道格拉斯「七月四日对奴隶意味着什么？」 What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? — Frederick Douglass · 弗雷德里克·道格拉斯

Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens:

He who could address this audience without a quailingadj. /ˈkweɪlɪŋ/ 畏缩的，胆怯的 sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkinglyadv. /ˈʃrɪŋkɪŋli/ 畏缩地，退缩地, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresentv. /ˌmɪsˌreprɪˈzent/ 错误地表现，给人以错误印象 me. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country school houses, availsv. /əˈveɪlz/ 有用，有助于 me nothing on the present occasion.

The papers and placardsn. /ˈplækɑːrdz/ 标语牌，招贴 say, that I am to deliver a 4th July oration. This certainly, sounds large, and out of the common way, for it is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in this beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their presence. But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gagen. /ɡeɪdʒ/ 尺度，估量（同 gauge） I think I have of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassmentn. /ɪmˈbærəsmənt/ 窘迫，局促不安.

The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable—and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say, I evincev. /ɪˈvɪns/ 表明，显出 no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordiumn. /eɡˈzɔːrdiəm/ 开场白，绪论. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and trusting to your patient and generous indulgencen. /ɪnˈdʌldʒəns/ 宽容，包涵, I will proceed to lay them before you.

This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you, is what the Passovern. /ˈpæsoʊvər/ 逾越节 was to the emancipated people of God. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverancen. /dɪˈlɪvərəns/ 解救，拯救; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act, and that day. This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. Three score years and ten is the allottedadj. /əˈlɑːtɪd/ 分定的，规定的 time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. I repeat, I am glad this is so. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portendingv. /pɔːrˈtendɪŋ/ 预示，预兆 disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressibleadj. /ɪmˈpresəbl/ 易受影响的，可塑的 stage of her existence. May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were the nation older, the patriot's heart might be sadder, and the reformer's brow heavier. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. There is consolation in the thought that America is young.—Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundatev. /ˈɪnʌndeɪt/ 淹没，泛滥 the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenelyadv. /səˈriːnli/ 平静地，安详地 as ever. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. As with rivers so with nations.

Fellow-citizens, I shall not presumev. /prɪˈzuːm/ 冒昧，胆敢 to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. The simple story of it is that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. The style and title of your "sovereign people" (in which you now glory) was not then born. You were under the British Crown. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. This home government, you know, although a considerable distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its parental prerogativesn. /prɪˈrɑːɡətɪvz/ 特权，君权, impose upon its colonial children, such restraintsn. /rɪˈstreɪnts/ 约束，限制, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgement, it deemed wise, right and proper.

But, your fathers, who had not adopted the fashionable idea of this day, of the infallibilityn. /ɪnˌfæləˈbɪləti/ 绝无谬误，永不犯错 of government, and the absolute character of its acts, presumed to differ from the home government in respect to the wisdom and the justice of some of those burdens and restraints. They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is exceedingly easy. Everybody can say it; the dastardn. /ˈdæstərd/ 懦夫，卑怯之人, not less than the noble brave, can flippantlyadv. /ˈflɪpəntli/ 轻率地，油滑地 discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. It is fashionable to do so; but there was a time when to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried men's souls. They who did so were accounted in their day, plotters of mischief, agitatorsn. /ˈædʒɪteɪtərz/ 鼓动者，煽动者 and rebels, dangerous men. To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! here lies the merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our day. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. But, to proceed.

Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redressn. /rɪˈdres/ 救济，补偿. They petitioned and remonstratedv. /rɪˈmɑːnstreɪtɪd/ 抗议，谏诤; they did so in a decorousadj. /ˈdekərəs/ 得体的，合乎礼数的, respectful, and loyal manner. Their conduct was wholly unexceptionableadj. /ˌʌnɪkˈsepʃənəbl/ 无可指摘的. This, however, did not answer the purpose. They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. Yet they persevered. They were not the men to look back.

As the sheet anchorphr. /ˈʃiːt ˌæŋkər/ 船首大锚，最后的依靠 takes a firmer hold, when the ship is tossed by the storm, so did the cause of your fathers grow stronger, as it breastedv. /ˈbrestɪd/ 迎击，顶住（breast 的过去式） the chilling blasts of kingly displeasure. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. But, with that blindness which seems to be the unvarying characteristic of tyrants, since Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea, the British Government persisted in the exactionsn. /ɪɡˈzækʃnz/ 强索，勒索 complained of.

The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now, even by England; but we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present rulers.

Oppression makes a wise man mad. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restiveadj. /ˈrestɪv/ 焦躁不安的，难以驾驭的 under this treatment. They felt themselves the victims of grievousadj. /ˈɡriːvəs/ 深重的，令人痛苦的 wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. Just here, the idea of a total separation of the colonies from the crown was born! It was a startling idea, much more so, than we, at this distance of time, regard it. The timid and the prudent (as has been intimatedv. /ˈɪntɪmeɪtɪd/ 暗示，示意) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it.

Such people lived then, had lived before, and will, probably, ever have a place on this planet; and their course, in respect to any great change, (no matter how great the good to be attained, or the wrong to be redressed by it,) may be calculated with as much precisionn. /prɪˈsɪʒn/ 精确，准确 as can be the course of the stars. They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor.

These people were called toriesn. /ˈtɔːriz/ 托利党人，亲英派 in the days of your fathers; and the appellationn. /ˌæpəˈleɪʃn/ 称呼，名号, probably, conveyed the same idea that is meant by a more modern, though a somewhat less euphoniousadj. /juːˈfoʊniəs/ 悦耳的，好听的 term, which we often find in our papers, applied to some of our old politicians.

