A REMONSTRANCE and PROTESTATION Of all the GOOD PROTESTANTS Of this Kingdom, against Deposing their Lawful Sovereign K. JAMES II.  
Printed by a Lover of the KING, MDCLXXXIX.   

A REMONSTRANCE and PROTESTATION Of all the GOOD PROTESTANTS Of this Kingdom, against Deposing their Lawful Sovereign, K. JAMES II.  
SInce it is evident to the whole World, that the present State of this Kingdom is a state of Force; and that after all the pretence of Property, there is no Law in England but the Long Sword; & that upon that Foundation Our present Architects are raising the Fabric of their New Government: We who profess ourselves to be True Protestants, and Tenderer of the Honour of our Religion, then of our Lives; to think ourselves obliged, in Conscience, to vindicate our Reputation to Mankind, by declaring our Disatisfaction to the present proceed, and making a public Protestation against the Authors of them.  
It is true, The Fears and Jealousies we have had of the coming in of Popery, by the Influence of some great Men of that Religion had upon His Majesty; improved by the daily Reflections that were made, and the Ill Turn that was given to every Act of State, by some Malignant Spirits among ourselves; made us, we confess, very Cold and Indifferent in His Majesty's Defence, against a Prince of the Blood, of our Own Religion, whose Errand (as we were told) Was to preserve our Religion and Laws, and the Just Succession of the Royal Line. This only could have made us endure an Action we should else have hated; presuming our Kings less, should have been His Gain; and our Yielding, our Victory: But since we behold, to our unspeakable Grief, that our Condissention is Treacherously abused to private Ends; and that show of our Disloyalty, not made a Remedy to the Government, but a Ruin to our King, and an Infamy to ourselves, to serve the turn of some men's Avarice and Ambition; We think fit to Protest against such Injustice, and to declare, We neither know, nor will acknowledge any other King, than JAMES the Second, who is our Lawful Sovereign while He lives; and this Resolution we will maintain upon all Occasions, as becomes Loyal Subjects and good Protestants to do. Not aught this to appear a blind or unreasonable Sacrifice on our part; since we can find neither Truth nor Justice in the Reason given for laying His Majesty aside: For the King's Discretion, so much spoken of, was a plain Necessity, and not a Crime: Had those Foreigners that Conquered, but by leav● suffered Him to stay a King at Home, He had never gone Abroad; bu● if it were a Crime, it was against Himself, and not against the Kingdoms His sins against the Nation we have daily expected to hear of: Those black practices that brought the Prince of Orange hither to save us, and do hi● Princes Right: It is plain His Discretion, which is now made the fault t●● Dethrone Him, could be none of them; for that was not foreseen b●● the Prince, or those that called him in: And we Challenge those tha● have Impeached Him to prove to us, as clearly as they made us believ● they could, that the Birth of the Prince of Wales is an Imposture, that the Kin● has made a League with France to cut off the Protestants of these Kingdoms; an● that his Brother and the Earl of Essex were murdered by his appointment. Had these vile things been proved upon Him, we had done with him forever and till then, common Honesty would fly in our Faces if we should Desert Him: And though his Enemies have been able to deceive us, w● hope they shall not be able to Destroy us. If our Good Nature had suffered us to be easily abused, our Integrity will oblige us as quickly an● throughly to resent it: And therefore since we cannot have their proofs We must and will have our King again for all this.  
We know the excuse that is made for this profound silence, that the forbear to prove this black charge, out of pure tendeness to the King; but w● are not to learn at this time of the day, the great Tenderness of my Lor● Shro. Mord. Lov. Mr. Harb. Burn. and Ferg. towards his Majesty; no mor● then the gratitude of my Lords Moug. Chur. Bark. and the Bishop of Durh. o● the Mercy of Kirk, or the Valour of Lene. or the Morals of all of them.  
But those Gentlemen and Partners are too tender to prove thei● charge, why did they make it? and if they cannot do it, why do the proceed and refuse to open his Letters sent for an Accommodation▪ They have accused his Majesty of Imposture, they must prove it, or mak● themselves the worst of Impostors, which is an ill bottom for a Reformation to stand upon. It is impossible for Men of common sense to imagine, tha● three Kingdoms can be taken away from any Man, out of tenderness to him especially if the reason of it be, that they show no cause why they do it. It is a Mystery to us, how they can be so very tender of his credit, & at the same time, and in the same occasion, so mighty careless of their Own. This has so ill a Face with us, that the whole seems the plot of a few Men, to serve themselves of the King's popery, and the Prince of Orange's Protestancy, to bring Honours and profits of the Government into their own Hands which is not preserving our property, but making a property of Us.  
It is this that compels us to say, and declare to the whole World, we look upon ourselves to be cheated, and our King to be Belied and Betrayed ●●t of all his Kingdoms. Nor can the Prince be blameless, if he yields to what ●●ey would give him for their own sakes, since that were only to do his & ●●eir business, and not the Kingdoms. It is not enough to say, it is put ●●on him, for none can believe a few Naked Conventioners could force him at ●●e head of his army to take Three Crowns from his Father, Brother, Sister, ●●d Wife, against his own Will and Declaration. And that he should 〈◊〉 it out of pure Self-denial, is as incomprehensible, as that he could do justly after what he has said to the Sta●es, and to us to the contrary. If ●●erefore he came for less than 3 Crowns, less than 3 Crowns should satisfy him: if nothing less will content him; our preservation was not the ●●●al Motive of his coming, and then the hazards he run upon this score, ●●nnot be justly placed to the account of Merit. The King of France ●imself (for aught we know) would have turned Protestant for the Bar●●an, which had been at least as great a Miracle, as any we have yet seen 〈◊〉 this Affair. And though what we have said, were sufficient to deter 〈◊〉 good Protestants from taking any part in the Work now in hand, yet ●e cannot forbear expressing our Zeal against those Evil practices, by letting our Country men know the great Mischief that must inevitably ●●llow upon such a Revolution, viz. Reproach, Violence, Taxes, Blood, and ●●verty.  
