THat there is, or at least has been, an in­tended Invasion from France, Headed by King James, is too apparent; and that the greatest Encouragement to such an Undertaking, must be the expected, if not pro­mised Succours ready to join him upon the Descent, is as plainly evident. Now that there can be such a Party of Englishmen, and those professing them­selves Protestants too, (for the Romanists are no part of our wonder) whose Reasons and Sense can be so lost and depraved, as to conspire with such a Design, is not a little stupendious.

The business of this Paper therefore, is to exa­mine, What Consequences they can expect from the Success of such an Invasion; and what Patriots they shall make themselves, in Assisting the Return of King James?

In the first place, Do they flatter themselves, be­cause, forsooth, the greatest part of our Invaders, for the more plausible pretext, are composed of English, Scotch, and Irish, Natives and Subjects to the Crowns of England, that therefore King James's Service (so poor a mask) is all the business of this Expedition? Have we forgot since so lately in Ireland, the French King could hardly hold the Vi­zor on till the Conquest of that Kingdom, where the very Irish themselves began to be jealous (and with too much cause) of their pretended Friends, but intended Lords, the French? And that no An­guis in Herbâ, no French Reserve lies at the bottom of this Invasion.

Secondly, Do they think this Succour to King James, tho in so important a Service as Resettling him upon his Throne, can deserve any grateful Re­turn? and upon that Encouragement they found the Safety of their Religion and Liberties, in any Promises of Security from that Obligation. Alas! is it so late since woful Experience convinced them, that Acknowledgment or Gratitude, are no part of a Popish King's Principle; witness, the unkind re­turn he made to that very Church of England, that more than once, were so exemplarily zealous for securing the Crown upon his Head, in their strenuous opposition against both the Bill of Exclusion, and Monmouth's Insurrection. And if both those deserving Services, those accumu­lated Obligations were such feeble Cobweb-Lawn; shall any thing done in his Service now, make a stronger Tye upon him? No, quite to the contrary. For example, The Church of England had then twice obliged him, and never once of­fended him; besides, there was not only a Corona­tion Oath, but his first voluntary Declaration at his assumption of the Government; one would reaso­nably think enough to bind him to Performance. But how little all those Bonds signifie, when the Cancelling Hand of Rome came into Play; we have but too much reason to remember. And if all those Tyes, I say, could not hold then; what can we hope for, when there neither is, nor can be any Tye at all to hold him now? For example; suppose the blind and mistaken Frenzy of some of our Protestant Zealots, (if that name can be proper for them), could remo [...] him to his Throne; what shall they deserve for it, any more than the Title of [...]p [...]f [...]ble Servants? Their turning him out from the Throne, together with the remembrance of the dear Irish Blood shed by them, and the rest of our Faults, are such Capital Transgressions, that the restoring him into it again, will not be half our Expiation. And supposing he Publishes the most mollyfying Declaration upon his Landing, that all the Eloquence of Rome can put together; shall that oblige him? No, so far from it, that it neither is, nor can be any more than a scroll of wast Paper. For supposing the Contents of it should run in these flattering Insinuations, viz. What wondrous Clemency he would shew us upon our return to our Allegiance, and with what Moderation he would Reign over us, upon our re-admitting of him to his Throne, with all the most solemn Protestations, and what not. Now as 'tis unlikely that King James should ever return without Opposition, and undoubted­ly a very strenuous one; it being impossible we should be all drawn in with the specious Bait of sweet words, and fair Promises; and consequently, he must have a Blow for it. Supposing, nevertheless, I say, his Party so strong, and his Success so great, as to recover his Kingdoms: Upon such a recove­ry, whatever he promises in his Declaration, is from that Moment, null and void. For the Conside­ration is not performed, and consequently, the Ob­ligation cancell'd. For instance, he comes not in by our Submission, and return to our Allegiance, but by Force and Conquest. And as such, not only his Declarations, but his very Coronation-Oath, without the stretch of a mental Reservation, are all actu­ally absolved. And if Law, nor Oaths, Service, nor Fidelity, as before-mentioned, were able to keep [Page] his Romish Zeal in any Bounds or Limits before; what shall the loosening of 'em all expect now? And consequently what driving Jehu must we look for, when that black Day comes, (which Heav'n of its mercy keep far from us.) And whatever private Gratuities or Favours some particular Emi­nent Protestant Hands may possibly receive for their signal Services in this Revolution, nothing of sense but must conclude us the miserablest Nation and People in the World.

Besides, could we look for Miracles, and expect a Reign of Clemency from him, our Religion and Civil Rights secured; what a Crew of Irish Dear-Joys that come over with him, are here to be rewarded, all Preferment and Honours, nay, the fat of the Land to be canton'd out amongst them: And conse­quently the Power in these confiding Hands, the whole Nobility, Gentry and Commonalty of Eng­land must live under the check and awe of Tories and Rapparees, and submit to all the Insults of Miscreants and Vagrants; and well we compound so cheap.

