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倭仁，字艮峰，烏齊格里氏，蒙古正紅旗人，河南駐防。 道光九年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 歷中允、侍講、侍讀、庶子、侍講學士、侍讀學士。 二十二年，擢詹事。 二十四年，遷大理寺卿。 文宗即位，應詔陳言，略曰：「行政莫先於用人，用人莫先於君子小人之辨。 夫君子小人藏於心術者難知，發於事蹟者易見。 大抵君子訥拙，小人佞巧； 君子澹定，小人躁競； 君子愛惜人才，小人排擠異類； 君子圖遠大，以國家元氣為先，小人計目前，以聚斂刻薄為務。 剛正不撓、無所阿鄉者，君子也； 依違兩可、工於趨避者，小人也。 諫諍匡弼、進憂危之議，動人主之警心者，君子也； 喜言氣數、不畏天變，長人君之逸志者，小人也。 公私邪正，相反如此。 皇上天亶聰明，孰賢孰否，必能洞知。 第恐一人之心思耳目，揣摩者眾，混淆者多，幾微莫辨，情偽滋紛，愛憎稍涉偏私，取捨必至失當。 知人則哲，豈有他術，在皇上好學勤求，使聖志益明，聖德日固而已。 宋程顥雲，'古者人君必有誦訓箴諫之臣'。 請命老成之儒，講論道義，又擇天下賢俊，陪侍法從。 我朝康熙間，熊賜履上疏，亦以'延訪真儒'為說。 二臣所言，皆修養身心之要，用人行政之源也。 天下治亂系宰相，君德成就責講筵。 惟君德成就而後輔弼得人，輔弼得人而後天下可治。」 疏入，上稱其切直，因諭大小臣工進言以倭仁為法。 未幾，禮部侍郎曾國籓奏用人三策，上复憶倭仁言，手詔同褒勉焉。
Wo Ren, whose style was Genfeng, belonged to the Ujikri clan. A Mongol bannerman of the Plain Red Banner, he was stationed on garrison duty in Henan. In 1829 he earned his jinshi degree, entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and received an appointment as compiler. He rose through the posts of middle attendant, lecturer, reader, tutor of the heir apparent, and finally lecturer-at-large and reader-at-large. In 1842 he was promoted to tutor of the heir apparent. In 1844 he was transferred to the presidency of the Court of Judicial Review. When the Xianfeng Emperor acceded, Wo Ren answered an imperial call for counsel with a memorial that began: 'In governing, nothing precedes the choice of men; in choosing men, nothing precedes telling the gentleman from the petty man. What a gentleman or a petty man keeps in the heart is hard to discern; what shows in his conduct is easy to see. As a rule, the gentleman is plain-spoken and unadorned, the petty man glib and artful; the gentleman is calm and self-possessed, the petty man restless and grasping; the gentleman cherishes able men, the petty man drives out anyone unlike himself; The gentleman looks to the long view and puts the nation's underlying strength first; the petty man counts only the moment and makes squeezing revenue and harshness his business. He who is upright, unbending, and curries favor with none is a gentleman; he who trims between two sides and is skilled at slipping away is a petty man. He who admonishes and steadies the throne, who offers words of peril to rouse the sovereign's vigilance, is a gentleman; he who delights in omens and fate, who does not fear Heaven's warnings and instead feeds the ruler's wish for ease, is a petty man. Between public duty and private interest, between the straight and the crooked, the contrast is as stark as this. Your Majesty's Heaven-given discernment can surely see through who is worthy and who is not. Yet I fear that a single mind and pair of ears, however keen, must face many who read your wishes and many who cloud them; the finest shades grow hard to tell apart, truth and pretense tangle, and the slightest tilt of favor or dislike will skew whom you keep and whom you cast aside. To know men is wisdom: there is no other secret. Your Majesty must study earnestly and seek counsel without cease, so your sage purpose grows ever clearer and your sage virtue firmer day by day. Cheng Hao of the Song said, 'In ancient times every ruler had ministers who recited lessons and offered frank remonstrance.' I ask that seasoned Confucians be charged to expound the Way and its duties, and that worthy men from across the realm be chosen to attend you in study and counsel. In the Kangxi reign of our dynasty, Xiong Cili likewise memorialized the throne, urging that true scholars be sought out and consulted. What these two ministers urged goes to the heart of self-cultivation—and to the root of how men are chosen and how the realm is governed. Whether the realm is well or ill governed hangs on the chief minister; whether the ruler's virtue matures rests on those who teach him. Only when the ruler's virtue is formed can the right helpers be found; only when the right helpers are found can the realm be brought to order.' When the memorial reached the throne, the Emperor praised its blunt honesty and told officials at every rank to speak their minds, taking Wo Ren as their example. Soon afterward Vice Minister of Rites Zeng Guofan submitted three proposals on appointing men; the Emperor again recalled Wo Ren's memorial and with his own hand issued an edict commending them both.
