2
1st. (5th of 10th Moon). Wednesday. Rain-chilly.
3
Last night Mr. Han Chi Yu showed me the letters which Ara-i, the Japanese who has been helping the Prince in the would-be concession, had written to Yamamoto, an employee of the English firm. Ara-i 荒井 assures Yamamoto of the absolute legality and safety of the transaction on the following considerations:
4
1. While neither the government nor the Palace of Korea has the slightest power to control or to interfere with the acts and rights of the Prince, the Prince himself can make or unmake the laws of Korea to suit his wishes. Hence the concession signed by the Prince will be valid and legal no matter what the government or the Palace may have to say or do about the contract.
5
2. It is the custom and law of Korea that the father is held responsible for the debts of his children. Therefore, even if the Prince were to be decapitated for having given away the concession, the Emperor of Korea could never deny the legality of the contract held by a Japanese or Foreigner.
6
3. The said copper mines are the richest of their kind in the whole East according to the investigations of a Japanese scientist. A syndicate of Annam had, some years ago, offered 8 million Yen for the said mines, but was rejected by the intervention of the Japanese Government. Hence Yen 1,000,000 is a mere song for this great source of wealth. Besides, while the bargain money is Yen 1,000,000 the firm may find it possible to cut it down when the time comes to settle the payments.
7
There is something characteristically Japanish in these considerations. (1) Ara-i while pretending, no obubt, to be a most faithful and disinterested friend and servant to the Prince, he does not care a rap whether the Prince will lose his neck or not (2) Ara-i suggests to the English firm that they may break the contract baited with Yen 1,000,000, when time comes for payment, lay giving the Prince only a part of the sum for which the concession was sold. Arai's precepts have been practiced by thousands of Japanese in Korea to the woe of the simple Koreans.
8
Minister Cho invited me to the woe to the Maple Club 紅葉館 for a farewell supper―Han Chi Yu and Kochima 小島 were also present. Had a pleasant evening.
9
The Transoceanic Emigration Co. sent me a beautiful clock last night. I returned it, saying that, in my peculiar connection with the emigration question in Korea, I am unable to accept the gift without placing myself in a most awkward position.
10
Han tells me that Prince Wi-wha asked Minister Cho to stand his security for borrowing ten thousand Yen from the Daiichi Bank. Mr. Cho consented, but secretly asked the Bank to refuse him (Mr. Cho) as security. The Prince is an absolute good-for-nothing.
13
Today, by the 6 p.m. train, I shall leave Tokio. Some wandering thoughts:
14
1. The love of cleanliness must be bred in the bones of a Japanese. Such sweeping, such scouring, such scrubbing as never seen anywhere in the world. I have not seen a fly in Tokio in the hottest season.
15
2. The broad and well kept streets around the most of the Imperial Castle are very beautiful. The section of the moat between the 半藏御門 and the 櫻田小門, with the restful sheet of water, the gray stone wall, the ancient pines, the well sodded embankments―well, I never get tired to look at these lovely and picturesque combinations I would not give this piece of walk for the world famous Champs Elysees itself. In 20 or 25 years from now, Tokio will become one of the most beautiful cities of the world, if it is not so even now.
16
3. From the day I arrived at Yokohama up to this day the harbors and cities of Tokio and Yokohama have had one continuous festival season to celebrate the Anglo-Japanese alliance, the return of the victorious squadrons, the entry of the victors into the metropolis etc. etc. Have the Japanese government shown me even the slightest courtesy by extending to me an invitation to any of numerous receptions and functions? Not the least, not even once. The neglect is absolute and profound. Mr. Chinta, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ishi-i, the Chief of the Commercial Bureau of the Foreign Office, Mr. Ni-o, the Chief of the Bureau of the Tobacco Monopoly, and General Usagawa, whom I called on after my return home, not even sent me a card. The insult is galling. The Japanese's politeness begins and ends with selfishness.
17
4. Somehow or other, my visit to Hawaii has spoiled my once unbounded enjoyment of Japan.
18
5. Minister Cho has been kind to me. Yet that does not blind me to his faults. He has such a repulsive habit of expectorating and blowing his nose with hand everywhere, regardless of the look of disgust which the clean Japanese take no pains to hide. His mouth is so foul in his conversation with girls. Is it possible that years of residence in Washington and Tokio have not taught him even the A.B.C. of personal cleanliness?
