咸同之际“督办团练大臣”与地方官员的“事权”之争

Jurisdictional Disputes between the Military Governors Responsible for Militias and Local Officials during the Reigns of Emperors Xianfeng and Tongzhi

咸丰十年五六月间,为改变此前数年"团练大臣"因位低权轻而令其办团行动常受地方官掣肘的状况,有效发挥团练的卫乡和助剿作用,清廷向河南等八省委任了九位具有极大权势的"督办团练大臣"。然而,"督办团练大臣"与地方官员之间不但难以实现清廷所要求的"和衷共济",反而"无不各存意见,彼此猜嫌",以致双方均感"事权不一",甚至事事牵制,处处掣肘。双方的"事权"之争突出表现为争夺地方财源以满足团费和兵饷之急需,亦有地方官员对"督办团练大臣"侵夺司法权的指控。而"事权"之争的背后,还隐含官员与绅士、外省与本省之间竞争的色彩。随着"督办团练大臣"的陆续撤回,实施十年之久的"团练大臣"策略宣告终结。相应地,团练办理模式亦完成了从"任绅"向"任官"的回归。这一结局意味着咸丰初年以来利用"在籍绅士"加速社会动员和强化社会控制的努力以失败告终,也标志着"双轨制"社会控制体制在晚清的昙花一现。

The low rank and limiitcd power of the officials responsible for miilitias(tuanlian)micant that they had long suffered fromi local governmient interference,frustrating their attempts to utilize the miilitias for effective defense of their neighborhoods and climiination of bandits.In May and June,1860,the Qing court appointed nine powerful military governors to be responsible for miilitias in eight provinces including Henan.However,relations between the governors and local governments fell far short of theharmonious cooperation the Qing court had envisaged;their relationship was quite the opposite,being dominated by suspicion and differences of opinion,with each side feeling that its powers and responsibilities were not a good match.The conduct of affairs washampered and they kept trespassing on each other’s turf,with disputes mianifcst particularly in fights over the local financial resources needed to provision the soldiers and run the militia.Further,somie local officials charged the military governors with usurping judicial powers.Underlying the disputes over powers and responsibilities was a backdrop of competition between officials and the scholar gentry and between natives of theprovince and those from outside.With the successive withdrawal of the miilitary governors,the ten-year long implcmcntationof this stratcgycame to an end,and thecorrcsponding reversion fromgentry tooficialmanagcmcnt in themilitia’sopcrational miodil was completed.This outcomie imiplics that the effort to accelerate social miobilization and strengthen social control by using local gentry,begun in the early years of Xianfeng,ended in failure.tt also shows that the two-track systemi of social control of the late Qing enjoyed only a brief efflorescence.