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He was soon granted the rank of vice banner commander and appointed assistant commissioner at Yarkand. Assistant President Tian Yugong of the Court of Judicial Review argued that Wo Ren's talents were wasted on the assignment; the Emperor replied, 'A frontier post is a weighty charge, not a place to shelve a man in disgrace. If every appointment beyond the capital were read as a demotion, how would that square with the state's aim to draw on both civil and military talent and to weigh service at court and in the provinces alike?' In 1852 Wo Ren again submitted a memorial on getting governance right at the root. The Emperor said his aim—to admonish and offer honest counsel—was not out of line, but that he spoke only in broad platitudes about the Way of rule, and warned him to mind frontier business and not hide behind empty rhetoric. Expectant circuit intendant He Guizhen sent in a sealed memorial praising Wo Ren's loyalty, clarity of judgment, and conduct worthy of his learning, and asking that grave responsibilities be placed on him. The request was denied. In 1853 Wo Ren impeached Akhmet, the Yarkand district king and Akhun-beck, for forcing travelers to pay road levies and for his guards' demands for bribes. The throne rebuked him for acting without a full inquiry and sent the case to the ministries; Wo Ren was demoted three ranks and transferred.
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In 1854 Vice Minister Wang Maoyin and others asked that Wo Ren be ordered to help organize militia training in the capital; the Emperor, saying military affairs were not his forte, set the proposal aside. He was soon ordered into the Upper Study as a lecturer on the waiting list to instruct the Prince of Dun. In 1855 he was promoted to lecturer-at-large. He served as director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and as vice president of the Mukden Board of Rites. In 1857 he was moved to the Board of Revenue and put in charge of the Fengtian governor-general's affairs; he impeached and removed Mukden vice president Zeng Qing and Board of War vice president Funiyahuang'a. When a major edict was issued to the empire, he was appointed chief envoy to Korea. Recalled to the capital, he was appointed left censor-in-chief of the Censorate. In 1862 he was promoted to Minister of Works. The two empress dowagers, finding Wo Ren seasoned, upright, and learned, ordered him to tutor the Tongzhi Emperor. Wo Ren compiled the deeds of ancient rulers and memorials of renowned ministers past and present, added his own commentary, and presented the work to the throne. It was named the Heart-Opening Golden Mirror and kept in the Hall of Manifest Virtue for the emperor's study. Wo Ren had always been stern and upright, and the Tongzhi Emperor held him in particular awe.
