英国外相巴麦尊的“昭雪伸冤”:鸦片战争初期一条影响道光皇帝对英策略的翻译

Lord Palmerston Demanding “Satisfaction and Redress”:A Translation that Affected the Qing Court's Strategy at the Early Stage of the Opium War

1840年2月20日,英国外相巴麦尊(Lord Palmerston,1784–1865)向清廷发出照会,正式对华宣战,并详细陈述开战原因,以及所要求的赔偿。这著名的"巴麦尊照会"是鸦片战争其中一份最重要文书,由英国驻华商务监督处汉文秘书兼翻译官马儒翰(John Robert Morrison,1814–1843)译成中文,辗转呈送道光皇帝。在这照会中译本里,马儒翰把巴麦尊所说发动战争是为了"To demand from the Emperor satisfaction and redress"一句翻译为"求讨皇帝昭雪伸冤"。这引起深远后果,成为道光初期主抚政策的原因。尽管这问题早由历史学家指出来,但这看来是一个错误的翻译背后产生原因却从没有深入讨论。本文从马儒翰当时所能借重的唯一华英字典:他父亲马礼逊(Robert Morrison,1792–1834)所编的《字典》(A Dictionary of the Chinese Language)寻找出其翻译的来源。此外,本文亦讨论原拟照会接收人"the Minister of the Emperor of China"的翻译问题。

On 20 February 1840, British Foreign Minister Lord Palmerston formally declared war on China with a proclamation addressed to＂the Minister of the Emperor of China,＂detailing their reasons for opening the war as well as their demands. The proclamation was translated into Chinese by John Robert Morrison（1814-1843）, Chinese Secretary and Interpreter of the British Superintendence of Trade in China. His translation of a key sentence in the proclamation,＂to demand from the Emperor satisfaction and redress,＂has been identified by some historians as the key reason for Emperor Daoguang’s＂pacifying strategy＂at the early stage of the war. By referring to the first ChineseEnglish bilingual dictionary, A Dictionary of the Chinese Language compiled by Robert Morrison, this paper examines the reasons for John Robert Morrison’s translation. It also discusses how the intended recipient of the proclamation, ＂the Minister of the Emperor of China,＂was translated.