第17章 A Political Pause 政治停火
Charles James Fox, 1749-1806, a famous English orator and statesman, was the son of Hon. Henry Fox, afterward Lord Holland; he was also a lineal descendant of Charles II. of England and of Henry IV, of France. He received his education at Westminster, Eton, and Oxford, but left the University without graduating. He was first elected to Parliament before he was twenty years old. During the American Revolution, he favored the colonies; later, he was a friend and fellow-partisan both with Burke and Wilberforce. Burke said of him, "He is the most brilliant and successful debater the world ever saw." In his later years, Mr. Fox was as remarkable for carelessness in dress and personal appearance, as he had been for the opposite in his youth. He possessed many pleasing traits of character, but his morals were not commendable; he was a gambler and a spendthrift. Yet he exercised a powerful influence on the politics of his times. This extract is from a speech delivered during a truce in the long war between England and France.
"But we must pause, " says the honorable gentleman. What! must the bowels of Great Britain be torn out, her best blood spilt, her treasures wasted, that you may make an experiment? Put yourselves—Oh! that you would put yourselves on the field of battle, and learn to judge of the sort of horrors you excite. In former wars, a man might at least have some feeling, some interest, that served to balance in his mind the impressions which a scene of carnage and death must inflict.
But if a man were present now at the field of slaughter, and were to inquire for what they were fighting — "Fighting! ", would be the answer; "they are not fighting; they are pausing.""Why is that man expiring? Why is that other writhing with agony? What means this implacable fury? " The answer must be, "You are quite wrong, sir, you deceive yourself,— they are not fighting, — do not disturb them, — they are merely pausing! This man is not expiring with agony, — that man is not dead, — he is only pausing! Bless you, sir, they are not angry with one another; they have now no cause of quarrel; but their country thinks that there should be a pause. All that you see is nothing like fighting, — there is no harm, nor cruelty, nor bloodshed in it; it is nothing more than a political pause. It is merely to try an experiment — to see whether Bonaparte will not behave himself better than heretofore;and, in the meantime, we have agreed to a pause, in pure friendship! "
And is this the way that you are to show yourselves the advocates of order? You take up a system calculated to uncivilize the world, to destroy order, to trample on religion, to stifle in the heart not merely the generosity of noble sentiment, but the affections of social nature; and in the prosecution of this system, you spread terror and devastation all around you.
查尔斯·詹姆斯·福克斯（1749 ～1806年），英国著名演说家和政治家，胡·亨利·福克斯（后来的荷兰公爵）的儿子，是英国国王查理二世和法国国王亨利四世的后代，曾在威斯敏斯特、伊顿公学和牛津大学就读，但是没毕业就离开了大学。20岁之前被选入议会。美国革命战争时期，他支持殖民地军队，之后成为伯克和威尔伯福斯的朋友，伯克说他是“这个世界上最聪颖成功的辩论家”。在他的晚年，福克斯对于穿着打扮以及自身形象不是很注意，这一点让人印象深刻，这和他年轻的时候完全不一样。福克斯有许多优点，但是他的道德观念却不值得称赞，他是个赌徒，花钱大手大脚。然而，他在当时的政界却拥有相当大的影响力。下面的文章摘自他在英法大战停火期间所做的演讲。
“但是我们必须停下。”那位受人尊敬的绅士说。什么！大英帝国的国体就应该是鲜血喷洒，挥霍财富，这就是你们要做的试验吗？还是让你们自己亲身去体验吧！——你们亲自踏上战场，学会对那些激发你们荣誉感的事情做出评判。在之前的战争中，一个人至少还有某种情感和某种利益考量，因此在他的思想里足以消除这样的印象：那就是屠杀和死亡所必然带来的悲痛。
不过，如果一个人现在就站在屠杀者所在的战场，并且被问到为什么而战的话——答案将是：“就是战斗！”“他们不是在战斗，是暂时停火。”“为什么那个男人快咽气了？为什么其他人都痛苦地在地上打滚？这无法平息的怒火究竟意味着什么？”回答肯定是：“你错了，先生，你是在欺骗自己——他们没有在战斗——不要打扰他们——他们只是停下来了！这个人没有因为巨大的痛苦而咽气——那个人并没有死——他只是停歇了！愿上帝保佑你！先生，他们并不生别人的气，他们不会因为什么事情而争吵，但是，他们的国家认为他们应该暂停。你所看到的一切并不是战斗——这里不存在伤害，也没有残忍的暴行，更没有鲜血淋漓。这不过是政治意义上的停火。只是想做个试验——看看波拿巴是否比之前表现得更好。与此同时，我们是否同意因纯洁的友谊而停火！”
这就是你们向现有秩序的拥护者所展示的道路吗？你们提出的制度体系，会让这个世界后退到野蛮时代，会摧毁现有秩序，会践踏宗教，而不仅仅是在心里扼杀高尚的慷慨情操，以及对社会本质的爱。在控诉这个制度的时候，你们就已经在自己的周围传播恐怖和毁灭了。