For the truly great, dark days are inevitable1. Purple is the imperial colour. All great lives are tragedies. Across the first splendour of the Lord Paramount2’s ascendancy3 there began now to fall the shadows of approaching disaster. His mood changed with the mood of his adventure. America had misunderstood him, had almost wilfully4 refused to respect the depth and power of his tremendous purpose. He had not realized how widely she had diverged5 from the British conception of history and a European outlook upon world affairs. And suddenly all his giant schemes were straining to the breaking point. The incident of the Beauty of Narragansett and the note from the American President was the turning point of his career.
He had known this adventure with human affairs was heroic and vast; he had not realized its extreme and dangerous intricacy. He felt suddenly that he was struggling with a puzzle. It was as if he had been engaged in an argument and had been trapped and involved and confused. His mind was curiously6 haunted by that dispute of Mr. Parham’s with Camelford and Hamp and Sir Bussy. They seemed always in the back of his picture now, welcoming any setback7, declaring his values false and his concepts obsolete8, and foreshadowing some vague and monstrous9 new order of things in which he had no part. That vague and monstrous new order of things was at the same time the remotest, least distinct, and most disconcerting element in all this sideshow of unpleasant apprehensions10.
He had believed himself the chosen head of the united British peoples. Under the stress of the presidential note he was to discover how extremely unBritish, British peoples could be. That realization11 of the supreme12 significance of the Empire, of which Seeley and Kipling had been the prophets, had reached only a limited section of the population. And the intensity13 with which that section had realized it had perhaps a little restricted its general realization. Had imperial patriotism15 come too late? Had it yet to penetrate16 outwardly and DOWN? Had it failed to grip, or had it lost its grip on the colonial imagination?
Not only the masses at home, but the Dominions17 had drifted out of touch with and respect for, or perhaps had never really been in touch with, the starry18 preeminence19 of Oxford20 and Cambridge thought, with army and navy and ruling-class habits and traditions, with the guarded intimacies21 of London and all that makes our Britain what it is today. These larger, vaguer multitudes were following America in a widening estrangement22 from the essential conceptions of British history and British national conduct. For some years the keen mind of Mr. Parham had sensed this possible ebb23 of the imperial idea. It had troubled his sleep. Failing it, what was there before us but disintegration24? Now the heroic intelligence of the Lord Paramount was suffused25 by those anxieties of Mr. Parham. Could it be that he might have to play a losing game? Might it be that after all his destiny was not victory but the lurid26 splendour of a last stand for ideas too noble for this faltering27 world?
When he had seized power the London crowd had seemed oafishly tolerant of this change of régime. It had not applauded, but it had not resisted. Evidently it did not care a rap for Parliament. But, on the other hand, had there been enthusiasm for the dictatorship? Now it became apparent that whatever enthusiasm there might be was shot and tainted28 by the gravest discontent. As he drove down Whitehall in his big blue car with Mrs. Pinchot and Hereward Jackson to take the air in Richmond Park for his one precious hour of waking rest in the day, he discovered an endless string of sandwich men plodding29 slowly up the street.
“Leave Russia alone,” in red, was the leading inscription30. This when we were actually at war with Russia. That at least was open treason. Other boards more wordy said: “Leave China alone. We have enough to worry about without grabbing China.” A third series declared: “We don’t want War with America.” That was the culminating point of the protest. These men were plodding up the street unhindered. Not a patriot14 was in action. No one had even thought of beating them about their heads. And yet sandwich men are particularly easy to beat about their heads. The police had done nothing.
What on earth did the people want? National dishonour31? He could not disdain32 these sandwich boards. He was taken too much by surprise. He looked. He turned his head about. He gave himself away. People must have observed his movements, and it was necessary to do something promptly33. The car pulled up. “Get out,” he said to Hereward Jackson, “go back and have this stopped. Find out who supplied the money.”
He went on his way past the Houses of Parliament, locked up and, as it seemed to him that day, silently and unfairly reproachful. He was moody34 with Mrs. Pinchot in Richmond Park. “They are stirring up my own people against me,” he said suddenly out of a great silence. Some interesting work was being done in the park with military telpherage, but his mind was preoccupied35, and his questions lacked their usual penetrating36 liveliness.
Presently he found himself phrasing the curt37 sentences of a Decree of public security. That is what things had come to. There would have to be a brief opening, detailing the position of danger in which the Empire was placed. Then would follow the announcement of new and severe laws against unpatriotic publications, unpatriotic agitation39, and the slightest suggestion of resistance to the civil and military authorities. The punishments would have to be stern. Real plain treason in wartime calls for death. Military men obliged to kill were to be released from all personal responsibility if their acts were done in good faith. Attacks on the current régime were to involve the death penalty — by shooting. In any case. An Empire that is worth having is worth shooting for.
When he returned, stern and preoccupied, to his desk at the War Office, ready to dictate40 this Decree, he found Hereward Jackson with a medley41 of fresh and still more disconcerting news. The sandwich men of Whitehall were only the first intimations of a great storm of protest against what speakers were pleased to call the provocation42 of America.
