LESSON 23 KING CHARLES II.AND WILLIAM PENN 英王查尔斯二世与威廉·佩恩先生
King Charles.Well, friend William! I have sold you a noble province in North America; but still, I suppose you have no thoughts of going thither yourself?
Penn.Yes, I have, I assure thee, friend Charles; and I am just come to bid thee farewell.
K.C.What! venture yourself among the savages of North America! Why, man, what security have you that you will not be in their war kettle in two hours after setting foot on their shores?
P.The best security in the world.
K.C.I doubt that, friend William; I have no idea of any security against those cannibals[1] but in a regiment[2] of good soldiers, with their muskets and bayonets.And mind, I tell you beforehand, that, with all my good will for you and your family, to whom I am under obligations, I will not send a single soldier with you.
P.I want none of thy soldiers, Charles: I depend on something better than thy soldiers.
K.C.Ah! what may that be?
P.Why, I depend upon themselves; on the working of their own hearts; on their notions of justice; on their moral sense.
K.C.A fi ne thing, this same moral sense, no doubt; but I fear you will not fi nd much of it among the Indians of North America.
P.And why not among them as well as others?
K.C.Because if they had possessed any, they would not have treated my subjects so barbarously as they have done.
P.That is no proof of the contrary, friend Charles.Thy subjects were the aggressors[3].When thy subjects first went to North America, they found these poor people the fondest and kindest creatures in the world.Every day they would watch for them to come ashore, and hasten to meet them, and feast them on the best fish, and venison[4], and corn, which were all they had.In return for this hospitality of the savages, as we call them, thy subjects, termed Christians, seized on their country and rich hunting grounds for farms for themselves.Now, is it to be wondered at, that these much-injured people should have been driven to desperation by such injustice; and that, burning with revenge, they should have committed some excesses[5]?
K.C.Well, then, I hope you will not complain when they come to treat you in the same manner.
P.I am not afraid of it.
K.C.Ah! how will you avoid it? You mean to get their hunting grounds, too, I suppose?
P.Yes, but not by driving these poor people away from them.
K.C.No, indeed? How then will you get their lands?
P.I mean to buy their lands of them.
K.C.Buy their lands of them? Why, man, you have already bought them of me!
P.Yes, I know I have, and at a dear rate, too; but I did it only to get thy good will, not that I thought thou hadst any right to their lands.
K.C.How, man? no right to their lands?
P.No, friend Charles, no right; no right at all: what right hast thou to their lands?
K.C.Why, the right of discovery, to be sure; the right which the Pope and all Christian kings have agreed to give one another.
P.The right of discovery? A strange kind of right, indeed.Now suppose, friend Charles, that some canoe load of these Indians, crossing the sea, and discovering this island of Great Britain, were to claim it as their own, and set it up for sale over thy head, what wouldst thou think of it?
K.C.Why—why—why—I must confess, I should think it a piece of great impudence in them.
P.Well, then, how canst thou, a Christian, and a Christian prince, too, do that which thou so utterly condemnest[6] in these people whom thou callest savages? And suppose, again, that these Indians, on thy refusal to give up thy island of Great Britain, were to make war on thee, and, having weapons more destructive than thine, were to destroy many of thy subjects, and drive the rest away—wouldst thou not think it horribly cruel?
K.C.I must say, friend William, that I should; how can I say otherwise?
P.Well, then, how can I, who call myself a Christian, do what I should abhor even in the heathen? No.I will not do it.But I will buy the right of the proper owners, even of the Indians themselves.By doing this, I shall imitate God himself in his justice and mercy, and thereby insure his blessing on my colony, if I should ever live to plant one in North America.
(Mason L.Weems)
NOTES.—Charles II.was king of England from A.D.1660 to 1685.William Penn (b.1644, d.1718) was a noted Englishman who belonged to the sect of Friends.He came to America in 1682, and founded the province which is now the state of Pennsylvania.He purchased the lands from the Indians, who were so impressed with the justice and good will of Penn and his associates, that the Quaker dress often served as a sure protection when other settlers were trembling for their lives.