Nay, though some People fancy we shall at least enjoy this Blessing of being eased from Taxes by his Return; 'tis so much a mistake, that in the other Extream, that very shadow vanishes too. For what must this Expedition cost the French King, and what must all his Irish Arrears, and other infinite unacountable Sums amount to, which must all lie upon this ruin'd Nation to satisfy, with a very courteous Complement into the Bargain, if the French King will graciously and mercifully please to de­mand no more. Nay, perhaps the whole Charge of his several Years Naval Preparation; (for had King James continued on his Throne, most of all that Expence had been saved) must lie at our Door, a Score too terrible even to think of; and take it altogether, a very grateful Payment out of the Protestant Pockets to so prodigious a Champion of the Protestant Religion, as King L [...]s.

But for once (though contrary to common sense) granting we should allow all in his Favour, that the most zealous Jacobite can pretend, viz. That King James upon his return to the Throne, shall to a tittle perform every particular Article in his very Declaration, as plausible soever as it may be penned, viz. We'll suppose, that the French King shall dis­claim, directly or indirectly, all Pretensions what­ever to England, that the Restoration of his Friend King James is his only part and design in this Expe­dition; and King James on the other side, shall ab­jure all manner o [...] violation to the Laws, shall sup­port the Protestant Religion, and (making a Sea­mark of his former Wreck,) shall peaceably keep up to the full observance of so generous a Profession: granting all this, I say, and whatever other imagi­nary Security his dreaming Party can form to them­selves; nevertheless, in the fairest Face, let us ob­serve the dismal and tremendous Effects of his Re­storation. 'Tis known to the whole World to what the French Ambition tends, viz. Universal Monarchy. And 'tis as notoriously famous what Desolations and Ravages the Arms of France have made, and how formidable that Successful Destroyer is, even to the whole united Powers of Europe. And as his present Majesty King William, is, possibly, (without a vani­ty) the Leading Champion of the whole Confedera­cy, and all little enough to make head against France; upon King James's return to the Throne, here is not only so potent an Arm as the Alli­ance of Britain lopt off from the Confederacy, but added to the Strength of France. For tho in his Reign before, he only stood Neuter, with little or no other Assistance to his Idoliz'd Grand Lewis, than his heartiest Vows and Prayers for the suc­cess and prosperity of that encroaching Enslaver of Mankind: Yet now he will lie under a more pres­sing obligation; and the least return even of com­mon Gratitude for his remounting him on his Throne, will be to list under that Tyrant's Standard, and joyning the Arms of England, to the finishing and crowning the whole Designs of that universal Aspirer. And as the whole Confederacy already, is little enough to match him; upon this Revolution in England, 'tis impossible to ex [...]ect less than that the whole Cause of Christendom must sink, and all Eur [...]pe truckle beneath him. And whilst the English hands must be [...] so great a part in th [...]s fatal Turn (to give it no harder Name) what is it but a making our selves the Monsters of Mank [...]nd, the inevitable instruments and Tools to that grand Cut-throat of Christend [...]m. And what has some little palliation on his side, as having the pretence of Renown and Honour, in the Quest of Laurels and Enl [...]rgement of Empire, &c. will on our part amount only to Butchery and Desolation, for meer Butchery and Desolations sake. The Gl [...]ry, if any, will be Lew­is's, and the Infamy England's. Infamy indeed, (if we meet with no worse Reward) when we consider what barbarous part we must act in the yoking and shackling of Europe. But suppose it end [...] there, and that will be the only Brand in the English Scutche­on: And that Lewis in his grasp of Universal Em­pire, shall exclude England from any part of his Feu­datories, and Tr butaries, viz. he sh [...]ll make Gol­den Promises to King James, and once in his life (his first vertue of that kind) keep Faith, and no worse follow, (a very unlikely Flattery:) yet what an Eternal Shame to the Old English Honour, the sleeping Dust of our Third Edward, and Fifth Hen­ry, and indeed the whole British Chronicles, is our portion, in aggrand [...]zing of France to that prodigi­ous Bulk and Growth, and dwindling our selves to that diminutive and despicable state and conditi­on, as are and must be the unavoidable consequen­ces of King James's Restoration.

Granting the Jacobites therefore, all their own Delusions can shape, that King James shall forget and forgive; shall rule by Law, and turn a Saint upon a Throne: And that the disinterested Lewis shall have no other Designs upon England, but pure­ly King James's Assistance; yet still the most they can look for, is perhaps, to enjoy a little English Liberty (upon their own supposition) during the short Remnant of King James's Days, whilst his Gray Hairs, perhaps, shall fill the Seat: But I won­der any reasonable man, that pretends but to com­mon Sense, can think it possible that France should en­gross the Dominion of Europe, and England ever hope to continue the only Exempt from the Universal Yoke; Is there that Frenzy so mad as to fancy it? No, all our best Hopes will be to be swallow'd last, and the annexing of Brittain, a Province to France; and consequently to groan under all the Slavery and Vassallage of a French Government, is the undoubted Fate of England; and hereby the Restoration of King James, in its favourablest Aspect, brings no less Fa­tality along with it, than entailing of Misery upon us to the end of the World; and all the Honour our Pro­testant Restorers will reap, is to be the Ruine and Curse of their whole Posterity, their very Names and Memories loath'd and abhorr'd to all succeed­ing Generations.