胡適留學日記卷九一〇、投書的影響

卷九一〇、投書的影響

　　（三月一日）

　　SUH HU SPEAKS UP

　　Perhaps on Thomas Carlyle's good old theory that every man needs a master, some Western theorists are arguing that the solution of the Far Eastern Question lies in placing upon Japan the responsible and effective direction of Chinese affairs. Japan herself takes this view, it seems, but it is not enthusiastically indorsed by the government at Washington and it will not harden into reality without serious remonstrance.

　　Suh Hu, writing from Ithaca, where we imagine him to be an active member of the Cornell Cosmopolitan Club, does not agree, either. He declares that in this twentieth century "no nation can ever hope peacefully to rule over or to interfere with the internal administrative affairs of another nation, however beneficial that rule or that interference may be." That is a sweeping assertion, demanding present modification in several cases. But China has developed an active and progressive consciousness. Suh Hu is right when he says that the establishment of the American republic was not accomplished by an instantaneous fiat; and as a matter of fact he believes that the Chinese republic is getting along as well as the American republic was doing at the Critical Period, described by the late John Fiske.

　　"Mexico," concludes Suh Hu, "has the right to revolution. China has the right to her own development." There is some room for argument as regards the first part of that declaration; none whatever with regard to the second. A Japanese attempt to assume charge of China will result in a sea of trouble; and we hope Japan has statesmen who can see it.

　　〔中譯〕

　　胡適之高論

　　也許是受了托馬斯·客萊爾妙言舊論之影響，認為人需要主宰者。於是，一些西方理論家正在爭論，遠東問題之解決在於使日本擔負起有效管理中國事務之責任。看來，日本自己也如此認為。然華盛頓政府對此議並沒有表示熱烈的贊同。如果沒有經過認真的規勸，此議頗難實現。

　　胡適從綺色佳寫信來表示也不贊成此議。我們猜想他可能是康乃耳世界學生會的一名積極分子。他宣稱，在此二十世紀，「任何國家皆不該抱有統治他國或干涉別國內政之指望，不管該統治或該干涉如何有益」。此斷言不容置疑，只在某些情況下尚需稍加修正。但中國已經具有了積極的、進步的國民之覺醒。胡適說得不錯，美利堅合眾國之建立不是單憑一項法令一蹴而就的。他還認為，事實上，中華民國之建立絕不亞於已故的約翰·菲斯克所描述的當時美利堅合眾國之建立。

　　胡適推論道：「墨西哥有權革命，中國也有權利來決定自己的發展。」這句話的前半句尚有討論之餘地，而後半句則是毫無疑義的。日本企圖控制中國，其結局必定是引火燒身；我們希望日本能有有識之政治家看到這一點。

　　吾所投The New Republic之書，乃為Syracuse Post-Standard引作社論，則吾書未嘗無影響也。

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