176 A PROCLAMATION DRAWN FOR 



home : whereby we shall not need to expose that our 

 kingdom of England to any quarrel or war, but rather 

 have occasion to preserve them in peace and tranquil 

 lity, and openness of trade with all foreign nations. 



Lastly and principally, we cannot but take un 

 speakable comfort in the great and wonderful con 

 sent and unity, joy and alacrity, wherewith our loving 

 subjects of our kingdom of England have received 

 and acknowledged us their natural and lawful king 

 and governor, according to our most clear and un 

 doubted right, in so quiet and settled manner, as, if 

 we had been long ago declared and established suc 

 cessor, and had taken all men s oaths and homages, 

 greater and more perfect unity and readiness could 

 not have been. For considering with ourselves, that 

 notwithstanding difference of religion, or any other 

 faction, and notwithstanding our absence so far off, 

 and notwithstanding the sparing and reserved com 

 municating of one another s minds ; yet all our loving 

 subjects met in one thought and voice, without any 

 the least disturbance or interruption, yea, hesitation 

 or doubtfulness, or any shew thereof; we cannot but 

 acknowledge it is a great work of God, who hath an 

 immediate and extraordinary direction in the dispos 

 ing of kingdoms and flows of people s hearts. 



Wherefore, after our most humble and devout 

 thanks to Almighty God, by whom kings reign, who 

 hath established us king and governor of these king 

 doms ; we return our hearty and affectionate thanks 

 unto the lords spiritual and temporal, the knights and 

 gentlemen, the cities and towns, and generally unto 



