Whereas by an Act of Parliament, made in the Sixth Year of the late
Queen Anne, of Blessed Memory, intituled, An Act for the Security of
Her Majesty's Person and Government, and of the Succession to the
Crown of Great Britain in the Protestant Line, it was enacted (amongst
other things) That no Office, Place, or Employment, Civil or Military,
within any of Her said late Majesty's Plantations, should become void
by reason of the Demise, or Death of Her said late Majesty, Her Heirs,
or Successors, Kings or Queens of this Realm; but that the Person and
Persons in any of the Offices, Places, or Employments aforesaid, should
continue in their respective Offices, Places, and Employments, for the
Space of Six Months next after such Death or Demise, unless sooner
removed and discharged by the next in Succession, to whom the Crown of
this Realm should come, remain, and be, according to the several Acts
of Parliament for limiting and settling the Succession of the Crown,
as by the said recited Act may appear; and in regard it may happen,
that Our pleasure may not within the said time be declared, touching
the said Offices, Places, and Employments in Our Foreign Plantations,
which will at the End of the said Six Months become void; We, for
preventing the Inconveniences that may happen thereby, in Our Princely
Wisdom, and Care of the State (reserving to Our Judgment hereafter the
Reformation and Redress of any Abuses in the Execution of any such
Offices, Places, and Employments, upon due Knowledge and Examination
thereof) have thought fit, with the Advice of Our Privy Council, to
issue this Our Royal Proclamation, and do hereby order, signify, and
declare, That all Persons, that at the Time of the Decease of Our late
Royal Father King George the First, of Glorious Memory, were duly and
lawfully possessed of, or invested in any Office, Place, or Employment,
Civil or Military, in any of Our Plantations, and which have not been
since removed from such their Offices, Places, or Employments, shall
be, and shall hold themselves continued in the said Offices, Places,
and Employments, as formerly they held and enjoyed the same, until Our
Pleasure be further known, or other Provision be made, pursuant to the
Commissions and Instructions of Our said late Royal Father, to His
Governors and Officers of the Plantations aforesaid; and that in the
mean time, for the Preservation of the Peace, and necessary Proceedings
in Matters of Justice, and for the Safety and Service of the State, all
the said Persons, of whatsoever Degree or Condition, do not fail every
one severally, according to his Place, Office, or Charge, to proceed
in the Performance and Execution of all Duties thereunto belonging, as
formerly appertained unto them, during the life of Our said late Royal
Father; and further, We do hereby will and command all and singular Our
Subjects in the said Plantations, of what Estate or Degree they, or any
of them be, to be aiding, helping, and assisting, at the Commandment
of the said Officers, in the Performance and Execution of the said
Offices and Places, as they tender Our Displeasure, and will answer the
contrary at their utmost Perils.
Given at Our Court at St. James's, the Fifth Day of July, 1727, and
in the First Year of Our Reign.