常識

托馬斯·佩恩

托馬斯·佩恩(1737—1809)，英國散文家、政論家。出生于英格蘭，才華出眾，家境寒微，自學成才，學識廣博，在自然科學和人文科學上都作過深入研究，渴望重建公平的社會秩序。他于1774年移民到北美大陸，很快就被卷進北美獨立的浪潮之中，他的代表作《常識 》就是支持北美獨立的偉大宣言。這本小冊子發表后立即引起轟動，幾個月之內就售出50萬冊。

在以下的篇幅中，我只談些簡單的事實、普通的觀點和常識。除了希望大家能拋開偏見和成見，讓理智和情感自行決定之外，沒有其他什么要先向讀者交待的。只希望大家具備人真實的品質，確切地說，不要失去人的本質，胸襟寬闊有氣度，能夠眼光長遠。

以英美戰爭為題材的書可謂洋洋大觀。出于不同的角度和不同的動機，各階層人士展開爭論。但一切爭論都是徒勞無功的。辯論期結束，武器最終決定這場戰爭的勝負。英國選擇了訴諸武力，美洲接受了挑戰。

據報道，已故的佩勒姆先生(他雖是個能干的首相，卻也有很多過失)在眾議院受人攻擊 ，說他的措施只是權宜之計時，他回應道：“它們在我任期內一直起作用。”在當前這場斗爭中，如果這種致命而又軟弱的思想在殖民地占據了統治地位，那么我們這些先人將會被后代唾罵。

陽光下從未有過如此偉大的事業，這不只是一個城市、一個縣、一個省、一個國家的事 ，而是一個洲——至少占地球面積八分之一的事情。它不僅關系到一天、一年或一個時代， 子孫后代實際上也卷入了這場斗爭，直到最后都或多或少受到當前行動的影響。現在是把團結、信心和榮譽等美德播種在美洲大陸的時候。一點點的裂縫也會像用針尖刻在小橡樹嫩皮上的名字一樣，隨著橡樹長大而變大，后代看到的將是變大了的字符。

事情由爭論轉為訴諸武力，標志著一個政治新紀元的到來——一種新的思考方式誕生了 。4月19日以前，即敵對行動開始以前的計劃、議案就像去年的年歷，當時雖然實用，但現在已被取代，沒有一點用處了。不管問題雙方的倡導者當時提倡的是什么，最后都歸結于同樣一個問題上，即與大不列顛合并的問題。雙方之間惟一不同的就是實行合并的辦法：一方建議訴諸武力，另一方建議友好協商。但已經發生的事實表明前者已失敗，后者撤回了其影響。

和解的好處說得太多了。它就像一場美夢破滅了，我們還是我們。我們現在惟一正確的做法，應該是研究問題的反面，調查附屬和依賴大不列顛給殖民地帶來的實際傷害和以后將持續造成的傷害。按照自然和常識的法則來研究這種附屬和依賴，看看我們獨立之后有什么好依靠的，不獨立有什么好期待的。

我聽某些人說，因為以前基于大不列顛的附屬關系使美國繁榮了，而同樣的依附對她將來的幸福是必要的，也將產生與以前相同的效果。沒有什么比這個論調更荒謬絕頂的了。如果這樣的話，我們也可以說，因為小孩是吃奶長大的，他就永遠不可以吃肉，或者我們前二十年是怎么過的，后二十年還應該繼續這樣過。而且僅僅這樣說還不夠真實，我要大聲回答 ，沒有歐洲國家的管制，美國同樣會繁榮，可能還會更加繁榮。使她致富的商業是生活必需品，只要“吃”仍舊是歐洲人的傳統習慣，這些商品就會有市場。

有人說，但她保護過我們。她統治我們是事實，但無可否認她也花自己和我們的錢保衛過這個大陸、她和她的統治。

唉!我們長期盲目跟從古老的偏見，在迷信上面作出了巨大的犧牲。我們夸耀大不列顛對我們的保護，卻沒有想到她的動機是利益而不是依戀，不是替我們考慮來保護我們免遭我們敵人的傷害，而是為了她自己才保護我們不受她的敵人的傷害；這些敵人從不會因為其他原因和我們發生爭執，因為英國保護了我們，他們將一直是我們的敵人。讓英國放棄她在北美大陸的權利，或者北美大陸獨立起來；我們應該與法國和西班牙和平共處——只要它們與英國交戰。漢諾威最后一戰的慘狀告誡我們不要依附別國。

……

但也有人說英國是母國，那她的所作所為就更可恥了。虎毒不食子，連野人也不會和家人打仗。因此，如果這種說法是真的，那也是對她的譴責。但碰巧不是真的，或只能說部分是真的，母國這個單詞已經被國王和他的寄生蟲們狡猾地利用了，利用我們大腦易輕信的弱點，卑鄙的新教徒想制造一種不公正的偏見。不是英國，歐洲才是美國的母國。這個新世界一直是一個避難所。歐洲各國那些遭到迫害但又熱愛公民自由和宗教自由的人們奔向此地。 他們不是逃避母親深情的擁抱，而是遠離魔鬼的殘酷；迄今為止英國移民都是這樣的。當初暴政逼得第一批移民背井離鄉，可她還不肯放過這些移民的后代。

在這片廣闊的空間里，我們忘記了三百六十英里的狹小局限(英國的國土面積)，在更寬的領域發展友誼；我們主張每一個歐洲基督教徒都是兄弟，而且為這種廣闊的胸襟感到高興 。

