托馬斯·潘恩/Thomas Paine
托馬斯·潘恩（1737—1809），英國散文家、政論家。出生於英格蘭，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。37歲來到美國費城，深受富蘭克林的賞識。本書所摘《常識》是他的成名作。其他代表作有《危機》、《理性時代》。文筆質樸，說理深入淺出，文風平易近人。
In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts,plain arguments,and common sense,and have no other preliminaries to settle w ith the reader,than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepos session,and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themsel ves:that he will put on,or rather that he will not put off,the true c haracter of a man,and generously enlarge his views beyond the present d ay.
Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between Eng land and America.Men of all ranks have embarked in the controversy,fro m different motives,and with various designs;but all have been ineffec tual,and the period of debate is closed.Arms as the last resource deci de the contest;the appeal was the choice of the King,and the continent has accepted the challenge.
It has been reported of the late Mr.Pelham (who though an able mini ster 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 last my time." Should a thought so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest,the name of ancestors will be remembered by future generations with detestation.
The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.It's not the affa ir of a city,a county,a province,or a kingdom;but of a continent --o f at least one eighth part of the habitable globe.It's not the concern of a day,a year,or an age;posterity are virtually involved in the con test,and will be more or less affected even to the end of time,by the proceedings now.Now is the seed time of continental union,faith and ho nor.The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak;the wound would enlarge with the tree,and posterity read it in full grown characters.
By referring the matter from argument to arms,a new era for politic s is struck--a new method of thinking has arisen.All plans,proposals,etc.prior to the nineteenth of April,i.e.to the commencement of hosti lities,are like the almanacs of the last year;which though proper then,are superceded and useless now.Whatever was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question then,terminated in one and the same poin t,viz.,a union with Great Britain;the only difference between the par ties 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 th e second hath withdrawn her influence.
As much has been said of the advantages of reconciliation,which,li ke an agreeable dream,has passed away and left us as we were,it is but right that we should examine the contrary side of the argument,and inqu ire into some of the many material injuries which these colonies sustain,and always will sustain,by being connected with and dependent on Grea t Britain.To examine that connection and dependence,on the principles of nature and common sense,to see what we have to trust to,if separate d,and what we are to expect,if dependent.
I have heard it asserted by some,that as America has flourished und er her former connection with Great Britain,the same connection is nece ssary towards her future happiness,and will always have the same effect.Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument.We may as w ell assert that because a child has thrived upon milk,that it is never to have meat,or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty.But even this is admitting more than is t rue;for I answer roundly,that America would have flourished as much,a nd probably much more,had no European power taken any notice of her.Th e commerce by which she has enriched herself are the necessaries of life,and 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 tru e,and defended the continent at our expense as well as her own,is admi tted;and she and dominion.
Alas!We have been long led away by ancient prejudices and made larg e sacrifices to superstition.We have boasted the protection of Great Br itain without considering that her motive was interest not attachment;a nd that she did not protect us from our enemies on our account;but from her enemies on her own account,from those who had no quarrel with us on any other account,and who will always be our enemies on the same accoun t.Let Britain waive her pretensions to the continent,or the continent throw off the dependence,and we should be at peace with France and Spai n,were they at war with Britain.The miseries of Hanover's last war ou ght to warn us against connections.
It has lately been asserted in Parliament,that the colonies have no relation to each other but through the parent country,i.e.,that Pennsy lvania and the Jerseys,and so on for the rest,are sister colonies by t he way of England;this is certainly a very roundabout way of proving re lationship,but it is the nearest and only true way of proving enmity (o r enemyship,if I may so call it).France and Spain never were,nor perh aps ever will be,our enemies,as Americans,but as our being the subject s of Great Britain.
But Britain is the parent country,say some.Then the more shame upo n her conduct.Even brutes do not devour their young,not savages make w ar upon their families;Wherefore,the assertion,if true,turns to her reproach;but it happens not to be true,or only partly so,and the phra se parent or mother country hath been jesuitically adopted by the King a nd his parasites,with a low papistical design 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 asylum for the p ersecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europ e.Hither have they fled,not from the tender embraces of the mother,bu t from the cruelty of the monster;and it is so far true of England,tha t the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home,pursues th eir 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 f riendship on a larger scale;we claim brotherhood with every European Ch ristian,and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment.
