Qfotnell IttittBrattg ffiibrarg Jlt^ata, Jfcuj ^nrk CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Cornell University Library DS 907.L85 The story of Korea / 3 1924 023 564 531 WW Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023564531 THE STORY OF KOREA JAPAN By DAVID MURRAY, Ph.D., LL.D. Late Adviser to the Japanese Minister of Education. fViti 35 Illustrations and Maps. (Story of the Nations.) Large cr. 8vo, cloth, 5/- New Edition, with a Supplementary Chapter, by Joseph H. Longford. "Dr. Murray's well-written work is not only a trustworthy handbook of Japanese history, but also an interesting storehouse of tales and stories, very entertaining and some of them most amusing." — Asiatic Quarterly Review. LONDON : T. FISHER UNWIN THE TWO LAST SOVEKEIGNS. Frontispiece, THE STORY OF KOREA BY JOSEPH H. LONGFORD LATE H.M. CONSUL AT NAGASAKI ; PROFESSOR OF JAPANESE, KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON ; BARRISTER- AT-LAW, MIDDLE TEMPLE AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF OLD JAPAN" WITH 33 ILLUSTRATIONS AND THREE MAPS T. FISHER UNWIN LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE LEIPSIC: INSELSTRASSE 20 1911 SS'=io7 {All rights reserved.] PREFACE The welcome so heartily accorded both by critics and the public to the " Story of Old Japan " has tempted the writer to endeavour to tell, in the same easy and popular way, the Story of Korea, a story scarcely less replete than that of Japan with picturesque and romantic incidents of war, politics, and social life. During the last thirty years Korea has been the pivot of all the politics of the Far East. It has been the subject of two great wars, as the result of w'hich it has ceased to exist as an independent king'dom. Few people in England know it otherwise than as a geographical expression. Fewer still realise the great addition which its incor- poration in the dominions of the Emperor of Japan will make to the military and commercial resources of his Empire. Its magnificent harbours will pro- vide new bases, and its coast f>opulation, which produced brave and skilful sailors in the Middle Ages, will afford abundant recruits for his fleet. Its peasants will furnish a large contingent to his armies, which scientific training, discipline, and good treat- ment, the writer, judging from his own experience in Japan, Relieves, will convert, ere another generation has passed away, into soldiers not less fearless or vi PREFACE efficient than are now the Japanese themselves. Its abundant natural resources, fa,voured by a good climate, by rainfall and sunshine that are both abundant, and by entire exemption from the disasters of floods and earthquakes that are the terrors of Japan, only require intelligent, honest, and scientific development to convert their potentialities into realities of industrial and commercial wealth. All this will be given by Japanese administr'ators, iwho will bring to Korea the methods which they have already so successfully exploited in their own country as to raise it, within half a century, from impotence and indigence, into the position of one of the great military and commercial powers of the World. Korea, both in its own history and as a factor in the future status of our ally and in the political balance of the Far East, may, the writer hopes, prove of sufficient interest to English readers to induce them to extend to a volume in which its story is told simply, as it has never been told before, without fear or favour, without either exaggeration or concealment, no less cordial a welcome than they generously gave to his wotk on Japan. The Appendix contains a bibliography of the long list of works which have been consulted in the preparation of this volume. Part of the material is founded on or has been taken from Dallet's " Histoire de I'Eglise de Cor^e," the contributions to the " Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan " of Dr. Aston and Mr. E. H. Parker, the latter, like Dr. Aston, a profound Oriental scholar, and Mr. Homer Hulbert's scholarly and complete " History of PREFACE vii Korea," published at Seoul in 1904, in two large and closely printed volumes, a work full of interest, but one which demands attentive study on the part of its readers. Acknowledgment is made in the text in all places in whibh the writer has used or quoted from these works. iHe is also indebted to the Rev. John Ross's very learned " History of Korea " for some of the material for his story of the relations between Korea and China under the Imperial dynasties of the Tsin, Mongols, and early Manchus. His "Story of Modem Korea," since 1870, is founded almost entirely on his own personal know- ledge of the events which are related, acquired during his official career in Japan. His best thanks are due to his Excellency the Japanese Ambassador, and to Mr. Sakata, Consul- General in London, for some of the photographs with which the volume is illustrated ; and to Mr. Sakata, Mr. Kishi, Secretary of Embassy, and to Mr. Y. Komma, Secretary of the Consulate -Genera,l, for their assistance in elucidating obscure points in ancient history. J. H. L. King's College, fune 25, 1911. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGB I. THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE . . .9 II. THE SOCIAL SYSTEM OF OLD KOREA . . 32 III. THE DARK AGES . . . -SO IV. THE STORY OF THE THREE KINGDOMS . . 65 V. EARLY RELATIONS WITH JAPAN . . .89 VI. UNITED KOREA ..... IO4 VII. CHOSEN — FIRST PERIOD .... I23 VIII. HIDEYOSHl'S INVASION — THE FIRST STAGE . 1 39 IX. HIDEYOSHl'S INVASION — THE SECOND STAGE . 167 X, CHOSEN — SECOND PERIOD . . . .196 1* 1 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE XI. EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS . . . 2l6 XII. CHRISTIANITY TO THE FIRST PERSECUTION . 242 XIII. CHRISTIANITY — PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION . 273 XIV. MODERN KOREA-^1868-84 . . . 296 XV. MODERN KOREA — 1884-1905 . . . 32O XVI. THE JAPANESE PROTECTORATE I905-IO , -351 XVII. TRADE AND INDUSTRY .... 366 BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX 385 389 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS THE TWO LAST SOVEREIGNS VIEWS IN PHYONG AN Frontispiea FACING PAGE . i8 SEOUL. OUTSIDE THE CITY WALL , 22 THE ARCH OF INDEPENDENCE YANGBAN. AN ARCHERY MEETING YANGBANS AT HOME — A GAME OF CHESS A YANGBAN'S SEDAN CHAIR A YANGBAN'S RESIDENCE — ENTRANCE VILLAGE NEAR PHYONG AN TOMB OF A SILLAN KING AT KYUN JU . 26 • 34 • 38 ■ 42 . 48 • 72 . 86 VIEW OF SEOUL, LOOKING TOWARDS THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAIN . . . . . .126 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LETTER IN ON-MUN — FACSIMILE FACING PAGE BUDDHIST MONASTERY AND MONKS SEOUL — PALACE GATEWAY PHYONG AN — THE RIVER TATONG BUDDHIST TEMPLES AT KYUN JU PASS ON THE PEKING ROAD TOMB NEAR SEOUL . AUDIENCE-HALL IN THE PALACE SEOUL — TEMPLE OF HEAVEN STREET IN OLD SEOUL A COURT OF JUSTICE A VILLAGE SCHOOL MARBLE PAGODA IN SEOUL , ROAD OUTSIDE SEOUL SEOUL — THE SOUTH GATE OF THE CITY ■ 134 . 158 . 162 . 188 . 206 . 212 . 222 • 250 . 264 . 282 . 292 . 298 • 306 • 314 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS KIM OK KIUN VIEW OF MODERN SEOUL OLD PALACE — THE ROYAL DWELLING MAIN STREET IN MODERN SEOUL THE GENERAL HOSPITAL IN SEOUL SPADE WORK WINNOWING FACING PAGE • 334 340 352 356 368 372 MAPS THE THREE HAN THE THREE KINGDOMS KOREA . 