Sentence:  The rhetorical <WSD>double-handedness</WSD> of this proclamation (an "although" balanced by a "yet,", its "quiet enjoyment" set off by the threat of confiscation and death), already remarkably akin to the palinode or table razing in Lucio's tale, expresses the institutional ambivalence toward privateering, and eventually toward piracy, generated in part by Elizabeth's support for the corsairs, in part by their continuing importance as a class of mariners to be drawn on in time of war. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Duality, the quality of serving two purposes or having two (often contradictory) facets.