The Proclamation for Suppressing of Pirates (also known simply as the Act of Grace) was issued by George I of Great Britain on 5 September 1717. It promised a royal pardon for acts of piracy committed before the following 5 January to those pirates who surrendered themselves to the correct authority before a deadline. Originally, the surrender had to occur on or before 5 September 1718; this was later extended by a second proclamation to 1 July 1719.
The proclamation also included bounties for the capture of pirates who failed to surrender before the deadline, as well as offering rewards for pirate crew members facilitating the capture of their captains.
Background
Precedent
Kings James I, James II and William III issued similar pardons or proclamations in the prior century.
Pardons under James I
With the end of the first Anglo-Spanish war under James I, and the corresponding end to English privateering in 1603, English sailors resorted to piracy. In 1611, Captain Richard Bishop became one of the first notable pirates to be pardoned, having surrendered partly due to qualms about attacking English ships. He was allowed to keep his plunder.
In 1611, the English government was willing to offer a general pardon to pirates, on condition that they surrender their ships and goods. The following year, the privy council of James I offered a general pardon without this condition. At least 12 pirate crews surrendered to the general pardon, though a large portion of Baughe's crew would shortly return to piracy. Captain Roger Middleton, who sailed first to Ireland then to Mehdya to deliver the pardon, extracted bribes from pirates in exchange for their pardon.
The lack of competing pirates in Ireland due to the general pardon saw Henry Mainwaring become notorious in 1613 as leader of a pirate fleet. He would receive offers from Tuscany, Savoy, Tunis and Spain of a pardon should he surrender; however, consistent with his not attacking English ships, in June 1616 he instead accepted an English offer of pardon, having sought one since the previous year (as too had Lording Barry).
Clive Senior suggests that the government had an incentive to pardon pirates, since this would keep these potentially useful seamen available in case of war.
1687/8 proclamation
Around the 1670s, an expedition to suppress piracy in the Spanish West Indies using pardons was planned, but never went ahead.
On 22 May 1687, James II renewed the proclamation for the suppression of pirates, offering a limited time in which any pirate who surrendered would receive a pardon. That August, he commissioned Sir Robert Holmes to suppress piracy in a squadron sent to the West Indies. On 20 January 1687/8, James II issued a proclamation (offering pardons to pirates who surrendered to Holmes or to an appointee of his) in order to ensure that colonial governors would cooperate with Holmes and his agents. Holmes' fleet achieved a temporary reduction in piracy, but the number of pirates had increased again by 1693.
1698 proclamation
On 8 December 1698, William III issued a proclamation offering pardons to pirates east of the Cape of Good Hope who surrendered to Captain Thomas Warren. Henry Every and William Kidd were specifically exempted from receiving this pardon.
By the time that Warren arrived in Madagascar, the Act of Grace had expired. By promising to extend the deadline for surrender, Warren obtained the surrender of Robert Culliford, among others; however, these pirates were taken to trial and all except Culliford were hanged. The fact that pirates such as Joseph Bradish and those in Kidd's company were not offered amnesty by the authorities contributed to scepticism regarding acts of grace, including among the crew of Bartholomew Roberts more than two decades later.
Peace of Utrecht
With armistices in 1712, followed by the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, the state of war (which had existed since 1702 as part of the War of the Spanish Succession) between England/Great Britain on one side and France and Spain on the other came to an end. Employment for sailors became difficult to find and poorly paid, as privateering commissions became useless and as the Royal Navy discharged over 36,000 men (nearly three-quarters of those it had employed). In spite of the peace, Spanish guardas costas continued to seize English ships (based on their possession of Spanish coin), harming and imprisoning English sailors, as well as discouraging the merchant shipping which would otherwise have offered legitimate employment. This led some sailors to resort to piracy.