61 . 67 at end of volume NOTE The Chinese ideographs on the cover are those which, in Japanese, are read as " Keirin Hachido Monogatari," or the " Story of the Eight Circuits of Keirin " (Korea). An explanation of the term Keirin is given on page 345. The design on the front of the cover represents the National flag of Korea, which, totally unlike as it was to that of Japan, wasfoundedon the same order of ideas. The figure in its centre represents the Yang and Yin, in Chinese philosophy the male andfemale principles of Nature — the perfect and the imperfect — ^from which the universe takes its origin. The groups of whole and broken lines in the four corners are four of the eight Kwa or trigrams, devised by Fu-hsi, Emperor of China, who lived thirty-three centuries before Christ. He got the idea from the marks on the back of a " dragon horse " which came out of the Yellow River. The trigrams exhibit the operations of Nature, and classify the qualities of all things in heaven and earth, and were used throughout the later ages in divination. They were interpreted in the Yih King — the Book of Changes — the most ancient surviving book of China, compiled, from the rudiments bequeathed by Fu-hsi, towards the close of the Yen dynasty in 1122 B.C., the period at which Ki Tse founded Chosen. The four on the cover are (1) — (three whole lines) Yang, the male principle, Heaven or the Sky ; (2) — ^^ ^^^E (three broken lines) Yin, the female principle, the Earth ; (3) ^— — ^ (two whole Unes with a broken one between them) Fire, the Sun, emblematic of the ;Yang ; (4) ~~~" ^^ SS5 (two broken lines with a whole one between them) Water, as in Rain, Clouds, Springs, or Streams, emblematic of the Yin. The four also represent the points of the compass in the order in which they have been given — South, North, East, West. A full translation of the Yih King by Dr. Legge is included in the " Sacred Books of the East,'' vol. xvi., edited by Professor Max MuUer, and the similajity of the origin of the Japanese and Korean flags was first pointed out by Dr. Aston in his essay on "The National Flag of Japan," "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan," voL xxii. THE STORY OF KOREA CHAPTER I THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE The kingdom of Korea, which possessed an authentic history extending over three thousand years and traditional legends dating from a period more than a thousand years prior to the dawn of its history, lay in the peninsula which extends southwards into the Sea of Japan from the north-eastern boundaries of the Chinese Empire and is fringed on its southern and western sides by numerous islands. Its existence first became known in Europe through the Arab geographer Khordadbeh, who, in the ninth century of our era, described it in his book of roads and provinces, quoted in Baron Richtofen's great work on China, as "an unknown land beyond the frontiers of Kantu "—the modern Shantung—" rich in gold, and exporting ginseng, camphor, aloes, and deerhom, and such manufactured products as nails, saddles, porcelain, and satin." " Mussulmans," he said, " who visited it were often so attracted by it that they were induced to settle there." It was visited in the sixteenth century by one of the Jesuit priests from the mission in Japan, who was permitted to act as chaplain to the Christian soldiers who formed a large contingent of Hideyoshi's invading armies in 10 THE STORY OF KOREA the closing decade of the century ; but the earliest European description of it which now survives was furnished by Hendrik Hamel, a Dutch seaman, who was shipwrecked in the year 1653 on the Island of Quelpart, when on a voyage from Texel to Japan, in the service of the Dutch East India Company. A translation of his graphic description of the country and people and of his own romantic experiences and sufferings is contained in the seventh volume of Pinkerton's " Voyages." Hamel and thirty-five of his shipmates, out of a total complement of sixty-four, were saved from the wreck, and they remained in the country for over thirteen years, when Hamel and seven other survivors succeeded in making their escape to Japan, from which in due course they returned to their native land. Late in the eighteenth and early in the nineteenth centuries the Korean coasts were visited by British, French, and Russian vessels of war when on voyages of exploration in the Pacific, and the commanders have left memorials of their discoveries in the geographical names that still distinguish the islands and bays in our charts and maps. None of the explorers ever ventured to leave the coasts. None ever slept outside their own ships. In all the long interval that passed between Hajnel's escape and Captain Broughton's memorable voyage in 1797 Korea was left unregarded in its national isolation by Europeans, whether sailors, travellers, traders, or missionaries ; and it was not until the nineteenth century was well advanced into the years of its piiddle age that missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church, who never knew fear when in the service of their! Master, stole through the barriers within which the Koreans secluded themselves from all the world, and were able to penetrate into the interior and to describe, with the skill and accuracy of scholars and THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 11 scientists, the history, manners, and customs of a country and people of whom our only previous direct knowledge was founded on the writings of an humble Dutch sailor and the fragmentary notice of an ancient Arab geographer. The peninsula extends from 43° 02' to 33° 12' north latitude and from 124° 18' to 130° 54' east longitude. Its extreme width in its widest part, from the mouth of the Yaki to that of the Tumen, is over 350 miles, but this narrows in the latitude of the capital to 120 miles. Its length is about 500 miles, and its total coast-line is said to be over 1,700 miles. Its total area is estimated as 84,000 square miles, or, roughly, about that of Great Britain and half that of Japan. It is bounded on the north by the Russian Asiatic province of Primorsk, with which it is coterminous for 1 1 miles from the Pacific coast, and by Manchuria, its confines being delimi- tated by the River Tumen, flowing into the Pacific on the e;ast, by the River Yalu, flowing into the Yellow Sea on the west, and between the two by the lofty Shan Yan Range or Ever White Mountains, in which are the sources of both rivers. On the east it has the Sea of Japan, and on the west the Yellow. Sea. On the south it is separated from Kiusiu by the Straits of Korea, in which, midway between the Korean and Japanese coasts, lies the Japanese island of Tsushima, from which Korea is visible on clear days. The number of Korean islands exceeds two hundred. One small, solitary island, Dagelet Island —so named by the French navigator La Perouse, who discovered it, in honour of the great French astronomer— lies in the Japan Sea, as lonely as St. Helena in the Great Ocean, 45 miles off the east coast, but with that exception all the islands are on the southern or western coasts of the penin- sula. The majority of