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1778.
The ministerial press in America embraced every opportunity to ridicule the motives of the most prominent patriots of the Revolu-tion, and very often exceeded the hounds of truth, or even probability in their assertions. The following remarks and stanzas were published in a ballad sheet, and posted in the streets of New York and Philadelphia, during the month of October 1778, and on the twenty-fourth of the same month they appeared in the Royal Gazette. " There was lately exhibited in the city of Philadelphia, an admirable farce called Independence. Who the author was is not positively known, but some are of the opinion that it is the work of a certain quack doctor called Franklin. Others assert that it is the joint production of the strolling company by whom it was acted; it is, however, generally allowed, that one Adams gave the first hint, contrived the plot and cast the parts. It appeared in the exhibition so tragicomical, that the audience were at a loss whether to laugh or cry. They were, however, well pleased with the catastrophe, and joined heartily in the following chorus. As the renowned Voltaire some- |
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