1
列傳二百三十二
Biographies 232
2
吳可讀潘敦儼朱一新屠仁守吳兆泰何金壽安維峻
Wu Kedu, Pan Dunyi, Zhu Yixin, Tu Renshou, Wu Zhaotai, He Jinshou, and An Weijun
3
文悌江春霖
Wen Ti and Jiang Chunlin
4
吳可讀，字柳堂，甘肅皋蘭人。 初以舉人官伏羌訓導。 道光三十年，成進士，授刑部主事。 晉員外郎，遭憂去，主講蘭山書院。 會撒拉番蠢動，被命佐團練。 服闋，起故官。 遷吏部郎中，轉御史。 各國使臣請覲，議禮久未決，可讀請免拜跪，時論韙之。 烏魯木齊提督成祿誣民為逆，擊殺多人，虛飾胜狀，為左宗棠所劾。 可讀繼陳其罪有可斬者十，不可緩者五，尋逮問，讞上論斬，廷臣請改監候。 可讀憤甚，复疏爭：「請斬成祿以謝甘民，再斬臣以謝成祿。」 語過戇直，被訶責，鐫三級。 歸，复掌教蘭山。 逾年，穆宗崩，德宗纘業，起吏部主事。
Wu Kedu, styled Liutang, was from Gaolan in Gansu. He first took office as educational instructor at Fuxiang on the strength of his provincial graduate degree. In 1850 he passed the metropolitan examination and was appointed a secretary in the Ministry of Punishments. Promoted to vice director, he left office to mourn a parent and took charge of lecturing at Lanshan Academy. When the Salar tribes rose in unrest, he was ordered to help organize local militia training. When his mourning period ended, he returned to his former post. He was transferred to a directorship in the Ministry of Personnel and then appointed censor. When foreign envoys sought an audience and court ritual remained unsettled for a long time, Kedu urged that they be excused from kneeling and prostration, and opinion at the time sided with him. Cheng Lu, military governor of Urumqi, falsely branded the people rebels, killed many of them, and fabricated accounts of victory until Zuo Zongtang impeached him. Kedu went on to list ten offenses warranting execution and five that could not be delayed. Cheng was soon arrested and tried; when the verdict recommended death, court officials asked that the sentence be commuted to imprisonment awaiting execution. Furious, Kedu memorialized again: "I beg that Cheng Lu be executed to appease the people of Gansu, and that I be executed afterward to appease Cheng Lu." His language was recklessly blunt; he was rebuked and demoted three ranks. He went home and again headed teaching at Lanshan. A year later, after Emperor Muzong died and Emperor Dezong took the throne, Kedu was recalled as a secretary in the Ministry of Personnel.
5
光緒五年，穆宗奉安惠陵，自請隨赴襄禮。 還次薊州，宿廢寺，自縊，未絕，仰藥死，於懷中得遺疏，則請為穆宗立嗣也。 其言曰：「罪臣聞治不諱亂，安不忘危。 危亂而可諱忘，則進苦口於堯舜，為無疾呻吟，陳隱患於聖明，為不祥舉動。 罪臣前因言事獲譴，蒙我先皇帝曲賜矜全，免臣以斬而死，以囚而死，以傳訊觸忌而死。 犯三死而未死，不求生而再生，則今日罪臣未盡之餘年，皆我先皇帝數年前所賜也。 欽奉兩宮皇太后懿旨，以醇親王之子承繼文宗顯皇帝為子，入承大統為嗣皇帝，俟嗣皇帝生有皇子，即承繼大行皇帝為嗣。 我皇上仁孝性成，承我兩宮皇太后授以寶位，將來千秋萬歲時，必能以我兩宮皇太后今日之心為心。 而在廷之忠佞不齊，即眾論之異同不一。 以宋初宰相趙普之賢，而猶首背杜太后； 以明大學士王直之為舊臣，而猶以黃𤥠請立景帝太子一疏不出我輩為愧。 賢者如此，遑問不肖？ 舊人如此，奚責新進？ 名位已定者如此，況在未定。 惟有仰求我兩宮皇太后再降諭旨，將來大統，仍歸大行皇帝嗣子，嗣皇帝雖百斯男，中外臣工均不得以異言進。 如此，則猶是本朝子以傳子之家法，而我大行皇帝未有子而有子，即我兩宮皇太后未有孫而有孫，異日繩繩揖揖相引於萬代者，皆我兩宮皇太后所自出而不可移易者也。 彼時罪臣即欲有言，繼思降調不得越職言事。 今逢我大行皇帝奉安山陵，恐積久漸忘，則罪臣昔日所留以有待者，今則迫不及待矣。 謹以我先皇帝所賜餘年，為我先皇帝上乞數行懿旨，惟望我兩宮皇太后、我皇上憐其哀鳴，勿以為無疾呻吟、不祥舉動，則罪臣雖死無憾。 尤原我兩宮皇太后、我皇上體聖祖、世宗之心，調劑寬猛，養忠厚和平之福，任用老成； 毋爭外國之所獨爭，為中華留不盡； 毋創祖宗之所未創，為子孫留有餘。 罪臣言畢於斯，命畢於斯，謹以大統所繫上聞。」 吏部奏諸朝，詔憫其忠，予優恤。 下群臣議，遂定以繼德宗之統為穆宗之子，無異論。
In 1879, when Emperor Muzong was laid to rest at Huiling, he volunteered to accompany the procession and assist in the burial rites. On the way back he halted at Jizhou and lodged in a ruined temple. He hanged himself; before life left him he took poison as well. A final memorial found on his person asked that an heir be appointed for Emperor Muzong. It read: "Your guilty servant has heard that good government does not shrink from speaking of disorder, and security must not forget danger. If danger may be hushed up and forgotten, then offering bitter counsel even to Yao and Shun would be called feigned groaning without illness, and warning of hidden perils before a sage ruler would be deemed an ill-omened act. I was once punished for speaking out, yet my late emperor graciously spared me—spared me execution, imprisonment unto death, and death for giving offense under interrogation. Having faced three deaths yet lived, and not seeking life merely to live on, whatever years remain to me now are years my late emperor granted me years ago. By decree of the two empress dowagers, the son of Prince Chun was adopted as heir to Emperor Wenzong, ascended the throne as successor emperor, and when he should have a son of his own, that son would succeed the late emperor in turn. Our emperor is filial and benevolent by nature. Having received the throne from the two empress dowagers, in time to come he will surely hold the same intentions they hold today. Yet at court the loyal and the treacherous are not alike, and public opinion is divided. For all the worth of Zhao Pu, chief minister in the early Song, he was