Abraham Lincoln
(C. Sandburg)
Dec. 12, 1959.
亚 伯 拉 罕 ·林 肯
（斯 · 山 德 伯 格）
1959.12.12
Brief introduction to the speaker:
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) Carl Sandburg was an American poet. His Complete Poems(1950) won the Pulitzer prize for poetry in 1951. His nonfiction book Abraham Lincoln: the War Years was awarded the Pulitzer prize for history in 1940. Sandburg''s poetry was filled with sayings. scraps of anecdotes and conversations. and descriptions of steel mills and of farms. He was among the first to use free verse--verse without a definite rhyme or metrical pattern. He wrote a biography of Lincoln in two parts Abraham Lincoln: the Prairie Years(1926) and Abraham Lincoln: the War Years (1939).
********************
Before beginning the prepared address, I must make the remark that this introduction, this reception here. caused humility rather than pride, I am well aware of that, Not often in the story of mankind has a man arrived on earth who is both steel and velvet, who is as hard as rock, and soft as drifting fog. There was in his heart and mind the paradox of terrible storm
and peace, unspeakable and perfect. There have come, across centuries, reports of men alleged to have these contrasts, and the incomparable Abraham Lincoln, born one hundred and fifty years ago this day is an approach, if not a perfect realization of this character.
In the time of the April lilacs, in the year 1865, on his death, the casket with his body was carried north and west a thousands miles, and the American people wept as they never before. Bells sobbed, cities wore crepe, people stood in tears and with hats off as the red oak burial car paused in the leading cities of seven states, ending its journey at Springfield, Illinois. the hometown.
During the four years he was President, he, at times, especially in the first three months, took to himself the powers of a dictator. He commanded those powerful armies till then assembled in modern warfare, he enforced conscription of soldiers for the first time in American history and underimperative necessity he abolished the rights of Habeas Corpus.He directed it politically and spiritually while massiveturbulent forces let loose in civil war. a war truly as time hasshown, of brothers. He argued and pleaded for compensatedemancipation of the slaves. The slaves were property theywere on the tax books along with horses and cats, the valuationof each slave written next to his name in the tax assessorsbooks. And failing to get action on compensated emancipation.he took the only other course. As a chief executive having morepowers, he issued the paper by which he declared the slaves tobe free, under military necessity In the end. nearly four billiondollars worth of property was taken away from those who werelegal owners of it. Property confiscated, wiped out as by tireand turned to ashes. At his instigation and executive direction, chattel property recognized in law books for three hundred years was expropriated, seized without payment.
And how did Lincoln say he would like to be remembered? Something of it is in this present occasion, the atmosphere in this room. His beloved friend, Representative Owen Lovejoy of Princeton, Illinois. had died in May of 1864. and friends wrote to Lincoln, and he replied that the pressure of duties kept him from joining them in the efforts toward a marble monument to Lovejoy The last sentence of Lincoln''s letter saying: "Let him have the marble monument, along with the well-assured and the more enduring one in the hearts of those who love liberty
unselfishly for all men."
Today when you say perhaps that the well-assured and the most enduring memorial to Lincoln is invisibly there today, tomorrow, and for a long, long time yet to come. It''s there in the hearts of lovers of liberty This country is always paying prices, men and women who understand that where there is freedom, there is those who fought, toiled and sacrificed. Thank you.
演讲者简介：
卡尔·山德伯格是美国诗人。他的《诗作全集》1951年获普利策诗作奖，传记作品《亚伯拉罕·林肯：战争年代》1940年获普利策历史奖。山德伯格的诗充满名言、轶闻趣事、对话和对钢铁厂及农场的描写。他是最早写自由诗的诗人之一。他的林肯传记包括两部分。《亚伯拉罕·林肯：草原岁月》（1926）和《亚伯拉罕·林肯：战争年代》（1939）。
***************
在开始这篇准备好的演讲之前，我必须声明这番对我的介绍和接待使我深感谦卑甚于骄傲。这一点我很清楚。人类历史上并不经常出现一些铁血柔情式的人物。在这种人身上，暴力与和平这一对矛盾体揉和在一起，不可言喻但又天衣无缝。几个世纪以来，确有过集这些矛盾于一身的人，而诞生于一百五十年前的今天的无与伦比的亚伯拉罕·林肯，如果不是最完美的一个，也是最近完美的一个。
1865年4月丁香花开的日子里，他的灵柩向北向西行进了一千多英里，美国人民前所未有地伤心哭泣。丧钟悲鸣，城市披上黑纱，人们含着泪水脱帽默哀。由红橡木制成的灵车在七个州的主要城市停留，最后停在依利诺斯州的斯普林菲尔德，林肯的故乡。
在四年的总统任期中，尤其是在头三个月里，他时常运用独裁者的权力。他命令强大的军队集结投入现代战争，他在美国历史上首次厉行征兵制度，在紧急形势的要求下，他废除了人身保护令所赋予的权力。当大规模的暴乱显示出内战的端倪时，他又在政治上和精神上发展了这一点做法，虽然时间证明这场战争纯属兄弟之争。他恳请实行有补偿的奴隶解放政策。当时，奴隶只是一件财产，他们和马儿、猫儿一起列在税册上，在收税人的册子里，每个奴隶的名字旁边写着他们的价值。在这一动议失败后，作为一个有更大权力的行政首脑，他不得不走了另一步，签署文件，宣布奴隶是自由的，并在有必要的情况下使用武力。最后，那些法定的财产拥有者失去了近四亿美元的财产。卖身契被没收并烧毁，一切灰飞烟灭。在他的鼓励和实际领导下，法律注册了三百年的动产就这样没有补偿地被剥夺了。
林肯说他希望给后人留下什么印象？我们可以从今天这种场合，这个房间的氛围中找到一些答案。他亲爱的朋友，依利诺斯州普林斯顿的众议员欧文·拉夫佐伊于1864年五月去世，朋友们写信告知林肯，他回信说，工作压力之大，使他无法和他们一起为莱失佐伊建一座大理石纪念碑了。在信的最后，他说：“就让我们用更坚固和持久的爱去为他建一座大理石纪念碑吧，这份爱深藏于那些无私地热爱全人类解放事业的人心中。”
今天，你也许会说，怀念林肯最真切而又持久的纪念碑无声矗立在那里，在今天，在明天或以后很长的一段时间永存于那些热爱解放事业的人的心中。这个国家总要付出代价，总有人清楚，为了自由，斗争、受苦和牺牲在所难免。
