PERSONAL REMINISCENCES AND IMPRESSIONS
Before leaving Seoul I ventured to send to His Imperial Majesty of Korea,
through one of his most intimate, devoted, and consistent friends of long
standing, a message that should embody some of my impressions regarding
his own best interests and the essential conditions for the future
welfare of his country. I had already frequently addressed his people
with great plainness, relying upon an implied confidence in the sincerity
of their monarch’s words, spoken at the time of my audience at the Court.
It will be remembered (see p. 46) that the Emperor had then said: “He
was glad to learn I had come to instruct his people in right ways”;
“he hoped they would open their minds to enlightenment and to modern
ideas”; he wished “my addresses would contribute to their progress.”
The speaker had, therefore, not only royal permission but that request,
which, according to the etiquette of this and other Eastern courts, is
the equivalent of a command, when he warned his Korean audiences that
the real prosperity of their country could not be obtained by intrigue
and assassination, but only by cultivating the industries and arts, by
improving education, and by regulating their conduct according to the
unchanging principles of a pure morality and a truly spiritual religion.
Moreover, it should be remembered that, while Oriental monarchs are
accustomed to think of themselves as entitled to rule without regard to
constitutional restrictions and in defiance of control by any legal
code, the Confucian ethics requires them to submit patiently to rebuke
and exhortation, on moral grounds. It also exalts the position of the
teacher of practical philosophy (or ethics) to the highest rank in the
service of the State. Nor had I forgotten the earnest words of the aged
Japanese physician at a banquet held on the evening of the preceding 11th
of February, in the city of Osaka, by which the one hundred and fifty
leading citizens assembled there were reminded that, when the ancient
Oriental teacher and the modern teacher from the West agree in the
doctrine—“It is righteousness which exalteth a nation”—their agreement
is significant of the important conclusion that the doctrine is true. It
did not seem improper, therefore, to call his Majesty’s attention to the
rocks just ahead, directly for which, under the piloting of evil domestic
and foreign counsellors, he was steering the ship of State.
The message emphasized especially the following particulars. Inasmuch as
Japan had already fought one internal and two foreign wars, at a cost of
millions of treasure and thousands of lives, on account of the political
weakness and misrule of Korea, it could not possibly, with a wise
regard either for its own interests or for those of the Korean people
themselves, allow the repetition of similarly disastrous events. The
two nations must learn to live together in amity and with their common
interests guarded against invasion and injury from without. History had
amply shown that this end could not be secured under existing conditions
by Korea alone. The most sacred obligations, not only of self-interest,
but also of a truly wise regard for the Emperor and his subjects, bound
the Japanese Government to establish and maintain its protectorate over
Korea.
Further: no foreign nation, least of all my own, whose constitution
and traditional practice forbade such a thing, was at all likely to
intervene between Japan and Korea. Those counsellors who had led him to
hope for such intervention were deceiving him; and the money which he
had contributed to their schemes was not simply spent in vain; it was
beguiled from him to his own hurt and to the great injury of his own
people, who needed that every _yen_ of it should be judiciously expended
upon developing the resources of the country and improving their own
material condition.
From these points of view, which had regard chiefly, or even solely,
to the interests of the crown and the Korean nation, I regarded the
Resident-General as Korea’s best friend; and also—if the Emperor would
have it so—his own best friend. Of Marquis Ito’s sincere and intelligent
interest in Korea, no one who knew him could have the slightest doubt;
the Emperor must see that the Marquis, as Resident-General, was in a
position of power. To act truthfully and sincerely in his relations
with this powerful friend, and to co-operate with his endeavors at the
improvement of the national condition, would, then, be his own best
way to secure for his people “instruction in right ways,” “the opening
of their minds to enlightenment and modern ideas,” and an effective
“contribution to their progress.”
Moreover, it must be remembered that there had been for centuries,
and there were still, two parties in Japan, with reference to the
proper treatment of Korea. One was the party which favored friendship
between the two countries and a peaceful development of the interests
so important to them both; the other was the party of the strong hand,
which was always urging the immediate application of the most drastic
measures. If it seemed desirable at any time for Japan to do so, the
latter party was ready for subjugation of the country by the military and
for putting it under military control. Marquis Ito had always been one
of the foremost leaders of the party of peace; he had indeed risked not
only his reputation as a far-seeing statesman, but even his personal
safety and his life, in behalf of the peaceful policy. Let His Majesty
carefully reflect upon what it would mean for him and for his country for
the present peaceful plans of the Japanese Government, under the present
Resident-General, to prove unavailing for their difficult task.
But if His Majesty continued to fail of an appreciation of the real
situation, if he persisted in trusting those who were deceiving him
with vain hopes and robbing him and the nation of its resources and its
opportunity, I had the gravest fears that ruin would follow for him and
for his house; and then great increase of trouble for the people of the
land. All this I wished to say to him, not at all as a politician or as
a diplomat, but as a teacher of morals and an observer of human affairs.
Nor did I speak on account of my friendship for Marquis Ito simply; and
not at all by His Excellency’s instigation or request. I was moved by a
sincere desire to see Korea really prosperous and, if it might be so,
to contribute in some small way to the instruction, enlightenment, and
progress of its people.
This message was in due time faithfully transmitted to the Emperor of
Korea, and was listened to with attention and apparently with the same
friendly spirit with which it was sent. Its reception was followed by
the “sincere (?) promise to heed its injunctions and with a protestation
of respect and affection for Marquis Ito.” This is His Majesty’s habit
when he is not excited for the moment by the passions of anger or fear.
