No. XV. the taking of every such Affirmation, and the making and subscribing of 20 Geo. II. every such Declaration, shall be in such manner and place, and at such c. 44. Persons to qua lify themselves by taking the Sacrament. Certificate and entry thereof to be made. Provisions of Act 13 Geo. II. with regard to Certificates, &c. extended to such foreign Protes tants. Privileges of Persons ex- 4 Geo. II. c. 21. times and hours, and such entries made thereof, and for the same fees, and under the same penalties, as in the said recited Act of the thirteenth year of his Majesty's reign are mentioned; and lists of the persons who shall take the benefit of this Act, shall be transmitted to the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations in like manner and under the same penalties as lists of the persons taking the benefit of the said Act are thereby directed to be transmitted. II. Provided always, and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no person shall be naturalized by virtue of this Act, unless such person shall have received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in some Protestant or Reformed Congregation, within some of the said Colonies in America, within three months next before his taking such Affirmation, and making and subscribing such Declaration, and shall at the time of his taking such affirmation and making and subscribing such declaration produce a Certificate, signed by the person administering the said Sacrament, and attested by two credible witnesses, whereof an entry shall be made in the Secretary's office of the Colony wherein such person shall so inhabit and reside, as also in the Court where the said Affirmation shall be so taken as aforesaid, without any fee or reward. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the provisions contained in the said Act made in the thirteenth year of his present Majesty's reign, with regard to Certificates of Residence, and of having made and subscribed the said Declaration, and taken the said Affirmation, and as to such Certificates being made evidence in the Courts of Great Britain and Ireland, and also in the said Colonies, and all other the benefits of the said Act, shall extend to foreign Protestants, who conscientiously scruple the taking of an oath, and who shall be qualified as aforesaid. IV. Provided always, That the said foreign Protestants shall enjoy the privileges of natural born subjects, and all the benefits of this Act, and the said Act of the thirteenth year of his Majesty's reign. V. Provided always, and be it hereby further enacted, That no person who shall become a natural-born subject of this Kingdom by virtue of this Act, shall be of the Privy Council, or a Member of either House of Parliament, or capable of taking having or enjoying any office or place of trust within the Kingdoms of Great Britain or Ireland, either civil or military, or of having accepting or taking any grant from the Crown to himself, or to any other in trust for him, of any lands tenements or hereditaments within the Kingdoms of Great Britain or Ireland; any thing herein before contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. VI. Provided also, and it is hereby further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That nothing in this Act, or in the said recited Act of the thirteenth year of his Majesty's reign contained, shall extend or be construed to extend to naturalize any person or persons whatsoever, who by virtue of an Act made in the fourth year of his Majesty's reign, (intituled An Act to explain a clause in an Act made in the seventh year of the reign of her late Majesty Queen ANNE, for naturalizing foreign Protestants, which relates to the Children of natural-born Subjects of the Crown of England, or of Great Britain) are declared and enacted not to be entitled to the benefit of the said Act of the seventh year of her said late Majesty's reign, but that all such persons shall be and remain in the same state plight and condition, to all intents constructions and purposes whatsoever, as they would have been in if the said recited Act of the thirteenth year of his Majesty's reign, or this Act, had never been made; any thing in this Act, or in the said recited Act of the thirteenth year of his Majesty's reign, contained to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding, No. XVI. 2 Geo. III. c. 25. [No. XVI. ] 2 Geo. III. c. 25.