“FRIENDS AND FELLOW-SUBJECTS,—­We, the delegates of the several towns and parishes of Cornwall, assembled to deliberate upon our own state, and that of our constituents, having, after serious debate and calm consideration, settled the scheme of our future conduct, hold it necessary to declare the resolutions which we think ourselves entitled to form, by the unalienable rights of reasonable beings, and into which we have been compelled by grievances and oppressions, long endured by us in patient silence, not because we did not feel, or could not remove them, but because we were unwilling to give disturbance to a settled government, and hoped that others would, in time, find, like ourselves, their true interest and their original powers, and all cooperate to universal happiness.

“But since, having long indulged the pleasing expectation, we find general discontent not likely to increase, or not likely to end in general defection, we resolve to erect alone the standard of liberty.

“Know then, that you are no longer to consider Cornwall as an English county, visited by English judges, receiving law from an English parliament, or included in any general taxation of the kingdom; but as a state, distinct and independent, governed by its own institutions, administered by its own magistrates, and exempt from any tax or tribute, but such as we shall impose upon ourselves.

“We are the acknowledged descendants of the earliest inhabitants of Britain, of men, who, before the time of history, took possession of the island desolate and waste, and, therefore, open to the first occupants.  Of this descent, our language is a sufficient proof, which, not quite a century ago, was different from yours.

“Such are the Cornishmen; but who are you? who, but the unauthorised and lawless children of intruders, invaders, and oppressors? who, but the transmitters of wrong, the inheritors of robbery?  In claiming independence, we claim but little.  We might require you to depart from a land which you possess by usurpation, and to restore all that you have taken from us.

“Independence is the gift of nature.  No man is born the master of another.  Every Cornishman is a freeman; for we have never resigned the rights of humanity:  and he only can be thought free, who is ’not governed but by his own consent.

“You may urge, that the present system of government has descended through many ages, and that we have a larger part in the representation of the kingdom than any other county.

“All this is true, but it is neither cogent nor persuasive.  We look to the original of things.  Our union with the English counties was either compelled by force, or settled by compact.

“That which was made by violence, may by violence be broken.  If we were treated as a conquered people, our rights might be obscured, but could never be extinguished.  The sword can give nothing but power, which a sharper sword can take away.