Hešen [Niohuru]

Ho-shên 和珅 (T. 致齋), 1750-1799, Feb. 22, was the son of Ch'ang-pao 常保 of the Niuhuru clan and the Manchu Plain Red Banner, who was an obscure deputy lieutenant-general holding an hereditary Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü of the third class. His mother was a daughter of Ying-lien 英廉 (T. 夢堂, 1707-1783) who was a Grand Secretary from 1776 to 1783. Ho-shên attended the school for bannermen and passed the examination for the hsiu-ts'ai degree. In 1769 he inherited his father's Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü and in 1772 was made an Imperial Bodyguard of the third class. Three years later he was stationed as a guard at the Ch'ien-ch'ing Gate (乾清門) and within a month his spectacular rise to power began.

Several stories have come down explaining the hold which Ho-shên secured and held over Emperor Kao-tsung during the last two decades of that monarch's life, but none can be substantiated, and it seems unlikely that the relationship between the two can ever be adequately explained. We know that the emperor was sixty-five years of age when he noticed Ho-shên for the first time. We know, too, that Ho-shên was handsome, affable, self-possessed and exceedingly clever with his tongue, and that he held the emperor's complete confidence from the end of 1775 until the emperor's death (1799).

Early in 1776 Ho-shên was made a guard of the Imperial Ante-chamber and a deputy lieutenant general of the Manchu Plain Blue Banner, the latter involving an elevation in official rank from the fifth to the second grade. He was also honored by being promoted from membership in his original Banner to that in the much more distinguished Plain Yellow Banner. Two months later he was made a junior vice-president of the Board of Revenue, in another two months he was appointed a Grand Councilor, and a month later he was made a Minister of the Imperial Household. Early in 1777, when twenty-eight (sui), he was honored by being allowed to ride horseback in the Forbidden City, a privilege ordinarily reserved for the highest ministers of the Empire, and for them only when they had become too old to walk the long distance between the outer and inner gates of the Palace. Later in the same year he was made concurrently general commandant of the Peking Gendarmerie, and in 1778 was appointed superintendent of the Customs and Octroi at the Ch'ung-wên Gate, Peking, a lucrative post ordinarily granted for a period of only one year, but which Ho-shên managed to hold for eight years.

In 1780 Ho-shên was sent to Yunnan to investigate the charge of corruption lodged against the governor-general, Li Shih-yao [q.v.]. He substantiated the charge and caused Li's removal. In addition to carrying out his primary duties, he made a careful investigation of economic matters and border relations and sent in a series of statesman-like memorials in which various problems were discussed and recommendations made. During his absence he was appointed a president of the Board of Revenue and shortly after his return was made lieutenant general of the Manchu Bordered Blue Banner. His son was given the name Feng-shen-yin-tê 豐紳殷德 (T. 天爵潤圃, 1771-1810), by the emperor and was betrothed (1780) to the emperor's youngest and favorite daughter, the Tenth Princess, Ho-hsiao 和孝公主, 1775-1823). The marriage took place early in 1790. Likewise in 1780 Ho-shên was made one of the directors-general for the compilation of the Imperial Library, Ssû-k'u ch'üan-shu (see under Chi Yün). He also served as a director-general of many literary projects of his time. In 1781 he was sent to Kansu to help put down a local Mohammedan rebellion (see under A-kuei), but so incompetent did he prove to be in military affairs that he was promptly recalled to the capital.

Established as he was in the complete confidence of the emperor, Ho-shên's power was very great, making it possible for him to cause the advancement or ruin of officials almost at will. Taking advantage of his position, he soon placed his own henchmen in many of the key positions in the Empire. Through these officials, and also through other officials who dared not refuse his demands, he exacted untold wealth from the people who were helpless in the face of the widespread corruption which flourished under his aegis. Almost from the beginning his position was untouchable, and even such important and honorable ministers as A-kuei [q.v.] dared not bring charges against him for fear that his hold over the emperor was great enough to enable him to crush them if they opposed him too openly. In 1782, however, a daring censor, Ch'ien Fêng [q.v.], brought charges of corruption against Kuo-t'ai and Yü I-chien (see under Ch'ien Feng), Governor and Financial Commissioner respectively of Shantung, both of whom were Ho-shên's proteges. Ho-shên did everything in his power[289] to protect his henchmen, but Liu Yung [q.v.] and Ch'ien Fêng, who with Ho-shên were sent to investigate the charges, so conclusively proved their guilt that Kuo-t'ai and Yü were promptly ordered to commit suicide while in prison. Although Ho-shên was known by the emperor to have been implicated and was known to have made great efforts to protect the criminals, he was not, so far as we know, even reprimanded. In fact, within a very few months he was further honored by being given the title of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent.