these are inhabited, cultivated 12 THE STORY OF KOREA or iWell wooded, but some are bare volcanic rocks, rising with picturesque precipitousness out of the sea ,to a height of from i,ooo to 2,000 feet. The largest and most important among them is Quelpart —more correctly Quelpaert— the scene of Hamel's shipwreck, and in more recent days of that of H.M.S. Bedford, a well-cultivated island, 40 miles in length by 17 in breadth, with a resident population of 100,000 souls, lying about 60 miles from the south- west corner of the mainland. Thirty-six miles to the east of Quelpart is the Nan Hau Group of three islands, which were occupied by Great Britain in the years 1884-6, "when Russian aggression menaced the integrity of Korea, and Japan had not yet won her spurs as a great military Power. The pic- turesqueness of the seascapes throughout the whole length of the western coast is increased by number- less islets or rocks that rise boldly out of the deep waters of the sea, whose cliffs and fir-clad peaks are the joy of lovers of the grand in Nature, but whose presence is a source of anxiety to the navigator when, as is often the case, they are shrouded in the dense summer fogs of the Yellow Sea. So thickly do islands and islets cluster together along the entire western shore of the peninsula that it is only at rare intervals the mainland can be seen at all from the deck of the passing sea-going steamer. On the east, the long coast, from the Russian frontier to the south-east corner, where the harbour of Fusan fronts Tsushima and Kiusiu, is, with the one exception already mentioned, destitute of islands, and its line is broken only by what is called Broughton Bay, after the great British navigator, with its two harbours of Gensan and Port Lazareff. On the south coast are the capacious, deep, and well- sheltered harbours of Fusan and Masampo, each capable of affording safe anchorage for a fleet of the THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 13 largest warships of the present day, the possession of which is therefore a most valuable asset to a Power that aspires to the navjal hegemony of the Pacific. On the west coast there are many harbours, alid also anchorages amid and under the shelter of the islands, but both their naval and commercial importance is discounted by the tides, which rise and fall, with great rapidity and violence, from 25 to 30 feet. On the east and south coasts the rise and fall are only, a few feet. Quelpart has no harbour, but the Nan Hau Group enclose a deep and well -sheltered harbour, which could hold all the fleets on the Pacific, though they would have a poor time if seeking refuge from the guns of a blockading enemy. Both east and west coasts are bold and hilly, the east mountainous, only a narrow strip of cultivated plains separating the shore from the chain of lofty mountains which, after starting from the sacred Paik-Tu peak of the Ever White Range in the extreme north and passing through the centre of the north-eastern province of Ham Gyong, reaches the east coast about the fortieth parallel of latitude and then extends in a continuous line to the extreme south, here and there on its way throwing out spurs that wind towards the western coast. Among these spurs, nearly midway between the extreme north and south, are the Diamond Moun- tains, so called by the Koreans themselves, from the resemblance of their " twelve thousand serrated peaks " to rough diamonds, the site of the great historic Buddhist monasteries of Korea, and famous, not only in Korea but in China and JapanI, for the sublime grandeur of their scenery. All Korea is mountainous, not so much so as is Japan, but still so broken that there is only one — perhaps two may be. admitted — extensive plain, land the whole surface of the country was compared by the French missionaries to the sea in a heavy gale. 14 THE STORY OF KOREA The mountains in the north are thickly wooded and their deep valleys and gorges afford scenes of impres- sive beauty ; but those along the coast are mostly bare, their surface covered with coarse bamboo -grass, the monotony of which is only varied by scattered groves of stunted firs that rarely attain to a height of more than four to five feet. The " land of treeless mountains " is a common epithet for Korea among Japanese. At a distance the coasts are not unlike the Sussex Downs, though they rise to a greater- height from the sea-level, but it is only distance that gives them this enchantment, the coarse grass which covers them being woefully different to the soft turf of the Downs. < Every mountain gorge and valley is watered by its own stream, that rushes over a shallow, pebbly bed ; but, as could not be otherwise in so narrow a country, large rivers are few, and both their swift- ness and shallowness render them unsuitable for pur- poses of transport. The Yalu (called by the Koreans, from the Vividness of its colour after the melting of the snow and ice, the Am Nok or Green Duck) and the Tumen in the north have been already men- tioned. Others, flowing into the Yellow Sea, are the Tatong, which flows through a great part of the north-western province of Phyong An, and, passing the old historical capital of the province, enters the sea at Chinampo about the thirty-ninth parallel, and the Han, which, rising in the eastern province of Kang- iWon and entering the sea at Chemulpo on the western coast, divides the entire peninsula into two almost equal portions. On it lies the capital Seoul. All these rivers receive many tributaries', and all are navigable for small craft for some distance from their inouths. The Naktong, which finds its way to the sea at Fusan in the south-eastern comer of the peninsula, after an almost direct southern course, is THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 15 the only river of importance in the east, the proximity of the mountains to the coast preventing those which take their rise on the eastern slopes attaining any higher dignity than that of streams. There are no lakes in Korea sufficiently large to be marked on the map. The domestic animals include horses, asses, mules, oxen, dogs, sheep, goats, and pigs. The horses are small, and long-continued cruelty has rendered them vicious in the extreme, but they possess great strength. The w^nt of roads prevents their use in carriages or carts, and as the modern Koreans are not a nation of horsemen and prefer the more humble donkey for purposes of travelling, the principal service of the horse is that of pack-carrying. For agricultural purposes only the ox is used. Cattle are abundant, especially in the south, and of excellent quality, bearing a marked resemblance to the English shorthorns, and are as remarkable for their tract - ability as the horses are the reverse. The Koreans are largely a meat -eating people, not disdaining even the flesh of dogs, and ox -hides are an important article of export, furnishing the main supply for the requirements of the modern tanneries of Japan. Of the wild animals, the most noted is the tiger, which exists in great numbers in the mountains and forests of the north-eastern provinces, but is found all over the country, tigers having, it is said, been known to enter into the very streets of the capital.' It is equally characterised by its size, boldness, and ferocity, qualities which have given it a prominent place in the folklore, proverbs, and customs of the people, and have also, it may be added, filled them ' In the early days of the Janese settlement at Gensan, a policeman left his box one cold winter's night to make his round in the settle- ment. On his return he found a large tiger, which had entered the box in bis absence, asleep by the stove. 