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By the PROPRIETARY of the Province of PENSILVANIA, and Counties annexed With the ADVICE of the COƲNCIL: A PROCLAMATION

WHereas several Piracies and Robberies at Sea and on Sea-Coasts have of late years been committed in Many parts of the World, to the great Injury of Trade, the Terrour and Ruine of many peaceable honest People under Governments in Amity with the Crown of England, and to the horrid Scan­dal of the English Nation: And whereas divers Persons justly suspected to be guilty of having practised the Aforesaid Crimes, as well by the Nature and Quantity of the Treasure about them, as by their being unable to give any good Account of them­selves, their Residence or Commerce, have for some time been observed to land on, and scatter themselves through these Northern English Colonies of America, with a manifest Design of enjoying with Impunity and Safety their ill gotten Riches.

Now to the End that All such Persons may be effectually discouraged from taking shelter [...] this Province, and They that attempt it may be speedily detected, and no longer escape the hand of Justice; I have thought fit, and do hereby strictly Charge and Command all Magistrates and Officers within this Province and Counties annexed, as they will answer the Contrary at their Peril, to use their utmost Diligence vigorously to Pursue, Apprehend and Secure every such Person, that may be thus suspected; and not only such Persons, but also to prosecute all Others, who shall knowingly Harbour any of Them or their Goods, or by any means directly or indirectly Protect them, or shall be Aiding or Assisting to Them to make their Escape or to withdraw themselves from Justice. And more Es­pecially I do hereby Require and Command All the Kings Loving Subjects the Inhabitants of this Province & Territories, & particularly all Keepers of Public Houses, to have a watch­full Eye over, and strictly to Observe all Strangers coming among them, and such to Apprehend, or cause to be Apprehended and Secured, as they find unable to give a Reasonable and Credible Account of their former Abode and Conversation, and about whom is found any such Quantity of East-India, Arabian or other Foreign Goods or Coins, as may render them justly suspected as aforesaid: Whether they pretend to have got their wealth by Privateering against Ships under French Commissions, which for some time past has been happily at an End, or by an open Trade to Madagascar, known to be the Magazine of Spoils and Plunders committed on the East-India-Seas: And to take care that the said Persons in safe Custody be kept, till upon due Information thereof given to me, they shall receive my further Orders. And the better to Encourage a due Prosecution of these my Commands; It is hereby Promised that whosoever shall Discover, Secure and Deliver into the Hands of Justice, any such suspected Person, who shal be afterwards Convict­ed of the aforesaid Crime, shall receive the Sum of Ten Pounds, as a Reward of their good Service. Given under my Hand and Seal at Philadelphia the 23d. day of the Tenth Month, in the Eleventh Year of the Reign of WILLIAM the Third of Great Britain, France and Ireland King &c. And the Nineteenth of This Government. Anno (que) Domini. 1699.

W. Penn.

Philadelphia Printed by Reinier Jansen 1699.

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