Their opposition to the then dangerous thought was earnest and powerful; but, amid all their terror and affrighted vociferationsn. /voʊˌsɪfəˈreɪʃnz/ 大声叫嚷，喧嚷 against it, the alarming and revolutionary idea moved on, and the country with it.

On the 2d of July, 1776, the old Continental Congressn. /ˌkɑːntɪˈnentl ˈkɑːŋɡrəs/ 大陆会议, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshipers of property, clothed that dreadful idea with all the authority of national sanctionn. /ˈsæŋkʃn/ 认可，批准. They did so in the form of a resolution; and as we seldom hit upon resolutions, drawn up in our day, whose transparencyn. /trænsˈpærənsi/ 明白透彻，一目了然 is at all equal to this, it may refresh your minds and help my story if I read it.

Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nation's history—the very ring-boltn. /ˈrɪŋ boʊlt/ 环栓，关键扣件 in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny.

Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetualadj. /pərˈpetʃuəl/ 永久的，长存的 remembrance. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ringbolt to the chain of your nation's destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrumentn. /ˈɪnstrəmənt/ 文书，文献 are savingadj. /ˈseɪvɪŋ/ 能救人的，有救赎之功的 principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.

From the round topn. /ˈraʊnd tɑːp/ 桅顶平台，桅盘 of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. Heavy billowsn. /ˈbɪloʊz/ 巨浪，波涛, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leewardadv. /ˈliːwərd/ 在下风方向 huge forms of flintyadj. /ˈflɪnti/ 坚硬的，燧石般的 rocks! That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. Cling to this day—cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed marinern. /ˈmærɪnər/ 水手，航海者 to a sparn. /spɑːr/ 桅杆，圆材 at midnight.

The coming into being of a nation, in any circumstances, is an interesting event. But, besides general considerations, there were peculiar circumstances which make the adventn. /ˈædvent/ 到来，问世 of this republic an event of special attractiveness.

The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublimeadj. /səˈblaɪm/ 崇高的，庄严伟大的.

The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. The country was poor in the munitionsn. /mjuˈnɪʃnz/ 军火，军需品 of war. The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubduedadj. /ˌʌnsəbˈduːd/ 未被征服的，未被驯服的. There were then no means of concertn. /kənˈsɜːrt/ 协同，一致行动 and combination, such as exist now. Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed.

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too—great enough to give fame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplatev. /ˈkɑːntəmpleɪt/ 凝望，沉思 their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contendedv. /kənˈtendɪd/ 力争，抗争 for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.

They loved their country better than their own private interests; and, though this is not the highest form of human excellence, all will concedev. /kənˈsiːd/ 承认，让步 that it is a rare virtue, and that when it is exhibited, it ought to command respect. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. Your fathers stakedv. /steɪkt/ 押上，以……为赌注 their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests.

They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondagen. /ˈbɑːndɪdʒ/ 奴役，束缚. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. They showed forbearancen. /fɔːrˈberəns/ 克制，忍耐; but that they knew its limits. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyrannyn. /ˈtɪrəni/ 暴政，专制. With them, nothing was "settled" that was not right. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were "final;" not slavery and oppression. You may well cherish the memory of such men. They were great in their day and generation. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerateadj. /dɪˈdʒenərət/ 衰败的，堕落的 times.

How circumspectadj. /ˈsɜːrkəmspekt/ 审慎的，周密的, exact and proportionateadj. /prəˈpɔːrʃənət/ 合乎分寸的，相称的 were all their movements! How unlike the politicians of an hour! Their statesmanshipn. /ˈsteɪtsmənʃɪp/ 政治家的才干与风范 looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defence. Mark them!

Fully appreciating the hardship to be encountered, firmly believing in the right of their cause, honorably inviting the scrutinyn. /ˈskruːtəni/ 审视，细察 of an on-looking world, reverently appealing to heaven to attestv. /əˈtest/ 见证，证明 their sincerity, soundly comprehending the solemn responsibility they were about to assume, wisely measuring the terrible oddsn. /ɑːdz/ 胜算，不利形势 against them, your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberately, under the inspiration of a glorious patriotism, and with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep the corner-stone of the national superstructuren. /ˈsuːpərstrʌktʃər/ 上层建筑，上部结构, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you.

Of this fundamental work, this day is the anniversary. Our eyes are met with demonstrations of joyous enthusiasm. Banners and pennants wave exultinglyadv. /ɪɡˈzʌltɪŋli/ 得意扬扬地，欢欣地 on the breeze. The din of business, too, is hushed. Even mammonn. /ˈmæmən/ 财神，财利 seems to have quitted his grasp on this day. The ear-piercing fifen. /faɪf/ 横笛，军笛 and the stirring drum unite their accents with the ascending peal of a thousand church bells. Prayers are made, hymns are sung, and sermons are preached in honor of this day; while the quick martial tramp of a great and multitudinous nation, echoed back by all the hills, valleys and mountains of a vast continent, bespeak the occasion one of thrilling and universal interests—a nation's jubileen. /ˈdʒuːbɪliː/ 禧年，大赦欢庆之年.

Friends and citizens, I need not enter further into the causes which led to this anniversary. Many of you understand them better than I do. You could instruct me in regard to them. That is a branch of knowledge in which you feel, perhaps, a much deeper interest than your speaker. The causes which led to the separation of the colonies from the British crown have never lacked for a tongue. They have all been taught in your common schools, narrated at your firesidesn. /ˈfaɪərsaɪdz/ 炉边，家内, unfolded from your pulpitsn. /ˈpʊlpɪts/ 讲道坛，布道台, and thundered from your legislative halls, and are as familiar to you as household words. They form the staplen. /ˈsteɪpl/ 主要成分，主要内容 of your national poetry and eloquence.

