On Lord Palmerston, Famine-Era Landlordism in Ireland and Links with China

巴麥尊子爵一直都被認為應該為兩度英國進犯中國負責。首次英國進犯中國時，巴麥尊為英國外相，英國二度侵犯中國時，巴麥尊則為英國首相。巴麥尊為世襲愛爾蘭貴族，在愛爾蘭有龐大地產。在1840年代愛爾蘭大饑荒年代，大家都認為像巴麥尊那樣的愛爾蘭地主都對佃農冷酷且不人道。但是最近發現的檔案說明了巴麥尊不是那樣的地主，而且從很多方面來看他是一個自由革新派，對於依靠他土地生活的人相當人道。他相當貼近這些農人的生活方式，這和他對中國百姓的態度形成對比。古人說：「過度親密，易起侮慢之心」，這和本文發現的事實好像相反。巴麥尊子爵對中國的不人道，甚至鄙視，可以歸咎於對遠方國度的不熟悉。

關鍵字

地主；饑荒；移民；鴉片；帝國主義

並列摘要

The third Viscount Palmerston has long been deemed responsible for two phases of British commercial and political aggression against China. During the first of these he was British Foreign Secretary, and during the second he was Prime Minister. But his title to nobility stemmed from Ireland, where much of his landed property was located. In references to the years of and around the Great Irish Famine in the late 1840s, it has widely been assumed that the landowners of Ireland (such as Palmerston was) were generally uncaring and inhumane towards their tenantry. A recently-discovered archive strongly suggests that this was not the case, and that in most respects Palmerston in particular was progressive, liberal and humane to those who subsisted on his lands in Ireland. He was familiar with their lifestyles. This contrasts with his stance towards the citizens of China. In regard to Palmerston's treatment of his tenantry in Ireland, the old English saying that ”familiarity breathes contempt” did not hold; rather, the opposite applied. And Palmerston's lack of humaneness, and even contempt, in regard to China, can in part be attributed to his lack of familiarity with, and indifference to, the way of life in that distant country.