Let moralists and dreamers say what they would, the course of America was toward mastery of the whole of North America.  Yes, and there was Oregon.  If the Louisiana Purchase of 1804 did not include Oregon, what of the Lewis and Clark expedition; what of the founding of Astoria by Mr. Astor of New York, on the shores of the Columbia River; what of the restoration of Astoria to the United States in 1818 after it had been forcibly seized by Great Britain in the War of 1812?  Douglas looked forward to the day when Great Britain would not have an inch of land from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Pole, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific.  All of this vast territory should be the abiding place of liberty forever.  Homestead laws should be passed with reference to it, and settlers invited to reduce it to cultivation.  It should be tilled by millions of husbandmen, the most intelligent and progressive of the world.  It should be crossed by railroads and canals.  Already there were the Mohawk and Hudson railroad, the Boston and Albany, and the Baltimore and Ohio.  Illinois should have railroads and canals; the rivers and harbors should be improved.  Lake Michigan should be connected with the Mississippi River by a canal joining Lake Michigan with the Illinois River.

What was it all about?  National wealth as a foundation for education, power, the supremacy of the white stocks having the greatest vitality.

Zoe was waiting upon the table, occasionally sitting down to take a bite.  Douglas neither saw her nor was he oblivious of her.  He talked ahead, referring now to the slavery question.  He believed the North should leave the South alone.  He had seen the reformer, the intermeddler, in his native lair in Vermont.  Who had brought into this remote and peaceful town that copy of Garrison’s Liberator?  He was a half-cracked busybody.  People who had no business of their own made the business of other people their business.  He would put all such drivelers to work upon the roads, and thus make them contribute to the nation’s wealth.  He referred to the works of Jefferson, which he had read, to the Federalist, which he had read, and to much else, of which at that time I did not know a line.  I studied Reverdy’s face to see whether or not Reverdy concurred in what Douglas said.  I had confidence in Reverdy, and was willing to go along with Douglas if Reverdy approved of these programs; although my English blood was stirred to some extent by Douglas’ evident hostility to Great Britain.  I sensed that Reverdy did not wholly agree with Douglas in all his theories and plans.  But Reverdy knew that he could not cope with such a whirlwind as this dynamic logician.  He therefore at times smiled a half disapproval, but did not express it.  For myself I found my mind consenting to the magic of Douglas’ vision.  I did not relish the idea of England’s surrendering Oregon; but, on the other hand, since my fortunes were cast in the United