ower--the
power delegated to them, and to none other, by Heaven. But they must
learn; and they will learn by example sooner than by any other means.
This continent was reserved for such a glorious purpose--the renovation
of society, the upbuilding of the temple of true liberty.

* * * * *

I was instructed in all the lore of my country, both ancient and modern.
My eagerness to obtain knowledge, and the facility with which I acquired
it, were noted, and the most skillful teachers were procured for me. I
was surrounded by all the pomp and pageantry of royalty; but these had
no charms for me. Every luxury which wealth could procure was at my
command, but I cared for nothing but knowledge. It was the one
all-absorbing thought of my mind, and in it I lived, moved, and had my
being. I outstripped all my teachers, and they declared themselves
unable to teach me any more. I was pronounced by all the ripest scholar
of my age; but still I was not satisfied. What I had learned only
increased my desire for more, and in vain I sought a teacher more
learned than myself. The extent of my knowledge amazed the wisest and
most profound scholars among my countrymen; but still there was a vacuum
in my soul, a yearning to know more, and I felt miserable because I had
nothing more to learn.

But "fickle fortune," as it is generally, but erroneously termed, turned
her scale. It was not mere fortune or chance, but destiny; and destiny
is the will of God. My family was deposed and forced to flee. Of course,
we fled to America--to these United States; for where else do the weary
find repose and the oppressed an asylum and a home?

With no inconsiderable fortune, I made my way to the mountains, and in a
pleasant valley in the western part of Virginia I built me a cottage,
and there determined to reside, and prosecute my studies and researches.
My desire for knowledge had not abated by my change of fortune, and I
began to cast about me for some new study. Those who had known me in
Spain thought I stood upon the pinnacle of the temple of knowledge; but
I knew there must be something beyond the height to which I had yet
risen, or else my mind would not be so disquiet and so anxious to learn
more. I reasoned thus with myself: The temple of knowledge is founded on
Earth and Time; but the structure reaches into Heaven and Eternity. I
have ascended to the topmost step of the earthly part, and now I must
pierce the divi