The London Times, in 1859, predicted that “The Chinaman would still be

navigating the canals of his country in the crazy old junks of his

ancestors when the Japanese was skimming along his rivers in high

pressure steamers, or flying across the country behind a locomotive.”

The railway is now in fact stretching its iron tracks in every direction

over the islands; the telegraph spreads its web all over the country;

street car lines are in every city; the printing press rattles merrily

in every moderate sized country town; and the Japanese who have always

read much, now read ten times more than they ever did before. Technical

education of the higher kind is telling upon the people, and many works

are now undertaken from which the authorities would have shrunk a few

years ago as being impossible for them to grapple with. Original

investigation in many lines has been pursued, and particularly in the

study of earthquake phenomena has Japan given to the world results of

extreme value. The influence of the modern scientific spirit is immense

and ever growing. Western influence in its better nature is constantly

on the increase. It appears to-day as if Japan were to be the civilizing

influence in the east of Asia.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_COREA_

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Illustration: COREAN LANDSCAPE.]

[Illustration: RAW LEVIES FOR THE CHINESE ARMY.]

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF COREA, THE HERMIT NATION.

--------------

Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Land—Founding the Kingdom of

Cho-sen—The Era of the Three Kingdoms—Dependence on China and

Japan—Period of Peace and Prosperity—Invasion of Corea by the

Japanese in the Sixteenth Century—Introduction of Christianity—The

Modern History of Corea—Breaking down the Walls of Isolation—The

French Expedition—American Relations with Corea—Ports Opened to

Japanese Commerce—The Year of the Treaties—A Hermit Nation no

Longer.

Until recent years our knowledge of the remarkable country of Corea,

known indeed to the general public by little more than its name, has

been limited to the meagre and scanty information imparted to us by

Chinese and Japanese sources. After having been for several thousands of

years the scene of sanguinary and murderous feuds between the various

races and tribes who peopled the peninsula, and of the intrigues and

wars of conquest of its rapacious neighbors, Corea succeeded after its

final union under the sway of one ruler, but with considerable loss of

territory, in driving back the invaders behind its present frontiers,

enforcing since that time with an iron rule, that policy of exclusion

which effectually separated it from the whole outer world. Corea, though

unknown even by name in Europe until the sixteenth century, was the

subject of description by Arab geographers of the middle ages. The Arab

merchants trading to Chinese ports crossed the Yellow Sea, visited the

peninsula, and even settled there. The youths of Shinra, one the Corean

states, sent by their sovereign to study the arts of war and peace at

Nanking, the mediæval capital of China, may often have seen and talked

with the merchants of Bagdad and Damascus.

As has been said, nearly all that the western world was able to learn

about Corea until recent years, has been collected from Chinese and

Japanese sources, which confine themselves mainly to the historical and

political connection with these countries. The meagre early accounts

owed to Europeans on this interesting subject, originate either from

shipwrecked mariners who have been cast upon the inhospitable shores of

Corea and there been kept imprisoned for some time, or from navigators

who have extended their voyages of discovery to these distant seas and

who have touched a few prominent points of the coast.

Like almost every country on earth, Corea is inhabited by a race that is

not aboriginal. The present occupiers of the land drove out or conquered

the people whom they found upon it. They are the descendants of a stock

who came from beyond the northern frontier. It may not be a wrong

conjecture, which is corroborated by many outward signs, to look for the

origin of the people in Mongolia, in a tribe which finally settled down

in Corea after roaming about and fighting its way through China. We may

also take those who bear the unmistakable stamp of the Caucasian race to

have come from Western Asia whence they had been driven by feuds and

revolutions. At the conclusion of the long wars which have at last led

to the union of the different states founded by various tribes, a

partial fusion had taken place, which, though it has not succeeded in

eradicating the outer signs of a different descent, at least caused the

adoption of one language and of the same manners and customs.

Most of the Coreans claim to be in complete darkness and ignorance of

their own origin; some declare quite seriously that their ancestors have

sprung from a black cow on the shores of the Japan sea, while others

ascribe their origin to a mysterious and supernatural cause.

The first mention of the inhabitants of Corea we find in old Chinese

chronicles about 2350 B.C., at which period some of the northern tribes

are reported to have entered into a tributary connection with China. The

first really reliable accounts, however, commence only with the twelfth

century B.C., at which time the north-westerly part of the peninsula

first stands out from the dark.

The last Chinese emperor of the Shang dynasty was Chow Sin, who died

B.C. 1122. He was an unscrupulous tyrant, and one of his nobles, Ki

Tsze, rebuked and remonstrated with his sovereign. His efforts were

hopeless, and the nobles who joined him in protest were executed. Ki

Tsze was cast into prison. A revolt immediately ensued against the

tyrant; he was defeated and killed, and the conqueror Wu Wang released

the prisoner and appointed him prime minister. Ki Tsze however refused

to serve one whom he believed to be an usurper and exiled himself to the

regions lying to the north-east. With him went several thousand Chinese

immigrants, most the remnant of the defeated army, who made him their

king. Ki Tsze reigned many years and left the newly founded state in

peace and prosperity to his successors. He policed the borders, gave

laws to his subjects, and gradually introduced the principles and

practices of Chinese etiquette and polity throughout his domain.

Previous to his time the people lived in caves and holes in the ground,

dressed in leaves, and were destitute of manners, morals, agriculture

and cooking. The Japanese pronounce the founder’s name Kishi, and the

Coreans Kei-tsa or Kysse. The name conferred by the civilizer upon his

new domain was that now in use by the modern Coreans, “Cho-sen,” or

“Morning Calm.”

The descendants of Ki Tsze are said to have ruled the country until the

fourth century before the Christian era. Their names and deeds are alike

unknown, but it is stated that there were forty-one generations, making

a blood line of eleven hundred and thirty-one years. The line came to an

end in 9 A.D., though they had lost power long before that time.

This early portion of Cho-sen did not contain all of the territory of

the modern Corea, but only the north-western portion of it. While the

petty kingdoms of China were warring among one another, the nearest to

Cho-sen encroached upon it and finally seized the colony. This was not

to be permanent however, and there ensued a series of wars, each force

becoming alternately successful. The territory of Cho-sen grew in area

and the kingdom increased in wealth, power and intelligence under the

rule of King Wie-man, who assumed the authority 194 B.C. Thousands of

Chinese gentry fleeing before the conquering arms of the Han usurpers

settled within the limits of the new kingdom, adding greatly to its

prosperity. In 107 B.C., after a war that had lasted one year, a Chinese

invading army finally conquered the kingdom of Cho-sen and annexed it to

the Chinese empire. The conquered territory included the north half of

the present kingdom of Corea.

Things remained in this condition until about 30 B.C., at which time a

part of Cho-sen taking advantage of the disorders which had broken out

afresh in China, separated itself from the empire and again formed a

state by itself, but still remained tributary; while the other portions

of the old kingdom for some time longer remained under Chinese rule,

until they also joined the portion that had been freed. Up to this

period Cho-sen forming the north-west of the present Corea, had been the

only part of that country that had become more closely connected with

China. The tracts to the north-east, south-west and south were occupied

by different independent tribes, and little more is known of them than

that they were ruled by chiefs of their own clan. In course of time

three kingdoms, Korai, Hiaksai, and Shinra, were formed out of these

various elements, subsisting by the side of Cho-sen, at a later date

fighting either beside or against China, and almost incessantly at feud

with each other, until Shinra gained the predominance about the middle

of the eighth century A.D. and kept the same up to the sixteenth

century. It was then supplanted in the leading position by Korai, which

united under its supremacy all those parts of Corea which had hitherto

been separate, and constituted the whole into a single state. Like the

three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Wales, these Corean states were

distinct in origin, were conquered by a race from without, received a

rich infusion of alien blood, struggled in rivalry for centuries, and

were finally united under one nation with one flag and one sovereign.

Hiaksai was for a while the leading state in the peninsula. Buddhism was

introduced from Thibet in 384 A.D. And to this state more than any other

part of Corea, Japan owes her first impulses towards the civilization of

the west. The kingdom prospered until the decade from 660 to 670, when

it was overrun and practically annihilated by an army of Chinese,

despite the aid of four hundred junks and a large body of soldiers sent

from Japan to the aid of Corea.

Korai of course took its turn in struggling with the Dragon of China.

Early in the seventh century China had been defeated, and for a

generation peace prevailed. But the Chinese coveted Koraian territory

and again an invading fleet attacked the country. It took years to

complete the conquest, but finally all Korai with its five provinces,

its one and seventy-six cities and its four or five millions of people,

was annexed to the Chinese empire.

Shinra, in the south-west of the peninsula, was probably the most

advanced of all of the states. It was from this kingdom that the

tradition reached Japan which tempted the Amazonian queen of Japan,

Jingo, to her invasion and conquest. The king of Shinra submitted and

became a declared vassal of Japan, but in all probability Shinra was far

superior to the Japan of that early day in everything except strength.

From this kingdom came a stream of immigrants which passed into Japan

carrying all sorts of knowledge and an improved civilization. It is well

to remember from this point that the Japanese always laid claim to the

Corean peninsula and to Shinra especially as a tributary nation. They

supported that claim not only whenever embassies from the two nations

met at the court of China, but they made it a more or less active part

of their national policy.

During this period Buddhism was being steadily propagated, learning and

literary progress increased, while art, science, architecture were all

favored and improved. Kion-chiu, the capital of Shinra, was looked upon

as a holy city, even after the decay of Shinra’s power. Her noble

temples, halls and towers stood in honor and repair, enshrining the

treasures of India, Persia, and China, until the ruthless Japanese torch

laid them in ashes in 1596.

From the year 755 A.D. up to the beginning of the tenth century, Shinra

maintained its undisputed rule over the other countries of the

peninsula, but about this time successive revolts occurred, Shinra was

conquered, and the three kingdoms now united were called Korai, a name

which was retained to the end of the fourteenth century. The kingdoms

now thoroughly subdued, never recovered their old position and

independence, and composed from that time forward the undivided kingdom

of Corea, such as it has been maintained until the present day. In 1218

A.D. the king of Corea promised allegiance to the Chinese emperor

Taitsou who was the Mongol Genghis Khan.

Here we find explanation for some features of the war now in progress

between China and Japan. Corea has at various times acknowledged its

dependence upon both of these countries. The Japanese laid claim to

Corea from the second century until the 27th of February, 1876. On that

day the mikado’s minister plenipotentiary signed the treaty recognizing

Cho-sen as an independent nation. Through all the seventeen centuries,

which according to their annals elapsed since their armies first

completed the vassalage of their neighbor, the Japanese regarded the

states of Corea as tributaries. Time and again they enforced their claim

with bloody invasion, and when through a more enlightened policy the

rulers voluntarily acknowledged their former enemy as an equal, the

decision cost Japan almost immediately afterward seven months of civil

war, twenty thousand lives, and $50,000,000 in treasury. The mainspring

of the “Satsuma rebellion” of 1877 was the official act of friendship by

treaty, and the refusal of the Tokio government to make war on Corea. It

seemed until 1877 almost impossible to eradicate from the military mind

of Japan the conviction that to surrender Corea was cowardice and a

stain upon the national honor.

From the ninth century onward to the sixteenth century, the relations of

the two countries seem to be unimportant. Japan was engaged in

conquering northward her own barbarians. Her intercourse, both political

and religious, grew to be so direct with the court of China, that Corea

in the Japanese annals sinks out of sight except at rare intervals.

Nihon increased in wealth and civilization, while Cho-sen remained

stationary or retrograded. In the nineteenth century the awakened

“Sunrise Kingdom” has seen her former self in the “Land of Morning

Calm,” and has stretched forth willing hands to do for her neighbor now

what Corea did for Japan in centuries long gone by. It must never be

forgotten that Corea was the bridge on which civilization crossed from

China to the archipelago.