still foremost in defying Empress Dowager Du; For all that Wang Zhi of the Ming was a grand secretary and a veteran minister, he still felt ashamed that Huang Hong's memorial to establish the Jing Emperor's crown prince had not come from men like us. If even the worthy behave thus, what may be expected of the unworthy? If veterans act thus, how can newcomers be blamed? If even those whose rank is already settled behave thus, how much more when it is not yet settled. I can only humbly beg the two empress dowagers to issue another decree: that hereafter the succession remain with a son of the late emperor, and that even if the reigning emperor should have a hundred sons, no official at court or in the provinces may advance a contrary opinion. Thus the dynasty's house law of father passing the throne to son would be preserved. The late emperor would have no son and yet have a son; the two empress dowagers would have no grandson and yet have a grandson. The line that would stretch in orderly succession through ten thousand generations would all spring from the two empress dowagers and could not be altered. At that time I wished to speak out, but then reflected that after demotion one might not remonstrate outside one's proper office. Now, as the late emperor is laid to rest in the hills, I fear that with time this matter will be forgotten. What I once held back and waited to say can wait no longer. I respectfully use the remaining years my late emperor granted me to beg on his behalf for a few lines of decree, praying only that the two empress dowagers and our emperor will pity this cry of grief and not dismiss it as feigned groaning or an ill-omened act. Then I may die without regret. I further pray that the two empress dowagers and our emperor take to heart the spirit of the Kangxi and Yongzheng emperors, balance severity and leniency, nurture the blessings of loyalty and peace, and employ seasoned men; do not contend for what foreign powers alone contend over, and leave inexhaustible reserves for China; do not innovate what the ancestors never innovated, and leave a surplus for posterity. My words end here and my life ends here. I respectfully report what concerns the succession to the throne." The Ministry of Personnel reported the matter to court. An edict commiserated his loyalty and granted generous posthumous honors. The matter was referred to the ministers for discussion, and without dissent it was settled that the succession to Emperor Dezong would be as son to Emperor Muzong.
6
可讀臨歿遺書與其子之桓，謂出薊州一步即非死所。 之桓遂成其遺志，葬薊州。 都人即所居城南舊宅祠祀之。
On the verge of death Kedu left a letter to his son Zhihuan, saying that one step beyond Jizhou would not be the place to die. Zhihuan then fulfilled his father's last wish and buried him at Jizhou. The people of the capital established a shrine to him at his old residence south of the city.
7
有潘敦儼者，字清畏，籍江寧，總督鐸子。 以任子官工部郎中，遷御史。 默念穆宗嗣統未有定議，孝哲毅皇后又仰藥殉，遂疏請表揚穆後潛德，更諡號，並解醇親王奕枻職任，詔嚴斥奪職。 歸隱於酒，閱二十餘年，卒。
There was Pan Dunyi, styled Qingwei, registered in Jiangning and son of Governor-General Duo. Through hereditary privilege he served as a director in the Ministry of Works and was later made censor. Brooding over the unsettled succession to Emperor Muzong and Empress Xiaozheyi's death by poison in devotion to her husband, he memorialized to honor the late empress's hidden virtues, revise her posthumous title, and remove Prince Chun Yixuan from office. An edict sternly rebuked him and stripped him of his post. He retired and took refuge in drink. More than twenty years later he died.
8
朱一新，字蓉生，浙江義烏人。 鄉舉對策語觸時忌，主司李文田特拔之。 入貲為內閣中書。 光緒二年，成進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 法越事起，數上書主戰，又嘗畫海防策，語至切要。 典湖北鄉試，稱得士。 十一年，轉御史，連上封事，言論侃侃，不避貴戚。
Zhu Yixin, styled Rongsheng, was from Yiwu in Zhejiang. In the provincial examination his policy essay touched contemporary taboos, but chief examiner Li Wentian specially advanced him. He purchased office as a secretary in the Grand Secretariat. In 1876 he passed the metropolitan examination, was selected a Hanlin bachelor, and appointed compiler. When the Franco-Vietnamese conflict broke out, he repeatedly memorialized in favor of war. He also once drafted a coastal defense plan whose language was urgent and to the point. He presided over the Hubei provincial examination and was praised for selecting worthy candidates. In 1885 he was made censor. He submitted successive sealed memorials, speaking forthrightly without shunning powerful families.