“In at one ear and out at the other”—such is the description which those
who have had most experience with this monarch testify as to the real
effect upon him of all such advice. If any honest intention is ever
really formed to keep the promises, to be true to the protestations and
pledges made on such occasions, it is habitually scattered to the winds
by the next impure breath which blows upon him. A master of intrigue
himself (an intrigue of the Korean type which combines as, perhaps,
nowhere else in the world the unmixed elements of a tenuous subtlety and
a fatuous silliness), the Emperor of Korea is also the victim and willing
subject of intriguing eunuchs, concubines, sorceresses, Yang-bans, and
unscrupulous and unsavory foreign adventurers. From his point of view,
his missionary physician is his spy; and, from the same point of view,
the guest of Marquis Ito was, as a matter of course, suspected of being
a spy—in the one case in behalf of, in the other case against, his
cherished interests. And these interests are not the welfare of his
country, or even those more important and lasting interests that concern
his own crown and the perpetuation of the royal house. They are sensuous
and personal. Yet this complex character is truthfully described as
amiable, kindly by preference, and ready to smile upon and give gifts to
all. But this, too, is a problem which requires further consideration,
as one of interest from the psychologist’s point of view not only, but
also and chiefly, from the point of view which regards the social and
political relations of Japan and Korea. At the time my message was
delivered, and even before it was sent, the fatal mistake of sending a
Commission to The Hague had been made. In the case of monarchs and of
nations, as in the case of common folk—individuals and communities—there
are promises sincerely made, but made too late, and penitence which
follows but does not anticipate and prevent the last fatal consequences
of years of folly and of crime.
To these results of my observations in Korea the following particulars
should be added in this place. As has just been indicated, one of the
strongest and most fixed impressions made was that of the well-nigh
hopeless corruption of the Korean Court. Of intrigue and corruption
there is doubtless enough in all courts, especially in those of Oriental
countries. Nor are these evils by any means absent from the political
centres of Republican Governments, whether of the national or local
character. But the intrigue and corruption of the Korean Court are of a
peculiarly despicable and, indeed, intolerable character. The premises
in which it is housed at present are entirely lacking in any appearance
of dignity; are, indeed, almost squalid. In a commonplace brick building
were lodged the Emperor, the Crown Prince, Lady Om, the little Prince
her son, and an innumerable number of court officials, court ladies, and
eunuchs. The Cabinet Ministers in attendance during the night await the
Imperial pleasure in a Korean house near the courtyard, in rooms hardly
larger than horse-stalls. At times the contents of the cesspools, in
close proximity to the main palace gates, offend both eyes and nose. So
often as the rigorous inspection of the foreign lady in control of such
affairs is relaxed, the filth in the apartments themselves begins to
accumulate. Gifts to His Majesty, in value all the way from expensive
screens to baskets of fruit, are appropriated by the court rabble to
their own uses. Dishes, and even chairs, are often stolen by the lackeys
and coolies at the Imperial garden-parties. Yet there is a marvellous
display of gorgeous uniforms worn by the court functionaries; and these
functionaries are numerous enough to cover all the usual bureaus,
ceremonies, decorations, and offices really existing or imaginary, with
the customary crowd of masters of ceremony and chamberlains thought
needful for the courts of the largest and wealthiest nations. At the time
of the disbandment of the army, thirty generals and only ten colonels
constituted the corps of officers in command.
All these appointments have hitherto been dependent on the “gracious
favor” of His Majesty and have been dispensed without regard to moral
character or any form of fitness, or to the real interests of the
nation. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that they have often been
sold to those who offered the highest percentage of squeezes for the
outstretched royal hand. To secure them, access to the ear of the
Emperor is indispensable in most cases. Not a few of the most low-lived
and unscrupulous of his subjects and of foreigners have been recipients
of royal favors in this way. To quote the words of one who knows: “Now
it was the interpreter of a foreign legation, now a common police spy,
now a minister or ex-minister of State, and now some comparatively humble
member of the Imperial _entourage_. The soothsayers, geomancers, and
others of that ilk, were always present, and frequently influential in
devising grotesque schemes which spelled profit to themselves and to
other hangers-on of the court. But the most constant influence at court
of late years was that exercised by some of the eunuchs. Among these, the
chief eunuch Kang, was probably the most powerful. He grew rich upon the
perquisites of office, and would undoubtedly be flourishing still, had
it not been for the famous house-cleaning which the-court underwent some
time ago. He then fled, and report has it (seemingly with good reason)
that he was harbored nearly two weeks for a substantial consideration,
in the house of a foreigner connected in a subordinate capacity with an
American business concern. When in his heyday he exercised great personal
influence with the Emperor, and there are well authenticated instances
of cabinet ministers having bribed him in order to secure access to the
Imperial presence.”
It should also be remembered that this state of things in the Court of
Korea was not at all in spite of the Emperor, but was rather of his own
choosing. Indeed, his character and habit of conducting his Imperial
office was the principal effective reason for the perpetuation of such
corruption. The signs of this stream of evil influence are by no means
all concealed. Every day of my stay in Seoul I was witness to the line
of jinrikishas, and the procession of pedestrians—many of a by no means
prepossessing appearance—along the lane on which stands the gate through
which those seeking audience were passing in to the palace enclosure. As
to foreigners who, in person, are introduced to the Emperor, the Japanese
Government had then a practically efficient control. But for Korean
subjects, and for foreigners using Koreans to further their schemes,
there was at that time still abundant access. And the number of those
who visited this “prisoner in his palace” was frequently advertised
in the daily news as counted by scores and by hundreds. To leave his
“prison” and go out upon the streets of Seoul otherwise than on those
rare ceremonial occasions when everything is _prepared_ beforehand, would
have been for His Majesty to break with the etiquette of centuries. Now,
however, that the Japanese are in much more complete control, the freedom
of the Emperor’s movements is greatly enlarged.