About 1368 the reigning King of Corea refused vassalage to China. His

troops refused to repel the invasion that threatened, and under their

General Ni Taijo, deposed the king. Taijo himself was nominated king. He

paid homage to the Chinese emperor and revived the ancient name of

Cho-sen. The dynasty thus established is still the reigning family in

Corea, though the direct line came to an end in 1864. The Coreans in

their treaty with Japan in 1876, dated the document according to the

four hundred and eighty-fourth year of Cho-sen, reckoning from the

accession of Ni Taijo to the throne. One of the first acts of the new

dynasty was to change the location of the national capital to the city

of Han Yang, situated on the Han river about fifty miles from its mouth.

The king enlarged the fortifications, enclosed the city with a wall of

masonry, and built bridges, renaming the city Seoul or “capital.” He

also redivided the kingdom into eight provinces which still remain. An

era of peace and flourishing prosperity ensued, and in everything the

influence of the Chinese emperors is most manifest. Buddhism, which had

penetrated into every part of the country, and had become in a measure

at least the religion of the state, was now set aside and

disestablished. The Confucian ethics were diligently studied and were

incorporated into the religion of the state. From the early part of the

fifteenth century, Confucianism flourished, until it reached the point

of bigotry and intolerance, so that when Christianity was discovered to

be existing among the people, it was put under the ban of extirpation,

and its followers thought worthy of death.

[Illustration: PAGODA AT SEOUL.]

[Illustration: COREAN SOLDIERS.]

At first the new dynasty sent tribute regularly to the shogun of Japan,

but as intestinal war troubled the Island Empire and the shoguns became

effeminate, the Coreans stopped their tribute and it was almost

forgotten. The last embassy from Seoul was sent in 1460. After that they

were never summoned, so they never came. Under the idea that peace was

to last forever, the nation relaxed all vigilance; the army was

disorganized and the castles were fallen into ruin. It was while the

country was in such a condition that the summons of Japan’s great

conqueror came to them, and the Coreans learned for the first time of

the fall of Ashikaga and the temper of their new master.

As the Mongol conquerors issuing from China had used Corea as their

point of departure to invade Japan, so Hideyoshi resolved to make the

peninsula the road for his armies into China. He sent an envoy to Seoul

to demand tribute, and then, angered at the utter failure of his

mission, commanded the envoy and all his family to be put to death. A

second ambassador was sent with more success, and presents and envoys

were exchanged. Hideyoshi, however, became enraged at the indifference

of the Coreans to assist him in his dealings with China, and resolved to

humble the peninsular kingdom, and China, her overlord.

[Illustration: FIGHTING BEFORE THE GATE OF SEOUL.]

The invasion of Corea was made as related in the earlier chapters on

Japan. The Coreans were poorly prepared for war, both as to leaders,

soldiers, equipments and fortifications. The Japanese swept everything

like a whirlwind before them, and entered the capital within eighteen

days after their landing at Fusan. The accounts of the war are preserved

in detail, and are exceedingly interesting, but the limits of this

volume compel their omission to provide space for the war of 1894-5. At

first Chinese armies coming to reinforce the Coreans were defeated and

turned back, but another effort of the allies was more effective and the

Japanese troops found advance turned to retreat. The Japanese armies

concentrated at Seoul to receive the advance of the allies numbering

some two hundred thousand. The capital was burned by the Japanese,

nearly every house being destroyed, and hundreds of men, women, and

children, sick and well, living quietly there, were massacred. The

allied troops were beaten back in a ferocious battle, but hunger reached

both armies, pestilence entered the Japanese camp, and both sides were

utterly tired of war and ready to consider terms of peace.

[Illustration: OLD MAN IN COREA.]

Konishi, the general of the Japanese army, had been converted to

Christianity by the Portuguese Jesuits. During this period of tiresome

waiting he sent to the superior of the missions in Japan asking for a

priest. In response to this request came Father Gregorio de Cespedes and

a Japanese convert. These two holy men began their labors among the

Japanese armies, preaching from camp to camp, and administering the

right of baptism to thousands of converts, but their work was stopped by

the jealousy of the Buddhist power. The Jesuits in Japan were then being

expelled for their political machinations, and the chaplains in Corea

were brought under the same ban. Konishi was called back to Japan with

the priest and was unable to convince the shogun of his innocence. A few

Corean converts were made during this time, and one of them a lad of

rank, was afterward educated in the Jesuit seminary at Kioto. He

endeavored to return to Corea as a missionary, but the condition of

affairs in Japan interrupted his intentions and in 1625 he was martyred

during the prosecutions of the Christians. Of the large number of Corean

prisoners sent over to Japan, many became Christians. Hundreds of others

were sold as slaves to the Portuguese. Others rose to positions of honor

under the government or in the households of the daimios. Many Corean

lads were adopted by the returned soldiers or kept as servants. When the

bloody persecution broke out, by which many thousand Japanese found

death, the Corean converts remained steadfast to their Christian faith,

and suffered martyrdom with fortitude equal to that of their Japanese

brethren. But by the army in Corea, or by the Christian chaplain

Cespedes, no trace of Christianity was left in the land of Morning Calm,

and it was two centuries later before that faith was really introduced.

The fortunes of the war alternated, and finally, after deeds of heroism

on both sides, a period of inaction ensued, the result of exhaustion. At

this time Hideyoshi fell sick and died, September 9, 1598, at the age of

sixty-three years. Almost his last words were, “Recall all my troops

from Cho-sen.” The orders to embark for home were everywhere gladly

heard. It is probable that the loss of life in the campaigns of this war

was nearly a third of a million. Thus ended one of the most needless,

unprovoked, cruel, and desolating wars that ever cursed Corea. More than

two hundred thousand human bodies were decapitated to furnish the

ghastly material for the “ear-tomb” mound in Kioto. More than one

hundred and eighty-five thousand Corean heads were gathered for

mutilation, and thirty thousand Chinese, all of which were despoiled of

ears and noses. It is probable that fifty thousand Japanese left their

bones in Corea.

Since the invasion the town of Fusan, as before, had been held and

garrisoned by the retainers of the Daimio of Tsushima. At this port all

the commerce between the two nations took place. From an American point

of view, there was little trade done between the two countries, but on

the strength of even this small amount Earl Russell in 1862 tried to get

Great Britain included as a co-trader between Japan and Corea. He was

not, however, successful. A house was built at Nagasaki by the Japanese

government which was intended as a refuge for Coreans who might be

wrecked on Japanese shores. Wherever the waifs were picked up, they were

sent to Nagasaki and sheltered until a junk could be dispatched to

Fusan.

The possession of Fusan by the Japanese was, until 1876, a perpetual

witness of the humiliating defeat of the Coreans in the war of

1592-1597, and a constant irritation to their national pride. Yet with

all the miseries inflicted on her, the humble nation learned rich

lessons, and gained many an advantage even from her enemy. The embassies

which were yearly dispatched to yield homage to their late invaders were

at the expense of the latter. The Japanese pride purchased the empty

bubble of homage by paying all the bills.

The home of the Manchoos was on the north side of the Ever-white

mountains. From beyond these mountains was to roll upon China and Corea

another avalanche of invasion. By the sixteenth century the Manchoos had

become so strong that they openly defied the Chinese. Formidable

expeditions previous to the Japanese invasion of Corea kept them at bay

for a time, but the immense expenditure of life and treasure required to

fight the Japanese drained the resources of the Ming emperors, while

their attention being drawn away from the north, the Manchoo hordes

massed their forces and grew daily in strength. To repress the rising

power in the north, and to smother the life of the young nation, the

Peking government resorted to barbarous cruelties and stern coercion.

Unable to protect the eastern border of Liao Tung the entire population

of three hundred thousand souls, dwelling in four cities and many

villages, were removed westward and resettled on new lands. Fortresses

were planned in the deserted land to keep back the restless cavalry

raiders from the north. Thus the foundation of the neutral strip of

fifty miles was unconsciously laid, and ten thousand square miles of

fair and fertile land west of the Yalu were abandoned to the wolf and

tiger. What it soon became it remained until yesterday—a howling

wilderness.

In 1615 the king of the Manchoo tribes was assassinated as the result of

a plot by the Ming emperor. This exasperated the tribes to vengeance and

they began hostilities. China now had to face another great invasion.

Calling on her vassal, Corea, to send an army of twenty thousand men,

she ordered them to join the imperial army about seventy miles west of

the Yalu River. In the battle which ensued the Coreans were the first to

face the Manchoos. The imperial legions were beaten, and the Coreans

seeing which way the victory would turn, deserted from the Chinese side

to that of their enemy. This was in 1619. Enraged by alternate treachery

to both sides from the Coreans, the Manchoos invaded Corea in 1627, to

which time the war had been prolonged. They crossed the frozen Yalu in

February, and at once attacked and defeated the Chinese army. They then

began the march to Seoul. Town after town was taken as they pressed

onward to the capital, the Coreans everywhere flying before them.

Thousands of dwellings and stores of provisions were given to the flames

and their trail was one of blood and ashes. After the siege of Seoul

began, the king sent tribute offerings to the invaders, and concluded a

treaty of peace, by which Corea again exchanged masters, this time

confessing subjection to the Manchoo sovereign. As soon as the invading

army had withdrawn, the Corean king, confident that the Chinese would be

ultimately successful over the Manchoos, annulled the treaty. No sooner

were the Manchoos able to spare their forces for the purpose than they

again marched into Corea and overran the peninsula.

The king now came to terms, and in February, 1637, utterly renounced his

allegiance to the Ming emperor, gave his two sons as hostages, and

promised to send an annual embassy with tribute to the Manchoo court.

After the evacuation of Corea the victors marched into China, where

bloody civil war was raging. The imperial army of China had been beaten

by the rebels. The Manchoos joined their forces with the imperialists

and defeated the rebels, and then demanded the price of their victory.

Entering Peking they proclaimed the downfall of the house of Ming. The

son of the late king was set upon the dragon throne, and as we have seen

in a foregoing chapter the royal house of China came to be a Manchoo

family.

When, as it happened the very next year, the shogun of Japan demanded an

increase of tribute to be paid in Yeddo, the court of Seoul plead in

excuse their wasted resources, consequent upon the war with the

Manchoos, and their heavy burdens newly laid upon them in the way of

tribute to their conqueror. Their excuse was accepted. Twice within a

single generation had the little peninsula been devastated by mighty

invasion that laid waste the country.

[Illustration: COAST NEAR CHEMULPO.]

In 1650 a captive Corean maid, taken prisoner in their first invasion,

became sixth lady in rank in the imperial Manchoo household. Through her

influence her father, the ambassador, obtained a considerable reduction

of the annual tribute that had been fixed by treaty. Other portions of

the tribute had been remitted before, so that by this time the tax upon

Corean loyalty became very slight, and the embassy became one of

ceremony rather than a tribute bringing.

In the seventeenth century some information about Corea began to reach

Europe, first from the Jesuits in Peking, who sent home a map of the

peninsula. There is also a map of Corea in a work by the Jesuit Martini,

published in 1649 in Amsterdam. The Cossacks who overran northern Asia

brought reports of Corea to Russia, and it was from Russian sources that

Sir John Campbell obtained the substance of his history of Corea. In

1645 a party of Japanese crossed the peninsula, and one of them on his

return wrote a book descriptive of their journey. In 1707 the Jesuits in

Peking began their great geographical enterprise, the survey of the

Chinese empire, including the outlying vassal kingdoms. A map of Corea

was obtained from the king’s palace at Seoul and sent to Europe to be

engraved and printed. From this original most of the maps and supposed

Corean names in books published since that time have been copied.

The first known entrance of any number of Europeans into Corea was that

of Hollanders belonging to the crew of the Dutch ship Hollandra which

was driven ashore in 1627. Coasting along the Corean shores, John

Wetterree and some companions went ashore to get water, and were

captured by the natives. The magnates of Seoul probably desired to have

a barbarian from the west, as useful to them as was the Englishman Will

Adams to the Japanese in Yeddo, where the Corean ambassadors had often

seen him. This explains why Wetterree was treated with kindness and

comparative honor, though kept as a prisoner. When the Manchoos invaded

Corea in 1635, his two companions were killed in the war, and Wetterree

was left alone. Having no one with whom he could converse he had almost

forgotten his native speech, when after twenty-seven years of exile, in

the fifty-ninth year of his age, he met some of his fellow Hollanders,

and acted as interpreter to the Coreans.

