‘The Weary Titan Staggers under the Too Vast Orb of its Fate’. Post-Federation Australia and the Problem of Imperial Defence

This article investigates an under-studied aspect of the British/Australian defence relationship in the immediate post-Boer War period. The essential nature of the Australian Imperial Force was not an accident of 1914. Rather, as this article will show, the form, style and structure of the force that fought at Gallipoli was set in stone more than a decade before that famous name entered the popular Australian lexicon.     

The Colonial Sinews of Imperial Power: The Political Economy of Jamaican Taxation, 1768–1838

This article uses a new data-set to calculate the ‘political economy’ or nature and purpose of taxation and spending in Jamaica between 1768 and 1839. It argues that these levels increased considerably, both in absolute terms and relative to the size of the population and economy of the island, and that the assembly raised taxes mainly to protect the white elite and the plantation economy against slave revolts and foreign invasion. Although the balance of spending shifted after Emancipation in 1834, the purpose did not, since military spending was simply redirected to subsidise policing and the cost of public order. Depending on how the national income or gross domestic product of the island is calculated, levels of taxation rose from 2 per cent in peacetime to about 4–6 per cent in wartime, peaking at 6–8 per cent in moments of crisis. White elites therefore made a significant contribution to the cost of their own defence, and to the wider projection of imperial power, and were willing to tolerate increasingly high levels of taxation because it was spent in ways that suited their interests. They thereby formed the colonial sinews of imperial power.     

An enduring influence on imperial defence and grand strategy: British perceptions of the Italian Navy, 1935–1943

The Mediterranean was a vital artery of the British Empire. It was a strategic corridor, linking Britain to its Middle and Far East possessions and precious resources. Its control was a central tenet of British imperial strategy, yet by the mid-1930s, this faced a new challenge from Fascist Italy. The Italian Navy was central to expansionist aspirations and forced British reappraisals of the allocation of defence resources both in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. It therefore came to exert a generally under-appreciated influence on pre-war British imperial defence policy and war planning. Although consistently viewed as vastly inferior to the Royal Navy, it was still seen as an impediment to Britain's ability to deliver imperial defence across the globe, or conduct a worldwide war against multiple enemies. This view persisted even after important defeats were inflicted on it in 1940–1941, and continued right through to 1943. Awareness of the seriousness with which the British viewed Italian naval strength adds important context to debates about British strategy in the Far East and over Winston Churchill's preference for a ‘Mediterranean first’ strategy. Italian naval power played a greater role in shaping the Allied prosecution of the Second World War than is commonly accepted.     

蒙、元御容

御容,所指为帝后肖像,用于供奉、祭祀以及瞻仰,所有者可以是皇家,也能是臣下。本文讨论的主题是蒙元皇家的本朝先帝、先后肖像[1],拟解说它们的制作、形制,不同做法的文化差异、可能的遗存及其制作年代等,同时也概述了时代更早的御容和元代非皇家的御容。     

The counter-revolutionary Atlantic: white West Indian petitions and proslavery networks

Following recent research into imperial networks and their materialities, this paper addresses the geographies of the early-modern Atlantic. Its focus is the defensive response of white West Indian colonists to the emergence of popular antislavery sentiment in Britain during the ‘age of abolition’ (c. 1780–1833), which led to the increasing marginalization of slave-holding interests. This response included the production of corporate legislative petitions that sought to prevent or delay the reform of slavery. The paper argues that these petitions should be understood not as rhetorical forms of ‘influence’ that can be analysed in terms of their language, but as material objects whose potential efficacy derived from how, and in what textual company, they travelled. Tracing these material networks of petitioning provides a means to operationalize ‘circum-Atlantic’ perspectives and thus explore the spaces of the Atlantic. The paper also considers how theories of creolization, which underpin much thinking about the Atlantic, might be informed by a consideration of these petitionary networks.

L'Atlantique contre-révolutionnaire: les demandes des blancs des Antilles et les réseaux favorables à l'esclavagisme

Cet article fait suite aux recherches récentes effectuées sur les réseaux impériaux et leurs matérialités et s'intéresse aux géographies du début de l'époque moderne de l'Atlantique. Il met l'accent sur la réaction défensive des colons blancs des Antilles devant l'arrivée du sentiment populaire anti-esclavagiste en Angleterre pendant «l'ère abolitionniste» (1780–1833) qui a contribué à la marginalisation des propriétaires d'esclaves. Cette réaction comprenait des pétitions légales relevant de sociétés privées dont le but était d'empêcher ou de retarder le projet de réforme de l'esclavagisme. Cet article montre que ces pétitions ne devraient pas être vues comme des formes rhétoriques «d'influence» pouvant s'analyser en fonction de leurs modes linguistiques, mais comme des objets matériels dont la capacité de rendement résultait des manières et des formats textuels par lesquels elles pouvaient voyager. Remonter jusqu'aux réseaux concrets qui ont permis de protester par des pétitions est un moyen d'opérationnaliser les approches «circon-Atlantique» et d'explorer ainsi les espaces de l'Atlantique. Par ailleurs, l'article tente de montrer comment l'étude de ces réseaux de pétitions peut éclairer les théories de la créolisation qui sous-tendent la plupart des réflexions sur l'Atlantique.