I shall not easily forget how the contrast between the new forces of
spiritual uplift and the old forces of intellectual and moral degradation
came over me, as I was present one Sunday at the morning service of
the Methodist church, which stands just across the way from the palace
enclosure. The combined congregations gathered here numbered an audience
of more than one thousand, nearly one half of which were children. Bishop
Ross preached a short and simple sermon, Dr. Jones interpreting. Several
of the American delegates to the great missionary Conference in China,
on their way homeward, were present, surprised and rejoicing in the size
and enthusiasm of the Korean multitude of hearers. The girls from one
of the schools patronized by Lady Om (whose true history is told in Mr.
Angus Hamilton’s book, and who is now euphemously styled the “Emperor’s
consort”), which had recently been complained of by the English edition
of the _Korean Daily News_ for “being used to foster allegiance to
Japan,” were singing “I surrender all to Jesus.” But what was then being
done a few yards distant, just over the palace wall, where were living a
collection of as vulgar, ignorant, corrupt, and murderous men and women
as were to be found anywhere in so-called “heathendom”?
How the intrigue and deceitfulness, combined with weakness, of the
Korean Emperor and his Korean and foreign friends, terminated with the
commission to The Hague Peace Conference is now a matter of history. As
such, it demands a further study in its historical origins and historical
setting.
The impression which I received as to the capacity and character of the
Korean official and Yang-ban (or “gentry”) class was, on the whole, not
reassuring in regard to their real willingness or ability to inaugurate
and support governmental and industrial reforms in Korea. It is indeed
difficult for one born and fostered under an Occidental—and, perhaps,
especially an American—system of civilization justly to appreciate the
institutions and the personal characteristics of the men of the Orient.
Of this difficulty I had had an initial experience on my first visit
to Japan fifteen years ago. Repeated visits to Japan, and intimate
intercourse with Japanese of various classes, together with painstaking
observation of the people, had enabled me to overcome this difficulty to
a considerable extent, so far as the Land of the Rising Sun is concerned.
But, as has already been indicated, Old Japan was really more like
Mediæval Europe in many of its most essential psychological and social
characteristics, than like either modern India, or China, or Korea. A
winter spent in travel and lecturing rather widely over India was of more
important service in coming to an understanding of the upper classes in
Korea. This, too, is insufficient for a standard of comparison. With
the high-caste Hindu a Westerner of reflective mind will, of course,
have many intellectual interests in common. With the Korean Yang-ban,
except in the very rarest cases, there can be no common interests of
this kind. The problems of life and destiny, the Being of God, the
constitution of the universe, the fundamental principles of ethics,
politics, and law are of little concern to him. It is doubtful, indeed,
whether it has ever dawned upon his mind that there are such questions
worthy of patient consideration by the reflective powers. A few, but
a few only—such, at any rate, was the impression made upon me—have a
genuine, unselfish, and fairly intelligent sentiment of patriotism as
distinguished from a desire to use office and influence for the promotion
of their own self-interested ends. And these few—even that still smaller
number who to the sentiment of patriotism add manly courage, strength of
purpose, and readiness to suffer—are incapable of combining their forces
so as to carry through in their own land any policy to secure the most
imperatively needed reforms. After discussing this matter repeatedly
with one of Korea’s most appreciative and respected foreign friends, I
forced him to this admission: namely, there were not, then, so far as
he knew, two leaders of men in all Korea who could come together, trust
each other, agree together, and stand together, to fight and work for the
good of their country to the bitter end. Moreover, had it been possible
to find two, or even twenty, such strong and trusted political leaders,
under his late Majesty and the unpurged court of his rule, the reformers
could not have escaped exile or assassination, so far as Majesty and
Court were permitted to have their own way. Indeed, it was during all
that spring only the determined purpose of the Japanese Government, as
administered by Marquis Ito, that made possible the inauguration and
progress of any measure of reform. It was the same wise policy that
stood between the Emperor and a fate similar to that endured by his
royal consort at dawn of October 8, 1895. And only after his friend, the
Resident-General, hoping for a long time against the repeated violation
of the grounds of hope, had reached the sad conclusion that the Emperor’s
“disease was incurable,” and that the vital interests of Korea as well
as of Japan demanded the termination of his unfortunate and disgraceful
career, did the event take place. Even then, however, it was forced by
his own cabinet ministers.
As to the general character of the administration of the magistrates
throughout the country of Korea, in the winter and spring of 1906
and 1907, there can be no difference of intelligent opinion. It was
essentially the same which it had been for hundreds of years. With
rare exceptions, which were liable to make the magistrate suspected
and traduced to the Emperor and his court, the local jurisdiction in
Korea was a system of squeezes and acts of oppression, capable of
classification only under two important specific differences. These
differences were, first, the marks of strength and corruption combined
with cruelty, and, second, of weakness and corruption without obvious
cruelty. The following extracts from the _Korean Daily News_—the paper
which (with its native edition) Mr. Hulbert and Mr. Bethell, its
editor, were employing to excite foreign and native opposition to the
Japanese—are only a small number of the items of news on which this
impression was based:
As a high official was passing through the streets heavily
guarded, a number of men belonging to the chain-gang were
passed. One of them was heard to remark that if the official
were not a criminal himself he would not need the heavy guard,
and he added that after his term of penal labor was over the
first thing he would do would be to kill that official and
a few more like him. These words were heard by all and they
continued until the minister was out of sight.
A man of Ma-chun (near Chemulpo) was recently arrested by order
of the local magistrate and tortured without cause. After
confinement and torture for a period of eight days the man
expired and his relatives are now asking the Supreme Court to
look into the matter and punish the magistrate.
A report from South Chul-la Province states that the people
in a certain section there do not look with favor on the new
tax-collectors; on the contrary, they say that they will tie up
the collectors with ropes and make life hard for them.