19
6. The refugees in Japan are all divided one against another. Instead of being united for some useful work, such as education or translation or compilation, they are each striving to fool the other. They eat, sleep, dream and talk politics and revenge. Such are Koreans, high and low, young and old. After all, it will be the best possible thing under the circumstances that Japan should take the entire control of Korean affairs and manage them. You can no more expect independence and good government from the present generation of Koreans than Moses could have expected from the generation of slaves whom he led into the wilderness.
20
7. I am going back to Korea because I can not stay out forever. Except the pleasure of seeing my dear mother and children, I have no strong attractions in Seoul. The miserly and unloving authority of the Foreign Office, the stinking smells of the house, the tyranny and arrogance and oppression of the Japanese all over Korea―these will make paradise itself uninviting―I wish I had my own home entirely independent of the paternal control.
21
About 10 a.m. went to say good-bye to Prince Wi-wha. The little snub kept me waiting nearly an hour. He told me that he had asked his father to give a mining concession but that he had been refused. He (the Prince) never looks square at you. He is becoming more and more like his Father―deceitful, cowardly, trickly, selfish and vain.
22
Left Tokio about 4 p.m. Went to the Shinagawa Station with Han Chi Yu. At 6 p.m. boarded the through train for Kobe. Mr. Stevens was on the train.
25
An uncomfortable night. Arrived at Kobe 9 a.m. Left for Shimonoseki at 10 a.m. Today is the birthday of the Mikado―a bad day―all the flag and lanterns along the road looked so miserable, like weeping signs of a mourning instead of a rejoicing nation.
28
Arrived at Shimonoseki at 5:30 a.m. Put up at the San Yo Hotel. The Ikimaru, which to leave the port today, had been damaged. So we have to stay here until tomorrow evening.
31
Not much attraction in Bakan for a chance traveler like myself.
32
At 6 p.m. went on board the Fushima Maru. Was agreeably surprised to find the boat new, clean and commodious. Had a whole cabin to myself. A good dinner. To bed at once.
35
A most comfortable night. Woke up in the harbor of Fusan. What a beautiful trip. Korea―the pitiful bare hills, the miserable hovels, the slow, loud and unwashed multitude in white dress―gave me sickening sensation of despair.
36
Not a Korean policeman or official of any kind to be noticed anywhere between the boat and the station. Everything is in the Japanese hands.
37
Look at the mournful hills without a grass or a tree. Look at the big Koreans who go about like corpses just out of graves, with no spirit, no ambition, no hope. Look at the hovels that scrape the dirt and the utter miseries of life on every hand. Then tell me that Koreans don't deserve every bit of the contempt, and mal-treatment that are so freely dealt out to them the progressive Japanese!
38
It is a sheer nonsense that this beautiful and rich country should be allowed to lie not only unused but positively and damnably abused by the Koreans.
39
Left Fusan at 8 a.m. A tedious ride with nothing to gladden my eyes or cheer my spirit. Oh, this land of smell and shame, of despotism and degredation, of filth and fools!―this hell only a night's sail from the land of bath and beauty, of life and liberty, of smile and songs!
40
Arrived at the South Gate Station about 11:30 p.m. Second cousin and other met me at the station. Bitterly cold. Happy to see Allen, Candler, Kil Yong-I and Tal-Yong-I. Came straight home. Father met me near the bell tower. Everybody well at home.
41
When I told Father how the hills all along the road are bare, he gave me one of the favorite formulas of a Korean, etc. "Never mind the bare hills. We have lived these thousands of years well enough with treeless hills."
42
"What was good enough for our forefathers is good enough for us," is the creed of Koreans. It is hopeless cry of a dying race; and a race who believe and practice this creed deserves nothing but death.
45
Oh, the smells the awful dreadful, hellish smells unspeakable, unsmellable unendurable! No use complaining of this to Father or any other Korean, because they love what their forefather loved.
46
Had to go to the Palace to report my return. His Majesty was good enough to grant me an early audience. He asked me how far I had visited, where I resided now etc. Not much about the Koreans in Hawaii.
47
The small rooms and little courtyards within which His Majesty has imprisoned himself are crowded, as usual with all sorts and conditions of wretched liars and thieves having all kinds of favors to ask of the Emperor and the Prince.
50
Marquis Ito arrived at Seoul this evening. He was received and escorted to Miss Sontag's house with regal honors.
51
It is believed by everybody that Ito's mission is to compel the Korean government to sign the Protectorate Treaty. The Il-Chin-Hoi, the servile coolies whom the Japanese have been utilizing for various and sundry purposes, have recently published a manifesto advocating the necessity of placing Korea under the protection of Japan.