In the summer of 1653 the Dutch ship Sparwehr was cast on shore on

Quelpaert island, off the southwest coast of Corea. The local magistrate

did what he could for the thirty-six members of the crew who reached the

shore alive, out of the sixty-four on board. On October 29th the

survivors were brought by the officials to be examined by the

interpreter Wetterree. The latter was very rusty in his native language,

but regained it in a month. Of course the first and last idea of the

captives was how to escape. They made one effort to reach the sea shore,

but were caught and severely punished, after which they were ordered to

proceed to the capital. Wherever they went the Dutchmen were like wild

beasts on exhibition. When they once reached the palace they were well

treated, and were assigned to the body guard of the king as petty

officers. Each time that the Manchoo envoy made his visit to the capital

the captives endeavored to enlist his sympathy and begged to be taken to

Peking, but all such efforts resulted in failure and punishment. The

suspicions of the government were aroused by the studies which the

Dutchmen pursued, of the climate, the topography, and the products of

the country, and by their attempts to escape, and in 1663 they were

separated and put into three different towns. By this time fourteen of

the number were dead and twenty-two remained.

Finally, early in September 1667, as their fourteenth year of captivity

was drawing to a close, the Dutchmen escaped to the seacoast, bribed a

Corean to give them his fishing craft, and steered out into the open

water. A few days later, they reached the northwestern islands in the

vicinity of Kiushiu, Japan, and landed. The Japanese treated them kindly

and sent them to Nagasaki, where they met their countrymen at Desima.

The annual ship from Batavia was then just about to return, and in the

nick of time the waifs got on board, reached Batavia, sailed for

Holland, and in July, 1668, stepped ashore at home. Hendrik Hamel, the

supercargo of the ship, wrote a book on his return recounting his

adventures in a simple and straightforward style. It has been translated

into English and is a model work of its sort.

The modern introduction of Christianity in Corea dates little more than

a hundred years ago. Some Corean students studying with the famous

Confucian professor Kwem, during the winter of 1777, entered into

discussion of some tracts on philosophy, mathematics, and religion just

brought from Peking. These were translations of the writings of the

Jesuits in the imperial capital. Surprised and delighted, they resolved

to attain if possible to a full understanding of the new doctrines. They

sought all the information that they could from Peking. The leader in

this movement was a student named Stonewall. As his information

accumulated, he gave himself up to fresh reading and meditation, and

then began to preach. Some of his friends in the capital, both nobles

and commoners, embraced the new doctrines with cheering promptness and

were baptized. Thus from small beginnings, but rapidly, were the

Christian ideas spread.

But soon the power of the law and the pen were invoked to crush out the

exotic faith. The first victim was tried on the charge of destroying his

ancestral tablets, tortured, and sent into exile, in which he soon after

died. The scholars now took up weapons, and in April, 1784, the king’s

preceptor issued the first public document officially directed against

Christianity. In it all parents and relatives were entreated to break

off all relations with Christians. The names of the leaders were

published, and the example of Thomas Kim, the first victim, was cited.

Forthwith began a violent pressure upon the believers to renounce their

faith. Then began an exhibition alike of steadfast faith and shameful

apostasy, but though even Stonewall lapsed, the work went on. The next

few years of Christianity were important ones. The leaders formed an

organization and as nearly as they could on the lines of the Roman

Catholic church. Instructions were sent from Peking by the priests

there, and the worship in Corea became quite in harmony with that of the

Western church. But the decision that the worship of ancestors must be

abolished, was, in the eyes of the Corean public, a blow at the

framework of society and state, and many feeble adherents began to fall

away. December 8, 1791, Paul and Jacques Kim were decapitated for

refusing to recant their Christian faith. Thus was shed the first blood

for Corean Christianity. Martyrdom was frequent in this early history of

the Christian church in Corea, but in the ten years following the

baptism of Peter in Peking in 1783, in spite of persecution and

apostasy, it is estimated that there were four thousand Christians in

the peninsula.

The first attempt of a foreign missionary to enter the Hermit Kingdom

from the west was made early in 1791. This was a Portuguese priest who

endeavored to cross the Yalu River to join some native Christians, but

was disappointed in meeting them and returned to Peking. Two years later

a young Chinese priest entered the forbidden territory, and was hidden

for three years in the house of a noble woman, where he preached and

taught. Three native Christians who refused to reveal his whereabouts

were tortured to death and were thrown into the Han River. From the

beginning of this century the most bitter general persecutions against

Christians was enforced. The young Chinese priest, learning that he was

outlawed, surrendered himself to relieve his friends of the

responsibility of protecting him, and was executed. The woman also who

had so long sheltered him was beheaded. Four other women who were

attendants in the palace, and an artist who was condemned for painting

Christian subjects were beheaded near the “Little Western Gate” of

Seoul. The policy of the government was shown in making away with the

Christians of rank and education who might be able to direct affairs in

the absence of the foreign priests, and in letting the poor and humble

go free.

It is impossible to catalogue the martyrs and the edicts against

Christianity. The condition of the Christians scattered in the mountains

and forests, suffering poverty, hunger, and cold, was most deplorable.

In 1811 the Corean converts addressed letters to the Pope begging aid in

their distress. These however could not be answered in the way they

desired, for the Pope himself was then a prisoner at Fontainebleau and

the Roman propaganda was nearly at a standstill.

[Illustration: COREAN MANDARINS.]

In 1817 the king and court were terrified by the appearance off the west

coast of the British vessels Alceste and Lyra, but beyond some surveys,

purchases of provisions, and interviews with some local magistrates, the

foreigners departed without opening communication with them. Fifteen

years later the British ship Lord Amherst passed along the coasts of

Chulla, seeking commercial connections. On board was a Protestant

missionary, a Prussian. He landed on several of the islands and

attempted to gain some acquaintance with the people, but made little

progress. The year 1834 closed the first half century of Corean

Christianity. It is not strange that persecutions resulted from the

advance of Roman Catholic strength in Corea, for the Corean Christians

assumed naturally the righteousness of the Pope’s claim to temporal

power as the vicar of heaven. The Corean Christians not only deceived

their magistrates and violated their country’s laws, but actually

invited armed invasion. Hence, from the first, Christianity was

associated in patriotic minds with treason and robbery.

After the restoration of the Bourbons in France and the strengthening of

the Papal throne by foreign bayonets, the missionary zeal in the church

was kindled afresh, and it was resolved to found a mission in Corea. The

first priest to make entrance was Pierre Philibert Maubant, who reached

Seoul in 1836, the first Frenchman who had penetrated the Hermit Nation.

A few months later another joined him, and in December, 1838, Bishop

Imbert ran the gauntlet of wilderness, ice, and guards at the frontier,

and took up his residence under the shadow of the king’s palace. Work

now went on vigorously, and in 1838 the Christians numbered nine

thousand. At the beginning of the next year the party in favor of

extirpating Christianity having gained the upper hand, another

persecution broke out with redoubled violence. To stay the further

shedding of blood, Bishop Imbert and his two priests came out of their

hiding places and delivered themselves up. They were horribly tortured,

and decapitated September 21, 1839. Six bitter years passed before the

Christians again had a foreign pastor.

Since 1839 the government had tripled its vigilance and doubled the

guards on the frontier. The most strenuous efforts to pass the barriers

repeatedly failed. Andrew Kim is a name to be remembered in the history

of Christianity in Corea. Year after year he worked to enter Corea, or

once in, to advance the cause, or when rejected to help others in the

work. He was ordained to the priesthood in Shanghai, and finally in

company with two French priests, in September, 1845, sailed across the

Yellow Sea, and landed on the coast of Chulla, to make his final effort

to spread Christianity among the Coreans. During July of the same year,

the British ship Samarang was engaged in surveying off Quelpaert and the

south coast of Corea. Beacon fires all over the land telegraphed the

news of the presence of foreign ships, and the close watch that was kept

by the coast magistrates made the return of Andrew Kim doubly dangerous.

These records of perseverance, of distress, of martyrdom, from the pages

of missionary work in Corea, written in the blood of native converts,

who bore their cross with equal bravery to that of the Roman fathers,

may be surprising to some who have been unfamiliar with the history of

the Corean peninsula. But they are convincing testimony to controvert

the assertions of some incredulous ones who affirm that the “heathen”

are never really Christianized, but are always ready to return to their

idols in times of trial. There is no country that can show braver

examples of fortitude, in enduring trial for the support of the faith,

than the “Hermit Nation.”

Three priests in disguise were now secretly at work in Corea, Andrew

Kim, a native convert, and the Frenchmen, Bishop Ferreol, and his

companion Daveluy. Kim was captured and in company with half a dozen

others was executed September 16th. While he was in prison the Bishop

heard of three French ships which were at that time vainly trying to

find the mouth of the Han River and the channel to the capital. Ferreol

wrote to Captain Cecile, who commanded the fleet, but the note arrived

too late and Kim’s fate was sealed. The object of the fleet’s visit was

to demand satisfaction for the murder of the two French priests in 1889,

but after some coast surveys were made and a threatening letter was

dispatched the ships withdrew.

During the summer of 1845, two French frigates set sail for the Corean

coast, and August 10th went aground, and both vessels became total

wrecks. The six hundred men made their camp at Kokun island, where they

were kindly treated and furnished with provisions, although rigidly

secluded and guarded against all communication with the main land. An

English ship from Shanghai rescued the crews. During the ensuing eight

years repeated efforts were made by missionaries and native converts to

enter Corea and advance the work there, and the labor of propagation

progressed. A number of religious works in the Corean language were

printed from a native printing press and widely circulated. In 1850 the

Christians numbered eleven thousand, and five young men were studying

for the priesthood. Regular mails sewn into the thick cotton coats of

the men in the annual embassy were sent to and brought from China. The

western nations were beginning to take an interest in the twin hermits

of the east, Corea and Japan. In 1852, the Russian frigate Pallas traced

and mapped a portion of the shore line of the east coast, and the work

was continued three years later by the French war vessel Virginie. At

the end of this voyage the whole coast from Fusan to the Tumen was known

with some accuracy and mapped out with European names.

It was in the intervening years, 1853 and 1854, that Commodore Perry and

the American squadron were in the waters of the far east, driving the

wedge of civilization into Japan. The American flag, however, was not

yet seen in Corean waters, though the court of Seoul was kept informed

of Perry’s movements.

A fresh reinforcement of missionaries reached Corea in 1857. When three

years later the French and English forces opened war with China, took

the Peiho forts, entered Peking, and sacked the summer palace of the Son

of Heaven, driving the Chinese emperor to flight, the loss of Chinese

prestige struck terror into all Corean hearts. For six centuries China

had been in Corean eyes the synonym and symbol of invincible power.

Copies of the treaties made between China and the allies, granting

freedom of trade and religion, were soon read in Corea, causing intense

alarm. But the most alarming thing was the treaty between China and

Russia, by which the Manchoo rulers surrendered the great tract watered

by the Amoor river and bordered by the Pacific, to Russia. It was a rich

and fertile region, with a coast full of harbors, and comprising an area

as large as France. The boundaries of Siberia now touch Corea. With

France on the right, Russia on the left, China humbled, and Japan opened

to the western world, it is not strange that the rulers in Seoul

trembled. The results to Christianity were that within a few years

thousands of natives fled their country and settled in the Russian

villages. At the capital, official business was suspended and many

families of rank fled to the mountains. In many instances people of rank

humbly sought the good favor and protection of the Christians, hoping

for safety when the dreaded invasion should come. In the midst of these

war preparations, the French missionary body was reinforced by the

arrival of four of their countrymen who set foot on the soil of their

martyrdom, October, 1861.