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尋兼翰林院掌院學士，調工部尚書、協辦大學士。 疏言：「河南自咸豐三年以後，粵、捻焚掠，蓋藏已空，州縣誅求仍復無厭。 朝廷不能盡擇州縣，則必慎擇督撫。 督撫不取之屬員，則屬員自無可挾以為恣睢之地。 今日河南積習，祗曰民刁詐，不曰官貪庸； 祗狃於愚民之抗官，不思所以致抗之由。 惟在朝廷慎察大吏，力挽積習，寇亂之源，庶幾可弭。」 是年秋，拜文淵閣大學士，疏劾新授廣東巡撫黃贊湯貪詐，解其職。
He was soon made concurrent chancellor of the Hanlin Academy, moved to Minister of Works, and appointed co-grand secretary. In a memorial he wrote: 'Since 1853 in Henan, Taiping and Nian bands have burned and looted until nothing is left in the granaries, yet the districts and counties still squeeze the people without end. If the court cannot pick every magistrate, it must at least choose governors-general and governors with care. When governors do not profit from their staffs, those staffs have no footing on which to tyrannize the people. The standing habit in Henan today is to blame only the people's craftiness, never the officials' greed and incompetence; only to fix on the idea that ignorant peasants defy their magistrates, without asking what drives them to defiance. Only if the court scrutinizes its senior appointees and forcefully breaks these habits can the roots of rebellion perhaps be cut.' That autumn he was made grand secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion and memorialized against the newly appointed Guangdong governor Huang Zantang for greed and deceit, bringing about his removal.
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In 1867 the Tongwenguan proposed recruiting regular-track officials of fifth rank and below from court and provinces to study astronomy and mathematics there, with Westerners engaged as teachers. Wo Ren argued that the root lay in men's hearts, not in technical skill, and above all that Western teachers were intolerable; and that if such studies were needed, Chinese masters of the methods should be found. He memorialized the throne to abandon the plan. The throne then ordered Wo Ren to nominate teachers, open a separate hall, and direct the instruction himself. He replied again that he knew no one fit for the task and dared not nominate anyone lightly. He was soon ordered to serve in the Zongli Yamen for foreign affairs. Wo Ren repeatedly begged off in memorials, without success; he then pleaded grave illness and asked to retire; the court released him from his extra duties but kept him at the Hall of Manifest Virtue. In 1869 he urged frugality for the imperial wedding rites; after fire struck the Hall of Martial Glory, he joined Xu Tong and Weng Tonghe in asking the emperor to deepen his virtue and halt all building projects to appease Heaven's warning—and the court welcomed their counsel. In 1871 he was promoted to grand secretary of the Wenhua Hall and again asked leave on account of illness. He died soon after. The court granted him the posthumous rank of Grand Tutor, enshrined him in the Shrine of Worthy Officials, and gave him the posthumous name Wenduan. In 1882 Henan governor Li Henian asked to erect a private shrine to Wo Ren at Kaifeng, and the request was granted.
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In earlier years, while Zeng Guofan served in the capital, he studied Song Neo-Confucian thought together with Wo Ren, Li Tangjie, Wu Tingdong, He Guizhen, and Dou Kan. Later Guofan went forth to quell the great rebellions and became the leading statesman of the restoration; Wo Ren served as the emperor's teacher, unbending in manner; Tangjie and Tingdong likewise made names for themselves in their own spheres. Wo Ren left posthumous writings in thirteen scrolls. His son Fuxian served as Jiangsu salt controller and acting intendant over several Anhui circuits; in 1860 he died defending Ningguo and was posthumously made vice president of the Court of Imperial Studs, with a hereditary commandant's rank; Fuyu became governor of the Fengtian metropolitan prefecture. His nephew Furun rose to governor of Anhui. In 1900, when foreign troops entered Beijing, the entire family died.
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Li Tangjie, styled Wenyuan, came from Henei in Henan. In 1822 he earned his jinshi degree, entered the Hanlin as a bachelor, and was appointed compiler. After five promotions he became a reader in the Hanlin. In 1842 he served as Guangdong education commissioner and was promoted to vice president of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. When Governor Huang Entong asked to grant honorary ranks to aged military candidates at the provincial exams, the throne rebuked him sharply. Tangjie too, for irregularities in presenting candidates, was slated for demotion three ranks and transfer; he pleaded illness and went home. When the Xianfeng Emperor acceded, daily lectures resumed. Zeng Guofan recommended Tangjie as upright and fit to lecture the emperor, and he was called to Beijing. Soon the daily lectures stopped again, and Tangjie, citing illness, never took up the post.
