胡適留學日記卷九五五、威爾遜演說詞

卷九五五、威爾遜演說詞

　　（五月十二日）

　　TEXT OF PRESIDENT's SPEECH

　　The text of President Wilson's speech follows:

　　It warms my heart that you should give me such a reception, but it is not of myself that I wish to think tonight, but of those who have just become citizens of the United States. This is the only country in the world which experiences this constant and repeated rebirth. Other countries depend upon the multiplication of their own native people. This country is constantly drinking strength out of new sources by the voluntary association with it of great bodies of strong men and forward-looking women. And so, by the gift of the free will of independent people it is constantly being renewed from generation to generation by the same process by which it was originally created. It is as if humanity had determined to see to it that this great nation, founded for the benefit of humanity, should not lack for the allegiance of the people of the world.

　　You have just taken an oath of allegiance to the United States. Of allegiance to whom? Of allegiance to no one, unless it be God. Certainly not of allegiance to those who temporarily represent this great Government. You have taken an oath of allegiance to a great ideal, to a great body of principles, to a great hope of the human race. You have said, "We are going to America," not only to earn a living, not only to seek the things which it was more difficult to obtain where you were born, but to help forward the great enterprises of the human spirit—to let men know that everywhere in the world there are men who will cross strange oceans and go where a speech is spoken which is alien to them, knowing that, whatever the speech, there is but one longing and utterance of the human heart, and that is for liberty and justice.

　　LOOKING ONLY FORWARD

　　And while you bring all countries with you, you come with a purpose of leaving all other countries behind you—bringing what is best of their spirit, but not looking over your shoulders and seeking to perpetuate what you intended to leave in them. I certainly would not be one even to suggest that a man ceases to love the home of his birth and the nation of his origin—these things are very sacred and ought not to be put out of our hearts—but it is one thing to love the place where you were born and it is another thing to dedicate yourself to the place to which you go. You cannot dedicate yourself to America unless you become in every respect and with every purpose of your will thorough Americans. You cannot become thorough Americans if you think of yourselves in groups. America does not consist of groups. A man who thinks himself as belonging to a particular national group in America has not yet become an American, and the man who goes among you to trade upon your nationality is no worthy son to live under the Stars and Stripes.

　　My urgent advice to you would be not only always to think first of America, but always, also, to think first of humanity. You do not love humanity if you seek to divide humanity into jealous camps. Humanity can be welded together only by love, by sympathy, by justice, not by jealousy and hatred. I am sorry for the man who seeks to make personal capital out of the passions of his fellowmen. He has lost the touch and ideal of America, for America was created to unite mankind by those passions which lift and not by the passions which separate and debase.

　　We came to America, either ourselves or in persons of our ancestors, to better the ideals of men, to make them see finer things than they had seen before, to get rid of things that divide, and to make sure of the things that unite. It was but an historical accident no doubt that this great country was called the "United States", and yet I am very thankful that it has the word『united』in its title; and the man who seeks to divide man from man, group from group, interest from interest, in the United States is striking at its very heart.

　　It is a Very interesting circumstance to me, in thinking of those of you who have just sworn allegiance to this great Government, that you were drawn across the ocean by some beckoning finger of hope, by some belief, by some vision of a new kind of justice, by some expectation of a better kind of life.

　　No doubt you have been disapppointed in some of us: some of us are very disappointing. No doubt you have found that justice in the United States goes only with a pure heart and a right purpose, as it does everywhere else in the world. No doubt what you found here didn't seem touched for you, after all, with the complete beauty of the ideal which you had conceived beforehand.

　　But remember this, if we had grown at all poor in the ideal, you brought some of it with you. A man does not go out to seek the thing that is not in him. A man does not hope for the thing that he does not believe in, and if some of us have forgotten what America believed in, you, at any rate, imported in your own hearts a renewal of the belief. That is the reason that I, for one, make you welcome. "

　　REALIZING A DREAM

　　If I have in any degree forgotten what America was intended for, I will thank God if you will remind me.

　　I was born in America. You dreamed dreams of what America was to be, and I hope you brought the dreams with you. No man that does not see visions will ever realize any high hope or undertake any highenterprise.

　　Just because you brought dreams with you, America is more likely to realize the dreams such as you brought. You are enriching us if you came expecting us to be better than we are.

　　See, my friends, what that means. It means that Americans must have a consciousness different from the consciousness of every other nation in the world. I am not saying this with even the slightest thought of criticism of other nations. You know how it is with a family. A family gets centred on itself if it is not careful, and is less interested in the neighbors than it is in it's own members.

　　So a nation that is not constantly renewed out of new sources is apt to have the narrowness and prejudice of a family. Whereas, America must have this consciousness, that on all sides it touches elbows and touches hearts with all the nations of mankind.

