預備立憲與朝野各方──端方與清末預備立憲摺研究

Preparative Constitutionalism, the Court, and the Opposition: Duanfang and Memorials on Constitutional Reform in the Late Qing Dynasty

光緒三十一年（1905），清廷派五大臣出洋考察，籌備預備立憲，考察團回國後提供的奏陳，直接影響了清朝最後幾年的政治改革方向。自上陳之日起，關於奏陳的起草者便有多種傳言，雖然多指向逃亡海外的梁啟超，但梁氏撰寫此摺的傳言並無太多證據支撐。中國第一歷史檔案館藏端方檔案中有關五大臣出國前後的往來電文，為考證這樁公案提供了鮮為人知的史料，彌補了既往研究過多依靠立憲派以及革命派材料的缺陷。考察團的預備立憲摺及相關奏陳的生成，與清末大員端方幕後推動有著密切的關係。端方出國之前即運作與梁啟超交往密切的熊希齡一同出洋考察，便於聯絡各方私下撰擬覆命奏陳，端方檔案中一封有關財政的奏摺，證明梁氏代擬考察團奏陳的事實。端方同時在上海設立編譯局，利用各種關係網絡，直接或間接延攬了戢翼翬、楊毓麟、宋教仁等懷有不同政治訴求的各方士人編纂立憲譯書，朝野互動在此案中體現得尤為明顯。考察團歸國後，出於自身政治立場考量，端方讓袁世凱修改了立憲奏陳，藉此機會與北洋集團建立更為深厚的交誼。透過此案不難發現，參與立憲摺的人員多為兩湖籍或曾在兩湖有過任職經歷，且不乏有過戊戌維新經歷的官員，官僚立憲派在啟動預備立憲的過程中實際扮演了核心角色，這在既往研究中多被忽視。

In 1905 during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, the Qing court sent five ministers abroad to investigate and prepare for the establishment of a constitution, memorials provided by the group after returning of which would influence the direction of political reforms in the last years of the Qing dynasty. Since the day of their submission, it has been rumored that the drafters had all been Liang Qichao (1873–1929), who fled overseas. However, there has been a lack of evidence to support the process by which Qing court officials operated through Liang. The Duanfang Archives held by the First Historical Archives of China contain correspondence between the five ministers before and after going abroad, shedding little-known light on the case. The preparatory constitutional memorials and related documents by the investigative group were closely related to the behind-the-scenes promotion of high-ranking official Duanfang (1861–1911) of the late Qing. Before setting off, Duanfang had arranged for Xiong Xiling (1870–1937), who had close contacts with Liang, to travel abroad together, enabling him to contact all parties to prepare a memorial in private. A discovered memorial related to finance in the Duanfang Archives now confirms the fact that Liang drafted the memorial for the group of minsters. Moreover, a compilation and translation bureau was established in Shanghai at that time, which utilized various networks to directly or indirectly solicit scholars with various political demands, such as Ji Yihui (1874–1908), Yang Yulin (1872–1911), and Song Jiaoren (1882–1913), to compile and translate constitutional texts, revealing a level of interaction between the court and the opposition. After the group’s return to China, Duanfang, out of consideration for his own political stance, allowed Yuan Shikai (1859–1916) to revise the memorials pertaining to constitutional texts and thus took the opportunity to establish deeper ties with the Beiyang government. This case further highlights that most of the actors involved in the preparatory constitutional memorials had been from or served in Hunan or Hubei provinces, as well as being officials who had experienced the Hundred Days’Reform movement of 1898. The bureaucratic constitutionalists actually played a core role in the process of initiating the preparation for a constitution, a point which has been mostly overlooked in previous research.