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The Privy Council and the Secretaries of State

The King in Council and the Principal Secretaries of State. The pardon proclamations of 1717 and 1718, the commissions superseding a governor of Jamaica and the orders repealing colonial Acts all reached the plantations through them, and whenever the King was out of the kingdom the Lords Justices did the same work in his name.

FromDate not establishedToDate not establishedAlso writtenThe King in Council; The Principal Secretaries of State; one of our Principal Secretaries of State in Great Britain or Ireland (the surrender clause of the proclamation of 5 September 1717 as reprinted in A General History of the Pyrates, 1724; the official Gazette print of the clause is broken across a line and cannot be quoted whole); the Lords Justices in Council (the style borne by orders made in the King's absence, Calendar of State Papers Colonial vol. 33); the Lords of the Committee of Council for hearing appeals and complaints from the Plantations (the style of the committee at work in August 1723)

On 11 April 1700 the King took his throne in the House of Lords, "arrayed in His Regal Robes and Crown". The Deputy Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod went down to the Commons with the message that "It is His Majesty's Pleasure, they attend Him presently". The fourteenth bill was "An Act to punish Governors of Plantations in this Kingdom, for Crimes committed by them in the Plantations". The fifteenth, "An Act for the more effectual Suppression of Piracy". To each the Clerk of the Parliaments answered "Le Roy le veult".2,3,4

The pardon proclaimed

Merchants, masters of ships and the governors of the King's islands and plantations in the West Indies had complained that pirates were now so numerous that they infested the seas near Jamaica and even those of the northern continent of America. Whitehall answered them in the London Gazette of 17 September 1717: the King had acted "upon mature Deliberation in Council". He had appointed such a force as he judged sufficient, and issued the pardon by and with the advice of his Privy Council.5,6,7

A pirate had to give himself up on or before 5 September 1718; the pardon then covered whatever he had "committed before the fifth Day of January next ensuing". Surrender could be made to one of the King's Principal Secretaries of State in Great Britain or Ireland, or "to any Governor or Deputy Governor of any of our Plantations beyond the Seas".8,9

For the men who would not come in the proclamation set a price. Forty pounds for every lieutenant, master, boatswain, carpenter and gunner; thirty for every inferior officer; twenty for every private man; two hundred for any of a crew who seized his own commander. The Lord Treasurer, or the Commissioners of the Treasury, were to find the money. At the head of that scale the Gazette sets the reward "for every Commander of any Pirate Ship". The General History has "for every Commander of any private Ship or Vessel", and one hundred pounds.10,11,12,13

The proclamation was "Given at our Court at Hampton-Court" on 5 September 1717, "in the fourth Year of our Reign". A second proclamation, in the Gazette of December 1718, moved the day of surrender to 1 July 1719 and named the same offices.14,15

Carrying it over

The Duke of Shrewsbury's letter of 25 September 1697 reached the Virginia council on 1 June 1698, and that day "orders were given for publishing the Royal proclamation against pirates". In Maryland the Privy Council's letter about the pirate Henry Every had been read on 10 June 1697 and "sent down to the Delegates". The Maryland council also "agreed to ask the Council of Trade to send several copies of any proclamations in future".16,17,18

Lt. Governor Bennett of Bermuda sent a sloop with some of the King's proclamations to Providence on 19 December. Near three hundred pirates were there, and the papers were, he was told, "accepted of with great joy". Peter Heywood sent two vessels out of Jamaica with the pardon. One "came up with Hornigold, and one or two more his consorts", who answered in writing; six came in with it. Woodes Rogers reached the Bahamas as governor in late July 1718; what he found at Nassau belongs to that record.19,20,1

Spotswood put the doubt to the Council of Trade and Plantations. In remitting all forfeitures, did the King mean only "to restore the pyrates to the estates they had before the committing their pyracies", or "to grant them a property also in the effects wch. they have piratically taken"?21

The form of an order

On 10 June 1697 the Council of Trade ordered notice to be given to the Clerks of the Privy Council "to send the Orders in Council either sealed or signed".25

On 2 September 1723 a merchant named Jones arrived at Bermuda from London and at the next council day presented Lt. Governor Hope with an Order of the Lords Justices, signed by Temple Stanyan, repealing the island's five per cent duty Act. Hope did not doubt the copy authentic, "but it was directed to nobody, so no manner of notice was taken of it". He could execute no orders, he told the Board, "but such as are transmitted to me by H.M. Secretary of State".22,23,24