A Japanese report from the far Northeast says that a band of
500 Koreans attacked the Japanese at Whang-hai-po and some
people were wounded by the Koreans; they were repulsed by
Japanese gendarmes from Kyung-heung.
On Tuesday evening over 250 rioters marched down on Neung-chon
district, broke down the telegraph poles, and attacked the
people. The matter was reported to the police and many were
despatched to the scene of the outbreak. The rioters, however,
had dispersed before they could be arrested.
We hope it is not true, as the Koreans report, that the
Governor of Chung-ju has eaten the money which the Emperor
gave for the relief of the sufferers from the flood there last
autumn. He is said to have gone even further than this and
compelled these destitute people to give their time for nothing
to public works. This is worth looking into.
An armed band of robbers made a raid on the road-repairing
bureau at Chin-nampo the other day and carried away
considerable property. In the struggle the Japanese engineer
and two Korean officers were severely wounded.
It is time that serious steps were taken to put down the
brigandage that prevails in the country. No one’s property
appears to be safe, for we now learn that the Dongak Sa
monastery in Kong Chu district has been rushed by robbers and
pillaged of everything that was at all valuable.
It must not be supposed that these instances of disturbance in the
provinces are rare and selected from a long period of time. Indeed, fully
one-half as many instances, illustrative of the condition of things
prevalent in the country districts of Korea as have been given above,
might have been taken from single issues of this morning paper. So true
is this that its daily column headed “Local News and Comment,” called
out an ironical article from the Japanese semi-official paper, the _Seoul
Press_, entitled “Speak Well of Your Friends.” In this article was the
assertion: “A digest of its issues (_i. e._, of the _Korean Daily News_)
for one month, as far as they relate to the Koreans, would indicate that
outside Seoul every third Korean was a bandit, while in Seoul every other
man was either a traitor or corrupt. This hardly appears to be the way
to establish a good reputation for the Koreans.” One needs, however, to
know only a little as to the proper reading between the lines, in order
to discover that the real reason why there was a dearth of good news,
of importance enough to print, in this anti-Japanese paper was this:
_almost all such items would have accrued to the credit of the Japanese
Administration_. Such items would, therefore, bring into too strong
contrast, to suit these foreign friends of Korea, the traditional ways
and results of the Korean Government and the already manifest effects of
the reforms that were being carried through by the Resident-General and
his Japanese and Korean helpers.
The news from the country, as given by the pro-Japanese press did not
differ from that given by this anti-Japanese paper from which extracts
have already been made. The former, however, dwelt much more upon the
changes for the better which were being accomplished, chiefly at Seoul,
but also in other cities and even in the country districts. The following
extracts, selected from a number of similar items, will show this
statement to be true. Says the _Seoul Press_:
A report received in the Police Adviser’s Office here on
Monday night states that a body of rioters assaulted and set
on fire seven buildings of the District officials of Ko-syöng,
South Kyöng-sang-do. The officials have all taken refuge in
Chin-nampo, and two leaders of the rioters were arrested. The
rioters, however, show no signs of dispersing. All foreigners
and the police are said to be safe, but there were some
casualties on the side of the rioters. According to a later
report received here from Vice-Resident Wada at Masan, the
rioters assembled numbered some 1,500. Grievances in connection
with taxation were the immediate cause of the trouble. On the
night of the 6th instant the mob stormed the office of the
District Magistrate and destroyed the jail, liberating all
prisoners within. In addition, they burned down seven buildings
of the district officials, and some people were seriously
injured. Police Inspector Nakagawa’s men, in conjunction with
the twenty troops told off from Chin-nampo, succeeded in
arresting three rebel leaders. The District Magistrate escaped,
and all the Japanese are safe. The disturbance has not yet been
suppressed.
Still another item from the _Seoul Press_ narrates a similar experience:
Disquietude of a somewhat serious nature is reported from
Kim-hai, under the Fusan Residency. About six o’clock in the
morning of the 14th inst., the Residency of Fusan received a
message from Kim-hai to the effect that a number of Koreans
were threatening to storm the District Office on account of
some grievance connected with taxation. Several policemen were
at once despatched to the scene of trouble, where they found
a crowd of natives actively rioting. The latter broke open
the prison, set all its inmates free and, far from yielding
to the advice of the policemen to disperse, offered obstinate
resistance. The policemen found the odds hopelessly great,
and decided to ask for re-enforcements. About this time there
arrived a force of our gendarmes who hastened to the disturbed
scene on receipt of the news that Mr. Lyang Hong-muk, the
Magistrate of Kim-hai District, had been taken prisoner by
the rioters, and that our police force from Kui-po, having
attempted to recover the Magistrate, were suffering from the
violence of the furious mob. The mob, however, successfully
checked the advance of the gendarmes for some time by the
free use of cudgels and other weapons. In the meantime, Mr.
Lyang was carried away by the mob and his whereabouts is still
unknown. Police re-enforcements subsequently arrived, and
ordered the rioters to go home, but in vain. It is stated that
the situation is assuming a more serious aspect. A joint force
of our gendarmes and policemen was despatched from Fusan early
on the morning of the 15th inst. Reports conflict about the
number of rioters, but it is believed that they are some 400.
All this, and similar experiences, as well as the history of the Korean
people for two thousand years, raises the serious question of the
possibility of a truly national redemption. Both before and during my
visit to Seoul I was given to understand by foreign residents, Japanese
and European, that the case of the nation is hopeless; their whole social
and political system is decadent; they are an effete race, destined to
give way before the invasion of members from any more vigorous race.
