Beside the death-bed of King Ch‘ŭl-jong.... a bold woman.... rise of the
Tong-hak.... its founder killed.... the King’s father becomes
regent.... his two mistakes.... he selects a Queen.... Russian
request.... the Regent pushed by the conservative party....
death-warrant of.... Bishop Berneux.... French priests executed....
priceless manuscript lost.... a French priest escapes to China and
tells the news.... China advises Korea to make peace.... shipwreck
of the “Surprise”.... face of the “General Sherman”.... persecution
renewed.... French reconnoitering expedition.... blockade of the Han
announced.... French expedition under Admiral Roze.... preparations
for defense.... correspondence.... French defeat.... the French
retire Koreans exultant.... persecution redoubled.... the Kyŭng-bok
Palace rebuilt.... American expedition under Admiral Rodgers....
American victory on Kang-wha.... the fleet retires.... monument
erected in Seoul.
The events of the present reign, which began in January 1864, are fresh
in the memory of many still living, and the account here given is taken
largely from statements of eye-witnesses of the scenes therein
described. A detailed history of the present reign would fill a volume
in itself and of course we can but briefly touch upon the leading events
in it.
The circumstances which ushered in the reign are graphically described
by Dallet and are substantially as follows. King Ch’ŭl-jong had been
suffering for some time with a pulmonary affection, but in January of
1864 he seemed better and he began to walk about a little. On the
fifteenth, feeling greater uneasiness than usual, he went into his
garden for a walk. There he was suddenly taken with faintness and was
just able to drag himself back to his room, where he fell in a dying
condition. The Minister Kim Choa-geun, his son Kim Pyŭng-gu and three
other relatives were immediately in attendance. As they were
deliberating, the nephew of the Dowager Queen Cho, widow of the King
Ik-jong, happened to pass, and seeing what was going on, he hastened to
his aunt’s apartments and exclaimed, “What are you doing here? The king
is dead.” He advised her to hasten to the king’s apartments, gain
possession of the royal seals and nominate to the throne some one of her
choice, declaring him to be the son and heir of King Ik-jong, her
husband. This woman thereupon hastened to the side of the expiring king
where she found the attendants, as we have said, and with them the
queen, who held the royal seals in a fold of her skirt. The Dowager
Queen peremptorily demanded these seals, and when the queen demurred she
snatched them violently from her. No one dared oppose the determined
woman who thus took fortune by the forelock and in the course of a
moment turned the course of empire. She then made proclamation in the
name of the king, saying “The king says the royal seals shall be in
charge of Queen Cho. The throne shall go to Myŭng-bok, second son of
Prince Heung-sŭng (whose name was Yi Ha-eung). Minister Chong shall be
executor of the king’s will and Minister Kim shall go and find the newly
appointed king.” The Dowager Queen Cho thus became Regent and the
queen’s party, the Kim family, had to retire from power.
It was at the very beginning of the reign that the peculiar sect called
the Tong-hak arose in the south. Its founder was one Ch'oe Pok-sul of
Kyöng-ju in Kyŭng sang Province. The great formula of the sect was the
mysterious sentence _Ch’ŭn Ju cho a chung yŭng se bul mang man sa eui_,
which means “May the Lord of Heaven aid our minds that we may ever
remember, and may He make all things turn out according to our desire.”
The adherents of this sect would sit and sing this formula by the hour.
They would also dance, brandishing swords in a sort of frenzy, and
pretend to be rising to heaven. The name Tong-hak or “Eastern Sect” was
given by themselves to distinguish themselves from the Sŭ-hak or
“Western Sect,” namely Roman Catholicism. So at least some affirm. Its
rise was exceedingly rapid and soon it had enrolled an enormous number
of people. The government was at last obliged to take cognizance of it,
and a body of troops was sent south, who captured and put to death the
founder of the sect. This put an end for the time to its active
propagandism but it was by no means dead, as we shall see.
