Ere thou pass, contemplate this cannon,
Nor regardless be told
That near its base lies deposited the dust
Of JOHN BRADSHAW;
Who, nobly superior to selfish regards,
Despising alike the pageantry of courtly splendor,
The blast of calumny,
And the terrors of royal vengeance,
Presided in the illustrious band of Heroes and Patriots,
Who fairly and openly adjudged
CHARLES STUARD
Tyrant of England
To a public and exemplary death;
Thereby presenting to the amazed world,
And transmitting down through applauding ages,
The most glorious example
Of unshaken virtue,
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:
From many circumstances there is reason to believe there does not
exist any such inscription as the above, and that it was written by
Dr. Franklin, in whose hands it was first seen.[16]
Although Du Simitière, as it would appear from John Adams’s letter, drew
his designs for the committee, they were not preserved among the papers
of Congress, a very slight pencil sketch of his proposed obverse found
among Jefferson’s papers being all that remains. The committee’s report
was laid upon the table, and for nearly four years the United States
existed without a coat of arms and Congress did business without an
official seal.
II
THE LOVELL COMMITTEE
On June 14, 1777, Congress adopted the national flag of thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars
upon a blue field, “representing,” as the law said, “a new
constellation.” The flag had actually come into use in the army some
months before it received legal sanction, its chief features probably
suggested by the Dutch standard. The red denoted daring, the white
purity, and the stars the States in union.[17]
[Illustration:
Reverse
]
[Illustration: