英語(yǔ)聽(tīng)力 學(xué)英語(yǔ),練聽(tīng)力,上聽(tīng)力課堂! 注冊(cè) 登錄
> 在線聽(tīng)力 > 有聲讀物 > 世界名著 > 譯林版·林肯傳 >  第22篇

雙語(yǔ)·林肯傳 22

所屬教程:譯林版·林肯傳

瀏覽:

2022年05月26日

手機(jī)版
掃描二維碼方便學(xué)習(xí)和分享

22

Ask the average American citizen to-day why the Civil War was fought; and the chances are that he will reply, “To free the slaves.”

Was it?

Let's see. Here is a sentence taken from Lincoln's first inaugural address: “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it now exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.”

The fact is that the cannon had been booming and the wounded groaning for almost eighteen months before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. During all that time the radicals and the Abolitionists had urged him to act at once, storming at him through the press and denouncing him from the public platform.

Once a delegation of Chicago ministers appeared at the White House with what they declared was a direct command from Almighty God to free the slaves immediately. Lincoln told them that he imagined that if the Almighty had any advice to offer He would come direct to headquarters with it, instead of sending it around via Chicago.

Finally Horace Greeley, irritated by Lincoln's procrastination and inaction, attacked the President in an article entitled, “The Prayer of Twenty Millions.” Two columns bristling with bitter complaints.

Lincoln's answer to Greeley is one of the classics of the war —clear, terse, and vigorous. He closed his reply with these memorable words:

My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oftexpressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.

Lincoln believed that if he saved the Union and kept slavery from spreading, slavery would, in due time, die a natural death. But if the Union were destroyed, it might persist for centuries.

Four slave States had remained with the North, and Lincoln realized that if he issued his Emancipation Proclamation too early in the conflict he would drive them into the Confederacy, strengthen the South, and perhaps destroy the Union forever. There was a saying at the time that “Lincoln would like to have God Almighty on his side; but he must have Kentucky.”

So he bided his time, and moved cautiously.

He himself had married into a slave-owning, border-State family. Part of the money that his wife received upon the settlement of her father's estate had come from the sale of slaves. And the only really intimate friend that he ever had—Joshua Speed—was a member of a slave-owning family. Lincoln sympathized with the Southern point of view. Besides, he had the attorney's traditional respect for the Constitution and for law and property. He wanted to work no hardships on any one.

He believed that the North was as much to blame for the existence of slavery in the United States as was the South; and that in getting rid of it, both sections should bear the burden equally. So he finally worked out a plan that was very near to his heart. According to this, the slave-owners in the loyal border States were to receive four hundred dollars for each of their negroes. The slaves were to be emancipated gradually, very gradually. The process was not to be entirely completed until January 1, 1900. Calling the representatives of the border States to the White House, he pleaded with them to accept his proposal.

“The change it contemplates,” Lincoln argued, “would come gently as the dews of heaven, not rending or wrecking anything. Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been done, by one effort, in all past time, as, in the providence of God, it is now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament you have neglected it.”

But they did neglect it, and rejected the whole scheme. Lincoln was immeasurably disappointed.

“I must save this Government, if possible,” he said; “and it may as well be understood, once for all, that I shall not surrender this game, leaving any available card unplayed.... I believe that freeing the slaves and arming the blacks has now become an indispensable military necessity. I have been driven to the alternative of either doing that or surrendering the Union.”

He had to act at once, for both France and England were on the verge of recognizing the Confederacy. Why? The reasons were very simple.

Take France's case first. Napoleon III had married Marie Eugénie de Montijo, Comtesse de Teba, reputed to be the most beautiful woman in the world, and he wanted to show off a bit. He longed to cover himself with glory, as his renowned uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte, had done. So when he saw the States slashing and shooting at one another, and knew they were much too occupied to bother about enforcing the Monroe Doctrine, he ordered an army to Mexico, shot a few thousand natives, conquered the country, called Mexico a French empire, and put the Archduke Maximilian on the throne.

Napoleon believed, and not without reason, that if the Confederates won they would favor his new empire; but that if the Federals won, the United States would immediately take steps to put the French out of Mexico. It was Napoleon's wish, therefore, that the South would make good its secession, and he wanted to help it as much as he conveniently could.

At the outset of the war, the Northern navy closed all Southern ports, guarded 189 harbors and patrolled 9,614 miles of coast line, sounds, bayous, and rivers.

It was the most gigantic blockade the world had ever seen.

The Confederates were desperate. They couldn't sell their cotton; neither could they buy guns, ammunition, shoes, medical supplies, or food. They boiled chestnuts and cotton-seed to make a substitute for coffee, and brewed a decoction of blackberry leaves and sassafras root to take the place of tea. Newspapers were printed on wall-paper. The earthen floors of smokehouses, saturated with the drippings of bacon, were dug up and boiled to get salt. Church bells were melted and cast into cannon. Street-car rails in Richmond were torn up to be made into gunboat armor.

The Confederates couldn't repair their railroads or buy new equipment, so transportation was almost at a standstill; corn that could be purchased for two dollars a bushel in Georgia, brought fifteen dollars in Richmond. People in Virginia were going hungry.

Something had to be done at once. So the South offered to give Napoleon III twelve million dollars' worth of cotton if he would recognize the Confederacy and use the French fleet to lift the blockade. Besides, they promised to overwhelm him with orders that would start smoke rolling out of every factory chimney in France night and day.

Napoleon therefore urged Russia and England to join him in recognizing the Confederacy. The aristocracy that ruled England adjusted their monocles, poured a few drinks of Johnny Walker, and listened eagerly to Napoleon's overtures. The United States was getting too rich and powerful to please them. They wanted to see the nation divided, the Union broken. Besides, they needed the South's cotton. Scores of England's factories had closed, and a million people were not only idle but destitute and reduced to actual pauperism. Children were crying for food; hundreds of people were dying of starvation. Public subscriptions to buy food for British workmen were taken up in the remotest corners of the earth: even in far-off India and povertystricken China.

There was one way, and only one way, that England could get cotton, and that was to join Napoleon III in recognizing the Confederacy and lifting the blockade.

If that were done, what would happen in America? The South would get guns, powder, credit, food, railroad equipment, and a tremendous lift in confidence and morale.

And what would the North get? Two new and powerful enemies. The situation, bad enough now, would be hopeless then.

Nobody knew this better than Abraham Lincoln. “We have about played our last card,” he confessed in 1862. “We must either change our tactics now or lose the game.”

As England saw it, all the colonies had originally seceded from her. Now the Southern colonies had, in turn, seceded from the Northern ones; and the North was fighting to coerce and subdue them. What difference did it make to a lord in London or a prince in Paris whether Tennessee and Texas were ruled from Washington or Richmond? None. To them, the fighting was meaningless and fraught with no high purpose.

“No war ever raging in my time,” wrote Carlyle, “was to me more profoundly foolish looking.”

Lincoln saw that Europe's attitude toward the war must be changed, and he knew how to do it. A million people in Europe had read “Uncle Tom's Cabin—” had read it and wept and learned to abhor the heartaches and injustice of slavery. So Abraham Lincoln knew that if he issued his Proclamation of Emancipation, Europeans would see the war in a different light. It would no longer be a bloody quarrel over the preservation of a Union that meant nothing to them. Instead, it would be exalted into a holy crusade to destroy slavery. European governments would then not dare to recognize the South. Public opinion wouldn't tolerate the aiding of a people supposed to be fighting to perpetuate human bondage.

Finally, therefore, in July, 1862, Lincoln determined to issue his proclamation; but McClellan and Pope had recently led the army to humiliating defeats. Seward told the President that the time was not auspicious, that he ought to wait and launch the proclamation on the crest of a wave of victory.

That sounded sensible. So Lincoln waited; and two months later the victory came. Then Lincoln called his Cabinet together to discuss the issuing of the most famous document in American history since the Declaration of Independence.

It was a momentous occasion—and a grave one. But did Lincoln act gravely and solemnly? He did not. Whenever he came across a good story, he liked to share it. He used to take one of Artemus Ward's books to bed with him; and when he read something humorous, he would get up, and, clad in nothing but his night-shirt, he would make his way through the halls of the White House to the office of his secretaries, and read it to them.

The day before the Cabinet meeting which was to discuss the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln had gotten hold of Ward's latest volume. There was a story in it that he thought very funny. So he read it to the Cabinet now, before they got down to business. It was entitled, “High-handed Outrage in Utiky.”