The Dowager Queen Cho was a violent opponent of Christianity and filled
all the offices with enemies of the Roman Catholics. But she was not to
hold the reins of power long. The king’s father in view of his son’s
elevation to the throne had received the title Prince Tă-wŭn, or
Tă-wŭn-gun as he is usually called. He was a man of commanding
personality and inflexible will and on the whole lie was the most
striking character in modern Korean history. He has been variously
estimated. Some have considered him the greatest statesman in Korea;
others have taken him for a mere demagogue. His main characteristic was
an indomitable will which took the bit in its teeth and swept toward the
goal of its desire irrespective of every obstacle, whether of morals,
economics, politics or consanguinity. He was withal unable to read the
signs of the times. The two great mistakes of his life were, first in
supposing he could eradicate Roman Catholicism by force, and second in
supposing that he could prevent the opening of Korea to treaty
relations. The regency naturally passed into his hands and he tacitly
agreed to uphold the principles of the conservative party that had
raised him to power.
His first act was to order a remeasurement of the tilled land of the
country with a view to the increasing of the revenue. The treasury was
empty and he had plans in mind that would require money. One of these
plans was the erection of a new palace on the ruins of the Kyöng-bok
Palace, an enterprise which the finances of the country by no means
warranted. His next act was to betroth his son the king to his wife’s
niece. His wife had two brothers one of whom was living but the other
had died leaving one daughter. It was this daughter of Min Ch’i-rok who
became queen. She was the king’s senior by four years. As her father as
dead she became the foster child of her uncle Min Ch’i-gu. In this
union, as every one knows, the Regent sought to cement his own power,
but, as every one likewise knows, he made a serious mistake.
In January 1866 a Russian gunboat dropped anchor in the harbor of
Wŭn-san and a letter was sent to Seoul asking for freedom of trade with
Korea. The answer given was that as Korea was the vassal of China the
matter must be negotiated at Peking, and an envoy was dispatched for
that purpose.
It is said that Roman Catholic adherents made use of the great
uneasiness which prevailed in government circles respecting Russia to
compose a letter urging that the only way to ward off Russia was by
making an alliance with France and England. It is said that the Regent
received this communication and gave it special and, as some believe,
favorable attention. We are told that the Roman Catholics were all in a
most hopeful state, of mind, fully believing the hour had come for the
awakening of Korea. In the light of subsequent events it is difficult to
determine whether the Regent’s interest in the plan was real or whether
it was a ruse whereby to make the final _coup_ all the more effective.
All things considered, the latter theory fits the facts more perfectly.
The French themselves believed the Regent was pushed on to the great
persecution of 1866 by the violent anti-Christian party that had put him
in power, and that it was simply another case of “If thou do it not thou
art not Caesar’s friend.” They found fault with him for harboring the
idea of a combination with this foreign element and demanded the death
of the foreign priests and a general persecution. It is said the Regent
reminded them of the burning of the Summer Palace at Peking and the
taking of that Imperial Capital, but that they answered that they had
killed Frenchmen before without harm resulting, and they could do it
again.
Whatever may have been the pressure brought to bear on him, he finally
signed the death warrant of all the foreign priests in the land, and on
February 23rd Bishop Berneux was seized and thrown into the common jail,
but two days later he was transferred to the prison where noble
prisoners were confined. On the 26th he was brought before the tribunal
where he gave his name as Chang. He said he had come to save the souls
of the Koreans and that he had been in the country ten years. He refused
to leave except by force. As the government had made up its mind as to
its course, his death warrant was then made out, and it ran thus: “The
accused, Chang, refuses to obey the king. He will not apostatize. He
will not give the information demanded. He refuses to return to his own
country. Therefore, after the usual punishments, he will be
decapitated.” While he was awaiting his end, Bretenières, Beaulieu, and
Dorie were taken, and after similar trial were condemned to death. All
four of these heroic men were decapitated at the public execution ground
near the river on the eighth of March and their bodies were buried
together in a trench, from which they were recovered six months later
and given burial by Roman Catholic adherents. Four days later two more
priests, Petitnicolas and Pourthiè were executed at the same place. It
was the latter who lost at this time not only his life but his priceless
manuscripts, a Korean Grammar and a Latin Korean-Chinese Dictionary, on
which he had been at work for ten years. Three more of the priests,
Daveluy, Aumaitre and Huin were seized soon after this and put to death,
but not till the latter had despatched a letter to China, which was
destined to turn up long afterward. There were three priests left,
Calais, Feron and Ridel. The last of these was selected to attempt the
journey to China and give information of these terrible events. After
almost incredible labors he succeeded in getting away from the shore of
Whang-hă Province in a junk together with eleven native believers, and
made his way to Chefoo. From there he hastened to Tientsin and informed
Admiral Roze of the death of his fellow-countrymen. The Admiral promised
to hasten to the rescue of the remaining two and the avenging of those
who had been slain; but a revolt in Cochin-China prevented him from
redeeming his promise until the following September.