I remember, also, that, as a people, Americans are remarkably familiar with all facts which make in their own favor. This is esteemedv. /ɪˈstiːmd/ 被视为，被认为 by some as a national trait—perhaps a national weakness. It is a fact, that whatever makes for the wealth or for the reputation of Americans, and can be had cheap! will be found by Americans. I shall not be charged with slanderingv. /ˈslændərɪŋ/ 诽谤，诋毁 Americans, if I say I think the American side of any question may be safely left in American hands.

I leave, therefore, the great deeds of your fathers to other gentlemen whose claim to have been regularly descendedadj. /dɪˈsendɪd/ 出身（某世系）的，嫡传的 will be less likely to be disputed than mine!

My business, if I have any here to-day, is with the present. The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now.

We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future. To all inspiring motives, to noble deeds which can be gained from the past, we are welcome. But now is the time, the important time. Your fathers have lived, died, and have done their work, and have done much of it well. You live and must die, and you must do your work. You have no right to enjoy a child's share in the labor of your fathers, unless your children are to be blest by your labors. You have no right to wear out and waste the hard-earned fame of your fathers to cover your indolencen. /ˈɪndələns/ 懒惰，怠惰. Sydney Smith tells us that men seldom eulogizev. /ˈjuːlədʒaɪz/ 颂扬，称颂 the wisdom and virtues of their fathers, but to excuse some follyn. /ˈfɑːli/ 愚行，蠢事 or wickedness of their own. This truth is not a doubtful one. There are illustrations of it near and remote, ancient and modern. It was fashionable, hundreds of years ago, for the children of Jacob to boast, we have "Abraham to our father," when they had long lost Abraham's faith and spirit. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abraham's great name, while they repudiatedv. /rɪˈpjuːdieɪtɪd/ 否弃，拒不承认 the deeds which made his name great. Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? Need I tell you that the Jews are not the only people who built the tombs of the prophets, and garnished the sepulchresn. /ˈseplkərz/ 坟墓，墓室 of the righteous? Washington could not die till he had broken the chains of his slaves. Yet his monument is built up by the price of human blood, and the traders in the bodies and souls of men, shout—"We have Washington to our father."—Alas! that it should be so; yet so it is.

Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altarn. /ˈɔːltər/ 祭坛, and to confess the benefits and express devoutadj. /dɪˈvaʊt/ 虔诚的，诚挚的 gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurateadj. /ˈɑːbdərət/ 顽固不化的，铁石心肠的 and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolidadj. /ˈstɑːlɪd/ 麻木的，无动于衷的 and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahsn. /ˌhæləˈluːjəz/ 哈利路亚，赞美上帝的欢呼 of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."

But, such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparityn. /dɪˈspærəti/ 悬殊，不相称 between us. I am not included within the palen. /peɪl/ 界内，范围 of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.—The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathedv. /bɪˈkwiːðd/ 遗赠，传下 by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripesn. /straɪps/ 鞭痕，抽打的伤痕 and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegiousadj. /ˌsækrəˈlɪdʒəs/ 亵渎神明的 irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintiveadj. /ˈpleɪntɪv/ 哀怨的，悲诉的 lament of a peeled and woe-smittenadj. /ˈwoʊ ˌsmɪtn/ 被灾祸击打的 people!

Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuousadj. /tuːˈmʌltʃuəs/ 喧腾的，骚动的 joy, I hear the mournful wailn. /weɪl/ 哀号，恸哭 of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerableadj. /ɪnˈtɑːlərəbl/ 难以忍受的 by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is American Slavery. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slave's point of view. Standing, there, identified with the American bondmann. /ˈbɑːndmən/ 奴隶，被奴役者, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideousadj. /ˈhɪdiəs/ 可憎的，骇人的 and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuatev. /pərˈpetʃueɪt/ 使永存，使延续 slavery—the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocatev. /ɪˈkwɪvəkeɪt/ 含糊其辞，模棱两可; I will not excuse;" I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgement is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just.

But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionistsn. /ˌæbəˈlɪʃənɪsts/ 废奴主义者 fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebukev. /rɪˈbjuːk/ 斥责，责难 less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creedn. /kriːd/ 信条，教义 would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactmentn. /ɪˈnæktmənt/ 制定，颁行 of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man, (no matter how ignorant he be,) subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment.—What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being. The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute booksn. /ˈstætʃuːt bʊks/ 法令汇编，成文法典 are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write.—When you can point to any such laws, in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a bruten. /bruːt/ 畜生，野兽, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!

For the present, it is enough to affirmv. /əˈfɜːrm/ 断言，确认 the equal manhood of the negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and cypheringv. /ˈsaɪfərɪŋ/ 计算，算术, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortalityn. /ˌɪmɔːrˈtæləti/ 不朽，永生 beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!

Would you have me argue that man is entitledadj. /ɪnˈtaɪtld/ 有权的，有资格的 to liberty? that he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for Republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentationn. /ˌɑːrɡjumənˈteɪʃn/ 论证，论辩, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? How should I look to-day, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding.—There is not a man beneath the canopyn. /ˈkænəpi/ 华盖，穹苍 of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flayv. /fleɪ/ 剥（皮），抽打得皮开肉绽 their flesh with the lashn. /læʃ/ 鞭子, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auctionn. /ˈɔːkʃn/ 拍卖, to sunderv. /ˈsʌndər/ 拆散，使分离 their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength, than such arguments would imply.