9
內侍李蓮英漸著聲勢。 逾歲，醇親王奕枻閱海軍，蓮英從，一新憂之。 而適值山東患河，燕、晉、蜀、閩患水，遂以遇災修省為言，略曰：「我朝家法，嚴馭宦寺。 世祖宮中立鐵牌，更億萬年，昭為法守。 聖母垂簾，安得海假採辦出京，立寘重典。 皇上登極，張得喜等情罪尤重，謫配為奴。 是以綱紀肅然，罔敢恣肆。 乃今夏巡閱海軍之役，太監李蓮英隨至天津，道路譁傳，士庶駴愕，意深宮或別有不得已苦衷，匪外廷所能喻。 然宗籓至戚，閱軍大典，而令刑餘之輩《廣則》乎其間，其將何以詰戎兵崇體制？ 況作法於涼，其弊猶貪。 唐之監軍，豈其本意，積漸者然也。 聖朝法制修明，萬無慮此。 而涓涓弗塞，流弊難言，杜漸防微，亦宜垂意。 從古閹宦，巧於逢迎而昧於大義，引援黨類，播弄語言，使宮闈之內，疑貳漸生，而彼得售其小忠小信之為，以陰竊夫作福作威之柄。 我皇太后、皇上明目達聰，豈有跬步之地而或敢售其欺？ 顧事每忽於細微，情易溺於近習，侍御僕從，罔非正人，辨之宜早辨也。」 疏上，太后怒，詰責疏言「苦衷」何指？ 一新曰：「臣所謂'不得已苦衷'者，意以親籓遠涉，內侍隨行，藉以示體恤、昭慎重也。 顧在朝廷為曲體，在臣庶則為創見。 風聞北洋大臣以座船迎醇親王，王弗受，而太監隨乘之，至駴人觀聽。 一不謹慎，流弊遂已至斯，臣所為不能已於言也。」 詔切責，降主事。 乞終養歸。
The palace eunuch Li Lianying gradually grew prominent in influence. A year later Prince Chun Yixuan inspected the navy with Lianying in attendance, and Yixin was deeply troubled. It happened that Shandong was afflicted by the Yellow River and Yan, Jin, Shu, and Min by floods. He therefore spoke under the rubric of meeting disaster with self-examination, saying in part: "Our dynasty's house law strictly controls eunuchs. The Shizu Emperor set up an iron tablet in the palace to stand for ten thousand ages as a declared law to be kept. When the Holy Mother held court from behind the curtain, how could An Dehai leave the capital on the pretext of procurement? He was at once punished under the severest statute. When our emperor ascended the throne, Zhang Dexi and others, whose offenses were still graver, were banished and enslaved. Thus discipline was stern and none dared act wantonly. Yet this summer, during the naval inspection, the eunuch Li Lianying followed to Tianjin. Rumor spread along the roads and gentry and commoners were startled, thinking the inner palace might have some unavoidable hardship that the outer court could not comprehend. Yet for a prince of the imperial clan, a kinsman of the first rank, at a great ceremony of inspecting the army, to let eunuchs take part in it—how may troops be disciplined and institutional dignity upheld? Moreover, as the proverb says, if one sets the pattern in a cool season, the resulting abuse will still be greed. The Tang practice of eunuch army supervisors—was that its original intent? It came about through gradual accretion. Our sage dynasty's laws are well ordered; there is no need at all to fear this. Yet if the trickle is not stopped, the abuse that follows is hard to describe. To check evil in its first stages and guard against minute beginnings is also fit to receive attention. From antiquity eunuchs have been skilled at flattery and blind to great principle. They draw in factions and manipulate words until doubts gradually arise within the palace, and they may sell their petty loyalty and petty trust to steal in secret the power to bestow favors and wield authority. Our empress dowager and emperor are clear-sighted and keen of hearing—would there be even a step's breadth where one dared practice deception? Yet affairs are often neglected in small matters, and feeling easily drowns in familiar attendants. Those who serve at one's side should all be upright men—the distinction ought to be made early." When the memorial was submitted, the empress dowager was angry and demanded what the memorial meant by "unavoidable hardship." Yixin said: "What I meant by 'unavoidable hardship' was the thought that a princely kinsman traveled far and a palace attendant went along, thereby showing consideration and proclaiming caution. At court this might be read as accommodating consideration; among officials and commoners it was a startling novelty. It was rumored that the Beiyang minister welcomed Prince Chun with a seat-boat. The prince refused it, but the eunuch rode in it anyway, to the shock of all who saw and heard. One moment of carelessness, and the abuse has already reached this point. That is why I could not restrain my words." An edict sharply rebuked him and demoted him to secretary. He begged leave to retire and care for his parents at home.
10
張之洞督粵，建廣雅書院，延為主講。 一新博極群書，洞知兩漢及宋、明諸儒家法，務通經以致用。 諸生有聰穎尚新奇者，必導而返諸篤實正大，語具所箸無邪堂答問中。 卒，年四十有九。
When Zhang Zhidong governed Guangdong he founded Guangya Academy and invited Yixin to serve as head lecturer. Yixin was broadly read and thoroughly versed in the methods of the Han, Song, and Ming Confucian schools, striving to master the classics for practical application. Students who were clever and fond of novelty he always guided back to solid and upright ways. His words are collected in his Wuxie Tang Dawen. He died at the age of forty-nine.