After Lincoln had had his laugh, he put the book aside and began solemnly: “When the rebel army was at Frederick, I determined, as soon as it should be driven out of Maryland, to issue a proclamation of emancipation. I said nothing to any one, but I made the promise to myself and—to my Maker. The rebel army is now driven out, and I am going to fulfil that promise. I have called you together to hear what I have written down. I do not wish your advice upon the main matter, for that I have determined for myself. What I have written is that which my reflections have determined me to say. But if there is anything in the expressions I use, or in any minor matter, which any of you thinks had best be changed, I shall be glad to receive the suggestions.”

Seward suggested one slight change in wording; then, a few minutes later, he proposed another.

Lincoln asked him why he hadn't made both suggestions at the same time. And then Lincoln interrupted the consideration of the Emancipation Proclamation to tell a story. He said a hired man back in Indiana told the farmer who had employed him that one steer in his best yoke of oxen had died. Having waited a while, the hired man said, “The other ox in that team is dead, too.”

“Then why didn't you tell me at once,” asked the farmer, “that both of them were dead?”

“Well,” answered the hired man, “I didn't want to hurt you by telling you too much at the same time.”

Lincoln presented the proclamation to his Cabinet in September, 1862; but it was not to take effect until the first day of January, 1863. So when Congress met the following December, Lincoln appealed to that body for support. In making his plea he uttered one of the most magnificent sentences he ever penned —a sentence of unconscious poetry.

Speaking of the Union, he said:

“We shall nobly save or meanly lose

The last, best hope of earth.”

On New Year's Day, 1863, Lincoln spent hours shaking hands with the visitors that thronged the White House. In the middle of that afternoon, he retired to his office, dipped his pen in the ink, and prepared to sign his proclamation of freedom. Hesitating, he turned to Seward and said: “If slavery isn't wrong, nothing is wrong, and I have never felt more certain in my life that I was doing right. But I have been receiving calls and shaking hands since nine o'clock this morning, and my arm is stiff and numb. Now this signature is one that will be closely examined, and if they find my hand trembled, they will say, ‘He had some compunctions.’”

He rested his arm a moment, then slowly signed the document, and gave freedom to three and a half million slaves.

The proclamation did not meet with popular approval then. “The only effect of it,” wrote Orville H. Browning, one of Lincoln's closest friends and strongest supporters, “was to unite and exasperate the South and divide and distract us in the North.”

A mutiny broke out in the army. Men who had enlisted to save the Union swore that they wouldn't stand up and be shot down to free niggers and make them their social equals. Thousands of soldiers deserted, and recruiting fell off everywhere.

The plain people upon whom Lincoln had depended for support failed him utterly. The autumn elections went overwhelmingly against him. Even his home state of Illinois repudiated the Republican party.

And quickly, on top of the defeat at the polls, came one of the most disastrous reverses of the war—Burnside's foolhardy attack on Lee at Fredericksburg and the loss of thirteen thousand men. A stupid and futile butchery. This sort of thing had been going on for eighteen months now. Was it never going to stop? The nation was appalled. People were driven to despair. The President was violently denounced everywhere. He had failed. His general had failed. His policies had failed. People wouldn't put up with this any longer. Even the Republican members of the Senate revolted; and, wanting to force Lincoln out of the White House, they called upon him, demanding that he change his policies and dismiss his entire Cabinet.

This was a humiliating blow. Lincoln confessed that it distressed him more than any other one event of his political life.

“They want to get rid of me,” he said, “and I am half disposed to gratify them.”

Horace Greeley now sharply regretted the fact that he had forced the Republicans to nominate Lincoln in 1860.

“It was a mistake,” he confessed, “the biggest mistake of my life.”

Greeley and a number of other prominent Republicans organized a movement having these objects in view: to force Lincoln to resign, to put Hamlin, the Vice-President, in the White House, and then to compel Hamlin to give Rosecrans command of all the Union armies.

“We are now on the brink of destruction,” Lincoln confessed. “It appears to me that even the Almighty is against us. I can see hardly a ray of hope.”

22

如今隨便找一個(gè)美國(guó)人,問(wèn)他們?yōu)槭裁匆l(fā)動(dòng)南北戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng),他們很可能會(huì)說(shuō)“為了解放黑奴”。

真的是這樣嗎?