What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divineadj. /dɪˈvaɪn/ 神授的，神圣的; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemyn. /ˈblæsfəmi/ 亵渎神明 in the thought. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Who can reason on such a propositionn. /ˌprɑːpəˈzɪʃn/ 命题，主张? They that can, may; I cannot. The time for such argument is past.

At a time like this, scorchingadj. /ˈskɔːrtʃɪŋ/ 灼人的，辛辣的 ironyn. /ˈaɪrəni/ 讽刺，反讽, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would, to day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, witheringadj. /ˈwɪðərɪŋ/ 令人枯萎的，摧折人的 sarcasmn. /ˈsɑːrkæzəm/ 讥讽，挖苦, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisyn. /hɪˈpɑːkrəsi/ 伪善，虚伪 of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a shamn. /ʃæm/ 骗局，假象; your boasted liberty, an unholy licensen. /ˈlaɪsns/ 放纵，无法无天; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombastn. /ˈbɑːmbæst/ 浮夸之辞，大话, fraud, deception, impietyn. /ɪmˈpaɪəti/ 不敬神，亵慢, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savagesn. /ˈsævɪdʒɪz/ 野蛮人，未开化者. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchiesn. /ˈmɑːnərkiz/ 君主国 and despotismsn. /ˈdespətɪzəmz/ 专制国，暴政 of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the every day practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revoltingadj. /rɪˈvoʊltɪŋ/ 令人作呕的，令人反感的 barbarityn. /bɑːrˈbærəti/ 野蛮，残暴 and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

Take the American slave-trade, which, we are told by the papers, is especially prosperous just now. Ex-Senator Benton tells us that the price of men was never higher than now. He mentions the fact to show that slavery is in no danger. This trade is one of the peculiarities of American institutions. It is carried on in all the large towns and cities in one half of this confederacy; and millions are pocketedv. /ˈpɑːkɪtɪd/ 装入私囊，中饱 every year, by dealers in this horrid trafficn. /ˈtræfɪk/ 买卖，交易（常指不正当的）. In several states, this trade is a chief source of wealth. It is called (in contradistinctionn. /ˌkɑːntrədɪˈstɪŋkʃn/ 对照之别，相对而言 to the foreign slave-trade) "the internal slave trade." It is, probably, called so, too, in order to divert from it the horror with which the foreign slave-trade is contemplated. That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracyn. /ˈpaɪrəsi/ 海盗行为. It has been denounced with burning words, from the high places of the nation, as an execrableadj. /ˈeksɪkrəbl/ 可憎的，该受诅咒的 traffic. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. Everywhere, in this country, it is safe to speak of this foreign slave-trade, as a most inhuman traffic, opposed alike to the laws of God and of man. The duty to extirpatev. /ˈekstərpeɪt/ 根除，铲除 and destroy it, is admitted even by our Doctors of Divinity. In order to put an end to it, some of these last have consented that their colored brethren (nominally free) should leave this country, and establish themselves on the western coast of Africa! It is, however, a notable fact that, while so much execrationn. /ˌeksɪˈkreɪʃn/ 诅咒，憎恶 is poured out by Americans upon those engaged in the foreign slave-trade, the men engaged in the slave-trade between the states pass without condemnation, and their business is deemed honorable.

Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and American religion. Here you will see men and women rearedv. /rɪrd/ 饲养，养育 like swine for the market. You know what a swine-drover? I will show you a man-drover. They inhabit all our Southern States. They perambulatev. /pəˈræmbjuleɪt/ 巡行，走遍 the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with drovesn. /droʊvz/ 畜群，成群的人 of human stock. You will see one of these human flesh-jobbers, armed with pistol, whip and bowie-knife, driving a company of a hundred men, women, and children, from the Potomac to the slave market at New Orleans. These wretched people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. Hear his savage yells and his blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives! There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. Cast one glance, if you please, upon that young mother, whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her brinyadj. /ˈbraɪni/ 咸的，含盐的 tears falling on the brow of the babe in her arms. See, too, that girl of thirteen, weeping, yes! weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she has been torn! The drove moves tardilyadv. /ˈtɑːrdɪli/ 迟缓地，缓慢地. Heat and sorrow have nearly consumed their strength; suddenly you hear a quick snap, like the discharge of a rifle; the fettersn. /ˈfetərz/ 脚镣，镣铐 clank, and the chain rattles simultaneously; your ears are saluted with a scream, that seems to have torn its way to the centre of your soul! The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! that gashn. /ɡæʃ/ 深长的伤口，砍痕 on her shoulder tells her to move on. Follow this drove to New Orleans. Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. See this drove sold and separated forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that scattered multitude. Tell me citizens, where, under the sun, you can witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. Yet this is but a glance at the American slave-trade, as it exists, at this moment, in the ruling part of the United States.

I was born amid such sights and scenes. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. When a child, my soul was often pierced with a sense of its horrors. I lived on Philpot Street, Fell's Point, Baltimore, and have watched from the wharvesn. /wɔːrvz/ 码头, the slave ships in the Basin, anchored from the shore, with their cargoes of human flesh, waiting for favorable winds to waftv. /wɑːft/ 吹送，飘送 them down the Chesapeake. There was, at that time, a grand slave martn. /mɑːrt/ 市场，交易场 kept at the head of Pratt Street, by Austin Woldfolk. His agents were sent into every town and county in Maryland, announcing their arrival, through the papers, and on flaming "hand-bills," headed cash for negroes. These men were generally well dressed men, and very captivatingadj. /ˈkæptɪveɪtɪŋ/ 迷人的，有魅力的 in their manners. Ever ready to drink, to treat, and to gamble. The fate of many a slave has depended upon the turn of a single card; and many a child has been snatched from the arms of its mother by bargains arranged in a state of brutal drunkenness.

