were made mistakenly. But though Cooper
purposed to tell nothing but truth about his country, he did not feel
himself under obligation to tell all the truth. The attention was almost
exclusively directed to that side of the national character which lent
itself most readily to favorable treatment. What was unfavorable was
either omitted altogether, or was very lightly passed over. One letter
alone, and that not a long one, was devoted to slavery. It is plain that
he was annoyed by it; to some extent, in spite of his confidence,
disquieted by it, though the dangers he feared were not the dangers that
actually came. Even at that early day there was enough to trouble the
lover of his country in the criticism it encountered, for the glaring
contrast between its professions of liberty and its practice; but far
more in the dimly-seen shape of that gigantic struggle which, though
itself vague and undefined, was already beginning to cast its lowering
shadow over the future of the republic. So in a similar manner the
literature, architecture, and art of America were passed over in a few
pages, while letter after letter was given up to a description of its
progress in wealth and comfort. Yet no one knew better than Cooper,--at
a later period he took care his countrymen should not forget it,--that
of all standards by which to test national glory, the material (p. 105)
standard is in itself the lowest and most vulgar; and that the
difference in real greatness between two places can never be measured by
the comparative amount of sugar, or salt, or flour sold in each. Yet he
remembered then, what later he seemed to forget, that the necessity of
conquering the continent, of making it inhabitable for man, was at the
time and must continue long to remain a very positive hindrance to the
development of literary and artistic ability, because by the immense
rewards it offered it attracted to the development of material resources
the intellect and vigor of the entire land.

Cooper tells us, as has been said, that he lost money on this work. But
there was something more than pecuniary failure that attended it. There
were in it statements which met with disfavor at home. More important
than these, however, were remarks that aroused personal hostility
abroad. He made several references, in particular, to the people of
England, and they were not of a kind to conciliate regard for himself
and his work. In one place he spoke of the society of