The Ni dynasty, founded in 1392, came to an end January 15, 1864, by the

death of King Chul-chong, who had no child, before he had nominated an

heir. Palace intrigues and excitement among the political parties

followed. The widows of the three kings who had reigned since 1831 were

still living. The eldest of these, Queen Cho, at once seized the royal

seal and emblems of authority, which high-handed move made her the

mistress of the situation. A twelve-year-old lad was nominated for the

throne, and his father, Ni Kung, one of the royal princes, became the

actual regent. He held the reins of government during the next nine

years, ruling with power like that of an absolute despot. He was a rabid

hater of Christianity, foreigners, and progress.

The year 1866 is phenomenal in Corean history. It seemed to the rulers

as if the governments of many nations had conspired to pierce their

walls of isolation. Russians, Frenchmen, Englishmen, Americans, Germans,

authorized and unauthorized, landed to trade, rob, kill, or what was

equally obnoxious to the regent and his court, to make treaties. This

and the rapid progress of Christianity now excited the anti-Christian

party, which was in full power at the court, to clamor for the

enforcement of the old edict against the foreign religion.

Vainly the regent warned the court of the danger from Europe. Forced by

the party in power, he signed the death warrants of bishops and priests

and promulgated anew the old laws against the Christians. Within a few

weeks fourteen French priests and bishops were tortured to death, and

twice as many native missionaries and students for the priesthood

suffered like fate. Scores of native Christians were put to death, and

hundreds more were in prison. In a little over a month, all missionary

operations came to a standstill. The three French priests who remained

alive escaped from the peninsula in a Chinese junk, and finally reached

Chefoo October 26. Not one foreign priest now remained in Corea, and no

Christian dared openly confess his faith. Thus after twenty years of

nearly uninterrupted labors, the church was again stripped of her

pastors, and at the end of eighty-two years of Corean Christianity the

curtain fell in blood.

With Bishop Ridel as interpreter and three of his converts as pilots,

three French vessels were sent to explore the Han River and to make

effort to secure satisfaction for the murder of the French bishops and

priests in the previous March. They entered the river September 21, and

two of the vessels advanced to Seoul, leaving one at the mouth of the

river. One or two forts fired on the vessels as they steamed along, and

in one place a fleet of junks gathered to dispute their passage. A

well-aimed shot sunk two of the crazy craft, and a bombshell dropped

among the artillerists in the redoubt, silenced it at once. On the

evening of the 25th, the two ships cast anchor and the flag of France

floated in front of the Corean capital. The hills were white with gazing

thousands, who for the first time saw a vessel moving under steam. The

ships remained abreast of the city several days, the officers taking

soundings and measurements, computing heights, and making plans. Bishop

Ridel went on shore in hopes of finding a Christian and hearing some

news but none dared to approach him. While the French remained in the

river not a bag of rice nor a fagot of wood entered Seoul. Eight days of

such terror, and a famine would have raged in the city. Seven thousand

houses were deserted by their occupants. When the ships returned to the

mouth of the river two converts came on board. They informed Ridel of

the burning of a “European” vessel, the General Sherman, at Ping-Yang,

of the renewal of the persecution, and of the order that Christians

should be put to death without waiting for instructions from Seoul.

Sailing away, the ships arrived at Chefoo, October 3.

The regent, now thoroughly alarmed, began to stir up the country to

defense. The military forces in every province were called out, and the

forges and blacksmith shops were busy day and night in making arms of

every known kind. Loaded junks were sunk in the channel of the Han to

obstruct it. Word was sent to the tycoon of Japan informing him of the

trouble, and begging for assistance, but the Yeddo government had quite

all it could do at that time to take care of itself. Instead of help two

commissioners were appointed to go to Seoul and recommend that Corea

open her ports to foreign commerce as Japan had done, and thus choose

peace instead of war with foreigners. Before the envoys could leave

Japan the tycoon had died, and the next year Japan was in the throes of

civil war, the shogunate was abolished, and Corea was for the time

utterly forgotten.

Another fleet of French vessels sailed from China to Corea, consisting

of seven ships of various kinds, and with six hundred soldiers. The

force landed before the city of Kang-wa on the island of the same name,

and captured the city without difficulty on the morning of October 16.

Several engagements in the same vicinity followed, all of them

successful to the French until they came to attack a fortified monastery

on the island some ten days later. Here they were repulsed with heavy

loss to themselves and to the foe. The next morning to the surprise of

all and the anger of many, orders were given to embark. The troops in

Kang-wa set fire to the city which in a few hours burned to ashes. The

departure of the invaders was so precipitate that Corean patriots to

this day gloat over it as a disgraceful retreat.

In the palace at Seoul the resolve was made to exterminate Christianity,

root and branch. Women and even children were ordered to the death.

Several Christian nobles were executed. One Christian who was betrayed

in the capital by his pagan brother, and another fellow believer, were

taken to the river side in front of the city, near the place where the

two French vessels had anchored. At this historic spot, by an innovation

unknown in the customs of Cho-sen, they were decapitated and their

headless trunks held neck downward to spout out the hot life blood, that

it might wash away the stain of foreign pollution. Upon the mind of the

regent and court the effect was to swell their pride to the folly of

extravagant conceit. Feeling themselves able almost to defy the world,

they began soon after to hurl their defiance at Japan. The results of

this expedition were disastrous all over the east. Happening at a time

when relations between foreigners and Chinese were strained, the

unexpected return of the fleet filled the minds of Europeans in China

with alarm. The smothered embers of hostility to foreign influence,

steadily gathered vigor as the report spread through China that the

hated Frenchmen had been driven away by the Coreans. The fires at length

broke out in the Tien-tsin massacre of 1870.

It was this same year, 1866, that witnessed the marriage of the young

king, now but fourteen years old, to Min, the daughter of one of the

noble families. Popular report has always credited the young queen with

abilities not inferior to those of her royal husband. The Min or Ming

family is largely Chinese in blood and origin, and beside being

preëminent among all the Corean nobility in social, political, and

intellectual power, has been most strenuous in adherence to Chinese

ideas and traditions with the purpose of keeping Corea unswerving in her

vassalage and loyalty to China.

American associations with Corea have been peculiarly interesting. The

commerce carried on by American vessels with Chinese and Japanese ports

made the navigation of Corean waters a necessity. Sooner or later

shipwrecks must occur, and the question of the humane treatment of

American citizens cast on Corean shores came up before our government

for settlement, as it had long before in the case of Japan. Within one

year the Corean government had three American cases to deal with. June

24, 1866, the American schooner Surprise, was wrecked off the coast of

Wang-hai. The approach of any foreign vessel was especially dangerous at

this time, as the crews might be mistaken for Frenchmen and killed by

the people from patriotic impulses. Nevertheless, the captain and his

crew, after being well catechised by the local magistrate and by a

commissioner sent from Seoul, were kindly treated and well fed and

provided with the comforts of life. By orders of Tai-wen Kun, the

regent, they were escorted on horseback to Ai-chiu and after being

feasted there were conducted safely to the border gate. Thence after a

hard journey via Mukden they got to Niuchwang and to the United States

consul.

The General Sherman was an American schooner that had the second

experience with the Coreans. The vessel was owned by a Mr. Preston who

was making a voyage for health. At Tien-tsin the schooner was loaded

with goods likely to be salable in Corea, and she was dispatched there

on an experimental voyage in the hope of thus opening the country to

commerce. The complement of the vessel was five white foreigners and

nineteen Malay and Chinese sailors. The white men were Mr. Hogarth, a

young Englishman, Mr. Preston, the owner, and Messrs. Page and Wilson,

the master and mate of the vessel, and the Rev. Mr. Thomas, a

missionary, who were Americans. From the first the character of the

expedition was suspected, because the men were rather too heavily armed

for a peaceful trading voyage. It was believed in China that the royal

coffins in the tombs of Ping-Yang were of solid gold, and it was broadly

hinted that the expedition had something to do with these.

The schooner, whether merchant or invader, sailed from Chefoo and made

for the mouth of the Tatong River. There they met the Chinese captain of

a Chefoo junk who agreed to pilot them up the river. He stayed with the

General Sherman for two days, then leaving her he returned to the

river’s mouth, and sailed back to Chefoo. No further direct intelligence

was ever received from the unfortunate party. According to one report

the hatches of the schooner were fastened down after the crew had been

driven beneath, and set on fire. According to another, all were

decapitated. The Coreans burned the woodwork for the iron and took the

cannon for models.

The United States steamship Wachusett, dispatched by Admiral Rowan to

inquire into the matter, reached Chefoo January 14, 1867, and took on

board the Chinese pilot of the General Sherman. Leaving Chefoo they cast

anchor two days later at the mouth of the large inlet next south of the

Tatong River, thinking that they had reached their destination. A letter

was dispatched to the capital of the province demanding that the

murderers be produced on the deck of the vessel. Five days elapsed

before the answer arrived, during which the surveying boats were busy.

Many natives were met and spoken with, who all told one story, that the

Sherman’s crew were murdered by the people and not by official

instigation. In a few days an officer from one of the villages appeared.

He would give neither information nor satisfaction, and the gist of his

reiteration was “go away as soon as possible.” Commander Shufeldt, bound

by his orders, could do nothing more, and being compelled also by stress

of weather came away.

[Illustration: COLOSSAL COREAN IDOL—UN-JIN MIRIOK.]

Later in the year Dr. Williams, Secretary of the United States Legation

at Peking, succeeded in obtaining an interview with a member of the

Corean embassy, who told him that after the General Sherman got aground

she careened over as the tide receded, and her crew landed to guard or

float her. The natives gathered around them, and before long an

altercation arose. A general attack began upon the foreigners, in which

every man was killed by the mob. About twenty of the natives lost their

lives. Dr. Williams’ comment is, “The evidence goes to uphold the

presumption that they invoked their sad fate by some rash or violent act

towards the natives.”

The United States steamship Shenandoah was sent to make further

investigation, and this version of the story was given to the commander.

The Coreans said that when the Sherman arrived in the river, the local

officials went on board and addressed the two foreign officers of the

ship in respectful language. The latter grossly insulted the native

dignitaries. The Coreans treated their visitors kindly, but warned them

of their danger and the unlawfulness of penetrating into the country.

Nevertheless, the foreigners went up the river to Ping-Yang where they

seized the ship of one of the city officials, put him in chains, and

proceeded to rob the junks and their crews. The people of the city

aroused to wrath, attacked the foreign ship with firearms and cannon;

they set adrift fire rafts and even made a hand to hand fight with

knives and swords. The foreigners fought desperately, but the Coreans

overpowered them. Finally the ship caught fire and blew up with a

terrible report. This story was not, of course, believed by the American

officers, but even the best wishers and friends of the Sherman

adventurers cannot stifle suspicion of either cruelty or insult to the

natives. Remembering the kindness shown to the crew of the Surprise it

is difficult to believe that the General Sherman’s crew was murdered

without cause.

In 1884 Lieutenant J.B. Bernadon, of the United States navy, made a

journey from Seoul to Ping-Yang, and being able to speak Corean, secured

the following information from native Christians: The governor of

Ping-Yang sent officers to inquire the mission of the Sherman. To

gratify their curiosity large numbers of the common people set out also

in boats which the Sherman’s crew mistook for a hostile demonstration

and fired guns in the air to warn them off. When the river fell the

Sherman grounded and careened over, which being seen from the city

walls, a fleet of boats set out with hostile intent and were fired upon.

Officers and people now enraged, started fire rafts, and soon the

vessel, though with white flag hoisted, was in flames. Of those who

leaped into the river most were drowned. Of those picked up one was the

Rev. Mr. Thomas, who was able to talk Corean. He explained the meaning

of the white flag, and begged to be surrendered to China. His prayer was

in vain. In a few days all the prisoners were led out and publicly

executed.