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In 1853, as Taiping forces pushed north and local bandits swarmed over Hebei, he was ordered—on Minister Zhou Zupei's recommendation—to organize militia defense in the province. Tangjie linked villages and market towns into units he called "Mutual Aid Society." Bandits held the willow groves on Wen County's east river flats and raided far and wide. Tangjie led the militia against them, but the peasants were untrained and had no guns; though they killed several dozen bandits, they could not hold the field. When Shandong governor Li Huang arrived with troops, the bandits drew off. Once the bandits crossed the Yellow River, they found the countryside armed and were somewhat slowed in their advance. When Hebei was cleared, his service was rewarded with a fourth-grade chamberlain's rank and the peacock feather.
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同治元年，詔起用舊臣，棠階應召至。 上疏言：「用人行政，惟在治心。 治心之要，莫先克己。 請於師保匡弼之馀，豫杜左右近習之漸。 暇時進講通鑑、大學衍義諸書，以收物格意誠之效。」 又言：「紀綱之飭，在於嚴明賞罰。 凡朝廷通諭諸事，務飭疆臣實力奉行，庶中外情志可通，而禍亂可弭。」 兩宮嘉納焉。 授大理寺卿。 先是兩江總督何桂清僨事逮治，部讞從重擬斬決，廷臣有右之者，言部臣有意畸重，仍從本律監候。 棠階疏謂桂清貽誤封疆罪大，不當輕比，非公論。 後桂清卒伏法。 連擢禮部侍郎、左都御史，署戶部尚書。 召對，言：「治天下惟在安民，安民必先察吏。 今日之盜賊，即昔日之良民，皆地方有司貪虐激之成變。 為今日平亂計，非輕徭薄賦不能治本。 然非擇大吏，則守令不得其人，亦終不能收令行禁止之效。」 因極言河南亂事，及諸行省利病甚悉。 命為軍機大臣，具疏力辭，弗許。 二年，授工部尚書。
In 1862 an edict recalled veteran officials; Tangjie answered the call and came to court. He memorialized the throne: 'In appointing men and governing the realm, everything depends on governing the heart. The first step in governing the heart is to restrain oneself. Beyond the tutors who guide and correct you, I ask that you guard early against the slow encroachment of favorites at your side. In your spare hours have read to you the Comprehensive Mirror, the Extended Meaning of the Great Learning, and works like them, so that you may reach the stage where things are understood and the will made sincere.' He also wrote: 'To restore discipline, rewards and punishments must be strict and clear. Every order the court sends to the provinces must be enforced in earnest by the frontier governors, so that court and country may speak with one mind and rebellion be checked.' The two empress dowagers welcomed his counsel. He was appointed president of the Court of Judicial Review. Earlier Liangjiang governor-general He Guiqing had been arrested for his failures in office. The ministries recommended aggravated decapitation, but some at court argued the penalty was skewed; the sentence was reduced to imprisonment awaiting execution under the standard law. Tangjie memorialized that Guiqing's crime of ruining the frontier was too grave to be softened—that such leniency was not justice. In the end Guiqing was executed. He was promoted in quick succession to vice minister of Rites, left censor-in-chief, and acting minister of revenue. Called to audience, he said: 'To govern the realm is to settle the people; to settle the people you must first scrutinize your officials. The bandits of today were the law-abiding people of yesterday, driven to revolt by the greed and cruelty of local magistrates. To quell rebellion now, nothing will reach the root cause without lighter taxes and lighter corvée. Yet unless senior appointees are chosen well, the prefects and magistrates below will be wrong men, and orders will never truly be obeyed.' He went on to speak at length on the turmoil in Henan and on the strengths and failings of the provinces in painstaking detail. He was appointed to the Grand Council, memorialized earnestly to decline, and was refused. In 1863 he was appointed minister of works.
