耆英与第二次鸦片战争中的中俄交涉

Qiying and the Sino-Russian Negotiations during the Second Opium War

由于清廷没能利用两次鸦片战争之间的难得间隙,变革传统的"天朝体制",以致第二次鸦片战争爆发后,清廷总体上仍被迫将自己的外交操作原则定位为"妥协",并重新起用妥协有法的耆英,与桂良、花沙纳等共同主持天津的外交交涉。然而,随着社会的缓慢发展,此时清廷外交在操作层面上也出现了一些细微的变化,部分官员开始反对纯粹妥协,主张"寓抗争于妥协"。基于此,结合当时列强之间的矛盾状况,清廷将天津外交具体操作的方略确定为"妥协"之外,辅之"以夷制夷",即"以俄、美夷制英、法夷"的手段,利用俄国(美国)出面"调停",希图借外力进行有限的外交抗争。耆英遵奉清廷既定的外交策略,通过俄罗斯馆的大司祭巴拉第,与俄国使团顺利建立了联系,并于天津举行会谈。为了取得俄国"调停"的承诺,耆英轻率答应提前签订不平等的中俄《天津条约》。不过,由于广州的"档案事件",英、法在天津不肯与耆英合作,耆英只好回避,以致获罪、自尽。耆英从复出,到参与中俄交涉,再到获罪的历程,既昭示着晚清弱势外交的不可为,又预示着晚清弱势外交的可为。

The Qing court was unable to make use of the rare interval between the two Opium Wars to transform its traditional 'celestial system' of political relations after the outbreak of the Second Opium War. Therefore,the Qing court was forced to generally continue using 'compromise' as its principle of diplomatic practice,and reinstated Qiying—who was accomplished at compromise—to take charge of the diplomatic negotiations in Tianjin along with Guiliang,Huasha'na and others. However,as society slowly developed,minute changes appeared in the Qing court's diplomatic operations,and some officials began to oppose pure compromise and advocate 'combining opposition with compromise.' On this basis,the Qing court took into consideration the conflicts among the Great Powers and settled on a strategy for its diplomatic maneuvers in Tianjin that supplemented 'compromise' with 'using barbarians to contain barbarians.' That is to say,the Qing court used the method of 'using the Russian and American barbarians to contain the English and French barbarians' in which Russian (or American) 'mediation' was used in hopes of achieving limited diplomatic resistance with the help of foreign pressure. Following the diplomatic strategy set by the Qing court,Qiying successfully established contact with the Russian diplomatic corps through Palladius Kafarov,head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Beijing,and held negotiations in Tianjin. However,because of the 'Document Incident' in Guangzhou,Great Britain and France were not willing to cooperate with Qiying in Tianjin,and he secretly abandoned the negotiations. As a result,Qiying was brought up on charges and committed suicide. Qiying's experiences,from his reinstatement,to taking part in the Sino-Russian negotiations,to being charged with desertion,not only proclaimed the impracticality of the late Qing dynasty's weak diplomacy,but also foretold the practicality of the late Qing dynasty's weak diplomacy.