日志
蛮夷美人
未久前，余曾写一文，云，目今之世界，知治大国之道者，现代民族中，惟英格兰民族是也。一美国人览之，愤慲而怒，谓余曰，“吾美国若何？”
吾美国虽曰共和之国，岂不如英帝国知可治国之道乎？余答曰，然，不列颠民族之于汝等美国，迥然有异。不列颠民族，乃文明之民族；汝美国人，虽居水浆混泥土式摩天帐篷，依旧乃无文明之游牧民族而已。美国人不屑一顾，谓余曰：“汝受教育于英国，未曾及美国，自当如此而曰！”
确然如是。余迄今未忘，清末大臣，已故之张荫桓，出使美国时，谓美国人其所发现，曰，于美国，人所欲求之事者，皆不缺也，惟缺宗教是也。此言一出，即惊四座，美国人全堂哗然失笑。在场一美国记者，惊曰，“吾美国人缺宗教？吾美国，凡街道必有教堂，凡教堂必有传教之团体！吾美国，宗教之多，可遣使中国、高丽，世之它国概莫及焉！”
是故，余必曰，中国大使所言极是。其所欲达者，非谓美国无宗教，而云美国无文明。文明者，切当之汉字，曰礼乐（字面之义曰，礼仪与音乐），早期耶稣会会士译之为宗教。是故，张荫桓大使铭记于心，其意既指宗教兼曰文明。盖因今日之欧美，宗教乃一事，仅为礼拜日所做之事；中国则不然，文明乃另一事，乃七之六日必做之事，宗教即文明，文明即宗教；二者乃同一之事，亦即人之精神生活之形式或表现，非仅为礼拜日所做之事，而乃人之每日必做之事。
若欲深究之，容余于文明之民族，野蛮之民族，作以解释。今日皆曰，古希腊及古罗马，乃伟大文明之国。其故何也？此古老文明之国，非特有治国用兵之道，非但善产物品、有经商之法，且出精神之用品，如文学艺术，且更为要者，恃此，于其伟人之中，而有成高尚、完美之人性者。逮及其亡，而为世代人人记颂、竞相效仿。总之，所谓文明之国，乃一国所有之精神财富，或如卡莱尔所云，“实现之理想”。
是故，余之所以谓不列颠民族，乃文明之民族，非仅因其有经商之道、赢滑铁卢之战役、辖印帝国之能事，不列颠民族，如古希腊及古罗马，亦出伟大之精神产品。依鸿铭之见，此精神产品乃现代欧洲，唯一厥功甚伟之作，即威廉·莎士比亚。言及莎士比亚，卡莱尔于其《英雄及英雄崇拜》所言极是，曰，“莎士比亚，乃吾不列颠人民厥功甚伟之作也。”若大不列颠帝国他日被毁，千年之后，人之览其作品者，必曰，不列颠民族，乃至高文明之民族。
其实，正如拉丁字“virtus”,并非英文字 “virtue”之意，反而，意同日文字Samurai（武士）。此字即可证明，大凡暗晓拉丁语者，皆知古罗马乃一高贵之文明。如同此理，即或无莎士比亚，仅凭英文字“gentlman”，则可足示大不列颠民族，其文明之精致远胜古罗马高贵之文明。其故何也？盖鉴于大不列颠精致之文明锤炼成耶稣教温良之精神及理想，由此而生“温良秉性之人”。文明之旨归，非在使人强壮，而在教人温良；换言之，文明之旨归，使人养成者，非凯普林所谓之粗俗、下流、身着法兰绒之傻呆,然此乃今日居中国之美国基督教青年会（Y.M.C.A[②]）竭力欲求之事；文明之旨归，使人养成者，温良秉性之人，即吾中国人所谓之懂礼乐；礼者，英国人称之为礼貌（courtesy）、优良之态度(good manners)或优良之规矩(good forms)；乐者，音乐(music)是也。
确然如是，余以为，盖因不列颠及英格兰之文明，其旨在，使人养成“温良秉性之人”；是故，不列颠人民，乃当今世界唯一现代之民族，如余曾云，懂治国之道之民族。
德川家康，日本伟大之武士，恃锋利之剑，弃残酷之魔鬼，摆脱旧有封建日本之约束；其临终，于榻前谓其孙德川家光，曰，“汝，有帝王之相，他日必将辖治一大帝国。汝当谨记，治帝国之道，心须温良仁慈[1]（拉丁语：alma as in alma mater，意即：母亲般之温良仁慈）。”余以为，目今日本之政治家，之所以觉高丽难治者，盖因现代之日本人勿读《外史》，亦勿教之于学生，而览杜威教授之实用哲学及实用政治学，且教之于学生，其果也，忘其祖训已涵盖上文所引之实用政治学之本质。
同样，不列颠“无名战士”,新近葬入英国西敏寺，驱走恶魔，封建德国狂怒之条顿人，目今英国之不列颠政客，之所以觉爱尔兰及印度难治者，盖因今日现代英国人不知，今日大不列颠帝国之所以成者，既非不列颠之民主、亦非不列颠之政体或议会制度，而乃不列颠或英格兰文明蕴有“温良”及其理想之故也；简言之，今日大不列颠帝国之所以成者，非不列颠群氓之功，而乃不列颠或英格兰温良秉性之士之功也。