The Chinese government, through the annual embassy, informed the king of
Korea that the killing of foreigners was an exceedingly foolish
proceeding and that he had better make peace with France on the best
terms possible, for if China could not withstand her surely Korea could
not. The Regent replied, however, that it was not the first time French
blood had remained unavenged in Korea.
On June 24th an American sailing vessel, the “Surprise,” was wrecked off
the coast of Whang-hă Province. Her captain and crew were hospitably
treated and conducted to the Chinese border with great care, by order of
the Regent, who thus illustrated the truth of the assertion that Korea
would do no harm to men who were ship-wrecked on her coast. Even in the
midst of an anti-foreign demonstration of the most severe type, these
men were humanely treated and sent upon their way.
Early in September the sailing vessel “General Sherman” entered the
mouth of the Ta-dong River. She carried five white foreigners and
nineteen Asiatics. Her ostensible object was trade. The governor of
P‘yŭng-an Province sent, demanding the cause of her coming and the
answer was that they desired to open up trade with Korea. Though told
that this was impossible, the foreign vessel not only did not leave but,
on the contrary, pushed up the river until she reached a point opposite
Yang-jak Island not far from the city of P’yŭng-yang. It was only the
heavy rains in the interior and an exceptionally high tide that allowed
her to get across the bar, and soon she was stuck in the mud, and all
hopes of ever saving her were gone. This rash move astonished the
Koreans above measure. Something desperate must be the intentions of men
who would drive a ship thus to certain destruction. After a time word
came from the Regent to attack her if she did not leave at once. Then
the fight began, but without effect on either side until the Koreans
succeeded in setting fire to the “General Sherman” with fire-rafts. The
officers and crew then were forced to drop into the water, where many of
them were drowned. Those that reached the shore were immediately hewn
down by the frenzied populace. The trophies of this fight are shown
today in the shape of the anchor chains of the ill-fated vessel, which
hang in one of the gateways of P’yŭng-yang. No impartial student of both
sides of this question can assert that the Koreans were specially
blame-worthy. The ship had been warned off but had rashly ventured where
no ship could go without being wrecked even were all other circumstances
favorable. The Koreans could not know that this was a mere blunder. They
took the vessel, and naturally, to be a hostile one and treated her
accordingly.
In September the persecution of Roman Catholic adherents was resumed.
This is said to have been caused by a letter from one of the Christians
to the Regent urging a treaty of peace with France. But by this time
Admiral Roze was ready to redeem his promise, and on the tenth of that
month Bishop Ridel boarded his flag-ship at Chefoo. The French
authorities had already informed the Chinese at Peking that France did
not recognise the suzerainty of China over Korea and asserted that the
land about to be conquered would be disposed of as France wished without
reference to the Pekin government. It was decided to send the corvette
_la Primauguet_, and the aviso, _le Déroulède_, and the gunboat,
_Tardif_, to make a preliminary survey of the approaches to Seoul.
Bishop Ridel accompanied this expedition in the capacity of interpreter.
Arriving off Clifford Islands on the twentieth, the little fleet entered
Prince Jerome Gulf, and the following day _le Déroulède_ was sent to
explore the entrance to the Han River. Finding the channel between
Kang-wha and the mainland satisfactory, she returned to the anchorage
and together they steamed up the river the only casualty being the loss
of the false keel of the Primauguet. These vessels steamed up the river
as far as the river towns opposite the capital, silencing a few forts on
the way. Bishop Ridel used all his powers of persuasion to induce the
commander to leave one of these boats here while the others went to
China to report, but without avail. They all steamed away together.
