“北洋系”是怎样兴起的
南方周末 2007-06-28 16:03:59
■晚清变局丛谈
□雷颐(北京)
编者按 在不平等条约体系下，清政府设立总理各国事务衙门，这标志着中国开始仿照欧洲国际关系体制来处理对外交涉事务。相对于以往的“朝贡体制”，这无疑是一个巨大的转型。但是，总理各国事务衙门作为一个专职外交机构，未能将事权完全统一，许多外交权力仍掌握在封疆大吏之手(这不能不说是一个重大的缺陷)，所谓的“北洋系”，即得名于此。
提起“北洋”，人们自然会想起“北洋水师”、“北洋政府”、“北洋军阀”(甚至中国第一所大学“北洋大学堂”)等一系列与清末民初政治紧密相联的词汇，足见“北洋”对近代中国政治的影响之深。而清王朝的覆亡，与其一手打造的“北洋系”却大有干系，这种历史的讽刺，的确令人深思。
清政府力图将对外交涉局限在“地方”
事情的原委，不能不从中国传统观念说起。中国向以自己是位于“天下”之中、文化最为发达优越的“华夏之邦”自居，四周都是文化、制度远不如中国的“蛮、狄、夷、戎”，中国是“天下共主”，而周边各国都是中国的“藩属”。在这种“宗藩”关系中，中国皇帝是“天子”，有“德化蛮夷”、“涵养四方”的责任，藩属国要到中国来朝贡，藩属国立新王也要经中国皇帝册封。在鸦片战争之前，中国没有西方意义上的外交观念，自然也没有专职外交机构。在传统关系中，对外的交往就是“宗主”对“藩属”的管理，所以管理对外交往的机构就是“理藩院”。总之，当时只有“理藩”而无“外交”。
鸦片战争开始后，清政府不得不与英、法等国打交道，虽然中国打了败仗，但清政府“天朝上国”的观念和面子还很强，仍视此时的西方列强为传统“狄夷”，不屑也根本不想与之“外交”，所以每当有中外交涉事件，朝廷总是因事随时择人办理，没有专门机构和专人负责。中英签订了不平等的《南京条约》后，中国被迫开放五口通商，中外交涉遽增。“五口”成为外国人从事各种活动的法定地点，也是中外交涉的法定地点，清政府于1844年设置五口通商大臣，处理这些地方的中外交涉事宜。传统的体制开始打开一个小小的缝隙。由于这“五口”都在南方，广州历来是对外交往较多的地方，所以五口通商大臣开始由两广总督兼任。但随着上海的开埠，外国人的活动重心向北移动，因此从1859年起改为由江苏巡抚或两江总督兼任，如李鸿章任江苏巡抚时就兼任通商大臣。设立五口通商大臣，其目的是将对外交涉局限在“地方”，不让外国人进京，以符中国传统体制。在清政府的观念里，中国仍是“天朝上国”，那些“蛮夷之邦”只能与中国的地方政府打交道，而不能(因根本无资格)与中国的中央政府打交道。
为了进一步打开中国大门，英、法又发动了第二次鸦片战争。这次战争又以中国惨败、签订不平等的《北京条约》而结束，英法等国取得了公使驻京的权利。对清政府来说，这可谓体制上的一次巨变。为了适应这种变化，恭亲王奕盉等于1861年初上奏“请设总理各国事务衙门”负责对外交涉事宜，朝廷颁谕同意“京师设立总理各国通商事务衙门”，比奕盉等人的奏请多了“通商”二字，奕盉于是再次奏请在铸造关防时，略去“通商”二字，遂改名为“总理各国事务衙门”。另外，在列强的压力下又增加了许多沿海沿江开放口岸，长江以南由原来的5口增为13口，长江以北新开牛庄、天津、登州3口。清政府于是将原来的五口通商大臣改为“办理江浙闽粤内江各口通商事务大臣”，设在上海，后来演变成为南洋通商大臣或南洋大臣；在天津新设“办理牛庄、天津、登州三口通商事务大臣”，后来演变称为北洋通商大臣或北洋大臣。南北洋大臣都是为“通商”而设，若依朝廷本意，连总理衙门前也要加“通商”二字，反映出当时把“夷务”与“通商”看成一回事的观念，或者说仍想保持与“狄夷”只有“通商”关系而无外交、政治关系(因其无资格)的名分。
直隶总督在清政府外交体制中的地位的确立
南洋通商大臣从设立之初即由苏抚或江督兼任，因此苏抚或江督在清政府对外交往体制中占有一席之地。而北洋通商大臣在设置之初则是专职，专办洋务兼筹海防，而直隶总督不兼北洋通商大臣，因此从体制上说此时直隶总督与外交无缘。由于与北京近在咫尺，再加清廷仍是尽可能地将对外交涉活动局限于地方，所以北洋通商大臣在天津设立之初就参与了国家外交活动。例如，从1861年到1869年这9年间，清政府与一些国家签订了十余个条约，而三口通商大臣崇厚参与了其中9个条约的谈判签约，并且签约地都是天津而不是中国的首都北京，有些国家原派代表到了北京，清政府仍坚持要他们到天津。各国外交人员只能在中国的“地方”、并主要是与“地方官”打交道，明显不合国际惯例，引起各国强烈不满，一再要求进京。但清政府为传统观念所囿，一直坚持与各国的交涉只能在国门天津而不能在国都北京进行。若想进京交涉，必须先在天津等候，由三口通商大臣先向总理衙门呈报，获得批准后方可进京，如果不经三口通商大臣同意而直接进京投谒总理衙门大臣，则肯定被拒。这些规定或曰惯例，使三口通商大臣实际深深参与国家外交。
由于三口通商大臣是专任，因此与直隶总督往往各自为政、相互掣肘，屡有矛盾。曾经参与天津教案处理、对直隶总督曾国藩与三口通商大臣崇厚之间的矛盾有切身感受的工部尚书、总理衙门大臣毛昶熙于1870年10月上折，认为脱离本省督抚而设专职办理对外交涉的通商大臣，彼此难以协调，因而奏请“三口通商亦不必专设大员，所有洋务海防均责成直隶总督悉心经理”，一如南洋通商大臣之例。11月12日，清廷发布上谕，决定裁撤专任三口通商大臣，照南洋通商大臣之例由直隶总督兼任。这一改变解决了直隶总督和三口通商大臣各自为政的积弊，大大扩充了直隶总督的职权，其工作重心亦从“省防”转为“海防”、“洋务”，确立了直隶总督在清政府外交体制中的地位。直隶的府城是保定，三口通商大臣衙署在天津，为解决这一矛盾，上谕规定“将通商大臣衙署改为直隶总督行馆”，直隶总督在天津、保定间轮驻，但可“长驻津郡”，“如天津遇有要件”更可不必回省城保定，明确规定直督驻天津优先于驻保定，为直督处理“海防”重于“省防”提供了另一方面的保证。