此当题外之话。
余尝云，一民族，惟其有精神财富或实现之理想者，方可谓之曰文明之民族。既然，美国若可称之为文明之民族，其“实现之理想”为何？其精神财富为何？于美国文学响慕人物之中，余唯一所闻者，阿姆逊也。然，即或阿姆逊，如马太·阿诺德所言，亦非文学中之响慕之人物。且不曰荷马、维吉尔、但丁及莎士比亚，即或柏拉图、西塞罗、培根及伏尔泰，与其相较，阿姆逊概不能称文学之响慕人物。
又以诗歌为例，诗歌，如音乐，乃一民族之精神生活之至高表现形式；美国诗人所作之诗，余所铭记而未忘者，唯一首而已，此诗勘称真正之诗也。所谓真正之诗者，纯粹之诗也，而非他者是也；乃成一民族之精神财富、且成其文明之重要部分也，如格雷之《墓畔哀歌》，彭斯之《友谊地久天长》。诗歌，如英国麦考莱勋爵之诗，虽有格有韵，然非诗也，纯属华丽之辞藻而已。即或美国之著名诗人，如朗费罗、惠蒂埃，其诗亦多属华丽之辞藻，其中：诗非诗也，非真正之诗也；此类之诗，如彭斯之《友谊地久天长》，亦可成一民族之精神财富。确然如是，如余尝云，美国诗人所作之诗，余所记而不忘，且唯一能成一民族之精神财富者，爱伦坡之《安娜贝尔·李》是也。
余新近写有一文，曰，读威尔士人泰菲所作之英语童谣，有益于教化人之心灵。览此文者，多以为，此乃玩笑而已。然，余以为，吾所言甚为严肃，而非戏谑之言。盖因诸如英语童谣之诗，乃真正之诗；当然，此乃儿童诵读之真正之诗也；真正之诗，必生奇异之魔力，（如马太·阿诺德所言，荷马之诗），可使人脱胎换骨。如若疑之，可叫日本艺妓诵读日文之中国著名诗句“月落乌啼霜满天（Tsuki ochi karasu naite shimo ten ni mitsu）”，则可见，其眼突放异彩，如醉如痴，忘其所以；此时此刻，嫣然已成另一女人，较先前之状，更美也媚也。
换言之，诸如英文童谣之类，于一定程度，乃一民族之精神生活之真正表现，且成其文明之部分。今日之美国，乃无童谣之民族；此事实，余以为，足可证明，美国乃无精神生活之民族，若称之为一民族，则如余所谓之无任何文明之精神财富。
最后，若有朝一日，美国被毁，余欲问曰，美国民族有何种伟大精神之作品留诸后世，而示其乃文明之民族？依鸿铭之见，美国民族唯一之精神财富，亦即美国民族留诸后世之唯一之真正精神财富者，乃爱伦坡之《安娜贝尔·李》及美国黑人移民音乐是也；若美国他日被毁，惟此乃世代可铭记于心也。
或人问余曰，“威尔逊总统之《十四要则》，其如摩西之《十戒》，可成一新宗教，以保世界民主之安全,益享千年，若何？”余答之曰，威尔逊总统之《十四要则》，仅成于贰年前；即或乔治先生[③]亦全然忘之！
最后，言及威尔逊总统，余忆起，余未曾问此问题曰，美国民族可出真正之伟人乎？其谁何也？当然，人人齐呼，乔治·华盛顿；然，即或冒险得罪余所有之美国朋友，余亦必曰，依鸿铭之见，乔治·华盛顿，于诸多方面，令人敬佩，然如美国清教徒之父辈者，其人道德，或多或少令人生厌，故概不能成真正之伟人，如法国巴亚德或英国之沃尔特·拉雷爵士及菲利普·锡德尼爵士一般之伟人。确实，言及美国清教徒之父，正如马太·阿诺德所云，“清教徒之父辈远渡重洋，尽管其意义重大，然若想想相伴而行之莎士比亚及维吉尔，想想莎士比亚及维吉尔[④]难以忍受之旅伴，则可对清教徒之父辈及其完美之标准，作以正确之决断。”是故，依鸿铭之见，若于莎士比亚时代，行及乐土英国，或于现代，行至日本，余决不会择乔治·华盛顿之流伴行。其故在于，任何人皆不想择此类人等为伴，行至温莎之“嘉德饭店”，且引荐于福德太太、培琪太太、巴道夫、比斯托尔、尼姆[2]及其他快乐旅伴，亦不欲择此流人等伴行至日本艺妓馆！
另一日晚上，余偶遇一苏格兰人于北京餐厅[⑤]，该君新近从苏格兰还回美国；余问之曰，其是否考虑，苏格兰有可能成美国一般而枯燥无味。其答曰：“否，绝无此可能。”余问其故。其神情自豪，答曰，“盖因苏格兰有诸如彭斯之类伟人也。”美国如此枯燥无味，其故也，盖鉴于无彭斯之类伟人。同理，余告知外国人曰，中国如此大国，概不能成共和之国；其谓余曰，美国亦乃一大国，而竟成一共和之国。余答曰，“美国能成一共和之国，盖因美国人异于中国人，其异者，在于美国乃无任何文明之民族，正如余苏格兰之友曰，美国之所以枯燥无味者，盖因其无彭斯之类伟人也。”事实上，余曰，中国如今已成共和之国，盖因目今穷凶极恶低能之中国人，绞辫子而丢其文明之故也。余重申曰，共和之国于中国，概不能成功，其故也，盖因非所有之中国人已失其文明也。