讓我們探個(gè)究竟。下面這句話摘自林肯的第一次就職演說(shuō):“不管是直接還是間接,我都沒(méi)有打算干預(yù)蓄奴州現(xiàn)存的奴隸制度。我想我沒(méi)有權(quán)利干預(yù),也不愿意這樣做?!?/p>

事實(shí)上,加農(nóng)炮火轟鳴,傷兵哀號(hào)了將近十八個(gè)月后,林肯才簽署了《解放奴隸宣言》。在那期間,激進(jìn)派和廢奴派都敦促他立刻行動(dòng),他們通過(guò)媒體攻擊他,還在各種公共場(chǎng)合詆毀他。

有一次,芝加哥牧師代表團(tuán)攜帶著他們稱為“來(lái)自上帝的命令”的東西來(lái)到白宮,要求林肯立刻解放黑奴。林肯對(duì)他們說(shuō),如果上帝真的要插手此事,肯定會(huì)親自帶著指令蒞臨指揮部,而不是通過(guò)芝加哥輾轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)令。

最終,霍勒斯·格里利實(shí)在忍受不了林肯的拖延和不作為,寫(xiě)了一篇《兩千萬(wàn)人的祈禱》來(lái)攻擊總統(tǒng)。這篇文章洋洋灑灑地占據(jù)了兩個(gè)專欄,字里行間都是強(qiáng)烈的怨氣。

林肯針對(duì)格里利的責(zé)難進(jìn)行了答復(fù),而這篇回復(fù)文章也成了戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)期間的經(jīng)典作品——簡(jiǎn)潔、精練又強(qiáng)悍有力。而文章的結(jié)尾更是令人難以忘懷:

通過(guò)這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)我最重要的目標(biāo)既不是保全奴隸制,也不是廢除奴隸制,而是拯救聯(lián)邦。如果不用解放黑奴就能拯救聯(lián)邦,我就不解放。如果要解放全部的黑奴才能拯救聯(lián)邦,我就全部解放。如果只要解放一部分的黑奴就能拯救聯(lián)邦,我就只解放一部分,不會(huì)管剩下的人。我為奴隸制和有色人種做了些事,這是因?yàn)槲艺J(rèn)為這么做有助于解救聯(lián)邦。我也忍耐了很多事,這是因?yàn)槲蚁嘈胚@么做有助于解救聯(lián)邦。凡是我認(rèn)為會(huì)破壞解救聯(lián)邦這項(xiàng)事業(yè)的事,我會(huì)盡力少做;凡是我認(rèn)為對(duì)解救聯(lián)邦有好處的事,我會(huì)盡力多做。凡是被證明是錯(cuò)誤的事,我都會(huì)盡力改正;凡是被證明是正確的觀點(diǎn),我都會(huì)立刻接受。

今天我是站在對(duì)自己所負(fù)公職的立場(chǎng)上陳述這個(gè)目標(biāo)的。我常說(shuō)我的個(gè)人愿望是愿普天之下所有人都能得到自由,而我并不想修改這個(gè)愿望。

林肯相信如果他能拯救聯(lián)邦,阻止奴隸制的擴(kuò)散,那么到了合適的時(shí)間奴隸制必會(huì)自然消亡。但如果聯(lián)邦被摧毀了,那么奴隸制也許會(huì)留存幾百年。

當(dāng)時(shí),有四個(gè)蓄奴州是站在北方這邊的。林肯很清楚,如果他在沖突期間過(guò)早地簽署《解放奴隸宣言》,那么勢(shì)必會(huì)促使這幾個(gè)州轉(zhuǎn)投南方聯(lián)盟,增加南方的實(shí)力。如此一來(lái),聯(lián)邦便有可能被徹底摧毀。當(dāng)時(shí)流傳著這樣一句話:“對(duì)于上帝,林肯只是希望上帝能站在自己這一邊,但對(duì)于肯塔基州,林肯卻是一定要得到的?!?/p>

于是他小心謹(jǐn)慎,等待時(shí)機(jī)。

林肯自己的夫人便是來(lái)自一個(gè)擁有奴隸的邊界州家族。林肯夫人從她父親那兒得到的遺產(chǎn)中,一部分便是販賣(mài)奴隸的收入。而林肯唯一的密友——約書(shū)亞·斯皮德——也來(lái)自蓄奴家庭。所以林肯在心里對(duì)于南方是持同情態(tài)度的。而且,林肯是律師出身,對(duì)于憲法、法律和私人財(cái)產(chǎn)有著本能的尊重,所以他不愿意苛待任何人。

