白河投书

清代张焘《津门杂记》记载： “白河，即北运河。” “两岸皆白沙，不生青草，故名。又称潞河。”白河和卫河(又称南运河),交流三岔河口，汇于海河，所以白河又指海河。
道光二十年五月(1840年6月),第一次鸦片战争爆发。由于林则徐严密防范，英国侵略军进攻广州受挫。英国政府指示英舰队沿海岸线北上，驶向大沽口。名为直接向朝廷投递书信要求答复，实为执行“封锁大沽海口，进犯天津，威胁北京，以武力胁迫清政府屈服” 的侵华战略。这样，京都门户的大沽海口，第一次面临帝国主义的直接武力威胁。
当时清朝在大沽海口并没有像样的战备设施，大沽和北塘海口原有的两座炮台均已倾塌，水师营又于道光初年裁撤，在英舰队北上时，清政府慌忙命直隶总督琦善加强海口战备。琦善仓促修补了一下旧有的炮台，在炮台前添置土垒，土垒前筑土埝，埝内增筑土炮台，并从外地增调守军和大炮，用以应急。
七月九日，英舰队在司令懿律和英驻华商务监督义律率领下，8艘英船(5艘为兵舰)驶抵大沽口外，十日，有一艘进入白河口。十四日 (11日),义律向清政府投递信件，要求派官员到英军舰上接受照会。十六日(13日)琦善派千总白含章赴英舰接受照会。英政府在照会内攻击林则徐在广东禁烟，侵犯了英国权益，无理地提出6项要求，限10天内答复。英舰队在等待答复期间，派船深入内河测量水位，窥探炮台虚实，绘制地形图，以备侵略之用。
八月二日 (8月28日),琦善为钦差大臣，在大沽口与入侵英军谈判。八月四日 (8月30日),琦善在大沽口南岸炮台附近帐篷内，与义律正式谈判。义律坚持照会中的各项无理要求，琦善节节退让，以 “查办林则徐”为条件，让英舰队暂撤广东。当时，连坐在帐篷帷幕外守护的清朝下级军官，看到琦善妥协媚外的态度，都暗中表示不满。会谈进行了6个小时，结束后，琦善设宴招待。席间，侵略者 “嬉笑怒骂” ,竟 “有舞洋枪飞刀座上者” ; 而琦善却表现出 “隐忍受辱”的窘态。八月二十日(9月15日),英舰队退出大沽口南返。
白河投书，是外国侵略者第一次武力威胁天津，英国侵略者在大沽口40天的交涉活动，对天津以后的社会变化和整个鸦片战争，产生了严重的不良后果。

·1840年8月，英军侵犯大沽口

The Tianjin Annals compiled by Zhang Tao of the QingDynasty reported that,"the Baihe River,or the NorthCanal,It is also called Luhe River." The Baihe River andthe Weihe River (or South Canal) joins at Sanchakouinto Haihe River,so the Baihe River also refers to HaiheRiver.
In June 1840,the First Opium War broke out.The British army were stalled by Lin Zexu`s strongdefense in Guangzhou. The UK Government orderedits fleet to sail northward along the coastline to reachthe Dagu Emplacements at last. The British forcesthen delivered a letter to the government of the QingDynasty. The strategy of British army was to "lockDagu Emplacements,occupy Tianjin,menace Beijingand force the Qing Dynasty to surrender". As the gateto Beijing,the Dagu Emplacement was under directmilitary attack from the imperialism.
The defense of Dagu Emplacement was fragile.Its two emplacements in Dagu and Beitang had alreadyfallen. Then the navy was dismissed. When the Britishfleet went north,the Qing Government hurriedly orderedQi Shan,the Governor-General of Zhili,to strengthenthe defense of the sea. Qi repaired the old emplacementsand built more earth bases. On the bases were cannons.He also dispatched soldiers and cannons from outside ofTianjin in urgency.
On July 9,the British fleet composed of eight ships(five warships) led by Commander Charles Elliot andUK Business Represent ative Charles Elliot arrived atthe Dagu Emplacement. On July 10,a warship enteredthe mouth of Baihe River. On July 11,Charles Elliotsent a letter to the Qing Government,demanding it toappoint an official to receive a note on the British ship.On 13,Qi Shan sent Bai Hanzhang,a general,on boardto receive the note,in which the British Governmentclaimed that Lin Zexu`s burning of opium in Guangzhouhad harmed UK`s interest and proposed six requirementsfor reply within 10 days. When waiting for a reply,theBritish fleet surveyed the depth of the inner water andthe deployment of the emplacements. It also drew mapsfor invasion preparation.
On August 28,Qi Shan acted as the imperialenvoy and negotiated with the invaders at the DaguEmplacement. On August 30,negotiation was held ina tent near the emplacement of the south bank of theDagu Emplacement. Charles Elliot insisted on all theunreasonable requirements raised in the note. Qi Shancontinued to give way and agreed to punish Lin Zexuif the British fleet retreated from Guandong Province.Even his subordinate officials were disappointed andangry at Qi Shan`s compromise. The negotiation lastedfor six hours and after that Qi Shan treated the invadersa banquet. During the banquet,the British were veryimpolite and even played weapons before Qi Shan,whotolerated all the insults. On September 15,the Britainfleet retreated from the Dagu Emplacement and returnedto south.
Delivering a note on Baihe River was the firstmilitary menace by foreign invaders in Tianjin. The40-day activities of British invaders at the DaguEmplacement produced a bad influence on Tianjin`ssociety and on the process of Opium War in 1840-1842.

·1840年8月30日，琦善与义律谈判 (潘恩春 油画)