-An Act for naturalizing such foreign Protestants as have served, or shall serve for the time therein mentioned, as Officers or Soldiers in his Majesty's Royal American Regiment, or as Engineers in America. WHEREAS by an Act made in the thirteenth year of the reign of his late Preamble reMajesty King GEORGE the Second, intitutled, An Act for naturaliz- citing Acts. ing such foreign Protestants, and others therein mentioned, as are settled or 13 Geo. II. c. 7, shall settle in any of his Majesty's Colonies in America; all persons born out of the ligeance of his Majesty his heirs or successors, who shall 'have inhabited and resided, or shall inhabit or reside, for the space of 'seven years or more, in any of his Majesty's Colonies in America, or 'shall not have been absent out of the said Colonies for a longer space than two months at any one time during the said seven years, are, upon 'the conditions prescribed by the said Act, naturalized and made 'takers of all the benefits and privileges which the natural born subjects ' of this realm do enjoy, other than such as are specified in a proviso in the said Act contained: And whereas Commissions have been granted to a certain number of foreign Protestants in America, in pursuance of a power given by a subsequent Act of the twenty-ninth year par c. 5. of the reign of his late Majesty King GEORGE the Second, intituled An and 29 Geo. II. "Act to enable his Majesty to grant Commissions to a certain Number of foreign Protestants who have served abroad as Officers or Engineers, to act and rank as Officers or Engineers in America only under certain Restrictions and Qualifications; which said Officers have been very useful to his Majesty's service, by the raising of a great number of men, and training 'them to discipline as soldiers: And whereas several of the said Officers, since the passing of the above recited Acts, have purchased estates in "America, by which, as well as by their faithful services, they have given the strongest assurances of their attachment and fidelity to his Majesty's 'Government: And whereas it is just to reward the past services of the 'said Officers and Soldiers, and to give encouragement for their future good conduct; and it is likewise expedient to add inducements to such foreign Protestants as have settled, or may hereafter settle, in America, to engage in his Majesty's service;' Be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That all such foreign Protestants, as well Officers as Soldiers, who have served or shall hereafter serve, in the Royal American Regiment, or as Engineers in America, for the space of two years, and shall take and subscribe the oaths, and make repeat and subscribe the declaration appointed by an Act made in the first year of the reign of his Majesty King GEORGE the First, intituled, An Act for the further Security of his Majesty's Person and Government, and the Succession of the Crown in the Heirs of the late Princess SOPHIA, being Protestants; and for extinguishing the hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales, his open and secret Abettors; and shall, at the time of subscribing the said oaths, and making repeating and subscribing the said declaration, produce certificates, signed in manner directed by the above recited Act of the thirteenth of his late Majesty, of their having received the Sacrament in some Protestant and Reformed Congregation within the Kingdom of Great Britain, or within some of the said Colonies in America, within six months before that time, shall be deemed adjudged and taken to be his Majesty's natural-born subjects of this Kingdom to all intents constructions and purposes, as if they and every of them had been or were born within this Kingdom; and that no estates of what nature or kind soever purchased by them or any of them, in any of his Majesty's Colonies in America, since the passing of the above recited Act of the twentyninth year of the reign of his said late Majesty, shall be liable to seizure into the hands of his Majesty his heirs or successors, or their titles thereto be otherwise impeached by reason of their having been Aliens at the time No. XVI. 2 Geo. III. c. 25. * Sic. in orig. but the Act referred to is the 4th of Geo. II. of their making the said purchases, the above recited Acts, or any other Statute Law or thing whatsoever to the contrary, notwithstanding. II. Provided always, and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend or be construed to extend to naturalize any person or persons whatsoever, who, by virtue of an Act made in the fourth year of the reign of his late Majesty King GEORGE the First,* (intituled An Act to explain a clause in an Act made in the seventh year of the reign of her late Majesty Queen ANNE, for naturalizing foreign Protestants, which relates to the Children of natural-born Subjects of the Crown of England, or of Great Britain) are declared and enacted not to be intitled to the benefit of the said Act of the seventh year of her said Majesty's reign; but that all such persons shall be and remain in the same state plight and condition, to all intents constructions and purposes whatsoever, as they would have been in if this Act had never been made; any thing herein contained to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. III. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That no person who shall become a natural born subject of this Kingdom by virtue of this Act, shall be thereby enabled to be of the Privy Council, or a Member of either House of Parliament, or to be capable of taking having or enjoying any office or place of trust within the Kingdoms of Great Britain or Ireland, either civil or military, or of having accepting or taking any grant from the Crown to himself, or to any other in trust for him, of any lands tenements or hereditaments, within the Kingdoms aforesaid; any thing herein contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. [ No. XVII. ] 13 Geo. III. c. 21.