16 THE STORY OF KOREA with a very well grounded dread. Its figure was a favourite device to be emblazoned on war banners. The tiger-hunters, who form a class by themselves, were always called upon to lead forlorn hopes when on military service, as those whose courage, strength, and activity had been developed m the best of schools. The skins, which are beautifully marked and, as is natural from the fact that its principal home is among mountains that are deeply clad in snow for nearly half the year, have a much thicker fur than the Indian variety, were highly prized for decorative purposes, not only as rugs but as military ornaments by the Japanese, among whom, ever since the days of Hideyoshi, the tiger-skin -covered scabbard was one of the most cherished outer marks of an officer of rank, while the claws were worn as jewels. The flesh was eaten and the bones were converted into a medicine which was highly prized in the Chinese pharmacopoeia as a courage-producing specific of in- fallible merit. Tigers were usually hunted in winter, when they floundered helplessly in the deep snow, the frozen surface of which was strong enough to bear the weight of nimble hunters on snowshoes and their dogs, but even under these circumstances, the courage of the hunters may be estimated from the fact that they seldom hesitated to attack the tiger single-handed and armed only with an old flint-lock gun. In summer, on the other hand, when the dense undergrowth of the forests placed the hunter at its mercy, the advantage was on the side of the tiger, a fact which gave rise to the Chinese saying that the tiger is hunted by the Koreans during one half of the year and the Koreans by the tiger during the other half. Notwithstanding the terror caused by his known presence in their neighbourhood, villagers are so reckless as to sleep in midsumtner with wide- open doors or even beneath sheds or in the open THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 17 fields, where they, fall an easy prey. The annual death roll is therefore very large. The other wild animals include leopards, bears, deer, boars, and a variety of fur -bearing animals, including otters, martins, squirrels, and sables. Among the birds are eagles, hawks, pheasants, ducks, swans, geese, herons, cranes, snipe, rooks, storks, and many others in numbers large enough to render Korea, with its addi- tional opportunities for the hunting of large game, a paradise for sportsmen, were it not for the physical discomforts of travelling and lodging in the mountain districts. The seas, especially on the east and south coasts, abound in fish, though the variety is much less than on the coast of Japan. They have long been a successful fishing-ground for whales, which follow the shoals of herrings and sardines that are found in immense numbers. Only the most primitive methods of fishing are followed by the Koreans, and it is principally Japanese fishermen who reap the rich harvest of their seas on the east and Chinese on the west. Even in the days of national isolation, no pro- hibition was imposed on either Chinese or Japanese against fishing in Korean waters, the only limitation being that they should neither land on Korean soil nor communicate with the natives while on the sea. The last was easily evaded, either in the obscurity of the frequent fogs or under the shadows of the many islands whose lofty cliffs towered out of the sea, and extensive smuggling was successfully carried on by Chinese and Japanese, especially by the former, who, to this day, may be counted among the most astute smugglers in the world. When King Taijo founded his dynasty in 1392, one of his first measures was to divide the peninsula for administrative purposes into eight circuits or provindes. Under the Japanese protectorate, the five 2 18 THE STORY OF KOREA iwhich were of larger area were each separated into two independent local governments retaining their old titles with the addition of North or South, but with this exception the provinces have remained until this day exactly as they were constituted by Taijo, more than six hundred years ago. Their delimitation testifies to his skill as a statesman with a keen eye to the economic welfare of his kingdom. Each pro'- vince has an extensive coast -line, and there is only one in which there is not at least one fine harbour. Korea's foreign intercourse in his day was entirely with Chipa, and five of the provinces were therefore constituted out of the west half of the kingdom which faced China, three being considered sufficient for the east half, which, though of much greater area than the west, was broken everywhere by mountains and its long coast-line faced the stormy Sea of Japan without shelter from outlying islands. The names of the five provinces on the west coast, taking them in order from north to south are : Phyong An (Tranquil Peace), Hoang-hai (Yellow Sea), Kyong-Kwi (Capital Boundaries), Chhung Chyong (Pure Loyalty), and ChoUa (Complete Network) ; and those of the provinces on the east : Ham Gyong (All Mirror), Kang Won (River Moor), and Kyong-syang (Joyful Honour). Phyong An, on the north-west, is the frontier pro- vince, separated from Manchuria by the River Yalu and bounded on its south by the River Tatong, two of the largest rivers in Korea. It has been through- out its history the great battlefield of Korea. In ancient days when it was part of the territory of Korai it was the scene of the invasions of the Swi and Tang Emperors of China. In the Middle Ages it was again desolated by the Mongol and Manchu armies and the march of Hideyoshi's soldiers ex- tended as far as its capital, Phyong An. In our own THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 19 days it was the scene of the first great battle in the China -Japan War of 1894, and ten years later of the march of the Japanese on their way to drive the Russians from the Yalu. Titne and time again it has been ravaged from end to end, its towns and villages sacked and burnt. In 1894 it suffered equally from flying Chinese and pursuing Japanese, but its fertility and the industry of its inhabitants, who have inherited some of the vigour of their ancestors of old Korai, and have sunk less deeply than the inhabitants of the other provinces under the blight- ing influence of mis -government, have enabled it each time to recover, and it is now one of the least poor of all the provinces. Two of its towns will be fre- quently referred to in subsequent pages. Aichiu (now called Wiju) was the old frontier town, near the mouth of the River Yalu, where a strict watch was kept for foreign trespassers and smugglers. It now promises to become an important seat of trade, the depot of the great timber industry, the material for which is furnished by the virgin forests of the Shan Yan Mountains. The exploiting of these forests by the Russians and their high-handedness