言及尾处，容余小结，余欲曰，此文写作，旨不在谩骂美国人民。余曾试图明示，美国人民乃无任何文明之民族，盖因其甚为年轻，不够渊长。言及年轻，如威廉·皮特于不列颠议会之著名演说所言，年轻，然非“万恶之罪”。确实，美国人民乃一年轻之民族，居如此辽阔之国度。余甚以为，其有巨大之潜能，如若目今世界战乱之后，文明得以拯救，明日世界必将三足鼎立：美国，俄国及中国。
余重申曰，此文旨不在谩骂美国人民。余旨在告知世人，文明拯救唯一之法――汝如若欲挽救文明，首要之事，当知文明为何。
确实，余写此文，盖因余最近读日本首相原敬所写一文，受其影响之故。原敬之文曰，其欲东西文明合璧也。依鸿铭之见，如此之说，日本首相不知文明为何也；请容余如此无礼。文明，有真谬之分；而无东西之别。
孔子于其时，倾听民论文明，而曰，“礼云礼云，玉帛云乎哉？[⑥]”同理，鸿铭无礼，试问日本首相：竖高领、绞辫子、修洋房、乘洋车、立雕像（如东京所见之雕像），凡此种种，乃文明之全部，或方为文明乎？确实，马太·阿诺德，谈及耶稣教，所用言词，与宋代诗人苏东坡谈及儒教时所言，惊人相似。其曰：“耶稣信仰，乃气质心情；是故余欲曰，文明重在心态意态，即精神生活。”若断之以真正文明之义，普通日本盖尔塔[⑦]，较之于美国实用哲学政治学之绝大多数教授，其文明远甚之。其实，文明之本质者，非在其所穿之衣服，所居之住所，所用之器具、所使之机器、所备之船炮，而在心态之温良，言之以日本幕府将军之语（余曾引之于上文），温良慈悲心。最后，依鸿铭之见，今日人民已成远东之征夷将军、民族边境总督、军事监护者，余欲提醒日本人民，当谨记已故伟人德川家光临终对其孙之遗言，实则乃对目今日本民族之遗言[⑧]。
俄国妖僧。
近有拉脱维亚里加港之速递消息，曰，拉斯普廷（Rasputin[⑨]）生前之友，妖僧伊利亚多（Iliodor），返回察里津（Tsaritzyn）。察里津乃俄国人民捐建之庙宇所在之地。此人现身俄国，其早有预言于一书；该书由世纪公司所出，书中透露，伊利亚多与拉斯普廷、沙皇、间谍之关系。伊利亚多云，其返回察里津之目的、使命，在于恢复革命之下人民之宗教。
[①] 此文原发于《华北正报》，后刊于《纽约时报》（1921年6月12日）。
[②] Y.M.C.A，全称为Young Men’s Christian Association，由佐治. 威廉1844年创建于英国伦敦。YMCA遵循“非以役人，乃役于人”的会训，目前世界上有一百三十多个国家和地区都有YMCA。在中国，著名者，有YMCA of Guangzhou，始创于1909年，乃一个国际性之非营利之志愿者社会服务团体。
[③] Mr. Lkoyd George，生辰不详，但疑是David Lloyd George之误。David Lloyd George（1863-1945），英国首相（1916-1932）乔治。
[④] 原文此处所提及之莎士比亚及维吉尔，皆借指其人或其作品。
[⑤] 北京餐厅，座落于美国密歇根州底特律市杰斐逊大街。
[⑥] 此句出自《论语.阳货第十七》之十一，全句为：“礼云礼云，玉帛云乎哉？乐云乐云，钟鼓云乎哉？”辜鸿铭引用孔子言论以证明美国乃蛮夷之国，因为文明之本，在礼乐，礼尤甚。玉帛钟鼓只能是礼乐之外在形式而非全部。此处孔子言语之英译，与辜鸿铭翻译之《论语》全然不同。可见辜鸿铭对中国经典之理解亦有发展之过程。其英文《论语》曰：“Men speak about Art! Art! Do you really think that merely means paiting and sculpture? Men speak about music! Music! Do you think that means merely bells, drums, and musical instruments?”
