By His Royal Highness the PRINCE of WALES, REGENT of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in the Name and on the Behalf of His Majesty,

A PROCLAMATION.

GEORGE, P. R.

WHEREAS an Act was passed in the fiftysixth year of His Majesty's reign, intituled "An Act to provide for a new silver coinage, and "to regulate the currency of the gold and silver "coin of this realm;" and whereas in pursuance of the said Act, great quantities of new silver coin have been delivered in exchange for old silver coin, current before the passing of the said Act, and further quantities are now ready to be delivered for the use of His Majesty's subjects, and it has been represented to us that some old silver coin may still remain in circulation, and we have thought it expedient that no such old silver coin of this realm should continue to be current in payment at any time after the date of this Proclamation; We have therefore, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, and by and with the advice of His Majesty's Privy Council, thought fit to issue this Proclamation: and we do hereby ordain, declare, and command, that no piece or pieces of old silver coin of this realm, current at any time before the passing of the said Act, shall pass or be current in any payment whatsoever, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, at any time after the date of this Proclamation: and We do hereby strictly prohibit and forbid all and every person or persons whomsoever, from and after the date of this Proclamation, to receive or utter in payment any piece or pieces of the said old silver coin: and

We

We do hereby strictly require and command all His Majesty's loving subjects strictly to conform to the orders hereby given, and to the directions and regulations enacted and required by the said Act of Parliament with respect to the cutting, breaking, or defacing of all such pieces of the said old silver coin as shall be of less value than the denominations thereof shall respectively import and We being desirous as much as in Us lies to give ease to His Majesty's subjects, and to prevent their sustaining any loss or inconvenience on account of the currency of old silver coin being prohibited as aforesaid, do hereby, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, authorise, command, and require the officers of His Majesty's Mint, for the space of three calendar months after the date of this Proclamation, to receive by tale only all such old silver coin of the realm, current at any time before the passing of the said Act, which shall be brought by any person or persons whomsoever into His Majesty's Mint, or to any place to be appointed for that purpose by the Master and Worker of His Majesty's Mint, and which shall be of or above the several weights following, that is to say, all crown pieces which shall be of or above the weight of eighteen pennyweights, four grains, troy; all halfcrown pieces which shall be of or above the weight of nine penny weights, two grains, troy; all shillings which shall be of or above the weight of three pennyweights, fifteen grains troy; and all sixpenny pieces which shall be of or above the weight of one pennyweight, nineteen grains, troy; and to deliver out of the said Mint to every person bringing in and delivering such old silver coins, a sum in new silver coins equal to the amount of the silver coins so brought by any such person or persons as aforesaid, according to the respective denominations of such

silver coins.

Given at the Court at Carlton-House, the first

day

day of March one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, in the fifty-seventh year of His Majesty's reign.

GOD save the KING.

At the Court at Carlton-House, the 1st of March 1817,

PRESENT,

His Royal Highness the PRINCE REGENT in Council.

WHEREAS by an Act, passed in the present session of Parliament, intituled "An Act to "continue and extend the provisions of an Act, "of the forty-ninth year of His present Majesty, "for regulating the trade and commerce to and "from the Cape of Good Hope, until the fifth

day of July one thousand eight hundred and "twenty; and also for regulating the trade of the "Island of Mauritius;" His Majesty is authorised, by and with the advice of His Privy Council, by any Order or Orders to be issued from time to time, to give such directions, and make such regulations touching the trade and commerce to and from all islands, colonies, or places, and the territories and dependencies thereof, to His Majesty belonging or in His possession, in Africa, or Asia to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope (exçepting only the possessions of the East India Company), as to His Majesty, in Council, shall appear most expedient and salutary, any thing contained in an Act, passed in the twelfth year of the reign of His Majesty King Charles the Second, intituled "An Act for the encouraging and increas"ing of shipping and navigation," or in an Act, passed in the seventh and eighth years of the reign 1817. M

of

of His Majesty King William the Third, intituled "An Act for preventing frauds, and regulating "abuses in the plantation trade," or any other Act or Acts of Parliament now in force, relating to His Majesty's colonies and plantations, or any other Act or Acts of Parliament, law, usage or custom to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding: and whereas on the night of the twenty-fifth of September last, a dreadful fire broke out in the town of Port Lewis, in the Island of Mauritius, which totally destroyed the chief part of that town, together with a great mass of provisions and merchandise intended for the consumption and trade of its inhabitants, whereby a great number of families were reduced to extreme indigence, and left without a home; in consequence of which dreadful calamity the Governor of the said Island found himself compelled to open the ports of the Island to foreign vessels, in order to afford the speediest relief of which the case would admit, and thereby to save His Majesty's subjects residing in that colony from the greatest extremity of distress; and whereas it is expedient that facilities should in consequence be granted to the trade of the Island of Mauritius, for a limited time, with the view of giving still further relief to its suffering inhabitants; His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, and by and with the advice of His Majesty's Privy Council, is pleased to order, and it is hereby ordered, that all vessels, whether British or foreign vessels belonging to countries in amity with His Majesty, arriving at any port of the Island of Mauritius, or its dependencies, within twelve months from the date of this present Order, from any country in amity with His Majesty, laden with any articles the growth, production, or manufacture of any such country, excepting all articles composed of cotton, iron, steel, or wool of foreign manufacture, shall be permitted

to

to enter and land their cargoes, and dispose of the same, in the said ports; provided always, that such articles, when imported in a foreign ship, shall pay a duty of two per cent. ad valorem, over and above what may be payable upon similar goods when imported in a British ship.

And it is further ordered, that every such vessel, arriving as aforesaid, shall be permitted to export a cargo, consisting of any articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of the Island of Mauritius, or its dependencies, or of any other articles which shall have been legally imported there; and that all such articles so exported in foreign vessels, shall in like manner be subject to a duty of two per cent. ad valorem, over and above the duties (if any) which shall be payable on similar articles when exported from the Mauritius, or its dependencies, in British vessels.

It is, however, hereby further ordered and declared, that no foreign vessel, allowed by the terms of this Order to export a cargo from the Island of Mauritius, or its dependencies, shall be permitted to export such cargo to any of His Majesty's possessions. But that every British vessel which shall during the continuance of this present Order, have imported a cargo into any port of the said Island of Mauritius, or its dependencies, either from the United Kingdom, or from any other place, shall be permitted to carry back a return cargo, consisting of the articles aforesaid, to any place whatever, either belonging to His Majesty, or to any state in amity with His Majesty. And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, are to give the necessary directions herein as to them may respectively appertain.