Note 2 — 1772, August 26.

This is the only proclamation of which the editor finds record that was printed outside of Great Britain. A marginal note appended to the entry of the proclamation in the Privy Council Register (III Geo., vol. 9, p. 428) reads: "N. B. The original proclamation under the Great Seal was sent over to Rhode Island with the Commission &c by the Secretary of State." In the London Gazette of September 8, 1772, an article dated at Whitehall, August 29, and evidently officially inspired, recites the circumstances of the attack upon the Gaspee, the appointment of a commission of inquiry, and the issuance of a Proclamation which was "to be printed and published within the said Colony of Rhode Island." Under date of December 22, 1772, Governor Wanton of Rhode Island wrote to the Sheriffs of the several counties: "In obedience to the King's command, signified to me, by the Right Honorable the Earl of Dartmouth, one of his principal secretaries of state, I have caused to be printed His Majesty's proclamation for discovering and apprehending the persons who plundered and burnt the Gaspee schooner; copies of which, I send you by express, which you are forthwith to affix in the most public places of the several towns within your colony" (R. I. Colonial Records, vii, 117). John Howland relates that the proclamation was posted near the Market house in Providence, but was struck down by a patriotic citizen and "mingled with the filth of the street" (Stone's Life of Howland, p. 37).

The editor could find no printed copy of this proclamation in England, but a few days after returning to America had the good fortune to discover one of the original broadsides, which was purchased for the R. I. Historical Society.