§以粉饰蒋介石独裁统治为目的而召集的四届国民参政会，七月七日在重庆开会。
#§Convened to camouflage Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorial regime, the Fourth People's Political Council opened in Chungking on July 7.
第一次会议到会者之少，为历届参政会所未有。
# It was the smallest opening session on record.
不但中共方面无人出席，其它方面也有很多人未出席。
# Not only was nobody present from the Chinese Communist Party, but many members of the Council from other groups were absent too.
蒋介石说：“政府对于国民大会召集有关的问题，拟不提出任何具体的方案，可使诸君得以充分的讨论。
#§The government is not going to submit any specific proposal on questions relating to the convocation of the National Assembly, and you gentlemen can therefore discuss these matters fully.
政府准备以最诚恳坦白的态度，聆取诸位对于这些问题的意见。”
# The government is ready to listen to your opinions on these questions in all honesty and sincerity.
所谓今年十一月十二日召集国民大会一件公案，大概就此收场了。
#§This will probably be the end of the whole business about convoking the National Assembly on November 12 this year.
这件公案，也和帝国主义者赫尔利有关系。
# The imperialist Patrick J.
Hurley has had something to do with this business.
原来这位帝国主义者是极力怂恿蒋介石干这一手的，蒋介石的腰这才敢于在今年元旦的演说里稍稍硬了起来，至三月一日的演说而大硬，说是一定要在十一月十二日“还政于民”。
# At first he strongly encouraged Chiang Kai-shek to make such a move, and it was this that put some stiffening into Chiang Kai-shek's New Year's Day speech, and a great deal more into his March 1 speech in which he announced his determination to "hand state power back to the people" on November 12.
在蒋介石的三月一日的演说里，对于中国共产党代表中国人民的公意而提出的召开党派会议和成立联合政府一项主张，则拒之于千里之外。
# In his speech of March 1 he flatly rejected the Chinese Communist Party's proposal, which voiced the general will of the Chinese people, that a conference of all parties be convened and a coalition government established.
对于组织一个所谓有美国人参加的三人委员会来“整编”中共军队，则吹得得意忘形。
# He gleefully played up the idea of forming a so-called Committee of Three, including an American, to "reorganize" the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party.
蒋介石竟敢说：中共必须先将军队交给他，然后他才赏赐中共以“合法地位”。
# He had the audacity to say that the Chinese Communist Party must hand over its troops before he would bestow "legal status" upon it.
所有这一切，赫尔利老爷的撑腰起了决定的作用。
#§In all this, the backing of His Worship Patrick J.
Hurley was decisive.
四月二日，赫尔利在华盛顿发表声明，除了抹杀中共的地位，污蔑中共的活动，宣称不和中共合作等一派帝国主义的滥调而外，还极力替蒋介石的“国民大会”等项臭物捧场。
# In a statement in Washington on April 2, Hurley did his best to boost Chiang Kai-shek's "National Assembly" and other such nasty schemes in addition to denying the role of the Chinese Communist Party, vilifying its activities, declaring against co-operation with it and uttering other such imperialist platitudes.
如此，美国的赫尔利，中国的蒋介石，在以中国人民为牺牲品的共同目标下，一唱一和，达到了热闹的顶点。
# Thus the duet between Hurley in the United States and Chiang Kai-shek in China reached its most raucous pitch, with the sacrifice of the Chinese people as the common objective.
从此以后，似乎就走上了泄气的命运。
# Since then the show seems to have flagged.
反对者无论在中国人和外国人中，在国民党内和国民党外，在有党派人士和无党派人士中，到处皆是，不计其数。
# Countless voices have been raised in protest everywhere, among both Chinese and foreigners, both inside and outside the Kuomintang, among people with party affiliations and without.
其原因只有一个，就是：赫尔利蒋介石这一套，不管他们怎样吹得像煞有介事，总之是要牺牲中国人民的利益，进一步破坏中国人民的团结，安放下中国大规模内战的地雷，从而也破坏美国人民及其它同盟国人民的反法西斯战争和战后和平共处的共同利益。
# The sole reason is that for all its high-sounding language, the Hurley-Chiang racket is designed to sacrifice the interests of the Chinese people, further wreck their unity, and as it were, lay a mine to set off large-scale civil war in China, thereby damaging the common interests of the people of the United States and other allied countries during the anti-fascist war and the prospects of peaceful coexistence afterwards.
到了今天，赫尔利不知在忙些什么，总之是似乎暂时地藏起来了，却累得蒋介石在参政会上说些不三不四的话。
# At the moment Hurley seems to be lying low, busying himself with no one knows what, with the result that Chiang Kai-shek has to talk twaddle before the People's Political Council.
三月一日蒋介石说：“我国情形与他国不同，在国民大会召开以前，我们便无一个可以代表人民、使政府可以咨询民意之负责团体。”
# Previously, on March 1, Chiang Kai-shek said: #§The conditions in our country differ from those in other countries: prior to the convocation of the National Assembly, we have no responsible organization which is representative of the people and through which the government can consult the people for their opinions.
既然如此，不知道我们的委员长为什么又向参政会“聆取”起“意见”来了。
#§If that is so, why does our Generalissimo now go to the People's Political Council to "listen" to "opinions"?
按照委员长的说法，中国境内是并无任何“可以咨询民意的负责团体”的，参政会不过是一个吃饭的“团体”而已，今天的“聆取”，于法无据。
# According to him, there is no "responsible organization" in the whole of China through which one "can consult the people for their opinions"; it follows that the People's Political Council as an "organization" exists merely to eat, and his "listening" to it has no legal basis.
可是不管怎样，只要参政会说一声停开那个伪造的“国民”大会，就说违反了三月一日的圣旨，犯了王法，也算做了一回好事，积了一件功德。
# Be that as it may, if the People's Political Council says even a single word against the convocation of the bogus "National" Assembly, it will have done a good deed and merited divine grace, though by so doing it would have violated the Imperial Edict of March 1 and committed l¨¨se-majest¨|.
当然，今天来评论参政会，为时尚早，因为参政会究竟拿什么东西让委员长“聆取”，还要等几天才能看到。
# Of course, it is still premature to make any comment on the People's Political Council, as we have to wait a few days to see what it will produce for the Generalissimo to "listen" to.
不过有一点是确实的：自从中国人民群起反对之后，就是热心“君主立宪”的人们也替我们的君主担忧，劝他不要套上被称为猪仔国会的那条绞索，谨防袁世凯来找替死鬼。
# One thing, however, is certain: ever since the Chinese people began raising their voices in protest against this National Assembly, even the enthusiasts for "constitutional monarchy" have been worried about our "monarch", cautioning him not to stick his neck into a noose by convening a "Parliament of Pigs" and warning him of the fate of Yuan Shih-kai.