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三年，江寧克復，論功，加太子少保。 大憝既平，上諭中外臣工以兢業交勉。 棠階語恭親王及同直諸大臣，謂當設誠致行，久而不懈，勿徒以空言相文飾，王深然之。 翼日召對，王反复陳君臣交儆之義，棠階與同僚繼言之，兩宮改容嘉納。 尋調禮部尚書。 太后命南書房、上書房諸臣纂輯前史事蹟，賜名治平寶鑑，命諸大臣進講。 棠階因講漢文帝卻千里馬事，反复推言人主不宜有所嗜好，以啟窺伺之端。 自是每進講必原本經義，極論史事，歸於責難陳善。 四年，恭親王被劾退出軍機，棠階謂王有定難功，時方多故，不當輕棄親賢，入對，力言王非有心之失。 會惇、醇兩王亦奏言奕訢不可遽罷，乃復命入直。 僧格林沁戰歿曹州，棠階以朝廷賞多罰少，疆臣每存藐玩，上疏極言其弊，於是有申飭直省督撫之諭。
In 1864, when Jiangning was recovered, he was rewarded with the additional title of junior guardian of the heir apparent. After the great rebellion was crushed, the emperor urged officials throughout the realm to exhort one another to diligence. Tangjie told Prince Gong and the other councilors on duty that they must act in earnest and keep at it, not dress one another in empty phrases. The prince strongly agreed. At audience the next day the prince spoke again and again on how ruler and ministers must warn each other; Tangjie and his colleagues added their voices, and the two empress dowagers listened with changed faces and welcomed the counsel. He was soon transferred to minister of rites. The empress dowager ordered scholars of the Southern and Upper Study to compile historical precedents; the work was named the Mirror of Ordered Peace, and senior ministers were told to lecture on it. In lecturing on how Emperor Wen of Han refused a thousand-li horse, Tangjie argued again and again that a ruler must not indulge private tastes, lest others seize the chance to pry and flatter. From then on every lecture returned to the classics, drew fully on history, and ended in frank admonition. In 1865 Prince Gong was impeached and left the Grand Council. Tangjie said the prince had saved the dynasty in crisis and must not be cast aside while troubles remained; at audience he insisted the fault was not deliberate. When the Princes of Dun and Chun also argued that Yixin must not be removed so hastily, he was ordered back to the council. After Sengge Rinchen fell at Caozhou, Tangjie argued that too many rewards and too few punishments made frontier governors careless; his memorial led to an edict rebuking provincial governors.
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Once Tangjie joined the council, dispatches poured in; the slightest setback showed in his face. Worn down by overwork, he fell ill and died in the eleventh month, at sixty-eight. The court was stricken; Prince Zaiye was sent to offer libations, gold was granted for the funeral, and Tangjie was posthumously made grand guardian of the heir apparent with the posthumous name Wenqing.
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From his first days in the Hanlin, Tangjie immersed himself in Neo-Confucian study and once copied Tang Bin's posthumous writings by hand to spur himself on. He mastered the teachings of the Cheng brothers, Zhu Xi, Lu Xiangshan, and Wang Yangming without partisan bias, and aimed always at self-restraint, return to ritual, and practice in the flesh. He kept a diary of self-examination and never let the habit lapse. His family had been poor, and even after he rose high he lived as frugally as before. He once said, "Hardship is the gate to life. I dare never forget the days when I went hungry waiting for rice to arrive!"
