有人告诉我们，先生们，说我们太弱小了，对付不了如此强大的敌人。但是，我们什么时候才变得强大？下个星期？明年？等到我们被彻底缴械？等到每个家门口都站了一个英国卫兵？我们优柔寡断无所作为就能积攒力量？我们躺在床上、沉迷于希望的幻影直至束手就擒才能够获得一种有效的抵抗方法？先生们，如果我们正确地运用上天赋于我们的力量，我们并不弱小。百万民众，被追求自由的神圣目标所鼓舞、所武装，在我们伟大的国度，我们不乏这样的力量，这种力量是敌人的任何武力所战胜不了的。此外，先生们，我们并非孤身作战，正义的上帝主持着万国的命运，他将唤起朋友与我们并肩作战。胜利不仅仅取决于强大，胜利更取决于警惕、善战和勇敢。何况，我们已别无选择。即使我们卑鄙之极、心存幻想、想不干都来不及了。退路已断，只有投降、做亡国奴。我们的锁链已经铸成！我们仿佛能够听到它们在波士顿平原上哐啷作响。战争不可避免 -- 那么，就让它来吧！我再说一遍，先生们，就让它来吧！
Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
试图低估事态的严重性是枉然的。也许你们要喊，和平，和平 ——但是和平不复存在。战争实际上已经开始！当北方的大风再起之时，金戈的鏦铮、炮火的轰鸣将传入我们的耳际！我们的弟兄已经投入战斗！我们还在这里等什么？先生们，你们还在希望什么？你们还有什么办法？难道生命就如此可贵、和平就如此甜美，竟值得我们用被禁锢、被奴役来换取？ 不！上帝！我不知道你们如何选择，对于我，不自由，毋宁死！
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
