1
徐用儀，字筱雲，浙江海鹽人。 由副貢生入貲為主事，官刑部。 咸豐九年，舉順天鄉試．同治初，充軍機章京，兼直總理各國事務衙門。 累遷鴻臚寺少卿，以憂歸。 光緒三年，起太僕寺少卿，遷大理寺卿，直軍機如故。 擢工部侍郎，始罷直。 旋充總理衙門大臣，歷兵部、吏部侍郎，授軍機大臣。 二十年，加太子少保。 日朝搆为，舉朝爭議和戰，樞臣孫毓汶被劾罷，翁同龢繼入，主戰益力。 用儀論事與同龢忤，遂出樞廷，並解總署事。 二十四年，皇太后再訓政，復直總署，迺密薦太常寺卿袁昶。 會許景澄奉使還，被命同入署。
Xu Yongyi, whose courtesy name was Xiaoyun, came from Haiyan in Zhejiang. Having bought office as a deputy tribute graduate, he entered service as a principal secretary in the Ministry of Punishments. In Xianfeng 9 he passed the Shuntian provincial examination; early in Tongzhi he became a Grand Council clerk and also served at the Zongli Yamen. He rose step by step to Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, then left office to mourn a parent. In Guangxu 3 he was recalled as Vice Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud, then made President of the Court of Judicial Review while still attending the Grand Council. Promoted to Vice Minister of Works, he at last gave up his regular seat on the Council. He soon became a Zongli Yamen minister, served as vice minister of War and of Personnel in turn, and was appointed to the Grand Council. In year 20 of the reign he received the additional title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. When Japan provoked conflict, the court split over peace and war; Grand Councillor Sun Yuwen was impeached out of office, and Weng Tonghe took his place and argued for war even harder. Because Yongyi's policy views clashed with Weng Tonghe's, he was expelled from the Grand Council and stripped of his Yamen post as well. In Guangxu 24, after the Empress Dowager resumed rule, he returned to the Yamen and privately recommended Yuan Chang of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. About then Xu Jingcheng came back from abroad and was ordered to join the Yamen with him.
2
二十六年，拳禍起。 先是上以行新政為中外所推，而儲嗣久虛。 載漪既用事，陰謀廢立，慮外人為梗，聞拳民有神勇，仇西教，欲倚以集事，召入京，遂縱恣不可制。 用儀請嚴禁遏，不聽。 俄戕德使克林德，用儀駭曰：「禍始此矣！」 言於慶親王奕劻，厚歛之。 各國兵艦至津沽，詔廷臣集議和戰。 用儀、景澄、昶及尚書立山、內閣學士聯元並言：「奸民不可縱，外为不可啟。」 而載漪等主戰甚力，在廷大臣率依違不決。 用儀以太后命詣使館議緩兵，當事者益目為奸邪。
In Guangxu 26 the Boxer disaster broke out. The emperor had lately won praise at home and abroad for reform, but the succession had stood vacant for years. Once Zaiyi was in charge he plotted deposition and enthronement in secret, fearing foreign interference; told the Boxers were supernaturally brave and hated Christianity, he meant to use them to carry out his plan, called them to Beijing, and they soon could not be restrained. Yongyi urged stern prohibition and suppression, but no one listened. Soon the German minister von Ketteler was murdered; Yongyi cried in alarm, "The calamity starts here!" He told Prince Qing Yikuang, who raised a heavy sum of money. Foreign warships reached Taku; the throne ordered ministers to meet and debate war or peace. Yongyi, Jingcheng, Chang, Minister Li Shan, and Hanlin Bachelor Lian Yuan jointly declared, "Riotous mobs must not be indulged, and foreign conflict must not be started." But Zaiyi and his party argued fiercely for war, and most ministers at court vacillated without a decision. Sent by the Empress Dowager to the legations to negotiate a pause in fighting, Yongyi was seen by the war party as all the more treacherous.