　　TOO PROIUD TD FIGHT

　　The example of America must be a special example. The example of America must be the example not merely of peace because it will not fight, but of peace because peace is the healing and elevating influence of the world and strife is not.

　　There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.

　　So, if you come into this great nation as you have come, voluntarily seeking something that we have to give, all that we have to give is this: We cannot exempt you from work. No man is exempt from work anywhere in the world. I sometimes think he is fortunate if he has to work only with his hands and not with his head. It is very easy to do what other people give you to do, but it is very difficult to give other people things to do. We cannot exempt you from work; we cannot exempt you from the strife and the heart-breaking burden of the struggle of the day—that is common to mankind everywhere. We cannot exempt you from the loads that you must carry; we can only make them light by the spirit in which they are carried. That is the spirit of hope, it is the spirit of liberty, it is the spirit of justice.

　　When I was asked, therefore, by the Mayor and the committee that accompanied him to come up from Washington to meet this great company of newly admitted citizens I could not decline the invitation. I ought not to be away from Washington, and yet I feel that it has renewed my spirit as an American.

　　In Washington men tell you so many things every day that are not so, and I like to come and stand in the presence of a great body of my fellow-citizens, whether they have been my fellow citizens a long time or a short time, and drink, as it were, out of the common fountains with them, and go back feeling that you have so generously given me the sense of your support and of the living vitality in your hearts, of its great ideals which made America the hope of the world."

　　下面是威爾遜總統之演說詞：

　　〔中譯〕

　　總統演說詞

　　你們如此熱烈地歡迎我，使我暖意盈懷。但我今晚所想的不是我自己，而是你們這些剛剛成為美國公民的朋友們。世界上唯有美國在不斷地、反復地經歷著自我更新。其它國家都是依靠本國國民之自我繁衍而發展壯大，唯有美國持續不斷地從新的源泉那裡汲取新生力量，此新源泉便是那些身強力壯的男人和遠見卓識的女人，他們自願地聚集在美國的旗幟下。因此，正是這些獨立自主之人民，憑其天賦之自由意志，使美國一代又一代地不斷獲得新生。而這個更新之過程，正是美國開國歷程之延續。看來，人類決心要使這個偉大之國家，得到全世界人民之擁戴，因為它建國之目的，就是為人類謀利益。

　　你們剛剛宣誓：要效忠於美國。可是對誰忠誠呢？不是別人，正是上帝。你們絕對不是要忠於目前暫時代表這個龐大政府的那些官員。你們宣誓要忠於一個崇高之理想，一個偉大之原則，一個人類宏偉之希望。你們說，「我們來到美國」，不僅僅是為了謀生，也不僅僅是為了尋求一些在出生地難於覓得的東西，而是為了幫助促進人類精神之偉大事業——為了讓人們知道，世界各地都有人願意漂洋過海來到這個陌生的國度，來到這個語言不通的地方。那是因為他們知道，不管這是何種語言，人類只有一種渴望，只有一種心聲，那就是渴望自由，渴望正義。

　　一往直前

　　你們從各個不同的國家來到這裡，抱著一個目的：即想要離開原來的國度——當你們這樣做時，你們已經將那些國家中最美好之精神帶到了這裡。希望你們不要再回頭看，不要將你們原本打算留在那裡的一切再留駐心頭，戀戀不捨。我說這些當然不是要你們不再愛你們的故鄉、你們的祖國，我不想成為這樣一種人——事實上，這些原本是最神聖的，而且也是不應該被忘卻的——然而，愛你們的故鄉是一回事，獻身於你們所去之地是另一回事。如果你們不在各個方面，全心全意地去做一個徹底的美國人，那麼，你們就不可能獻身於美國。如果你們仍然只想到你們自己的那個群體，那麼，你們就不可能成為一名完完全全的美國人。美國不是由某些相互隔絕之群體組成的。如果一個人認為，他只屬美國的某一特定民族團體，那他就還不是一名美國人。如果你們當中有人到這裡來，只是想利用一下美國國籍，那他將是一位愧對星條旗之不肖子孫。

　　我最熱切地勸告你們，不僅總是要首先想到美國，而且總是要首先想到人類。倘使你們試圖把人類分成幾大互相猜忌之陣營，你們就不會熱愛人類。人類只有用愛、同情和正義，才能將其聯結成一體，而不是用猜忌和仇恨。對於那些試圖利用同胞之熱情來為自己牟取個人資本之人，我感到很遺憾。他已經失去了美國式之風格和理想，因為美國是用高昂之激情，而不是用分裂和卑下之激情，去團結全人類。

　　我們來到美國，有的是我們這些新移民，有的是從祖輩就移民至此。無論怎樣，所有人都努力完善人類之理想，讓人們看到要比他們以前所曾見過的更加美好的東西，驅除那些分裂之因素，設法確保那些促進人類團結之因素。毫無疑問，這個偉大的國家取名為「合眾國」，這不是歷史的偶然之舉。然我感到非常欣慰的是，這個名字中帶有「合眾」兩個字。倘使有人試圖在美國將這類人與那類人分開，將這個群體與那個群體分開，將這種利益與那種利益分開，這無異於是刺中了她的心臟。

