权力与体制:义律与1834—1839年的中英关系

Power and System:Charles Elliot and the Sino-British Relations in 1834-39

1834年的律劳卑事件是中英双方争夺交往规则制订权力的一次较量。这一事件不仅体现了清朝政府坚持的对外交往体制,也明确了英国政府在对华关系方面的体制。1837年,英国驻华商务监督义律为打破僵局,在英方交往原则上向清政府和广东地方当局作出让步,实现了以英国官员身份驻省的计划,但未能得到英国外相巴麦尊的批准。义律的行为,既反映了他的对华关系主张,更是其力图巩固和扩张英国驻华商务监督机构权力的产物。为了实现这种愿望,在1838—1839年,他通过鸦片问题使自己成为中英关系舞台的中心人物。

The Napier incident in 1834 was the result of the struggle between the Chinese and British governments over the power to regulate the relations between them.The case demonstrates both the Chinese and the British diplomatic systems.In 1837,to break the diplomatic deadlock of the two nations,Charles Elliot,the senior superintendent of British trade in China,carried out his plan of staying in Guangzhou as a British official by making concessions to the Guangdong provincial government that were repaid by the latter.However,Palmerston,the British Foreign Secretary,refused to approve Elliot's actions,and forced him to withdraw from Guangzhou. Elliot continued to try through the opium problem to strengthen and enlarge the power of the commission of the Superintendents of British trade in China after this,wishing to become the key figure in Sino-British relations.The same motive prompted him to cooperate with the Guangdong provincial authorities in forbidding opium traffic in the inner river passage of Guangzhou at the end of 1838,and to order British opium dealers to hand over their opium to him for surrendering to Lin Zexu in March 1839,and thus led to the outbreak of the Opium War.