公民Ben的七大美德（10/13）

5 IDEALISM IN FOREIGN POLICY 5 外交政策上的理想主义

When he went to Paris as an envoy during the Revolution, Franklin proved himself a master of the diplomatic doctrine of realism by playing an adroit balance-of-power game between France, Spain, the Netherlands and later Britain. In a memo he wrote to the wily French Foreign Minister Vergennes, whose realist outlook was summarized by his maxim that "the influence of every power is measured by the opinion one has of its intrinsic force," Franklin emphasized the cold calculation of national interests that he knew the minister would appreciate. If France and her ally Spain joined the American cause, Britain would lose her colonies and the "commerce that has rendered her so opulent," and America would guarantee that its allies could keep any Caribbean islands Britain lost. However, if France balked, then America might be "reduced to the necessity of ending the war by an accommodation" with Britain.

革命期间，Franklin作为特使出使巴黎。他在法国、西班牙、荷兰和后来的英国之间的制衡上颇有独到之处，在外交上的表现表明了他现实主义的外交手腕。写给法国外长Vergennes的备忘录里，其现实主义观点由这句话表现出来：“各种权力的影响力是由其本质实力来衡量的。”Franklin强调对国家利益的关注，他也知道外长必会赏识这个观点。如果法国与其盟友西班牙介入美国事务，英国就会丧失它的殖民地，丧失“这个可获取丰厚贸易收入”的地盘，而美国答应给予合作伙伴部分英国丧失掉的加勒比海岛屿作为报酬。但是，如果法国继续观望，美国与英国“的战争获胜更为渺茫，就会导致和解”。（很可能在近期引发法英战争，而美国会援助英国——译者注）

But Franklin realized that appealing to a calculus of power was only part of the equation. So even as he catered to France's calculation of her national interest, he also played the rousing chords of America's exceptionalism, the sense that America stands apart from the rest of the world because of its virtuous nature and ideals. Both the hard power that came from its strategic might and the soft power that flowed from the appeal of its liberty and democracy would, he realized, be equally important in assuring its influence.

但是Franklin认为在这个事件上，影响判决的不仅仅是各国的自身实力。所以，不仅迎合了法国的国家利益，他还宣扬美国例外主义：美国脱离于世界之外，是因为他的善良的天性和理想。因为战略方针而强硬的态度，与自由和民主赋予的温和力量融合在一起，他认为这两者保证了美国的实力。

On the private press he built at his home near Paris, Franklin printed the inspiring documents coming out of America--the Declaration, the constitution he had written for Pennsylvania--as a way of winning hearts and minds in France and elsewhere. In a letter to Congress explaining his tactics, he gave a classic formulation of the lure of America's ideals: "Tyranny is so generally established in the rest of the world that the prospect of an asylum in America for those who love liberty gives general joy, and our cause is esteemed the cause of all mankind." He ended by echoing the shining "city upon a hill" metaphor used by the great American exceptionalists from John Winthrop to Ronald Reagan. "We are fighting for the dignity and happiness of human nature," he proclaimed. "Glorious it is for the Americans to be called by Providence to this post of honor."

除了在巴黎施加压力以外，Franklin还写作鼓舞士气的文章传送回美国——为宾夕法尼亚州大会写作的公告——以此在法国和各地赢得人们的同情和信心。在向国会阐述策略的信件里，他写下这样一句经典的话来描述美国的理想：“专制暴政在世界各地树立着权威，这不是热爱民主自由的美国的未来，我们是要建立人人平等的国家。”信件结尾处不停地重复着“岭上之都”（"city upon a hill"，源自圣经中对耶路撒冷的比喻。各个受压迫的教徒到美洲来完成美国梦，最后实现了这个奇迹。美国确实成为了a city upon a hill,吸引了大家的眼球。1989年，里根总统的离职演说，甚至把这个理念上升为a shining city upon a hill，更突出反映了这个信念在美国的根深蒂固：我们站在山顶上，享受着世人羡慕的眼光。美国是受到上帝祝福的，独一无二的。我们是上帝的宠儿，我们是上帝派来的使者，来拯救世界。 ——译者注）的呼唤，此后从John Winthrop 到Ronald Reagan都沿用了这个比喻。“我们是为了自由，为了人类本性的愿望而战，”他宣告，“这是上帝赋予美国人的荣耀。”

Ever the great imagemaker, he cast himself to the French public as a symbol both of the virtuous frontier freedom romanticized by Rousseau and of the Enlightenment's reasoned wisdom championed by Voltaire. In a clever and deliberate manner, leavened by the wit and joie de vivre the French so adored, he portrayed the American cause, through his own personification of it, as that of the natural state fighting the corrupted one. He made a point of eschewing powdered wigs and formal dress, instead wearing a fur cap he had picked up years earlier on a trip to Canada. The cap, like that worn by Rousseau, served as his badge of homespun purity and virtue, just as his ever present spectacles became an emblem of wisdom. It helped him play the part that Paris imagined for him: that of the noble frontier philosopher and simple backwoods sage--even though he had lived most of his life in Philadelphia and London.

不仅是梦想家，在法国社交界里，他被看作卢梭那样的浪漫自由斗士，与启蒙运动智者伏尔泰的集合体。睿智而又稳重的姿态，让法国人为他的智慧和幽默所折服。通过自己完美的表现，他代表着美国，这个正在与一个渐渐衰弱的帝国顽强战斗着的国家。他不穿考究的正装，仅是随意地戴着早年在加拿大旅行时的帽子，感觉就像是卢梭用旧了的帽子一样，衬托了他的美德和修养，而眼镜则象征了智慧。这让他游刃有余地扮演着巴黎所希望他扮演的角色：高贵的哲学先驱和朴素的蛮荒地圣人——尽管他绝大多数时间都居住在费城和伦敦。