Page:A general history of the pyrates, from their first rise and settlement in the Island of Providence, to the present time (1724).djvu/41

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The Introduction.
33

the Pyrates; and that nothing might be wanting, he carried with him, the King’s Proclamation of Pardon, to thoſe who ſhould return to their Duty by a certain Time; the Proclamation is as follows;

By the King,

A proclamation, for ſuppreſſing of pyrates.

GEORGE R.

Whereas we have received Information, that ſeveral Perſons, Subjects of Great Britain, have ſince the 24th Day of June, in the Year of our Lord 1715, committed divers Pyracies and Robberies upon the High-Seas, in the Weſt-Indies, or adjoyning to our Plantations, which hath and may Occaſion great Damage to the Merchants of Great Britain, and others trading into thoſe Parts; and tho’ we have appointed ſuch a Force as we judge ſufficient for ſuppreſſing the ſaid Pyrates, yet the more effectually to put an End to the ſame, we have thought fit, by and with the Advice of our Privy Council, to Iſſue this our Royal Proclamation; and we do hereby promiſe, and declare, that in Caſe any of the ſaid Pyrates, ſhall on or before the 5th of September, in the Year of our Lord 1718, ſurrender him or themſelves, to one of our Principal Secretaries of State in Great Britain or Ireland, or to any Governor or Deputy Governor of any of our Plantations beyond the Seas; every ſuch Pyrate and Pyrates ſo ſurrendering him, or themſelves, as aforeſaid, ſhall have our gracious Pardon, of and for ſuch, his or their Pyracy, or Pyracies, by him or them committed before the fifth of January next enſuing. And we do hereby ſtrictly charge and command all our Admirals, Captains, and other Officers at Sea, and all our Governors and Commanders of any Forts, Caſtles, or other Places in our Plantations, and all other our Officers Civil and Military, to ſeize and take
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