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吳廷棟，字竹如，安徽霍山人。 道光五年拔貢，授刑部七品小京官，洊遷郎中。 廷棟少好宋儒之學，入官益植節厲行，蹇蹇自靖。 咸豐二年，京察一等。 時侍郎書元兼崇文門副監督，獲販私釀者三十六人，承審者以漏稅擬滿杖。 已而覆訊得書元家人詐贓狀，部臣據以入奏。 文宗疑書元孤立，降旨切責，會廷棟召對，上詢是獄。 廷棟從容敷奏，且詳陳治道之要，言利之害，君子小人之辨，上首肯，獄竟得解。 因詢廷棟讀何書，廷棟以程、硃對。 上曰：「學程、硃者每多迂拘。」 對曰：「此不善學之過。 程、硃以明德為體，新民為用，天下未有有體而無用者。 皇上讀書窮理，以裕知人之識； 清心寡欲，以養坐照之明。 寤寐求賢，內外得人，天下何憂不治？」 上韙之。
Wu Tingdong, styled Zhuru, came from Huoshan in Anhui. In 1825 he passed the tribute-student selection, entered the Board of Punishments as a junior secretary, and rose to director. From youth Wu Tingdong loved Song Neo-Confucian learning; in office he grew only more upright and strict, holding himself apart with stubborn integrity. In 1852 he received the top grade in the capital officials' evaluation. Vice Minister Shuyuan was then deputy supervisor at Chongwen Gate when thirty-six illicit brewers were seized; the examiners proposed the maximum penalty for tax evasion. On re-examination, evidence of extortion by Shuyuan's household came out, and the ministries reported it to the throne. The Xianfeng Emperor suspected Shuyuan was being singled out and rebuked the ministries sharply; when Wu Tingdong was called to audience, the emperor asked about the case. Wu Tingdong answered calmly, then spoke at length on governing, the harm of chasing profit, and the difference between gentlemen and petty men. The emperor nodded, and the case was closed. The emperor asked what he read; Wu Tingdong answered, the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi. The emperor said, "Students of Cheng and Zhu are often stiff and narrow." He replied, "That is the fault of studying badly. Cheng and Zhu take illustrious virtue as root and renewing the people as use; nowhere is there root without use. If Your Majesty reads to grasp principle, you will widen your eye for men; purify your heart and curb desire, and you will nurture the clear sight that comes from stillness. Seek worthy men waking and sleeping; with the right men at court and in the provinces, how could the realm fail to be governed?' The emperor approved his words.
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尋出為直隸河間知府。 粵匪北犯畿輔，廷棟練民兵巡防，民倚以為固。 內閣學士勝保督師至河間，責供張甚急，知縣王灴迫於應付，自刎不殊。 廷棟詣大營陳其事，勝保矍然，飭部下聽命。 連擢永定河道、直隸按察使。 以河間京師門戶，廷棟善守禦，得民心，仍留知府任。 四年，軍事定，乃之按察使任。 六年，遷山東布政使。 時部臣奏請畿內賦稅兼收大錢鈔票各三成，上下交病，總督譚廷襄不敢言。 會廷棟入覲，面奏：「大錢鈔票實不流通。 立法必先便於民方可行，必先信於民方能久。 今條科太多，朝夕更改，國家先不能自信，何以取信於民？」 上首肯者再。 既而廷襄入朝，遂奏罷前議。 山東吏治久窳，廷棟獎廉懲貪。 方議海口立局收貨捐，持不可。 八年，坐奏銷遲誤，降補直隸按察使。 十一年，復調山東。 同治二年，入為大理寺卿，尋擢刑部侍郎。
He was soon sent out as prefect of Hejian in Zhili. When Taiping forces pushed into the capital region, he trained militia for patrol and defense, and the people looked to him as their shield. Grand Secretariat Academician Sengbao arrived in command and demanded lavish supplies; Magistrate Wang Hong, crushed by the demand, tried to kill himself and barely survived. Wu Tingdong went to the main camp and laid out the case; Sengbao was startled into restraint and ordered his men to obey. He was promoted in quick succession to Yongding River commissioner and Zhili provincial surveillance commissioner. Because Hejian guarded the road to the capital and Wu Tingdong had won the people's trust through sound defense, he was kept on as prefect. In 1854, once the fighting had settled, he took up his post as surveillance commissioner. In 1856 he was made Shandong provincial administration commissioner. Ministries then proposed that metropolitan taxes be collected thirty percent in large cash and thirty percent in bank notes; the scheme distressed everyone, and Governor Tan Tingxiang dared not object. When Wu Tingdong came to audience he said plainly, "Large cash and bank notes do not really circulate. A law must first serve the people before it can work; it must first win their trust before it can endure. Too many rules change from day to day; the state cannot trust its own policy—how can the people?' The emperor nodded twice in agreement. Soon afterward Tan Tingxiang came to court and memorialized to drop the proposal. Shandong administration had long been rotten; Wu Tingdong rewarded the honest and punished the greedy. When officials debated a commodity levy at a new seaport bureau, he opposed it. In 1858 he was demoted for late account submissions and reassigned as Zhili surveillance commissioner. In 1861 he was transferred back to Shandong. In 1863 he was recalled as president of the Court of Judicial Review and soon promoted to vice minister of punishments.