11
屠仁守，字梅君，湖北孝感人。 同治十三年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 光緒中，轉御史。 時政出多門，仁守因天變請修政治，條上六事，曰：杜諉卸，開壅蔽，慎動作，抑近習，軫民瘼，重國計，而歸本於大公至正、敬天勤民，疏上不省。 又以海軍報效，雜進無次，僥倖日多。 仁守痛陳五弊：資敘不計，弊一； 名器冒濫，弊二； 勸懲倒置，弊三； 求益得損，財計轉虧，弊四； 駔儈朋侵，莫可究詰，弊五。 五弊既滋，乃生三患：患病民，患妨賢，患隳紀綱法度。 「特以自海軍衙門達之，奉懿旨行之，毋或敢貿然入告，遂使謗騰衢路，而朝廷不聞，患伏隱微，而朝廷不知，群小得志，寵賂滋張。 若不停止，即承平無事，猶或召亂，況時局孔艱乎？」 疏入，詔從之，權貴益側目。
Tu Renshou, styled Meijun, was from Xiaogan in Hubei. In 1874 he passed the metropolitan examination, was selected a Hanlin bachelor, and appointed compiler. During the Guangxu reign he was made censor. When policy issued from many quarters, Renshou, citing heaven's warnings, asked to repair government and listed six items: stop evasion of responsibility, open what is blocked, be cautious in action, restrain familiar attendants, pity the people's afflictions, and give weight to state finance—all rooted in great impartiality and in revering heaven and laboring for the people. The memorial went unheeded. He also spoke of rewards offered for naval contributions to the court, indiscriminate advancement without order, and a growing tide of opportunists. Renshou painfully set forth five abuses: qualifications and seniority ignored—the first abuse; titles and offices recklessly bestowed—the second abuse; reward and punishment inverted—the third abuse; seeking gain yet suffering loss, state finance turning to deficit—the fourth abuse; brokers and cliques encroaching, beyond investigation—the fifth abuse. When the five abuses flourished, three perils arose: peril to the afflicted people, peril of obstructing the worthy, and peril of ruining discipline and law. " Because the matter came down from the Naval Yamen and was carried out by imperial command, none dared rashly report it. Thus slander filled the streets while the court heard nothing; perils lay hidden in small matters while the court knew nothing; petty men had their way, and favor and bribes spread. If this is not stopped, even in untroubled peace disorder may be summoned—how much more when the times are desperately hard?" When the memorial was submitted, an edict approved it, and the powerful looked on him all the more askance.
12
十五年，太后歸政，仁守慮僉人讒構兩宮，易生嫌隙，疏請依高宗訓政往事：「凡部院題本、尋常奏事，如常例； 外省密摺、廷臣封奏，仍書皇太后、皇上聖鑒，俟慈覽後施行。」 並請太后居慈寧宮，節遊觀。 詔嚴責，革職永不敘用。 既歸，主講山西令德堂。 二十六年，兩宮西狩，起用五品京堂，授光祿寺少卿。 尋卒。
In 1889 the empress dowager returned power. Renshou feared that malicious men would sow discord between the two palaces and easily breed suspicion. He memorialized asking that the precedent of the Gaozong Emperor's regency be followed: "All routine memorials from ministries and boards and ordinary reports shall follow usual practice; secret memorials from the provinces and sealed reports from court ministers shall still be addressed For the Sacred View of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, to be carried out after her gracious perusal." He also asked that the empress dowager reside at Cining Palace and moderate excursions and sightseeing. An edict sternly rebuked him, stripped him of office, and barred him forever from reappointment. After returning home he became head lecturer at Lingde Hall in Shanxi. In 1900, when the two palaces fled west, he was recalled as a fifth-rank capital official and appointed vice director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. Soon afterward he died.
13
吳兆泰，字星階，籍麻城。 與仁守友善，互相厲以道義。 光緒二年進士，閱十年，以編修考授御史。 時國防廢弛，海軍尤不振，朝廷乃移其費修頤和園。 兆泰上疏力爭，略謂：「畿輔奇災，嗷鴻遍野，僵僕載塗，此正朝廷減膳徹樂之時，非土木興作之日。 乞罷園工，以慰民望，以光繼列祖列宗儉德。」 太后怒，罷其官。 歸里後，歷主龍泉、經心書院講席，充學務公所議長。 宣統二年，卒。
Wu Zhaotai, styled Xingjie, was registered in Macheng. He was friendly with Renshou, and they urged each other on in duty and righteousness. In 1876 he passed the metropolitan examination. Ten years later, as a compiler, he was examined and appointed censor. National defense was neglected and the navy especially weak; the court diverted its funds to repair the Summer Palace. Zhaotai memorialized forcefully, saying in part: "In the capital region a strange disaster has struck; starving refugees fill the fields and corpses choke the roads. This is the time for the court to reduce meals and withdraw music, not the day for construction work. I beg that work on the park be stopped to comfort the people's hopes and to honor the frugal virtue of successive ancestors." The empress dowager was angry and dismissed him from office. After returning home he successively headed lecturing at Longquan and Jingxin academies and served as chairman of the public education council. In 1910 he died.