The flesh-mongersn. /ˈfleʃ ˌmʌŋɡərz/ 人肉贩子，肉体买卖者 gather up their victims by dozens, and drive them, chained, to the general depotn. /ˈdiːpoʊ/ 集中地，集散站 at Baltimore. When a sufficient number have been collected here, a ship is charteredv. /ˈtʃɑːrtərd/ 包租，租赁, for the purpose of conveying the forlornadj. /fərˈlɔːrn/ 孤苦无告的，绝望的 crew to Mobile, or to New Orleans. From the slave prison to the ship, they are usually driven in the darkness of night; for since the antislavery agitation, a certain caution is observed.

In the deep still darkness of midnight, I have been often aroused by the dead heavy footsteps, and the piteousadj. /ˈpɪtiəs/ 凄厉的，令人怜悯的 cries of the chained gangs that passed our door. The anguishn. /ˈæŋɡwɪʃ/ 痛苦，苦闷 of my boyish heart was intense; and I was often consoledv. /kənˈsoʊld/ 安慰，宽慰, when speaking to my mistress in the morning, to hear her say that the custom was very wicked; that she hated to hear the rattle of the chains, and the heart-rending cries. I was glad to find one who sympathisedv. /ˈsɪmpəθaɪzd/ 同情，同感 with me in my horror.

Fellow-citizens, this murderous traffic is, to-day, in active operation in this boasted republic. In the solitude of my spirit, I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the South; I see the bleeding footsteps; I hear the dolefuladj. /ˈdoʊlfl/ 悲恸的，哀伤的 wail of fetteredadj. /ˈfetərd/ 被镣铐锁住的，受束缚的 humanity, on the way to the slave-markets, where the victims are to be sold like horses, sheep, and swine, knocked off to the highest biddern. /ˈbɪdər/ 出价人，竞买者. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly broken, to gratify the lust, capricen. /kəˈpriːs/ 任性，反复无常 and rapacityn. /rəˈpæsəti/ 贪婪，攫取 of the buyers and sellers of men. My soul sickens at the sight.

But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of things remains to be presented.

By an act of the American Congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in its most horrible and revolting form. By that act, Mason & Dixon's line has been obliteratedv. /əˈblɪtəreɪtɪd/ 抹去，消除; New York has become as Virginia; and the power to hold, hunt, and sell men, women, and children as slaves remains no longer a mere state institution, but is now an institution of the whole United States. The power is co-extensiveadj. /ˌkoʊ ɪkˈstensɪv/ 同其广袤的，范围相同 with the star-spangled banner and American Christianity. Where these go, may also go the merciless slave-hunter. Where these are, man is not sacred. He is a bird for the sportsman's gun. By that most foul and fiendish of all human decrees, the liberty and person of every man are put in peril. Your broad republican domain is hunting ground for men. Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, but for men guilty of no crime. Your law-makers have commanded all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. Your President, your Secretary of State, your lords, nobles, and ecclesiasticsn. /ɪˌkliːziˈæstɪks/ 教士，神职人员, enforce, as a duty you owe to your free and glorious country, and to your God, that you do this accursedadj. /əˈkɜːrsɪd/ 该受诅咒的，可憎的 thing. Not fewer than forty Americans have, within the past two years, been hunted down and, without a moment's warning, hurried away in chains, and consigned to slavery and excruciatingadj. /ɪkˈskruːʃieɪtɪŋ/ 极痛苦的，折磨人的 torture. Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. The right of the hunter to his prey stands superior to the right of marriage, and to all rights in this republic, the rights of God included! For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, nor religion. The Fugitive Slave Law makes mercy to them, a crime; and bribes the judge who tries them. An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he consigns to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. The oath of any two villains is sufficient, under this hell-black enactment, to send the most pious and exemplaryadj. /ɪɡˈzempləri/ 堪为表率的，典范的 black man into the remorselessadj. /rɪˈmɔːrsləs/ 毫不留情的，无情的 jaws of slavery! His own testimony is nothing. He can bring no witnesses for himself. The minister of American justice is bound by the law to hear but one side; and that side, is the side of the oppressor. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. Let it be thundered around the world, that, in tyrant-killing, king-hating, people-loving, democratic, Christian America, the seats of justice are filled with judges, who hold their offices under an open and palpableadj. /ˈpælpəbl/ 明显的，显而易见的 bribe, and are bound, in deciding in the case of a man's liberty, to hear only his accusers!

In glaringadj. /ˈɡlerɪŋ/ 公然的，昭彰的 violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrapv. /ɪnˈtræp/ 诱捕，设局陷害 the defenceless, and in diabolicaladj. /ˌdaɪəˈbɑːlɪkl/ 魔鬼般的，凶残的 intent, this Fugitive Slave Law stands alone in the annalsn. /ˈænlz/ 编年史，纪年录 of tyrannical legislation. I doubt if there be another nation on the globe, having the brassn. /bræs/ 厚颜无耻，无耻的胆量 and the baseness to put such a law on the statute-book. If any man in this assembly thinks differently from me in this matter, and feels able to disprove my statements, I will gladly confront him at any suitable time and place he may select.

I take this law to be one of the grossestadj. /ˈɡroʊsɪst/ 最粗暴的，最严重的 infringementsn. /ɪnˈfrɪndʒmənts/ 侵犯，侵害 of Christian Liberty, and, if the churches and ministers of our country were not stupidly blind, or most wickedly indifferent, they, too, would so regard it.