Meanwhile there was panic in Seoul. The end had come, in the estimation
of many of the people. A general stampede ensued and nearly a quarter of
the citizens of Seoul fled away, leaving their houses and goods. We will
remember that when Ridel escaped from Korea he left two companions
behind. These made a desperate attempt to communicate with the French
boats on the river, but so fierce was the persecution and so watchful
were the authorities that they were quite unable to do so. They finally
escaped, however, by means of junks which carried them out into the
Yellow Sea, where they fell in with Chinese boats that carried them to
China.
Before the surveying expedition sailed back to China Bishop Ridel was
informed by native Christians of the burning of the “General Sherman”
and the fate of her crew, the renewal of the persecution and the order
that all Christians be put to death after only a preliminary trial. He
urged the commandant to stay, but the fleet sailed away and reported in
China, where the real punitive expedition was rapidly preparing. On
October eleventh the blockade of the Han River was announced to the
Chinese authorities and to the various powers through their
representatives at Peking, and then the French fleet sailed away to the
conquest of Korea. The flotilla consisted of the seven boats
_Querriere_, _Laplace_, _Primauguet_, _Deroulede_, _Kienchan_, _Tardif_
and _Lebrethom_.
But while these preparations were going on, other preparations were
going on in Korea. The total complement of troops throughout the
peninsula was called into requisition. Arms were forged and troops
drilled. The Japanese government, even, was invited to take a hand in
the war that was impending, but she did not respond. Japan herself was
about to enter upon a great civil war, and had no force to spare for
outside work, even if she had had the desire.
On October thirteenth the French fleet reached Korea and three days
later the attack on Kang-wha commenced. In an hour’s time the town was
in the possession of the French and large amounts of arms, ammunition
and provisions were seized, besides various other valuables such as
treasure, works of art, books and porcelain. This reverse by no means
disheartened the Koreans. Gen. Yi Kyŭng-ha was put in charge of the
forces opposed to the “invaders.” This force was led in person by Gen.
Yi Wŭn-heui who found the French already in possession of the fortress.
The Koreans were in force at Tong-jin just across the estuary from
Kang-wha, and, fearing that the vessels would attempt to ascend the
river, they sank loaded junks in the channel. This channel must have
been much deeper than it is today.
The Regent swore that any man who should suggest peace with the enemy
should meet with instant death. A letter was sent to the French saying
that the priests had come in disguise and had taken Korean names and had
desired to lay their hands on the wealth of the land. It declared that
the priests had been well killed. In reply the French said they had come
in the name of Napoleon, Sovereign of the Grand French Empire, who
desired the safety of his subjects, and that since nine of his subjects
had been killed, it must be explained. They also demanded the three
ministers who had been foremost in the persecution and in the killing of
the priests should be handed over to them and that a plenipotentiary be
appointed for the ratifying of a treaty. To this letter no answer was
received.
Meanwhile Gen. Yang Hön-su had led 5,000 men to the fortress of
Chöng-jok on Kang-wha where a celebrated monastery stands. These men
were mostly hardy mountaineers and tiger-hunters from Kang-gye in the
far north, the descendants of those same men who in the ancient days of
Ko-yuryŭ drove back an army of Chinese 300,000 strong and destroyed all
but 700 of them. This fortress is admirably situated for defense, lying
as it does in a cup formed by a semi-circle of mountains and
approachable from only one direction, where it is guarded by a
crenellated wall and a heavy stone gate.
The great mistake of the French was in supposing this place could be
stormed by a paltry 160 men. The whole French force could not have done
it. No sooner had this little band come well within range of the
concealed garrison than it was met by a withering fire which instantly
put half of them _hors de combat_. After some attempts to make a stand
in the shelter of trees, huts, rocks and other cover, a retreat was
called and the French moved slowly back carrying their dead and wounded.
They were closely pursued and with difficulty made their way back to the
main body. The result would probably have been much more serious had not
the retreating party been met by a body of reinforcements from the main
body. The next day orders were given to fire the town and re-embark.
