POLICY TO BE EXPECTED. 189 



The proffered friendship of a lion will always be 

 suspected by a sagacious old antelope. 



A stranger, at first annoyed with the petty 

 restraints upon unlimited personal freedom, readily 

 excuses it when he finds this to be, part of the 

 cautious policy dictated by the exigences of a 

 government so constituted; and another thing 

 which leads him to feel more satisfied with his 

 situation in Shoa is, that he soon perceives Sahale 

 Selassee to be superior to the temptation of abusing 

 that power which he possesses. The contemplation 

 of such a prince in his own country is worth the 

 trouble and risk of visiting it. During a reign of 

 thirty years, save one or two transient rebellions of 

 ambitious traitors, who have led, not the subjects 

 of Sahale Selassee, but those of his enemies, 

 nothing like internal dissension or civil war have 

 by their ravages defaced his happy country ; whilst 

 gradually his character for justice and probity has 

 spread far and wide, and the supremacy of political 

 excellence is without hesitation given to the Negoos 

 of Shoa throughout the length and breadth of the 

 ancient empire of Ethiopia. To be feared by every 

 prince around, and loved by every subject at home, 

 is the boast of the first government of civilized 

 Europe ; and strangely enough this excellence of 

 social condition is paralleled in the heart of Africa, 

 where we find practically carried out the most 

 advantageous policy of a social community that one 

 of the wisest of sages could conceive — that of 