3
景澄、昶先被害，用儀知不免，意氣自如。 七月既望，遽發拳匪捕之於家，擁至莊王邸。 用儀不置辯，第曰：「天降奇禍，死固分耳！」 遂與立山、聯元同棄市。 越三日，聯軍入京，而兩宮西狩。 十二月，詔湔雪，復故官。 宣統元年，追諡忠愍。 浙人祠之西湖，與景澄、昶並稱「三忠」。
Jingcheng and Chang were executed first; Yongyi knew his end was near yet kept his bearing calm. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month Boxers suddenly arrested him at home and marched him to Prince Zhuang's residence. Yongyi made no defense and only said, "Heaven has sent this extraordinary disaster; to die is only my due!" He was then publicly executed together with Li Shan and Lian Yuan. Three days later the allied forces entered Beijing as the two courts fled west. In the twelfth month an edict rehabilitated them and restored their former ranks. In Xuantong 1 he received the posthumous title Zhongmin, Loyal and Suffering. Zhejiang gentry built him a shrine at West Lake; with Jingcheng and Chang he was known as one of the "Three Loyal Ones."
4
許景澄，字竹篔，嘉興人。 同治七年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。 明習時事，大學士文祥以使才薦。 光緒六年，詔使日本，遭父憂，未行。 服闋，補侍講。 法越之役，條上籌備事宜，上褒納。 十年，出使法德意和奧五國大臣，兼攝比國使務。 時海軍初創，從德國購造鐵艦，未就。 景澄躬歷船廠，鉤稽輯上外國師船表。 又言海軍宜定屯埠膠州灣，設鐵甲尓船大沽口。 轉侍讀，母憂歸。
Xu Jingcheng, whose courtesy name was Zhuyun, came from Jiaxing. In Tongzhi 7 he became a metropolitan graduate, entered the Hanlin as a bachelor, and was made an editor. Well versed in current affairs, he was recommended by Grand Secretary Wenshang for talent in foreign service. In Guangxu 6 he was ordered envoy to Japan, but his father died and he never went. After mourning he was appointed supervising reader. During the Sino-French War he laid out preparedness measures in a memorial, which the throne praised and adopted. In year 10 he became minister to France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Austria, and concurrently to Belgium. The navy had just been created; ironclads ordered from Germany were still unfinished. Jingcheng inspected the yards himself, verified the figures, and submitted a register of foreign warships and instructors. He also urged fixing the fleet's base at Jiaozhou Bay and posting ironclads at Dagu. Made reader-in-waiting, he then left office to mourn his mother.
5
十六年，充出使俄德奧和四國大臣，累遷至內閣學士。 先是俄兵游獵，常越界，侵及帕米爾地，景澄爭之，俄援舊議定界起烏什別里山，自此而南屬中國，其西南屬俄。 俄人則欲以薩雷闊勒為界。 相持三載，俄始允改議，其帕界未定以前，各不進兵，以保和好。 因著帕米爾圖說、西北邊界地名考證，為他日界約備。 擢工部侍郎。 是時俄、德迫日人還遼東，景澄曰：「俄謀自便，德圖償報，事故從此多矣！」 疏請分遣兩使，從之。
In year 16 he became minister to Russia, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, rising in time to Hanlin bachelor. Russian troops hunting beyond the border had long encroached on the Pamirs; Jingcheng contested this, while Russia invoked the old treaty line from Mount Wushibieli south to China and southwest to Russia. Russia wanted the Sarikol Pass as the border. After three years Russia agreed to reopen talks; until the Pamir line was settled neither side would move troops, to keep the peace. He wrote An Illustrated Account of the Pamirs and Textual Verification of Northwestern Border Place-Names to prepare a future boundary agreement. He was made Vice Minister of Works. When Russia and Germany forced Japan to return Liaodong, Jingcheng warned, "Russia schemes for itself and Germany for compensation—trouble will multiply from this!" He memorialized to send two separate envoys, and the court agreed.
6
二十三年，調充德國使臣。 會俄建西比利亞鐵道，謀自黑龍江達海參崴，朝議拒之，迺更名商辦，許中國投貲五百萬，所謂東清鐵路公司也。 詔景澄綜其事，力阻路悋南溢，稽察運船毋漏稅。 已而俄人索租旅順，充頭等公使，會駐俄使臣楊儒定議俄都。 事竣，移疾歸，召授總理各國事務大臣兼禮部侍郎。 調吏部，充大學堂總教習、管學大臣。 意大利索我三門灣，景澄抗言爭之，事迺寢。
In year 23 he was reassigned as minister to Germany. Russia was building the Siberian line toward Vladivostok from the Amur; after court debate the project was recast as a joint commercial railway with five million taels of Chinese capital—the Chinese Eastern Railway Company. Ordered to oversee the railway, he fought to keep its rights from spreading south and audited shipping so duties were not evaded. Soon Russia demanded Port Arthur on lease; as first-class minister he joined envoy Yang Ru in talks at St. Petersburg. When negotiations ended he returned on sick leave, then was recalled as Zongli Yamen minister and Vice Minister of Rites. Transferred to Personnel, he became chief instructor and superintendent of the Imperial University. When Italy demanded Sanmen Bay, Jingcheng argued back until the claim was dropped.
7
未幾，拳禍作，景澄召見時，歷陳兵为不可啟，春秋之義，不殺行人，圍攻使館，實背公法。 太后聞之動容，而載漪等斥為邪說。 聯軍偪近畿，景澄等遂坐主和棄市。 宣統元年，追諡文肅。
When the Boxer crisis erupted and Jingcheng was summoned, he insisted war must not be started, cited the Spring and Autumn rule against killing envoys, and said besieging legations violated international law. The Empress Dowager was visibly moved, but Zaiyi and his party called it pernicious talk. As the allies neared the capital, Jingcheng and others were executed for advocating peace. In Xuantong 1 he received the posthumous title Wensu, Cultured and Stern.
8
袁昶，字爽秋，桐廬人。 從劉熙載讀，博通掌故。 光緒二年進士，授戶部主事，充總理各國事務衙門章京。 十八年，以員外郎出任徽寧池太廣道。 誡僚屬，抑胥吏，多所興革； 擴中江書院齋舍，課以實學； 建尊經閣，購書數萬卷； 汰常關耗費歲萬八千金，悉還諸公； 定專條，納新關穀米出口稅，歲羨數十萬； 督修蕪湖西南濱江圩隄，自大關亭至魯港，延袤十二里； 更穿築新縷隄三百七十丈，自是蓄洩有資，田廬完固，民歌誦之。
Yuan Chang, whose courtesy name was Shuangqiu, came from Tonglu. He studied under Liu Xizai and mastered institutional history. In Guangxu 2 he became a metropolitan graduate, entered Revenue as principal secretary, and served as a Yamen clerk. In year 18 he left the capital as intendant of the Huaining-Chizhou-Taiping-Guangde circuit. He warned his staff, reined in clerks, and instituted many reforms; he enlarged Zhongjiang Academy quarters and taught practical learning; he built a Hall for Honoring the Classics and bought tens of thousands of books; he cut eighteen thousand taels of yearly waste at the regular customs house and returned it to the public purse; he set special rules for grain export tax at the new customs house, yielding hundreds of thousands in surplus each year; he oversaw repairs to Wuhu's southwest river embankment from Daguan Pavilion to Lugang, twelve li in length; he added a new continuous dike three hundred seventy zhang long; flooding could then be controlled, farms and homes were safe, and the people praised him in song.
9
膠州事起，下詔求言，昶條列時政二萬餘言，以：「德突據膠灣，其禍急而小； 俄自西北至東北，與我壤地相錯，蒙喀四十八部將折入異域，其禍紆而大。 宜及今預練勁旅，痛革吉、奉華靡風習。 自頃兵力不能議戰，要不可不議守。 我朝八旗初制，文武不分途，京外不分途，人皆兵，官皆將，故人才盛，國勢強。 承平日久，文法繁密，諸臣救過之不暇，於是相率為鄉愿，而舉國之人才靡矣！ 金田洪、楊之亂，其始一小民耳，猶窮全國之力僅而克之，況諸國互肆蠶食之心，有不乘吾敝而攻吾之短者哉？ 夫敵國外患，為殷憂啟聖之資。 苟得其人，毋拘以文法，則理財、練兵、防海、交鄰之策，可次第就理。」 上親書其綱要於冊，下中外大臣議行。 二十四年，遷陝西按察使，未到官，擢江寧布政使，調直隸。 未幾，內召，以三品京堂在總理衙門行走，授光祿寺卿，轉太常寺卿。 時財用匱，議整釐稅。 昶極言釐金名病商，實病民，不可議增。
After the Jiaozhou crisis the throne sought advice; Chang submitted more than twenty thousand characters, arguing Germany's seizure of Jiaozhou was urgent but small, while Russia's reach from northwest to northeast entangles our soil and threatens forty-eight Mongol and Khalkha banners with absorption—a slower, greater peril. He urged training elite troops now and rooting out the luxurious habits of Jilin and Fengtian. Our forces could not yet sustain war, he said, but defense could not be neglected. Under the original Eight Banner system civil and military, capital and province were one; every man was a soldier and every officer a commander, so talent abounded and the state was strong. Long peace bred intricate regulations; officials scrambled only to avoid blame, fell into timid conformity, and national talent withered. The Taiping revolt began with ordinary villagers yet nearly exhausted the empire; with many powers eager to devour us, who would not strike when we were weak? Foreign foes and external peril, he wrote, are what awaken sagely rule through grave anxiety. Given the right men, unbound by red tape, finance, armies, coast defense, and diplomacy could be put in order one by one." The emperor copied its main points into a booklet and circulated them to ministers at home and abroad for action. In year 24 he was named Shaanxi judicial commissioner, then promoted to Jiangning financial commissioner and moved to Zhili before taking the first post. Soon recalled to Beijing, he served at the Yamen as a third-rank capital official, became Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, then Director of Imperial Sacrifices. Finances were depleted and officials debated reorganizing the likin tax. Chang insisted likin nominally hurt merchants but really hurt the people and must not be raised.
10
義和團起山東，屠戮外國教士。 昶與許景澄相善，廷詢時，陳奏皆谒慨，上執景澄手而泣。 昶連上二疏，力言奸民不可縱，使臣不宜殺，皆不報。 復與景澄合上第三疏，嚴劾釀亂大臣，未及奏，已被禍，疏稿為世稱誦。 追諡忠節，江南人祠之蕪湖。
The Boxer movement rose in Shandong and massacred foreign missionaries. Close to Xu Jingcheng, Chang spoke as bluntly as he at court audiences; the emperor took Jingcheng's hand and wept. Chang sent two memorials in succession urging that rioters not be indulged and envoys not be killed; neither was answered. He and Jingcheng drafted a third memorial impeaching the ministers who brewed the crisis; before it reached the throne he was dead, yet the draft became famous. Posthumously titled Zhongjie, Loyal and Upright, he was enshrined at Wuhu by Jiangnan gentry.
11
昶嘗慨士鮮實學，輯農桑、兵、醫、輿地、治術、掌故諸書，為漸西村叢刻。
Lamenting scholars' lack of practical learning, he compiled works on farming, sericulture, war, medicine, geography, statecraft, and precedent as the Jianxi Village Collectanea.
12
立山，字豫甫，土默特氏，蒙古正黃旗人。 光緒五年，以員外郎出監蘇州織造，歷四任迺得代。 論修南苑工，賜二品服。 累遷奉宸苑卿、總管內務府大臣、正白旗漢軍副都統、戶部侍郎。 二十年，加太子少保。 盜竊寧壽宮物，坐失察，鐫職留任。 二十六年，擢戶部尚書。 立山久典內廷，同列嫉其寵眷。 會拳禍起，聯軍至天津，廷臣集議御前。 載漪盛推拳民可用，立山適在側，太后謂：「汝言如何？」 立山曰：「拳民雖無他，然其術多不驗．」載漪怒曰：「用其心耳，奚問術？ 立山必與外人通，請以立山退外兵！」 立山曰：「首言戰者載漪也！ 臣主和，又不諳外事，不足任。」 載漪益仇之，因其宅讫教堂，迺中以蜚語，謂藏匿外人，竟論死。 宣統元年，追諡忠貞。
Li Shan, courtesy name Yufu, of the Tumet clan, was a Mongol of the Plain Yellow Banner. In Guangxu 5 he went out as assistant director to supervise Suzhou weaving and held the post four terms before relief. For supervising Southern Park repairs he was granted second-rank court dress. He rose through director of imperial parks, household superintendent, vice commander of the Plain White Chinese Banner, to vice minister of Revenue. In year 20 he received the additional title Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. After theft from Ningshou Palace he was demoted for lax supervision but kept in office. In year 26 he was made Minister of Revenue. Long in charge of the inner court, he was envied by colleagues for imperial favor. When the Boxer crisis broke and allies reached Tianjin, ministers met in audience before the throne. Zaiyi loudly insisted the Boxers could be used; Li Shan stood nearby when the Empress Dowager asked, "What do you say?" Li Shan replied, "The Boxers may mean well, but their magic seldom works." Zaiyi snapped, "We need their loyalty—why quibble over tricks? Li Shan must be colluding with foreigners—send him to make the foreign troops withdraw!" Li Shan answered, "Zaiyi was the first to urge war! I favor peace and know nothing of foreign affairs; I am not fit for the task." Zaiyi hated him more than ever; because his house had been a church, rumor said he hid foreigners, and he was condemned to death. In Xuantong 1 he received the posthumous title Zhongzhen, Loyal and Steadfast.
