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Amazing Grace · 2006 — 第 12 / 18 章 · 3'35" · C1

Pitt Warns a Friend Over Cards, Explained：a wave of good intentions

Two old friends play cards and the talk turns to Lord Tarleton's money and the coming abolition vote. 'His enemy is my enemy,' one of them says, choosing politics over the friendship. In Parliament, an opponent praises abolition and then asks for a delay — 'a wave of good intentions' must not sink the ship of state.

あらすじ

At a card table, an old friend of the prime minister warns him that Lord Tarleton is paying people to speak against abolition. The answer is 'His enemy is my enemy' — a personal break dressed as politics. Then Parliament debates the trade: one speaker admits it is an 'almighty calumny' but asks for a period of reflection rather than a vote.

SpeechesNegotiationThreateningPersuadingFriendsC1slowbritish
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注目の表現

dealt a favourable handtake the pointcalumnybloody

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  23. ❝ 独白Pitt urges delay12 行練習ページ ↗
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このシーンの表現

a wave of good intentions

well-meaning but hasty zeal

Pitt closes by calling abolitionist feeling a wave that could sink the ship of state.

A wave of good intentions will not fix the budget.

このシーンの他の表現

  • dealt a favourable hand

    to be given an advantage

  • take the point

    to accept someone's argument

  • calumny

    a false and damaging claim

  • bloody

    a mild British swear word

このシーンのメモ一覧

34 行のセリフに 25 件のメモ

表現 · B1have no time for something

to have no patience for

Really, I have no time for cards. I have urgent business in the House.
表現 · B1idle gossip

idle talk about others

As prime minister, idle gossip collects around you like scum in slack water.
発音like scum in

Link like straight into scum without a pause.

As prime minister, idle gossip collects around you like scum in slack water.
表現 · B2speak against something

to oppose something openly

Lord Tarleton's throwing East India Company money at people who are speaking against abolition tonight.
表現 · B1accept an offer

to take such a deal

Of course, no true friend of mine would accept such an offer.
表現 · B1ensure that ...

to make certain that

I've always ensured that you have been dealt a favourable hand.
表現 · B2be dealt a favourable hand

to be given an advantage

I've always ensured that you have been dealt a favourable hand.
表現 · B1make someone do something

to push someone to a decision

It isn't money that has made me decide to oppose Wilberforce.
文法 · B2It isn't money that

cleft sentence: The cleft It isn't money that singles out money as the thing being denied.

It isn't money that has made me decide to oppose Wilberforce.
スラング · B2bloody

mild British swearing — fine among friends in anger, not in formal writing

You are sleepwalking hand-in-hand with a bloody rebel.
表現 · B1be loyal to someone

to stay faithful to someone

The planters still have the king, and I, at least, am still loyal to him.
表現 · A2at least

at the very least

The planters still have the king, and I, at least, am still loyal to him.
表現 · B2force someone to do something

to compel someone to act

Don't force me to put a pistol to your head.
表現 · B1one from each side

one from either party

Well, if you do, there will be two pistols, one from each side.
表現 · B2let me be clear

to state something plainly

First, let me be clear.
表現 · B1in favour of something

supporting something

After long consideration and much consultation, I am in favour of the abolition of the slave trade.
表現 · B2after long consideration

after weighing it a long time

After long consideration and much consultation, I am in favour of the abolition of the slave trade.
表現 · B2no doubt in my mind that

I am completely sure

There's no doubt in my mind that this trade in human beings is an almighty calumny and is a disgrace to this nation.
表現 · B2take someone's point

to accept someone's argument

Pitt calls the trade a disgrace, then grants his opponent's concern to set up the delay.

However... I also take the point of my honourable friend, the member for Liverpool.
表現 · C1if someone were to do something

a hypothetical future action

If we were to outlaw the trade tomorrow, it would bring financial disaster to many cities and industries in this country.
文法 · C1were to outlaw

subjunctive if-clause: Were to plus would frames a distant hypothetical, making the warning sound measured.

If we were to outlaw the trade tomorrow, it would bring financial disaster to many cities and industries in this country.
表現 · B2a period of reflection

a pause to think things over

I therefore suggest a period of reflection.
表現 · B2delay the inevitable

to postpone what must happen

After a year and a half of privy council investigations, what good would it do to delay the inevitable?
表現 · B2do so gradually

to do it step by step

If the trade were to be abolished, I suggest that we do so gradually.
発音must not be

Drop the t sounds so must not be runs together.