On 19 May 1716 Mr Secretary Stanhope signified the King's pleasure that the Council of Trade and Plantations prepare a commission "determining, annulling and superseding the former Commission granted to the Lord Archibald Hamilton", and appointing Peter Heywood to the government of Jamaica. The same letter states that abuses had been committed "of late under the covert of Commissions granted by the said Lord Archibald Hamilton", against the Crown's treaties with Spain.26,27

When the King was away

Much of this business was never transacted by the King: the instruments come out of Whitehall headed Order of the Lords Justices in Council. One of 6 August 1723 repealed three Acts of Jamaica and directed "that a letter to Governor the Duke of Portland be transmitted to H.M., and sent to the Duke under H.M. sign manual". Mr Secretary Walpole told Lord Carteret on 13 August that it directed him to send the report to the King.28,29

On 14 August the Lords of the Committee of Council for hearing appeals and complaints from the Plantations took up a representation from the Lords Justices "proposing the removal of Thomas Brooke from the Council of Bermuda".30

Benjamin Fletcher governed New York. Captain Tew, he told the Board on 22 June 1697, had a well-manned sloop and "gave bond to fight the French at the mouth of Canada river", so Fletcher gave him a commission and instructions. Fletcher petitioned the same Board: "I understand by common fame that in October last you laid before the Lords Justices and Privy Council a very heavy representation against me", though their Lordships had directed that he be heard in his defence. On 9 March 1699 the Board told the King it was ordered to hear him.31,32,33

On 4 August 1699 the Board reported to the Lords Justices that Colonel William Markham, lieutenant-governor of Pennsylvania for Mr Penn, "has not his Majesty's approbation as required by the Act for preventing frauds". The Board added that Markham "has received presents from some pirates, and has considerable effects of others in his hands". On 18 August it put aside depositions from Mr Secretary Vernon until it should know "what has been resolved by the Lords Justices upon their last representation about pirates in Pennsylvania and West New Jersey".34,35,36

The Privy Council's entry books, PC 2 at The National Archives, hold the text of every order and who attended; the State Papers hold the Secretaries' outgoing letters. They would settle how the Northern and Southern Departments divided the colonies, and whether a piracy ever came before the Council as an appeal. None of this page rests on them. Both proclamations come from Gazette prints, the December 1718 issue so broken that only its surrender date and the offices in it can be read. The rest arrives through the Calendar of State Papers Colonial, an abstract of papers in CO 5, CO 23 and CO 137.