[⑦] 盖尔塔（Gelthar），九世纪中期丹麦海盗头目，因其残忍而名噪一时。
[⑧] 原文“Last of all then, I would like again the remind the Japanese people, who, in my opinion, are now the real Se-i Shogun or Markgraf Nation, Military Guardian of Civilization in the Far East, of the words of their great dead Shogun Tokugawa lyeyasu, who, when speaking to his grandson, was really speaking to the Japanese Nation today.”
有两处疑谬，其一“the remind”中“the”疑为赘字，其二，“Tokugawa lyeyasu”中“lyeyasu”疑为“lyeyasy”，因为此处遗言，亦即上文提及德川家康（Tokugawa lyeyasy）对德川家光（Tokugawa lyeyasu）之遗言。――译注。
[⑨] Rasputin，俄语为(распутин），意为“逸放荡”。具有超凡之催眠术；深受末代沙皇尼古拉和亚历珊黛宠信。。
[1] 原文“The great Soldier-Gentleman of Japan, Tokugawa lyeyasy, after he had, with his sharp sword, cast the “devil of cruelty” out of old feudal Japan----just in the same way as the British “Unknown Warrior,” whom they lately buried in Westminster Abbey in England, has now cast the “devil” called Furor Teutonicus out of feudal Germany----was on his death-bed, he sent for his grandson lyemistsu and said to him, “You are the man who one day will have to govern an empire. Remember, the way to govern an empire is to have a gentle and tender heart (the Latin alma as in alma mater, the extreme gentle tenderness of a mother.”
此句所在段落与下文段落在类比相同性。其中“Unkonw Warrior”乃辜鸿铭之笔误，应为“Unknown Warrior”；此句中两个“----”之间内容为插入语，此处插入语之目的，旨在引出下段内容。因此，翻译时，把此句内容移位到下一段开头，从而形成上下段落自然过渡。
[2] 原文“the Windsor “Garter Inn” and introducing him to Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Anne Page, Bardolf, Pistol, Nym”提及之地点、人物均出自莎士比亚之《温莎之风流娘们儿》。
译文摘自《春秋大义--中华文明之精神》（辜鸿铭著 颜林海译）
全部作者的其他最新日志
发表评论 评论 (10 个评论)
- 回复 helladise
- 贴一下原文。
Uncivilized United States
By Ku Hung-Ming
The following article was originally published in the North China Standard of Peking, China, and is furnished to The New York Times by the author.
