Love of Freedom,
And impartial justice,
Ever exhibited on the blood-stained theater
Of human actions.
Oh, Reader,
Pass not on, till thou hast blest his memory!
And never, never forget,
That REBELLION TO TYRANTS
IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD.
A copy of this supposititious epitaph, in Jefferson’s handwriting, was given to his young friend, De Lyon, one of the Frenchmen who was with Lafayette on his tour of America in 1824. The manuscript was dated 1776, and stated that the inscription had been found three years earlier on the cannon at Martha Bay, Jamaica. A note, evidently by Mr. Jefferson himself, his biographer states, says: