British Royal Proclamations Relating to America, 1603-1783

1676, April 1.

Great Britain. Sovereign

[Concerning Passes for Ships.]

BY THE KING.

A PROCLAMATION

Concerning Passes for Ships.

Charles R.

His Majesty (with the Advice of His Privy Council) doth by this His Royal Proclamation publish and declare, That all Passes for Ships Entred out for the East or West Indies, or the parts of Africa beyond Cape Verde, which were granted before the date hereof, shall determine upon their return, and being unladen in some Port of England or Wales, or at the Town of Berwick upon Tweed; And that all Passes by vertue of any other Treaties then those of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoly,[1] for Ships Entred for the Mediterranean Sea, or Trading there, granted before the 25^th of March 1675, shall determine at Michaelmas 1676. And that all such Passes for such Ships, granted after the 25^th of March 1675, and before the date of this Our Royal Proclamation, shall determine on the 25^th day of March 1677. And that if any of the said Ships shall be in any Port of this Kingdom, or in any Member or Creek thereof, at the time of the publishing of this Our Royal Proclamation, their Passes shall be then void; And if any of the said Ships shall happen to come into any Port of England, after the publishing of this Our Royal Proclamation, and before the expiring of the said Periods, and unlade, their Passes shall thereupon determine; And also that all Passes granted to Ships Entred to any other part of the World, or Coastwise, such Passes shall determine on the 29^th day of September 1676. And hereof all persons concerned are to take notice at their perils.

Given at Our Court at Newmarket the First day of April 1676. In the Eight and twentieth year of Our Reign.

God save the King.

London, Printed by the Assigns of John Bill and Christopher Barker, Printers to the Kings most Excellent Majesty. 1676.

1 p. folio. Copies in Antiq., Bodl., B. M., Crawf., Dalk., Guild., P. C., P. R. O., Q. C., and T. C. D. Printed in "London Gazette," No. 1084.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Two treaties had been recently entered into, viz.: "Articles of Peace between Great Britain and Tunis, concluded October, 1662. Renewed and confirmed February 4, 1674/5," and "Capitulations and Articles of Peace between Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire, September, 1675" (Several Treaties of Peace and Commerce, London, 1686, pp. 157, 203. See also Playfair's Scourge of Christendom, pp. 115-119). One of the clauses of these treaties required that all Englishmen traveling in foreign ships should be provided with passports. A proclamation of December 22, 1675, ordered that all passes issued before 1675 should expire on May 1, 1676, and that all new passes, except those for Guinea or the East or West Indies, should be in force for only one year. Another proclamation of January 28, 1676, explained that the passes referred to as expiring on May 1 concerned only the Mediterranean trade (see proclamation calendared in Lord Crawford's Tudor and Stuart Proclamations). The proclamation above printed was issued to determine the expiration of passes granted for the English colonial trade.

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