晚清“人臣无外交”的异变及其趋向

The Variation and Trend of NDOM in the Late Qing Dynasty

中国历代王朝奉行"人臣无外交"外事规则,鸦片战争后,由于条约关系的建立,以及传统的夷夏观念等因素,使得这一规则被打破,地方官员办理外交获得合法地位。经第二次鸦片战争,又进而体现在制度之中,包括中央和地方两个层面:地方外交行政,形成了"人人都是外交家"的畸形体制,包括南、北洋大臣和省级外交体制,关道和县级衙门均承担程度不等的外交职能;总理衙门的建立,在中央层面打破了"人臣无外交"规则,外务部取而代之,进一步改变了传统的外交体制。清末,朝廷采取措施限制地方外交权,在某种意义上是"人臣无外交"规则的回流。在晚清外交体制的嬗变过程中,"人臣无外交"演化为在列强强权政治挟持下的复杂体制,既蒙受着屈辱,又逐渐趋于统一化、规范化和近代化。这正是其在晚清中外条约关系下发生异变的趋向。

Chinese dynasties had pursued a policy of no diplomacy between officers and ministers(NDOM),which was broken after the Opium War due to the establishment of treaty relations and the traditional concept of barbarians and Cathay.Thereafter,local officials gained the legal status in conducting diplomacy.This practice was reflected in the system at the central and local levels after Opium WarⅡ.The local diplomatic administration had formed the abnormal system of " everyone is a diplomat".The ministers of Nanyang and Beiyang,the provincial diplomatic system,the customs authorities and the county governments all undertook different degrees of the diplomatic function.The establishment of Zongli Yamen broke the rule of NDOM at the central level,while its replacement by the Foreign Ministry further changed the traditional diplomatic system.During the period of the late Qing dynasty,the Qing government took measures to restrict the local diplomatic power,which in a sense was the backflow of NDOM.In the evolution process of the diplomatic system in the late Qing dynasty,forced by the foreign power politics,NDOM had evolved into a complex system which suffered humiliation and gradually approached unification,normalization and modernization.This is the variation trend of NDOM under the Sino-foreign treaty relations in the late Qing dynasty.