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三年，江南平，廷棟上疏，略曰：「萬方之治亂在朝政，百工之敬肆視君心。 事不貴文，貴其實； 下不從令，從所好。 夫治亂決於敬肆，敬肆根於喜懼。 自古功成志遂，人主喜心一生而驕心已伏，宦寺有乘其喜而貢諂媚者矣，左右有乘其喜而肆蒙蔽者矣，容悅之臣有因此而工諛佞者矣，屏逐之姦有因此而巧夤緣者矣。 諂媚貢則柄暗竊，蒙蔽肆則權下移，諛佞工則主志惑，夤緣巧則宵小升。 於是受蠱惑，塞聰明，遠老成，惡忠鯁。 從前戒懼之念，一喜敗之； 此後侈縱之行，一喜開之。 方且矜予智，樂莫違，逞獨斷，快從欲，一人肆於上，群小扇於下，流毒蒼生，貽禍社稷，稽諸史冊，後先一轍。 推原其端，祗一念由喜入驕而已。 軍興以來，十數省億萬生靈慘遭鋒鏑，即倡亂之奸民，何一非朝廷赤子？ 大兵所加，盡被誅夷。 皇太后、皇上體上天好生之心，必有哀矜不忍喜者。 況旗兵乏食，根本空虛，新疆缺餉，邊陲搖動。 兼之強鄰偪處，邪教肆行，豈惟不可喜，而實屬可懼。 假使萬幾之馀，或有一念之肆，臣工效之，視彰癉為故事，輕告戒為具文，積習相沿，工為粉飾，將仍成為叢脞怠荒之局矣。 是非堅定刻苦，持之以恆，積數十年恭儉憂勤，有未易培國脈復元氣者。 夫上行必下效，內治則外安，而其道莫大於敬，其幾必始於懼。 懼天命無常，則不敢恃天； 懼民碞可畏，則不敢玩民。 懼者敬之始，敬者懼之終。 大智愈明，神武愈彰，紹祖宗富有之大業，開子孫無疆之丕基，是皆由皇心之懼始而敬成也。 易曰：'危者使平，易者使傾，懼以終始，其要無咎。 '詩曰：'敬之敬之，天維顯思！ '可弗以為永鑑歟？」 疏上，優詔嘉納，命存其疏於弘德殿以備省覽。 皇太后召對時，諭曰：「皇帝衝齡踐阼，國家大事，汝宜直言無隱，以無負先帝知遇。」 廷棟感激出涕。 五年，以衰病乞休，許之，歸寓江寧。 十二年，卒，年八十有一。 遺疏入，詔褒其廉靜自持，賜卹如例。 直隸、山東皆祀名宦祠。
In 1864, when Jiangnan was pacified, Wu Tingdong memorialized: "Whether the realm is ordered or in chaos depends on the court; whether officials are diligent or lax depends on the ruler's heart. In affairs what matters is not fine words but substance; subordinates do not follow orders—they follow what the ruler favors. Order and disorder turn on reverence or laxity, and reverence or laxity grow from joy and fear. From antiquity, when success is won the ruler's joy awakens pride already waiting beneath it: eunuchs bring flattery, attendants deceive, pleasing ministers perfect their sycophancy, and exiled schemers claw their way back. Flattery steals power in the dark; deception shifts authority downward; sycophancy clouds the ruler's mind; crafty connections raise petty men. Then the ruler is bewitched, his judgment blocked, the seasoned pushed away, and the bluntly loyal despised. A single burst of joy undoes the habit of caution; and a single burst of joy opens the way to extravagance and license. Then the ruler prides himself on wisdom, delights in having his way, indulges arbitrary rule and his own desires; laxity above is fanned by petty men below, the people suffer, and the state is endangered—the histories show the same pattern again and again. Trace it to the root, and it is only one thought slipping from joy into pride. Since the wars began, tens of millions in a dozen provinces have suffered under arms—even those who rose in rebellion were once the court's own children. Where imperial armies struck, multitudes were cut down. The empress dowager and emperor, sharing Heaven's love of life, must feel compassion and cannot rejoice. Banner troops lack food, the dynasty's foundations are hollow, Xinjiang lacks pay, and the frontiers are unsettled. Powerful neighbors press close and heterodox sects run wild—not only is there no cause for joy, but real cause for fear. If amid ten thousand affairs a single lax thought arose, officials would follow: rewards and punishments would become routine, warnings mere paper, old habits would continue, and ornament would replace substance—until the court sank again into petty