美国学生历史 第34期:不列颠的殖民地制度

 　　CHAPTER 11 第11章

　　BRITAIN'S COLONIAL SYSTEM 不列颠的殖民地制度
　　103. Early Colonial Policy. 103．早期殖民政策
　　At the outset, England's rulers  had been very kind to Englishmen who founded colonies. 一开始，英格兰统治者一直对创建殖民地的英国人非常仁慈，
　　They gave them great grants of land. 给他们大片的土地，
　　They gave them rights of  self-government greater than any Englishmen living in England enjoyed. 给予他们自治权 ,这种自治权比之给予生活在英格兰本土的人还要多。
　　They allowed them to manage their own trade and industries as they saw fit. 并且允许他们以自己的意愿管理商贸活动与工业，
　　They even permitted them to worship God as their consciences told them to worship him. 甚至允许他们按照各自良心的导引去崇拜上帝。
　　But, as the colonists 1 grew in strength and in riches, Britain's rulers tried to make their trade profitable to British merchants and interfered 2 in their government. 但是，当殖民地居民变得富强起来时，不列颠的统治者试图让这些人的商贸活动对不列颠商人有利，并干涉这些人的政府。
　　On their part the colonists disobeyed the navigation laws and disputed with the royal officials. 考虑到自身利益，殖民者不服从航海法规并与王室官员发生纠纷
　　For years Britain's rulers allowed this to go on. 不列颠对此容忍数年，
　　But, at length, near the close of the last French war Mr. Pitt ordered  the laws to be enforced. 但是，最终，在最后一场与法国的战争快结束的时候，皮特先生颁布了必须强制执行的法律。
　　104. Writs 3 of Assistance, 1761. 104．"给予援助令状"（1761年）
　　It was a good deal easier to order the laws to be carried out than it was to carry them out. 制定法律比起执行法律要容易得多，
　　It was almost impossible for the customs officers to prevent goods being landed contrary to law. 海关官员几乎不可能阻止非法贩运的货物到港，
　　When the goods were once on shore, it was difficult to seize them. 一旦货物上岸，就难以缴获这些货物。
　　So the officers asked the judges to give them writs of assistance. 因此，海关官员要求法官给他们"给予援助令状"。
　　Among the leading lawyers of Boston was James Otis. 詹姆斯o奥蒂斯是波士顿的大法官之一，
　　He was the king's law officer in the province. 他是王室在这个地区的法官，
　　But he resigned his office and opposed the granting of the writs. 但是，詹姆斯o奥蒂斯辞去公职并反对授予海关命令状，
　　He objected to the use of writs of assistance because they enabled a customs officer to become a tyrant 4. 他反对使用"给予援助令状"的理由是，这样会把海关官员变成"暴君"：
　　Armed with one of them he could go to the house of a man he did not like and search it from attic 5 to cellar, turn everything upside down and break open doors and trunks. 海关官员可以根据某条命令状去他不喜欢的人家里四处搜查，他们可以把房子翻个底朝天，可以弄坏他人的大门，可以扯破他人的游泳裤。
　　It made no difference, said Otis, whether Parliament had said that the writs were legal. 奥蒂斯说，议会是否说过这些"给予援助令状"为合法无济于事，
　　For Parliament could not make an act of tyranny legal. 因为不可能促使一项暴政合法，
　　To do that was beyond the power even of Parliament. 这件事远非议会所能掌控。
　　105. The Parson's Cause, 1763. 105．牧师案件（1763年）
　　The next important case  arose in Virginia and came about in this way. 弗吉尼亚发生了第二个同样重要的案例，与"给予援助令状"案如出一辙。
　　The Virginians made a law regulating the salaries of clergymen in the colony. 弗吉尼亚制定一个规范殖民地神职人员薪水的法律，
　　The king vetoed the law. 国王否决了这个法律，
　　The Virginians paid no heed 7 to the veto. 弗吉尼亚人不理会国王的否决，
　　The clergy 6 men appealed to the courts and the case of one of them was selected for trial. 神职人员们纷纷诉诸法院，法院选择其中一个案例来审理。
　　Patrick Henry, a prosperous young lawyer, stated the opinions of the Virginians in a speech which made his reputation. 帕特里克o亨利是一位非常成功的年轻律师，他因陈述弗吉尼亚人的观点而出名。
　　The king, he said, had no right to veto a Virginia law that was for the good of the people. 他说，国王没有权力否决一项为了弗吉尼亚人民利益的法律，
　　To do so was an act of tyranny, and the people owed no obedience 8 to a tyrant. 国王这么做就是一个暴政行为，人民不会服从暴政。
　　The case was decided 9 for the clergyman. 案件判决那个神职人员胜诉，
　　For the law was clearly on his side. But the jurymen agreed with Henry. 因为法律显然支持他。但是，陪审团赞同亨利。
　　They gave the clergyman only one farthing damages, and no more clergymen brought cases into the court. 他们仅仅给予这个神职人员一法新硬币的赔偿，因此，再也没有神职人员向法院提起诉讼，
　　The  king's veto was openly disobeyed. 人们公然不服从国王的否决。
　　106. The King's Proclamation of 1763. 106．国王1763年的宣言
　　In the same year that the Parson's Cause was decided the king issued a proclamation which greatly lessened 10 the rights of Virginia and several other colonies to western lands. 在裁定牧师案同一年，国王发布一个文告，这个文告大大减少了弗吉尼亚和其他殖民地在西部的权力，
　　Some of the old charter lines, as those of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, and the Carolinas had extended to the Pacific Ocean. 马萨诸塞、康涅狄格、弗吉尼亚和卡罗莱纳等殖民地原来勘定的边界线被延伸到太平洋。
　　By the treaty of 1763 the king, for himself and his subjects, abandoned all claim to lands west of Mississippi River. 在1763年条约中，国王和他的人放弃了密西西比河以西的所有土地的所有权。
　　Now in the Proclamation of 1763 he forbade the colonial governors to grant any lands west of the Alleghany Mountains. 而在1763年文告中，他禁止殖民地的总督接受奥利哈尼山脉以西的任何土地。
　　The western limit of Virginia and the Carolinas was fixed 11. 弗吉尼亚和卡罗莱纳的西部边界被固定下来，
　　Their pioneers could not pass the mountains and settle in the fertile valleys of the Ohio and its branches. 他们的拓荒者不得越过这些山到肥沃的俄亥俄河及其支流流过的地方定居。