An American, who was irritated because in an article I wrote lately I had said that the English were the only modern people in the world today who knew how to govern an empire, said to me, “what about us Americans?” Although the United States is called a Republic, yet do we not govern a country as big as the British Empire?” “Yes,” I said in reply, “but there is one great difference between the British people and you Americans. The British people as a nation is a nation with a civilization, whereas you Americans, living now in your plaster and concrete sky-scraping tents, are still a nomad nation without any civilization.” “oh,” said the American then to me, angrily and with a sneer, “ you say that because you have been educated in England and have never been in America!”
Indeed. I now remember how a Chinese Minister to America, the late Chang Yin-huan, who was executed during the Boxer trouble, once created great astonishment as well as amusement among the Americans in America when he told them that he found everything in America which a man wants except-religion. “what，” said an American newspaper at the time, “ we Americans have no religion---we, with a church in every street and our missionary societies! Why, we in America have so much religion that we can afford to export to China and Korea more of that article than any other country!”
Nevertheless, the Chinese Minister, I must say, was quite right in what he said. Only what he really wanted to say was not that there was no religion, but that there was no civilization in America. The real Chinese word for civilization, li-yo (literally ceremony or forms of courtesy and music), rightly translated by the early Jesuit missionaries as religion, which the Chinese Minister had in his mind, means both religion and civilization. For, not as in Europe and America today-----where religion is one thing, a something for use only on Sundays, and civilization is quite another thing, a something for use on the other six days of the week----in China, religion is civilization and civilization is religion; they both mean one and the same thing, namely, form or expression of spiritual life which is for use not only on Sundays, but on every day of a man’s life.
But before going further, let me here explain what I mean by a nation with a civilization and a nation without any civilization. Now we all say that the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans were great civilized nations. Why? Because, beside governing and fighting, besides producing material goods and making money by selling them, these ancient nations also produced spiritual things such as art and literature and, what is still more important, by their art and literature they developed high, perfect types of humanity in their great men-all which, now after they have perished and ceased to be nations, are remembered, admired and prized by men of all after generations. In short, a civilized nation is a nation which has a spiritual asset or, as Carlyle calls it. “realized ideals.”
The reason, therefore, why I have said that the British people as a nation is a nation with a civilization is because, besides shopkeeping, winning Waterloo battles and governing an Indian Empire, the British nation, like the ancient Greeks and Romans, has also produced one very great spiritual thing----with perhaps one exception, the greatest thing, in my opinion, which modern Europe has yet produced----and that is William Shakespeare. Speaking of Shakespeare. Carlyle, in his “Heroes and Hero Worship ,” rightly says, “He is the grandest thing which we British people have yet done.” If the great British Empire were destroyed tomorrow, a thousand years after this, when men read the works of Shakespeare, they would say that the British nation was a nation with a very high civilization.
Indeed, as the one Latin word “virtus”----not virtue in the English sense, but the virtue of the Japanese Samurai----is a proof to those who understand Latin that the ancient Romans were a nation with a very noble civilization----so the English word “gentleman” alone, without any Shakespeare, is enough to show that the British nation is nation with even a finer civilization than the noble civilization of the ancient Romans, because it is a civilization which, tempered with the spirit and ideal of gentleness of Christianity, has produced a type of humanity called a “gentleman.” For the chief and one aim of civilization is not to make and teach men to be strong, but to make and teach men to be gentle; in other words, to develop and produce not what Kipling calls coarse, vulgar, “flannelled fools” who can yell as the American Y. M. C. A. in China now trying to do----but to develop and produce gentlemen, who, as we Chinese say, understand li-yo, courtesy, good manners or “good form,” as the Englishman calls it, and music.
Indeed, I may say here, it is because the ideal of the British or English civilization is to make a “gentleman” that the British people are the only modern people in the world today, as I have said, who can govern an Empire. The great Soldier-Gentleman of Japan, Tokugawa lyeyasy, after he had, with his sharp sword, cast the “devil of cruelty” out of old feudal Japan----just in the same way as the British “Unknow Warrior.” Whom they lately buried in Westminster Abbey in England, has now cast the “devil” called Furor Teutonicus out of feudal Germany----was on his death-bed, he sent for his grandson lyemistsu and said to him, “You are the man who one day will have to govern an empire. Remember, the way to govern an empire is to have a gentle and tender heart (the Latin alma as in alma mater, the extreme gentle tenderness of a mother).”
Now the reason, it seems to me, why the Japanese statesmen now find it so difficult to govern Korea, is because the modern Japanese, instead of reading and teaching their students the Guai Shi, now read and teach them the pragmatic philosophy and political science of Professor Deway, and have thus forgotten the essence of political science contained in those words of their great Shogun which I have just quoted.
