Sometime since, the following Lines were found stuck on the outside of the Door of the Council Chamber.
Our Fathers pass’d the wide Atlantick Sea,
And bless’d themselves when in the Desert Free:
And shall their Sons thro’ Treachery and Fear,
Give up that Freedom which has cost so dear?
Whate’er Pretence our Enemies may frame,
The Man is alter’d, but the Cause the same.
From Caesar’s Court should Cato fawning come,
Be sure that Cato is no Friend to Rome.
To which a Gentleman in New-York has wrote the following Answer.
Their Fathers crost the wide Atlantick Sea,
To be in Desarts from their Deserts free;
And shall their Sons with glaring Insolence
Support a Cause so void of common Sense?
What-e’er Pretence this stubborn People frame,
The Case is alter’d, but the Men the same.
From Caesar’s Court should a new Ruler come,
Be sure they’ll starve him, as they’ve others done.
Whatever Wit there may be in this Answer, it contains one Reflection not altogether just: Since ’tis certain, that the greatest Part of the Settlers of New-England removed thither on no other Account than for the sake of enjoying their Liberty, especially their religious Liberties, in greater Security: Being persecuted at home, as Puritans in the Reign of James I. and among all other Dissenters in the Reign of Charles II.
The Pennsylvania Gazette, November 5, 1730