Note 275 — Chapter V

It is given in a rare little tract: An Historical Account of some Memorable Actions, Particularly in Virginia; Also Against the Admiral of Algier, and in the East Indies: Perform’d for the Service of his Prince and Country. By Sr Thomas Grantham, Kt [Motto]. London: printed for J. Roberts, near the Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane, MDCCVI. 18º. The copy in the Virginia State Library is thought to be the only one in this country, pp. 12, 13: “If Virtue be a Sin, if Piety be Guilt, if all the Principles of Morality and Goodness and Justice be perverted, we must confess that those who are called Rebels may be in Danger of those high Imputations, those loud and severe Bulls, which would affright Innocency, and render the Defence of our Brethren and the Enquiry into our sad and heavy Oppressions Treason. But if there be (as sure there is) a just God to appeal to; if Religion and Justice be a Sanctuary here; if to plead the Cause of the Oppress’d; if sincerely to aim at the Publick Good, without any Reservation or By-Interest; if to stand in the Gap, after so much Blood of our Dear Brethren bought and sold; if after the Loss of a great Part of His Majesty’s Colony, deserted and dispeopl’d, and freely to part with our Lives and Estates to endeavor to save the Remainder, be Treason,—Let God and the World judge, and the Guilty die. But since we cannot find in our Hearts One single Spot of Rebellion and Treason, or that we have in any manner aimed at the Subversion of the Settl’d Government, or attempting the Person of any, either Magistrate or Private Man,—notwithstanding the several Reproaches and Threats of some who for sinister Ends were disaffected to Us, and censure our Just and Honest Designs,—Let Truth be bold and all the World Know the Real Foundation of our Pretended Guilt.”