But, Sir, what is this danger, and what are the grounds of it? Let it be remembered, that the Constitution of the United States is not unalterableadj. /ʌnˈɔːltərəbl/ 不可更改的. It is to continue in its present form no longer than the people who established it shall choose to continue it. If they shall become convinced that they have made an injudiciousadj. /ˌɪndʒuˈdɪʃəs/ 不明智的，欠考虑的 or inexpedientadj. /ˌɪnɪkˈspiːdiənt/ 不合宜的，失策的 partition and distribution of power between the State governments and the general government, they can alter that distribution at willphr. /ət ˈwɪl/ 任意，随心所欲地.
可是，先生，这危险究竟是什么？它的根据又在哪里？请记住：合众国宪法并非不可更改。它以目前的形式存续的时间，不会超过创立它的人民愿意让它存续的时间。倘若人民确信，他们在各州政府与联邦政府之间所作的权力划分与配置并不明智、也不合宜，他们随时可以按自己的意愿更改这一配置。
If any thing be found in the national Constitution, either by original provision or subsequent interpretation, which ought not to be in it, the people know how to get rid of it. If any construction, unacceptable to them, be established, so as to become practically a part of the Constitution, they will amend it, at their own sovereignadj. /ˈsɑːvrɪn/ 至高无上的，主权的 pleasure. But while the people choose to maintain it as it is, while they are satisfied with it, and refuse to change it, who has given, or who can give, to the State legislatures a right to alter it, either by interference, construction, or otherwise? Gentlemen do not seem to recollect that the people have any power to do any thing for themselves. They imagine there is no safety for them, any longer than they are under the close guardianshipn. /ˈɡɑːrdiənʃɪp/ 监护，看管 of the State legislatures. Sir, the people have not trusted their safety, in regard to the general Constitution, to these hands. They have required other security, and taken other bonds. They have chosen to trust themselves, first, to the plain words of the instrument, and to such construction as the government themselves, in doubtful cases, should put on their own powers, under their oaths of office, and subject to their responsibility to them; just as the people of a State trust their own State governments with a similar power. Secondly, they have reposed their trust in the efficacyn. /ˈefɪkəsi/ 效力，功效 of frequent elections, and in their own power to remove their own servants and agents whenever they see cause. Thirdly, they have reposed trust in the judicial power, which, in order that it might be trustworthy, they have made as respectable, as disinterestedadj. /dɪsˈɪntrəstɪd/ 无私的，不偏不倚的, and as independent as was practicable. Fourthly, they have seen fit to rely, in case of necessity, or high expediency, on their known and admitted power to alter or amend the Constitution, peaceably and quietly, whenever experience shall point out defects or imperfections. And, finally, the people of the United States have at no time, in no way, directly or indirectly, authorized any State legislature to construev. /kənˈstruː/ 解释，诠释（条文） or interpret their high instrument of government; much less, to interfere, by their own power, to arrest its course and operation.
倘若在合众国宪法之中——无论是原有的条文，还是后来的解释——真的存在本不该有的东西，人民知道该如何把它去掉。倘若某种他们不能接受的解释被确立起来，实际上成了宪法的一部分，他们也会凭自己至高无上的意志去修正它。但是，只要人民选择维持宪法现状，只要他们对它满意、拒绝改动它，那么，究竟是谁赋予、或者谁能够赋予各州议会一种权利，让他们以干预、解释或任何其他方式去改动它呢？诸位先生似乎没有想起：人民自己是有力量为自己做点什么的。他们以为，人民若不处在各州议会的严密监护之下，便没有安全可言。先生，就联邦宪法而言，人民并没有把自身的安全托付给这些人之手。他们要求另外的保障，另立了别的契约。他们选择首先信赖宪法文书明白的文字，以及政府在疑难情形下凭其就职誓言、并对其负责的人民，对自身权力所作的解释——正如一个州的人民把类似的权力托付给自己州的政府一样。其次，他们把自己的信赖寄托于频繁选举的效力，寄托于自己在认为有理时撤换自己仆役与代理人的权力之上。第三，他们把信赖寄托于司法权；为使这一权力值得信赖，他们已使它尽可能受到尊重、尽可能无私、尽可能独立。第四，他们认为，在必要或极为相宜之时，可以依靠他们已知并公认的权力——一旦经验指出缺陷或不足，便和平而安静地修改或增补宪法。最后，合众国人民从未在任何时候、以任何方式、直接或间接地授权任何一州议会去解释或诠释他们这部崇高的政府文书；更不用说授权它以自身权力加以干预，以阻止宪法的运行与实施。
If, Sir, the people in these respects had done otherwise than they have done, their Constitution could neither have been preserved, nor would it have been worth preserving. And if its plain provisions shall now be disregarded, and these new doctrines interpolatedv. /ɪnˈtɜːrpəleɪtɪd/ 被窜入，被擅自插入（interpolate 的过去分词） in it, it will become as feebleadj. /ˈfiːbl/ 虚弱的，软弱无力的 and helpless a being as its enemies, whether early or more recent, could possibly desire. It will exist in every State but as a poor dependent on State permission. It must borrow leave to be; and will be, no longer than State pleasure, or State discretionn. /dɪˈskreʃn/ 裁量，自行决定之权, sees fit to grant the indulgencen. /ɪnˈdʌldʒəns/ 宽容，恩准, and to prolong its poor existence.
