19세기 전반 충청도 지역 지방통치와 사회문제 연구 －1833년 암행어사 황협의 『繡行紀事』 분석을 중심으로－

Abstract

In this article, the 『Suhaeng Gisa/繡行紀事』 Memoir created by Hwang Hyeob, who was dispatched to the Chungcheong-do province area in 1833 as a Royal secret commissioner, is examined. By doing so, the status of the local officials who functioned as administrators in this region during the early 19th century, the nature of social problems and issues that were considered relevant by the residents in this region at the time, and the government's response to those problems and how they addressed the issues, are all analyzed here as well. First of all, the overall characteristics that the fashion of royal secret commissioner dispatching exhibited during the reign of King Sunjo is examined, and then how Hwang Hyeob’s report was processed through channels, is examined as well. Results of the analyses are as follow. First, during the 35 years of the reign of King Sunjo, Royal secret commissioners were dispatched for total of 56 times, and to the three major provinces in the peninsula’s Southern region, commissioners were dispatched on a regular basis, with a 5-year interval. Second, in the year 1833, total of 4 Royal secret commissioners were dispatched to local areas, and to the Chungcheong-do province, commissioners were dispatched to both the Jwado(left section) and Udo(right section) sub-provinces. Hwang Hyeob was dispatched to the Udo sub-province as a Royal secret commissioner, and later he filed a report in the form of Seogyae/書啓 and Byeoldan/別單, which contained all the data he had gathered for roughly 5 months, and sent it to the government. Third, through the Seogyae and Byeoldan reports submitted to the government by Hwang Hyeob, we can identify the Suryeong prefects’ ruling fashion in the region, and the issues that were deemed relevant by the people at the time. The region was experiencing many difficulties and problems that were quite similar to those which troubled other regions as well in the early 19th century, such as the disorder and breakdown of the taxation system, or corruption of the local administrators. Also, aside from those problems, the region Hwang Hyeob visited was being troubled by a fair share of its own unique problems as well. Fourth, after receiving Hwang Hyeob’s report, the government endeavored to address the situation by punishing corrupted local officials and devising plans to resolve social issues. We can say that the government’s management system of national problems was indeed working. Yet the effect of punishing local officials did not last very long, and fundamental reforms of administrative institutions were never attempted. Such aspects show that the government failed to deal with the national problems from a broader perspective.