Gaspee
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FOR the discovering and apprehending the persons who plundered and burnt the Gaspee schooner ; and barbarously wounded and ill-treated Lieutenant William Dudingston, commander of the said schooner.Whereas, we have received Information that upon the 10th day of June last, between the Hours of Twelve and One in the Morning, in the Providence or Narrowganset River, in Our Colony of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, a great Number of Persons, armed with Guns and other offensive Weapons, and led by Two Persons, who were called the Captain and Head-Sheriff, in several armed Boats, attacked and Boarded Our Vessel called the Gaspee Schooner, then lying at single Anchor in the said River, commanded by Our Lieutenant William Dudingston, under the Orders of our Rear-Admiral John Montagu, and having dangerously wounded and barbarously treated the said William Dudingston, took, plundered, and burnt the said schooner:
We, to the Intent that said outrageous and heinous Offenders
may be discovered, and brought to condign Punishment, have thought fit,
with the Advice of our Privy Council, to issue this Our Royal
PROCLAMATION:
And We are hereby graciously pleased to promise, that if any Person
or Persons shall discover any other Person or Persons concerned in the
said daring and heinous Offences above-mentioned, so that he or they
may
be apprehended and brought to Justice, such Discoverer shall have and
receive,
as a Reward for such Discovery, upon Conviction of each of the said
Offenders,
the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds. And if any Person or Persons
shall
discover either of the said Persons who acted as, or called themselves,
or were called by their said Accomplices, the Head-Sheriff or the
Captain,
so that they, or either of them, may be apprehended and brought to
Punishment,
such Discoverer shall have and receive, as a Reward for such Discovery,
upon Conviction of either of the said Persons, the further Sum of Five
Hundred Pounds, over and above the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds
herein before promised for the discovery and apprehending any of the
other
common Offenders above mentioned; and if any Person or Persons
concerned
therein, except the Two Persons who were called the Head-Sheriff and
Captain,
and the Person or Persons who wounded Our said Lieutenant William
Dudingston,
shall discover any one or more of the said Accomplices, so that he or
they
may be apprehended and brought to Punishment, such Discoverer shall
have
and receive the said Reward or Rewards of Five Hundred Pounds
or
One
Thousand Pounds as the case may be: and Also our gracious Pardon
for
his said Offence. And the Commissioners for executing the Office
of Treasurer of our Exchequer, are hereby required to make Payment
accordingly
of the said Rewards. And We do hereby strictly charge and command all
Our
Governors, Deputy-Governors, Magistrates, Officers, and all other Our
Loving
Subjects that they do use their utmost Diligence, in their several
Places
and Capacities, to find out, discover, and apprehend the said
Offenders,
in order to their being brought to Justice. And We do hereby command
that
this Our Proclamation be printed and published, in the usual form, and
affixed in the principal Places of Our Town of Newport, and
other
Towns in Our said Colony, that none may pretend Ignorance.
GIVEN at Our Court at St. James, the Twenty-Sixth Day of August, 1772, in the Twelfth Year of Our Reign.****************************************************************GOD save the KING.