In 1784, after the successful conclusion of a campaign against Mohammedan rebels in Kansu (see under Fu-k'ang-an) Ho-shên, as a high Peking official who was indirectly connected with the campaign, was rewarded by being made a president of the Board of Civil Office, an assistant Grand Secretary, and a First Class Baron. He remained in control of the important and lucrative Board of Revenue and the Board of Civil Office as long as Emperor Kao-tsung lived. In 1786 he was appointed a Grand Secretary and in 1788, at the close of the Taiwan rebellion (see under Fu-k'ang-an), he was elevated to a third class earldom with the designation Chung-hsiang (忠襄). In 1798, just a few months before his fall, he attained a long-coveted dukedom. Besides the various positions already mentioned, he held many other offices concurrently-as many as twenty at one time being recorded.

Even under ordinary circumstances Ho-shên's power would have been cumulative because of his high position, but the normal tendency was greatly accelerated as a consequence of the increasing senility of the emperor. While it is true that the prestige of such honest men as A-kuei and Liu Yung was so great that Ho-shên was unable to cause their removal from office, still they were not influential enough to curb his activities. He placed all of his own followers in office, and corrupted the vast majority of others in the official hierarchy by threatening to have them cashiered unless they complied with his demands. In this connection it is significant that his senior, A-kuei, was frequently away from Peking on various missions, thus leaving Ho-shên free to draw up imperial decrees and other documents. The administration went from bad to worse during the last few years of the Ch'ien-lung period, but the state of affairs was even more scandalous in the first years of the Chia-ch'ing period during which Emperor Jên-tsung was allowed to have no part in the conduct of affairs of state, control and actual administration of the government remaining entirely in the hands of Emperor Kao-tsung, or rather in the hands of the man who dominated him—Ho-shên.

During the last few years of the life of Emperor Kao-tsung, a sordid military campaign was carried on in Central and Western China against the impoverished people who, crushed by the exactions of their local officials (who in turn were being squeezed to meet the demands of the insatiable Ho-shên) were finally driven in desperation to revolt. Taking advantage of this opportunity to benefit themselves, Ho-shên and several of his friends, among them Fu-k'ang-an, Ho-lin, and Sun Shih-i [qq.v.], prolonged the campaign over a number of years, spending vast sums of money on themselves while reporting that the funds had gone to meet military expenses, and from time to time ruthlessly slaughtering thousands of harmless country people in order to report great victories. High honors were lavishly bestowed upon the "victorious" commanders and the high metropolitan officials who "managed" the campaign from the capital, but the struggle dragged on, and it was not until after the death of Emperor Kao-tsung and the cashiering of the corrupt officials in the government and the army who had been responsible for the scandalous conduct of the campaign, that it was finally brought to a successful conclusion (see under Ê-lê-têng-pao).

On February 7, 1799 Emperor Kao-tsung died, and the young emperor who had not been allowed to exercise his imperial power during the lifetime of his father immediately took steps to rectify the disgraceful situation which had developed during the two preceding decades. The three corrupt generals mentioned above had already died during the campaign; Ho-shên, however, was promptly arrested and although out of respect to the memory of his master he was permitted to take his own life, his huge accumulation of silver, gold, precious stones, and other forms of wealth, was confiscated. He left a volume of poems, entitled Po-chia-lo t'ang shih-chi 伯嘉樂堂詩集 in which the last poem was written while in prison. His son, Feng-shen-yin-te, because of his marriage to the emperor's half-sister, was not executed, but all his own and his father's ranks and honors were taken from him except the Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü which had been inherited from his grandfather. In later years he was, however, given high offices and ranks, and died with the rank of a duke. He did not have a son and the hereditary rank of Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü passed to his uncle's branch of the family (see under Ho-lin). He likewise left a collection of verse entitled 延禧堂詩鈔 Yen-hsi t'ang shih-ch'ao, printed in 1811.

