APPOINTING THE DISTRIBUTION OR PRIZES TAKEN BY WAY OF REPRIZAL BEFORE
HIS MAJESTY'S DECLARATION OF WAR.
Wilmington, P. Devonshire, Montagu, Cha. Wager.[1]
Dorset, Holles Newcastle, Pembroke,
His Majesty having, on the Tenth Day of July, One thousand seven
hundred and thirty nine, taken into His serious Consideration the
many and repeated Depredations which had been committed, and the many
unjust Seizures which had been made in the West Indies, and elsewhere,
by Spanish Guarda Costas, and Ships acting under the Commissions of the
King of Spain, or his Governors, contrary to the Law of Nations, and in
Violation of the Treaties subsisting between the Crown of Great Britain
and Spain, whereby His Majesty's trading Subjects had sustained great
Losses; and His Majesty having determined to take such Measures as were
necessary for vindicating the Honour of His Crown, and for procuring
Reparation and Satisfaction to His injured Subjects, was pleased, by
and with the Advice of His Privy Council, upon the said Tenth Day of
July, to order that General Reprizals should be granted against the
Ships, Goods, and Subjects of the King of Spain; so that, as well His
Majesty's Fleet and Ships, as also all other Ships and Vessels that
should be commissionated by Letters of Marque or General Reprizals, or
otherwise, by His Majesty's Commissioners for executing the Office of
Lord High Admiral of Great Britain, should and might lawfully seize
all Ships, Vessels, and Goods belonging to the King of Spain, or his
Subjects, or others inhabiting within any the Territories of the King
of Spain, and bring the same to Judgement in any of the Courts of
Admiralty within His Majesty's Dominions:
[The remainder of this proclamation, which has no further direct
reference to the American plantations, provides for the distribution of
the prize money arising from the sale of Spanish vessels seized between
July 10 and the time of the declaration of war, October 19, 1739:
namely, that one half should go to those who had suffered from unjust
Spanish depredation according to such regulations as should later be
determined, and one half should go to officers and sailors concerned
in the capture according to the regulations of the Proclamation of
June 19, 1740. Commanders who had taken prizes were to transmit to the
Commissioners of the Navy true lists of all officers and seamen on
board at the time of capture.]
Given at Whitehall the Eighteenth Day of June, 1741, in the Fifteenth
Year of His Majesty's Reign.