조선후기 수령의 지방재정 운영과 公私 관념 ― 경상도 암행어사 서계를 중심으로 ―

Abstract

This study set out to investigate the evaluation results of Suryeongs' local financial operations in the second half of Joseon through the Seogye of secret royal inspectors in Gyeongsang Province and also the reasons behind the results in connection with the Confucian concept of public and private matters. During the second half of Joseon, the central government made center-oriented financial policy arrangements, which forced Suryeongs to search for diverse ways to raise money against the position of the central government in order to secure local finance. In the 19th century, the belt-tightening national finance was fixed at a flat rate and fixated the operation of collection and distribution, which means that the local governments had to secure their finance by devising various ways on their own. The process led to an inevitable aspect of illegal financial securement at the gun and hyeon level. Secret royal inspectors generally made positive assessments in relation to the operation of local finance by Suryeongs. The analysis results were as follows: 1) the Jeonjeong operation received more positive assessments after the middle 19th century than the early 18th century and 1808; 2) the operation of military government attracted less attention from secret royal inspectors than Jeonjeong, but 22 of 25 Suryeongs received positive assessments in 1867; and 3) Hwanjeong(politics of Hwangok) also received more and more positive assessments toward the middle and late 19th century. Such positive assessments of Suryeongs regarding Samjeong by secret royal inspectors were also found in the collection of the miscellaneous services tax. It has been known that there were many cases of illegal financial operation by local Suryeongs in the 19th century, in spite of which secret royal inspectors evaluated them in a positive manner probably because they shared a position regarding "public" with them as neo-Confucian bureaucrats. The legitimacy of an act placed higher values on Confucian moral law than public-private distinction by the areas during Joseon, which means that the right act of ruling for Suryeongs was to secure fairness. They were not afraid of being dismissed from office when they believed they could achieve neo-Confucian ethics or universal ethicality for their ruling acts despite the possibility of their ruling acts being defined as wicked or corrupt ones according to the national law. As long as their private acts(according to our thinking) satisfied their conscience, they would go on and engage in them even against publicness at the area level or the will of the royal court. That was the realization of publicness at another level. However, the same act would be subjected to criticism when it was the result of personal material greed. Loyalty and filial piety were not two different things. The former was the expanded version of the latter, in which aspect Suryeongs' supports for families, tribes and people were acknowledged as fair acts rather than the object of criticism according to the ethics of the times. Secret royal inspectors made many positive assessments of Suryeongs because they shared such an understanding with them.