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 but in a regiment 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 fine thing, this same moral sense, no doubt; but I fear you will not find 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. 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, 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?

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 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.

查爾斯國(guó)王：“嗨，威廉，我的朋友！我把北美一個(gè)富裕的省份賣給了你，但我看你好像并不打算去那里。”

佩恩：“不，我的朋友查爾斯，我向你保證，我是打算去的，我正是來(lái)向您告別的！”

查：“什么？去北美的荒蠻之地探險(xiǎn)！伙計(jì)，為什么？難道你有防御隊(duì)，可以保護(hù)你在上岸的兩個(gè)小時(shí)內(nèi)不會(huì)卷入野蠻人的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中去？”

佩：“是的，世界上最厲害的防御隊(duì)。”

查：“那也不好說，我的朋友。除非你身邊有佩戴步槍與刺刀的勇士保護(hù)，否則，你無(wú)法抵抗那些吃人族。不過，我得事先說明，我是受過你們的恩惠，但是記住，我給了你和你的家人最好的祝愿，就不會(huì)再派給你一兵一卒的。”

佩：“我不想要您的士兵，查爾斯，我要依賴的東西比士兵還好。”

查：“哦，那是什么？”

佩：“我就依賴那些野蠻人，依賴他們的心靈，依賴他們的公正，依賴他們的道德觀念。”

查：“不錯(cuò)，毫無(wú)疑問道德觀念是好東西。但是，恐怕北美的印第安人沒有什么道德觀念。”

佩：“為什么他們跟別人不一樣？”

查：“因?yàn)樗麄兡呐轮灰獡碛幸稽c(diǎn)道德觀念，就不會(huì)那么野蠻地對(duì)待我的臣民了。”

佩：“查爾斯，我的朋友，這并不能說明什么。相反，你的臣民才是侵略者。你的臣民初到北美時(shí)，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)那里的人是世界上最友好、最善良的生靈。他們每天都注視著你的臣民上岸，然后匆匆跑去迎接他們，用他們最好的魚、鹿肉和糧食來(lái)招待你的臣民。然而作為對(duì)這群熱情好客的所謂‘野蠻人’的回報(bào)，你所謂的‘基督徒’掠奪了他們的家園和富饒的獵場(chǎng)，作為自己的農(nóng)場(chǎng)。現(xiàn)在這些受到傷害的人被這樣的不公平推向了絕望，為了報(bào)復(fù)，他們才作出一些極端的事來(lái)。”

查：“那好吧，如果他們用同樣的方法對(duì)待你，那么希望你不要向我抱怨什么。”

佩：“我不怕。”

查：“啊，你逃不過的！我猜，你也想掠奪他們的獵場(chǎng)吧！”

佩：“是的，但我不會(huì)將那些可憐的人從他們的地盤上趕走。”

查：“真的不會(huì)嗎？那你怎么得到他們的土地呢？”

佩：“我想購(gòu)買他們的土地。”

查：“從他們的手里購(gòu)買土地，可是，伙計(jì)，我已經(jīng)把地賣給你了。”

佩：“是的，我知道，并且您出的價(jià)格不菲，但我這樣做只是想接受您的好意。我認(rèn)為他們的土地并不歸您所有。”

查：“伙計(jì)，怎么可能，我無(wú)權(quán)擁有他們的土地？”

佩：“是的，查爾斯，我的朋友，你沒有權(quán)力，一點(diǎn)權(quán)力都沒有。他們的土地怎么能歸您所有呢？”

查：“哇，當(dāng)然有，發(fā)現(xiàn)權(quán)。教皇和所有的基督教國(guó)王都承認(rèn)相互給予這樣的權(quán)利。”

佩：“發(fā)現(xiàn)權(quán)？真是一個(gè)奇怪的權(quán)利。我的朋友，假設(shè)現(xiàn)在有一些印第安人，他們乘坐獨(dú)木舟從海上經(jīng)過時(shí)，發(fā)現(xiàn)了大不列顛島嶼，他們是不是也可以宣布大不列顛島嶼屬于他們，并賣掉它呢？你如何看待這件事呢？”

查：“什么……什么……什么……那我只能說，他們真是厚顏無(wú)恥。”

佩：“好，那么，您是一個(gè)基督徒，更是基督徒王子，您怎么可以做您譴責(zé)的野蠻人所做的事情呢？那么再假設(shè)一下，因?yàn)槟芙^放棄大不列顛島嶼，那些印第安人就向您發(fā)動(dòng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，并且他們的武器比您的更有威力，殺死了您的很多臣民，其余的人也被趕跑了，您會(huì)覺得他們很殘忍嗎？”

查：“威廉，我的朋友，不得不說，我確實(shí)認(rèn)為他們很殘忍，我怎么可能不那樣想呢？”

佩：“那么，作為一個(gè)基督徒，我怎么可能去做自己厭惡甚至痛恨的野蠻人所做的事情呢！不，我絕對(duì)不會(huì)去做的。但是我會(huì)從真正的所有者那里購(gòu)買，即使他們是印第安人。這樣做，我會(huì)遵照上帝公正和仁慈的旨意，這樣在我的領(lǐng)地才會(huì)有上帝的保佑和祝福——假如我可以活到在北美建立自己國(guó)家的那一天。”

梅森.L.威姆斯