源头在欧洲

中国的自由派，不是自己发明了“自由”。

他们接过的那条线，最早可以追到欧洲的几场革命和几本书。十二世纪的英格兰，王权一路膨胀，贵族们终于逼着约翰王在一份羊皮纸上盖了章——一二一五年的《大宪章》。它没有写“自由”二字，却写下了自由主义最古老的一条规矩：国王也在法律之下。

这条规矩真正长出牙来，是在四百多年后的英国革命。一六八九年，洛克出版《政府论》下篇：人天生有生命、自由、财产的权利，政府只是受托者，权力来自被统治者的同意。“天赋权利”和“契约政府”，就此成了自由主义理论的两块基石。而一年前的“光荣革命”已经示范了这条路线怎么走：不砍国王的头，只给他一部法。

十八世纪，两场革命把书上的话变成了国家。一七七六年，北美殖民地宣布独立，把“人人生而平等”写进了开国文件；一七八九年，法国人喊出“自由、平等、博爱”，把国王送上了断头台。但巴黎的路线明显更险——断头台没有停在国王的脖子上，接着落到了主张自由的人自己头上。同一面“自由”的旗，在英国人手里是法治和妥协，在法国人手里常常是革命与恐怖。这两条路线的分岔，日后会原封不动地移植到中国的争论里。

一八五九年，穆勒出版《论自由》，给这场争论画了一条迄今最清晰的界线：一个人的自由，止于不伤害他人。严复后来把这本书译成《群己权界论》——这套欧洲学说，在中文里从此有了自己的名字。

策展人提醒：记住这两条路线——英国的渐进，与法国的断头台。后面的中国故事里，它们会一再出现：胡适走的是前者，而每一次“彻底的解决”，多少都带着后者的影子。

十九世纪末，这条线经由日本的中转、严复的译笔、留学生的行李，渡海来到中国。从下一间展厅开始，就是它在中国的一百年。

人物

附录一 · 独立宣言英文原文

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

原文为无标点分段的羊皮纸抄本，此处分段便于阅读；“Brittish”“harrass”“compleat”等拼写为十八世纪原样，未作改动。

附录二 · 独立宣言中文全译

一七七六年七月四日，大陆会议。美利坚合众国十三个州的一致宣言：

在人类事务的发展进程中，当一个民族必须解除同另一个民族之间的政治联系，并在世界各国之间依照自然法则和自然之神的意旨，争取独立平等的地位时，出于对人类公论的尊重，他们必须宣布驱使他们独立的原因。

我们认为下面这些真理是不言而喻的：人人生而平等，造物者赋予他们若干不可剥夺的权利，其中包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。为了保障这些权利，人类才在他们之间建立政府，而政府的正当权力，来自被统治者的同意。当任何形式的政府对这些目标具有破坏作用时，人民便有权改变或废除它，以建立一个新的政府；其赖以奠基的原则，其组织权力的方式，务使人民认为唯有这样才最可能获得他们的安全和幸福。诚然，慎重会促使人们相信，建立已久的政府不应为了轻微、暂时的原因而予以变更；过去的一切经验也都说明，人们宁愿忍受尚能忍受的祸患，也不愿为了伸张自己的权益而废除他们久已习惯的政府形式。但是，当一贯滥用职权、强取豪夺的同一企图表明政府要把人民置于绝对专制统治之下时，人民就有权利、也有义务推翻这样的政府，并为他们未来的安全建立新的保障。这就是这些殖民地过去忍受苦难的情形，也是它们现在不得不改变政府制度的原因。当今大不列颠国王的历史，是一部接连不断伤天害理、强取豪夺的历史，其直接目标都是要在这些州建立绝对的专制统治。为了证明此言属实，现将事实公之于世，让公正的世界来评判。