This caused great surprise and dissatisfaction among the men, but we
incline to the belief that it was the only thing to do. The number of
men that had been mustered to effect the humiliation of Korea was
ridiculously small compared with what was necessary. Six thousand French
might have done it, but six hundred—never. We need seek no further than
this for the cause of the abandonment of the enterprise. To be sure, it
had done infinitely more harm than good, and if it had been possible to
succeed even at a heavy cost of life it would have been better to go on;
but it was not possible.
The effect of this retreat upon the Regent and the court may be
imagined. Peking had fallen before these “barbarians” but the
tiger-hunters of the north had driven them away in confusion. If the
reader will try to view this event from the ill-informed standpoint of
the Korean court, he will see at once that their exultation was quite
reasonable and natural. The last argument against a sweeping persecution
of Christians was now removed and new and powerful arguments in favor of
it were added. The fiat went forth that the plague of the foreign
religion should be swept from the land. No quarter was to be given.
Neither age nor sex nor quality were to weigh in the balance. From that
time till 1870 the persecution was destined to rage with unabated fury
and the French estimated the number killed at 8,000. The hardships and
sufferings of this time are second to none in the history of religious
persecutions. Hundreds fled to the mountains and there starved or froze
to death. The tales of that terrible time remind one of the persecutions
under the Roman Emperors or the no less terrible scenes of the Spanish
Inquisition.
But to return to 1866. There were other events of interest transpiring.
The pet scheme of the Regent to build his son a new palace was being
worked out. The palace was in process of erection, when suddenly the
funds gave out. Here the Regent committed his next great blunder. This
time it was in the realm of finance. He entertained the fallacy that he
could meet a deficit by coining money. Of course the only way to meet a
deficit in this way was to debase the currency. He did it on a grand
scale when he once determined upon it, for whereas the people had from
time immemorial used a one-cash piece, he began to mint a hundred-cash
piece which was actually less than fifty cash in weight. One of these
was given as a day’s wage to each of the workmen on the palace. This
coin bore on its face the legend “The great Finance Hundred Cash Piece,”
but it proved to be very small finance indeed, for of course its issue
was immediately followed by an enormous rise in the price of all
commodities, and rice went up two hundred per cent. The government was
thus plunged deeper in the mire than ever; but the Regent had set his
will on this thing and was determined to carry it through at any cost.
His next move, taken in the following year, was to bring in old,
discarded, Chinese cash literally by the cart-load, across the border.
This he had bought in China at auction prices and forced on the people
as legal tender. At the same time he forced the people to work in gangs
of 300 at a time on the palace without pay. In this way the work was
finished, but it is safe to say that to this day the country has not
recovered from the effects of that mad financiering. Wealthy citizens
were called upon to make donations to the building fund, and this gained
the soubriquet of “The Free-will Offering.”
The year 1868, which meant so much for Japan, was not otherwise
signalised in Korea than by a demand on the part of Russia that Korean
refugees beyond the border be recalled. It also beheld the publication
of the work “The Six Departments and their Duties.” In September alone
2,000 Christians were killed, five hundred of them being residents of
Seoul.
The United States had not forgotten the fate of the “General Sherman.”
