supposed it possible we should ever renew our
connection; that they had only opposed its being now declared:

That the question was not whether, by a Declaration of Independence, we
should make ourselves what we are not; but whether we should declare a
fact which already exists:

That, as to the people or parliament of England, we had always been
independent of them, their restraints on our trade deriving efficacy
from our acquiescence only, and not from any rights they possessed of
imposing them, and that so far, our connection had been federal only,
and was now dissolved by the commencement of hostilities:

That, as to the King, we had been bound to him by allegiance, but that
this bond was now dissolved by his assent to the late act of parliament,
by which he declares us out of his protection, and by his levying war on
us, a fact which had long ago proved us out of his protection; it
being a certain position in law, that allegiance and protection are
reciprocal, the one ceasing when the other is withdrawn:

That James the II. never declared the people of England out of his
protection, yet his actions proved it and the parliament declared it:

No delegates then can be denied, or ever want, a power of declaring an
existent truth:

That the delegates from the Delaware counties having declared their
constituents ready to join, there are only two colonies, Pennsylvania
and Maryland, whose delegates are absolutely tied up, and that these
had, by their instructions, only reserved a right of confirming or
rejecting the measure:

That the instructions from Pennsylvania might be accounted for from the
times in which they were drawn, near a twelvemonth ago, since which the
face of affairs has totally changed:

That within that time, it had become apparent that Britain was
determined to accept nothing less than a _carte-blanche,_ and that the
King's answer to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of London,
which had come to hand four days ago, must have satisfied every one of
this point:

That the people wait for us to lead the way:

That they are in favor of the measure, though the instructions given by
some of their representatives are not:

That the voice of the representatives is not always consonant with
the voice of the people, and that this is remarkably the case in these
middle colonies:

That the effect of the resolution of the 15th of May has proved this,
which, raising the murmurs of some in th