担任北洋大臣的李鸿章俨然成为国家外交全局的主持人
恰恰此前不久，李鸿章被任命为直隶总督，因此成为直督兼通商大臣第一人。李鸿章当上“北洋”大臣不久，就开始积极参与一系列国家外交活动。就体制上的承属系统而言，总理衙门设立之后南北洋大臣只是地方上办理外交的代表，为总理衙门所统属，受总理衙门之命主持对外重大交涉，但实际上南北洋大臣尤其是北洋大臣却常常是代替总理衙门，成为国家外交的总代表。在李的努力经营下，其活动范围迅速扩大，总理衙门办理每一件事几乎都要向他通报，听取他的意见和建议，许多驻外外交人员更是经常向他汇报，听取他的指示，李已俨然成为国家外交全局的主持人。他在天津的官衙渐渐成了清政府实际上的外交部，外国人与他打交道越来越多，反之又进一步提高了他的地位。一位英国外交官说：北洋大臣李鸿章“甚至不想掩盖他实际上是中国的外交大臣这一事实”，“像现在这样组成、这样管理的总理衙门，只不过是李鸿章大学士在天津的衙门的一个分支机关”。
本应承属于总理衙门的北洋大臣现在却超越总理衙门，固然有李的个人原因，更有体制原因。负责对外交涉的南北洋大臣本无兵权，但由于是督抚兼领，既有兵权又有地方行政权，自然成为国防、外交上的重镇。而就南北洋“分量”而言，由于南洋大臣早设约20年，再加早期南方对外交涉事件远多于北方，所以早期是“南重于北”；后来由于外交重心北移，北洋大臣更多地参与全国外交，渐渐地“北重于南”。
“北洋系”终成中央政府难以驾控的巨大政治力量，对清末乃至民国政治都影响殊深。晚清政治格局的一大特点是地方势力慢慢崛起，中央政府渐渐大权旁落，此乃清朝灭亡的重要原因之一。造成这种现象的原因固然很多，其中不容忽视的一点即清政府在“欧风美雨”的侵袭中已经风雨飘摇，却囿于“天朝上国”的传统观念，竟然把“外交”这种最重要的国家政治交与“地方”处理，地方自然要崛起、“坐大”。许多年后，正是任北洋大臣的袁世凯成为满清王朝的重要掘墓人！如此结局，是当初为维护传统“礼制”和“面子”、想把外交仍局限于“地方”而设南北洋大臣的清廷万万没有想到的，历史，确实吊诡。
- Re: 鈥滃寳娲嬬郴鈥濇槸鎬庢牱鍏磋捣鐨�(闆烽)posted on 06/29/2007
长知识，谢谢。 - posted on 06/30/2007
就要这么理顺了，才看得清历史的来龙去脉，长知识了。
也转一篇钦差大臣林则徐1839年致维多利亚女王的信，请注意文字间的语气。
A communication: magnificently our great Emperor soothes and pacifies China and the foreign countries, regarding all with the same kindness. If there is profit, then he shares it with the peoples of the world; if there is harm, then he removes it on behalf of the world. This is because he takes the mind of heaven and earth as his mind.
The kings of your honorable country by a tradition handed down from generation to generation have always been noted for their politeness and submissiveness. We have read your successive tributary memorials saying, "In general our countrymen who go to trade in China have always received His Majesty the Emperor's gracious treatment and equal justice." and so on. Privately we are delighted with the way in which the honorable rulers of your countip deeply understand the grand principles and are grateful for the Celestial grace. For this reason the Celestial Court in soothing those from afar has redoubled its polite and kind treatment. The profit from trade has been enjoyed by them continuously for two hundred years. This is the source from which your country has become known for its wealth.