14
其先有何金壽者，字鐵生，籍江夏。 同治元年一甲二名進士，授編修。 出督河南學政，還充日講起居注官。 光緒二年，晉飢，上儲糧平糶策。 越二年，畿輔旱，金壽曰：「此樞臣可盡彈也！」 乃援漢代天災策免三公為言，請罷樞臣、回天意。 越日，命下，恭親王奕訢等五人並褫職留任，直聲震一時。 五年，复瀝陳時弊，斥言中外臣工皆瞻徇，侃侃不撓。 上以所奏為祛積習，特宣示。 忤當軸意，出知江蘇揚州府。 未出都，會崇厚與俄定約，敕下廷臣議。 金壽引西國上下議院例，請資眾論，折強敵。 逾歲到官，錄築堤功，賜三品服。 八年秋，禱雨中暍，病卒，貧不能歸葬。 總督左宗棠等上其事於朝，謂有古循吏風雲。
Earlier there had been He Jinshou, styled Tiesheng, registered in Jiangxia. In 1862 he placed second in the first class of metropolitan graduates and was appointed compiler. He went out as educational commissioner of Henan, then returned to serve as lecturer on the Daily Lectures and Records of the Emperor. In 1876, when Shanxi suffered famine, he submitted a plan for stored grain and fair sale. Two years later, when the capital region suffered drought, Jinshou said: "The grand councilors may all be impeached!" He cited the Han precedent of removing the Three Excellencies because of heaven's warnings and asked that the grand councilors be dismissed to turn heaven's mind." The next day orders came down; Prince Gong Yixin and four others were all stripped of office but kept on duty, and his upright reputation shook the age. In 1879 he again set forth the abuses of the time, denouncing officials within and without for looking to others' wishes, speaking forthrightly without yielding. The emperor took what he reported as removing accumulated habit and specially proclaimed it. He offended those in power and was sent out as prefect of Yangzhou in Jiangsu. Before leaving the capital, Chonghou concluded a treaty with Russia and an order was issued for court ministers to discuss it. Jinshou cited the Western precedent of upper and lower houses of parliament and asked to rely on public opinion to bend a strong enemy. After a year in office he recorded merit in dike building and was granted third-rank dress. In the autumn of 1882, while praying for rain he suffered heatstroke, fell ill, and died; he was too poor to return home for burial. Governor-General Zuo Zongtang and others reported his case to court, saying he had the air of the ancient upright officials.
15
安維峻，字曉峰，甘肅秦安人。 初以拔貢朝考，用七品小京官。 光緒六年，成進士，改庶吉士，授編修。 十九年，轉御史。 未一年，先後上六十餘疏。 日韓釁起，時上雖親政，遇事必請太后意旨，和戰不能獨決，及戰屢敗，世皆歸咎李鴻章主款。 於是維峻上言：「李鴻章平日挾外洋以自重，固不欲戰，有言戰者，動遭呵斥。 淮軍將領望風希旨，未見賊先退避，偶見賊即驚潰。 我不能激勵將士，決計一戰，乃俯首聽命於賊。 然則此舉非議和也，直納款耳，不但誤國，而且賣國。 中外臣民，無不切齒痛恨。 而又謂和議出自皇太后，太監李蓮英實左右之，臣未敢深信。 何者？ 皇太后既歸政，若仍遇事牽制，將何以上對祖宗，下對天下臣民？ 至李蓮英是何人斯，敢干政事乎？ 如果屬實，律以祖宗法制，豈復可容？ 唯是朝廷受李鴻章哃喝，不及詳審，而樞臣中或系私黨，甘心左袒，或恐決裂，姑事調停。 李鴻章事事挾制朝廷，抗違諭旨。 唯冀皇上赫然震怒，明正其罪，佈告天下，如是而將士有不奮興、賊人有不破滅者，即請斬臣以正妄言之罪。」 疏入，上諭：「軍國要事，仰承懿訓遵行，天下共諒。 乃安維峻封奏，託諸傳聞，竟有'皇太后遇事牽制'之語，妄言無忌，恐開離間之端。」 命革職發軍台。 維峻以言獲罪，直聲震中外，人多榮之。 訪問者萃於門，餞送者塞於道，或贈以言，或資以贐，車馬飲食，眾皆為供應。 抵戍所，都統以下皆敬以客禮，聘主講掄才書院。 二十五年，釋還，遂歸里。 三十四年，起授內閣侍讀，充京師大學總教習。 宣統三年，复辭歸。 越十有五年，卒。
An Weijun, styled Xiaofeng, was from Qin'an in Gansu. At first, through the tribute-student palace examination, he was used as a seventh-rank minor capital official. In 1880 he passed the metropolitan examination, was changed to Hanlin bachelor, and appointed compiler. In 1893 he was made censor. In less than a year he submitted more than sixty memorials in succession. When trouble arose between China and Japan, although the emperor had taken power, on every matter he had to ask the empress dowager's intent; peace and war could not be decided alone, and when battles were repeatedly lost the world blamed Li Hongzhang for favoring peace. Thereupon Weijun memorialized: "Li Hongzhang on ordinary days uses foreign powers to magnify himself and plainly does not wish war; whoever speaks of war is at once rebuked. The Huai Army generals look to the wind and follow his intent; before seeing the enemy they already withdraw, and if they happen to see the enemy they panic and collapse. I cannot rouse the officers and men and resolve on one battle, yet bow my head and obey the enemy's commands. Then this act is not discussing peace but outright submission; it not only misleads the state but sells the state. Officials and people within and without all gnash their teeth in hatred. Yet some also say the peace talks came from the empress dowager and the eunuch Li Lianying really swayed them; I dare not fully believe this. Why? If the empress dowager has returned power, yet still restrains affairs at every turn, how may she face the ancestors above or the officials and people below? As for Li Lianying—who is he to dare meddle in government? If this is true, judged by the ancestral laws, how could he still be tolerated? Only the court is cowed by Li Hongzhang and cannot examine matters fully, while among grand councilors some belong to private factions and willingly take his side, or fear a break and for the moment mediate. Li Hongzhang on every matter coerces the court and resists imperial edicts. I only hope Your Majesty will be greatly angered, clearly punish his crime, and proclaim it to all the realm; if after this the officers and men do not rouse themselves and the enemy is not destroyed, then I beg that I be executed to correct the crime of reckless speech." When the memorial entered, an imperial rescript said: "On military and state affairs we follow august instruction; all the realm understands. Yet An Weijun's sealed memorial, resting on rumor, actually has the words 'the empress dowager restrains affairs at every turn'; reckless speech without restraint may open a breach of estrangement." He was ordered stripped of office and sent to the military garrison." Weijun was punished for his words; his upright reputation shook China and abroad, and many honored him. Visitors gathered at his gate and farewell parties filled the road; some gave words, some supplied travel money, and for carriage, food, and drink all provided. On reaching the garrison post, all from the military governor down treated him with guest ceremony and engaged him to lecture at the Luncai Academy. In 1899 he was released and returned home. In 1908 he was recalled as reader in the Grand Secretariat and made chief instructor of the Capital University. In 1911 he again begged leave and returned. After more than fifteen years he died.