當擴大交往范圍之后，可以欣喜地看到，我們大大擺脫了地區偏見的束縛。一個出生在英國任何一個以教區劃分的城市的人，自然跟他所在教區的教徒關系最密切(因為在很多情況下他們的利益是相同的)，以鄰居相稱；如果他在離家才幾英里的地方見到鄰居，他會丟掉狹隘的街道觀念，向他致意并稱鄰居是同市人；如果他出郡旅游，遇到鄰居，他會忘記街道、城市小的劃分，叫他老鄉，即同鄉；但如果出國旅行，他們在法國或任何別的歐洲國家見了面，他們的劃分觀念現在就擴大為英國人了。根據同樣的推理，所有的歐洲人，在美國或地球其他任何地方見了面，都是老鄉。因為英國、法國、荷蘭、德國或瑞典，跟整個地球相比，在較大范圍內占有的位置是相同的，其性質與劃分的街道、城市和郡在較小范圍內占有著相同的位置一樣。對于我們美洲人來說，這種區分局限性太強了；即便在一個省里，英國后裔也不到三分之一。因此，我強烈譴責把母國這個詞只用來指代英國的行徑，因為這是錯誤的、自私的、狹隘的、不大度的。

Common Sense

Thomas Paine

In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts plain argumen ts and common sense,and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader,t han that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession and suffer his r eason and his feelings to determine for themselves：that he will put on or rath er that he will not put off the true character of a man and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day．

Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between England and America．Men of all ranks have embarked in the controversy from different moti ves and with various designs；but all have been ineffectual and the period of debate is closed．Arms as the last resource decide the contest；the appeal was t he choice of the King and the continent has accepted the challenge．

It has been reported of the late Mr.Pelham (who though an able minister was not without his faults)that on his being attacked in the House of Commons on the score that his measures were only of a temporary kind replied “they will las t my time．”Should a thought so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the p resent contest the name of ancestors will be remembered by future generations w ith detestation．

The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth． It's not the affair of a city a county a province or a kingdom;but of a continent—of at least one ei ghth part of the habitable globe.It's not the concern of a day a year or an ag e;posterity are virtually involved in the contest and will be more or less affe cted even to the end of time by the proceedings now.Now is the seed time of con tinental union faith and honor.The least fracture now will be like a name engra ved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak;the wound would en large with the tree and posterity read it in full grown characters.

By referring the matter from argument to arms a new era for politics is str uck—a new method of thinking has arisen.All plans proposals etc.prior to the nineteenth of April i.e. to the commencement of hostilities are like the alma nacs of the last year;which though proper then are superceded and useless now.W hatever was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question then termi nated in one and the same point viz. a union with Great Britain;the only diffe rence between the parties was the method of effecting it;the one proposing force the other friendship;but it has so far happened that the first has failed and the second has withdrawn her influence.

As much has been said of the advantages of reconciliation which like an ag reeable dream has passed away and left us as we were it is but right that we s hould examine the contrary side of the argument and inquire into some of the ma ny material injuries which these colonies sustain and always will sustain by b eing connected with and dependent on Great Britain.To examine that connection an d dependence on the principles of nature and common sense to see what we have to trust to if separated and what we are to expect if dependent.

I have heard it asserted by some that as America has flourished under her f ormer connection with Great Britain the same connection is necessary towards he r future happiness and will always have the same effect.Nothing can be more fal lacious than this kind of argument.We may as well assert that because a child ha s thrived upon milk that it is never to have meat or that the first twenty yea rs of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty.But even this is ad mitting more than is true;for I answer roundly that America would have flourish ed as much and probably much more had no European power taken any notice of he r.The commerce by which she has enriched herself are the necessaries of life an d will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.

But she has protected us say some.That she has engrossed us is true and de fended the continent at our expense as well as her own is admitted;and she and dominion.

Alas! we have been long led away by ancient prejudices and made large sacrif ices to superstition.We have boasted the protection of Great Britain without con sidering that her motive was interest not attachment;and that she did not protec t us from our enemies on our account;but from her enemies on her own account fr om those who had no quarrel with us on any other account and who will always be our enemies on the same account.Let Britain waive her pretensions to the contin ent or the continent throw off the dependence and we should be at peace with F rance and Spain were they at war with Britain.The miseries of Hanover's last wa r ought to warn us against connections.

…

But Britain is the parent country say some.Then the more shame upon her con duct.Even brutes do not devour their young not savages make war upon their fami lies;Wherefore the assertion if true turns to her reproach;but it happens not to be true or only partly so and the phrase parent or mother country hath bee n jesuitically adopted by the King and his parasites with a low papistical desi gn of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds.Europe and not England is the parent country of America.This new world hath been the asylu m for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Eu rope.Hither have they fled not from the tender embraces of the mother but from the cruelty of the monster;and it is so far true of England that the same tyra nny which drove the first emigrants from home pursues their descendants still.

In this extensive quarter of the globe we forget the narrow limits of three hundred and sixty miles(the extent of England) and carry our friendship on a la rger scale;we claim brotherhood with every European Christian and triumph in th e generosity of the sentiment.

It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the force o f local prejudices as we enlarge our acquaintance with the world.A man born in any town in England divided into parishes will naturally associate most with hi s fellow parishioners (because their interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the name of neighbor;if he meets him but a few miles from ho me,he drops the narrow idea of a street and salutes him by the name of townsman ;if he travels out of the county and meet him in any other he forgets the minor divisions of street and town and calls him countryman i.e. countryman:but if in their foreign excursions they should associate in France or any other part of Europe their local remembrance would be enlarged into that of Englishmen.And by a just parity of reasoning all Europeans meeting in America or any other q uarter of the globe are countrymen;for England Holland Germany or Sweden wh en compared with the whole stand in the same place on the larger scale which t he divisions of street town and county do on the smaller ones;distinctions too limited for continental minds.Not one third of the inhabitants,even of this pro vince are of English descent.Wherefore I reprobate the phrase of parent or mot her country applied to England only as being false selfish narrow and ungener ous.