Part 23
We have therefore thought proper to declare War; and We do hereby Declare War against the French King, who hath so unjustly begun it, relying on the Help of Almighty God, in Our just Undertaking, and being assured of the hearty Concurrence and Assistance of Our Subjects, in Support of so good a Cause; hereby willing and requiring Our Captain General of Our Forces, Our Commissioners for executing the Office of Our High Admiral of Great Britain, Our Lieutenants of Our several Counties, Governors of Our Forts and Garrisons, and all other Officers and Soldiers under them, by Sea and Land, to do and execute all Acts of Hostility, in the Prosecution of this War against the French King, his Vassals and Subjects, and to oppose their Attempts: Willing and requiring all Our Subjects to take Notice of the same; whom We henceforth strictly forbid to hold any Correspondence or Communication with the said French King, or his Subjects. And We do hereby command Our own Subjects, and advertise all other Persons, of what Nation soever, not to transport or carry any Soldiers, Arms, Powder, Ammunition, or other Contraband Goods, to any of the Territories, Lands, Plantations, or Countries of the said French King; Declaring, that whatsoever Ship or Vessel shall be met withal, transporting or carrying any Soldiers, Arms, Powder, Ammunition, or any other Contraband Goods, to any of the Territories, Lands, Plantations, or Countries of the said French King, the same, being taken, shall be condemned as good and lawful Prize.
And whereas there are remaining in Our Kingdom, divers of the Subjects of the French King, We do hereby Declare Our Royal Intention to be, That all the French Subjects who shall demean themselves dutifully towards Us, shall be safe in their Persons and Effects.
Given at our Court at Kensington, the Seventeenth Day of May, 1756, in the Twenty ninth Year of Our Reign.
GOD SAVE THE KING.
London: Printed by Thomas Baskett, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty; and by the Assigns of Robert Baskett. 1756.
_1 p. folio. Copies in Antiq., B. M., and in Mass. Historical Society. Entered on Patent Rolls; entered in Privy Council Register, II Geo., vol. 16, p. 177. Printed in "London Gazette," May 18, 1756. Reprinted as a broadside by J. Parker, New York, 1756, of which a copy was in the N. Y. State Library._
FOOTNOTE:
[1] In the copy in the British Museum, this word is printed _from_, but the word _for_ is substituted in manuscript, and in a contemporaneous hand is appended the following note: "The above Error was not found out by either of the Clerks of the Secretaries of State, Offices, &c, but published and Publickly Stuck up at the 'Change, where a Country-fellow made his Remark on the Error, which occasion'd fresh Expresses to be dispatched to the [illegible] and Plantations abroad, at the additional Expense of £8000."
1759, October 23.
[Thanksgiving in England for Defeat of French.]
BY THE KING.
A PROCLAMATION
FOR A PUBLICK THANKSGIVING.
GEORGE R.
We do most devoutly and thankfully acknowledge the great Goodness and Mercy of Almighty God, who hath afforded Us his Protection and Assistance in the just War, in which, for the common Safety of Our Realms, and for disappointing the boundless Ambition of France, We are now engaged; and hath given such signal Successes to Our Arms, both by Sea and Land, particularly by the Defeat of the French Army in Canada, and the Taking of Quebec; and who hath most seasonably granted Us at this Time an uncommonly plentiful Harvest: And therefore, duly considering that such great and publick Blessings do call for publick and solemn Acknowledgments, We have thought fit, by and with the Advice of Our Privy Council, to issue this Our Royal Proclamation, hereby appointing and commanding, That a General Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for these His Mercies, be observed throughout Our Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, upon Thursday the Twenty ninth Day of November next. And, for the better and more religious and orderly Solemnizing the same, We have given Directions to the most Reverend the Archbishops, and the Right Reverend the Bishops of England, to compose a Form of Prayer suitable to this Occasion, to be used in all Churches and Chapels, and other Places of Publick Worship, and to take Care for the timely dispersing thereof throughout their respective Dioceses. And We do strictly charge and command, That the said publick Day of Thanksgiving be religiously observed by all Our loving Subjects, as they tender the Favour of Almighty God, and upon Pain of suffering such Punishment as We may justly inflict upon all such as shall contemn or neglect the Performance of so religious and necessary a Duty.
Given at Our Court at Kensington, the Twenty third Day of October, One thousand seven hundred and fifty nine, in the Thirty third Year of our Reign.
GOD SAVE THE KING.
London: Printed by Thomas Baskett, Printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty; and by the Assigns of Robert Baskett. 1759.
_1 p. folio. Only copy found in Mass. Historical Society. Entered on Patent Rolls; entered in Privy Council Register, II Geo., vol. 18, p. 170. Printed in "London Gazette," October 27, 1759. It was ordered by the Privy Council that the Thanksgiving should also be celebrated in Ireland, and a proclamation with practically the same wording was issued by the Lord Lieutenant and Council of Ireland, October 30, 1759. A printed copy of this latter proclamation is in the Dublin Public