Whereas our Royal Father of Glorious Memory, by His Proclamation,
bearing Date the Nineteenth Day of July, in the Eighth Year of His
Reign[1], did charge and command all His loving Subjects, who then
were, or should be possessed of any Passes, which before the said
Nineteenth Day of July had been issued for Ships and Vessels belonging
to His said late Majesty's Subjects trading to Portugal, the Canaries,
Guinea, the Indies, into the Mediterranean, or elsewhere, in the Way
of the Cruizers of the Government of Algiers (excepting such as had
been granted to such Ships or Vessels as were gone or going to the
East Indies, or the South Seas, or any other long Trading Voyages) to
return the same, and furnish themselves with Passes of a new Form,
under the Hands and Seals of the Commissioners for executing the Office
of High Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland, in lieu thereof, for
their several Ships and Vessels, in such Manner as by the said recited
Proclamation was directed: And whereas it hath been humbly represented
unto Us, That it may have happened that several Passes granted pursuant
to the said recited Proclamation may, either by Accident, or undue
Means, have fallen into the Hands of Foreigners, who by Colour of such
Passes may carry on their Trade; We, taking the Premises into Our Royal
Consideration, and judging it necessary to put a speedy Stop to all
such indirect Practices, which do not only tend to the Prejudice of
Our trading Subjects, but may occasion a Misunderstanding between Us
and the Governments on the Coast of Barbary, for preventing thereof
have thought fit, by the Advice of our Privy Council, to publish this
Our Royal Proclamation, and do hereby declare, That all such Passes of
the present Form now in being shall not continue in Force longer than
Twelve Months, to be computed from the First Day of March next ensuing
the Date hereof (except such Passes as have been granted to Ships gone
or going to the East Indies, or other remote Voyages, where they cannot
be timely furnished with new Passes) and We do hereby strictly charge
and command all Our loving Subjects, who are or shall be possessed of
any such Passes, That they do within the Space of Twelve Months, to
be computed from the said First Day of March next, return the same
(except such as are before excepted) into the Office of the Admiralty
of Great Britain, or to the respective Collectors of Our Customs at
the Out-Ports of Great Britain and Ireland, or to the Governors of
some of Our Foreign Plantations or Dominions, in order to their being
cancelled; and that they do furnish themselves with Passes of a new
Form, under the Hands and Seals of our Commissioners for executing
the Office of High Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland, in lieu
thereof, for their several Ships and Vessels, according to the Treaties
subsisting between Us and the said Governments on the Coast of Barbary,
and the Regulations made by Our said Royal Father, by Order in His
Privy Council, on the Fourteenth Day of June, in the Year One thousand
seven hundred and twenty two, and Our Instructions given to Our said
Commissioners for executing the Office of High Admiral of Great Britain
and Ireland, touching the same: And whereas many Ships and Vessels
belonging to Our loving Subjects continue several Years trading from
Port to Port in the Mediterranean without returning Home, whereby they
cannot so conveniently procure their Passes to be exchanged, We do
hereby, for the Ease of Our Trading Subjects, publish and declare Our
Pleasure, That upon the Application of any Owner of any Ship or Vessel,
or other substantial Merchant, to the Office of the Admiralty of Great
Britain, and Oath made by him of the Property of such Ship or Vessel,
and that Three Fourths of the Company are Our Subjects, according to
an Act made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of Our Royal Predecessor
King Charles the Second [intituled, An Act for the Encouraging and
Increasing of Shipping and Navigation] and upon entring into the usual
Bond for the Return of such Pass at the End of the Voyage, it shall
and may be lawful for Our Commissioners for executing the Office of
High Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland, or Our High Admiral of Great
Britain and Ireland for the time being, and they are respectively
impowered to make out a new Pass for such Ship or Vessel, and send the
same to such of His Majesty's Consuls in the Mediterranean, as the said
Owner or Merchant shall desire, with Direction to such Consul, that
upon Application to him from the Master of the Ship for which the Pass
is made out, and surrendering up his old Pass, and entring into a like
Bond for the Return of such new Pass, he shall deliver out the said new
Pass to such Master, and transmit the old one, with the Bond, to the
Office of the Admiralty of Great Britain. And in order more effectually
to hinder for the future any Abuses that may be attempted by Foreigners
relating to the new Passes to be issued as aforesaid, We do hereby
further declare Our Royal Will and Pleasure, That all such new Passes
to be hereafter issued for any Ships or Vessels whatsoever belonging
to any of Our Subjects of the Island of Minorca or Gibraltar, shall
be made out in a peculiar Form, different from the Form of the new
Passes to be issued for Ships and Vessels belonging to any other Part
of our Dominions, and that such new Passes shall be lodged with the
respective Governors, Lieutenant Governors, or Commanders in Chief for
the time being, of the said Island of Minorca and Gibraltar, and issued
out only by them, according to the Regulations made by Our said Royal
Father in Council, as aforesaid; and the said respective Governors,
Lieutenant Governors, and Commanders in Chief are hereby charged and
required not to issue or deliver out any such Passes to any Persons
whatsoever, other than such as are really Our Subjects inhabiting in
the said Island of Minorca or Gibraltar respectively, and strictly to
conform themselves in all respects to the Regulations and Instructions
made and given, as aforesaid. And We do hereby further publish and
declare, That by Our Orders made in Our Privy Council on the Eighteenth
Day of this instant December, We have ordered and directed, that the
proper Officers of Our Customs in the several Ports of Our Kingdoms
of Great Britain and Ireland do demand of the Masters of all Merchant
Ships, so soon as they shall return into Port from a Foreign Voyage,
all Passes granted as aforesaid, which shall be in their Possession, to
be produced to the said respective Officers of Our Customs; and that
if the same shall appear to be of an older Date than Twelve Months for
Ships and Vessels trading on this side the Streights Mouth, or for
Ships and Vessels trading to a greater Distance, in case the Voyages
of such last mentioned Ships and Vessels shall be determined, then
such Passes shall be delivered up to the said respective Officers of
Our Customs, and be by them returned to the Office of the Admiralty
of Great Britain; and in case the Master of any such Ship or Vessel
shall refuse to produce or deliver up such Passes, according to the
true Intent of Our said Order, then the said Officers shall certify
the Name of every such Master, and of the Ship or Vessel, to Our
Commissioners for executing the Office of High Admiral of Great Britain
and Ireland, or to Our High Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland for
the time being, to the end that Directions may be given for putting the
Bond, entered into on the granting any such Pass, in Suit. And all Our
Governors, Lieutenant Governors, and Commanders in Chief of any of Our
Islands, Colonies, or Plantations, Consuls residing in Foreign Parts,
and all other Our Officers and Ministers whatsoever, and all other Our
loving Subjects whom it may concern, are hereby expressly required and
commanded to yield due Obedience unto, and strictly to observe all the
Orders, Instructions, Regulations, and Directions before mentioned, on
Pain of Our high Displeasure.
Given at Our Court at St. James's the Thirty first Day of December,
1729. in the Third Year of Our Reign.