太平天国洋将白齐文之死考

Research on Death of H. A. Burgevine,General of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

白齐文于1865年6月26日死于浙江兰溪县,学界多认为其死于谋杀。笔者利用多种相关资料从其被捕、东南地方大员的态度、押送过程诸环节进行探讨,认为从多个方面推断,白齐文死于意外的可能性更大。此外,白齐文被捕到死亡前后这段时间里,李鸿章、左宗棠等洋务派代表人物对列强之态度亦值得玩味。

H.A.Burgevine died in Lanxi County,Zhejiang Province on June 26,1865.The academic circles have tended to believe that he was murdered.The author of this article draws on a variety of relevant materials and attempts to explore into the circumstances of his death by analyzing the process of his being arrested and of his being escorted later,and also the attitude of the local officials in the Southeast.The conclusion is that the death of H.A.Burgevine was more likely a result of an accident.Besides,in the period before and after his arrest,the attitudes to the foreign powers of those representative advocates of the Westernization Movement,like Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang,were also worth ruminating and exploring.