52
The protectorate will come as sure as Japan is determined to remove any possible cause for another great war on account of Korea. But woe to that Korean or collection of Koreans who voluntarily sell themselves salves to the Japanese.
53
The scarcity of money is causing untold hardships to every class and every individual.
54
The causes of this financial stringency are not far to seek:
55
1. The sudden contraction of the volume of money. Suppose that Korea has 20,000,000 debased nickel dollars to do its business. Speculators bought up the nickels at 1/5 of their face value and sold them at higher rates to the government. Thus Korea, practically, has now only about 1/5 or 1/4 of the volumne of money it had before.
56
2. The new coins, or such as have been put into circulation, have gone into the hands of Japanese and Chinese to be locked up in banks.
57
3. The money collected in different districts for taxes are sent directly to the Dai-Ichi Bank or the Finance Department. The former method of buying the produce of the place with the taxes is no more used thus giving no chance to the farmers to see the money they have paid in.
58
Bankruptcy is frightfully frequent. Business is at a dead-lock. Price of the agricultural products is running down to the lowest terms. None to be profitted by this but Japanese.
60
13th. Monday. A chilly, drizzly day.
61
At 7:30 p.m., an entertainment was given to Marquis Ito and suite. All the Korean Ministers were present. I purposely avoided the seat near Touzuki, the private secretary of Mr. Ito, simply because I had no desire to talk. A heavy pall of black despondency seemed to be hung over the long table.
62
The Korean side being silent and constrained, the guests themselves were not very happy. After the departure of the guests, the Korean Ministers disgusted me by their utterly frivolous talks. Yi Chi Yong said to Pak Jai Soon:
63
"I have transferred your man, so and so, to such and such magistracy. Now I have paid your debt." Kim Ka Chin buttonholed Yi Jai Kuk and begged him to recommend An Chong Dok for a certain position to the Emperor. Another fellow, 魚允迪 was busy praying Min Yong Kui, the Finance Minister, to pay his or some one else's promoted salary. Now, can these have the least bit of patriotism and talk like that when they know that Marquis Ito has come to compel us to sign the slave contract? What would you do, if you had all the independence in the world, as long as your statesmen are such a corrupt lot?
65
15th. (19th of 10th Moon). Wednesday.
66
In the morning, called on Brockman, who is visiting Korea in the interest of the Y.M.C.A. He used to be one of the leading boys in the Vanderbilt University. Now he is one of the leading men in the Y.M.C.A. work in America. His brother―younger―is to assist Mr. Gillet in Seoul. At 11 a.m., called on but missed Mr. W.J. Bryan, who came a few days ago and who is now staying in the Astor House―formerly the Station Hotel. By the way, from the moment of Mr. Bryan's arrival to Seoul Mr. Stevens took charge of him to cook him and soak him well in the pro-Japanese sauce. Mr. Stevens is afraid to let Mr. Bryan fall into the heresies of Bethell and others who dare to question the righteousness of Japan's course in Korea. It must be as hard for Mr. Stevens, to whom Japanese have shown their best side, to see anything mean in them as it is for the Koreans, who are compelled to see the meanest traits of the Japanese character, to see anything generous in Japanese. Mr. Stevens's feeling toward the Japanese is a combination of the pride and affection of a teacher for an intelligent and successful pupil with the gratitude and admiration of a well treated employee for his prosperous master. I don't blame Mr. Stevens for his partiality for the Japanese. Nay I honour him for that. Only I regret that he should draw the Korean salry for his service to Japan. Through Mr. Stevens, Mr. Bryan invited me to dine with him. But I declined, in order to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding. At 3 p.m. Mr. Bryan delivered a religious lecture in the Y.M.C.A. I had to interpret for him. At 5 p.m., I was summoned to the Palace. Heard that Marquis Ito had proposed to the Emperor that Korea should hand over to Japan the diplomatic affairs of Korea; thus Japan should station a Resident General in Seoul and Residents at the open ports and such other localities as may be deemed necessary; that Korea should enter into no diplomatic or international relations with the Foreign powers except through the intervention of Japan. Both the Emperor and the Minister of Foreign Affairs refused the proposal. Mr. Pak reported to his Majesty that his interview with Hayashi had lasted 2 1/2 hours and that he (Mr. Pak) had firmly declined to sign the treaty. The Emperor―in fact all the Koreans―think that a state can be independent without good government. They may as well expect to see a bunch of roses blooming from the iron-capped end of my walking stick.