The Ch'ing dynasty, which reached its peak during the Ch'ien-lung period, slowly but steadily declined thereafter-the disintegration unquestionably beginning during the period when Ho-shên was in power. Though it is probably more true to say that Ho-shên's activities were made possible by the weakening of the power of the dynasty than that the activities of Ho-shên undermined the Manchu rule, still there can be no doubt that the corruption and nepotism which marked the period of his ascendency had a permanently debilitating effect upon the government. As to Ho-shên himself, there is no question of his intelligence and ability; but he was so obsessed by greed for wealth and power that all of his talents were subordinated to their acquisition.

From beginning to end the reception of Earl Macartney's Embassy to China in 1793 was in the hands of Ho-shên. When the latter was taken ill at Jehôl with rheumatism, the Embassy's physician, Dr. Gillan, ministered to him.

[ 1/325/2b; 2/35/la; 33/34/la, 50/4b; Hung, William, Ho Shên and Shu-ch'un-yûan, Peiping, January, 1934 (with portrait); Hung, William, Ho-shên chi shu-ch'un-yüan shih-liao cha-chi 和珅及淑春園史料劄記, in 燕京大學校刊 Yen-ching ta-hsüeh hsiao-k'an, VI, No. 22 (Feb. 23, 1934); 嘉慶誅和珅案 Chia-ch'ing chu Ho-shên an, in 史料旬刊 Shih-liao hsün-k'an, Nos. 6, 7, 8, and 14; Chao-lien [q.v.], Hsiao-t'ing tsa-lu and Hsü-lu, passim; 八旗氏族通譜 Pa-ch'i shih-tsu t'ung-p'u 5/14b; 清皇室四譜 Ch'ing Huang-shih ssu-p'u 4/18a; Staunton, George, Embassy to the Emperor of China (1797), pp. 342, 352-58.]