All over the country meetings, processions, and a variety of other demonstrations43 were disseminating44 a confused but powerful objection to the Lord Paramount’s policy. The opposition45 to his action against Russia was second only in vigour46 to the remonstrances47 against the American clash. “Right or wrong,” said one prominent Labour leader at Leicester, “we won’t fight either Russia or America. We don’t believe in this fighting. We don’t believe it is necessary. We were humbugged last time — but never again.” And these abominable48 sentences, this complete repudiation49 of national spirit, were cheered!
“One must shoot,” muttered the Lord Paramount; “one must not hesitate to shoot. That would be the turning point,” and he called on Mrs. Pinchot to take down his first draft of the Decree.
“We must have this broadcast forthwith,” he said. “This rot must be arrested, these voices must be silenced, or we go to pieces. Read the Decree over to me. . . .”
With the publication of the American blockade message throughout the Empire, all the multiplying evidences of hesitation50, disintegration, and positive disloyalty underwent an abrupt52 and alarming magnification. The Dominions, it became evident, were as disposed as the masses at home toward a dishonourable pacificism. They were as blind to the proper development of the imperial adventure. The Canadian Prime Minister sent the Lord Paramount a direct communication to warn him that in no case could Britain count on Canadian participation53 in a war with the United States. Moreover, British armed forces in Canadian territory and Canadian waters would have to be immobilized as a precautionary measure if the tension of the situation increased further. He was making all the necessary preparations for this step.
A few hours later protests nearly as disconcerting came in from South Africa and Australia. In Dublin there were vast separatist republican meetings, and there was a filibustory raid of uncertain significance against Ulster. At the same time a string of cipher54 telegrams made it plain that the insurrectionary movement in India was developing very gravely. A systematic55 attack upon the railway systems behind the northwest frontier was evidently going on; the bombing of bridges and the tearing up of the tracks at important centres was being carried out far more extensively than anyone could have foreseen. The trouble was taking a religious turn in the Punjab. A new leader, following, it would seem, rather upon the precedent56 of Nansk, the founder57 of the Sikhs, had appeared out of the blue and was preaching a sort of syncretic communist theology, intended to unite Moslim and Hindu, communist and nationalist, in a common faith and a common patriotism. He was actively58 militant59. His disciples60 were to be fighters, and their happiest possible end was death in battle.
Amidst the confusion one cheering aspect was the steady loyalty51 of the Indian princes. They had formed a sort of voluntary Council of India of their own, which was already cooperating actively with the imperial authorities in the suppression of disorder61 and the defence of the frontier. Their readiness to take over responsibilities was indisputable.
Such events, the Lord Paramount argued, should have raised the whole of Britain in a unison62 of patriotic38 energy. All social conflicts should have been forgotten. A torrent63 of patriot recruits should be pouring into the army from every position in life. They would have done so in 1914. What had happened since to the spirit and outlook of our people?
Well, the Decree of Public Security must challenge them. Its clear insistence64 on unquestioning loyalty would put the issue plainly. They would have to search their hearts and decide.
A further series of anxieties was caused by the ambiguous behaviour of his promised allies in Europe. Some of them were taking action in accordance with the plain undertakings65 of their respective strong men. France and Italy had mobilized, but on their common frontier. Von Barheim, on the telephone, pleaded that he was embarrassed by a republican and antipatriotic revolt in Saxony. Turkey also had mobilized, and there was complex nationalist trouble in Egypt.
The Lord Paramount became more and more aware of the extreme swiftness with which things happen to responsible statesmen as the war phase comes round. The American situation had developed from a featureless uneventfulness to an acute clash in four days. Hour after hour, fresh aspects of the riddle66 of Empire elaborated themselves. He had drawn67 together all the threads of Empire into his own hands. There were moments when he felt an intolerable envy of Paramuzzi with his straightforward68 peninsula and his comparatively simple problem.
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1
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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ascendancy
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| n.统治权，支配力量 | |
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wilfully
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| adv.任性固执地；蓄意地 | |
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diverged
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| 分开( diverge的过去式和过去分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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setback
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| n.退步，挫折，挫败 | |
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obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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starry
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| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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preeminence
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| n.卓越,杰出 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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intimacies
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| 亲密( intimacy的名词复数 )； 密切； 亲昵的言行； 性行为 | |
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estrangement
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| n.疏远，失和，不和 | |
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ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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disintegration
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| n.分散，解体 | |
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suffused
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| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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plodding
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| a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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dishonour
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| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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moody
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| adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的 | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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medley
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| n.混合 | |
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provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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demonstrations
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| 证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威 | |
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disseminating
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| 散布，传播( disseminate的现在分词 ) | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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remonstrances
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| n.抱怨，抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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48
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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49
repudiation
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| n.拒绝；否认；断绝关系；抛弃 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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participation
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| n.参与，参加，分享 | |
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54
cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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precedent
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| n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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militant
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| adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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61
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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undertakings
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| 企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务 | |
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riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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67
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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