清代州县官署理制度研究

Research on the County Magistrate’s Acting System in the Qing Dynasty

清代州县官署理制度原是为避免官员因事出缺造成官位空悬而制定的,主要分为实缺州县官兼理、调署以及候补试用人员署理等形式,用以维系地方政府正常运转,具有一定的合理性。但随着制度的运行,弊端日显,雍正年间已出现督抚任意调委的现象,一定程度上侵蚀了皇帝和吏部的人事权;嘉道年间问题愈加严重,主要表现为实缺官员调署过多、佐杂常年委署正印、以“代理”为名长期署理、借由署理逃避处分。清廷虽通过制度调整予以因应,但未能改变署理成为晚清州县官选任的主要方式这一趋势。州县官署理制度的演变对于清代政治产生了深远影响,其演变的具体原因既有署理制度本身的复杂性、督抚借由署理调剂官员以及朝廷对署理缺乏监督等,也与清朝财政结构和官员数量的制约有关。

In the Qing dynasty,the acting system of county magistrate was originally formulated to avoid the vacancy of official positions,which was mainly divided into the forms of the acting of incumbent county magistrates,the transfer acting of the officials and the acting of the alternate probationary.This system was used to maintain the normal operation of local governments and had a certain rationality.But with the passage of time,the drawbacks of the system were increasingly obvious,and the phenomenon of arbitrary transfer and appointment of officials by the governor had already emerged during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng,which eroded the personnel power of the emperor and the Ministry of Personnel.During the reigns of Jiaqing and Daoguang,the problem had become more and more serious,and was mainly manifested in the following aspects:there were too many incumbent officials acting;Zuoza was always acting as county magistrates;and officials were acting for a long time in the name of“proxy”and avoiding punishment by acting.Although the Qing court responded by adjusting the system,it failed to change the trend that acting became the main way of selecting county magistrates in the late Qing dynasty.The evolution of county magistrates’acting system had a profound impact on Qing politics,behind which were not only factors like the complexity of the acting system itself,the governors transferring officials by virtue of the acting system and the lack of supervision by the Qing court and other specific reasons,but also the constraint of the political and financial structure of the Qing dynasty.