in establish- ing a depot, which was really a military outpost, at iWiju, may be said to have been the spark that kindled the flames of the Russian War with Japan. Phyong An, the capital of the province, on the River Tatong, about fifty miles from its mouth, was the seat which Ki Tse, the founder of Korea, chose for his government in 1122 B.C. His tomb is still to be seen, a holy spot in the eyes of all Koreans, and there are still traces of the walls of the city which he founded. It was afterwards the capital of Korai, and when Korai fell, it was the centre from which the Chinese prefects directed the administration of the conquered provinces. It was takeh and held in 1592 by Hideyoshi's general, Konishi Yukinaga, and 20 THE STORY OF KOREA in 1894 it was almost destroyed in the battle of September 15th between the Chinese and Japanese. It is, however, still the third city in Korea in point of population ; it is one of the most picturesque in its situation on a high bluff on the north bank of the river ; and as it is in the centre of a fertile district that not only produces in abundance the ordinary agricultural staples, including silk and the invalu- able ginseng, but has great prospective treasures of mineral wealth of gold and coal ; as it is also on the great trunk railway that runs from Fusan to Seoul and from Seoul to Wiju ; and as it possesses in the Tatong, which is navigable for cargo -carrying boats of light draught to within a few miles of it, a cheap highway to its seaport Chinampo, it may develop into a prosperous commercial city. It is a great station of Nonconformist missionary enterprise at the present day. The city in its configuration resembles a Korean boat. A superstition that if a well was dug within its walls the boat would sink formerly com- pelled the inhabitants to obtain their domestic water supply from the river, from which it was carried in buckets, but under the Japanese administration the city is now supplied with water-works, constructed on the most modern principles of engineering science. Hoang Hai lies south of Phyong An and directly facing Shang Tung on the coast of China. It has no features that call for special remark, its industries being entirely fishing and agricultural. It is one of the three provinces that has not been subdivided by the Japanese. Kyong Kwi is, in its area, the smallest, but in its wealth the greatest of all the provinces. In it are Seoul, the modern capital, and Sunto (now Called Kai Seng), the ancient capital in the first four centuries ;(9i9-i392) of Korea's existence as a united kingdom, and now, in population, the second THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 21 city in the peninsula. Through its centre runs the River Han, the largest river whose banks on both sides are in Korean territory. On the coast, thirty miles from the capital, on the south estuary of the Han, is the open port of Chemulpo, the chief seat of foreign trade at the present day, the Yokohama of Korea, both in its present position and its history. Like Yokohama, it owes its rise entirely to foreign trade. It was the first new port to be opened under the Treaty of 1876 with Japan, and at the time of its opening it consisted only of a few miserable huts of fishermen. There are now Japanese, Chinese, and European settlements within its limits, as well as a large Korean town, and the annual value of the trade carried on at it reaches two and a half millions sterling. The first shot in the Japan -Russian War was fired just outside its harbour, on February 8, 1904. Two Russian men-of-war, the Variag, a swift cruiser of the most modern type, and the Korietz, a gunboat, were lying in the harbour, before the actual declara- tion of war, when a Japanese fleet of seven cruisers appeared off its entrance. The gunboat steamed out of the harbour, on her way to Port Arthur, but found her exit stopped by the torpedo-boats that were attached to the Japanese fleet. She fired one gun at them. It was said that the discharge was accidental, but whether accidental or not, it was the first shot that was fired on either side in the war. Then she returned to her consort in the harbour. The Japanese admiral sent a notice to the Russians that if they did not leave the harbour they would be attacked within it, and on the following day the two ships steamed out to meet the whole Japanese fleet, and within a very few hours crept back again to the port, battered and crippled wrecks. For three hours the Variag had borne the concentrated fire of 22 THE STORY OF KOREA the Japanese ships all round her, firing vigorously in return, but the heroic gallantry of the Russians was not supported by efficient gunnery. They did not succeed in even once hitting any one of the seven great targets around them. This fact has, to the best of the present writer's knowledge, not hitherto been told in any English history of the war, and it is his excuse for introducing the incident into pages in which it would otherwise have had no place. The icapital is connected with Chemulpo by the first railway (2 6f miles in length) that was con- structed in Korea. The journey occupies one and a half hours, there being ten stations on the way. It is a walled city lying in an amphitheatre of pic- turesque hills, about two miles from the banks of the wide and rapidly flowing Han, which encompasses all its southern outskirts. Seoul, with its Govern- ment offices, banks, hospitals, railway-stations, tram- ways, and glass-fronted shops, is, under Japanese administration, rapidly following the example of Tokio, and changing in its outward appearance from an Asiatic to a European city. In its own native form, its principal features were its walls that pro- tected it, not only on the level, but in their winding course climbed all the steep hills around it, crossing the North and the " Three peaked " mountains, at an altitude of not less than a thousaaid feet ; the eight imposing gates, including among them' the gates of " Benevolence," " Justice," and " Courtesy," set in granite frames, which gave access through the walls ; the royal palaces, and the long and wide high street which crossed the whole city from east to west, and with its living stream of white -clothed passers is one of the most picturesque thoroughfares in the world ; the great bronze bell, ten feet in height by eight in width, the third largest bell in the world, cast in 1396, and hung in its present site in 1468, the SEOUL — OUTSIDE THE CITY WALL. (From Stereograph Copyright, Undei"ivood & Uudenvood, London.) To face p. ts. THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 23 metal of which failed to fuse until a living child had been cast into its molten mass,' which for five centuries tolled the curfew over the whole city, the signal for the closing of the gates and the withdrawal of all men to their houses ; near it the eight-storied marble pagoda, erected more than seven hundred years ago, and beautiful both in its grace and its carvings, and the column erected by the Tai Won Kun 'in 1866, when in the flush of his triumph after the repulse of the French, with the inscription that " whosoever pronounces even the name of Europeans is a. traitor to his country." These were the most striking objects in the city, while it still preserved