全权、常驻公使与钦差--津约谈判前后的中英职衔对等与邦交平等翻译问题

Plenipotentiary,Resident Minister and Imperial Commissioner--Rank Equivalence and Diplomatic Equality around the Sino-British Treaty of Teintsin,1858

1858年《天津条约》谈判前后,全权问题和钦差驻京成为中英交涉的核心问题,一度成为谈判延宕的症结所在。英方将全权代表额尔金的职衔Plenipotentiary译作“钦差全权大臣”,同时将Resident Minister译作“钦差”,均引发清廷上下极大抵触。18世纪末19世纪初,英方只能妥协接受马戛尔尼和阿美士德的职衔被译作“贡使”;情势翻转后,先是璞鼎查的职衔在第一次鸦片战争时期译为“钦奉全权大臣”,到第二次鸦片战争时期,额尔金的职衔则更进一步译成“钦差全权大臣”。汉译“钦差全权大臣”使得Plenipotentiary的含义生发了显著变化−经过英方在翻译上的操纵,指向了英文的Plenipotentiary+Imperial Commissioner的叠合。英方如此翻译,表面上看是为争取或表明英中两国谈判代表地位上的对等或平行,反映出英方自马戛尔尼访华始追求邦交平等或均势的意图,实际上却创制了新的身份不对等关系,折射出中英实力此消彼长的现实。历时地看,英方追求词语对等努力虽先后遭到乾隆帝和咸丰帝的抵制,但其成果最终经过不平等条约确定与固化下来,使得刚刚开启的中英外交关系陷入了新的不平等境地。中国在由英国人主导的条约外交体系中,陷入了与英国新不平等地位的尴尬境地。

The issue of full powers and the resident minister issue were the core concerns of the negotiations around the Sino-British Treaty of Teintsin,1858.The official title appointed to the British diplomat Earl of Elgin,High Commissioner and Plenipotentiary,was translated into Chinese title“钦差全权大臣”(Imperial Commissioner and Minister Plenipotentiary)and the term Resident Minister into“钦差”(Imperial Commissioner),both of which were greatly boycotted by the Qing government.In 1790s and 1810s,the two diplomatic British missions to China barely had any choice but to accept the translations of the titles of Lord Macartney and Lord Amherst into“贡使”(Tribute Bearer).As time went by,Sir Henry Pottinger’s title,in contrast to the previous ones,was translated as“钦奉全权大臣”(Her Majesty’s Plenipotentiary)during the negotiation of Treaty of Nanking,1842,and Elgin’s title as“钦差全权大臣”in 1858.This finding not only shows that such translations were the Britain’s quests for the equality between the two nations in diplomatic relations since Lord Macartney’s visit to China.More importantly,later translations gave birth to a new unequal relationship between the two great powers and reflected the rise of the Great Britain and the collapse of the Celestial Empire.Diachronically,the British side’s pursuit of seemingly equivalent translations of titles,though,in the beginning,denied secretly by the Emperor Qianlong and furiously resisted by the Emperor Xianfeng,were successfully included at last in the such unequal treaty as the Treaty of Teintsin,1858,which put the newly initiated Sino-British diplomatic relations into a new unequal standing.The Qing government was eventually placed in an awkward position in a foreign-dominated treaty system so formed.