3。First，thepeopleofthecoloniesaredescendantsofEnglishmen。England，sir；is
anationwhichstill，Ihope，respects，andformerlradored，herfreedom。Thecolonists
emigratedfromyouwhenthispartofyourcharacter[注：Whenthispartofyour
character&c。汝等特性之此部分。即自由精神也。NewEnglandColony起於英民反抗Stuart朝之时。当日英之自由精神诚最盛旺。]
wasmostpredominant；andtheytookthisbiasanddirectionthemomenttheyparted
fromyourhands。Theyarethereforenotonlydevotedto
liberty，buttolibertyaccordingtoEnglishideasandonEnglish
principles。Abstractliberty，likeothermereabstractions，isnottobefound。
Libertyinheresinsomesensibleobjsct；andeverynationhasformedto
itselfsomefavoritepoint[注：Formedtoitself
&e。各国民所注定之点以为乐利标准者即谓征税等事。‘Their’本当作‘its’当Everynation也。Favoritepoint＝some
importantpoint，thepointmostvalued。]which，bywayofeminence，becomesthe
criterionoftheirhappiness。Ithappened，youknow，sir，thatthegreatcontestsfor
freedominthiscountrywerefromtheearliesttimeschieflyuponthequestionof
taxing。Mostofthecontestsintheancientcommomwealths[注：Theancient
commonwealths。指古代希腊罗马之共和政治。]turnedprimarilyontherightofelectionof
magistrates，oronthebalanceamongtheseveralordersofthestate。Thequestion
ofmoneywasnotwiththemsoimmediate。
ButinEnglanditwasotherwise。Onthispointoftaxestheablestpensandmost
eloquenttongues[注：Theablestpensandmosteloquenttonguse
&c。谓关於此征税之事。最妙之笔。最辩之舌皆曾或以文章或以演说详论之。盖暗指Hampden，Pym，Selden诸人也。]
havebeenexercised；thegreatestspiritshaveactedandsuffered。Inordertogivethe
fullestsatisfactionconcerningtheimportanceofthispoint，itwasnotonly
necessary[注：Notonlynecessary&c。此句但有“非仅在……云云”。其下并无习见之‘butalso’句。盖以下文紧接‘
Theywentfurther&c。句故也。]forthosewhoinargumentdefendedtheexcellenceofthe
EnglishConstitutiontoinsistonthisprivilegeofgrantingmoneyasadrypoint
offact，[注：Drypointoffact。此dry之义等於clear]andto
provethattherighthadbeenacknowledged，inancientparchments[注：Ancient
parchments谓MagnaCharta，CharterofLiberty等古宪典也。]andblindusages，[注：Blind
usages。不成文法，习惯法。]toresideinacertainbodycalledaHouseofCommons。
Theywentmuchfurther；theyattemptedtoprove，andtheysucceeded，thatintheoryit
oughttobeso，fromtheparticularnatureofaHouseofCommons，asanimmediate
representativeofthepeople；whethertheoldrecordshaddeliveredthisoracle
[注：Oracle。本义为神命。此作真理解。]ornot。Theytookinfinitepainstoinculcate，asafundamental
principle，thatinallmonarchiesthepeoplemustin
effectthemselves，mediately，orimmediatelypossessthepowerofgrantingtheirown
money，ornoshadowoflibertycouldsubsist。Thecoloniesdrawfromyou，aswith
theirlifeblood，[注：Aswiththeirlife-blood。英美人同其祖先故云。]theseideasand
principles。Theirloveofliberty，aswithyou，fixedandattachedonthisspecific
pointoftaxing。