What the evidence does not settle

Founding of the Board of Trade

  • Board of Trade founding date of 1696 not established

Privy Council's judicial role

  • Whether any pirate case reached Council as formal appeal

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. Woodes Rogers is the clearest field instance of the machinery, arriving as Governor of the Bahamas in late July 1718 under royal authority, his own despatch as calendared in the Calendar of State Papers Colonial and followed on the Nassau record giving 26 July. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Calendared state paper: Rogers's despatch as calendared in the Calendar of State Papers Colonial, item 737, carried on the Nassau record
  2. On 11 April 1700 the King came into the House of Lords arrayed in his regal robes and crown, attended with his officers of state, ascended his royal throne and sent the Deputy Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod to command the Commons to attend him presently. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Parliamentary journal: Journal of the House of Lords, vol. 16, 11 April 1700, printed pp. 577-580
  3. Among the bills passed on 11 April 1700 the fourteenth was an Act to punish Governors of Plantations in this Kingdom, for Crimes committed by them in the Plantations, and the fifteenth an Act for the more effectual Suppression of Piracy. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Parliamentary journal: Journal of the House of Lords, vol. 16, 11 April 1700, printed pp. 577-580
  4. The royal assent to those bills was pronounced severally by the Clerk of the Parliaments in the words Le Roy le veult. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Parliamentary journal: Journal of the House of Lords, vol. 16, 11 April 1700, printed pp. 577-580
  5. The Whitehall notice printed in the London Gazette of 17 September 1717 states that complaint had been made to the King by great numbers of merchants, masters of ships and others, and by the several governors of his islands and plantations in the West Indies, that the pirates were grown so numerous that they infested the seas near Jamaica and even those of the northern continent of America. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Official gazette print: The London Gazette, issue 5573, 14 to 17 September 1717
  6. The same notice states that the King had acted upon mature deliberation in Council. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Official gazette print: The London Gazette, issue 5573, 14 to 17 September 1717
  7. The proclamation for suppressing of pirates states that the King issued it by and with the advice of his Privy Council, having already appointed such a force as he judged sufficient. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Royal proclamation: The London Gazette, issue 5573, 14 to 17 September 1717
  8. The proclamation required surrender in or before the fifth day of September 1718 and pardoned piracies committed before the fifth day of January next ensuing. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Royal proclamation: The London Gazette, issue 5573, 14 to 17 September 1717
  9. The proclamation directed surrender to one of the King's Principal Secretaries of State in Great Britain or Ireland, or to any governor or deputy governor of the plantations beyond the seas. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Royal proclamation: A General History of the Pyrates (1724), the proclamation of 5 September 1717 printed in the introduction
  10. The proclamation set the reward for taking a pirate who would not surrender at forty pounds for every lieutenant, master, boatswain, carpenter and gunner, thirty pounds for every inferior officer and twenty pounds for every private man. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Royal proclamation: The London Gazette, issue 5573, 14 to 17 September 1717
  11. The proclamation promised two hundred pounds to any man of a pirate crew who seized and delivered his own commander so that he was brought to justice and convicted, and required the Lord Treasurer or the Commissioners of the Treasury for the time being to pay. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Royal proclamation: The London Gazette, issue 5573, 14 to 17 September 1717
  12. The official Gazette print sets the head of the reward scale against every commander of any pirate ship. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Official gazette print: The London Gazette, issue 5573, 14 to 17 September 1717
  13. The reprint of the proclamation in the General History of the Pyrates gives one hundred pounds at the head of the reward scale and reads commander of any private ship or vessel, disagreeing with the official print. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed reprint of a state paper: A General History of the Pyrates (1724), the proclamation of 5 September 1717 printed in the introduction
  14. The proclamation is dated at the court at Hampton Court on the fifth day of September 1717, in the fourth year of the reign. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Royal proclamation: The London Gazette, issue 5573, 14 to 17 September 1717
  15. A second royal proclamation in the same form moved the day of surrender to the first day of July 1719 and again named one of the Principal Secretaries of State in Great Britain or Ireland, or a governor or deputy governor of the plantations, as the officer to receive it. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Royal proclamation: The London Gazette, issue 5706, December 1718
  16. The Virginia council read the Duke of Shrewsbury's letter of 25 September 1697 on 1 June 1698 and gave orders then for publishing the royal proclamation against pirates. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared colonial council minute: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 16, item 533, Minutes of Council of Virginia, 1 June 1698
  17. The Privy Council's letter about the pirate Henry Every was read in the Maryland council on 10 June 1697 and sent down to the Delegates, the same sitting asking whether the militia as then armed were a sufficient land force. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared colonial council minute: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 15, Minutes of Council of Maryland, 10 June 1697
  18. The Maryland council agreed to ask the Council of Trade to send several copies of any proclamations in future. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared colonial council minute: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 16, Minutes of Council of Maryland, 1 July 1698
  19. Lt. Governor Bennett of Bermuda, having received some of the King's proclamations relating to the pirates, sent a sloop with them to Providence on 19 December, where he was told they were accepted with great joy, there being near three hundred pirates there. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 30, item 345, Lt. Governor Bennett to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Bermuda, 3 February 1718