At the very moment that they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, and for the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance, and makes it utterly worthless to a world lying in wickedness. Did this law concern the "mint, anise and cummin"—abridgev. /əˈbrɪdʒ/ 削减，剥夺 the right to sing psalms, to partake of the sacramentn. /ˈsækrəmənt/ 圣餐，圣礼, or to engage in any of the ceremonies of religion, it would be smitten by the thunder of a thousand pulpits. A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repealn. /rɪˈpiːl/ 废止，撤销, repeal, instant repeal!—And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. Further, if this demand were not complied with, another Scotland would be added to the history of religious liberty, and the stern old covenantersn. /ˌkʌvəˈnæntərz/ 誓约派（苏格兰长老会历史派别） would be thrown into the shade. A John Knox would be seen at every church door, and heard from every pulpit, and Fillmore would have no more quartern. /ˈkwɔːrtər/ 宽待，饶恕 than was shown by Knox, to the beautiful, but treacherous queen Mary of Scotland.—The fact that the church of our country, (with fractional exceptions,) does not esteem "the Fugitive Slave Law" as a declaration of war against religious liberty, implies that that church regards religion simply as a form of worship, an empty ceremony, and not a vital principle, requiring active benevolencen. /bəˈnevələns/ 仁爱，善行, justice, love and good will towards man. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousnessn. /ˈraɪtʃəsnəs/ 义，正直. A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. The Bible addresses all such persons as "scribes, pharisees, hypocritesn. /ˈhɪpəkrɪts/ 假冒为善者，伪君子, who pay tithen. /taɪð/ 什一奉献，十分之一 of mint, anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgement, mercy and faith."

But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. It has made itself the bulwarkn. /ˈbʊlwɜːrk/ 堡垒，屏障 of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. Many of its most eloquent Divinesn. /dɪˈvaɪnz/ 神学家，牧师, who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system.—They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordainedv. /ɔːrˈdeɪnd/ 命定，规定 of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed offphr. /pɑːmd ɔːf/ 冒充兜售，蒙混推销 upon the world for Christianity.

For my part, I would say, welcome infidelityn. /ɪnˈfɪdələti/ 不信神，怀疑论! welcome atheismn. /ˈeɪθiɪzəm/ 无神论! welcome anything! in preference to the gospel, as preached by those Divines! They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidelsn. /ˈɪnfɪdəlz/ 不信教者，怀疑论者, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done! These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throne of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, and thugs. It is not that "pure and undefiledadj. /ˌʌndɪˈfaɪld/ 没有玷污的，纯洁的 religion" which is from above, and which is "first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreatedv. /ɪnˈtriːtɪd/ 恳求，劝解（easy to be entreated 意为温良柔顺）, full of mercy and good fruits, without partialityn. /ˌpɑːrʃiˈæləti/ 偏心，偏袒, and without hypocrisy." But a religion which favors the rich against the poor; which exaltsv. /ɪɡˈzɔːlts/ 抬举，抬高 the proud above the humble; which divides mankind into two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in chains, stay there; and to the oppressor, oppress on; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all the robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of persons, denies his fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man. All this we affirm to be true of the popular church, and the popular worship of our land and nation—a religion, a church, and a worship which, on the authority of inspired wisdom, we pronounce to be an abominationn. /əˌbɑːmɪˈneɪʃn/ 可憎之物，令人厌恶之事 in the sight of God. In the language of Isaiah, the American church might be well addressed, "Bring no more vain oblationsn. /əˈbleɪʃnz/ 供物，祭品; incensen. /ˈɪnsens/ 香品，熏香 is an abomination unto me: the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. They are a trouble to me, I am weary to bear them; and when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea! when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgement; relieve the oppressed; judge for the fatherless; plead for the widow."

The American church is guilty, when viewed in connection with what it is doing to uphold slavery; but it is superlativelyadv. /suːˈpɜːrlətɪvli/ 无以复加地，最高程度地 guilty when viewed in connection with its ability to abolish slavery.

The sin of which it is guilty is one of omissionn. /əˈmɪʃn/ 不作为，疏漏 as well as of commissionn. /kəˈmɪʃn/ 作为，实行（犯罪）. Albert Barnes but uttered what the common sense of every man at all observantadj. /əbˈzɜːrvənt/ 留意的，善于观察的 of the actual state of the case will receive as truth, when he declared that "There is no power out of the church that could sustain slavery an hour, if it were not sustained in it."

Let the religious press, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the conference meeting, the great ecclesiastical, missionary, Bible and tractn. /trækt/ 传单，小册子 associations of the land arrayv. /əˈreɪ/ 列阵，部署 their immense powers against slavery and slave-holding; and the whole system of crime and blood would be scattered to the winds; and that they do not do this involves them in the most awful responsibility of which the mind can conceivev. /kənˈsiːv/ 设想，构想.

In prosecutingv. /ˈprɑːsɪkjuːtɪŋ/ 推进，从事 the anti-slavery enterprise, we have been asked to spare the church, to spare the ministry; but how, we ask, could such a thing be done? We are met on the thresholdn. /ˈθreʃhoʊld/ 门槛，入口 of our efforts for the redemptionn. /rɪˈdempʃn/ 赎回，解救 of the slave, by the church and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee. From what quarter, I beg to know, has proceeded a fire so deadly upon our ranks, during the last two years, as from the Northern pulpit? As the championsn. /ˈtʃæmpiənz/ 拥护者，卫道士 of oppressors, the chosen men of American theology have appeared—men, honored for their so-called pietyn. /ˈpaɪəti/ 虔诚, and their real learning. The Lords of Buffalo, the Springs of New York, the Lathorps of Auburn, the Coxes and Spencers of Brooklyn, the Gannetts and Sharps of Boston, the Deweys of Washington, and other great religious lights of the land, have, in utter denial of the authority of Him, by whom they professed to be called to the ministry, deliberately taught us, against the example of the Hebrews and against the remonstrancen. /rɪˈmɑːnstrəns/ 劝诫，抗议 of the Apostles, they teach "that we ought to obey man's law before the law of God."