69
At 10 a.m. called on Mr. Moragan, the U.S. Minister. He seemed much interested in my accounts of Hawaii as a field for the Korean laborers. When I told him how the Emperor had refused to consent to the protectorate treaty, Mr. Morgan said, "Will he be able to hold out? Last ten years have proved the utter inability of the Korean officials to govern right. Nor do we see any sign of it now. If Korea was a poor, pestilential country, the world might leave it alone. But the growth and progress of the human race will not and can not permit such a beautiful and rich land as Korea to lie idle and neglected under a perpetual misgovernment. The more we see the common people of Korea the more we like them. The more we see the officials of Korea the more we dislike them. What Japan intends to do here, the world will approve. The Emperor will not be able to oppose the Japanese demand. Our hands are tied to help him."
70
In the afternoon it was reported that Hayashi, failing to get the consent of the Korean Ministers to the treaty accompanied them to the Palace to settle the question in the presence of the Emperor. Mr. Stevens asked me if Mr. Pak would sign the treaty. I said: "No, I don't think any decent Korean will sign it. He who does it will earn a name as detested by his countrymen as the name of Benedict Arnold is by the Americans. And for what is a Korean to run this risk? Will Japan, after this treaty, dismiss all the vile bloodsuckers whom she has so far been utilizing? Will she punish the Japanese who wrong the Koreans? Will she be just and kind and fair in her dealings with the Koreans? She says she will, but we won't trust her. What good Japan may do remains to be seen, while what evil she has done is a fact. Therefore whoever signs the treaty will only sell his country for the worthless promises of Japan. No decent man will do it."
71
Mr. Stevens said he was sorry to hear me say so; and that the Korean who signs the pending treaty will be a patriot and not an Arnold.
72
Dined at Mr. Gillet's. Found his mother and sister very pleasant company. But the attraction that made me to accept the invitation was Brockman and his brother. Brockman, Vanderbilter was not changed. He is as of old, full of common sense and good works.
73
Tonight will decide the fate of Korea as an independent state.
75
18th. Saturday. (TABLE)
76
After a restless night, went early to the Foreign Office to find out the fate of the Korean independence. So called Shin Jusa, who had slept in the office, told me the following story; "Mr. 魚 and I were ready to retire about 10 last night. We had no idea that the Protocol would be signed so soon. Numans, who had been on the watch all the day yesterday, grew more and more nervous as the hours advanced. A little after 10 the telephone rang. I went to it and heard distinctly the voice of our Minister, J.S. Pak, saying; "Send in the seal." (印櫃드려 보오) . As the seal is under the custody of the Bureau of the Private Secretary, I at once transmitted the message of the Minister to Kim Jusa, who didn't come. Messengers were repeatedly sent to Kim Jusa, while the night deepened. The interpreter of the Japanese Legation Mr. Maiwa, came from the Palace to hurry up the seal. Numans was all impatience. Mr. Yi Si Yong, the Director of the Diplomatic Bureau, came. We, viz. Uo and Lee and I, held a consultation and decided not to send in the seal. Yi Si Yong phoned to Minister Pak to know the result of the struggle in the Palace. Mr. Pak phoned back saying, "Send in the seal, because everything is all right." 다 잘 되엿스니 인궤 드려보시오. Hearing this we had nothing to do but to send the seal. So I carried it to the Palace. Japanese soldiers guarded the road in two solid lines from the main hall of the Foreign Office to the cabinet room in the Palace. In the room there were so many Japanese and Korean officials packed together that I could hardly distinguish one from another. All I could make out was that Minister Pak and Hayashi sat opposite to each other with a small table between them. The Protocol was on the table and was signed and sealed as soon as I handed the seal to the Minister. Then I returned to the Office, again through the Japanese ranks.
77
The independence of Korea was signed away quietly about 1 or 2 a.m. this morning. It all looks like a dream. I can not realize what has happened, then I knew the thing was a foregone conclusion. Wrote to Mr. Stevens the following letter: The protocol was signed last night. It was an inevitable result of the series of events that have transpired in the past few years. I blame nobody for this result but the Author and Finisher of all the woes of Korea. Only the trouble is that the woes are not finished by a great deal yet. I hope―a fool that I am to hope still―that Japan will protect the interests of the Koreans, not merely in high-sounding declarations and wearisome promises but in some visible and tangible acts and examples. As soon as the protocol just signed, was proposed, I knew that its conclusion was inevitable, I knew that another thing was equally unavoidable, viz. my resignation. My check was thick enough to have kept the position until today; but now I find it not thick enough to continue in the humiliating situation. I leave the Office without regret except my separation from you. I respect you for your thoroughly honest opinion, and love you as a personal friend in whom I can trust and to whom my freedom of speech has been limited only by my fear of boring you. During the remaining days, or even months, of your sojourn in Seoul, please remember that you have at your command the loving services of.
