Let There Be No Inscription Upon My

A Man In My Situation, My Lords, Has Not Only To Encounter The Difficulties Of Fortune. And The Force Of Power Over Minds Which It Has Corrupted Or Subjugated. But The Difficulties Of Established Prejudice: The Man Dies, But His Memory Lives.

"let There Be No Inscription Upon My Tomb. Let No Man Write My Epitaph. No Man Can Write My Epitaph. I Am Here Ready To Die. I Am Not Allowed To Vindicate My Character; And When I Am Prevented From Vindicating Myself, Let No Man Dare Calumniate Me. Let My Character And Motives Repose In Obscurity And Peace, Till Other Times And Other Men Can Do Them Justice.

Let No Man Dare, When I Am Dead. To Charge Me With Dishonor; Let No Man Attaint My Memory By Believing That I Could Have Engaged In Any Cause But That Of My Country's Liberty And Independence, Or That I Could Have Become The Pliant Minion Of Power In The Oppression Or The Miseries Of My Countrymen.

I Have Much To Say Why My Reputation Should Be Rescued From The Load Of False Accusation And Calumny Which Has Been Heaped Upon It.

Calumniators Are Those Who Have Neither Good Hearts Nor Good Understandings. We Ought Not To Think Ill Of Any One Till We Have Palpable Proof; And Even Then We Should Not Expose Them To Others.