But after a long period of commercial intercourse, there appear among the crowh of barbarians both good persons and bad, unevenly. Consequently there are those who smuggle opium to seduce the Chinese people and so cause the spread of the poison to all provinces. Such persons who only care to profit themselves, and disregard their harm to others, are not tolerated by the laws of heaven and are unanimoly hated by human beings. His Majesty the Emperor, upon hearing of this, is in a towering rage. He has especially sent me, his commissioner, to come to Kwangtung, and together with the governor-general and governor jointly to investigate and settle this matter.
All those people in China who sell opium or smoke opium should receive the death penalty. We trace the crime of those barbarians who through the years have been selling opium, then the deep harm they have wrought and the great profit they have usurped should fundamentally justify their execution according to law. We take into to consideration, however, the fact that the various barbarians have still known how to repent their crimes and return to their allegiance to us by taking the 20,183 chests of opium from their storeships and petitioning us, through their consular officer [superintendent of trade], Elliot, to receive it. It has been entirely destroyed and this has been faithfully reported to the Throne in several memorials by this comissioner and his colleagues.
Fortunately we have received a specially extended favor Born His Majesty the Emperor, who considers that for those who voluntarily surrender there are still some circumstances to paliate their crime, and so for the time being he has magnanimously excused them from punishment. But as for those who again violate the opium prohibition, it is difficult for the law to pardon them repeatedly. Having established new regulations, we presume that the ruler of your honorable country, who takes delight in our culture and whose disposition is inclined towards us, must be able to instruct the various barbarians to observe the law with care. It is only neccessary to explain to them the advantages and advantages and then they will know that the legal code of the Celestial Court must be absolutely obeyed with awe.
