Proclamation of Governour Penn

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At a Council held at Philadelphia, on Monday, October 17, 1774:

Present: The Honourable John Penn, Esquire, Governour, William Logan, James Tilghman, Richard Peters, Edward Shippen, Jun˙, Benjamin Chew, Esquires.

Upon the application of John Patterson, Esquire, Deputy Collector of his Majesty' s Customs for this Port, the Governour, with the advice of the Council, issued the following Proclamation, viz:

By the Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Governour and Commander-in-chief of the Province of PENNSYLVANIA, and the Counties of NEW-CASTLE, KENT, and SUSSEX, on DELAWARE.

Whereas an information has been made to me by John Patterson, Esquire, Collector of his Majesty Customs for the Port of Philadelphia, supported by depositions taken before one of the Justices of the Peace for the County of Philadelphia, that in the night of the twenty-second day of last month, a considerable number of Hogsheads of foreign Sugar were taken from on board the schooner Felicity, Allen Moore, Master, lately arrived from Hispaniola, and put into a store in the Northern Liberties of this City, the said Sugars not having been first entered in the Custom House, nor the Duties thereof paid before they were landed, and that on the next day a great number of people, armed with clubs and staves, appeared at the said store and prevented the Officers of the Customs from breaking open the doors of the same in order to make seizure of the said Sugars; and that afterwards, in the evening of the same day, the said Sugars were violently and forcibly taken from the said store and carried away. I have, therefore, thought fit, with the advice of the Council, to issue this Proclamation; and do hereby strictly charge, enjoin, and require all Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, and all Civil Officers, as well as all others, his Majesty' s subjects within this Province, to use their utmost endeavours, by all lawful ways and means, not only to bring to justice all offenders in the premises, but to discountenance and discourage all such violent, outrageous, and illegal proceedings for the future, and also upon all occasions to afford the most speedy and

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Given under my hand and the great seal of the said Province, at Philadelphia, the eighteenth day of October, in the fourteenth year of his Majesty' s reign, and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four.

JOHN PENN.

By his Honour' s command,

JOSEPH SHIPPEN, Jun˙, Secretary.