But Marquis Ito evidently entertained no such view. It was the Korean
nation which he desired to rescue and to lift up—whether with, or
without, the consent and assistance of their Emperor and his court. Of
the same opinion with the Marquis were the missionaries. Many of these
were extravagant in their praises of the native characteristics of their
converts, and not only sincerely attached to them, but also confident
of their capacity for educational advancement and moral and social
reform. To be sure, when asked more particularly as to what were the
precise traits of character which encouraged these hopes and elicited
this affection, and when reminded how almost universal had been the
confessions, recent and still going on among the native Christians,
of long-continued indulgence in the vices of lying, dishonesty, and
impurity, there was no altogether satisfactory answer to be given.
The grounds for praise were usually exhausted when the amiable and
affectionate nature of the Korean had been duly emphasized. To increase
my distrust of the view held by the missionaries, were the facts gained
in conversation with others who had been witnesses to the actions
of the excited Korean populace; who had seen Korean officials that
had offended this populace, or had been the object of some trumped-up
charge circulated by their political rivals and enemies, beaten, jumped
upon, smashed, torn limb from limb by their “gentle” and “amiable”
fellow-countrymen. Nor were these things done in remote country-places,
but in Seoul itself, near the Great Bell in the neighborhood of Song-do.
I had also heard from the lips of Mr. Morris, manager of the Seoul
Electric Railway, the story of how, at three o’clock in the morning of
the night of May 27, 1900, he had been called out of bed and, accompanied
by an escort of Japanese soldiers, taken to the prison near the Little
West Gate to view the bodies of An Kyun Soo and Kwan Yung Chin. These
were reformers who had been cajoled through promises of fair treatment
by the smiling Emperor and his officials to return from exile in Japan;
whereupon they had been foully murdered. Was one to share the “shivery
feeling” with which Mr. Morris passed between the rows of instruments
of torture to view the red marks of the cord with which these patriots
had been strangled; or was one to trust the estimate of their Christian
teachers regarding the mild and lovable disposition of the native
Koreans? There was also the glimpse into the smouldering fires of hatred
and cruelty, mingled with cowardice and hypocrisy, which I had myself had
during the visit to Pyeng-yang. And there were the unceasing daily items
of both the pro- and the anti-Japanese papers, to which reference has
already been made. Finally, there was the fact that these characteristics
of the Korean populace were historical, and were chiefly in evidence
among themselves, in their relations toward their own countrymen rather
than directed toward foreigners, even including the Japanese. Out of
this confusion of witnesses there slowly emerged the conclusion that
the mixture of good and bad needed itself to be historically explained;
therefore, neither the denunciations of the one party nor the praises of
the other could afford to the observer the sufficient reasons for a just
judgment of the native character. It is, indeed, on the whole, just now
rather more despicable than that of any other people whom I have come to
know. But it is not necessarily beyond redemption. At any rate, here is
another question which needs illumining in the whiter and broader light
of history.
The impressions gained as to the Koreans—Emperor, Court, Yang-bans, and
populace—were, of course, intimately associated with the impressions
formed as to the nature and efficiency of the forces chiefly at work for
the reform and uplift of the nation. Such reforming and uplifting forces
are undoubtedly these two: the personality of the Resident-General,
assisted in his work by the official corps under him, and supported
by the Government of His Imperial Majesty of Japan; and the Christian
missionaries. What impressions, then, seemed warranted by my observations
as to the soundness and efficacy of these two forces?
As to the sincerity of Marquis Ito in his self-sacrificing and arduous
task of effecting a reformed condition, industrially and politically,
of the Korean nation, no shadow of doubt ever arose in my own mind. But
this is a relatively small and unimportant thing to say. It is more
instructive as to the truth to notice that his _sincerity_ was, so far as
I am aware, never questioned by any one, not even by those most hostile
to his policy, except in an obviously ignorant and hypocritical way. The
extreme military party of Japan, the advocates of the strong hand and of
immediate forcible annexation, as well as anti-Japanese missionaries and
other foreigners, and even that Korean officialdom which always has so
much difficulty in believing that any one in office can be sincere—all
these, as soon as ignorant prejudice became but partially enlightened,
ceased to bring the charge of self-seeking and deceit against the
Resident-General. For he had unmistakably affirmed, both privately and
publicly, to his own countrymen, to the Koreans, and to the world, that
it was his intention to do all that in his power lay _for the betterment
of the condition of the Korean people themselves_. When His Korean
Majesty, who had not only repeatedly violated his most solemn treaty
obligations, but had also, with frequent prevarications, falsehoods, and
treachery, broken his equally solemn promises to the man who was far
more unselfishly interested in the welfare of Korea than was its ruler,
involved himself in sore trouble, he, too, turned to the Marquis Ito for
advice and help. That even the insincere Korean Emperor and his corrupt
Court believed in the sincerity of the Resident-General I have abundant
reason to know.
It was not the sincerity of Marquis Ito, however, which made most
impression upon the leading people of Seoul; it was rather the qualities
of patience, pity, and gentleness. Such are, indeed, not usually the
mental attitudes of the diplomat or politician toward those who are
intriguing, or otherwise actively endeavoring to defeat his cherished
plans. It should not be forgotten that less than a year before, during
the absence of the Resident-General, a plot had been formed which
involved his assassination; and that this plot had been traced to those
who had the _entrée_ of the Palace, in despite of their well-known
bad character, and some of whom were the recognized Korean associates
of the men whose “services” to the Korean Emperor terminated in the
commission to the Peace Conference at The Hague. Of those Korean
officials who were most opposed to the Japanese Protectorate, the Marquis
was ready to say that he sympathized with them in their desire for the
perfect independence of their country; nor did he blame them for their
struggles to bring about this result so long as their way was free from
lying, robbery, and murder. But the witness of history he regarded as
unimpeachable proof of the incapacity of the Korean ruling classes to
lift up, or to rule well their own country; unaided, they could never
effect the reformation of existing industrial and social evils. Japan,
the Far East, and the interests of the civilized world forbade their
being longer permitted to disturb the peaceful relations of foreign
nations. In this connection the Marquis once spoke of the difficulty
which he experienced in preventing his own countrymen from themselves
degenerating in character under the morally depressing influences of
Korea. These influences had, in his judgment, been more or less effective
in the case of most foreigners—diplomats and missionaries included—who
had lived for a long time in Seoul. “I tell them,” said he, “you must
not become Koreans; you are here to raise the Koreans up, and you cannot
do this if you sink down to their level.” At a small dinner party, at
the house of one of the foreign consuls, the Resident-General spoke more
freely than is his custom about his own early life, his observations
during his several trips abroad in America, Europe, and Russia, and the
ideals which had guided his official career. In this connection, with
reference to his present work in Korea, he referred to the expressions
of surprise from some of his foreign colleagues, that he could endure so
calmly the ways of the Koreans toward him and toward his administrative
efforts; but “in truth,” he added, “I have no feelings of anger toward
these people; they are so ignorant, they have been so long deprived of
all honest and enlightened government, they are so poor and miserable, I
am not angry with them. I pity them.”
It will doubtless seem a strange reversal of what many in the United
States and elsewhere have been led to believe was true—and certainly it
is a strange reversal of what ought to have been true—when I say that
the patience and sympathy of Marquis Ito in his relations with the
foreign Christian workers in Korea was a surprise to me. The behavior of
some of the missionaries and men prominent in the circle of the Young
Men’s Christian Association, which was in receipt of a subsidy from the
Japanese Government, had been trying indeed. That their professed Korean
converts and adherents had used the name of Christian and the Christian
organizations for selfish political purposes could not have been wholly
avoided. Even the threats of legal proceedings had been unable to prevent
this. But that injudicious reports of wrongs, either exaggerated or
wholly false, should be sent by private and public letters to the “home
country,” while the requests of the Resident-General to learn of these
wrongs and to have the opportunity to correct them remained wholly
unheeded, constituted a trial to patience which, I am of the opinion,
few men in his position would have borne so well. Emphasis was given to
this by the fact that some of the most violent and false accusations
against the Japanese Government in Seoul were made in papers and books
published by authors who were known to be on terms of friendship with
foreign religious agencies. Even certain paid attorneys of the Imperial
intrigues against the Resident-General were of this connection. To all
this it should be added that His Excellency was being severely (although
by no means fairly) criticized in his own country for his “excessive”
patience toward these teachers of a foreign religion. Excited by the
reports which were coming from the United States (see p. 62), one of
the respectable Japanese papers of Tokyo (the _Yomiuri_, in its issue
of May 6th) had found it “necessary to examine the past conduct of the
American missionaries in Korea.” It expressed profound admiration “for
the personality of the Founder of Christianity and high respect for the
enthusiasm and devotion of his followers.” But as for those who, “wearing
the mask of missionaries ... pander to the native prejudices ... and
endeavor to thwart our policy by disseminating baseless rumors and
mischievous insinuations, there ought to be no hesitation to deport them
out of the country.” “Marquis Ito, as a friend of peace and liberty, has
already shown more than sufficient conciliation and patience.”
The story of the better way which Marquis Ito steadily followed, with
its unwavering policy of conciliation and patience, and of its success
so far as the majority of the more representative and influential of
the missionary body is concerned, has already been told in part. For
the small number who still refuse to respond to this policy, it is, of
course, not deportation by the Japanese Government, but counsel and
rebuke from their employers at home, which is the proper remedy. But the
impressions of the visitor, who had full measure of the confidence of the
leader of one of these two parties who are working for the redemption
of Korea, and some good measure of the confidence of certain leaders of
the other party, can be given in no other way so well as by quoting the
following words from one of their number:
“From the Peninsula,” said Dr. George Heber Jones, in an address to the
First General Conference of the Methodist Church in Japan, “we watch with
intense interest the development in Japan; for Providence has bound up
together the destinies of the two nations. Nationally, a new life opens
up before Korea. Japan has sent her veteran statesman to advise and
guide Korea, the man to whom in the largest sense Japan owes so much—the
most conspicuous statesman in Asia to-day, Marquis Ito. Plans for the
reform of the Government, codification of the laws, development of the
industry and business of the people, and extension of education, have
been formulated, and in a comparatively short time most promising results
achieved. In spite of difficulties which necessarily for the present
encumber the situation, the outlook is most hopeful. As a church in Korea
we deliberately stand aloof from all politics, but find our work, as
it relates to the production of strong character, of honest, upright,
true men, most intimately related to the regeneration of the nation. The
coming ten years promise to be the most eventful in the history of Korea.”
At a tea-party, given in the gardens of Dr. and Mrs. Scranton, at Seoul,
where Bishop Cranston, Bishop Harris, Dr. Leonard and Dr. Goucher, were
among the non-resident guests, Marquis Ito was present; having arrived
somewhat earlier than the appointed hour. After greeting the ladies and
gentlemen present, the Marquis spoke as follows:
I wish to take this opportunity of saying a few words to you.
I beg you, however, not to expect that I shall say anything
new or striking. I only mean to repeat to you what I have
been saying to the Japanese and the Koreans. If my words are
not new or striking, I may at least assure you that what I am
going to say comes from my heart, and represents just what
I feel and think. As the official representative of Japan
in this country, my principal duty consists in guiding and
assisting Korea in her efforts at improvement and progress.
