Hottentot race, in whose borders they have so long been resident. They are remarkably good-humoured, cheerful, and animated in general, excepting when enfeebled by sickness or age.

national sprightliness, activity, and vivacity about them, which greatly distinguishes them from the women of most nations that are but little advanced in civilization, and who are generally reserved in their dispotion towards strangers.

Their apparel, like that of the ancient Britons in the days of Julius Cæsar, consists wholly of beasts' skins, curried and prepared in such a manner as to render them perfectly soft and pliable. The inner side is then coloured with a kind of dark ochre or charcoal. These leathern garments, which are generally long enough to reach to the foot, are merely suspended from the shoulders, like a soldier's cloak, and hang entirely loose, excepting when the cold renders it necessary to wrap themselves up more closely. The head is quite exposed in the hottest, as also in the coldest weather, unless sickness oblige them to cover it. They frequently, indeed, deprive themselves of the slight covering with which nature has furnished them, by shaving the head altogether.

The dress of the women consists of the same rude materials as that of the men: it only differs in shape. Their ingubo, or upper garment, has a narrow loose flap appended to the collar behind: this extends to the bottom of the skirts, and sometimes lower, forming a sort of train. It is usually ornamented with three rows of buttons, placed in parallel lines from the top to the bottom of the mantle, each being set as thickly as possible. Without these, (which all are not wealthy enough to procure,) the cloak is considered incomplete. Short leathern petticoats also are worn; and, when engaged in any kind of labour, such as gardening, &c., constitute their only habiliments: the ingubo is then laid aside, being too cumbersome. By many, however, amongst the higher classes especially, nothing more than a small apron, decorated with various coloured beads, is used under the cloak. This is but three or four inches broad, and might seem to be used more as an ornament than as a matter of decorum. Excepting cases of age, childhood, and mothers giving suck, it is accounted exceedingly unbecoming for a female to go about with her breasts uncovered. Over these, therefore, she wears the imbeka, which is also ornamented with beads. Great taste is frequently displayed in their caps, or head-dresses, which are generally the most expensive part of their costume. They are made from the skin of a peculiar species of antelope, indigenous to the forest, and called by the natives, iputi. This being cut to the shape required, a large quantity of variegated beads are stitched on with great regularity; and as white and light blue generally form the principal shades in this Kaffer turban, their contrast with the sable countenance of the wearer is far from being disagreeable. When complete, the weight is, of course, considerable; and the shape altogether too masculine to accord with European ideas of female delicacy. It is rare indeed to see a woman with anything on her feet, even when travelling: she