In fine, there were present members of nearly every respectable family in the Animal Kingdom–all impressed with the importance of the work in hand, and imbued with the noblest spirit conciliation. Nothing was heard but exclamations of friendship on every side; and though an enthusiastic Wolf did strangle a Lamb, and a Fox, in a fit of absence of mind, choked a fat Duck, these accidents were rightly ascribed to the force of habit, and did not mar the harmony of the proceedings.
The Buffalo, squatting on his hams, wished that some worthier person had been selected for the responsible post of President of this august assemblage. He was no orator; but he trusted that his heart was in the right place. [Loud applause from the Dogs and Vultures.] He had long been satisfied that man was not entitled to the sovereignty he had usurped over the world. What was man? Had not one of his own race described him as a biped without feathers? And should a biped command quadrupeds?
The Animal Declaration of Independence Harper’s January 1857 [edited extract being part four in a series of 19]