16
維峻崇樸實，尚踐履，不喜為博辨，尤嚴義利之分。 歸後退隱柏崖，杜門著書，隱然以名教綱常為己任。 每談及世變，輒憂形於色，卒抑鬱以終。 著有四書講義、詩文集。
Weijun honored plainness and practicality, valued conduct over disputation, and especially kept strict the boundary between righteousness and profit. After returning he retired to Baiya, closed his door and wrote books, and quietly took the norms of teaching and human relations as his charge. Whenever he spoke of the changes of the age, worry showed on his face; he ended in depression. He wrote Expositions on the Four Books and collected poems and prose.
17
文悌，字仲恭，瓜爾佳氏，滿洲正黃旗人。 以筆帖式歷戶部郎中，出為河南知府，改御史。 光緒二十四年，變法詔下，禮部主事王照應詔上言，尚書許應騤不為代奏。 御史宋伯魯、楊深秀聯名劾以守舊迂謬，阻撓新政，諭應騤明白回奏，覆奏稱珍惜名器，物色通才，並辭連工部主事康有為，請罷斥驅逐。 奏上，以抑格言路，首違詔旨，禮部尚書、侍郎皆革職，賞照四品京堂。
Wen Ti, styled Zhonggong, of the Guwalgiya clan, was a Manchu of the Plain Yellow Banner. From clerk he rose through director in the Ministry of Revenue, went out as prefect of Henan, and was changed to censor. In 1898, when the reform edict was issued, Wang Zhao of the Ministry of Rites responded to the edict with a memorial, but Minister Xu Yingkui did not transmit it. Censors Song Bolu and Yang Shenxiu jointly impeached him for conservatism and obstruction of the new policies; the throne ordered Xu to reply clearly, and in reply he spoke of cherishing offices and seeking able men, also implicating Kang Youwei of the Ministry of Works and asking that he be dismissed and driven out. When the memorial was submitted, for suppressing free speech and first violating the edict, the minister and vice ministers of Rites were all dismissed and Wang was rewarded with fourth-rank capital office.
18
文悌以言官為人指使，黨庇報復，紊亂臺諫，遂上疏言：「康有為向不相識，忽踵門求謁，送以所著書籍，閱其著作，以變法為宗。 而尤堪駭詫者，託辭孔子改制，謂孔子作春秋西狩獲麟為受命之符，以春秋變週為孔子當一代王者。 明似推崇孔子，實則自申其改制之義。 乃知康有為之學術，正如漢書嚴助所謂以春秋為蘇秦縱橫者耳。 及聆其談治術，則專主西學，以師法日本為良策。 如近來時務、知新等報所論，尊俠力，伸民權，興黨會，改制度，甚則欲去拜跪之禮儀，廢滿、漢之文字，平君臣之尊卑，改男女之外內。 直似只須中國一變而為外洋政教風俗，即可立致富強，而不知其勢小則群起鬥爭，立可召亂； 大則各便私利，賣國何難？ 曾以此言戒勸康有為，乃不思省改，且更私聚數百人，在輦轂之下，立為保國會，日執途人而號之曰：'中國必亡，必亡！ '以致士夫惶駭，庶眾搖惑。 設使四民解體，大盜生心，藉此以集聚匪徒，招誘黨羽，因而犯上作亂，未知康有為又何以善其後？ 曾令其將忠君愛國合為一事，勿徒欲保中國而置我大清於度外，康有為亦似悔之。 又曾手書御史名單一紙，欲臣倡首鼓動眾人伏闕痛哭，力請變法。 當告以言官結黨為國朝大禁，此事萬不可為。 以康有為一人在京城任意妄為，遍結言官，把持國事，已足駭人聽聞； 而宋伯魯、楊深秀身為臺諫，公然聯名庇黨，誣參朝廷大臣，此風何可長也！ 伏思國家變法，原為整頓國事，非欲敗壞國事。 譬如屋宇年久失修，自應招工依法改造，若任三五喜事之徒曳之傾倒，而曰非此不能從速，恐梁棟毀折，且將傷人。 康有為之變法，何以異是？ 此所以不敢已於言也。」 疏上，斥回原衙門行走。
Wen Ti, as a remonstrating official acting at others' direction, factionally shielded revenge and confused the censorate, and therefore memorialized: "Kang Youwei was previously unknown to me when he suddenly came to my door seeking an audience and presented his writings; reading them, I found reform to be his doctrine. What is still more shocking is that under the pretext of Confucius' reform he says Confucius, when the Spring and Autumn Annals records the capture of the lin west of the hunt, took it as a token of receiving the mandate, and that changing Zhou through the Spring and Autumn means Confucius should be king of an age. Outwardly he seems to honor Confucius; in fact he expounds his own doctrine of reform. Thus Kang Youwei's learning is just as Yan Zhu in the Book of Han said of using the Spring and Autumn for Su Qin's vertical and horizontal alliances. When I heard him discuss statecraft, he exclusively advocated Western learning and taking Japan as teacher as the good policy. As recent papers such as Current Affairs and New Knowledge discuss: honor chivalry, extend people's rights, establish societies, change institutions—even to abolishing kneeling and prostration, abolishing Manchu and Han scripts, leveling the honor between ruler and minister, and changing the separation of men and women inside and out. It is as if China need only change at once into foreign government, teaching, and custom to become rich and strong at once, without knowing that on a small scale factions will rise and fight and disorder may be summoned at once; on a large scale each will seek private advantage—how hard would it be to sell the state? I once admonished Kang Youwei with these words, yet he would not reflect and reform; instead he privately gathered several hundred men under the capital, established a Society to Protect the State, and daily seized passersby crying: 'China must perish, must perish! So that scholars were alarmed and the common people shaken. Suppose the four classes dissolve and great robbers take heart; using this to gather bandits and entice partisans, and thereby rebel against superiors—who knows how Kang Youwei would then set things right? I once told him to join loyalty to the ruler and love of country in one matter and not merely wish to preserve China while setting our Great Qing outside consideration; Kang Youwei also seemed to repent. He also once wrote out a list of censors by hand, wishing that I lead in stirring the multitude to kneel weeping at the palace gate and urgently plead for reform. I told him that censors forming factions is a great prohibition of our dynasty and this matter must on no account be done. That Kang Youwei alone in the capital acted wantonly, bound censors everywhere, and controlled state affairs is already enough to shock the ear; and Song Bolu and Yang Shenxiu, themselves remonstrating officials, openly joined names to shield a faction and falsely impeached court ministers—how may this wind be allowed to grow! I reflect that the state's reform was originally to put state affairs in order, not to ruin state affairs. It is like a house long out of repair: one should hire workers to remodel it according to law; if one lets three or five men fond of novelty drag it down and say nothing else can be quick, I fear beams and rafters will break and people will be hurt. How is Kang Youwei's reform different from this? This is why I dare not cease speaking." When the memorial was submitted, he was dismissed to serve in his original yamen."
19
太后復訓政，賞文悌知府，旋授河南知府。 二十六年，兩宮西狩，文悌迎駕，擢貴西道。 乞病歸，卒。
When the empress dowager resumed regency, Wen Ti was rewarded with the post of prefect and soon appointed prefect of Henan. In 1900, when the two palaces fled west, Wen Ti welcomed the imperial progress and was promoted to Guixi Circuit. He begged leave on illness and died.
20
江春霖，字杏村，福建莆田人。 光緒二十年進士，選庶吉士，授檢討。 二十九年，轉御史，首論都御史陸寶忠幹煙禁，不宜為台長，劾親貴及樞臣疆臣，章凡數十上。 德宗季葉，袁世凱出督畿輔，入贊樞廷，權勢傾一時。 春霖獨論列十二事，謂：「洪範有言：'臣之有作威作福，其害於爾家，兇於爾國。 '左氏傳云：'受君之祿，是以聚黨，有黨而爭命，罪孰大焉？ '今世凱所為，其心即使無他，其跡要難共諒。 歷考史冊所載權臣，大者貽憂君國，小者禍及身家。 窺竊神器之徒，姑置勿論，即功在社稷，如霍光、李德裕、張居正，亦以權寵太盛，傾覆相尋。 今不獨為國家計，宜加裁抑，即欲使世凱子孫長守富貴，亦不可無善處之法。」 嗣是糾彈世凱及慶親王奕劻父子，連上八疏，皆不報，然朝貴頗嚴憚之。
Jiang Chunlin, styled Xingcun, was from Putian in Fujian. In 1894 he passed the metropolitan examination, was selected a Hanlin bachelor, and appointed reviser. In 1903 he was made censor; he first argued that Censor-in-Chief Lu Baozhong, who handled the opium ban, was unfit to head the censorate, impeached imperial kin and grand councilors and frontier officials, and submitted several tens of memorials. In the late years of Emperor Dezong, Yuan Shikai went out to govern the capital region and entered the grand council; his power tilted the age. Chunlin alone set forth twelve matters, saying: "The Hongfan says: 'When ministers make might and blessings, it harms your house and is baleful to your state. The Zuo Commentary says: 'Receiving the ruler's salary is thereby to gather a faction; having a faction and contending for command—what crime is greater? What Shikai does today, even if his heart has no other intent, his tracks are hard to share in trust. Examining the powerful ministers recorded in history, the great bring worry to ruler and state, the small bring disaster on themselves and their families. Those who stole the sacred vessel may be set aside; even those who served the altars of state, such as Huo Guang, Li Deyu, and Zhang Juzheng, because favor and power grew too great, downfall followed in turn. Now, not only for the sake of the state should restraint be added; even if one wishes Shikai's descendants to long keep wealth and honor, there must be a good way to handle it." Thereafter he impeached Shikai and Prince Qing Yikuang father and son, submitting eight memorials in succession, all unanswered; yet the court nobles greatly feared him.
21
宣統改元，醇親王載灃既攝政，其弟載洵、載濤分長軍諮、海軍，頗用事。 春霖謂：「古者鄭寵共叔，失教旋譏，漢驕厲王，不容終病，載在史冊，為萬世戒。 二王性成英敏，休戚相關，料不至蹈覆轍，而慎終於始，要宜杜漸防微。」 又謂：「景皇帝以神器付之皇上，衝齡踐阼，軍國重事，監國攝政王主之。 治同其樂，亂同其憂，國之不保，家於何寄？」 篇末又言：「監國歲未及週，物議沸騰，至於此極。 臣不禁為祖宗三百年國祚效賈生痛哭流涕長太息矣！」 明年，又劾江西巡撫馮汝騤謾欺狀，效宋臣包拯七上彈章，末復言：「是非不明，請將前後章奏明詔宣示，敕部平議。」 語至戇直，被訶責。 复劾奕劻老奸竊位，多引匪人； 非特簡忠良，不足以贊大猷、挽危局。 詞連尚書徐世昌，侍郎楊士琦、沈雲沛，總督陳夔龍、張人駿，巡撫寶棻、恩壽等十數人。 朝旨再責之，令回原衙門行走。 春霖遂稱疾歸。 越八年，卒。
When Xuantong began its reign, Prince Chun Zaifeng had become regent; his brothers Zaixun and Zaitao respectively headed the Army Advisory Council and the navy and wielded considerable power. Chunlin said: "In antiquity, when Zheng favored Gongshu, loss of instruction brought swift reproach; when Han favored the arrogant Prince Li, he was not allowed to end his illness—these are recorded in the histories as warnings for ten thousand generations. The two princes are by nature clever and keen; their weal and woe are bound together, and they are not expected to repeat past failures; yet to be careful at the end as at the beginning, one should check evil in its first stages and guard against minute beginnings." He also said: "The Jing Emperor entrusted the sacred vessel to our emperor; the emperor ascended the throne in tender years, and weighty military and state affairs are presided over by the regent. In order they share its joy; in disorder they share its sorrow—if the state is not preserved, upon what may the family rely?" At the end of the piece he again said: "The regency has not yet reached a year, yet public criticism boils to this extreme. Your servant cannot but for the three hundred years of our ancestors' fortune perform Jia Yi's weeping and long sighing!" The next year he again impeached Feng Rukui, governor of Jiangxi, for deceit, following the Song official Bao Zheng in seven successive impeachments; at the end he again said: "Right and wrong are unclear; I beg that the earlier and later memorials be proclaimed by clear edict and the ministry ordered to judge fairly." His words were excessively blunt and he was rebuked. He again impeached Yikuang as an old traitor usurping office who drew in many wicked men; not only by selecting the loyal and worthy could the great design be aided and the perilous situation turned. His words implicated Ministers Xu Shichang and Vice Ministers Yang Shiqi and Shen Yunpei, Governors Chen Kuilong and Zhang Renjun, and Governors Bao Fen and En Shou and more than ten others. The court again rebuked him and ordered him to return to serve in his original yamen. Chunlin then pleaded illness and returned home. After eight years he died.
22
論曰：有清列帝，家法最嚴，迨至季世，創制垂簾，於是閹寺漸肆，而親貴權要亦聲勢日著，雖有直言敢諫之士，無補危亡，亦盡其心焉而已。 可讀屍諫，幸鑑孤忠。 一新、仁守、維峻先後直言，皆以語侵太后獲罪。 文悌言攻結黨，實啟黨爭，而春霖連劾權貴，言尤痛切，當國者終於不悟。 又有太監寇連才，上書泣諫，請太后歸政，廢頤和園，且言：「不為祖宗天下計，獨不自為計？」 終以違制被刑以死。 建言又何得以閹官少之？ 類無可歸，故附見於此。
The commentator says: The successive emperors of the Qing had the strictest house law; when the late age came and the institution of ruling from behind the curtain was created, eunuchs gradually grew wanton and imperial kin and powerful favorites also daily grew prominent in influence. Though there were men who spoke frankly and remonstrated boldly, they could not remedy peril and extinction; they only exhausted their hearts—that is all. Kedu died remonstrating with his corpse; may his solitary loyalty be seen. Yixin, Renshou, and Weijun in succession spoke frankly; all were punished for words that offended the empress dowager. Wen Ti attacked factionalism in words but in fact opened party struggle; Chunlin repeatedly impeached the powerful, his words especially cutting—yet those who held the state never understood in the end. There was also the eunuch Kou Liancai, who memorialized weeping in remonstrance, asking the empress dowager to return power, abolish the Summer Palace, and saying: "If you do not plan for the ancestors and the realm, will you not plan even for yourself?" In the end he was punished by law and executed. How may remonstrance be slighted because the remonstrator is a eunuch? His category had no other place to belong; therefore he is appended here.