My spirit weariesv. /ˈwɪriz/ 使厌倦，使疲乏 of such blasphemy; and how such men can be supported, as the "standing types and representatives of Jesus Christ," is a mystery which I leave others to penetratev. /ˈpenətreɪt/ 参透，看穿. In speaking of the American church, however, let it be distinctly understood that I mean the great mass of the religious organizations of our land. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn, Samuel J. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend on the platform, are shining examples; and let me say further, that upon these men lies the duty to inspire our ranks with high religious faith and zealn. /ziːl/ 热忱，热心, and to cheer us on in the great mission of the slave's redemption from his chains.

One is struck with the difference between the attitude of the American church towards the anti-slavery movement, and that occupied by the churches in England towards a similar movement in that country. There, the church, true to its mission of amelioratingv. /əˈmiːliəreɪtɪŋ/ 改善，改良, elevatingv. /ˈelɪveɪtɪŋ/ 提升，提高, and improving the condition of mankind, came forward promptly, bound up the wounds of the West Indian slave, and restored him to his liberty. There, the question of emancipationn. /ɪˌmænsɪˈpeɪʃn/ 解放，释放 was a high religious question. It was demanded, in the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living God. The Sharps, the Clarksons, the Wilberforces, the Buxtons, the Burchells and the Knibbs, were alike famous for their piety, and for their philanthropyn. /fɪˈlænθrəpi/ 博爱，慈善. The anti-slavery movement there was not an anti-church movement, for the reason that the church took its full share in prosecuting that movement: and the anti-slavery movement in this country will cease to be an anti-church movement, when the church of this country shall assume a favorable, instead of a hostileadj. /ˈhɑːstl/ 敌对的，敌意的 position towards that movement.

Americans! your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantlyadv. /ˈfleɪɡrəntli/ 公然地，明目张胆地 inconsistent. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation (as embodied in the two great political parties), is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen. You hurl your anathemasn. /əˈnæθəməz/ 诅咒，革出教门之罚 at the crowned headed tyrants of Russia and Austria, and pride yourselves on your Democratic institutions, while you yourselves consent to be the mere tools and body-guards of the tyrants of Virginia and Carolina. You invite to your shores fugitives of oppression from abroad, honor them with banquets, greet them with ovationsn. /oʊˈveɪʃnz/ 热烈欢迎，欢呼, cheer them, toast them, salute them, protect them, and pour out your money to them like water; but the fugitives from your own land you advertise, hunt, arrest, shoot and kill. You glory in your refinementn. /rɪˈfaɪnmənt/ 文雅，教养 and your universal education; yet you maintain a system as barbarous and dreadful as ever stained the character of a nation—a system begun in avaricen. /ˈævərɪs/ 贪婪，贪财, supported in pride, and perpetuated in cruelty. You shed tears over fallen Hungary, and make the sad story of her wrongs the theme of your poets, statesmen and orators, till your gallant sons are ready to fly to arms to vindicatev. /ˈvɪndɪkeɪt/ 为……辩护，讨回公道 her cause against her oppressors; but, in regard to the ten thousand wrongs of the American slave, you would enforce the strictest silence, and would hail him as an enemy of the nation who dares to make those wrongs the subject of public discourse! You are all on fire at the mention of liberty for France or for Ireland; but are as cold as an iceberg at the thought of liberty for the enslaved of America.—You discourse eloquently on the dignity of labor; yet, you sustain a system which, in its very essence, casts a stigma upon labor. You can bare your bosom to the storm of British artillery to throw off a threepenny tax on tea; and yet wring the last hard-earned farthingn. /ˈfɑːrðɪŋ/ 法新（英国旧时最小铜币） from the grasp of the black laborers of your country. You profess to believe "that, of one blood, God made all nations of men to dwell on the face of all the earth," and hath commanded all men, everywhere to love one another; yet you notoriouslyadv. /noʊˈtɔːriəsli/ 众所周知地，臭名昭著地 hate, (and glory in your hatred,) all men whose skins are not colored like your own. You declare, before the world, and are understood by the world to declare, that you "hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienableadj. /ɪnˈeɪliənəbl/ 不可让与的 rights; and that, among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;" and yet, you hold securely, in a bondage which, according to your own Thomas Jefferson, "is worse than ages of that which your fathers rose in rebellion to oppose," a seventh part of the inhabitants of your country.

Fellow-citizens! I will not enlarge further on your national inconsistencies. The existence of slavery in this country brandsv. /brændz/ 打上烙印，标明为 your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretence, and your Christianity as a lie. It destroys your moral power abroad; it corrupts your politicians at home. It sapsv. /sæps/ 蛀空，逐渐削弱 the foundation of religion; it makes your name a hissing, and a by word to a mocking earth. It is the antagonisticadj. /ænˌtæɡəˈnɪstɪk/ 对抗的，敌对的 force in your government, the only thing that seriously disturbs and endangers your Union. It fetters your progress; it is the enemy of improvement, the deadly foe of education; it fostersv. /ˈfɔːstərz/ 助长，培养 pride; it breeds insolencen. /ˈɪnsələns/ 蛮横，傲慢无礼; it promotes vice; it shelters crime; it is a curse to the earth that supports it; and yet, you cling to it, as if it were the sheet anchor of all your hopes. Oh! be warned! be warned! a horrible reptilen. /ˈreptaɪl/ 爬虫，爬行动物 is coiled up in your nation's bosom; the venomousadj. /ˈvenəməs/ 有毒的 creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic; for the love of God, tear away, and fling from you the hideous monster, and let the weight of twenty millions crush and destroy it forever!