79
I am surprised that Mr. Pak Jei Soon, the Foreign Minister, signed the Protocol. Han Kyu Sul, the Acting Prime Minister was the only one who refused to give in to the last. He was dismissed for having behaved unbecomingly in the presence of the Emperor! Hurrah for the Prime Minister.
80
While the independence of the country was being signed away last night, the Crown Prince had time to sell three Grave keepers and a Private Secretary.
81
Sent in my resignation.
82
The Cabinet that signed the ignominious treaty is composed of the following worthies:
83
==Han Kiu Sul==Prime Minister==Pak Jei Soon==Minister of Foreign Affairs==Yi Ha Yong==Minister of Law==Yi Wan Yong==Minister of Education==Yi Chi Yong==Minister of Home Department==Yi Kun Taik==Minister of War==Kwon Joong Hyun==Minister of Agriculture and Commerce==Min Yong Rai==Minister of Finance==
86
A large number of leading official 縉紳, of Seoul have organized a memorial assembly for the purpose of presenting memorials to the Emperor praying him to punish the Ministers who signed the slave-treaty and to cancel the instrument obtained by force in the night of the 17th November. The assembly is headed H.E. Cho Byung Sei, an ex-Prime Minister. I have been three times invited to join it. But I refused to accept the invitation, on the ground that I have sent in my resignations. These people, with the best intentions, are wrong in thinking that what Japan has gained by sacrificing over 200,000 men and hundreds of millions of Yen can be cancelled by a few high-sounding memorials. The Koreans have so long been the slaves of the writing brush that they seem to believe it a sufficient match for steel and powder. If the bathtub and the sword are the source of the Japanese civilization, the writing brush and the Chinese literature are the grave of the Korean spirit and hope.
87
The memorialists would do well to attack the corrupt government―and let alone the treaty. But they are so worked up now that it would be sheer madness to interfere with them. They will soon cool down to the sober fact that independence is possible only for a nation capable of good government. I have found it almost impossible to make the Koreans to understand that skillful diplomacy can not secure independence, for the simple reason that diplomacy without strong and sensible government behind it is nothing but a body without soul. Koreans, high and low, are so used to living on favours that they absolutely hope to maintain their independence by the favour of other nations.
90
I was made the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Stevens wrote me urging me to accept the appointment. In answer I said―I have decided to get out of the Department for Foreign Affairs for reasons following:
91
1. The Department has no longer the duties for which the offices of the Minister and Vice Minister have originally been created.
92
2. Nothing is left to be done except what is humiliating to me and odious to my countrymen. I told you that no decent Korean would sign the treaty. If the treaty was indispensable, Japan could, and would, have put it into effect without any Korean signing the slave-contact.
93
3. For what am I to expose myself to the opprobrium of my countrymen? No Korean believes in the promises of Japan any more than in those of the Emperor. I can't assure myself, much less others, that Japan will prove fair, just and generous to Koreans over whom she has proclaimed herself the protector. Corruption and bribery are in full swing. The bloodsuckers who are responsible, as far as any individuals can be responsible, for Japan's war and Korea's ruin are and will be in full power. Our Japanese saviors and protectors seem to be no exception to the rule that the gift blindeth the eyes of the wise! What good can I expect to do in this crowd? I know it is as hard for you, to whom the Japanese have striven to show their best side, to see anything but good in them, as it is for the Korean, who has been made to see the seamiest side of the Japanese character, to expect anything but evil. I believe in you and in preciously few Japanese. But neither you nor the preciously few straightforward Japanese are going to direct the Japanese course in Korea. "I am determined not to accept any office until the Emperor clears out the stable and goes into real reformation."
94
In another letter to Mr. Stevens, I said among other things:
95
Allow me to mention a few little things which, insignificant in themselves, indicate what Koreans may expect from the Japanese in future.
