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Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851

"Oak Openings"

To abolish abuses, to set in motion the car of state on
the track of justice and economy, and to distinguish between that
which is really essential to human happiness and human rights, and
that which is merely the result of some wild and bootless
proposition in political economy, are the great self-imposed tasks
that the European people seem now to have assumed; and God grant
that they may complete their labors with the moderation and success
with which they would appear to have commenced them!
As for Peter, with the curse of ignorance weighing on his mind, it
is to be presumed that he fancied his own great task of destroying
the whites was so much the lighter, in consequence of the feeble
defence of the Yankees at Detroit. The runner was now questioned by
the different chiefs for details, which he furnished with sufficient
intelligence and distinctness. The whole of that discreditable story
is too prominent in history, and of too recent occurrence, to stand
in need of repetition here. When the runner had told his tale, the
chiefs broke the order of their circle, to converse the more easily
concerning the great events which had just occurred.


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