他認(rèn)為在奴隸制這個(gè)問(wèn)題上,北方和南方一樣負(fù)有責(zé)任。若想廢除奴隸制,雙方都應(yīng)該承擔(dān)同等責(zé)任。最終林肯想出了一個(gè)十分貼合他心意的計(jì)劃。根據(jù)這份計(jì)劃,效忠于北方的邊界州的奴隸主們每釋放一個(gè)黑奴便會(huì)得到四百美金的補(bǔ)償。黑奴也不會(huì)一下子全部得到解放,這是一個(gè)循序漸進(jìn)的過(guò)程,按照計(jì)劃,要到一九〇〇年一月一日才能解放全部黑奴。林肯將邊界州的代表們請(qǐng)到了白宮,懇請(qǐng)他們接受他的提案。

“這份提案帶來(lái)的變化,”林肯據(jù)理力爭(zhēng)道,“將會(huì)像天堂的露水一樣溫和,不會(huì)強(qiáng)勢(shì)地奪取或者摧毀任何東西。這么好的提議,你們還不贊成嗎?在過(guò)去那么多歲月中,還沒(méi)有哪件事能帶來(lái)如此大的好處。但是現(xiàn)在,在上帝的旨意下,你們有特權(quán)去做這樣一件事。希望在以后漫長(zhǎng)的歲月中,你們不會(huì)因?yàn)樵鲆暳诉@份提案而追悔莫及?!?/p>

但這些代表真的忽視了林肯的提議,而且全盤(pán)否定了這份提案。林肯感到極度失望。

“如果可以的話,我將竭盡全力保全聯(lián)邦,”他說(shuō),“我不妨一次把話說(shuō)清楚,我決不會(huì)留著未打完的牌投降……我現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)認(rèn)識(shí)到,解放黑奴以及武裝黑人同胞已成了必不可少的軍事需要。我現(xiàn)在已被逼到了要么這么做,要么放棄聯(lián)邦的地步。”

林肯必須立刻采取行動(dòng),因?yàn)橛?guó)和法國(guó)已準(zhǔn)備承認(rèn)南方聯(lián)盟。為什么呢?理由很簡(jiǎn)單。

先說(shuō)法國(guó)。拿破侖三世娶了特巴女伯爵瑪麗·歐仁妮·德蒙蒂霍(Marie Eugénie de Montijo)。歐仁妮被譽(yù)為世界上最美麗的女人,于是拿破侖三世就想炫耀一把。他渴望和他那位舉世聞名的叔叔拿破侖·波拿巴(Napoleon Bonaparte)一樣滿身榮耀,于是當(dāng)他看到美國(guó)人自相殘殺時(shí),就料定美國(guó)人沒(méi)有時(shí)間和精力繼續(xù)執(zhí)行門(mén)羅主義(4),于是派了一支軍隊(duì)入侵墨西哥,殺了幾千名當(dāng)?shù)厝?,占領(lǐng)了這個(gè)國(guó)家,將它命名為法屬墨西哥,并將奧利地大公馬克西米利安(Archduke Maximilian)送上了王位。

拿破侖毫無(wú)依據(jù)地相信,如果南方聯(lián)盟贏了,南方定會(huì)支持他的新帝國(guó),但若是北方聯(lián)邦贏了,那么美國(guó)一定會(huì)采取措施將法國(guó)軍隊(duì)趕出墨西哥。因此,拿破侖希望南方能夠成功分裂美國(guó),而他也會(huì)盡力促成此事。

戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)伊始,北方海軍關(guān)閉了所有南方口岸,派兵駐守一百八十九個(gè)港口,巡邏九千六百一十四英里長(zhǎng)的海岸線,監(jiān)控海灣、河口和河道。

這是世界上有史以來(lái)范圍最大的封鎖。

南方聯(lián)盟非常絕望。他們無(wú)法出售棉花,也買(mǎi)不了槍支、彈藥、鞋、醫(yī)療用品或食物。他們只能用煮熟的栗子和棉花種子代替咖啡,用黑莓葉子和檫樹(shù)根釀成的飲料代替茶。報(bào)紙只能印在壁紙上。沒(méi)有鹽吃,便將熏制房里的浸著培根汁液的地板挖出來(lái),煮開(kāi)提煉鹽。教堂的鐘熔化后制成了加農(nóng)炮。有軌電車(chē)的軌道也拆了下來(lái),制成了炮艇的裝甲。