In the spring of 1867 an expedition was organized by a French Jesuit

priest who spoke Corean, having been a missionary in the country; a

German Jew named Ernest Oppert; and the interpreter at the United States

consulate in Shanghai, a man named Jenkins. These worthies, it is said,

conceived a plan to steal the body of one of the dead Corean monarchs,

and hold it for ransom. With two steam vessels and a crew of sailors,

laborers, and coolies, the riffraff of humanity, such as swarm in every

Chinese port, they left Shanghai the last day of April, steamed to

Nagasaki, and then to the west coast of Corea, landing in the river

which flows into Prince Jerome Gulf. The steam tender which accompanied

the larger vessel took an armed crowd up the river as far as possible,

and from this point the march across the open country to the tomb was

begun. Their tools were so ineffective that they could not move, the

rocky slab which covered the sarcophagus, and they were compelled to

give up their task. During their return march they were attacked by the

exasperated Coreans, but were able to protect themselves without great

difficulty. During the remainder of their buccaneering trip, which

lasted ten days, they had various skirmishes and two or three of their

party were killed. On their return to Shanghai the American of the party

was arrested and tried before the United States consul, but it was

impossible to prove the things with which Jenkins was charged, and he

was dismissed. A few years later Oppert published a work in which he

told the story of his different voyages to Corea, including this last

one. In writing of the last he takes pains to gloss over the intentions

of his journey and to explain the good motives behind it.

The representations made to the department of state at Washington by the

United States diplomatic corps in China concerning these different

attempts to enter Corea, directed the attention of the United States

government to the opening of Corea to American commerce. The state

department in 1870 resolved to undertake the enterprise. Frederick F.

Low, minister of the United States to Peking, and Rear Admiral John

Rodgers, commander in chief of the Asiatic squadron, were entrusted with

the delicate mission. The American squadron consisted of the flagship

Colorado, the corvettes Alaska and Dimitia, and the gunboats Monocacy

and Palos. In spite of the formidable appearance of the navy, the

vessels were either of an antiquated type, or of too heavy a draft, with

their armament defective. All the naval world in Chinese waters wondered

why the Americans should be content with such old fashioned ships

unworthy of the gallant crews who manned them.

The squadron anchored near the mouth of the Han River May 30, 1871.

Approaching the squadron in a junk, some natives made signs of

friendship and came on board without hesitation. They bore a missive

acknowledging the receipt of the letter which the Americans had sent to

Corea some months before, by a special courier from the Chinese court.

This reply announced that three nobles had been appointed by the regent

for a conference. The next day a delegation of eight officers of the

third and fifth rank came on board, evidently with intent to see the

minister and admiral to learn all they could and gain time. They had

little authority and no credentials, but they were sociable, friendly

and in good humor. Neither of the envoys would see them, because they

lacked rank and credentials and authority. The Corean envoys were

informed that soundings would be taken in the river and the shores would

be surveyed.

The best judges of eastern diplomacy think that this mission was very

poorly managed. These envoys were sent ashore, and at noon on the 2nd of

June the survey fleet moved up the river. The fleet consisted of four

steam launches abreast, followed by the Palos and Monocacy. But a few

minutes passed until from a fort on the shore a severe fire was opened

on the moving boats. The Americans promptly returned the fire, with the

result that the old Palos injured herself by the cannon kicking her

sides out. The Monocacy also struck a rock and began to leak badly, but

after hammering at the forts until they were all silenced, the squadron

was able to return down the river and not greatly injured. Strange to

say only one American was wounded and none were killed. It was a strong

evidence of the poor marksmanship of Corean gunners.

Ten days were now allowed to pass before further action was taken, then

the same force started up the river again, enlarged by twenty boats

conveying a landing force of six hundred and fifty men. These were

arranged in ten companies of infantry and seven pieces of artillery. The

squadron proceeded up the river on the morning of the 10th of June, and

soon after noon, having demolished and emptied the first fort, the

troops were landed. The next day they began the march and soon reached

another fortification which was deserted. Here all of the artillery was

tumbled into the river and the fort was named Monocacy. In another hour,

another citadel was reached, attacked, and conquered by the united

efforts of the troops on shore and the vessels in the stream. The final

charge of the American troops up a steep incline met a terrible

reception. The Coreans fought with furious courage in hand to hand

conflict. Finally the enemy was completely routed, some three hundred

and fifty of them being killed. On the American side three were killed,

and ten wounded. Before the day was over two more forts were captured.

The result of the forty-eight hours on shore, of which only eighteen

were spent in the field, was the capture of five forts, probably the

strongest in the kingdom, fifty flags, and four hundred and eighty-one

pieces of artillery. The work of destruction was carried on and made as

thorough as fire, ax and shovel could make it, and this was all on

Sunday, June 11.

Early on Monday morning the whole force was re-embarked in perfect

order, in spite of the furious tide. The fleet moved down the stream

with the captured colors at the mast heads, and towing the boats laden

with the trophies of victory. Later in the day the men slain in the

fight were buried on Boisee Island, and the first American graves rose

on Corean soil.

Admiral Rodgers, having obeyed to the farthest limit the orders given

him, and all hope of making a treaty being over, the fleet sailed for

Chefoo on the 3rd of July, after thirty-five days’ stay in Corean

waters.

“Our little war with the heathen,” as the New York Herald styled it,

attracted slight notice in the United States. In China the expedition

was looked upon as a failure and a defeat. The popular Corean idea was

that the Americans had come to avenge the death of pirates and robbers,

and after several battles had been so surely defeated that they dare not

attempt the task of chastisement again.

When the mikado was restored to supreme power in Japan, and the

department of foreign affairs was created, one of the first things

attended to was to invite the Corean government to resume ancient

friendship and vassalage. This summons, coming from a source

unrecognized for eight centuries, and to a regent swollen with pride at

his victory over the French and his success in extirpating the Christian

religion, was spurned with defiance. An insolent and even scurrilous

letter was returned to the mikado’s government. The military classes,

stung with rage, formed a war party, but the cabinet of Japan vetoed the

scheme and in October, 1873, Saigo, the leader of the war party,

resigned and was returned to Satsuma to brood over his defeat.

In 1873 the young king of Corea attained his majority. His father

Tai-wen Kun, the Regent, by the act of the king was relieved of office

and his bloody and cruel lease of power came to an end. The young

sovereign proved himself a man of some mental vigor and independent

judgment, not merely trusting to his ministers, but opening important

documents in person. He was ably seconded by his wife, to whom was born

in the same year an heir to the throne.

The neutral belt of land, long inhabited by deer and tigers, had within

the last few decades been overspread with squatters, brigands, and

outlaws. The depredations of these border ruffians had become

intolerable both to China and Corea. In 1875 Li Hung Chang sending a

force of picked Chinese troops with a gunboat to the Yalu broke up the

nest of robbers and allowed settlers to enter the land. Two years later

the Peking government shifted its frontier to the Yalu River, and Corean

and Chinese territory was separated only by flowing water. The neutral

strip was no more.

In 1875 some sailors of one of the Japanese ironclads, landing near

Kang-wa for water, were fired on by Corean soldiers under the idea that

they were Americans or Frenchmen. The Japanese before this time had

adopted uniforms of foreign style for their navy. Retaliating, the

Japanese two days later stormed and dismantled the fort, shot most of

the garrison, and carried the spoils to the ships. The news of this

affair brought the wavering minds of both the peace and the war party of

Japan to a decision. An envoy was dispatched to Peking to find out the

exact relation of China to Corea, and secure her neutrality. At the same

time another was sent with the fleet to the Han River, to make if

possible a treaty of friendship and open ports. General Kuroda having

charge of the latter embassy, with men of war, transports, and marines,

reached Seoul February the 6th, 1876. About the same time a courier from

Peking arrived in the capital, bearing the Chinese imperial

recommendation that a treaty be made with the Japanese. The temper of

the young king had been manifested long before this by his rebuking the

district magistrate of Kang-wa for allowing soldiers to fire on

peaceably disposed people, and ordering the offender to degradation and

exile. Arinori Mori in Peking had received a written disclaimer of

China’s responsibility over Corea, by which stroke of policy the Middle

Kingdom freed herself from all possible claims of indemnity from France,

the United States, and Japan.

After several days of negotiation the details of the treaty were

settled, and on February 27 the treaty in which Chosen was recognized as

an independent nation was signed and attested. The first Corean embassy

which had been accredited to the mikado’s court since the Twelfth

century, sailed from Fusan in a Japanese steamer, landing at Yokohama,

May 29. By railroad and steam cars they reached Tokio, and on the first

of June the envoy had audience of the mikado. For three weeks the

Japanese amused, enlightened and startled their guests by showing them

their war ships, arsenals, artillery, torpedoes, schools, buildings,

factories, and offices, equipped with steam and electricity, the ripened

fruit of the seed planted by Perry in 1854. All attempts of foreigners

to hold any communication with them were firmly rejected by the Coreans.

Among the callers with diplomatic powers from the outside world in 1881,

each eager and ambitious to be the first in wresting the coveted prize

of a treaty, were two British captains of men-of-war and a French naval

officer, all of whom sailed away with rebuffs.

Under the new treaty Fusan soon became a bustling place of trade with a

Japanese population of some two thousand. Public buildings were erected

for the Japanese consulate, chamber of commerce, bank, steamship

company, and hospitals. A newspaper was established, and after a few

years of mutual contact at Fusan the Coreans, though finding the

Japanese as troublesome as the latter discovered foreigners to be after

their own ports were opened, with much experience settled down to endure

them for the sake of a trade which was undoubtedly enriching the

country. Gensan was opened May 1, 1880. An exposition of Japanese,

European, and American goods was established for the benefit of trade

with the Coreans.

Russia, England, France, Italy, and the United States all made efforts

in the next few months to make treaties with Corea, and all were

politely rejected. Early in 1881 Chinese and Japanese influence began to

be enlisted in favor of the United States in the effort to make a

treaty. Li Hung Chang, China’s liberal statesman, wrote a letter to a

Corean gentleman in which he advised the country to seek the friendship

of the United States. The Chinese secretary of legation at Tokio also

declared to the Coreans that Americans were the natural friends of

Asiatic nations, and should be welcomed. It began to look more hopeful

for the United States to secure her treaty through the influence of the

Chinese than that of the Japanese, on whom we had previously depended.

One of the most important moves in the advancement of Corea’s

civilization was the sending of a party of thirty-four prominent men to

visit Japan, and further study the problem of how far western ideas were

adapted to an oriental state. The leader of this party, after his return

from Japan, was dispatched on a mission to China, where his conference

was chiefly with Li Hung Chang. He had now a good opportunity of judging

the relative merits of Japan and China. The results of this mission were

soon apparent, for shortly after, eighty young men were sent to

Tien-tsin where they began to diligently pursue their studies of western

civilization as it had impressed itself on China in the arsenals and

schools.

The spirit of progress made advance from the beginning of 1882, but

discussion reached fever heat in deciding whether the favor of Japan or

China should be most sought, and which foreign nation should be first

admitted to treaty rights. An event not unlooked-for, increased the

power of the progressionists. Kozaikai urged the plea of expulsion of

foreigners in such intemperate language that he was accused of

reproaching the sovereign. At the same time a conspiracy against the

life of the king was discovered. Kozaikai was put to death, many of the

conspirators were exiled, and the ringleaders were sentenced to be

broken alive on the wheel. The progressionists had now the upper hand,

and early in the spring two envoys went to Tien-tsin to inform Americans

and Chinese that the Corean government was ready to make a treaty.

Meanwhile Japanese officers were drilling the Corean soldiers in Seoul.

The American diplomatic agent, Commodore R.W. Shufeldt, arrived in the

Swatara off Chemulpo May 7. Accompanied by three officers he went six

miles into the interior, to the office of the Corean magistrate, to

formulate the treaty. Two days afterward the treaty document was signed,

in a temporary pavilion on a point of land opposite the ship. Both on

the American and Corean side this result had been brought about only

after severe toil and prolonged effort.