But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustriousadj. /ɪˈlʌstriəs/ 杰出的，显赫的 Fathers of this Republic.

Then, I dare to affirm notwithstanding all I have said before, your fathers stoopedv. /stuːpt/ 屈身，降格, baselyadv. /ˈbeɪsli/ 卑劣地，下贱地 stooped.

And instead of being the honest men I have before declared them to be, they were the veriestadj. /ˈveriɪst/ 最十足的，地道的 impostersn. /ɪmˈpɑːstərz/ 骗子，冒名者 that ever practised on mankind. This is the inevitable conclusion, and from it there is no escape. But I differ from those who charge this baseness on the framersn. /ˈfreɪmərz/ 制定者，起草人 of the Constitution of the United States. It is a slandern. /ˈslændər/ 诽谤，中伤 upon their memory, at least, so I believe. There is not time now to argue the constitutional question at length; nor have I the ability to discuss it as it ought to be discussed. The subject has been handled with masterly power by Lysander Spooner, Esq., by William Goodell, by Samuel E. Sewall, Esq., and last, though not least, by Gerritt Smith, Esq. These gentlemen have, as I think, fully and clearly vindicated the Constitution from any design to support slavery for an hour.

Fellow-citizens! there is no matter in respect to which, the people of the North have allowed themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, as that of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful thing; but, interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a Glorious Liberty Document. Read its preamblen. /ˈpriːæmbl/ 序言，前言, consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway? or is it in the temple? it is neither. While I do not intend to argue this question on the present occasion, let me ask, if it be not somewhat singularadj. /ˈsɪŋɡjələr/ 奇特的，不寻常的 that, if the Constitution were intended to be, by its framers and adopters, a slave-holding instrument, why neither slavery, slaveholding, nor slave can anywhere be found in it. What would be thought of an instrument, drawn up, legally drawn up, for the purpose of entitling the city of Rochester to a tractn. /trækt/ 地块，一片土地 of land, in which no mention of land was made? Now, there are certain rules of interpretation, for the proper understanding of all legal instruments. These rules are well established. They are plain, common-sense rules, such as you and I, and all of us, can understand and apply, without having passed years in the study of law. I scoutv. /skaʊt/ 鄙视，嗤为无稽 the idea that the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery is not a question for the people. I hold that every American citizen has a right to form an opinion of the constitution, and to propagatev. /ˈprɑːpəɡeɪt/ 传播，宣扬 that opinion, and to use all honorable means to make his opinion the prevailing one. Without this right, the liberty of an American citizen would be as insecure as that of a Frenchman. Ex-Vice-President Dallas tells us that the constitution is an object to which no American mind can be too attentive, and no American heart too devotedadj. /dɪˈvoʊtɪd/ 忠诚的，专注的. He further says, the constitution, in its words, is plain and intelligible, and is meant for the home-bred, unsophisticatedadj. /ˌʌnsəˈfɪstɪkeɪtɪd/ 质朴的，不矫饰的 understandings of our fellow-citizens. Senator Berrien tell us that the Constitution is the fundamental law, that which controls all others. The chartern. /ˈtʃɑːrtər/ 宪章，特许状 of our liberties, which every citizen has a personal interest in understanding thoroughly. The testimonyn. /ˈtestɪmoʊni/ 证言，陈述 of Senator Breese, Lewis Cass, and many others that might be named, who are everywhere esteemed as sound lawyers, so regard the constitution. I take it, therefore, that it is not presumptionn. /prɪˈzʌmpʃn/ 僭妄，放肆 in a private citizen to form an opinion of that instrument.

Now, take the constitution according to its plain reading, and I defyv. /dɪˈfaɪ/ 公然挑战，不服 the presentation of a single pro-slavery clausen. /klɔːz/ 条款 in it. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, entirely hostile to the existence of slavery.

I have detainedv. /dɪˈteɪnd/ 使滞留，耽搁 my audience entirely too long already. At some future period I will gladly availv. /əˈveɪl/ 利用（avail oneself of 抓住机会） myself of an opportunity to give this subject a full and fair discussion.

Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despairv. /dɪˈsper/ 绝望，失去希望 of this country. There are forces in operation, which must inevitablyadv. /ɪnˈevɪtəbli/ 不可避免地，必然 work The downfall of slavery. "The arm of the Lord is not shortened," and the doomn. /duːm/ 厄运，终局 of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from "the Declaration of Independence," the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunityn. /ɪmˈpjuːnəti/ 不受惩罚，免于追究. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multituden. /ˈmʌltɪtuːd/ 大众，民众 walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The arm of commercen. /ˈkɑːmɜːrs/ 商业，贸易 has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Space is comparatively annihilatedv. /əˈnaɪəleɪtɪd/ 消灭，化为乌有.—Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the other.

The far off and almost fabulousadj. /ˈfæbjələs/ 传说般的，难以置信的 Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. The Celestialadj. /səˈlestʃəl/ 天朝的，天上的（Celestial Empire 指中国） Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. The fiatn. /ˈfiːæt/ 谕令，命令 of the Almighty, "Let there be Light," has not yet spent its force. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervadingadj. /ˌɔːl pərˈveɪdɪŋ/ 无孔不入的，遍及一切的 light. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. "Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God." In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it: