一代帝師杜受田

一代帝師杜受田

DU SHOUTIAN, TEACHER OF EMPEROR

○杜受田故居。The former residence of Du Shoutian.

杜受田，清山東濱州舊城里人(今濱城區南街杜家)。1787年生，官宦詩書人家出身。清咸豐皇帝之師。其父杜堮為清嘉慶時期翰林院編修，禮部左侍郎。其家世顯赫，久有“書香官宦門第，進士多人之家”之稱。因杜家“一門七進士”、“父子五翰林”，并有加授“太師太保”的高官，所以《中國文學大詞典》 《書畫大詞典》《中國名人大詞典》對其家均有記載。

清咸豐帝即位后，感激老師的擁戴之恩，任命杜受田為吏部尚書兼協辦大學士，遇事言聽計從，奉若生父。清朝協辦大學士相當于明朝的宰相，在朝廷中最有權勢。杜受田也想憑借咸豐的信任以展自己的治國宏圖。清咸豐帝即位不久，他首先建議起用林則徐、周天爵等在鴉片戰爭中因主戰而被撤職的大臣，以鎮壓剛剛爆發的太平天國農民起義。

清咸豐二年(公元1852年)山東、江淮地區受災甚重。杜受田上疏請截留江、廣漕米六十萬石救濟災民，并薦山東、江寧布政使督辦賑務。是年7月9日杜受田在實施賑務途中觸染暑疫，逝世于淮安清江浦，終年66歲。杜受田逝世后，清咸豐帝伏案痛哭流涕，如喪考妣，朱筆寫下了一段極富個人感情的話：憶昔在書齋，日承清誨，銘切五中。自前歲春，懔承大寶，方冀贊襄帷幄，讜論常聞。詎料永無晤對之期，十七年情懷付與逝水。嗚呼！卿之不幸，實朕之不幸也！（《清史列傳》第11冊，第3202頁。）他親自帶領兩班大臣前往祭奠，并追贈杜受田為太師大學士，謚號“文正”。“太師大學士”和“文正”是清朝人臣中最高級的一種冊封，清嘉慶帝以來漢族大臣被追封太師大學士者，僅杜受田一人而已。

D u Shoutian was born in Binzhou, Shandong in the Qing Dyansty. Emperor Daoguang of Qing once ordered his sons to go hunting in the Southern Park, wanting to test their martial skills. After meditating for a long while, Du Shoutian whispered to the fourth son of the emperor, “Your Highness, please don’t kill any animal in the hunting park, and ordered your retinue not to do so either. After coming back, His Majesty will surely ask you the reason. You may answer, ‘In the spring, most female birds and beasts are pregnant. I do not have the heart to kill them, and I don’t want to compete with my brothers in the aspect of archery.’”The fourth son of the emperor did as Du Shoutian said. Emperor Daoguang sighed, “It’s the demeanor that an emperor should have.” Before his death, Emperor Daoguang decided to let his fourth son be his heir Then, the fourth son of Emperor Daoguang ascended the throne, with the reign title of “Xianfeng”.