[Illustration: MAP SHOWING JAPAN, COREA AND PART OF CHINA.]

Four days after the signing of the American treaty, the crown-prince, a

lad of nine years old, was married in Seoul. This year will be forever

known as the year of the treaties. Within a few months treaties were

signed by Corea with Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and China.

Within a week there appeared in the harbor of Chemulpo two American,

three British, one French, one Japanese, one German and five Chinese

armed vessels; all of them except the French had left by June 8, to the

great relief of the country people, many of whom had fled to the hills

when the big guns began to waste their powder in salutes.

The Japanese legation in Seoul now numbered about forty persons. They

seemed to suspect no imminent danger, although the old fanatic and

tyrant Tai-wen Kun was still alive and plotting. He was the centre of

all the elements hostile to innovation, and being a man of unusual

ability, was possessed of immense influence. During the nine years of

his nominal retirement from office, this bigoted Confucianist who

refused to know anything of the outer world waited his opportunity to

make trouble. Just then the populace was most excited over the near

presence of the foreigners at Chemulpo, the usual rainfall was withheld,

and in the consequent drought the rice crop was threatened with total

failure. The sorcerers and the anti-foreign party took advantage of the

situation to play on the fears of the superstitious people. The spirits

displeased at the intrusion of the western devils were angry, and were

cursing the land.

While the king was out in the open air praying for rain July 23, a mob

of sympathizers with the old regent attempted to seize him. The king

escaped to the castle. Some mischief-maker then started the report that

the Japanese had attacked the royal castle and had seized the king and

queen. Forthwith the mob rushed with frantic violence upon the legation,

murdering the Japanese policemen and students whom they met on the

streets, and the Japanese military instructors in the barracks. Not

satisfied with this, the rioters, numbering four thousand men, attacked

and destroyed the houses of the ministers favoring intercourse. Many of

the Mins and seven Japanese were killed. The Japanese legation attaches

made a brave defence to the night attack which was made on them. Armed

only with swords and pistols, the Japanese formed themselves into a

circle, charged the mob, and cut their way through it. After an all

night march through a severe storm, the little band fighting its way for

much of the time, reached In-chiun at three o’clock the next day. The

governor received them kindly and supplied food and dry clothing, then

posting sentinels to watch so that the Japanese could get some rest. In

an hour the mob attacked them there, and they were again compelled to

cut their way out. They now made for Chemulpo, the seaport of the city,

and about midnight, having procured a junk, they put to sea. The next

morning they were taken on board a British vessel which was surveying

the coast, and a few days later were landed at Nagasaki.

Without hesitation the Japanese government began preparations for a

military and naval attack. Hanabusa, the minister to Corea and his suite

were sent back to Seoul, escorted by a military force. He was received

with courtesy in the capital whence he had been driven three weeks ago.

The fleet of Chinese war ships was also at hand, and everything was

apparently under the control of Tai-wen Kun, who now professed to be

friendly to foreigners. At his audience with the king, Hanabusa

presented the demands of his government. These were nominally agreed to,

but several days passing without satisfactory action, Hanabusa having

exhausted remonstrance and argument left Seoul and returned to his ship.

This unexpected move, a menace of war, brought the usurper to terms. On

receipt of Tai-wen Kun’s apologies, the Japanese envoy returned to the

capital and full agreement was given to all the demands of Japan by the

Corean government. The insurgents were arrested and punished, the heavy

indemnity was paid, and an apology was sent by a special embassy to

Japan. Within the next few days Tai-wen Kun was taken on board a Chinese

ship at the orders of Li Hung Chang and taken to Tien-tsin. It is

generally believed that this action was practically a kidnapping, but

whether to rescue Tai-wen Kun from the dangers which threatened him or

to maintain China’s old theory of sovereign control over Corean rulers

it is hard to know.

The treaty negotiated with the United States was duly ratified by our

senate, and Lucius H. Foote was appointed minister to Corea. General

Foote reached Chemulpo in the United States steamship Monocacy May 13,

and the formal ratifications of the treaty were exchanged in Seoul six

days later. The guns of the Monocacy, the same which shelled the Han

forts in 1870, fired the first salute ever given to the Corean flag. The

king responded by sending to the United States an embassy of eleven

persons led by Min Yong Ik and Hong Yong Sik, members respectively of

the conservative and liberal parties.

Their interview with President Arthur was in the parlors of the Fifth

Avenue Hotel, New York, on September 17. All the Coreans were dressed in

their national custom, which they wore habitually while in America.

After spending some weeks in the study of American Institutions in

several cities, part of the embassy returned home by way of San

Francisco, leaving one of their number at Salem, Mass., to remain as a

student; while Min Yong Ik and two secretaries embarked on the United

States steamship Trenton, and after visiting Europe, reached Seoul in

June, 1884.

We have now reached a point in Corean history from which a continuance

can be better made in a later chapter. Almost from the time of the

return of the Corean embassy from the United States, the political

ferment increased, until a few months after began the disorders which

culminated ten years later in the present Japanese-Chinese war. These

events will therefore be related in the chapter which is to follow,

descriptive of the causes of the war, and the relations of the three

oriental nations at the outbreak of hostilities.

GEOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT, CLIMATE AND PRODUCTS OF COREA.

--------------

Geographical Limits of Corea—Characteristics of the Coast Line—The

Surface Configuration of the Country—Isolation Made Easy by the

Character of its Boundaries—Rivers of the Peninsula—The Climate—Forests,

Plants, and Animals—Products of the Soil and of the Mine—Extent of

Foreign Trade—The Eight provinces of Corea, Their Extent, Cities, and

History—Government of the Corean Kingdom—The Dignitaries and their

Duties—Corruption in the Administration of Official Duties—Buying and

Selling Office—The Executive and the Judiciary.

For many a year the country of Corea has been known in little more than

name. Its territory is a peninsula on the east coast of Asia, between

China on the continent, and the Japanese islands to the eastward. It

extends from thirty-four degrees and thirty minutes to forty-three

degrees north latitude, and from one hundred and twenty-four degrees and

thirty minutes to one hundred and thirty degrees and thirty minutes east

longitude, between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea. The Yellow Sea

separates it from the southern provinces of China, while the Sea of

Japan and the Strait of Corea separate it from the Japanese islands. It

has a coast line of about one thousand seven hundred and forty miles,

and a total area of about ninety thousand square miles. The peninsula,

with its outlying islands, is nearly equal in size to Minnesota or to

Great Britain. In general shape and relative position to the Asiatic

continent it resembles Florida. Tradition and geological indications

lead to the belief that anciently the Chinese promontory and province of

Shan-tung, and the Corean peninsula were connected, and that dry land

once covered the space filled by the waters joining the Gulf of Pechili

and the Yellow Sea. These waters are so shallow that the elevation of

their bottoms but a few feet would restore their area to the land

surface of the globe. On the other side also, the Sea of Japan is very

shallow and the Straits of Corea at their greatest depth have but

eighty-three feet of water.

The east coast is high, mountainous, and but slightly indented, with

very few islands or harbors. The south and west shores are deeply and

manifoldly scooped and fringed with numerous islands. From these

island-skirted shores, especially on the west coast, mud banks extend

out to sea beyond sight. While the tide on the east coast is very

slight, only two feet at Gensan, it increases on the south and west

coasts in a north direction, rising to thirty-three feet at Chemulpo.

The rapid rise and fall of tides, and the vast area of mud left bare at

low water, cause frequent fogs, and render the numerous inlets little

available except for native craft. On the west coast the rivers are

frozen in winter, but the east coast is open the whole winter through.

Quelpaert, the largest island, forty by seventeen miles, lies sixty

miles south of the main land. Port Hamilton, between Quelpaert and

Corea, was for a time an English possession, but in 1886 was given to

China. The Russians are generally believed to have an overweening desire

for the magnificent harbor of Port Lazaref on the east coast of the

Corean mainland. In its policy of exclusion of all foreigners, the

government has had its tasks facilitated by the inaccessible and

dangerous nature of the approaches to the coast. The high mountain

ranges and steep rocks of the east coast, and the thousands of islands,

banks, shoals and reefs extending for miles into the sea on the western

and southern shores, unite to make approach exceedingly difficult, even

with the best charts and surveys at hand.

In the middle of the northern boundary of Corea, is the most notable

natural feature of the peninsula. It is a great mountain, the colossal

Paik-tu or “ever white” mountain, as it is known from the snow that

rests upon its summit. When the Manchoorians pushed the Coreans farther

and farther back, they reached this mountain, which marked the natural

barrier which they were able to make their permanent boundary line.

According to native account, which in Corea is seriously believed, the

highest peak of this mountain reaches the moderate elevation of

forty-four miles. It is famous as the birthplace of Corean folk lore,

and a great deal that is mythical hangs about it still. On the top of

the peak is a lake thirty miles in circumference. From this lake flow

two streams, one to the north-east, the Tumen, which enters the Sea of

Japan; and the other to the south-west, the Yalu river, which flows into

the Corean bay at the head of the Yellow Sea. Corea is therefore in

reality an island. These two rivers and the lake forming the northern

boundary are about four hundred and sixty miles from the ocean at the

southern end of the peninsula. The greatest width of the country is

three hundred and sixty miles and its narrowest about sixty miles.

The Tumen river separates Corea from Manchooria, except in the last few

miles of its course, when it flows by Russian territory, the

south-eastern corner of Siberia. The Yalu river also divides Corea from

Manchooria. The rivers of Corea are not of great importance except for

drainage and water supply, being navigable but for short distances. On

the west coast the chief rivers are the Yalu, the Ching-chong, the

Tatong, the Han, the Kum; the Yalu is navigable for about one hundred

and seventy miles and is by far the greatest of all in the peninsula.

The Han is navigable to a little above Seoul, eighty miles; the Tatong

to Ping-Yang, seventy-five miles; and the Kum is navigable for small

boats for about thirty miles. In the south-eastern part of the peninsula

the Nak-tong is navigable for small boats to a distance of one hundred

and forty miles. The Tumen river, which forms the north-eastern boundary

between Corea and Siberia, is not navigable except near the mouth. It

drains a mountainous and rainy country. Ordinarily it is shallow and

quiet, but in spring its current becomes very turbulent and swollen.

Occupying about the same latitude as Italy, Corea is also, like Italy,

hemmed in on the north by mountain ranges, and traversed from north to

south by another chain. The whole peninsula is very mountainous, some of

the peaks rising to a height of eight thousand feet.

The climate of the country is excellent, bracing in the north, with the

south tempered by the ocean breezes in summer. The winters in the north

are colder than those of American states in the same latitude, and the

summers are hotter. The heat is tempered by sea breezes, but in the

narrow enclosed valleys it becomes very intense. The Han is frozen at

Seoul for three months in the year, sufficiently to be used as a cart

road, while the Tumen is usually frozen for five months.

[Illustration: COREAN BULL HARROWING.]

Various kinds of timber abound, except in the west, where wood is scarce

and is sparingly used; and in other parts the want of coal has caused

the wasteful destruction of many a forest. The fauna is very

considerable and besides tigers, leopards, and deer, includes pigs, wild

cats, badgers, foxes, beavers, otters, martens, bears, and a great

variety of birds. The salamander is found in the streams as in western

Japan. The domestic animals are few. The cattle are excellent, the bull

being the usual beast of burden, the pony very small but hardy, fowls

good, the pigs inferior.

Immense numbers of oxen are found in the south, furnishing the meat diet

craved by the people, who eat much more of fatty food than the Japanese.

Goats are rare. Sheep are imported from China only for sacrificial

purposes. The dog serves for food as well as for companionship and

defense. Of birds the pheasants, falcons, eagle, crane, and stork are

common.

Among the products are rice, wheat, beans, cotton, hemp, corn, sesame,

and perilla. Ginseng grows wild in the Kange mountains and is also much

cultivated about Kai-seng, the duties upon it, notwithstanding much

smuggling, yielded about half a million dollars annually.

[Illustration: COREAN CITY WALL.]