its native aspect unimpaired by the brick -and-mortar creations of modern civilisation. Beyond the city walls in the north was the great arch, the Gate of Gratitude, where the Chinese Ambassador was on his arrival annually welcomed by the King, The arch was destroyed by the Japanese in 1904 and the arch of independence soon after erected in its place. Seoul lay in the midst of a quadrilateral of fortified cities, in which strong garrisons were maintained, and which were looked upon as military outposts for the protection of the capital-Kwanju and Suwon in the south, Songdo in the north, and in the west Kang Wha, the capital town on the island of the same name which covers the estuary of the River Han. Kang Wha, both city and island, are in their historical associations not inferior to Sunto, not even to the capital itself, and the island, with its mountains broken by well-cultivated valleys, presents many graceful pictures of the beauties of hill, sea, and valley. The island was formerly the sanctuary of the kings when their capital was threatened or " It was said that the wailing of a child could always be detected in its notes. 24 THE STORY OF KOREA taken. For twenty-eight years in the thirteenth century they found refuge in it from the fierce Mongols, and twice again in the seventeenth century the Court was removed to it. In our own time it was attacked and occupied— in each instance for a few days— by the French and Americans, on the occasions of their ill-judged attacks on Korea. It was on the island that the first treaty with Japan was negotiated and signed in 1876, and the barriers broken of Korea's long national isolation. The town of Kang Wha, which contained many national treasures, was, with a vandalism not inferior to that of Hideyoshi's soldiers, burnt by the French when they found it expedient to retreat to their ships before the gathering Koreans. It is now the chief seat of the British Episcopal Mission in Korea. Chhung Chyong and Cholla have both been divided by the Japanese into two prefectures, north and south. Both are fertile and populous, and large quantities of cattle are reared in Cholla. The names which their bays and the islands on their coasts bear on English charts are memorials of the visits of early English and French navigators : Basil Bay is called after the captain of the Lyra, Basil Hall. Jerome Bay and the Prince Imperial Archipelago recall the ill-fated visit of La Gloire and La Victoreuse in 1846, and Modeste, Amherst, and Ross Islands the more fortunate cruises of British ships. Both provinces have several good harbours, and the numerous islands off their coasts also afford well- sheltered anchorages. The natives of both are famous among Korean sailors— admirals and the majority of officers and men, in the fleet which de- feated the Japanese in 1593, were all from the two provinces, and both were also the scenes of famous sieges and battles on land in the same war. Kyong Syang in the south-east is the nearest THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 25 province to Japan, and historically the most interest- ing of all. It is in it that all the invading armies of Japan have landed from the time of the Empress Jingo onwards. Its towns have borne many sieges, and in them early Korean civilisation reached its highest development. On its coasts are the deep and capacious harbours of Masampo and Fusan ; and its plains and valleys, watered by the River Naktong, which flows through its whole length, with a genial climate that is free from the arctic winters of the north and east, are the most fertile and populous in Korea. Fusan, its principal town, the gateway through which all Japanese passed who entered Korea prior to 1876, t3ie seat of the Japanese trading factory for six centuries, lies on a bay that is protected from the sea by Deer Island, and affords within the shelter of this island a safe anchorage that would hold all the fleets of the Pacific. It was " opened " to the Japanese in 1877 and to other foreign nations in the early eighties, and as a seat of foreign trade it is now second only to Chemulpo. It is the southern terminus of the Trunk Railway. Twice each day powerful ferry steamers take passengers across the 120 miles of sea that separate it from Shimono- seki, the nearest port in the main island of Japan, and all the passenger and mail traffic, not only to Korea but to Manchuria and by the Siberian Rail- way to Europe, pass through it. Fifty miles to the north is the old town of Kyunju, the capital of thte ancient kingdom of Silla, once the home of everything that was greatest and best in Korean art and litera- ture, but which has never recovered from the ruthless spoliation it suffered when Hideyoshi's soldiers sacked and burnt it as the final act of their last campaign in Korea. Kang Won, the third of the provinces, which has not been subdivided, is unique among all in that 26 THE STORY OF KOREA its long coast-line of more than 150 miles is harbourless, and unsheltered by islands. It is celebrated for its mountain and coast scenery, but falls behind all others both in tr&de and industry, and has no towns of either commercial or historic note. The sea along its coast abounds with fish, from whales to sardines, but the harvest is reaped almost exclusively by Japanese fishermen, their frail boats not permitting the Koreans to venture more than a few miles from the shore. Ham Gyong is the largest of the provinces. On its north it borders Asiatic Russia, from which it is separated by the River Tumen, and for the remainder of its width it is divided from Manchuria by the river and by the range of the Ever White Mountains. The whole province is covered with lofty forest-clad mountains, which" extend to the coast and present imposing views from the sea, and are the homes of the tiger, the bear, and the leopard. The inhabitants, hunters of big game and fishers, are the bravest and the strongest of all Koreans, and were always called upon to furnish the most trusted recruits to the army in the worst national crises. Brought on Bay, at its extreme south, is the third great harbour of Korea, capacious, ice-free, and well sheltered, capable in all its natural conditions of being converted by the Japanese into an important naval base. Properly speaking, it consists of two harbours, Port Lazareff in the north of the bay, and Gensan in the south, the natural advantages of both, with their broad and deep channels and sheltered anchor- ages, being nearly equal. Gensan was opened to Japanese trade in 1880 and to English and American in 1883. A large Japanese settlement has been established there, but neither the realities nor the prospects of trade have been such as to attract Europeans. Historically speaking, Gensan is a place THE ARCH OF INDEPENDENCE, (From Stereograph Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, London.) Tofacep.36. THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 27 of much interest to Koreans. It was in its neigh- bourhood that Taijo, the founder of the last dynasty of kings, was born and passed his youth, and a great monastery, founded and endowed by himself, on the spot where, while still a youth, he foresaw in a dream his future greatness, is the object of devoted pilgrim- ages on the part of Koreans