freemen of America. We conceive it a disgrace to this State, to
harbor or wink at such palpable hypocrisy. But as we seek not to hurt
the hair of any man's head, when we can make ourselves safe without,
we wish such persons to restore peace to themselves and us, by
removing themselves to some part of the king of Great Britain's
dominions, as by that means they may live unmolested by us and we by
them; for our fixed opinion is, that those who do not deserve a place
among us, ought not to have one.

"We conclude with requesting the Council of Safety to take into
consideration the paper signed 'John Pemberton,' and if it shall
appear to them to be of a dangerous tendency, or of a treasonable
nature, that they would commit the signer, together with such other
persons as they can discover were concerned therein, into custody,
until such time as some mode of trial shall ascertain the full degree
of their guilt and punishment; in the doing of which, we wish their
judges, whoever they may be, to disregard the man, his connections,
interest, riches, poverty, or principles of religion, and to attend
to the nature of his offence only."



The most cavilling sectarian cannot accuse the foregoing with
containing the least ingredient of persecution. The free spirit on
which the American cause is founded, disdains to mix with such an
impurity, and leaves it as rubbish fit only for narrow and suspicious
minds to grovel in. Suspicion and persecution are weeds of the same
dunghill, and flourish together. Had the Quakers minded their
religion and their business, they might have lived through this
dispute in enviable ease, and none would have molested them. The