KNIGHT BIGGERSTAFF

《清史稿》卷319

和珅，字致齋，鈕祜祿氏，滿洲正紅旗人。少貧無藉，為文生員。乾隆三十四年，承襲三等輕車都尉。尋授三等侍衛，挑補黏杆處。四十年，直乾清門，擢御前侍衛，兼副都統。次年，遂授戶部侍郎，命為軍機大臣，兼內務府大臣，駸駸嚮用。又兼步軍統領，充崇文門稅務監督，總理行營事務。四十五年，命偕侍郎喀凝阿往雲南按總督李侍堯貪私事。侍堯號才臣，帝所倚任。和珅至，鞫其僕，得侍堯婪索狀，論重辟，奏雲南吏治廢弛，府州縣多虧帑，亟宜清釐。上欲用和珅為總督，嫌於事出所按劾，乃以福康安代之。命回京，未至，擢戶部尚書、議政大臣。及復命，面陳雲南鹽務、錢法、邊事，多稱上意，並允行。授御前大臣兼都統。賜婚其子豐紳殷德為和孝公主額駙，待年行婚禮。又授領侍衛內大臣，充四庫全書館正總裁，兼理藩院尚書事，寵任冠朝列矣。四十六年，甘肅撒拉爾番回蘇四十三等叛，逼蘭州，額駙拉旺多爾濟、領侍衛內大臣海蘭察、護軍額森特等率兵討之。命和珅為欽差大臣，偕大學士阿桂往督師。阿桂有疾，促和珅兼程先進。至則海蘭察等已擊賊勝之，即督諸將分四路進兵，海蘭察逼賊山梁，殲其伏。賊掘溝坎深數丈，並斷小道，不能度。總兵圖欽保陣亡。後數日，阿桂至，和珅委過諸將不聽調遣。阿桂曰：「是宜誅！」明日，同部署戰事，阿桂所指揮，輒應如響。乃曰：「諸將殊不見其慢，當誰誅？」和珅恚甚。上微察之，詔斥和珅匿圖欽保死事不上聞，赴師遲延，而劾海蘭察、額森特先戰顛倒是非；又謂自阿桂至軍，措置始有條理，一人足辦賊，和珅在軍事不歸一，海蘭察等久隨阿桂，易節制，命和珅速回京。和珅用是銜阿桂，終身與之齟齬。尋兼署兵部尚書，管理戶部三庫。四十七年，御史錢灃劾山東巡撫國泰、布政使于易簡貪縱營私，命和珅偕都御史劉墉按鞫，灃從往。和珅陰袒國泰，即至，盤庫，令抽視銀數十封無缺，即起還行館。灃請封庫，明日盡發視庫銀，得借市銀充抵狀，國泰等罪皆鞫實。會加恩中外大臣，加太子太保，充經筵講官。四十八年，賜雙眼花翎，充國史館正總裁、文淵閣提舉閣事、清字經館總裁。甘肅石峯堡回匪平，以承旨論功，再予輕車都尉世職，併前職授一等男爵。調吏部尚書、協辦大學士，管理戶部如故。五十一年，御史曹錫寶劾和珅家奴劉全奢僭，造屋踰制，帝察其欲劾和珅，不敢明言，故以家人為由。命王大臣會同都察院傳問錫寶，使直陳和珅私弊，卒不能指實。和珅亦預使劉全毀屋更造，察勘不得直，錫寶因獲譴。踰月，授和珅文華殿大學士。詔以其管崇文門監督已閱八年，大學士不宜兼榷務，且錫寶劾其家人，未必不因此，遂罷其監督。部員湛露擢廣信知府，上見其年幼，不勝方面，斥和珅濫保。又兩廣總督富勒渾縱容家人婪索，和珅請調回富勒渾，不興大獄。京師米貴，和珅請禁囤積，逾五十石者交廠減糶，商民以為不便。廷臣遷就原議，上並切責之。五十三年，以臺灣逆匪林爽文平，晉封三等忠襄伯，賜紫韁。五十五年，賜黃帶、四開褉袍。上八旬萬壽，命和珅偕尚書金簡專司慶典事。內閣學士尹壯圖疏論各省庫藏空虛，上為動色，和珅請即命壯圖往勘各省庫，以侍郎慶成監之。慶成每至一省輒掣肘，待挪移既足，然後啟榷，迄無虧絀，壯圖以妄言坐黜。五十六年，刻石經於辟雍，命為正總裁。時總裁八人，尚書彭元瑞獨任校勘，敕編石經考文提要，事竣，元瑞被優賚。和珅嫉之，毀元瑞所編不善，且言非天子不考文。上曰：「書為御定，何得目為私書耶？」和珅乃使人撰考文提要舉正以攻之，冒為己作進上，訾提要不便士子，請銷毀，上不許。館臣疏請頒行，為和珅所阻，中止，復私使人磨碑字，凡從古者盡改之。五十七年，廓爾喀平，予議敘，兼翰林院掌院學士。六十年，充殿試讀卷官，教習庶吉士。時朝審停勾，情重者請旨裁定。