of all classes. The towns which have been mentioned include all that there are in Korea with populations of twenty thousand people. In a peninsula which extends over so wide an expanse of latitude the climate naturally varies. The winters in the two southern provinces are bright and mild. In the north and on the west coast they are also bright and clear, but the cold is intense. In both north and south there are clear, unclouded skies, and the dryness of the atmosphere renders even the most severe cold bearable. The River Han is usually frozen for two or even three nionths, the Yalu for a longer period, and the ice on both has been sufficiently strong to admit of the crossing of great armies with their baggage. In Ham Gyong the snow lies deep throughout the whole winter, and all the mountains, even in the south, have snow-clad summits from autumn to spring. The autumn and spring are both delightful seasons, the spring genially warm and the autumn crisp and clear, and both are beautified by the flora and foliage, by the cherry- trees of spring and the maples of autumn, which are hardly less varied and abundant than those which are the glory of Japan. Only the summer months are trying to Europeans. The rainy season, extend- ing from the middle of June to the middle of July, is enervating and exhausting, and it is followed by two months of hot, glaring sumtaer, when the deep valleys, encircled by the scorched, treeless hills, and cut off from all sea breezes, become almost natural furnaces. 28 THE STORY OF KOREA Generally, the climate may be described as colder in winter and hotter in summer than are the same latitudes in Europe. Europeans have not found it unhealthy. The origin of the people who inhabit the peninsula can only be a subject of conjecture, as is also the case in regard to that of the Japanese, with whom language and characteristics show that the Koreans are closely allied. Two great immigrations to Japan occurred in primeval ages : one from Korea, when the immigrants landed in the province of Izumo on the west coast of the main Island of Japan, directly facing Korea and separated from it by one hundred miles of sea, and the second from the south, in which the landing took place at Hiuga, a province on the south-east coast of Kiusiu. Both finally united at Yamato, where they became fused into one people, the southerners, however, proving the dominant race and furnishing the national rulers. The ease with which they united, the fact that tradition recalls no complications between them caused by linguistic diffi- culties, have suggested the theory that both bodies had an ultimate common origin, that the southerners had, as was the case with those who landed at Izumo, their original home in the Steppes of Siberia, but reached Japan after more protracted wanderings through China and the Malay Archipelago, during which they acquired a large admixture of Malay blood. These theories are not supported by what history shows was the case in Korea. Before the dawn of the Christian era the tribal population of the peninsula' south of the Han River were distinct in language, customs, moral and physical characteristics from' those north of the river. Those in the south may, as did the Hiuga immigrants to Japan, originally have found their way from the Malay Archipelago, THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 29 while the northerners undoubtedly came from Man- churia and beyond. Both, in the process of time, acquired a large admixture of Chinese and Japanese blood, hordes of Chinese immigrants pouring into the country in the centuries immediately prior to and succeeding the beginning of the Christian era, flying from the anarchy that then prevailed throughout their own empire, while Japanese founded permanent settlements over a considerable portion of the south. In later ages substantial numbers of Koreans of all ranks in life in their turn emigrated and became domiciled in Japan, infusing their own blood into the Japanese, both of the aristocratic and of the lower classes. Whatever physical influence China and Japan may have exerted on the Korean people, it was not sufficient to prevent them retaining very distinct physiognomic peculiarities which clearly differentiate them from both and render it almost impossible for any one with knowledge of the three to mistake a Korean for either of the others, though all three have the invariable Mongol characteristics of high cheek-bones, oblique eyes, and bronze skins. On the other hand, the nose is less flat than among the Japanese, and the upturned nostrils so common among the lower classes of the latter are rarely seen in Korea. The Koreans are of higher stature than the Japanese, the average height of the men being 5 feet 4 inches, and generally of better physique ; the dark, uncurling hair that is universal among both Chinese and Japanese is occasionally varied in Korea by hair that approaches brown or even a lighter hue ; Korean hands and feet are smaller, and the expression of the features denotes a higher order of intelligence than might be expected from that of the Chinese or Japanese . A French writer ' compares their faces, saillant, poll et decouvert, with those of ' Georges Ducrocq — " Pauvre et Douce Coree." 30 THE STORY OF KOREA the Bretons. The beard is universal, Koreans in this respect presenting another marked antagonism to the clean-shaven faces of the Chinese and Japanese. The languages of both Korea and Japan are of the same Turanian family, as closely allied as are the Dutch and German or the Italian and Spanish languages ; in fact, patriotic Japanese philologists ' have gone so far as to claim that Korean is only a branch of Japanese, like the native language of the Loo Choo Islands. It might perhaps be more correctly said that Japanese is only a branch of Korean. Whichever may have been the original pre- dominating tongue, not only Japanese but the most distinguished English authorities have clearly demon- strated from both construction and vocabulary a close similarity between both languages ; and that the resemblance was anciently much closer than at the present day is shown by the fact that in the very earliest intercourse between the two countries no difficulty whatsoever seems to have been experienced in the interchange of ideas. It was not until fe comparatively late period that interpreters and trans- lators were first mentioned in the national records, and it was still later when they became recognised as necessary officials. The Koreans rigidly maintained their national isolation from the rest of the world till the last quarter of the nineteenth century. For all our knowledge of Japan in the days of her exclusiveness, so far as it is founded on European sources of information, we are entirely dependent on the French missionaries and on a Dutch savant, and the case is almost pre- cisely similar in regard to Korea. We have vivid accounts of what the people were in the seventeenth and in the first half of the nineteenth centuries in the ' S. Kanazawa— "The Common Origin of the Japanese and Korean Languages." THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 31 monograph, not of a Dutch savant, but of a Dutch sailor, and in the letters of the French missionaries, summarised in the " Histoire