他拒绝批准对公众利益最有益、最必需的法律。

他禁止他的总督们批准刻不容缓、极为重要的法律，除非暂停执行直至获得他的批准；而法律一旦被这样搁置，他便完全置之不理。

他拒绝批准便利广大地区人民的其他法律，除非那些人民情愿放弃自己在立法机关中的代表权——这种代表权对他们具有无法估量的价值，而对暴君来说却是可怕的。

他召集各州立法机构到异乎寻常、极不方便、远离其档案保管处的地方开会，目的无非是使他们疲于奔命，不得不顺从他的种种措施。

他屡次解散各州议会，只因它们以刚毅不屈的勇气反对他侵犯人民的权利。

他在解散各州议会之后，又长期拒绝选举新的议会；而立法权是无法取消的，因此这项权力便回到人民手中，由人民自行行使；在此期间，各州仍饱受外来入侵和内部动荡的危险。

他竭力阻止各州增加人口；为此，他阻挠外国人归化法的通过，拒绝批准鼓励移民的其他法律，并提高了新土地分配的条件。

他拒绝批准建立司法权力的法律，借以阻挠司法行政的推行。

他迫使法官的任期以及薪俸的数额和支付，完全取决于他个人的意志。

他滥设众多新官职，派遣大批官员骚扰我们的人民，榨取他们的血汗。

他在和平时期，未经我们立法机关同意，便在我们中间维持常备军。

他力图使军队独立于民政权力之外，并凌驾于民政权力之上。

他同他人勾结，把我们置于一种既不符合我们的宪法、也未得到我们法律承认的管辖之下，并批准他们那些假冒立法的法案：

假借立法，在我们中间驻扎大批武装部队；

以莫须有的审判来包庇他们，使他们杀害各州居民而免于惩罚；

切断我们同世界各地的一切贸易；

未经我们同意便向我们征收赋税；

在许多案件中剥夺我们享有陪审团审判的权利；

以莫须有的罪名把我们押送海外受审；

在邻近省份废除英国的自由法律制度，在那里建立专制政府，并扩大其疆域，使之立刻成为一个样板和合适的工具，以便向这些殖民地推行同样的专制统治；

取消我们的特许状，废除我们最宝贵的法律，从根本上改变我们各政府的形式；

中止我们自己的立法机关行使权力，宣称他们自己拥有在任何情况下为我们制定法律的权力。

他已放弃在这里的政府，宣称我们不再受他的保护，并向我们发动战争。

他掠夺我们的海域，蹂躏我们的海岸，烧毁我们的城镇，残害我们人民的生命。

他此刻正在运送大批外国雇佣兵，来完成已开始的死亡、毁灭和暴虐的勾当；其残忍与背信弃义的程度，即使在最野蛮的时代也鲜有先例，完全配不上一个文明国家的元首。

他胁迫我们在公海上被俘的同胞拿起武器反对自己的国家，充当残害自己朋友和兄弟的刽子手，或者使他们丧命于自己朋友和兄弟之手。

他在我们中间煽动内乱，并竭力引诱我们边境的居民——那些残忍无情的印第安蛮族——来侵犯我们；而他们的作战准则，就是不分男女老幼、不分身份地位，一律残杀殆尽。

在这些压迫的每一个阶段，我们都曾以最谦卑的言辞请求纠正；我们反复提出的请愿，换来的却只是反复的伤害。这样一个君主的品格，已被每一项足以界定暴君的行为打上了烙印，他根本不配做一个自由民族的统治者。

我们也没有疏忽对英国同胞的关切。我们曾不时警告他们，他们的立法机关企图把无理的管辖权扩展到我们头上；我们曾提醒他们，我们当初移居并在此定居的情形；我们曾诉诸他们天生的正义感和宽宏大量，并以我们共同的血缘关系恳求他们摒弃这些篡夺行为，因为这种篡夺行为必将使我们之间的联系和往来中断。他们同样对正义和血缘的声音充耳不闻。因此，我们不得不承认迫使我们分离的必然性，并像对待其他人类一样对待他们：战时为敌，平时为友。

因此，我们这些在大会中集合的美利坚合众国代表，向世界最高裁判者诉请我们的意图公正，并以这些殖民地善良人民的名义和权威，庄严地宣告并昭示：这些联合殖民地从此成为、并且理应成为自由独立的合众国；它们解除对不列颠王室的一切效忠义务，它们与大不列颠国之间的一切政治联系，从此彻底断绝，也理应断绝；作为自由独立的合众国，它们拥有全权去宣战、媾和、缔结盟约、建立通商关系，以及从事一切独立国家有权从事的其他行为和事务。为了支持这一宣言，我们坚定地信赖上苍的庇佑，以我们的生命、我们的财产和我们神圣的荣誉，相互誓约，彼此作保。