Iron ore of excellent quality is mined; and there are copper mines in

several places. The output of the silver mines is very small, but the

customs returns for 1886 show the value of gold exported that year to be

$503,296. The principal industries are the manufacture of paper, mats

woven of grass, split bamboo blinds, oil paper, and silk. The total

value of the foreign imports in 1887 was $2,300,000, two-thirds

representing cotton goods; the native exports reached about $700,000,

chiefly beans and cow hides. The foreign vessels entering the treaty

ports yearly number about seven hundred and fifty, of some two hundred

thousand tons burden. Three-fourths of the trade is with Japan and more

than one-fifth with China; British goods go by way of these countries.

Until 1888 business was done chiefly by barter, imports being exchanged

largely for gold dust, and Japanese silk piece goods being a current

exchange for trade inland. In that year the mint at Seoul was completed,

and a beneficial effect on commerce resulted from the introduction of a

convenient and sufficient coinage. Seoul is connected by telegraph with

Taku, Port Arthur, Chemulpo, Gensan, and Fusan.

Corea is divided into eight provinces, three on the east coast and five

on the west coast. These eight provinces are divided into sixty

districts with about three hundred and sixty cities, only sixty of which

however are entitled to the name, the remainder distinguishing

themselves from the larger hamlets and villages merely by the walled-in

residence of the chief government official. Only a portion of each real

city is walled in; but it must not be thought that these walls are in

any way similar to those to be found in China, where even second and

third rate cities are protected by high and strong fortifications with

moats. Corean walls are usually about six feet high, miserably

constructed, of irregular and uneven stone blocks, and nearly every one

of them would tumble down at the first shock of a ball fired from a

modern gun.

[Illustration:

CHINESE PROTECTED CRUISER CHIH-YUEN.

Sunk at the Battle of the Yalu.

]

Corea has for centuries successfully carried out the policy of

isolation. Instead of a peninsula, her rulers strove to make her an

accessible island, and insulate her from the shock of change. She has

built, not a great wall of masonry, but a barrier of sea and

river-flood, of mountain and devastated land, of palisade and cordon of

armed sentinels. Frost and snow, storm and winter, she hailed as her

allies. Not content with the sea border, she desolated her shores lest

they should tempt the foreigner to land. In addition to this, between

her Chinese neighbor and herself she placed a neutral space of

unplanted, unoccupied land. This strip of forest and desolated plain

twenty leagues wide, has stretched for three centuries between Corea and

Manchooria. To form it, four cities and many villages were suppressed

and left in ruins. The soil of these former solitudes is very good, the

roads easy, and the hills not high. The southern boundary of this

neutral ground has been the boundary of Corea, while the northern

boundary has been a wall of stakes, palisades and stone. Two centuries

ago, this line of walls was strong, high, guarded and kept in repair,

but year by year at last, during a long era of peace, they were suffered

to fall into decay, and except for their ruins exist no longer. For

centuries only the wild beasts, fugitives from justice, and outlaws from

both countries have inhabited this fertile but forbidden territory.

Occasionally borderers would cultivate portions of it, but gathered the

produce by night or stealthily by day, venturing on it as prisoners

would step over the dead line. Of late years the Chinese government has

respected the neutrality of this barrier less and less. Within a

generation large portions of this neutral strip have been occupied;

parts of it have been surveyed and staked out by Chinese surveyors, and

the Corean government has been too feeble to prevent the occupation.

Though no towns or villages are marked on the map of this neutral

territory, yet already a considerable number of small settlements exist

upon it, and it was through them that the overland marches of the

Japanese army from Corea into Manchooria had to be made.

The province which borders this neutral territory, is that of Ping-Yang

or “Peaceful Quiet.” It is the border land of the kingdom, containing

what was for centuries the only acknowledged gate of entrance and outlet

to the one neighbor which Corea willingly acknowledged as her superior.

The battle of Ping-Yang recently fought, is only one of many which have

interrupted the harmony of the province of “Peaceful Quiet.” The town

nearest the frontier and the gateway of the kingdom is Wi-ju. It is

situated on a hill overlooking the Yalu river, and surrounded by a wall

of light colored stone. The annual embassy always departed for its

overland journey to China through its gates. Here also are the custom

house and vigilant guards, whose chief business it was to scrutinize all

persons entering or leaving Corea. Nevertheless most of the French

missionaries have entered the mysterious peninsula through this

loop-hole, disguising themselves as wood cutters, crossing the Yalu

river on the ice, creeping through the water drains in the grand wall,

and passing through this town, or they have been met by friends at

appointed places along the border, and thence have traveled to the

capital. Further details as to the political condition of this neutral

strip will be included in a succeeding chapter, preliminary to the

outbreak of the war. The Tatong river, which forms the southern boundary

of the province, is the Rubicon of Corean history. At various epochs in

ancient times it was the boundary river of China or of the rival states

within the peninsula. About fifty miles from its mouth is the city of

Ping-Yang, the metropolis and capital of the province and the royal seat

of authority from before the Christian era to the tenth century. Its

situation renders it a natural stronghold. It has been many times

besieged by Chinese and Japanese armies, and near it many battles have

been fought.

The next province to the south is that of Hwanghai or the “Yellow Sea”

province. This is the land of Corea that projects into the Yellow Sea

directly opposite the Shan-tung promontory of China, on which are the

ports of Chefoo and Wei-hai-wei. Tien-tsin, the seaport of Peking, is a

little farther east. From these ports since the most ancient times, the

Chinese armadas have sailed and invading armies have embarked for Corea.

Over and over again has the river Tatong been crowded with fleets of

junks, fluttering the dragon banners at their peaks. To guard against

these invasions signal fires were lighted on the hill-tops which formed

a cordon of flame and sped the alarm from coast to capital in a few

hours. This province has been the camping ground of the armies of many

nations. Here, beside the border forays which engaged the troops of the

rival kingdom, the Japanese, Chinese, Mongols, and Manchoos have

contended for victory again and again. The principal cities of this

province are Hai-chiu the capital, Hwang-ju an old baronial walled city,

and the commercial city of Sunto or Kai-seng. Rock salt, flints,

ginseng, varnish, and brushes made of the hair of wolf tails, are the

principal products of the province.

[Illustration: GATE OF SEOUL.]

Kiung-kei is the province which contains the national capital, although

it is the smallest of all. The city of Han Yang, or Seoul, is on the

north side of the river, forty or fifty miles from its mouth. The name

Han Yang means “the fortress on the Han river,” while the common term

applied to the royal city is Seoul, which means “the capital.” The

population of the city is between two hundred thousand and two hundred

and fifty thousand. The natural advantages of Seoul are excellent, as it

is well protected by surrounding mountains, and its suburbs reach the

navigable river. The scenery from the city is magnificent. The walls are

of masonry, averaging about twenty feet in height, with arched stone

bridges over the water courses. The streets are narrow and tortuous. The

king’s castle is in the northern part. The islands in the river near the

capital are inhabited by fishermen.

Four great fortresses guard the approaches to the royal city, all of

which have been the scene of siege and battle in time past. The

fortresses in succession are Suwen to the south, Kwang-chiu to the

south-east, Sunto to the north and Kang-wa to the west. On the walls of

the first three have been set the banners of the hosts of Ming from

China and of Taiko from Japan, in the wars at the close of the sixteenth

century. The Manchoo standard in 1637 and the French eagles in 1866 were

planted on the ramparts of Kang-wa. Beside these castled cities there

are forts and redoubts along the river banks crowning most of the

commanding headlands. Over these the stars and stripes floated for three

days in 1871 when the American forces captured the strongholds.

Sunto is one of the most important, if not the chief commercial city in

the kingdom, and from 960 to 1392 it was the national capital. The chief

staple of manufacture and sale is the coarse cotton cloth which forms

the national dress. Kang-wa on the island of the same name, at the mouth

of the Han river, is the favorite fortress to which the royal family are

sent for safety in time of war, or are banished in case of deposition.

The province Chung Chong or “Serene Loyalty” is the next one to the

southward facing the Yellow Sea. In the history of Corean Christianity

this province will be remembered as the nursery of the faith. Here were

made the most converts to the teachings of the French missionaries, and

here persecutions were most violent. When the Japanese armies of

invasion reached the capital in 1592, it was over the great highways

from Fusan which cross this province. Chion-Chiu, the fortress on whose

fate the capital depended, lies in the north-east of the province. The

province contains ten walled cities, and like all its fellows it is

divided into departments, right and left.

The most southern of the eight provinces, Chulla or “Complete Network”

is also the warmest and most fertile. It is nearest to Shanghai and to

the track of foreign commerce. Considerable quantities of hides, bones,

horns, leather, and tallow are exported to Japan. The beef supplied from

the herds of cattle in the pastures of Chulla is famous, and troops of

horses graze on the pasture land. The province is well furnished with

ports and harbors. Christianity had quite a hold in this province, and

when Corea was partly opened to the world there were many believers

found in the north who were descendants of Christian martyrs. The

capital is Chon-chiu. The soil of the province was the scene of many

battles during the Chinese invasions of 1592-97.

[Illustration:

NAVAL ATTACK ON THE CHEN-YUEN BEFORE CHEMULPO.

Japanese Drawing.

]

The island of Quelpaert is about sixty miles south of the mainland. It

is mountainous, with one peak called Han-ra more than six thousand five

hundred feet high. On its top are three extinct craters within each of

which is a lake of pure water. Corean children are taught to believe

that the three first created men of the world still dwell on these lofty

heights.

The most south-easterly province of Corea, and therefore the nearest to

Japan, is Kiung-sang or the “Province of Respectful Congratulation.” It

is one of the richest of the eight provinces as well as the most

populous, and the seat of many historical associations with Japan. The

city of Kion-chiu was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Shinra, and

from here to Kioto, from the third to the tenth century, the relations

of war and peace, letters and religion were continuous and fruitful. The

province has always been the gateway of entrance and exit to the

Japanese. Fusan, the port which was held by the Japanese from very

ancient times, is well at the south-eastern extremity of the peninsula.

Its fortifications are excellent, and its harbor well protected.

Populous cities encircle the bay on which Fusan stands, and from this

point extend two great roads to Seoul. The influence of centuries of

close intercourse with their neighbors, the Japanese, is strongly marked

in this province.

The “River Meadow,” or Kang-wen province fronts Japan from the middle of

the eastern coast directly north of Kiung-sang. It is a province of

beautiful scenery and precipitous mountains. The capital is Wen-chiu.

The women of the province are said to be the most beautiful in Corea.

Ham-kiung, or complete view, is that part of Corean territory adjoining

the boundary of Russia. The south-eastern boundary of Siberia, which has

been pushed farther south after every European war with China, touched

the Tumen river, the northern boundary of Corea, in 1858. It is but a

little ways from the mouth of the Tumen river to the forts of

Vladivostok and Possiet in Russian territory. From these cities extends

a telegraph across Siberia to the cities of European Russia, and here

will be the terminus of the great Trans-Siberian railway now under

construction. Possiet is connected with Nagasaki by an electric cable.

In the event of a war between China and Russia, the Czar would most

probably make Corea the basis of operations. Thousands of Coreans have

left their own country to dwell in the neighboring portions of Siberia,

and most of them are from the province of Ham-kiung. Persecuted

Christians from all over the Corean peninsula have however escaped to

Russia for protection for many years. The port of Gensan near Port

Lazaref, fronting Broughton’s Bay has been opened for trade since May 1,

1880, and has been an important strategic and commercial point ever

since. The capital city of this province is Ham-hung and there are

fourteen other walled cities within its limits. Until the Russians

occupied the adjoining territory, an annual fair was held at the Corea

city of Kion-wen which lies close to the border. Here the Manchoo and

Chinese merchants bartered their wares for those of Corean, the traffic

lasting but two or three days and sometimes only one day. At the end of

the fair any lingering Chinese not soon across the border was urged over

at the point of a spear. Foreigners found within the Corean limits at

any other time were apt to be ruthlessly murdered.