El Atlántico contra-revolucionario: peticiones y organizaciones a favor de la esclavitud de la gente blanca de las Antillas

Con referencia a las recientes investigaciones de redes imperiales y su aspecto material, este papel trata las geografías del antiguo atlántico moderno. Se centra en la reacción defensiva de los colonos blancos de las Antillas al surgimiento del sentimiento popular antiesclavitud en Gran Bretaña durante ‘la era de la abolición’ (c. 1780–1833), que dio lugar a una marginación cada vez mayor de los intereses de los negreros. La producción de peticiones colectivas legislativas para tratar de impedir o retrasar la reforma de la esclavitud formó parte de esta reacción. Este papel sugiere que hay que ver estas peticiones no como formas retóricas de ‘influencia’ que se puede analizar por su lenguaje sino más bien como objetos materiales, la eficacia potencial de los cuales viene de cómo, y en qué compañía textual se viajaban. Un análisis del origen de estas redes materiales de peticionar posibilita el funcionamiento de perspectivas ‘circum-atlánticas’ y, por consiguiente, una exploración de los espacios del Atlántico. El papel también considera como teorías de criollización que son fundamentales al pensamiento actual sobre el Atlántico pueden ser informadas por un estudio de estas redes de peticionar.     

Beyond restoration: problems of imperial power in the 1870 famine relief efforts in Zhili

Based on a close examination of the 1870 government famine relief efforts in Zhili, this study reassesses some significant changes in Qing state power in the nineteenth century. Most previous research has sought to explain receding state power as a response to mounting pressures from an activist society. The famine relief efforts of 1870 demonstrate a less well‐known but equally important aspect of the problem. While social pressures had undoubtedly worn away at the 200‐year‐old state machine, they also stimulated responses from it. While local activism had indeed taken over the levers that had slipped from the imperial government's hands, the challenges it presented jump‐started the state machine, tightened its screws and set it on the path to restoration. In 1870, Imperial Commissioner Li Xingrui, under orders from his superior, Governor‐General Zeng Guofan, executed a textbook operation of famine relief in Zhili. Challenges arose as wealthy locals wrestled with Li for control of the relief operation; government officials, too, sought private gain. Nevertheless, the commissioner and his superior conscientiously followed the Qing statutes, warded off these various challenges and completed the relief work. The display of state power during the operation was impressive, and was sweetened by a bureaucratic culture that condoned semi‐legitimate personal gain in public affairs. The pairing of “stick and carrot” redirected the challenges to the operation from wealthy locals into a channel unique to China: an activist elite who sought to fulfill their ambitions by working within the existing system rather than by breaking away from it. Thus, Qing state power not only proved reasonably resilient in times of crisis, but also offered some hope for the successful building of a modern state.     

东汉士人群体自觉意识形成原因考察

中国古代士人的群体自觉意识,萌芽于春秋战国时期,全面兴起于东汉中后期。其兴起之原因,一是土地私有化的完成,地主庄园经济的出现,尤其是东汉士人对劳动态度的改变,使士人生存方式发生重大变化,使其在经济上有了独立性,为其人格独立打下了物质基础;二是东汉统治者对士人尤其是对归隐士人的相对宽容,为士人自觉意识的培养提供了宽松的环境;三是士人队伍的扩大,尤其是中央官学规模的扩大和校舍的扩充,为士人个体自觉意识转化为群体意识提供了中心场所;四是东汉中后期宦官外戚专权,又为士人群体自觉意识的激发和张扬提供了外部条件。     

东魏北齐史官制度与官修史书——再论史馆修史始于北齐

东魏迁都邺城,学术文化中心转移,北魏太和以来积累的文明成果萃集邺下,为东魏北齐史官制度的发展与《魏书》编纂提供了良好条件,并由此形成了史馆修史与大臣监修制度。大臣监修与史馆修史二者一体,史馆是一专门修史机构,似在宫禁集书省与起居省内,已不同于北魏秘书省之史阁。大臣监修改变了北魏以来秘书监、丞典领国史的传统,入馆修史加兼著作,脱离了秘书著作系统。著作从秘书省游离出来,与集注起居形成更加密切的关系。东魏北齐沿承北魏,置集书省和起居省,北魏以守尚书典注起居,东魏北齐以散骑常侍等侍官监领或撰修起居注。史馆修史与起居集注,造就了《魏书》、《齐书》、《齐纪》等史书。东魏北齐史官制度变化的依据为礼制的修订,唐代礼多因循北齐,故其史馆修史制度亦上承北齐。     

论洛阳古代墓葬的特点

洛阳古代墓葬在中国各地古代墓葬中的独特之处:一是皇家墓葬多,仅葬于此的帝王就有七个朝代40余位,在中国历史上堪称最多;同时,在皇家寝陵制度史上,洛阳帝陵每每有许多创新开风气的地方二是贵族和名人墓葬多,与皇家陵墓互相辉映,形成众星捧月之势。三是平民墓葬同王公墓葬交叉杂处,具有公共墓地的特点。四是洛阳墓葬被盗严重,可谓是“十墓九空”。五是洛阳墓葬出土文物多,影响大,被称为是实物的、石刻的中国历史。