bustle and neglect. Only firm resolve, hardship borne without cease, and decades of reverence, frugality, worry, and diligence can slowly rebuild the nation's strength. What the ruler does, officials follow; sound rule within brings peace without—and nothing is greater than reverence, which must begin in fear. Fear Heaven's mandate is inconstant, and you will not presume on Heaven; fear the people's wrath, and you will not trifle with the people. Fear is where reverence begins; reverence is where fear ends. Great wisdom grows clearer, martial glory brighter, the ancestors' vast enterprise is carried on, and an endless foundation laid for posterity—all beginning in the ruler's fear and fulfilled in reverence. The Book of Changes says, 'What is perilous is made level; what is easy is made to topple; hold fear from start to finish, and blame will be avoided.' The Odes says, 'Revere it, revere it—Heaven clearly sees!' Should this not be an everlasting mirror?" When the memorial reached the throne, an edict warmly praised it and ordered it kept in the Hall of Manifest Virtue for the emperor's reading. At audience the empress dowager told him, "The emperor is young on the throne; on great affairs of state speak frankly and hold nothing back, so as not to betray the late emperor's trust in you." Wu Tingdong wept with gratitude. In 1866 he asked to retire on account of age and illness; permission was granted, and he settled in Jiangning. In 1873 he died, at eighty-one. His final memorial reached the throne; an edict praised his integrity and self-restraint and granted the usual mourning honors. Shrines to him as a renowned official were erected in both Zhili and Shandong.
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Wu Tingdong's learning rested on refusing self-deception. As provincial judge he faced a string of parricide cases in the capital region; the governor feared too many memorials in one month would anger the throne. Wu Tingdong said, "This is our failure to teach the people—we are already at fault; how dare we cover it up?" After leaving office he lived modestly in retirement and accepted no gifts. He left the Clumsy Cultivation Collection in ten scrolls.
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The historian comments: In his later years Wo Ren was revered by the two empress dowagers. At the restoration he tutored a boy emperor, ever watchful over the balance of reverence and laxity in the ruler's heart; the whole court stood in awe of him, and public morals were steadied by his example. Yet he did not grasp how the world was changing; on the policies needed for self-strengthening he showed contempt and would not speak of them, and later advocates of new doctrines used that as their excuse. Li Tangjie and Wu Tingdong stood upright at court, true to their learning, in harmony like tuned pipes and chimes; Tangjie especially was plain, practical, and steady on the larger pattern—men in whom substance and practice were one.