We find your country is sixty or seventy thousand li [three li make one mile, ordinarily] from China Yet there are barbanan ships that strive to come here for trade for the purpose of making a great profit The wealth of China is used to profit the barbarians. That is to say, the great profit made by barbarians is all taken from the rightful share of China. By what right do they then in return use the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people? Even though the barbarians may not necessarily intend to do us harm, yet in coveting profit to an extreme, they have no regard for injuring others. Let us ask, where is your conscience? I have heard that the smoking of opium is very strictly forbidden by your country; that is because the harm caused by opium is clearly understood. Since it is not permitted to do harm to your own country, then even less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other countries -- how much less to China! Of all that China exports to foreign countries, there is not a single thing which is not beneficial to peo ple: they are of benefit when eaten, or of benefit when used, or of benefit when resold: all are beneficial. Is there a single article from China which has done any harm to foreign countries? Take tea and rhubarb, for example; the foreign countries cannot get along for a single day without them. If China cuts off these benefits with no sympathy for those who are to suffer, then what can the barbarians rely upon to keep themselves alive? Moreover the woolens, camlets, and longells [i.e., textiles] of foreign countries cannot be woven unless they obtain Chinese silk. If China, again, cuts off this beneficial export, what profit can the barbarians expect to make? As for other foodstuffs, beginning with candy, ginger, cinnamon, and so forth, and articles for use, beginning with silk, satin, chinaware, and so on, all the things that must be had by foreign countries are innumerable. On the other hand, articles coming from the outside to China can only be used as toys. We can take them or get along without them. Since they are not needed by China, what difficulty would there be if we closed our the frontier and stopped the trade? Nevertheless, our Celestial Court lets tea, silk, and other goods be shipped without limit and circulated everywhere without begrudging it in the slightest. This is for no other reason but to share the benefit with the people of the whole world. The goods from China carried away by your country not only supply your own consumption and use, but also can be divided up and sold to other countries, producing a triple profit. Even if you do not sell opium, you still have this threefold profit. How can you bear to go further, selling products injurious to others in order to fulfill your insatiable desire?
Suppose there were people from another country who carried opium for sale to England and seduced your people into buying and smoking it; certainly your honorable ruler would deeply hate it and be bitterly aroused. We have heard heretofore that your honorable ruler is kind and benevolent. Naturally you would not wish to give unto others what you yourself do not want. We have also heard that the ships coming to Canton have all had regulations promulgated and given to them in which it is stated that it is not permitted to carry contraband goods. This indicates that the administrative orders of your honorable rule have been originally strict and clear. Only because the trading ships are numerous, heretofore perhaps they have not been examined with care. Now after this communication has been dispatched and you have clearly understood the strictness of the prohibitory laws of the Celestial Gourt, certainly you will not let your subjects dare again to violate the law.
We have further learned that in London, the capital of your honorable rule, and in Scotland,
Ireland, and other places, originally no opium has been produced. Only in several places of India under your control such as Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Patna, Benares, and Malwa has opium been planted from hill to hill, and ponds h ave been opened for its manufacture. For months and years wark is continued in order to accumulate the poison. The obnoxious odor ascends, irritating heaven and frightening the spirits. Indeed you, O King, can eradicate the opium plant in these places, hoe over the fields entirely, and sow in its stead the five grains [millet, barley, wheat, etc.]. Anyone who dares again attempt to plant and manufacture opium should be severely punished. This will really be a great, benevolent government policy that will increase the common weal and get rid of evil. For this, Heaven must support you and the spirits must bring you good fortune, prolonging your old age and extending your descendants. All will depend on this act.
As for the barbarian merchants who come to China, their food and drink and habitation, all received by the gracious favor of our Celestial Court. Their accumulated wealth is all benefit given with pleasure by our Celestial Court. They spend rather few days in their own country but more time in Canton. To digest clearly the le gal penalties as an aid to instruction has been a valid principle in all ages. Suppose a man of another country comes to England to trade, he still has to obey the English laws; how much more should he obey in China the laws of the Celestial Dynasty?
Now we have set up regulations governing the Chinese people. He who sells opium shall receive the death penalty and he who smokes it also the death penalty. Now consider this: if the barbarians do not bring opium, then how can the Chinese people resell it, and how can they smoke it? The fact is that the wicked barbariians beguile the Ghinese people into a death trap. How then can we grant life only to these barbarians? He who takes the life of even one person still has to atone for it with his own life; yet is the harm done by opium limited to the taking of one life only? Therefore in the new regulations, in regard to those barbarians who bring opium to China, the penalty is fixed at decapitation or strangulation. This is what is called getting rid a harmful thing on behalf of mankind.