先生，倘若人民在这些方面所做的与如今所做的相反，他们的宪法便既不可能保存下来，也不值得保存了。而如果宪法明白的条文如今遭到漠视，这些新学说被窜入其中，它就会变成一个虚弱无助的东西，正合它的敌人——无论是早年的还是新近的——之所愿。它在每一个州里，都只能像一个可怜的寄居者，仰赖各州的许可而存在。它必须向人借得存在的许可；而它存在的时间，将不会长过各州的兴致或裁量愿意给予这份宽容、愿意延长它那可怜寿命的时间。
But, Sir, although there are fears, there are hopes also. The people have preserved this, their own chosen Constitution, for forty years, and have seen their happiness, prosperity, and renownn. /rɪˈnaʊn/ 声誉，名望 grow with its growth, and strengthen with its strength. They are now, generally, strongly attached to it. Overthrown by direct assault, it cannot be; evaded, undermined, NULLIFIED, it will not be, if we and those who shall succeed us here, as agents and representatives of the people, shall conscientiously and vigilantlyadv. /ˈvɪdʒɪləntli/ 警觉地，警惕地 discharge the two great branches of our public trust, faithfully to preserve, and wisely to administer it.
但是，先生，虽有忧惧，也仍有希望。人民把他们自己选定的这部宪法保存了四十年，眼看着自己的幸福、繁荣与声望随着它的成长而成长，随着它的强盛而强盛。如今他们总体上已深深地依恋于它。正面强攻，它不可能被推翻；暗中规避、逐步侵蚀、径行废弃，它也不会被摧毁——只要我们以及此后继任于此的人们，作为人民的代理人与代表，能够凭良心、怀警惕地履行我们公共信托的两大分支：忠实地保存它，明智地治理它。
Mr. President, I have thus stated the reasons of my dissentn. /dɪˈsent/ 异议，不同意见 to the doctrines which have been advanced and maintained. I am conscious of having detained you and the Senate much too long. I was drawn into the debate with no previous deliberation, such as is suited to the discussion of so grave and important a subject. But it is a subject of which my heart is full, and I have not been willing to suppress the utterance of its spontaneous sentiments. I cannot, even now, persuade myself to relinquishv. /rɪˈlɪŋkwɪʃ/ 放弃，放手 it, without expressing once more my deep conviction, that, since it respects nothing less than the Union of the States, it is of most vital and essential importance to the public happiness. I profess, Sir, in my career hitherto, to have kept steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the whole country, and the preservation of our Federal Union. It is to that Union we owe our safety at home, and our consideration and dignity abroad. It is to that Union that we are chiefly indebted for whatever makes us most proud of our country. That Union we reached only by the discipline of our virtues in the severe school of adversityn. /ædˈvɜːrsəti/ 逆境，困厄. It had its origin in the necessities of disordered finance, prostrate commerce, and ruined credit. Under its benign influences, these great interests immediately awoke, as from the dead, and sprang forth with newness of life. Every year of its duration has teemed with fresh proofs of its utility and its blessings; and although our territory has stretched out wider and wider, and our population spread farther and farther, they have not outrun its protection or its benefits. It has been to us all a copiousadj. /ˈkoʊpiəs/ 丰沛的，大量的 fountain of national, social, and personal happiness.