  20. Peter Heywood sent two vessels out of Jamaica with the King's proclamation of pardon; one came up with Hornigold and one or two more of his consorts, who sent in their resolution in writing, and six of them came in with it. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 30, item 357, Peter Heywood to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Jamaica, 7 February 1718
  21. Spotswood asked the Council of Trade and Plantations whether the remitting of all forfeitures was intended only to restore pardoned pirates to the estates they had before their piracies, or to grant them a property also in the effects they had piratically taken. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 30, no. 800, Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations
  22. Lt. Governor Hope reported that on 2 September one Mr Jones, a merchant, arrived at Bermuda from London and at the next council day presented him with an Order of the Lords Justices signed by Temple Stanyan repealing the Act for the five per cent duty. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 33, item 741, Lt. Governor Hope to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Bermuda, 11 November 1723
  23. Hope did not doubt the order an authentic copy, but it was directed to nobody, so no manner of notice was taken of it. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 33, item 741, Lt. Governor Hope to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Bermuda, 11 November 1723
  24. Hope told the Council of Trade and Plantations in the same letter that he did not find in his instructions that he could execute any orders but such as were transmitted to him by His Majesty's Secretary of State or by their Lordships. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 33, item 741, Lt. Governor Hope to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Bermuda, 11 November 1723
  25. The Council of Trade and Plantations ordered on 10 June 1697 that notice be given to the Clerks of the Privy Council to send the Orders in Council either sealed or signed. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared board journal: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 15, Journal of Council of Trade and Plantations, 10 June 1697
  26. On 19 May 1716 Mr Secretary Stanhope signified the King's pleasure to the Council of Trade and Plantations that it forthwith prepare the draft of a commission determining, annulling and superseding the former commission granted to Lord Archibald Hamilton, and appointing Peter Heywood to the government of Jamaica. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 29, no. 158, Mr. Secretary Stanhope to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Whitehall, 19 May 1716
  27. Stanhope's letter states that several abuses had been committed of late under the covert of commissions granted by Lord Archibald Hamilton, to the prejudice of the treaties between this Crown and that of Spain. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 29, no. 158, Mr. Secretary Stanhope to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Whitehall, 19 May 1716
  28. An Order of the Lords Justices in Council of 6 August 1723 repealed three Acts of Jamaica, among them the Act for making His Majesty's revenue perpetual, and directed that a letter to Governor the Duke of Portland be transmitted to the King and sent to the Duke under the sign manual. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared order in council: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 33, item 676, Order of Lords Justices in Council, Whitehall, 6 August 1723
  29. Mr Secretary Walpole wrote to Lord Carteret on 13 August 1723 that he was directed by the enclosed Order in Council to transmit to the King the report of the Lords of the Committee of Council upon three Acts passed by the Duke of Portland in Jamaica. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 33, item 681, Mr. Secretary Walpole to Lord Carteret, Whitehall, 13 August 1723
  30. On 14 August 1723 the Lords of the Committee of Council for hearing appeals and complaints from the Plantations took into consideration a representation referred to them by the Lords Justices proposing the removal of Thomas Brooke from the Council of Bermuda. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared order in council: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 33, item 682, Order of the Lords of the Committee of Council for hearing appeals and complaints from the Plantations, 14 August 1723
  31. Benjamin Fletcher, governor of New York, reported to the Council of Trade and Plantations on 22 June 1697 that he had given Captain Tew a commission and instructions after Tew told him he had a sloop well manned and gave bond to fight the French at the mouth of Canada river. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 15, no. 1,098, Governor Fletcher to the Council of Trade and Plantations, New York, 22 June 1697
  32. Benjamin Fletcher petitioned the Council of Trade and Plantations that he understood by common fame that it had laid a very heavy representation against him before the Lords Justices and Privy Council in October, and that their Lordships had directed that he should be heard in his defence. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 16, item 1,040, Petition of Benjamin Fletcher to the Council of Trade and Plantations, December 1698
  33. The Council of Trade and Plantations reported to the King on 9 March 1699 that the Lords Justices in Council had ordered it, upon its representation of 19 October last, to hear Colonel Fletcher upon the complaints made against him. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 17, item 167, Council of Trade and Plantations to the King, Whitehall, 9 March 1699
  34. The Council of Trade and Plantations reported to the Lords Justices on 4 August 1699 that Colonel William Markham, acting as lieutenant-governor of Pennsylvania for Mr Penn, had not the King's approbation as the Act for preventing frauds required. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 17, item 694, Council of Trade and Plantations to the Lords Justices, 4 August 1699
  35. The same report states that Markham had received presents from some pirates and had considerable effects of others in his hands. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state paper: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 17, item 694, Council of Trade and Plantations to the Lords Justices, 4 August 1699
  36. The Council of Trade and Plantations resolved on 18 August 1699 to consider depositions sent to it by Mr Secretary Vernon when it had notice what had been resolved by the Lords Justices upon its last representation about pirates in Pennsylvania and West New Jersey. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared board journal: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 17, item 722, Journal of Council of Trade and Plantations, Whitehall, 18 August 1699