Moreover we have found that in the middle of the second month of this year [April 9] Consul [Superintendent] Elliot of your nation, because the opium prohibition law was very stern and severe, petitioned for an extension of the time limit. He requested an estension of five months for India and its adjacent harbours and related territories, and ten months for England proper, after which they would act in conformity wi th the new regulations. Now we, the commissioner and.others, have memorialized and have received the extraordinary Celestial grace of His Majesty the Emperor, who has redoubled his consideration and compassion. All those who from the period of the coming one year (from England) or six months (from India) bring opium to China by mistake, but who voluntarily confess and completely surrender their opium, shall be exempt from their punishment. After this limit of time, if there are still those who bring opium to China then they will plainly have committed a wilful violation and shall at once be executed according to law, with absolutely no clemency or pardon. This may be called the height of kindness and the perfection of justice.
Our Celestial Dynasty rules over and supervises the myriad states, and surely possesses unfathomable spiritual dignity. Yet the Emperor cannot cear to execute people without having first tried to reform them by instruction. Therefore he especialiy prornulgates these fixed regulations. The barbarian merchants of your country, if they wish to do business for a prolonged period, are required to obey our statues respectfully and to cut off permanently the source of opium. They must by no means try to test the
effectiveness of the law with their lives. May you, O King, check your wicked and sift your wicked people
before they come to China, in order to guarantee the peace of your nation, to show further the sincerity of your politeness and subrnissiveness, and to let the two countries enjoy together the blessings of peace How fortunate, how fortunate indeed! After receiving this dispatch will you immediately give us a prompt reply regarding the details and circumstances of your cutting off the opium traffic. be sure not to put this off. The above is what has to be communicated.
- posted on 06/30/2007
WOA贴得及时，我前些读完The Fantasy Traders一章，把这封信的来
龙去脉叙一下：
Convincing the Emperor he could clean things up, Lin made an explosive proposal. All smugglers, foreign or Chinese, were to be treated the same under Chinese law. The Emperor agreed and sent Lin to Canton as high commissioner, with plenipotentiary powers and supreme command of Chinese forces in the city. He as specifically briefed to ‘investigate port affairs’, a euphemism for looking into foreign trading and the opium business in particular: it is rumoured the Viceroy fainted and remained unconscious for an hour on receiving the news.
A realist, Lin knew he was not only taking on foreign merchants but also his own countrymen: viceregal authorities would be obstructive, the Chinese navy’s loyalty doubtful and the Hong traders uncooperative.
The Chiese found it inconceivable that the opium trade was conducted with the knowledge of the British monarch and in 1830, before relations had begun to break down, the then Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi provinces had advised that the best way to stop importation was to appeal to the leaders of the foreign merchants’ nations. Lin, who wrote that the British are ruled at present by a young girl*, was to send a long and closed argued letter against the opium trade to Queen Victoria.
William C. Hunter, who was asked to translate the letter back into Chinese from English to make sure it conveyed the sense of the original draft, states in his memoir the ‘Fan Kwae’ at Canton, published in 1882: ‘The document was a most extraordinary one. Prominent is the bombastic style, the outcome of ages of dominion, ignorance of Western official forms through an absence of diplomatic intercourse.’
The letter was delivered to Captain Warner, master of the Thomas Coutts: hower, what happened to it is unknown. The Thomas Coutts reached London, but the letter never reached Queen Victoria. A charitable explanation is that Warner transferred it to a mail-packet using the Suez overland route on which mail robbery was rife. Another opinion has Lord Palmerson holding it back.
How sad!
这一段时间的资料还有很多，可以慢讨论！
*维多利亚女王一八三七年登基，那时她才十八岁，我写过一首叫王莲
的诗，故而有记忆。
http://www.mayacafe.com/forum/topic1.php3?tkey=1164902244 - posted on 06/30/2007
Extremely interesting. Too bad there was not a reply.
WOA wrote:
就要这么理顺了，才看得清历史的来龙去脉，长知识了。
也转一篇钦差大臣林则徐1839年致维多利亚女王的信，请注意文字间的语气。
A communication: magnificently our great Emperor soothes and pacifies China and the foreign countries, regarding all with the same kindness. If there is profit, then he shares it with the peoples of the world; if there is harm, then he removes it on behalf of the world. This is because he takes the mind of heaven and earth as his mind.