In the same way, the reason why the British politicians now in England find it difficult to govern Ireland and India, is because modern Englishmen today do not know that it was not British democracy, the British Constitution or Parliamentarism, but the British or English civilization with the “gentleman” and its ideal; in short, that it was not the British mob, but the British or English gentleman who built up the great British Empire of today. But that is neither here nor there.
I have said that a nation is called a civilized nation only when it has a spiritual asset or “realized ideals.” Now let me ask, what “realized ideals” or spiritual asset have the Americans today to show in order to entitle them to be called a civilized nation? In literature I know only one great name in America and that is Emerson. But then even Emerson, as Matthew Arnold says, is not quite a great name in literature. Without speaking of Homer, Virgil Dante and Shakespeare, Emerson is not a great name in literature even as Plato, Cicero Bacon and Voltaire are great names in literature.
Of poetry again, which, like music, is the highest expression of spiritual life in a nation, I also know only one poem written by an American poet which can be truly called a real poem. By a real poem I mean a poem which is all poetry and nothing but poetry; a poem which becomes the spiritual asset of a nation and forms an important part of its civilization, such as Gray’s “Elegy in a Country Churchyard” and Robert Burns’s “Auld Lang Syne.” Poems like the poems of the English Lord Macaulay are, although in meter and rhyme, not poetry at all, but only rhetoric. Now, the poems of even famous American poets like Longfellow and John Greenleaf Whittier are for the most part also rhetoric, with some poetry in them: they are not all poetry, not real poems, which like Robert Burns’s “Auld Lang Syne,” can become the spiritual as set of a nation. Indeed, as I have said, the only poem I know written by an American poet which can truly be called a real poem and can therefore become the spiritual asset of a nation, is Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee.”
Now many people might think that I was only joking when in one of my articles lately I said that reading the English nursery rhyme about Taffy the Welshman could help to educate the soul of a man. But in all seriousness I meant what I said. For poems like the English nursery rhymes are real poems, but of course, real poems for children: and real poems have a magic in them which, as Matthew Arnold says of Homer’s poetry, can transmute and transform man. If you don’t believe this, you just ask a Japanese geisha to repeat the famous Chinese poem in Japanese, “Tsuki ochi karasu naite shimo ten ni mitsu,” and you will see that, with her eyes suddenly becoming illumined and all her features suffused with ecstasy, she becomes, for the moment, quite an other woman, more beautiful and charming than she really is.
In other words, things like the English nursery rhymes are really the expression, in a small way, of a nation’s spiritual life and form a part of its civilization. Now, the fact that the Americans as a nation have no nursery rhymes is to me a proof positive that the Americans as a nation have no spiritual life; that they are still a nation, as I have said, without any spiritual asset of civilization.
Finally, then, if the United States were destroyed tomorrow, I want to ask what great spiritual thing have the Americans as a nation done which they can leave behind them to show to men of after generations that they were once a nation with a civilization. In my opinion, the only spiritual asset of the American Nation, the only really spiritual things which the Americans as a nation have done that, if they, as a nation were destroyed tomorrow, will be remembered by men of after generations----are the work of Poe’s “Annabel Lee” and the music of the plantation songs of the negroes in America.
Perhaps some people will say to me, “What about the President Wilson’s ‘Fourteen Points,’ which, like the Ten Commandments of Moses, will found a new religion to make the world safe for democracy, and thus bring in the millennium?” In reply to this I say that these Fourteen Commandments of President Wilson were made only two years ago, and now even Mr. Lkoyd George has completely forgotten them!
Last of all, speaking of President Wilson reminds me that I have not asked what really great men have the Americans as a nation produced? Everybody will, of course, answer, George Washington; but even at the risk of mortally offending all my American friends, I must say that to me George Washington, although an admirable man in many ways, had yet, unfortunately, like the American Pilgrim Fathers, a little too much of the “moral prig” in him to be really a great man----a really great character like the French Bayard or the English Sir Walter Raleigh and Philip Sydney. Indeed, as Matthew Arnold, speaking of the American Pilgrim Fathers, says, “Notwithstanding the mighty results of the Pilgrim Fathers’ voyage, they and their standard of perfection are rightly judged when we figure to ourselves Shakespeare and Virgil accompanying them on their voyage and think what intolerable company Shakespeare and Virgil would have found them”----so I , for my part, if I had to take a trip to Merry England in Shakespeare’s time or in modern times to Japan, a man like George Washington would be the last man I would take with me as a companion, for one could not think of taking such a man to the Windsor “Garter Inn” and introducing him to Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Anne Page, Bardolf, Pistol, Nym and others of that merry company, nor to a Geisha house in Japan!