I entertain deep sympathy with the people of this country;
and it is my earnest ambition to help in saving them from the
unfortunate state in which they now find themselves. You,
ladies and gentlemen, are also here for serving and saving the
Koreans. The only difference is that, while I seek to serve
them through political and administrative channels, you work
for the same end by means of religious influences. We thus
stand on common ground, we are working for a common object. You
will therefore believe me when I assure you that I always take
the most sympathetic interest in your noble work, and that I
am ever ready to co-operate with you, in so far as my duties
permit, in your efforts to further the moral and intellectual
elevation of this people. On the other hand, I feel confident
that I may rely upon a similar attitude on your part toward my
endeavors for the benefit of the Koreans. As to the political
relations between Japan and Korea, it would be too long and
tedious to refer to the past; it is a long history. It is
sufficient for my present purpose to say that the two countries
are so situated toward each other that their destinies are
bound together in the closest manner. To maintain undisturbed
the close mutual relations which fate has ordained for the two
countries, is the object for which Japan is in this country;
beyond that she has no other object. As you know very well,
Korea can hardly be called an organized state in the modern
sense. I am trying to make it such. Whether, or how far, I
may be able to realize my object in this work of political
regeneration, as also in the task of improving the general
lot of the people, God alone knows. All that I can say to you
is that I shall do my best for the successful realization of
my mission. I may be permitted to refer to a matter in which
you can do much good for Koreans. I dare say that among the
many thousands of Japanese in this country, there are some who
disgrace their nation by misconduct toward Koreans; but you
may rest assured that these wrong-doers find in me the most
uncompromising enemy. I may also say that wrong-doing is not
confined to the Japanese; there are similar offenders among
the Koreans too. While I am taking unsparing pains to repress
wrong-doing among the Japanese, I rely upon you for your hearty
co-operation to the same end among the Koreans, in so far as it
lies in your power as their religious teachers and leaders.
But the wisdom and firmness of the Resident-General were no less
impressive than were the qualities of patience and gentleness. To the
student of Korean affairs, of the more recently past and the present
relations of the Japanese to the Koreans, it soon becomes patent what is
chiefly needed in order to mend the former and to improve the latter. It
is first of all the impartial administration of justice, in the way of
righting wrongs, so far as this is possible, and of securing the rights
of life, liberty, and property; then comes the fostering of education in
the industries and arts, and the progressive elevation of the moral and
religious condition of the people. At the time of my visit there were
numberless claims pending of fraud and violence—not so much of recent
occurrence as acts of some months or years old—on the part of Koreans
against Koreans, and of Japanese and Koreans against each other. Land had
been seized and stolen outright, or fraudulently obtained by forged deeds
or under false titles. Foreign promoters were clamoring over privileges
and concessions, which were either purchased with some show of fairness
or obtained from His Majesty, or from some subject, by partnership
with the crowd of Korean official “squeezers.” The weaker race—it was
claimed—was oppressed, insulted, beaten, or rudely pushed around—not
now by their own officials or by Chinese or Russians, but by a people
whose superiority of any sort it humiliated their traditional pride even
grudgingly to admit. The ability of the most honest and capable local
magistrate, whether Japanese or Korean, to discover the truth and to do
any measure of justice was greatly hampered and, indeed, made almost
practically unavailing by the differences in the two languages and by
the fact that the interpreters themselves could, for the most part, in
no respect be thoroughly trusted. It was, indeed, a favorite trick with
the average Korean interpreter to hire out to one of his own countrymen
who had a case against some Japanese, and then to betray his client for
a bribe from the other side, by misstating or falsifying his client’s
cause. And, under such circumstances, what could any magistrate do who
understood only one of the two languages? Moreover, according to the
testimony of Mr. D. W. Stevens, who had made careful examination into
scores of such complaints, it was an extremely rare thing for a Korean,
even when he had a perfectly good case, to refrain from mixing a large
measure of exaggeration and falsehood with his truth-telling; nor was
it easy to find any considerable crime of fraud committed against a
Korean by a Japanese without uncovering a Korean partner to the base
transaction. So crafty are the Koreans that, in most cases of such
partnership, it is not the foreign member of the firm who gets the larger
share of the dividends resulting.
All these impressions as to what was most imperatively needed for the
emergencies that were daily arising I was encouraged to mention to the
Resident-General at any of our several interviews. It was, of course,
desirable first of all to prevent the continuance of the evils which
had been, both in Korea and abroad, charged against his own nationals
in their treatment of the Koreans. Inquiry and observation combined
to confirm the opinion that this was already being accomplished. At
that time, however, most of the riots in the country districts did not
appear to indicate feelings of hatred on the part of the natives toward
“foreign oppressors”; they were only the customary expression of lawless
resistance to a condition of wretchedness and misrule that was of native
origin and indefinitely long-standing. No important acts of violence
on the part of Japanese toward Koreans came under my observation, and
none of recent occurrence were credibly reported. Even of those petty
deeds of rudeness and incivility, which exasperate hostile feeling far
beyond their real significance, I saw comparatively few. There was some
rather contemptuous treatment of the Korean crowd at the gates of the
railway stations and on the platforms of the trains; but the Koreans
are themselves exceedingly stupid and ready to crowd others; and the
handling given them by the Japanese officials was in no case so rough
as that which the proudest American citizen is liable to receive at
the Brooklyn Bridge or on the Fourth Avenue street-cars. Once, indeed,
my jinrikisha-man, after he had several times warned, by his outcry, a
Korean gentleman who was occupying the middle of the street with that
dignified and slow-moving pace so characteristic of the idle Yang-ban, in
order to avoid knocking the pedestrian down with his vehicle, gave him a
somewhat ungentle push to one side. The Korean fell forward, after the
manner of a boy’s tin soldier before a marble. His crinoline hat rolled
off his head, but alighted a short distance away. At first I was alarmed
lest he might be injured, and was about to order the offending kurumaya
to stop his running that I might offer my assistance. But when it
appeared that neither the victim of this scarcely avoidable rudeness, nor
his hat, was injured, and that no one, including the man himself, seemed
to consider the incident worth noticing, I decided not to emphasize it
further. Undoubtedly, this would not have happened with a Japanese child
or woman in the adult Korean’s place; it might easily have happened,
however, in the streets of Tokyo or Kyoto if the pedestrian had been a
man of obviously inferior rank.
