He
had classified banks of issue, colonialism, and slavery, as well as some
other things as equal parts of a mercantile program. I was, therefore,
inclined to dissent from any plan that included any one of these things.
And still I was swept along by the torrent of Douglas' thinking. His
vision enthralled me. His outlook upon the country, its increasing power
and wealth, fascinated my imagination. Was I not resolved to be rich
myself? And for moments I was under the spell of his great power. He was
a world thinker, but with his own country forefronted in the playing of
a colossal part. It appealed to my English blood, that blood which does
great deeds through great vision, and then repents the iniquities along
the way and corrects them at last. And who was Douglas in spirit?
Nothing less than the English genius. And so my feelings were mixed, but
admiration for him predominated. I felt his edge and did not like it;
his audacity and resented it; his power and rebelled against it; his
brusqueness and shrank from it; his emphasis upon power and supremacy,
and felt that he might be overlooking finer powers and more lasting
triumphs. But his eyes were full of kindly lights, in spite of their
intellectual penetration; and he was charming to the last degree.
He stood up. I was a head taller than he.
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