A Scotchman I met at the Pekin Pavilion the other night, who had lately returned from Scotland, when I asked him whether he thought there was any likelihood of Scotland becoming dry, like America, answered: “No, certainly not.” I asked him why. “Because,” he said proudly, “Scotland is a country with a Robbie Burns. America can become dry because America is country which has never had a Robbie Burns.” In the same way, to foreigners who, when I tell them that a big country like China cannot be a republic, say to me that America, also a big country, is a republic, I answer, “America can be a Republic because the Americans, unlike us Chinese, are a nation without any civilization, just as my Scotch friend says, America can become dry because she is a country without a Robert Burns.” In fact, China, I may say here, has become a republic now because the poor demented imbecile Republican Chinaman today has lost his civilization as he has lost his queue. The reason again why the republic in China cannot work now, is because not all Chinese have lost their civilization.
Now before I conclude, I want to say that my object in writing this article is not to abuse the American people. The American people, I have tried to show, are still a nation without any civilization and that is because they are still a young nation. To be young, as William Pitt in his famous speech in the British Parliament once said, is not an “atrocious crime.” Indeed because the Americans are a young nation living in a big country like America, they have such great potentialities that I am inclined to think that, if civilization can be saved after this great world upheaval, the three great future empires of the world will be American, Russia and China.
My object in writing this article, I say again, is not to abuse the American people. My object is to tell people that the only way to save civilization----the first thing you must do if you want to save civilization----is to know what civilization is.
Indeed what made me write this article is because I read lately an essay written by the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Hara, in which he said that he wanted to amalgamate the civilization of the East and West. It seems to me, when he said that, the Prime Minister of Japan, if I may be permitted to say so, does not know what is civilization. For a civilization is either a true civilization or a false or, as the Japanese say, a magai make-believe civilization: there is no East or West.
Confucius in his time was so sick of hearing people talk of civilization that he once said, “Civilization, Civilization, is the cry now: but are carrying fine jades and wearing silk dresses the whole of civilization?” In the same way I take the liberty here of asking men like the Japanese Prime Minister who talk of amalgamating civilizations: are wearing high collars, cutting off queues, building European houses, riding in motor cars and erecting statues such as one sees in the streets of Tokio----the whole of civilization, or even civilization at all? Indeed, Matthew Arnold, speaking of Christianity----curiously using the very same words which the Chinese poet Su Tung-Po of the Sung dynasty used when speaking of Confucianism—says, “Christianity is, first and above all, a temper, a disposition---so I want to point out here that civilization also is first and above all, a state of the mind and heart: a spiritual life. In the true sense of civilization, an ordinary Japanese Gelthar is more civilized than most American professors with all their pragmatic philosophy and political science. In fact, civilization in its essence, is not dress, house, furniture, machine, ship or gun, but----gentleness of mind and heart or, in the words of the great Japanese Shogun which I have already quoted----a gentle and tender heart. Last of all then, I would like again the remind the Japanese people, who, in my opinion, are now the real Se-i Shogun or Markgraf Nation, Military Guardian of Civilization in the Far East, of the words of their great dead Shogun Tokugawa lyeyasu, who, when speaking to his grandson, was really speaking to the Japanese Nation today.
Mad Monk of Russia
Recent news dispatches from Riga, Latvia, state that Iliodor, the “Mad Monk of Russia,” Rasputin’s former friend, is back in Tsaritzyn, where the monastery built from the offerings of the people to him is located. His presence in Russia was predicted by himself in a book published here by the Century Company in which he revealed the story of his relations with Rasputin, with the Czar and with the spies. He stated his intention of going back, believing his mission was to restore religion of the people under the revolution.
- 回复 Danielzeng
- 为什么会喜欢这个?
好长的文章，看的眼晕~~~~~~
- 回复 helladise
- Danielzeng: 为什么会喜欢这个?谈不上喜欢。最近在看聊斋，对古文的东西比较感兴趣。况且这篇是译文，甚为精妙，故贴之，众人共享。
PS：最初看到题目时，以为是BEAUTY的那个“美人”-_-!