The government of Corea, since the amalgamation of the different tribes

and union of the various states five hundred years ago, has devolved

upon an independent king, an hereditary monarch whose rule was absolute

and supreme. Next in authority to the king are the three Chong, or high

ministers. The chief of these is the greatest dignitary of the kingdom,

and in time of minority or inability of the king wields royal authority.

The father of the present king ruled as regent up to the time when his

son reached his majority in 1874. After the king and the three prime

ministers, come the six heads of departments of government which rank

next. These six department ministers are assisted by two other

associates, the Cham-pan and the Cham-e. These four grades and

twenty-one dignitaries constitute the royal council of Dai-jin, though

the actual authority is in the three ministers. All of the department

ministers make daily reports of their affairs, and refer matters of

importance to the supreme council. There are also three chamberlains who

record every day the acts and words of the king. A daily government

gazette called the Cho-po is issued for information on official matters.

The general cast and method of procedure in the court and government

were copied in the beginning after the great model in Peking. The rule

of the king in Corea is absolute, and his will alone is law. There has

always existed, indeed, the office of a high functionary whose special

duty consists in watching and controlling the royal actions. Formerly

this office really had some significance, but of late years it has

possessed none whatever. Another very curious institution has been that

of the declared or official favorite, a position generally filled by

some member of a noble family, or by one of the ministers whose

influence for good or for evil was paramount with his royal master.

[Illustration: COREAN MAGISTRATE AND SERVANT.]

The titles of the prime ministers are Chief of The Just Government, The

Just Governor of the Left, and The Just Governor of the Right. The six

department ministers are those of the interior, or office and public

employ, finance, war, education, punishments or justice, and public

works. The duties of the minister of foreign affairs devolve on the

minister of education.

Each of the eight provinces is under the direction of a Kam-sa or

governor. The cities are divided into six classes, and are governed by

officers of corresponding rank. Towns are given in charge of the petty

magistrates, there being twelve ranks or dignities in the official

class. In theory, any male Corean able to pass the government

examination is eligible to office, but the greater number of the best

positions are secured by the nobles and their friends. The terms of

office in these posts, from that of provincial governorship down to the

lowest are only for two or three years. At the end of that time the

incumbent pays purchase money and is removed to another place. The

natural result of this system is that the officials take little interest

in their offices except to extort as much profit as possible from the

people whom they are governing. With offices and honors sold to the

highest bidder, the high officers sell justice and plunder their

subordinates, while these again try to indemnify themselves by further

extortion.

The magistrates lay great stress on the trifles of etiquette, and

sumptuary laws exist referring to all sorts of the small things of life.

The rule of the local authorities is very minute in all its

ramifications. The system of making every five houses a social unit is

universal. Every subject of the sovereign except nobles of rank must

possess a passport testifying to his personality and must show his

ticket on demand.

Civil matters are decided by the ordinary civil magistrate, while

criminal cases are tried by the military commandant. Very important

cases are referred to the governor of the province, and thence appealed

to the high court in the capital.

[Illustration: JAPANESE NAVAL ATTACK ON THE FORTS AT WEI-HAI-WEI, AUGUST

17TH.]

COREAN CHARACTERISTICS AND MANNERS OF

LIFE.

--------------

Physique of the People—Rigid Caste System—Slavery—Guilds and Trade

Unions—Position of Women—Nameless and Oppressed—Marriage and Family

Life—Burial and Mourning Customs—Dress and Diet—Homes—Home

Life—Children—Education—Outdoor Life—Music—Literature—Language—Religion.

The Corean people are mainly of a Mongolian type, though there is some

evidence that there is a Caucasian element in the stock. They are a

little larger and steadier of physique than the Japanese, or the Chinese

of the south, more nearly approaching to the northern Chinese and even

to the tribes in the northeast of Asia. Frequently individuals are met,

with hair not quite black, and even blue eyes and an almost English

style of face. The characteristics of the people are distinguished to

advantage from that of their Chinese neighbors by the openness and

frankness of their demeanor. The Coreans, even of the lower classes, are

grave and sedate by nature, which, however, does not exclude a spirit of

frank gayety shown on nearer acquaintance. They are thoroughly honest,

faithful and good natured, and attach themselves with an almost

childlike confidence even to strangers and foreigners, when once they

begin to trust in their sincerity.

Firm, sure, and quick in his walk, the Corean possesses greater ease and

a freer motion than the Chinese, to whom they are superior in height and

bodily strength. On the other hand it cannot be denied that the Coreans

rank considerably below the Chinese in cultivation of good manners, and

they are wanting in that little polish which is not absent even among

the lower classes of China and Japan.

The peculiarity of the Corean race and the difference between the same

and the neighboring nations, shows itself mainly in the strict and rigid

division of the castes which part the various ranks of the population of

the peninsula from each other, showing some analogy to the caste

institutions prevailing among the Hindus in India. There exists,

however, this notable difference between the two, that while with the

latter this separation is based upon religious principles and customs,

no religious movement appears as its cause in Corea, where its origin

seems solely attributable to political reasons, which have been

maintained and kept up to our times by the government for reasons of its

own. The forms of Corean society to this day are derived from feudal

ranks and divisions. The fruit and legacy of feudalism are seen in the

serfdom or slavery which is Corea’s peculiar domestic institution.

Speaking in general terms, society has four grades, following the king.

These are the nobles and the three classes which come after them, in the

last of which are “the seven low callings.” In detail the grades may be

counted by the scores. In the lowest grade of the fourth class are “the

seven vile callings,” that is, the merchant, boatman, jailer, postal or

mail slave, monk, butcher, and sorcerer. The first and foremost rank,

immediately after the king and the members of the royal family, who

stand absolutely above and beyond these castes, is taken up by the

so-called nobles, descendants of the old families of chieftains, who are

again subdivided into two degrees, the civil and the military nobility.

These two classes of nobles, in the course of time, had possessed

themselves of the exclusive right of occupying public office. Following

upon these we find the caste of the half nobles, numerically a very weak

class, which forms the transition from the nobility to the civic

classes. These also enjoy the right to fill certain offices from their

ranks, principally those of government secretaries and translators of

Chinese. After these come the civic caste, which consists of the better

and wealthier portion of the city inhabitants. This class counts amongst

its numbers the merchants, manufacturers, and most kinds of artisans.

Next follows the people’s caste, which comprising the bulk of the people

is naturally the most numerous of all and includes all villagers,

farmers, shepherds, huntsmen, fishermen, and the like.

[Illustration: STATESMAN ON MONOCYCLE.—_Native Drawing._]

The nobles are usually the slave holders, many of them having in their

households large numbers whom they have inherited along with their

ancestral chattels. The master has a right to sell or otherwise dispose

of the children of his slaves if he so choose. Slavery or serfdom in

Corea is in a continuous state of decline, and the number of slaves

constantly diminishing. The slaves are those who are born in a state of

servitude, those who sell themselves as slaves, and those who are sold

to be such by their parents in times of famine or for debt. Infants

exposed or abandoned that are picked up and educated become slaves, but

their offspring are born free. The serfdom is really very mild. Only the

active young men are held to field labor, the young women being kept as

domestics. When old enough to marry, the males are let free by an annual

payment of a sum of money for a term of years. Outside of private

ownership of slaves, there is a species of government slavery which

illustrates the persistency of one feature of the ancient kingdom of

Korai perpetuated through twenty centuries. It is the law that in case

of the condemnation of a great criminal, the ban shall fall upon his

wife and children, who at once become the slaves of the judge. These

unfortunates do not have the privilege of honorably serving the

magistrate, but usually pass their existence in waiting on the menials

in the various government offices. Only a few of the government slaves

are such by birth, most of them having become so through judicial

condemnation in criminal cases; but this latter class fare far worse

than the ordinary slaves. They are chiefly females, and are treated

little better than beasts. Nothing can equal the contempt in which they

are held.

[Illustration: COREAN BRUSH CUTTER.—_Native Drawing._]

By union and organization it has come to pass that the common people and

the serfs themselves in Corea have won a certain degree of social

freedom that is increasing. The spirit of association is spread among

the Coreans of all classes, from the highest families to the meanest

slaves. All those who have any kind of work or interest in common, form

guilds, corporations or societies which have a common fund contributed

to by all for aid in time of need. Very powerful trade unions exist

among the mechanics and laborers, such as hat-weavers, coffin-makers,

carpenters, and masons. These societies enable each class to possess a

monopoly of trade which even a noble vainly tries to break. Sometimes

they hold this right by writ purchased or obtained from government,

though usually it is by prescription. Most of the guilds are taxed by

the government for their monopoly enjoyed. They have their chief or head

man who possesses almost despotic power, even in some guilds of life and

death.

One of the most powerful and best organized guilds is that of the

porters. The interior commerce of the country being almost entirely on

the backs of men and pack horses, these people have the monopoly of it.

They number about ten thousand, and are divided by provinces and

districts under the orders of chiefs and inspectors. They have very

severe rules for the government of their guild, and crimes among them

are punished with death at the order of their chief. They are so

powerful that they pretend that even the government dare not interfere

with them. They are honest and faithful in their business, delivering

packages with certainty to the most remote places in the kingdom. When

they have received an insult, or injustice, or too low wages, they

“strike” in a body and retire from the district. This puts a stop to all

travel and business until the grievances are settled, or submission to

their own terms is made. Owing to the fact that the country at large is

so lacking in the shops and stores common in other countries, and that

instead fairs on set days are so numerous in the towns and villages, the

guild of peddlers and hucksters is very large and influential. This

class includes probably two hundred thousand able bodied persons who in

the various provinces move freely among the people, and are thus useful

to government as spies, detectives, messengers, and in time of need,

soldiers.

[Illustration: PORTERS WITH CHAIR.—_Native Drawing._]

The Corean woman has little moral existence. She is an instrument of

pleasure or of labor, but never man’s companion or equal. She has no

name. In childhood she receives indeed a surname by which she is known

in the family and by near friends, but as she grows up none but her

father and mother employ this appellation; to all others she is “the

sister” of such a one or “the daughter” of so and so. After her marriage

her name is buried, and she is absolutely nameless. Her own parents

allude to her by employing the name of the district or ward in which she

is married. When she bears children she is “the mother” of so and so.

When a woman appears for trial before a magistrate, in order to save

time and trouble she receives a special name for the time being.

In the higher classes of society etiquette requires that the children be

separated after the age of eight or ten years. After that time the boys

dwell entirely in the men’s apartments to study and even to eat and

drink; the girls remain secluded in the women’s quarters. The boys are

taught that it is a shameful thing even to set foot in the female part

of the house. The girls are told that it is disgraceful even to be seen

by males, so that gradually they seek to hide themselves when any of the

male sex appear. These customs, continued from childhood to old age,

result in destroying the family life. A Corean of good taste only

occasionally holds conversation with his wife, whom he regards as being

far beneath him. The men chat, smoke, and enjoy themselves in the outer

rooms, and the women receive their parents and friends in the inner

apartments. The men seek the society of their male neighbors, and the

women on their part unite together for local gossip. In the higher

classes, when a young woman has arrived to marriageable age none even of

her own relatives except those nearest of kin, is allowed to see or

speak to her. After their marriage women are inaccessible. They are

nearly always confined to their apartments, nor can they even look out

into the streets without permission from their lords.

There is, however, another side. Though counting for nothing in society,

and nearly so in their family, they are surrounded by a certain sort of

exterior respect. They are always addressed in the formulas of the most

polite language. The men always step aside in the street to allow a

woman to pass, even though she be of the poorer classes. There is also a

peculiar custom which exists in Seoul which exhibits deference to the

comfort of the women. A bell in the castle is struck at sunset, after

which male citizens are not allowed to go out of their houses even to

visit their neighbors. Women, on the contrary are permitted the freedom

of the streets after this time, consequently, as they are assured of

safety, from seeing men or being seen by them, they take their exercise

and enjoy the outdoors most heartily and freely at night.