SOUTHERN AFRICA. 
239 
CHAP. III. 
Importance of the Cape of Good Hope, considered as a Naval Station. 
'W^HEN one reflects, for a moment, on the diminutive space 
that the British islands occupy on the surface of the globe, 
in comparison with the large portions which some nations 
enjoy, and considers'their detached and remote situation by 
which their inhabitants were, in the opinion of the ancients, 
" Toto ah orbe divisos" 
" Cut ofF from the rest of mankind 
■when, at the same time, one bears in mind the vast weight 
and preponderance these little islands have long maintained 
in the history and transactions of almost all the governments 
and nations which constitute this world of human beings, it 
is impossible to withhold our wonder and admiration at a 
phenomenon which, at fii'st sight, wears the appearance of 
being so much out of the ordinary course of things. In vain 
should we search for a parallel in the history of the world, 
because the history of the w^orld affords no example of a 
country where property has so much weight, where it affords 
so much enjoyment, and where it is so well secured by just 
and equal laws, as in C^reat Britain. 