主席先生，以上就是我陈述的、我对这些已被提出并加以坚持的学说持异议的理由。我自知已经耽搁您和参议院太久了。我是被卷入这场辩论的，事前并没有经过与讨论如此严肃重大题目相称的考虑。但这是一个我心中充满的话题，我不愿压抑它自然涌出的言说。即便此刻，我也无法说服自己就此放手而不再一次表达我的深切信念：这一题目所关涉的，绝非小事，而是各州的联邦，因而对公众的幸福具有最重大、最根本的意义。先生，我可以说，在我迄今的生涯中，我始终把整个国家的繁荣与荣誉、把联邦的保存，稳稳地放在眼前。我们正是靠着这个联邦，才有国内的安宁，才有在国外的被看重与尊严。我们之所以有种种足以使我们最为祖国自豪的东西，主要都该归功于这个联邦。这个联邦，是我们靠着美德的磨砺、在逆境的严酷学堂中才得来的。它诞生于财政紊乱、商业瘫痪、信用破产的困迫之中。在它仁慈的影响下，这些重大的利益顿时如死而复生，带着新的生命跃然而起。它存在的每一年，都满带着它有用、它赐福的新证据；而尽管我们的疆域一扩再扩，我们的人口越布越远，他们也没有超出它的保护或它的恩惠。它对我们所有人，都是民族、社会与个人幸福的一眼丰沛之泉。
I have not allowed myself, Sir, to look beyond the Union, to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving liberty when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken asunderadv. /əˈsʌndər/ 分开地，成碎片地. I have not accustomed myself to hang over the precipicen. /ˈpresəpɪs/ 悬崖，绝壁 of disunion, to see whether, with my short sight, I can fathomv. /ˈfæðəm/ 测出深度；揣测，看透 the depth of the abyss below; nor could I regard him as a safe counsellor in the affairs of this government, whose thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, not how the Union may be best preserved, but how tolerable might be the condition of the people when it should be broken up and destroyed. While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil. God grant that, in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise! God grant that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind! When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States disseveredadj. /dɪˈsevərd/ 被割裂的，彼此分离的, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensignn. /ˈensaɪn/ 旗帜，军旗 of the republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto, no such miserable interrogatory as “What is all this worth?” nor those other words of delusion and folly, “Liberty first and Union afterwards”; but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart,—Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!
先生，我从不允许自己越过联邦去张望，去看那背后幽暗的深处可能藏着什么。我从不曾冷静地权衡：一旦把我们联结在一起的纽带被扯断，保全自由的机会还有几分。我从不曾让自己习惯于俯身于分裂的悬崖之上，看自己这点短浅的目光能否探到下方深渊的深度；我也无法把那样一个人看作处理本政府事务的可靠谋士——他的心思主要不是用在考虑如何最好地保存联邦，而是用在考虑联邦一旦被拆散、被毁掉之后，人民的处境还能勉强到什么程度。只要联邦还在，我们和我们子孙的面前就铺展着崇高、令人振奋、令人欣慰的前景。越过这一点，我不去揭开那层帷幕。愿上帝保佑，至少在我有生之年，那道帘幕不要升起！愿上帝保佑，那背后的景象永远不要在我眼前展开！当我的眼睛最后一次转去瞻望天上的太阳时，愿我不要看见它照耀着一个曾经光荣的联邦破碎而蒙羞的残片；照耀着彼此割裂、彼此龃龉、彼此交兵的诸州；照耀着一片被内争撕裂、甚或浸透同胞鲜血的土地！愿它们那最后微弱而流连的一瞥，宁可去仰望共和国那面华美的旗帜——它如今已为全地所知、所敬，依旧高高前展，它的纹章与战利品依然流溢着当初的光辉，没有一道条纹被抹去或玷污，没有一颗星被遮蔽；它上面的箴言，不是「这一切究竟值什么」这种可悲的质问，也不是「自由在先、联邦在后」那种迷妄而愚蠢的字句；而是遍处铺展、以活的光的字迹，在它宽阔的褶层上熊熊燃烧——当这面旗帜飘过海洋、飘过陆地，飘在普天之下每一阵风里——那另一种情感，那为每一颗真正美国人的心所珍爱的情感：自由与联邦，现在与永远，一体而不可分割！