-An Act to extend the Provisions of an Act, made in the fourth Year of the Reign of his late Majesty King GEORGE the Second, intituled, An Act to explain a Clause in an Act made in the seventh Year of the Reign of her late Majesty Queen ANNE, for naturalizing Foreign Protestants, which relates to the Children of the natural-born Subjects of the Crown of England, or of Great Britain, to the Children of such Children. 13Geo.III.c.21. WHEREAS divers natural-born subjects of Great Britain, who profess and exercise the Protestant religion, through various lawful causes, especially for the better carrying on of commerce, have been and are obliged to reside in several trading cities and other foreign places, where they have contracted marriages, and brought up families: And whereas it is equally just and expedient that the kingdom should not be deprived of such subjects, nor lose the benefit of the wealth that they have acquired; and therefore that not only the children of such natural-born 'subjects, but their children also, should continue under the allegiance of his Majesty, and be entitled to come into this kingdom, and to bring hither and realize, or otherwise employ their capital; but no provision hath hitherto been made to extend farther than to the children born 'out of the ligeance of his Majesty, whose fathers were natural-born sub'jects of the Crown of England or of Great Britain:' May it therefore please your most excellent Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That all persons born, or who hereafter shall be born, out of the ligeance of the Crown of England, or of Great Britain, whose fathers were or shall be, by virtue of a Statute made in the fourth year of King GEORGE the Second, to explain a clause in an Act made in the seventh year of the reign of her Majesty Queen ANNE, for naturalizing foreign Protestants, which relates to the natural-born subjects of the Crown of England or of Great Britain, intitled to all the rights and privileges of natural-born subjects of the Crown of England or of Great Britain, shall and may be djudged and taken to be, and are hereby declared and enacted to be, atural-born subjects of the Crown of Great Britain, to all intents onstructions and purposes whatsoever, as if he and they had been or were born in this kingdom; any thing contained in an Act of the welfth year of the reign of King WILLIAM the Third, intituled, An Act for the further Limitation of the Crown, and better securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, to the contrary in anywise notwithtanding. No. XVII. 13 Geo. III. c. 21. II. Provided always, and be it enacted and declared by the authority Provisoes, &c. aforesaid, That nothing in this present Act contained shall extend, or be of 4 Geo. II. construed adjudged or taken to extend, to make any persons born, or to not repealed by be born, out of the ligeance of the Crown of England, or of the Crown of this Act. Great Britain, to be natural-born subjects of the Crown of Great Britain, contrary to all or any of the provisoes exceptions limitations and restrictions contained in the aforesaid Act made in the fourth year of the reign of his said late Majesty, or to repeal abridge or alter the same; but all such Clauses shall be and remain in the same state plight and condition, to all intents constructions and purposes whatsoever, as they would have been if this present Act had never been made. III. Provided also, and be it further enacted by the authority afore- Not to abridge said, That nothing in this present Act contained shall extend or be con- or alter 5 Geo. I. strued adjudged or taken to repeal abridge or any ways alter an Act made in the fifth year of the reign of his late Majesty King GEORGE the First, intituled, An Act to prevent the Inconveniencies arising from seducing * Artificers in the Manufactures of Great Britain, into Foreign Parts; nor to repeal abridge or any ways alter any law statute custom or usage whatsoever now in force concerning aliens duties customs and impositions, nor to cause any privilege exemption or abatement relating thereto, in favour of any person naturalized by virtue of this Act, unless such person shall come into this realm, and there inhabit and reside, and shall take and subscribe the Oaths, and make, repeat and subscribe the Declaration appointed by an Act made in the first year of the reign of his late Majesty King GEORGE the First, intituled, An Act for the further Security of his Majesty's Person and Government, and the Succession of the Crown in the Heirs of the late Princess SOPHIA, being Protestants, and for extinguishing the Hopes of the Pretended Prince of Wales, and his open and secret Abettors, in such manner and form and at such place and places as are in and by the said