和珅管理藩院，於蒙古重獄置未奏，鐫級留任。又廷試武舉發策，上命檢實錄。故事，實錄不載武試策問，和珅率對不以實，詔斥護過飾非，革職留任。先是京察屢邀議敘，是年特停罷之。嘉慶二年，調管刑部。尋以軍需報銷，仍兼管戶部。三年，教匪王三槐就擒，以襄贊功晉公爵。和珅柄政久，善伺高宗意，因以弄竊作威福，不附己者，伺隙激上怒陷之；納賄者則為周旋，或故緩其事，以俟上怒之霽。大僚恃為奧援，剝削其下以供所欲。鹽政、河工素利藪，以徵求無厭日益敝。川、楚匪亂，因激變而起，將帥多倚和珅，糜餉奢侈，久無功。阿桂以勛臣為首輔，素不相能，被其梗軋。入直治事，不與同止直廬。阿桂卒，益無顧忌，於軍機寄諭獨署己銜。同列嵇璜年老，以讒數被斥責。王杰持正，恆與忤，亦不能制。朱珪舊為仁宗傅，在兩廣總督任，高宗欲召為大學士，和珅忌其進用，密取仁宗賀詩白高宗，指為市恩。高宗大怒，賴董誥諫免；尋以他事降珪安徽巡撫，屏不得內召。言官惟錢灃劾其黨國泰得直，後論和珅與阿桂入直不同止直廬，奉命監察，以勞瘁死。曹錫寶、尹壯圖皆獲譴，無敢昌言其罪者。高宗雖遇事裁抑，和珅巧彌縫，不悛益恣。仁宗自在潛邸知其姦，及即位，以高宗春秋高，不欲遽發，仍優容之。四年正月，高宗崩，給事中王念孫首劾其不法狀，仁宗即以宣遺詔日傳旨逮治，命王大臣會鞫，俱得實。詔宣布和珅罪狀，略曰：「朕於乾隆六十年九月初三日，蒙皇考冊封皇太子，尚未宣布，和珅於初二日在朕前先遞如意，以擁戴自居，大罪一。騎馬直進圓明園左門，過正大光明殿，至壽山口，大罪二。乘椅橋入大內，肩輿直入神武門，大罪三。取出宮女子為次妻，大罪四。於各路軍報任意壓擱，有心欺蔽，大罪五。皇考聖躬不豫，和珅毫無憂戚，談笑如常，大罪六。皇考力疾批答章奏，字跡間有未真，和珅輒謂不如撕去另擬，大罪七。兼管戶部報銷，竟將戶部事務一人把持，變更成例，不許部臣參議，大罪八。上年奎舒奏循化、貴德二廳賊番肆劫青海，和珅駁回原摺，隱匿不辦，大罪九。皇考升遐後，朕諭蒙古王公未出痘者不必來京，和珅擅令已、未出痘者俱不必來，大罪十。大學士蘇凌阿重聽衰邁，因與其弟和琳姻親，隱匿不奏；侍郎吳省蘭、李潢，太僕寺卿李光雲在其家教讀，保列卿階，兼任學政，大罪十一。軍機處記名人員任意撤去，大罪十二。所鈔家產，楠木房屋僭侈踰制，仿照寧壽宮制度，園寓點綴與圓明園蓬島、瑤臺無異，大罪十三。薊州墳塋設享殿，置隧道，居民稱和陵，大罪十四。所藏珍珠手串二百餘，多於大內數倍，大珠大於御用冠頂，大罪十五。寶石頂非所應用，乃有數十，整塊大寶石不計其數，勝於大內，大罪十六。藏銀、衣服數逾千萬，大罪十七。夾牆藏金二萬六千餘兩，私庫藏金六千餘兩，地窖埋銀三百餘萬兩，大罪十八。通州、薊州當鋪、錢店貲本十餘萬，與民爭利，大罪十九。家奴劉全家產至二十餘萬，并有大珍珠手串，大罪二十。」內外諸臣疏言和珅罪當以大逆論，上猶以和珅嘗任首輔，不忍令肆市，賜自盡。諸劾和珅者比於操、莽。直隸布政使吳熊光舊直軍機，上因其入覲，問曰：「人言和珅有異志，有諸？」熊光曰：「凡懷不軌者，必收人心，和珅則滿、漢幾無歸附者，即使中懷不軌，誰肯從之？」上曰：「然則治之得無太急？」熊光曰：「不速治其罪，無識之徒觀望夤緣，別滋事端。發之速，是義之盡；收之速，是仁之至。」上既誅和珅，宣諭廷臣：「凡為和珅薦舉及奔走其門者，悉不深究，勉其悛改，咸與自新。」有言和珅家產尚有隱匿者，亦斥不問。和珅在位時，令奏事者具副本送軍機處；呈進方物，必先關白，擅自准駁，遇不全納者悉入私家。步軍統領巡捕營在和珅私宅供役者千餘人，又令各部以年老平庸之員保送御史。至是，悉革其弊。吏、戶兩部成例為和珅所變更者，諸臣奏請次第修正。初，乾隆中命和珅改入正黃旗，及得罪，仍隸正紅旗。