LESSON 23 KING CHARLES II.AND WILLIAM PENN 英王查爾斯二世與威廉·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.

【中文閱讀】

查爾斯二世：好了，我的老朋友威廉！我已經將北美大陸一大片不錯的土地售給你，但看起來，你似乎根本不想到那兒去？

佩恩：不，我親愛的查爾斯陛下，我是要去的。事實上，我就是來向您道別的。

查爾斯二世：天哪！你真要到北美那群野蠻人堆里冒險？我敢保證，一旦你踏上北美海灘，不出兩小時，那群野蠻人就會刀斧鳴鼓地向你發動進攻，你如何保住自家性命？

佩恩：用世界上最安全的保護措施。

查爾斯二世：威廉，我的朋友，我很懷疑這點。面對那些食人族，除了帶上一批全副武裝的英勇士兵，我想象不出還有其他更好的防衛手段。聽著，我可事先奉告你：我絕對不會派一兵一卒跟著你的，雖然我對你和你的家庭負有責任，也誠懇地愿你們一切平安。

佩恩：我不需要您任何兵卒，查爾斯陛下。我將依靠比您的士兵更好的東西。

查爾斯二世：啊！是什么？

佩恩：我將依靠那些印第安人，依靠他們的良知，依靠他們的正義感，依靠他們的道德觀。

查爾斯二世：道德觀，這聽起來無疑很美妙，可我擔心在北美印第安人部落里，你或許難以找到什么道德觀。

佩恩：如果我能在其他人身上找到，為什么在他們身上找不到呢？

查爾斯二世：如果他們擁有哪怕一絲道德，他們就不會那么野蠻地對待我的臣民，像他們此前所做的那樣。

佩恩：查爾斯陛下，我的朋友，對此我們并沒有證據，您的臣民是侵略者。當您的臣民們第一次踏上北美大陸，他們發現，世界上沒有人能比那些可憐的土著更溫順平和，待人友好了。每天，那些印第安人毫無例外地趕到海灘探望白人，給他們送上最好的魚肉、鹿肉、玉米，傾其所有，供其充饑。為回報土著人的熱情好客，您的臣民，虔誠的基督徒們，將他們稱為“野蠻人”，強占掠奪印第安人大片家園以及豐美的狩獵場，建起自己的農場。現在，這些飽受蹂躪的人民被逼到絕境，憤怒報復，并因此做出許多過激的事。對他們的行為，難道我們真的需要驚詫嗎？

查爾斯二世：好了，當他們用同樣的方式來對待你的時候，但愿你不要抱怨。

佩恩：對此我并不害怕。

查爾斯二世：嘿！可你怎么避免他們報復呢？你也想得到他們的狩獵場，不是嗎？

佩恩：是的，我需要土地，但我并不想將這些可憐的人從他們的土地上驅逐出去。

查爾斯二世：不驅逐他們？那你想如何得到他們的土地？

佩恩：我打算從他們手中購買土地。

查爾斯二世：從他們手中購買土地？你瘋了嗎，你已經從我手上買下了這片土地！

佩恩：是的，我確實這么做了，而且價格還不便宜。但我之所以這樣做，只是為了得到您的許可和祝福，當然，我并不認為，您對印第安人的土地享有任何權力。

查爾斯二世：伙計，你說什么？難道我沒有支配印第安人土地的權力？

佩恩：沒有，查爾斯陛下，沒有權力，一點權力都沒有，您覺得您對他們的土地享有什么權力呢？

查爾斯二世：這不是很明顯的事嘛，土地的最先發現權，這是教皇與所有基督教國王無一不贊同相互之間給予的權力。

佩恩：土地的最先發現權？真是莫名其妙。查爾斯陛下，我的朋友，不妨推想一下，如果這些印第安人乘著他們的獨木舟漂洋過海，最終發現了大不列顛群島，然后聲稱這島嶼屬于他們，并在您眼皮底下將其標價出售，您會怎么想？

查爾斯二世：這，這，這——我得承認，這實在太厚顏無恥了！

佩恩：是的。那么，您，一位虔誠的基督徒，一位尊貴的基督徒國王，又怎么能做出與您所譴責的這群野蠻人同樣的事情？請再假設一下，倘若這些印第安人拒絕放棄您的大不列顛島，甚至對您進行宣戰，他們手中的武器更具破壞力，大規模屠戮您的臣民，并驅逐剩下的人——您是否覺得這殘酷得令人無法想象？

查爾斯二世：我必須同意，威廉，我的朋友，我竟說不出反對的話來。

佩恩：那么，我，一個自稱是基督徒的人，又怎么能去做那些我最憎惡的事，哪怕是針對那些異教徒？不，我不會那么做。我會從合法的擁有者手上購買權利，即使這些擁有者就是印第安人。我這樣做，是為了效仿上帝的公義和仁慈，從而確保上帝佑福降臨我管轄的領地，如果我真想在北美擁有領地的話。

（梅森·L·威姆斯）

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【注釋】

[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.