First, We shall become the Reproach and Scorn of all Nations: It cannot be otherwise when Subjects attempt to Judge and Deprive their So●eraign, which is a great Contradiction, as well as Danger in Government: But to do it without being so much as once heard or summoned, is an ●●jury not to be acted towards the meanest of his Subjects: King Charles ●●e I. had fairer Quarter from Cromwell and Bradshaw: They did not on 〈◊〉 charge Him, but offered matter in Evidence to maintain the Charge: ●ut this King, must be Guilty of what his Accusers refuse to prove, if ●et able to do it; and be Dethroned for Deserting the Kingdom, though ●e could not held it. Nor do these Gentlemen stop here; they will change ●e Crown, as well as the King; they will not be contented to lay him by, ●●ut choose who shall follow; and by that make the Crown Elective, ●hich for above 600. years has been successive: A thing, they lie under ●o necessity to do, but is the pure effect of their adventurous and flattering Humour. Can this do less than render us Odious to the whole world, ●hen the King they lay aside, never attempted so great an Alteration in any ●ranch of the constitution.  
2ly. We are inevitably in a state of Force; for what is gotten by Force must by Force be maintained; and let us flatter ourselves what we w●● it is not a Vot of parliament, but the nature of the thing that will prevail: They that make the change, must and will use Force for their o●● security, whatever becomes of O●rs.  
3dly. The charge of the Revolution, will be intolerable in a whil●● We shall lay down a computation of one Years Expense for an Instan●●  
To 70 Sail of Great and Small Ships of War in the Channel, and 14 Fire Ships and Tenders for one year, 1400000 l. To 8 Sail in the Straits, and 5 in America for the same time— 0130000. l. To Transporting and Maintaining 15000 Men to be employed in Ireland, for one year with Artillarly, etc. 500000. l. To the Charge of sending and keeping an Army in the Low Countries of 15000 Men for a year— 0500000 ● For an Army of 15000 Men in England yearly— 0300000 ● — The Total 2830000. ●  
To this must be added the Expense of Civil Gevernment at Home, Emba●● Intelligence, Secret Services abroad, Domestic or Family Expenses, Char●● upon the Revenue for Debs owing, or by Pensions to Persons Aged, necessitous, or Meritorious, which will mount it to above Three Million, and that is more than one Third of the yearly value of the whole Kingdom. this must be added the Abatement that will necessarily follow, both in Customs and Excise, by reason of War and decay of Trade; which in Customs alone, cannot be less than one Third, and that comes to least 400000 l. a year.  
Here is Poverty like an Armed Man: All Rents must fall at least half. No Employments can be had in proportion to the Poor: T●● means of Charity, as well as Hearts to give, will be wanting; the Objects of it must extremely increase, and that so very suddenly, tha● will not be in our power to hinder it, if we have not that Peace, whi●● nothing else can give us, but the Restoration of our right Master.  
4ly. And for Blood, can we hope to escape it in War? First by Sea is not to be avoided; by Land, we shall invade the Territories or Co●quests of France, if he in our King's Quarrel, does not invade us first, S●condly, their is blood with a vengeance, tho' we are not beaten, but we are beaten, there is Blood with Rebellion upon us, which will 〈◊〉 end without Blood in peace, and almost an infinite forfeiture of Estates. Thir●ly, We are not assured we shall be long quiet within ourselves, ma● strong Factions already appearing; and we are less assured, that Scotland 〈◊〉 not be in Arms, and find something to do in this Conjuncture, that 〈◊〉 a King to lose and to choose as well as we. Fore Ireland we are assured, or ●●●ht to be, they who possess the Government, will lose it at as dear a rate ●hey can. Their All is at stake, and they are not without hopes by French Kings assistance, to recover all for their own, and will value ●●mselves to him and the World, by revenging our Despising and In●●ce both to him and them. Nor can we think they will endure this in●●●ity to the first King of their Religion, since the Reformation; or suffer ●●se to be ill used here, that have faithfully served their King, without ●●tting the same measure to some disloyal persons there. Otherwise, ●ittle wit as we allow the Irish to have, they have enough to know ●●t a Mossacre, which we so much talk of, would be their own ruin, ●●●l that if they carry it fair to the English, they will in a while gain ●●se there to join them, and more than there too, for the Restoration ●heir and our Lawful King. But be it as it will, whether we regard ●●selves, Scotland, Ireland, or Holland; War and Blood look us in the ●●e, and Poverty and Misery must follow: These are like to be the Consequence of this Celebrated Change.  
Now whether our Dangers were so great, or our Fears so just, as to re●●●te all this alteration for our Security, days of Affliction can only in●●●n us, if we will still be deaf to those just and peaceable Expedients, 〈◊〉 have been often proposed to us. We shall close our Remonstrance, 〈◊〉 this caution to the present busy Men, that since They cannot holy lay Their King aside, without entering into the Merits of the Cause, ●●ch it is plain They wave; and in as much as They cannot justly say, ●as laid Himself aside; by Deserting Them, when his Desertion, is co●●e and against His will, Let Them Repent of what They have done, let us all join, for the prevention of Civil, as well as Foreign bloody Wars, ●●tch Him Home to the Kingdoms of His Fathers, with greater Glory 〈◊〉 He came first to Them; and it shall not lessen It, that it be done with ●●ter Security to our just Freedoms.  
FINIS.