- Re: 鈥滃寳娲嬬郴鈥濇槸鎬庢牱鍏磋捣鐨�(闆烽)posted on 07/03/2007
Of course there was a reply.....in a much less diplomatic way, the first Opium War broke out only less than half year after the above letter was issued. Even if the letter failed to reach the queen, it certainly helped her admirals sketch out the warfare tactics against their merciful chinese counterpart.
八十一子 wrote:
Extremely interesting. Too bad there was not a reply.
- posted on 07/05/2007
Here is another letter about Jesus-Dirt:
From Tsung-li-Yamen to Sir Alcock, July, 1869
the Chinese merchant supplies your country with his goodly tea and silk, conferring thereby a benefit upon her; but the English merchant empoisons china with pestilent opium. such conduct is unrighteous. Who can justify it? What wonder if officials and people say that England is wilfully working out China's ruin, and has no real friendly feeling for her? The wealth and generosity of England are spoken by all; she is anxious to prevent and anticipate all injury to her commercial interests. How is it, then she can hesitate to remove an acknowledged evil? Indeed, it cannot be that England still holds to this evil business, earning the hatred of the officials and people of China, and making herself a reproach among the nations, because she would lose a little revenue were she to forfeit the cultivation of the poppy!
The writers hope that His Excellency will memorialise his government to give orders in India and else where to substitute the cultivation of cerals or cotton. Were both nations to rigorously prohibit the growth of the poppy, both the trade in and the consumption of opium might alike be put an end to. To do away with so great an evil would be great virtue on England's part; she would strengthen friendly relations and make herself illustrious. How delightful to have so great an act transmitted to after ages!
This matter is injurious to commercial interest in no ordinary degree. If His Excellency the British Minister cannot, before it is too late, arrange a plan for a joint prohibition, then no matter with what devotedness the writers may plead, they may be unable to cause the people to put aside ill-feeling, and so strenthen friendly relations as to place them for ever beyond fear of distrubance. Day and night, therefore, the writers give to this matter most earnest thought, and overpowering is the distress and anxiety it occasions them. Having thus presumed to unbosom themselves they would be honoured by His Excellency's reply.
&
The appeal was accompanied by a confidential memorandum from Sir rutherford Alcock who pressed for it to be taken seriously. For months, the Chinese waited in anticipation of a response. None was ever forthcoming.
Alcock, who was personally dismayed by the evils of the opium trade, warned Parliament in 1871:
There is a very large and increasing cultivation of the poppy in China; the chinese government are seriously contemplating - if they cannot come to any terms or arrangement with the British government... - the cultivation without stint in China, and producing opium at a much cheaper rate. Having done that they think they will afterwards be able to stamp out the opium produce among themselves.
- posted on 07/06/2007
我的意思是书面答复。那将会是一个极为有趣的历史文件。我不太相信那时候有关鸦片贸易的事英国女皇被蒙在鼓里。
WOA wrote:
Of course there was a reply.....in a much less diplomatic way, the first Opium War broke out only less than half year after the above letter was issued. Even if the letter failed to reach the queen, it certainly helped her admirals sketch out the warfare tactics against their merciful chinese counterpart.
八十一子 wrote:
Extremely interesting. Too bad there was not a reply.
- posted on 07/06/2007
女王肯定是了如指掌，开战也是她授了权的，如果有回信，估计也是人和牛各弹各的琴，双方的外交对话缺乏基本的protocol，那自然有趣得紧。
从英方的角度看，与中国的贸易逆差巨大，英国货不受中国人民欢迎，商人改用鸦片来平衡收支，却受到当局打压，严重威胁英国的经济利益。那个时代没有通行黄金美元的挂钩，解决贸易的不平衡就只有用枪炮，不像现在有人威胁人民币升值，表面看来是文明的进化，本质上都是掠夺。
八十一子 wrote:
我的意思是书面答复。那将会是一个极为有趣的历史文件。我不太相信那时候有关鸦片贸易的事英国女皇被蒙在鼓里。
- posted on 07/06/2007
这一段维多利亚女王和传教士：
Ironically, the Convention allowed for missionaries as well as traders to enter China, the preaching of the gospels being legalised along with opium. Many missionaries did not approve of this and petitioned Queen Victoria to Change the situation regarding the drug trade, but to no avail. Understandably, a good number of Chinese identified Western evangelism with the drug trade. Opium and morphine - which was sometimes erroneously employed by well-meaning missionary doctors to cure opium addiction - were frequently referred to as 'Jesus-Opium'. Such was the link between the Christians and opium that when Alcock left Peking in 1869, Prince Kung told him if he removed opium and missionaries from China, traders would be welcomed.
