Proclamation of pardon for rebels, 1780
Dublin Core
Title
Proclamation of pardon for rebels, 1780
Creator
Date
1780
Description
A facsimile of a proclamation signed by Henry Clinton, M. Arbuthnot, and J. Simpson offers pardon to the rebels who are willing to realign their allegiance and obedience with the King and Great Britain. The document was originally written and signed in Charleston, South Carolina, after the city had surrendered to the British military earlier in 1780. The original manuscript resides in the collection of T. Bailey Meyers.
2023-05-11
600 dpi, 16-bit depth, color, Epson Expression 10000XL, Archival masters are tiffs.
Contributor
Cox, Danielle
Butler, Collin (transcriber)
Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Charleston Library Society. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Special Collections Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Charleston Library Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Format
image/jpeg
Type
StillImage
Source
Ms. 31, Proclamation of pardon for rebels, 1780.
Language
English
Identifier
Ms31
Text Item Type Metadata
Transcription
South Carolina
By Sir Henry Clinton, Knight of the Bath, General of His Majesty's Forces, and Mariot Arbuthnot, Esquire Vice Admiral of the Blue, His Majesty's Commissions to restore Peace and good Government in the several Colonies in Rebellion in North America
Proclamation
His Majesty having been pleased, by His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, to appoint us to his Commissioners, to restore the Blessings of Peace and Liberty to the several Colonies in Rebellion in America, We do hereby make publish his most gracious Intentions, and in Obedience to his Commands, Do Declare, to such of his deluded Subjects, as have been perverted from their duty by the Factious Arts of self interested and ambitious Men, that they will still be received with Mercy and forgiveness, if they immediately return to their allegiance, and a due Obedience to those Laws and that Government which they formerly boasted was their best birthright and noblest Inheritance, and upon a due Experience of the sincerity of their professions, a full and free Pardon will be granted for the Treasonable Offences which they have heretofore committed, in such manner and form as His Majesty's Commission doth direct.
Nevertheless, it is only to those, who convinced of their Errors, are firmly resolved to return to and support that Government under which they were so happy and free, that these gracious Offers are once more renewed and therefore these Persons are excepted, who, notwithstanding their present hopeless situation, and regardless of the accumulating presence of the miseries of the People, which their infatuated Conduct must contribute to increase, are still so hardened in their guilt, as to endeavour to keep alive the flame of Rebellion in this Province, which will otherwise soon be reinstated in its former prosperity security and Peace.
Nor can we at present resolve to extend the Regal Clemency to those who are polluted with the Blood of their Fellow Citizens, most wantonly and inhumanly shed under the mock forms of Justice, because they refused submission to an usurpation which they abhorred, and would not oppose that Government with which they deemed themselves inseparably connected and in order to give quiet and content to the minds of His Majesty's faithful and well affected Subjects, We Do again assure them, that they shall have effectual Countenance Protection and Support, and as soon as the situation of the Province will admit, the Inhabitants will be reinstated in the possession of all those Rights and Immunities which they heretofore enjoyed under a free British Government, exempt from Taxation except by their own Legislature: And We do hereby call upon all His Majesty's faithful Subjects to be aiding with their endeavours, in order that a measure, so conducive to their own happiness, and the wellfare and prosperity of the Province, may the more speedily and easily attained.
Given under our Hands and Seals, at Charles Town, the first day of June, in the Seventieth Year of HIs Majesty's Reign, and in the Year of our Lord one Thousand Seven hundred and Eighty.
H. Clinton
M. Arbuthnot
By their Excellency's Command
J. Simpson
[Blank]
By Sir Henry Clinton, Knight of the Bath, General of His Majesty's Forces, and Mariot Arbuthnot, Esquire Vice Admiral of the Blue, His Majesty's Commissions to restore Peace and good Government in the several Colonies in Rebellion in North America
Proclamation
His Majesty having been pleased, by His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, to appoint us to his Commissioners, to restore the Blessings of Peace and Liberty to the several Colonies in Rebellion in America, We do hereby make publish his most gracious Intentions, and in Obedience to his Commands, Do Declare, to such of his deluded Subjects, as have been perverted from their duty by the Factious Arts of self interested and ambitious Men, that they will still be received with Mercy and forgiveness, if they immediately return to their allegiance, and a due Obedience to those Laws and that Government which they formerly boasted was their best birthright and noblest Inheritance, and upon a due Experience of the sincerity of their professions, a full and free Pardon will be granted for the Treasonable Offences which they have heretofore committed, in such manner and form as His Majesty's Commission doth direct.
Nevertheless, it is only to those, who convinced of their Errors, are firmly resolved to return to and support that Government under which they were so happy and free, that these gracious Offers are once more renewed and therefore these Persons are excepted, who, notwithstanding their present hopeless situation, and regardless of the accumulating presence of the miseries of the People, which their infatuated Conduct must contribute to increase, are still so hardened in their guilt, as to endeavour to keep alive the flame of Rebellion in this Province, which will otherwise soon be reinstated in its former prosperity security and Peace.
Nor can we at present resolve to extend the Regal Clemency to those who are polluted with the Blood of their Fellow Citizens, most wantonly and inhumanly shed under the mock forms of Justice, because they refused submission to an usurpation which they abhorred, and would not oppose that Government with which they deemed themselves inseparably connected and in order to give quiet and content to the minds of His Majesty's faithful and well affected Subjects, We Do again assure them, that they shall have effectual Countenance Protection and Support, and as soon as the situation of the Province will admit, the Inhabitants will be reinstated in the possession of all those Rights and Immunities which they heretofore enjoyed under a free British Government, exempt from Taxation except by their own Legislature: And We do hereby call upon all His Majesty's faithful Subjects to be aiding with their endeavours, in order that a measure, so conducive to their own happiness, and the wellfare and prosperity of the Province, may the more speedily and easily attained.
Given under our Hands and Seals, at Charles Town, the first day of June, in the Seventieth Year of HIs Majesty's Reign, and in the Year of our Lord one Thousand Seven hundred and Eighty.
H. Clinton
M. Arbuthnot
By their Excellency's Command
J. Simpson
[Blank]
Collection
Citation
Clinton, Henry, “Proclamation of pardon for rebels, 1780,” Charleston Library Society Digital Collections, accessed May 18, 2024, https://charlestonlibrarysociety.omeka.net/items/show/1331.