She had no intention of letting the matter drop. In the early spring of
1871 minister Frederick F. Low, at Peking, received instructions from
his government to go in company with Rear-admiral Rodgers to the shores
of Korea and attempt to conclude a treaty relative to the treatment of
American seamen who might be cast upon the shores of that country. He
was also instructed to try to make a trade convention with Korea looking
toward the opening of Korea to foreign commerce. The fleet consisted of
the war vessels _Colorado_, _Alaska_, _Bernicia_, _Monocacy_, and
_Palos_. These vessels rendezvoused at Nagasaki and on May sixteenth
they set sail for Korea. Minister Low’s correspondence with his
government shows that he had accurately gauged the probabilities of the
situation. A long acquaintance with the Korean could not have rendered
his diagnosis of the case more accurate than it was. From the very first
he considered it to be a hopeless case, and he was right. But this in no
way lessened the care he exercised in doing every thing in his power to
render the expedition a success. After fourteen days of struggle against
dense fogs, tortuous channels and swift tidal currents the fleet dropped
anchor off the islands known as the Ferrierre group, not far from
Eugénie Island. This was on May 30th. They had not been there long
before they were boarded by some small officials with whom Minister Low
was of course unable to treat, but through them he sent a friendly
message to Seoul asking that an official of equal rank with the American
envoy be sent to confer with him on important matters. The Koreans had
already received through the Chinese an intimation of what the Americans
desired but they argued that as their policy of carrying ship-wrecked
mariners safely across the border was well known abroad and as they did
not care to open up relations with other countries, there was no call to
send an envoy to treat with the Americans. The Regent shrewdly, though
mistakenly, suspected that the “General Sherman” affair was at the
bottom of this, as the death of the French priests had been the cause of
the French expedition and he decided to garrison Kang-wha and deal with
the Americans as he had with the French. Gen. O-Yo-jŭn was sent with
3,000 troops to Kwang Fort on the island of Kang-wha. A part of this
force was stationed as garrison at Tok-chin, a little fort at the
narrowest part of the estuary between Kang-wha and the mainland, where
the tide runs through with tremendous force and a dangerous reef adds to
the difficulty of navigation.
Thus it was that when the _Monocacy_ and _Palos_ steamed slowly up the
channel on a tour of inspection they were fired upon by the guns of this
little fort. No special damage was done, and as soon as the gunboats
could be gotten ready to reply to this unexpected assault they opened
fire upon the little fort and speedily drove its garrison out. The
Koreans supposed these gunboats were approaching for the purpose of
assault. Indeed, as no intimation had been given the Korean government
that such a reconnoitering expedition was planned, and as this narrow
passage was considered the main gateway of approach to the capital, the
Koreans argued strictly from the book and the American contention that
the attack was unprovoked was groundless, for to Korean eyes the very
approach to this stronghold was abundant provocation.
When the fort had been silenced, the two gunboats steamed back to the
main anchorage and reported. It was instantly decided that an apology
must be forthcoming from the government, but as none came, retaliation
was the only thing left to vindicate the wounded honor of the United
States. A strong force was despatched, which, under cover of the ship’s
guns was landed near the fort, and after a hard hand to hand struggle in
which every man of the garrison was killed at his post the place was
taken. Thus was the tarnished honor of the Great Republic restored to
its former brightness. But mark the sequel. The Admiral plainly was
entirely unequal to the task of pushing the matter to the gates of
Seoul, and so he withdrew and sailed away to China exactly as the French
had done. The great mistake in this lay in ignorance of the Korean
character. The government cared little for the loss of a few earth-works
on Kang-wha. In fact, even if the Americans had overrun and ravaged half
the peninsula and yet had not unseated the king in his capital or
endangered his person, their departure would have left the Koreans in
the firm belief that the foreigners had been whipped. In the last decade
of the twelfth century the Japanese overran the country, forced the King
to flee to the very banks of the Yalu, killed hundreds of thousands of
the people and for seven years waged equal war in the peninsula, and yet
when Hideyoshi died and his troops were recalled Korea claimed that the
Japanese had been defeated; and it was true. The approach of United
States gunboats up to the very walls of the “Gibraltar” of Korea was
nothing less than a declaration of war, and the paltry loss of the
little garrison was a cheap price to pay for their ultimate triumph in
seeing the American ships “hull down” in the Yellow sea.
When this glad news was published in Seoul the already plethoric pride
of the Regent swelled to bursting. Another brilliant victory had been
scored.
Another of the great powers of the West had been humbled. Korea could
show her great patron China how to handle the barbarians. He immediately
ordered the erection in the center of the city of a monument which had
been in preparation since 1866. The inscription ran as follows.
“The Western Barbarians have attacked and injured us, with a view either
to making war upon us or to forcing treaties upon us. If we consent to
the latter it will mean the betrayal of the country. Let our descendants
to the ten thousandth generation bear this in mind. Made in the Pyöng-in
Year and set up in the Sin-mi Year.”
All the court and the nobility vied with each other in congratulating
the regent upon the completion of this work and declared that the people
were pleased with the prospect of excluding all foreigners and
preserving the time-honored seclusion of the land.