This great ship of state must not be sunk by a wave of good intentions.

「Pitt Warns a Friend Over Cards」を読み解く

What's really going on

The scene is built on the idea that politics here is a card game, and everyone is holding something back. The prime minister's friend says 'It isn't money that has made me decide to oppose Wilberforce' and then adds 'His enemy is my enemy,' which is a personal grievance wearing the mask of principle. The offer of East India money has done its work even if it is not the stated reason. The second half shows the same evasion at national scale: the gradualist speaker calls the slave trade an 'almighty calumny' and in the same breath asks for delay, so that no one has to vote against it outright. 'This great ship of state must not be sunk by a wave of good intentions' is the line that gives the whole chapter its title, and it turns other people's decency into the danger.

Theme

CorruptionEast India Company money is used to buy speeches against abolition, and the card game turns the bribe into a quiet test of who can be bought.
PowerThe debate shows how a just cause can be buried by procedure — 'a period of reflection,' gradualism, and talk of the ship of state — rather than voted down outright.

このチャプターで学べること

  • A friendly card game can carry a real political threat.
  • Admitting the wrong can be a way to ask for delay.
  • Were to keeps the warning safely hypothetical.
  • Ship of state turns reform into dangerous weather.

発音のポイント

  • like scum in — Link like straight into scum without a pause.
  • must not be — Drop the t sounds so must not be runs together.
His enemy is my enemy.

The break between old friends explained in five words. He is not opposing abolition on the merits; he is siding against the man he has decided to treat as an enemy.

Wilberforce follows no leader but the preacher in his head.

A dismissal of Wilberforce as a fanatic, not a politician. It reduces his convictions to private zeal, which is how his enemies explain why he cannot be bought.

This great ship of state must not be sunk by a wave of good intentions.

The chapter's title line. It reframes the abolitionists' sincerity as a threat, arguing that the nation must be protected from people who mean well too quickly.

Don't force me to put a pistol to your head.

A threat inside a card game, half metaphor and half real. It shows how quickly the polite friendship can turn into a standoff over the coming vote.

このシーンについての質問

What is Lord Tarleton doing?

He is using East India Company money to pay people who will speak against abolition in Parliament. The warning lands as a test of loyalty: no true friend would accept such an offer.

Why does one of them decide to oppose Wilberforce?

He says it is not about money: 'His enemy is my enemy.' Wilberforce's cause puts him on the opposite side of the prime minister, so a personal break and a political one happen at once.

What does the gradualist speech argue?

It claims to support abolition, calls the trade an almighty calumny, then warns that outlawing it overnight would ruin cities and industries, and asks for a period of reflection instead.

Why is 'a wave of good intentions' an insult?

It turns the abolitionists' sincerity into something dangerous. The speaker says violent storms sink ships, so the state must not be sunk by a wave of good intentions — goodwill as a threat.

What does the pistol exchange mean?

It is a warning, not a duel invitation. One man threatens to put a pistol to the other's head; the other answers that both sides would then be armed and might shoot each other.

Amazing Grace · 全 18 章

すべて見る →
次のチャプター · 第 13 章run with bloodPitt Warns Wilberforce About War
第 1 章anything butWilberforce Meets Barbara in Bath第 2 章ran away withWilberforce Tells Richard He Found God第 3 章where your heart liesPitt Asks Wilberforce to Return第 4 章my business is youWilberforce Meets the Abolitionists第 5 章gentle drizzleWilberforce Visits John Newton第 6 章have something made upThe Man in the Box第 7 章died of kindnessWilberforce and Barbara Fake a Fight第 8 章with a heavy heartWilberforce Denounces the Slave Trade第 9 章mean businessCharles Fox Joins the Abolitionists第 10 章have a confession to makeAbolitionists Show MPs a Slave Ship第 11 章scrape the bottom of the barrelAbolitionists Present a Huge Petition再生中 · 第 12 章a wave of good intentionsPitt Warns a Friend Over Cards第 13 章run with bloodPitt Warns Wilberforce About War第 14 章by halvesNewton Gives Wilberforce His Confession第 15 章flag of convenienceThe Neutral Flag Trick第 16 章side windAbolitionists Come at a Side Wind第 17 章find me as myselfWilberforce Quits Laudanum第 18 章pushing at an open doorWilberforce Visits a Dying Pitt
第 12 / 18 章 · 残り約 17 分