-
林则徐
致英国维多利亚女王信
Commissioner Lin: Letter to Queen
Victoria, 1839
【
Lin,
high
imperial
commissioner,
a
president
of
the
Board
of
War,
viceroy of the two
Ke?
ng provinces, &c., Tang, a president
of the Board of
War, viceroy of the two
Kwang provinces, &c., and E., a vice-president of
the
Board
of
War,
lieut.-governor
of
Kwangtung,
&c.,
hereby
conjointly
address
this
public
dispatch
to
the
queen
of
England
for
the
purpose
of
giving her clear and
distinct information (on the state of affairs) &c.
From
Ssuyu
Teng
and
John
Fairbank,
China's
Response
to
the
West,
(Cambridge
MA:
Harvard
University
Press,
1954),
repr.
in
Mark
A.
Kishlansky,
ed.,
Sources
of
World
History,
Volume
II,
(New
York:
HarperCollins CollegePublishers, 1995),
pp. 266-69
Lin Tse-Hsu
(1785-1850) was the Chinese Commissioner in Canton
whose
actions
precipitated
the
Opium
Wars
(1839-
1842).
Although
opium
was
used in China for
centuries, it was not until the opening of the tea
trade to
Dutch and British merchants
that China was able to import large quantities
of
the
drug.
By
the
early
nineteenth
century
opium
was
the
principal
product that the
English East India Company traded in China and
opium
addiction was becoming a
widespread social problem. When the emperor's
own
son
died
of
an
overdose,
he
decided
to
put
an
end
to
the
trade.
Lin
Tse-Hs?
was
Canton,
the
chief
trading
port
of
the
East
India
Company, with instructions to negoiate
an end to the importation of opium
into
China. The English merchants were uncooperative,
so he seized their
stores of
opium.
This
led
to immediate
military
action.
The
Chinese were
decisively
defeated and had to cede to a humiliating treaty
that legalized the
opium trade. As a
result commissioner Lin was dismissed from office
and
sent into
exile.
】
< br>1
洪惟我大皇帝抚绥中外，一视同仁，利则与天下公之，害则为天下去之。
盖以天地之心为心也。贵国王累世相传，皆称恭顺。
It is only our high and mighty emperor,
who alike supports and cherishes
those
of the Inner Land, and those from beyond the seas-
who looks upon all
mankind
with
equal
benevolence---who,
if
a
source
of
profit
exists
anywhere,
diffuses
it
over
the
whole
world---who,
if
the
tree
of
evil
takes
root anywhere, plucks it up for the
benefit of all nations;---who, in a word,
hath implanted in his breast that heart
(by which beneficent nature herself)
1
governs
the
heavens
and
the
earth!
You,
the
queen
of
your
honorable
nation,
sit
upon
a
throne
occupied
through
successive
generations
by
predecessors, all of whom have been
styled respectful and obedient.
观历次进贡表文
云：凡本国人到中国贸易，均蒙大皇帝一体公平恩待等语。
窃喜贵国王深明大义，感激天
恩，是以天朝柔远绥怀，倍加优礼。贸易之
利，垂二百年。该国所由以富庶称者，赖有此
也。
Looking over the public
documents accompanying the tribute sent (by your
predecessors) on various occasions, we
find the following:
my country,
arriving at the Central Land for purposes of
trade, have to feel
grateful
to
the
great
emperor
for
the
most
perfect
justice,
for
the
kindest
treatment,
to
that
effect.
Delighted
did we
feel that
the
kings of your honorable nation so
clearly understood the great principles of
propriety,
and
were
so
deeply
grateful
for
the
heavenly
goodness
(of
our
emperor):---therefore, it was that we
of the heavenly dynasty nourished and
cherished
your
people
from
afar,
and
bestowed
upon
them
redoubled
proofs of our urbanity and kindness. It
is merely from these circumstances,
that
your
country
---deriving
immense
advantage
from
its
commercial
intercourse
with
us,
which
has
endured
now
two
hundred
years---has
become the rich and flourishing kingdom
that it is said to be!
2
唯是通商已久，众夷良莠不齐，遂
有夹带，诱惑华民，以致毒流各省者。
似此但知利己，不顾害人，乃天理所不容，人情所
共愤。大皇帝闻而震怒。
特遣本大臣来至广东，与本总督部堂巡抚部院，会同查办。
But, during the commercial
intercourse which has existed so long, among
the numerous foreign merchants
resorting hither, are wheat and tares, good
and bad; and of these latter are some,
who, by means of introducing opium
by
stealth, have seduced our Chinese people, and
caused every province of
the land to
overflow with that poison. These then know merely
to advantage
themselves, they care not
about injuring others!
This is a
principle which
heaven's Providence
repaginates; and which mankind conjointly look
upon
with
abhorrence!
Moreover,
the
great
emperor
hearing
of
it,
actually
quivered with
indignation, and especially dispatched me, the
commissioner,
to Canton, that in
conjunction with the viceroy and lieut.-governor
of the
province, means might be taken
for its suppression!
凡内地民人贩
食者，皆应处死。若追究夷人历年贩卖之罪，则其贻害深而
攫利重，本为法所当诛。惟念
众夷尚知悔罪乞诚，将趸船二万二百八十三
2
箱，由领事官义律，禀请缴收，全行毁化。叠经本大臣等据实
具奏。幸蒙
大皇帝格外施恩，以自首者，情尚可原，姑宽免罪。
Every native of the Inner Land who
sells opium, as also all who smoke it,
are
alike
adjudged
to
death.