96
1. While in Tokio, I learned that the Japanese government intends to keep Koreans out of Hawaii, the Eldorado for the Japanese laborers. Now, just think of it. Japan whose surplus coolies, tilled and otherwise, pour into Korea in tens and hundreds of thousands to grab everything in sight, to kick and cuff, and cuss the Koreans as ingrates and savages for not being grateful for being kicked, cuffed and cussed. This generous and altruistic Japan grudges the few miserable dollars which the Korean laborers may pick up in the dust and mud of the Hawaiian canefields!
97
2. Throughout the entire length of the Seoul Pusan Railroad, no Korean food vendors are allowed near the stations.
98
3. The Railroad authorities have adopted the Japanese pronunciation of the names of the Korean villages and locations. For instance, the name of the station at the Pusan end of the railroad is "Choriang" in Korean. The Japanese call it "So-Ryo" and write it so in Roman letters on the little boards hung out on the cars. Now for whose sake is this done? No Korean knows what "So-Ryo" means when the conductor calls it out. Why don't the Americans rechristen the names of Honolulu, of Waikiki and of Punene etc. into Washington and Mckinley and Roosevelt etc.? You may smile and say that these are little things not worth mentioning. But these little things act like salt and vinegar rubbed into fresh wounds to Koreans. If Japan carries this pettiness into her actions in other directions―as I am afraid she will―Korea has a blessed time in store for her. Again, the distress and hardship caused by the scarcity of money are as real as they are universal. Coming, as this financial crisis has, on the top of war and famine and oppression of every kind, it makes the existence of the Korean a veritable hell. The causes of the stringency of money are not far to seek:
99
1. The sudden contraction of the volume of money. Suppose Korea did its business with, say, 20,000,000 dollars of debased and spurious nickels. When the so called redemption began, it is a notorious fact that speculators bought up in the country the spurious nickels at 1/5 of their face value to be sold to the Finance Department at far higher rates of exchange. It is therefore safe to assume, for practical purpose, that the volume of money has contracted by 4 or 3 fifths of its original amount. That is, each Korean, instead of having one dollar as before, has now only 20 or 40 cents.
100
2. The new coins―or rather such amount of them as have found their way into circulation―have fallen into the hands of a few Japanese and Chinese merchants to be locked up in banks and safes.
101
3. Formerly the money of a district found its way out to the people no sooner than it had been paid in as taxes.
102
Say a distrist pays ten thousand dollars in the shape of taxes. A merchant or the magistrate took this sum and bought the produce of the farmers―be it rice or cotton goods or what not, and shipped it to other markets. While this practice often kept the taxes from coming into the Finance Department in time, it always kept the circulation of money in that district in its normal condition. But now, the money, once collected, has no means of returning to the people. The remedies which suggest themselves to me are as follows;
103
1. Some methods should be adopted by which money could be lent to honest but hard-up merchants of Seoul at the lowest possible rates of interest.
104
2. The Government should, through well chosen agents, buy up the agricultural produce of the country.
105
3. In the districts where cash are used, they should be continued as the medium of exchange until the government has enough of the new coin to replace them. Whatever may be the intention of Japan, the Japanese authorities can't be charged with any solicitude for the welfare of Koreans.
106
Our protectors seem to look on our writhing miseries pretty much as wanton boys look on the suffering frogs which they pelt with stones.
109
This morning, about 6, His Excellency General Min Yong Whan committed suicide. I wish he had died fighting, if he had decided to die. All honors to his calm courage. All honors to his patriotism. All honors to his heroic death. His death will do more good than his life.
110
In the afternoon, a number of young men made, or tried to make, patriotic speeches to the crowd on Chong-No. They were broken up by the Japanese gendarmes and soldiers. A scuffle ensued in which a Japanese gendarme and a police sergeant were hurt by stones thrown at them. Over a hundred arrests were made by the Japanese. The scene reminded the beholders of the similar occurrence which took place precisely on Chong-No in 1898―only then the dispersers were the Korean soldiers. It was in November, too. The Emperor clubbed and bayonetted his own people for speaking truth about his evil councilors and for demanding reformation. Now the Japanese are doing exactly the same thing for him.
111
This morning Sir N. Jordan of the British Ministry and Mr. Mc L. Brown left Seoul―for good. Mr. Morgan, the U.S. Minister, will leave in a week or so. The rest of the legations in Seoul will follow suit one after another. Thus all those whom Korea can ill spare for dignity or service are leaving us with disgust, while Beelzebub and his devils, whom the world in general, and Korea in particular, would rejoice to see sizzling in the everlasting hell, are cooly enjoying the fruits of their villainies. Is this justice of God?
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