In brief, it was the uniform testimony of those who had been in Korea
during the troublous times which followed the war with Russia that, under
Marquis Ito’s administration, Japanese wrong-doers were being sought
out and restrained or punished, and that deeds of violence and even of
rudeness were becoming rarer with every month of his stay.
Other measures which seemed to me desirable to have put in operation
were such as the following: a civil-service examination which should
provide that every official, Korean or Japanese, whose duties brought him
into intimate daily relations with both peoples, should have a working
knowledge of both languages; the organizing of a body of authorized
interpreters, whose honesty and ability to discharge this very delicate
and important function of oral or written interpretation, in all legal
causes and matters of Government business, should be guaranteed, the
speedy and even spectacular demonstration of the Government’s intention
to give to the Korean common people strict justice in all their valid
complaints against the Japanese; the improvement of the character of the
Japanese civil service and of the Japanese police and petty officers of
every kind; and some kind of arrangement between the missionary schools
and the schools under the control of both the Korean and the Japanese
authorities, by which uniformity might be attained in the primary
education, and, in the higher stages, the mistakes made by the British
Government in India might be avoided. These mistakes have resulted in
educating a crowd of native “_babus_,” who are both unwilling and unfit
for most kinds of serviceable employment in the real interests of their
own nation’s development. As to this last matter, the statement may be
repeated that not a small proportion of the Koreans educated abroad or in
the missionary schools, with an almost purely literary education, have
turned out either useless, or positively mischievous, when the practical
reform and redemption of their own country is to be undertaken and
enforced. For if there is any one thing which the average educated Korean
Yang-ban will _not_ do, that thing is hard and steady useful work.
None of these measures—it was soon made obvious—were to be overlooked
or neglected in the large and generous plans of the Resident-General
for the reform and uplift of Korea. _Time_, however, was needed for
them all; they all required a supply of helpers, to train which _time_
was required. And who that knows the lives of the great benefactors of
mankind, or is versed in the most significant facts and obvious truths
of history, does not recognize the evil clamor of the press, of the
politicians, and of the crowd, to have that done all at once which cannot
possibly be done without the help of _time_. The whole explanation of
the delay is best summed-up in the pregnant sentence already quoted from
one of Marquis Ito’s public addresses, which was evidently designed as
a declaration of settled policy on his part. “As you know very well,”
said he, “Korea can hardly be called an organized state in the modern
sense; I am trying to make it such,” But as he explained to me more in
detail: “I have been at work on these difficult problems only one short
year, interrupted by visits to Japan, because my own Emperor required my
presence; and the first half of this year was almost entirely occupied
with such physical improvements as various engineering schemes, provision
for hospitals, roads, and similar matters. There has never been any such
thing as Korean law, under which justice can be administered impartially.
But, according to the constitution of Japan, no Japanese subject of His
Imperial Majesty, as well as no other foreigners resident in Korea, can
be deprived of property, or of liberty, otherwise than by due process
of law. Nor is my relation to the administration of justice in Korea
like that of the British magistrate in British India. With Korean
affairs, purely internal, when the attempt is made to settle them in
Korean fashion, I have no right, under the treaty, to interfere. And the
Koreans, when they could resort to _legal_ measures for settling their
disputes, ordinarily will not do so; they prefer to resort to the ancient
illegal practice of running to some Korean Court official and bribing him
to use influence on their side. As for Korean judges who can be trusted
to do justice, there is scarcely any raw material even for such judges to
be found. A carefully selected number of jurists, with a large force of
clerks, has, however, been brought from Japan; and they are diligently
at work trying to devise a written code under which the ancient customs
and common laws of Korea, as representing its best efforts to enact and
establish justice, shall be made available for future use.”
Meantime, as we have already seen, the Resident-General was being opposed
and, as far as possible, thwarted, in every effort to improve the civil
service and judicial administration of Korea, by the corrupt Korean
Court, with its mob of eunuchs, palace women, sorceresses, etc., and by
nearly all the native officials and Yang-bans in places of influence and
power. _And the chief seat of corruption and of opposition to genuine,
effective reform was the smiling and amiable Korean Emperor himself._
How effectively, because wisely and firmly, Marquis Ito initiated and
advanced these reform measures will receive its proof, so far as proof
is at present possible, by examination of results recorded in official
and other trustworthy reports. To the facts already narrated, on which my
personal impression of these qualities was based, many others of even a
more convincing character might easily be added.
Of the feelings of admiration and friendship which grew during these
weeks of somewhat confidential relations, on the part of the guest toward
his host, it would not be fitting to speak with any detail. But in
closing the more exclusively personal part of my narrative I might quote
the words of one of the Consuls-General residing in Seoul. This diplomat
expressed his feeling toward the Marquis Ito as one of veneration, beyond
that which he had ever felt for any but a very few of the men whom he had
met in his official career.
After all, however, personal impressions, no matter how favorable to
truth the conditions under which they are derived, are not of themselves
satisfactory in answer to questions so grave and so complicated as
those which encompass the existing relations between Japan and Korea.
Such impressions must be subjected to the severer tests, the more
comprehensive considerations, the profounder sanctions, of history and of
statistics. For this reason I now pass on to the much more difficult task
of reviewing in the light of these tests, considerations, and sanctions,
the impressions of my visit to Korea in 1907, as the guest of Marquis
Ito.
_PART II_
A CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL INQUIRY