这几段第一次鸦片战争的另一种结局：
The primary reason why opium was not touched upon in the TReaty of Nanking was because, by mentioning it, the British government would have had to plan a future policy for the trade and they preferred China to do this instead by legalising it. both Sir Henry Pottinger, by now the chief Superintendent of Trade and his successor, Sir John Davis, tried to force the Chinese hand but failed. Smuggling contined.
Opium imports rose sharply. Criticism of the trade increased in the British Parliament. The future seventh Earl of Shaftesbury spoke for many when he stated in 1843, 'I am fully convinced that for this country to encourage this nefarious traffic is bad, perhaps worse than encouraging the slave trade.' Yet nothing altered. Colonial policy was untouched and the Indian economy was preserved.
It was considered with hindsight that the war had been inevitable. Opium was merely one of the pretexts. The British considered the issues were more fundamental and involved forcing China to open up to world trade, although Sir George Staunton, an authority on Sino-British relations, declared in Parliament, 'I never denied the fact, that if there had been no opium smuggling, there would have been no war'. From the Chinese viewpoint, however, opium was the principal cause.
For many in London, the Chinese opinion was valid. Dr Thomas Arnold condemned it as 'so wicked as to be a national sin of the greatest possible magnitude' whilst Gladstone denounced it with the words, 'a war more unjust in its origin, a war more calculated to cover this country with permanent disgrace, I do not know and I have not read of.'
Two political casualties of the war were Elliot and Lin who, in their own ways, were joined in a fight against opium. Lin was dismissed in late 1840: Elliot lasted until Pottinger was appointed in his place in August 1841.
They both made mistakes. Elliot demanded less from the Chinese than his government had instructed, whilst acting on his own initiative, and Lin failed, through no fault of his own, because the mission he had been sent upon was impossible. They were both naive, too honourable for the dirty business into which they became embroiled, and they had such forces massed against them - the military power of the British, the corruption of the Chinese government and the devious immorality of the opium dealers.
Lin finally left Canton on 3 May 1841, exiled to Turkestan.(Xin-Jiang-xw) Throughout the war, his Emperor blamed him and the Chinese military leaders for the failure to drive the barbarians out. It was not their fault: they were fighting superior, experienced soldiers and politicians. Yet Lin was humbled. He had caused the Emperor to lose face. As for Charles Elliot, he was appointed British charge d'affaires to the newly constituted Republic of Texas, a British diplomatic posting equivalent at the time to Turkestan. Despite Queen Victoria's opinion of him as a man 'who completely disobeyed his instructions and tried to get the lowest terms he could', Elliot went on to become governor of Bermuda, Trinidad and St Helena and, when he died in 1875, he was an admiral with a knighthood. Yet to this day, no mention is made of his part in founding Hong Kong: the British Dictionary of National Biography ignores the fact completely.
再看看当时的道光皇帝：
The Chinese government was caught in a cleft stick. They could not eradicate smuggling for they had no operational navy and a huge coastline. Their officials were rotten to the core. British interests in India relied heavily upon opium revenues. International trade regarded it as a staple commodity. Too many people had too many vested interests. Even the emperors were hamstrung: When Emperor Tao Kwong was asked to legalise opium, he said: 'It is true, I cannot prevent the introduction of the flowing poison; gain-seeking and corrupt men will for profit and sensuality, defeat my wishes; but nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my people.' He had a personal as well as a moral interest in banning opium: three of his sons were addicts and were killed by the drug. He died, it is said, of a broken heart.
也想挖出一些维多利亚女王当时宫中窃笑的言行，
旁门佐料，找不到。
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