And having no right to say that you have any principals, you are bound, on every just principle of law or reason, to confess that you are mere usurpers, making laws, and enforcing them, upon your own authority alone.
He argues that without legitimate representation, those in power are merely usurpers.
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They neither ask, nor expect, any mercy, if they should ever fall into the hands of honest men.
They do not attempt to deceive us, or mislead us, or reconcile us to their doings, by any such pretences, impostures, or insults as these.
They do not tell us of the almshouses, hospitals, schools, churches, etc., which, out of the purest charity and benevolence, they maintain for our benefit, out of the money they take from us.
In short, they acknowledge themselves hostes humani generis: enemies of the human race.