13
聯元，字仙蘅，崔佳氏，滿洲鑲紅旗人。 同治七年進士，選庶吉士，授檢討，累遷侍講。 大考，左遷中允，再陟侍講。 以京察，出知安徽太平府，調安慶。 兩薦卓異，署滁和道，遷廣東惠潮嘉道。 汕頭者，通商要衢也，奸人倚英領事為民暴，聯元裁以法，良善獲安。 二十四年，擢安徽按察使，入覲，改三品京堂，在總理衙門行走。 又明年，補內閣學士。 拳民仇西教，載漪、剛毅助之，勢益橫，日夜圍攻使館，不能下。 大臣負清望者徐桐、崇綺，皆謂：「民氣可用。」 聯元與崇綺爭論帝前，謂：「民氣可用，匪氣不可用。」 聯軍既陷大沽，載漪等猶壹意主戰。 聯元謂：「甲午之役，一日本且不能勝，況八強國乎？ 儻戰而敗，如宗廟何？」 載漪斥其言不祥，七月十七日，斬西市。 昭雪後，予諡文直。 順天府奏請立山、聯元合祠宣武門外，而聯元祖居寶坻，更於其地建專祠焉。
Lian Yuan, courtesy name Xianheng, of the Cuijia clan, was a Manchu of the Bordered Red Banner. In Tongzhi 7 he became a metropolitan graduate and Hanlin bachelor, was made reviser, and rose to supervising reader. After a poor grand examination he was demoted to junior expositor, then promoted again to supervising reader. On a capital inspection he became prefect of Taiping in Anhui, then was moved to Anqing. Twice rated outstanding, he served as acting intendant on the Chuzhou-He circuit and then as intendant of Huizhou, Chaozhou, and Jiazhou in Guangdong. At Shantou, a vital treaty port, ruffians sheltered behind the British consul to prey on the people until Lian Yuan punished them by law and the law-abiding were safe. In year 24 he became Anhui judicial commissioner; after audience he was made a third-rank capital official at the Zongli Yamen. The following year he was appointed Hanlin bachelor. Boxers hated Christianity; backed by Zaiyi and Gang Yi they grew bolder, besieging the legations day and night without success. Respected ministers Xu Tong and Chongqi both declared, "The people's spirit can be harnessed." Before the emperor Lian Yuan argued with Chongqi: "Popular spirit may be used, but bandit spirit must not." Even after the allies captured Dagu, Zaiyi and his party still insisted on war. Lian Yuan said, "In the Sino-Japanese War we could not beat Japan alone—what chance against eight great powers? If we fight and lose, what becomes of the ancestral shrines?" Zaiyi called his words unlucky; on the seventeenth of the seventh month he was beheaded at the West Market. After rehabilitation he received the posthumous title Wenzhi, Cultured and Upright. Shuntian requested a joint shrine to Li Shan and Lian Yuan outside Xuanwu Gate; because Lian Yuan's family came from Baodi, a separate shrine was built there as well.
14
論曰：清代優禮廷臣，罕有誅罰。 拳禍既起，忠諫大臣駢首就戮，豈獨非帝意哉？ 觀用儀諸人所論事勢利害，昭昭如此，迺終不能回當軸之聽，何其昧焉？ 世傳大節，並號「五忠」，不數日而遂昭雪，允哉！
The historian remarks: The Qing usually honored court ministers and seldom put them to death. When the Boxer crisis came, loyal ministers who spoke out were executed in batches—surely this was not the emperor's wish alone? The case Yongyi and his fellows made for war or peace was plain enough, yet those in power would not listen—how blind were they? Posterity honors their integrity as the "Five Loyal Ones"; within days they were cleared—rightly so!