　　想到你們這些剛剛宣過誓，要忠於這個偉大政府之朋友們，我就感到`饒有興味，你們飄洋過海來到這裡，在某種希望的召喚之下，出於某種信念，靠著某種對新型正義之想像，靠著某種對美好生活之憧憬。

　　無疑，你們已經對某些東西感到失望了：我們這裡有些東西是非常令人掃興的。毋庸置疑，你們也已經發現，在美國，正義還只是一種美好的感情，一個正確的目的。這正如世界上其他地方一樣。毫無疑問，你們原先都曾懷有某種理想，在此種理想之美麗光芒之映照下，你們也已發現，這裡有些東西似乎不能如你們所願。

　　但是，請你們記住：如果說我們生長於一個匱乏理想之境遇中，那麼你們正擁有這份財富。一個人不會去尋求那本不屬他的東西。一個人也不會去期待他根本不相信的東西。如果我們當中的一些人已經忘記了美國之信仰，那麼，至少你們已經把這種信念之重建任務，植入心底。這就是我作為個人歡迎你們之原因。

　　實現美國夢

　　如果我在某種程度上已經忘記了美國之目的，那麼，我將感謝上帝，讓你們提醒了我。

　　我是土生土長之美國人。你們曾經夢想美國是什麼樣子，我希望，你們一直擁有這份美國夢。一個不會幻想之人，決不可能實現偉大之希望，也不可能從事崇高之事業。

　　正因為你們擁有這份美國夢，美國就很有希望實現這些夢想，正如你們所擁有的。你們來到這裡，期望我們的明天比今天更加美好。正是你們，使我們的生活更加豐富，更有活力。

　　朋友們，請聽明白我的意思。我的意思是說，美國人必須具有一種意識，一種與世界上其它國家完全不同之意識。我這樣說，一點也沒有批評其它國家的意思。你們都知道家庭之情況。作為一個家庭，只有不計小隙，只有把注意力更多地集中到自己家庭成員身上，而不是在鄰居身上，才能把一家人凝聚在一起。

　　一個持續不斷地從新的源泉那裡獲得新生之國家，也應當如此。只有這樣，才能避免家庭之狹隘和偏見。因此，美國必須具有這種意識：即它應在各個方面與世界各國保持密切之聯繫，保持各種各樣之交往。

　　恥於衝突

　　美國應該作出一個不同凡響之榜樣，這便是和平之榜樣。然而，這種和平不僅僅是一種不打仗之和平，而且是一種醫治戰爭創傷，擴大其世界性影響之和平，是一種不衝突之和平。

　　人會由於高傲而恥於和人爭鬥。國家也會由於一貫堅持正義，而不必用強迫之手段，使別國心悅誠服，不必以力服人。

　　所以，既然你們已經來到這個偉大的國家，那就請你們自願地去尋求某些東西，尋求某些我們所能給予你們的東西。我們所能給予的恐怕只有這點：我們無法讓你們不工作。在世界的任何地方，決不會有不工作之人。我有時想，只需動手而不必動腦之人，真是有福氣。只要動手去做別人交代你們之工作，那是很容易的；然而，要使別人有工作可幹，卻是非常困難的。我們無法使你們免除工作；我們無法使你們免除衝突，也無法使你們卸去當今之戰爭所帶來的極其沉重之負擔——世界各地之人都一樣負著重擔。我們也無法使你們免除你們必須承擔之重任；我們所能做的，只是用一種精神來減輕由重任、重擔所帶來之壓力。這種精神就是希望、自由和正義。

　　因此，當市長及其陪同前來之委員會，邀請我從華盛頓去該市，會見這一大群新近加入美國籍之公民時，我盛情難卻。儘管我不應該離開華盛頓。我覺得，我作為一名美國公民，「華盛頓」一直振奮我的精神。

　　在華盛頓，有人會告訴你們，這裡每天發生的許許多多事情，其實並不一定如此。我喜歡站在一大群同胞面前，和他們同飲一口泉，可以說是，和他們同甘共苦，不管他們是早已移民之老同胞，還是新近才加入美國籍之新同胞。一想到這些，我就不由地感覺到，你們是如此慷慨地賜予我一種支持感，一種內心之活力，一種崇高之理想，以使美國成為世界希望之所在。

　　此威爾遜氏最近演說詞。先數日，英船Lusitania為德潛水艇所沉，死者千余人，中有美國國民百余人。一時國中輿論激昂不可遏抑，宣戰之聲，日有所聞。而威氏當此洶洶之際，獨能為此極端的人道主義之宣言，其氣象真不凡。其文亦晚近有數文字也。

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