【中文阅读】
查尔斯二世：好了，我的老朋友威廉！我已经将北美大陆一大片不错的土地售给你，但看起来，你似乎根本不想到那儿去？
佩恩：不，我亲爱的查尔斯陛下，我是要去的。事实上，我就是来向您道别的。
查尔斯二世：天哪！你真要到北美那群野蛮人堆里冒险？我敢保证，一旦你踏上北美海滩，不出两小时，那群野蛮人就会刀斧鸣鼓地向你发动进攻，你如何保住自家性命？
佩恩：用世界上最安全的保护措施。
查尔斯二世：威廉，我的朋友，我很怀疑这点。面对那些食人族，除了带上一批全副武装的英勇士兵，我想象不出还有其他更好的防卫手段。听着，我可事先奉告你：我绝对不会派一兵一卒跟着你的，虽然我对你和你的家庭负有责任，也诚恳地愿你们一切平安。
佩恩：我不需要您任何兵卒，查尔斯陛下。我将依靠比您的士兵更好的东西。
查尔斯二世：啊！是什么？
佩恩：我将依靠那些印第安人，依靠他们的良知，依靠他们的正义感，依靠他们的道德观。
查尔斯二世：道德观，这听起来无疑很美妙，可我担心在北美印第安人部落里，你或许难以找到什么道德观。
佩恩：如果我能在其他人身上找到，为什么在他们身上找不到呢？
查尔斯二世：如果他们拥有哪怕一丝道德，他们就不会那么野蛮地对待我的臣民，像他们此前所做的那样。
佩恩：查尔斯陛下，我的朋友，对此我们并没有证据，您的臣民是侵略者。当您的臣民们第一次踏上北美大陆，他们发现，世界上没有人能比那些可怜的土著更温顺平和，待人友好了。每天，那些印第安人毫无例外地赶到海滩探望白人，给他们送上最好的鱼肉、鹿肉、玉米，倾其所有，供其充饥。为回报土著人的热情好客，您的臣民，虔诚的基督徒们，将他们称为“野蛮人”，强占掠夺印第安人大片家园以及丰美的狩猎场，建起自己的农场。现在，这些饱受蹂躏的人民被逼到绝境，愤怒报复，并因此做出许多过激的事。对他们的行为，难道我们真的需要惊诧吗？
查尔斯二世：好了，当他们用同样的方式来对待你的时候，但愿你不要抱怨。
佩恩：对此我并不害怕。
查尔斯二世：嘿！可你怎么避免他们报复呢？你也想得到他们的狩猎场，不是吗？
佩恩：是的，我需要土地，但我并不想将这些可怜的人从他们的土地上驱逐出去。
查尔斯二世：不驱逐他们？那你想如何得到他们的土地？
佩恩：我打算从他们手中购买土地。
查尔斯二世：从他们手中购买土地？你疯了吗，你已经从我手上买下了这片土地！
佩恩：是的，我确实这么做了，而且价格还不便宜。但我之所以这样做，只是为了得到您的许可和祝福，当然，我并不认为，您对印第安人的土地享有任何权力。
查尔斯二世：伙计，你说什么？难道我没有支配印第安人土地的权力？
佩恩：没有，查尔斯陛下，没有权力，一点权力都没有，您觉得您对他们的土地享有什么权力呢？
查尔斯二世：这不是很明显的事嘛，土地的最先发现权，这是教皇与所有基督教国王无一不赞同相互之间给予的权力。
佩恩：土地的最先发现权？真是莫名其妙。查尔斯陛下，我的朋友，不妨推想一下，如果这些印第安人乘着他们的独木舟漂洋过海，最终发现了大不列颠群岛，然后声称这岛屿属于他们，并在您眼皮底下将其标价出售，您会怎么想？
查尔斯二世：这，这，这——我得承认，这实在太厚颜无耻了！
佩恩：是的。那么，您，一位虔诚的基督徒，一位尊贵的基督徒国王，又怎么能做出与您所谴责的这群野蛮人同样的事情？请再假设一下，倘若这些印第安人拒绝放弃您的大不列颠岛，甚至对您进行宣战，他们手中的武器更具破坏力，大规模屠戮您的臣民，并驱逐剩下的人——您是否觉得这残酷得令人无法想象？
查尔斯二世：我必须同意，威廉，我的朋友，我竟说不出反对的话来。
佩恩：那么，我，一个自称是基督徒的人，又怎么能去做那些我最憎恶的事，哪怕是针对那些异教徒？不，我不会那么做。我会从合法的拥有者手上购买权利，即使这些拥有者就是印第安人。我这样做，是为了效仿上帝的公义和仁慈，从而确保上帝佑福降临我管辖的领地，如果我真想在北美拥有领地的话。
（梅森·L·威姆斯）
【注释】
[1] Cannibals, human beings that eat human f lesh.
[2] Regiment, a body of troops, consisting usually of ten companies.
[3] Aggressors, those who f irst commence hostilities.
[4] Venison, the f lesh of deer.
[5] Excesses, misdeeds, evil acts.
[6] Condemnest, censure, blame.