It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the force of local prejudices,as we enlarge our acquaintance with the world.A man born in any town in England divided into parishes,will naturall y associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their interests i n many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the name of neighbor;if he meets him but a few miles from home,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.,countyman;but if in th eir foreign excursions they should associate in France,or any other par t of Europe,their local remembrance would be enlarged into that of Engl ishmen.And by a just parity of reasoning,all Europeans meeting in Amer ica,or any other quarter of the globe,are countrymen;for England,Hol land,Germany,or Sweden,when compared with the whole,stand in the sam e places on the larger scale,which the divisions of street,town,and c ounty do on the smaller ones;distinctions too limited for continental m inds.Not one third of the inhabitants,even of this province,are of En glish descent.Wherefore,I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother cou ntry applied to England only,as being false,selfish,narrow and ungene rous.
在以下的篇幅中，我隻談些簡單的事實、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，沒有其他什麽要先向讀者交代的。隻希望讀者具備人真實的品質，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。出於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（他雖是個能幹的首相，卻也有很多過失）在眾議院受人攻擊，說他的措施隻是權宜之計時，他回應道：“它們在我任期內一直起作用。”在當前這場鬥爭中，如果這種致命而又軟弱的思想在殖民地占據了主導地位，那麽我們這些先人將會被後代唾罵。
太陽之下從未有過如此偉大的事業，這不隻是一個城市、一個縣、——個省、一個國家的事，而是一個洲——至少占地球八分之一的事情。它不僅關係到一天、一年或一個時代，子孫後代實際上也卷入了這場鬥爭，直到最後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，後代看到的將是變大了的字符。
事情由爭論轉為訴諸武力，標誌著一個政治新紀元的到來——一種新的思考方式的誕生。4月19日以前，即敵對行動開始以前的計劃、議案，就像去年的年曆，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麽，最後都歸結同樣一個問題上，即與大不列顛合並的問題。雙方之間唯一不同的就是實行合並的辦法：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，後者撤回了其影響。
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，我們現在唯一正確的做法，應該是研究問題的反麵，調查附屬和依賴大不列顛給殖民地帶來的實際傷害和以後將持續造成的傷害。按照自然和常識的法則來研究這種附屬和依賴，看看我們獨立之後有什麽好依靠的，不獨立有什麽好期待的。
我聽某些人說，因為以前大不列顛的附屬關係使美國繁榮了，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。沒有什麽比這個論調更荒謬的了。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麽過的，後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，沒有歐洲國家的管製，美國同樣繁榮，可能還會更加繁榮。使她致富的商業是生活必需品，隻要“吃”仍舊還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！我們長期盲從古老的偏見，在迷信上麵作出了巨大的犧牲。我們誇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——隻要他們與英國交戰，漢諾威最後一戰的慘狀告誡我們不要依附他國。
最近有人在國會中說，如果不通過母國，我們這些殖民地將彼此毫無幹係，例如賓夕法尼亞和澤西等，成為姊妹殖民地是因為有英國。依此類推，顯然這樣來證明殖民地之間的關係繞了一個很大的圈子。不過這也是證明殖民地與英國之間充滿敵意（或敵對關係，如果可以這樣說）最接近也是唯一正確的方法。法國和西班牙過去沒有、將來也不可能是我們美國人的敵人，而是我們作為大英帝國臣民的敵人。
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，或隻能說部分是真的，母國這個單詞已經被國王和他的寄生蟲們狡猾地利用了，利用我們大腦容易輕信的弱點，卑鄙的新教徒想製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後代。
在這片廣闊的空間裏，我們忘記了三百六十英裏的狹小局限（英國的國土麵積），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。
擴大交往範圍之後，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裏的人，自然跟他所在教區的教徒關係最密切（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裏的地方見到鄰居，他會丟掉狹隘的街道觀念，向他致意並稱鄰居是同市人；如果他出郡旅遊，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麵，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麵，都是老鄉。因為英國、法國、荷蘭、德國或瑞典，跟整個地球相比，在較大範圍內占有的位置是相同的，其性質與劃分的街道、城市和郡在較小範圍內占有著相同的位置一樣。對於我們美洲人來說，這種區分局限性太強了，即便在一個省裏，英國後裔也不到三分之一。因此，我強烈譴責把母國這個詞隻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。