"Here in the neighborhood of the whites," he said, "we are subject to
continual annoyance and wrong. These have continued long, and they
have dwarfed our mighty nation to a tribe or two, and our home to
one-tenth of its original dimensions. This must go on if we remain in
this proximity, until we shall be lost, and there will be none to
preserve our traditions. Let us sell our lands, and go to the
proffered home beyond the Great River. Our young men have been there:
they have seen it, and they say it is good. The game is abundant; the
lands are broad, and there is no sickness there." Turning to
Hopothlayohola, who stood, with dignified and proud defiance in his
manner, listening, he proceeded: "Will you go and live with your
people increasing and happy about you: or will you stay and die with
them here, and leave no one to follow you, or come to your grave, and
weep over their great chief? Beyond the Great River the sun is as
bright, and the sky is as blue, and the waters are as clear and as
sweet as they are here. Our people will go with us. We will be one,
and where we are altogether, there is home.
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