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 Judgement 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 Grandfather King George the Second, 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 Grandfather, 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 Grandfather: 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 Saville House, the Twenty Seventh Day of
October, 1760, in the First Year of Our Reign.