Were
we
then
to
go
back
and
take
up
the
crimes
of
the
foreigners,
who,
by
selling
it
for
many
years
have
induced
dreadful
calamity
and
robbed
us
of
enormous
wealth,
and
punish
them
with
equal
severity,
our
laws
could
not
but
award
to
them
absolute
annihilation!
But,
considering
that
these
said
foreigners
did
yet
repent
of
their crime, and with a sincere heart
beg for mercy; that they took 20,283
chests
of
opium
piled
up
in
their
store-ships,
and
through
Elliot,
the
superintendent of the trade of your
said country, petitioned that they might
be delivered up to us, when the same
were all utterly destroyed, of which we,
the imperial commissioner and
colleagues, made a duly prepared memorial
to his majesty;---considering these
circumstances, we have happily received
a fresh proof of the extraordinary
goodness of the great emperor, inasmuch
as he who voluntarily comes forward,
may yet be deemed a fit subject for
mercy, and his crimes be graciously
remitted him.
再犯者法难屡贷，立定新章。
谅贵国王向化倾心，定能谕令众夷，兢兢奉
法。但必晓以利害，乃知天朝法度，断不可以
不懔遵也。
But as for him who
again knowingly violates the laws, difficult
indeed will it
be thus to go on
repeatedly pardoning! He or they shall alike be
doomed to
the penalties of the new
statute. We presume that you, the sovereign of
your
honorable
nation,
on
pouring
out
your
heart
before
the
altar
of
eternal
justice,
cannot
but
command
all
foreigners
with
the
deepest
respect
to
reverence
our
laws!
If
we
only
lay
clearly
before
your
eyes,
what
is
profitable and what is destructive, you
will then know that the statutes of
the
heavenly dynasty cannot but be obeyed with fear
and trembling!
3
查该国距内地六七万里，
而夷船争来贸易者，
为获利之厚故耳。
以中国之
利利外夷，是夷人所获之厚利，皆从华民分去。岂有反
以毒物害华民之理。
即夷人未必有心为害，而贪利之极，不顾害人，试问天良安在？
We
find
that
your
country
is
distant
from
us
about
sixty
or
seventy
thousand
miles,
that
your
foreign
ships
come
hither
striving
the
one
with
the other for our trade, and for
the simple reason of their strong desire to
reap a profit. Now, out of the wealth
of our Inner Land, if we take a part to
bestow
upon
foreigners
from
afar,
it
follows,
that
the
immense
wealth
which the said
foreigners amass, ought properly speaking to be
portion of
our
own
native
Chinese
people.
By
what
principle
of
reason
then,
should
these
foreigners
send
in
return
a
poisonous
drug,
which
involves
in
3
destruction those very natives of
China? Without meaning to say that the
foreigners
harbor
such
destructive
intentions
in
their
hearts,
we
yet
positively
assert
that
from
their
inordinate
thirst
after
gain,
they
are
perfectly careless about the injuries
they inflict upon us! And such being the
case,
we
should
like
to
ask
what
has
become
of
that
conscience
which
heaven has implanted in the breasts of
all men?
闻该国禁食甚严，是固明知之为害也。既不使为害于该国，则他国尚
不可
移害，况中国乎？
We
have
heard
that
in
your
own
country
opium
is
prohibited
with
the
utmost
strictness
and
severity:---this
is
a
strong
proof
that
you
know
full
well how hurtful it is
to mankind. Since then you do not permit it to
injure
your own country, you ought not
to have the injurious drug transferred to
another country, and above all others,
how much less to the Inner Land!
4
中国所行于外国者，无一非利人之物。利于食，利于用，并利于转卖，皆
利也。中国曾有一物为害外国否？况如茶叶大黄，外国所不可一日无也。
中国若靳其利而不恤其害，则夷人何以为生？又外国之呢羽哔叽，非得中
国丝斤
不能成织。若中国亦靳其利，夷人何利可图？其余食物，自糖料姜
桂而外，用物自绸缎磁
器而外，外国所必需者，曷可胜数。而外来之物，
皆不过以供玩好，可有可无。既非中国
要需，何难闭关绝市。乃天朝于茶
丝诸货，悉任其贩运流通，绝不靳惜。无他，利与天下
公之也。
Of the products which
China exports to your foreign countries, there is
not
one which is not beneficial to
mankind in some shape or other. There are
those
which
serve
for
food,
those
which
are
useful,
and
those
which
are
calculated for re-sale;
but all are beneficial. Has China (we should like
to
ask) ever yet sent forth a noxious
article from its soil? Not to speak of our
tea
and
rhubarb,
things
which
your
foreign
countries
could
not
exist
a
single day without, if we
of the Central Land were to grudge you what is
beneficial,
and
not
to
compassionate
your
wants,
then
wherewithal
could
you
foreigners
manage
to
exist?
And
further,
as
regards
your
woolens,
camlets, and
longells, were it not that you get supplied with
our native raw
silk,
you
could
not
get
these
manufactured!
If
China
were
to
grudge
you
those things which yield a profit, how
could you foreigners scheme after any
profit at all?
Our other
articles of
food,
such as
sugar, ginger,
cinnamon,
&c., and our other articles for use,
such as silk piece-goods, chinaware, &c.,
are
all
so
many
necessaries
of
life
to
you;
how
can
we
reckon
up
their
number!
On
the
other
hand,
the
things
that
come
from
your
foreign
countries
are
only
calculated
to
make
presents
of,
or
serve
for
mere
amusement. It is quite
the same to us if we have them, or if we have them
4