Act directed, and also receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the usage of the Church of England, or in some Protestant or Reformed congregation within this kingdom of Great Britain, within three months before their taking the Oaths in the said Act mentioned; and shall, at the time and place of taking and subscribing the said Oaths, and of the making repeating and subscribing the said Declaration, produce a Certificate signed by the person administering the said Sacrament, and attested by two credible witnesses, whercof an entry shall be made of Record in the Court and Courts respectively wherein such Oaths shall have been taken and subscribed, without any fee or reward. IV. Provided always, and be it further enacted by the authority afore- Not to defeat said, That no person shall be enabled hereby to defeat any estate right any right vested or interest which upon the last day of this Session shall be lawfully in another pervested in any other person, or to claim or demand any estate or interest son on the last which shall hereafter accrue, unless such claim or demand be made day of the Seswithin five years next after the same shall accrue. [ No. XVII. a. ] 13 Geo. III. c. 25.-An Act to explain sion. No. XVII. 13 Geo. III. c. 25. Preamble. Majesty, for naturalizing such Foreign Protestants as have served, or shall serve, as Officers or Soldiers in his Majesty's Royal American Regiment, or as Engineers, in America, Act 13 Geo. II. WHEREAS by an Act made in the thirteenth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, (intituled, An Act for Naturalizing such Foreign Protestants, and others therein mentioned, as are settled, or shall settle, in any of his Majesty's Colonies in America,) all persons born out of the allegiance of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, who shall have inhabited and resided, or shall inhabit or reside, for the space of seven years or more, in any of his Majesty's colonies in America, or shall not have been absent out of the said 'colonies for a longer space than two months at any one time during the said seven years, are, upon the conditions prescribed by the said Act, naturalized and made partakers of all the benefits and privileges which the natural-born subjects of this realm do enjoy, other than such as are specified in a Proviso in the said Act contained: And Act 2 Geo. III. whereas by an Act made in the second year of the reign of his present Majesty, (intituled, An Act for naturalizing such foreign Protestants as have served, or shall serve for the time therein mentioned, as officers or soldiers in his Majesty's Royal American regiment, or as engineers • in America,) it is enacted, That all such foreign Protestants, as well officers as soldiers, who have served, or shall hereafter serve in the Royal American regiment, or as engineers in America, for the space of two years, shall, upon the terms required by the said recited Act, be deemed adjudged and taken to be his Majesty's natural-born subjects of this kingdom, to all intents constructions and purposes as if they and every of them had been or were born within this kingdom; and in both which Acts respectively are contained Provisoes, That no person who shall become a natural-born subject of this kingdom by virtue of the said Acts, shall be thereby enabled to be of the Privy Council, or a member of either House of Parliament, or to be capable of taking having or enjoying any office or place of trust within the kingdom of Great Britain or Ireland, either civil or military, or of having accepting or taking any grant from the Crown to himself, or to any other in trust for him, of any lands tenements or hereditaments within the Kingdoms aforesaid: And whereas doubts may nevertheless arise, whether such persons as have been or may be naturalized under or by virtue of the said recited Acts, are capable of taking having or enjoying any office or place of trust, either civil or military, or of taking any 'grant of lands tenements and hereditaments from the Crown whatsoever;' Be it enacted and declared by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That all and every person and persons that have become, or shall become his Majesty's natural-born subjects by force or virtue of the said Acts or either of them, are and shall be deemed to be capable of taking and holding any office or place of trust, either civil or military, and of taking and holding any grant of lands tenements and hereditaments from the Crown to himself or themselves, hereby deemed or to any other or others in trust for him or them, as well under the great capable of tak Seal of Great Britain as otherwise (other than and except offices and ing and holding places, and grants of lands tenements and hereditaments within the places of trust, kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland ;) any law or Act of Parliament either civil or to the contrary notwithstanding. military, &c. All persons who have, or shall become his Majesty's natural born subjects, by virtue of the said Acts, are |