评论
打印
In 1765, the company was granted the right to collect the land tax across all of Bengal.
1765年，东印度公司获得了在孟加拉地区全境征收地税的权力。
For the British, it marked the irrevocable shift from trading to ruling. The theory of empire had been turned on its head.
这明确地标志着英国人从此不再与印度进行贸易，而是统治印度。这项举措完全与帝国论背道而驰。
Trade can only thrive, that theory had said, when it's not lumbered with government or an army.
帝国论指出，只有没有政府和军队横加干涉，贸易的发展才会十分繁荣。
"Trade can only thrive in India," whispered Clive, "When it hooks up with government, when it runs a tax system, and when it supports an army."
克莱夫却低声鼓吹“印度的贸易，只有当殖民政府出面管理，税收系统确立，并且拥有军队时才会繁荣发展。”
And it happened in stark contrast to what was occurring in America at exactly the same time.
与此同时，发生在美国的事情却与此有着天差地别。
In Boston, they were sending protesting mobs into the streets, but in Bengal, the money men were falling over themselves to bankroll the British.
在波士顿，愤怒的人们在大街小巷示威，而孟加拉的富人却争先恐后地为英国人提供资金。
And the local land-owning tax collectors, or Zemindars, as they were called, would happily carry on harvesting the rupees, as they had for the Mughals.
而当地负责收租的地主，又称籍民达尔，也心甘情愿地为英国人征收赋税，就像之前为莫卧儿王朝收税一样。
The British even imagined that under their enlightened supervision, Bengal would be turned from a place of grinding toil into a model of progress. In theory, everyone was going to be happy.
英国人甚至异想天开，认为在他们的英明领导之下，孟加拉地区能从民不聊生的蛮荒之地变成改革发展的典范。从理论上讲，这是两全其美的。
If the Zemindars could know for sure exactly how much tax they would owe to the government, they could go easy on the peasants.
而地主需要上缴给政府的税款如果是一个确定的数目，他们便不会对农民敲骨吸髓。
The peasants, in turn, would be able to be thrifty and industrious and produce a surplus for the market, and plough back the profit into self-improvement.
而这样一来，农民们也就有了勤俭持家、努力劳作的动力，便能够生产出富余粮食以供销售，随后再将盈利用于对生产工具的升级。
The only problem with this, of course, was that it was a total fantasy.
以上所有理念只有一个漏洞，那就是太不实际。
The Zemindars' main interest was, and always had been, in shaking as much money as possible from their peasants, which they continued to do.
因为地主的主要获利手段一直是将农民身上的钱榨光，这一点是不会改变的。
So, instead of beginning a chain reaction of benevolence, it started a pyramid of extortion.
因此，彼此互惠的良性循环并没有出现，取而代之的则是层层盘剥。
The government screwed the Zemindars, the Zemidars screwed the peasants.
政府压榨地主，地主则将压力转嫁于农民。
The Zemindars went broke, the peasants were evicted and died in hundreds of thousands. So much for good intentions.
结果地主破了产，而农民则被驱逐出自己的家园，成千上万人就这样悲惨地死去。这就是英国人"好心"的结果。
And, in short order, famine arrived in Bengal. Walking ribcages on the trunk roads, saucer-eyed children dying in baked mudholes, flocks of kites landing on the carcasses of cattle.
不久后，饥荒席卷了孟加拉地区。瘦得皮包骨人行走于路中，眼睛突出的幼儿惨死于晒干的泥坑，成群的老鹰落在牛群的尸体上。
Perhaps a quarter of the population of Bengal perished, millions of people.
孟加拉失去了四分之一的人口，那是几百万条生命。
Perhaps the British didn't cause it, but they certainly didn't help. Guilty or innocent, one fact was indisputable -- Bengal now belonged to the British.
也许英国人算不上罪魁祸首，但他们确实没能阻止。无论英国有无罪责，却有一个不争的事实，孟加拉从此属于英国。
Over the next 50 years, most of the rest of India would follow. New British armies would complete the job that Clive had started.
而在接下去的50年中，印度其他地区也统统归于大英帝国。后续的英军将完成克莱夫未竟的事业。
