LESSON 31

SPEECH OF WALPOLE IN REPROOF OF MR. PITT

沃尔浦尔反驳皮特先生的演讲

Sir Robert Walpole, 1676-1745, was educated at Eton and Cambridge. He entered Parliament in 1700, and soon became a good debater and skillful tactician. He was prime minister of Great Britain from 1721 to 1742, in the reigns of George I. and George II. He was an able statesman; but has been accused of employing corruption or bribery on a large scale, to control Parliament and accomplish his purposes.

I was unwilling to interrupt the course of this debate, while it was carried on with calmness and decency, by men who do not suffer the ardor of opposition to cloud their reason, or transport them to such expressions as the dignity of this assembly does not admit.

I have hitherto deferred answering the gentleman, who declaimed against the bill with such fluency and rhetoric, and such vehemence of gesture; who charged the advocates for the expedients now proposed, with having no regard to any interests but their own, and with making laws only to consume paper, and threatened them with the defection of their adherents, and the loss of their influence, upon this new discovery of their folly and ignorance. Nor, do I now answer him for any other purpose than to remind him how little the clamor of rage and petulancy of invective contribute to the end for which this assembly is called together; how little the discovery of truth is promoted, and the security of the nation established, by pompous diction and theatrical emotion.

Formidable sounds and furious declamation, confident assertions and lofty periods, may affect the young and inexperienced; and perhaps the gentleman may have contracted his habits of oratory by conversing more with those of his own age than with such as have more opportunities of acquiring knowledge, and more successful methods of communicating their sentiments. If the heat of temper would permit him to attend to those whose age and long acquaintance with business give them an indisputable right to deference and superiority, he would learn in time to reason, rather than declaim; and to prefer justness of argument and an accurate knowledge of facts, to sounding epithets and splendid superlatives, which may disturb the imagination for a moment, but leave no lasting impression upon the mind. He would learn, that to accuse and prove are very different; and that reproaches, unsupported by evidence, affect only the character of him that utters them.

Excursions of fancy and flights of oratory are indeed pardonable in young men, but in no other; and it would surely contribute more, even to the purpose for which some gentlemen appear to speak (that of depreciating the conduct of the administration), to prove the inconveniences and injustice of this bill, than barely to assert them, with whatever magnificence of language, or appearance of zeal, honesty, or compassion.

【中文阅读】

我不愿意中断这场辩论的进程，这场辩论以温和而高雅的方式进行，参加辩论的人们不堪忍受对方的狂热致使其失去理性，或将他们导向这样庄严的集会所不允许的表述。

到目前为止，我推迟回答这位绅士提出的问题，他以强烈的姿态宣称反对如此流畅和讲究言辞的议案。指责那些拥护该权宜之计的人，没有考虑各方的利益，只看了自己的利益，制订的法律毫无用处徒费纸张而已，现在提出自己的看法，用拥护者的背叛来威胁他们，针对他们的愚蠢和无知这一新的发现，他们显得语无伦次。我现在不管出于任何其他原因，当然不会对他的任何指责做出回答，我只想提醒他，大吵大闹地发泄愤怒和气急败坏的猛烈抨击，对于结束这场将众人召集起来的大会毫无助益，对于发现真理和确立国家安全来说，通过夸张的言辞和威胁的神情也毫无意义。

可怕的喧嚣和用慷慨激昂的演说来宣泄狂怒，有自信心的主张和表现出高高在上的傲慢，也许会影响年轻人和无甚经验的人；绅士们也许通过与其说讲些符合自己年龄的话，不如说有更多的机会获得知识，互相交流情感这种更卓有成效的方式来约束自己的擅用长词和华丽辞藻的习惯。如果脾气的激动程度允许他听取那些他们的年龄和长期往来的旧交能赋予他们一种不容置疑的遵从权利和优越感的意见，他将适时学会理性，而不是猛烈抨击；他会更喜欢论点的正当性和对事实的精确了解，试探着使用词语和极好的最高级表达方式，虽然一时间会在听者的想象中掀起波澜，但不会在心里留下持久的印象。他会弄清楚谴责和证实是完全不同的，没有证据支持的谴责只会影响说这些话的人的品质。

想象的远足和华丽辞藻的异想天开，诚然能为年轻人所谅解，除此之外别无其他。可以肯定的是，这种做法会促进，甚至促使显然也有此意图的绅士一吐为快（贬低政府的职能），来证明这项议案的不便之处和不正当性，而不是只不过用语言的所谓华丽，或真诚的外表或同情而对这些话表示支持。