南方聯(lián)盟無(wú)法維修鐵路,也不能購(gòu)買(mǎi)新設(shè)備,因此運(yùn)輸基本處于停滯狀態(tài)。在佐治亞州一蒲式耳玉米只賣(mài)兩美金,但在里士滿卻賣(mài)到了十五美金。整個(gè)弗吉尼亞州都處在饑餓之中。

南方必須采取行動(dòng)改變這一局面。于是他們向法國(guó)提議,若拿破侖三世承認(rèn)南方聯(lián)盟,并為南方提供軍艦解除北方的封鎖,南方聯(lián)盟愿意向法國(guó)提供價(jià)值一千兩百萬(wàn)美金的棉花。此外,他們還承諾會(huì)給拿破侖三世足夠多的訂單,讓法國(guó)每家工廠的煙囪都夜以繼日地冒出滾滾濃煙。

因此,拿破侖三世慫恿俄羅斯、英國(guó)和他一起承認(rèn)南方聯(lián)盟。英國(guó)的統(tǒng)治者們調(diào)了調(diào)鼻梁上的單片眼鏡,倒上一杯尊尼獲加,熱切地聽(tīng)拿破侖三世陳述他的提案。美國(guó)的日益強(qiáng)大、富庶讓他們很不開(kāi)心,因此他們希望美國(guó)分裂,聯(lián)邦解體。此外,他們也需要南方的棉花。英國(guó)的很多工廠都倒閉了,上百萬(wàn)人不僅無(wú)業(yè)又貧窮,還淪落至需要救濟(jì)的地步。孩子們哭鬧著要食物,數(shù)百人被活活餓死。即便是那些最遙遠(yuǎn)的角落——印度和貧困的中國(guó)——的救助金也被搶去給英國(guó)工人買(mǎi)面包吃。

有一條路,唯一的一條路,可以讓英國(guó)獲得棉花——加盟拿破侖三世,認(rèn)可南方聯(lián)盟,幫助他們解除封鎖。

如果這件事成了,美國(guó)會(huì)如何呢?南方會(huì)得到槍支、火藥、貸款、食物和鐵路設(shè)備,并極大地提高自信和士氣。

那北方又能得到什么呢??jī)蓚€(gè)強(qiáng)大的新敵人。現(xiàn)在的局勢(shì)已然很糟,若真的到了那一天,那便毫無(wú)希望可言了。

亞伯拉罕·林肯比任何人都清楚這一點(diǎn)?!拔覀儽仨毚虺鲎詈笠粡埮屏恕!彼谝话肆瓿姓J(rèn)道,“現(xiàn)在要么改變戰(zhàn)略,要么滿盤(pán)皆輸?!?/p>

在英國(guó)人看來(lái),所有北美殖民地一開(kāi)始都是從他們手里分割出去的?,F(xiàn)在南方殖民地要脫離北方,而北方鎮(zhèn)壓南方,迫使南方臣服??墒菍?duì)于倫敦的貴族或法國(guó)的親王來(lái)說(shuō),田納西州和得克薩斯州是由華盛頓還是里士滿統(tǒng)治又有什么區(qū)別呢?沒(méi)有區(qū)別。對(duì)于他們來(lái)說(shuō),南北戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)毫無(wú)意義,沒(méi)有崇高的目標(biāo)。

“在我所處的年代,”卡萊爾寫(xiě)道,“沒(méi)有哪場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)像南北戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)這樣愚蠢得這么徹底?!?/p>

林肯明白,必須改變歐洲對(duì)這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的態(tài)度,而他也知道該怎么做。在歐洲,上百萬(wàn)人讀過(guò)《湯姆叔叔的小屋》。他們?yōu)楹谂谋瘧K遭遇傷心哭泣,憎恨奴隸制的不公和殘忍。林肯知道,如果他簽署《解放奴隸宣言》,歐洲人便會(huì)用不同的眼光看待這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。南北戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)不再是一場(chǎng)歐洲人眼中毫無(wú)意義的、血淋淋的聯(lián)邦保衛(wèi)戰(zhàn),而上升成了一場(chǎng)摧毀奴隸制的偉大變革。屆時(shí),歐洲政府便不敢承認(rèn)南方,因?yàn)楣娸浾摬粫?huì)容忍和幫助那些想要延續(xù)人性枷鎖的人。

