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.

"If our union was by compact, whom could the compact bind, but those
that concurred in the stipulations? We gave our ancestors no commission
to settle the terms of future existence. They might be cowards that were
frighted, or blockheads that were cheated; but, whatever they were, they
could contract only for themselves. What they could establish, we can
annul.

"Against our present form of government, it shall stand in the place of
all argument, that we do not like it. While we are governed as we do not
like, where is our liberty? We do not like taxes, we will, therefore,
not be taxed: we do not like your laws, and will not obey them.

"The taxes laid by our representatives, are laid, you tell us, by our
own consent; but we will no longer consent to be represented. Our number
of legislators was originally a burden, and ought to have been refused;
it is now considered as a disproportionate advantage; who, then, will
complain if we resign it?

"We shall form a senate of our own, under a president whom the king
shall nominate, but whose authority we will limit, by adjusting his
salary to his merit. We will not withhold a proper share of contribution
to the necessary expense of lawful government, but we will decide for
ourselves what share is proper, what expense is necessary, and what
government is lawful.

"Till our counsel is proclaimed independent and unaccountable, we will,
after the tenth day of September, keep our tin in our own hands: you can
be supplied from no other place, and must, therefore, comply, or be
poisoned with the copper of your own kitchens.

"If any Cornishman shall refuse his name to this just and laudable
association, he shall be tumbled from St. Michael's mount, or buried
alive in a tin-mine; and if any emissary shall be found seducing
Cornishmen to their former state, he shall be smeared with tar, and
rolled in feathers, and chased with dogs out of our dominions.

"From the C