TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. 119

 ,vindicated the freedom of the Africans in
 was yet a stronger power. Religion, in its rela-
 rand work he had undertaken, rose in his breast to
 In some sen r be was, he believed, God's envoy
 ent in the fierce and sanguiqary struggle. In that
 bhe ound light and strength which had, to him, the
 dthe authority of what, in a qualified sense, may
 ~piration. Here was the grand secret of his success.
 If given an outline of his career, which may ap-
 fid insertion in this place. At the beginning of
 of Saint Domingo, I felt that I was destined to
 g. When I received this Divine intimation I was
 y years of age; I could neither read nor write; I
 ortuguese Loin, ; I gave them to a subaltern of the
 ef the Cape, and, thanks to him, in a few months I
 my name and read with ease. The revolution of
 'ngo was taking it_ course. I saw that the whites
 endure, because they were divided and because they
 powered by numbers; I congratulated myself that I
 man. A neci.-sity was laid on me.to commence
 I went over to the Spanish side, where the first
 pmy color had oIund an asylum and protection. That
 Protection ended in nothing. I was delighted to
FranDois make Iimself a Spaniard when the powerful
 .public proclaimed the general'freedom of the blacks.
.voice said to me, Since the blacks are free, they need
 Sit is I who must be that thief, foretold by the
 L' Under this feeling I joyously returned to the
 France. France and the voice of God have not de-
 These words are reported from memory. As de-
 the ear and the tongue, they must be received only
 neral tenor. Our narrative, whi.-h rests on satisfac-
 r, shows that, luIn prior to the age of filly-four,
 could at least read. If taken as indicating the defee-
 his scholarship even at the time when he began his
 are, doubtless, substantially correct; and their tes.