因此,一八六二年七月,林肯終于下定決心簽署《解放奴隸宣言》。但是當(dāng)時(shí)麥克萊倫和波普輸了好幾場(chǎng)丟人至極的戰(zhàn)役,于是蘇華德告訴總統(tǒng),現(xiàn)在時(shí)機(jī)不對(duì),應(yīng)該等獲得了一波勝利后再發(fā)布宣言。

這個(gè)建議聽(tīng)起來(lái)合情合理。于是林肯等待著。兩個(gè)月后,北方軍迎來(lái)了勝利。于是林肯召集內(nèi)閣,商討發(fā)布美國(guó)歷史上自《獨(dú)立宣言》后最著名的宣言。

這是一個(gè)重大的時(shí)刻,也是一個(gè)極其莊嚴(yán)的時(shí)刻。可是林肯會(huì)莊嚴(yán)肅穆地對(duì)待這件事嗎?才不會(huì)呢。無(wú)論何時(shí),只要讀到了好故事,林肯就會(huì)分享給其他人。他睡前常常閱讀阿特姆斯·沃德的書(shū),當(dāng)看到幽默的故事時(shí),他便會(huì)爬起來(lái),只穿著睡衣,穿過(guò)白宮的走廊來(lái)到秘書(shū)辦公室,讀給秘書(shū)們聽(tīng)。

在內(nèi)閣召開(kāi)會(huì)議討論《解放奴隸宣言》發(fā)布事宜的前一天,林肯得到了沃德最新的一卷書(shū)。書(shū)中有一則故事讓林肯覺(jué)得非常有趣。于是,在內(nèi)閣成員們開(kāi)始做正事之前,他便將這則故事讀給他們聽(tīng)。這篇故事名叫《在尤蒂卡的高調(diào)憤怒》。

林肯笑夠了之后才將書(shū)放在一邊,肅穆地開(kāi)口道:“當(dāng)叛軍在弗雷德里克的時(shí)候,我就決定,一旦將他們逐出馬里蘭,我就發(fā)表解放奴隸的宣言。這件事我沒(méi)有跟任何人說(shuō),但我對(duì)自己和上帝發(fā)了誓?,F(xiàn)在叛軍已經(jīng)被逐出去了,我也將實(shí)現(xiàn)當(dāng)時(shí)的諾言。我召集你們來(lái),是想請(qǐng)你們聽(tīng)一聽(tīng)我寫(xiě)的東西。我不希望你們修改其主體大意,因?yàn)槲乙呀?jīng)決定好了。我所寫(xiě)的是我思考后想說(shuō)的。但是在措辭或者其他小問(wèn)題方面,你們?nèi)粲X(jué)得最好改掉,我會(huì)非常高興地接受你們的建議?!?/p>

蘇華德建議改動(dòng)一處措辭,幾分鐘后,他又提出了一條新的改動(dòng)建議。

林肯問(wèn)他為什么不將兩條建議一起說(shuō)出來(lái)。隨后林肯終止了對(duì)《解放奴隸宣言》的思考,講述了一個(gè)故事。他說(shuō),印第安納州的一個(gè)雇工告訴聘請(qǐng)自己的農(nóng)場(chǎng)主,最好的兩頭牛死了一頭。過(guò)了一會(huì)兒,雇工又說(shuō):“另外一頭也死了?!?/p>

農(nóng)場(chǎng)主問(wèn):“你為什么不一次性告訴我兩頭都死了呢?”

“其實(shí),”雇工回答道,“我不想一次全告訴你,怕你會(huì)傷心?!?/p>

一八六二年九月,林肯向內(nèi)閣提交了他的宣言,但這份宣言直到一八六三年一月一日才正式施行。因此在一八六二年十二月的國(guó)會(huì)會(huì)議上,林肯懇求國(guó)會(huì)支持他的宣言。在懇求的過(guò)程中,林肯說(shuō)出了他曾寫(xiě)過(guò)的最為壯麗的話——充滿了意想不到的詩(shī)意。

談到聯(lián)邦的時(shí)候,林肯說(shuō):

我們要么高尚地挽救,要么卑鄙地喪失

這地球上最后的、最美好的希望。

一八六三年元旦那天,林肯花了好幾個(gè)小時(shí)與擠滿了白宮的訪客一一握手。那天下午晚些時(shí)候,林肯回到辦公室,拿起筆蘸了蘸墨水,準(zhǔn)備簽署他的解放宣言。他猶豫了一會(huì)兒,轉(zhuǎn)身對(duì)蘇華德說(shuō):“如果說(shuō)奴隸制不是一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤,那就沒(méi)有正確的事了。我這一生從沒(méi)像現(xiàn)在這樣,認(rèn)定自己正在做一件正確的事。但是今天早上自九點(diǎn)鐘起我就一直在接待來(lái)訪者,與人握手。我的手臂現(xiàn)在又酸又麻。這個(gè)簽名肯定是會(huì)被人仔細(xì)審視的,如果他們看出我的手抖了,他們會(huì)說(shuō)‘林肯后悔了’。”

他讓手臂休息了一會(huì),然后緩緩地在文件上簽上了自己的名字。三百五十萬(wàn)奴隸因此得到了自由。

當(dāng)時(shí),這份宣言并沒(méi)有得到普遍的支持。“這份宣言的唯一效果是,”林肯的摯友及忠實(shí)擁護(hù)者奧維爾·布朗寧(Orville H.Browning)寫(xiě)道,“激怒了南方,讓他們更加團(tuán)結(jié),同時(shí)讓北方意見(jiàn)分歧,軍心渙散?!?/p>

軍隊(duì)中發(fā)生了兵變。那些應(yīng)召入伍誓死捍衛(wèi)聯(lián)邦的將士發(fā)誓絕不會(huì)擁護(hù)黑奴解放,也絕不會(huì)為了讓黑奴與自己平起平坐而犧牲自己的性命。數(shù)以千計(jì)的士兵逃跑了,各地募兵處皆是一片蕭條。

林肯曾獲得了廣大平民的支持,但他們卻讓林肯徹底失望了。林肯在秋季選舉中一敗涂地,即便是他的家鄉(xiāng)伊利諾伊州也否定了共和黨。

很快,林肯在選舉失敗之后又迎來(lái)了南北戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中損失最為慘重的一場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)役——伯恩賽德魯莽地在弗雷德里克斯堡攻擊了李,然后損失了一萬(wàn)三千人。又是一場(chǎng)愚蠢而無(wú)用的屠戮。十八個(gè)月來(lái),同類(lèi)事件一而再再而三地上演,到底何時(shí)才是盡頭?整個(gè)國(guó)家都處于驚恐之中,人們心中滿是絕望。全國(guó)各地都在強(qiáng)烈譴責(zé)總統(tǒng)。林肯失敗了,他的將軍失敗了,他的政策也失敗了。人們?cè)僖踩淌懿涣肆耍幢闶菂⒆h院的共和黨成員也生出了反叛之心。他們想把林肯趕出白宮,于是前往白宮拜見(jiàn)林肯,要求他改變政策并且解散內(nèi)閣。

這一打擊讓人顏面盡失。林肯承認(rèn)這是他政治生涯中最為痛苦的時(shí)刻。

“他們想要擺脫我,”林肯說(shuō),“而我內(nèi)心竟然愿意滿足他們。”

此時(shí),霍勒斯·格里利對(duì)自己在一八六〇年迫使共和黨提名林肯這件事感到非常后悔。

“這絕對(duì)是一個(gè)錯(cuò)誤?!彼姓J(rèn)道,“這是我一生中犯下的最大的錯(cuò)誤。”

格里利和其他幾位聲名顯赫的共和黨人發(fā)起了一項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng),主要目的如下:迫使林肯辭職,讓副總統(tǒng)哈姆林入主白宮,然后迫使哈姆林任命羅斯克蘭斯接管北方聯(lián)軍。

“我們?nèi)缃裾驹跉绲倪吘?。”林肯承認(rèn)道,“在我看來(lái),上帝似乎也沒(méi)有站在我們這邊。我看不到任何希望?!?/p>

用戶搜索

瘋狂英語(yǔ) 英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)法 新概念英語(yǔ) 走遍美國(guó) 四級(jí)聽(tīng)力 英語(yǔ)音標(biāo) 英語(yǔ)入門(mén) 發(fā)音 美語(yǔ) 四級(jí) 新東方 七年級(jí) 賴世雄 zero是什么意思貴陽(yáng)市翡翠大廈英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)交流群

  • 頻道推薦
  • |
  • 全站推薦
  • 推薦下載
  • 網(wǎng)站推薦