de I'Eglise de Kor^e," who, as their predecessors had made their way into Japan, and in devotion to their duty braved persecu- tion and death more than two hundred years before, made in their turn their way by stealth into Korea, and there lived the lives of hunted fugitives until those lives were ended by deaths as cruel as any suffered by the Christian martyrs of Rome. From the writings of both sailor and missionaries a fairly full description may be gleaned of the customs and institutions of the people when both were founded on the social and political systems of China, and when no attempt had yet been made to force on them the civilisation of Europe, which Japan so eagerly, rapidly, and successfully assimilated. CHAPTER II THE SOCIAL SYSTEM OF OLD KOREA Society in Korea was broadly divided into two classes, the Yang ban or nobles, and the Ha-in or low-men— the commoners— but in each of these classes there were many subdivisions, and the lower orders of the Yang ban were sufficiently numerous to con- stitute what might be called a middle class, corre- sponding in their status, but in that alone, to the Samurai of Japan. The ancient nobility of the old kingdom of Korai, the families which traced their descent from the time of Silla or were ennobled while the Wang dynasty was on the throne, came to an end along with the dovmfall of the dynasty in 1392, when Korai became Chosen, and the founders of the greatest and oldest families among the modern nobility were the officers of the first king of the Taijo dynasty, which con- tinued to reign until the annexation of the kingdbm by Japan. To draw a parallel between Korea and England the legitimate descendants of these officers may be said to correspond to our own noble families who claim to trace their descent from ancestors wht) came over at the Conquest and for many genera- tions they alone con'fftituted the class of nobles. The term Yang ban, by which they are described, means " the two orders," the two orders being those of the civil and military officers. They were at first re- cruited only by the sons of the kings born of con- SOCIAL SYSTEM OF OLD KOREA 33 cubines. In the progress of time, however, others found their way into their ranks. Concubinage was universal, and the sons of nobles born from con- cubines and their descendants became so numerous in the middle of the last century that they were strong enough to demand and acquire the privileges of their brothers and the right to employment in the higher offices of the Government. Persons who rendered signal service, whether of a national or personal nature, worthy or unworthy, to the King ; others who acquired a high reputation for science or learning or who gave marked proof of filial piety, the very highest virtue in the Korean moral code, were sometimes rewarded with a brevet of nobility ; and as the practice of adoption was in full force and families therefore never died out, the only diminution that could take place in the numbers of those who had once been admitted within the privi- leged circle was when the head of the house com- mitted treason, when all his family, down to a remote degree of relationship, were in early years extermi- nated, and in later years degraded and relegated to the ranks of commoners, or when a noble voluntarily descended from his rank by engaging in any in- dustrial occupation or by marrying a widow or a slave. On the other hand, as the rank of the father extended to all his legitimate sons, every son of a Yang ban was also a Yang ban. There was, there- fore, a large natural increase in the aggregate number of the class, and so numerous had they become in the progress of time that Yang ban were estimated at the time of the annexation by Japan to number one-fifth of the entire population. All of them were Yang ban, but the representatives of the old nobility, the direct descendants of the first creations, main- tained a rigid exclusiveness, and regarded those iwhose right to the title was of later d^te much in the 3 34 THE STORY OF KOREA same light as the descendants of a Norman knight regard a newly ennobled brewer or banker, or in Japan, which, with all its wonderful democratic pro- gress, is still steeped to the very lips in aristocratic prejudice, the living representative of a long line of Kuge, the Court nobles who trace their descent from former emperors, or even direct from' the gods of heaven, regard one of the great statesmen or soldiers whose national services have won his en- rolment among the highest ranks of the present peerage. Properly speaking, the representatives of the old families form the only class of nobles, while the parvenus constitute the nearest approach that Korea presents to a middle class. The privileges of the Yang ban were great and continued to be so until, in the present generation, drastic democratic reforms were made under the com- pulsion of Japan. Theoretically all offices in the Government, from the highest minister at the capital 'down to the humblest prefectural clerk in the provinces, were, on the Chinese system, open to the successful candidates at the annual competitive literary examinations. Practically they were monopo- lised by the Yang ban, and even among ,them the passports to success were not literary skill, but influence and bribery. When they failed to obtain office, the only employment that was open for them was that of teaching. From all others they were debarred by their rank, and any attempt to engage in either trade or industry was at once followed by social degradation. There were, therefore, hosts of Yang ban who passed their lives as idle, unproductive drones, jealously clinging to all the ancient privi- leges of their rank, but content to extort their liveli- hood and the wherewithal for their pleasure from a peasantry that was always sunk in grinding poverty. The highest occupation of the best among YANGBAN — AN ARCHERY MEETING (From Stereograph Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, London.) To face p, 34, SOCIAL SYSTEM OF OLD KOREA 35 these failures was the study of the Chinese classics ; their pleasures were found in gossip with friends of their own class, equally disappointed in life and equally idle, in social gatherings that were enhvened by the accomplishments of the Gesang. Hunting was beneath their dignity ; they followed the ancient sport of archery, in which the Koreans excelled ; but manly games were unknown to them, and their whole existence was one of utter vacuousness. In their eyes the common people were merely ministers to their needs and pleasures. As already said, a Yang ban could do no work. He might possess a few acres of land, which were cultivated for him on similar terms to those under which the Irish peasant tilled the holding that he rented from an idle, impecunious landlord prior to the earlier Gladstonian legislation. The peasant could retain out of the proceeds what, on the most grinding estimate, was sufficient to keep body and soul together in himself and his family, who all aided him in his work. All else went to the land- lord. The latter could claim forced labour when- ever he wanted it ; could use the horses and cattle of his tenant or of any commoner without payment ; when travelling could claim food and lodging from the local magistrate of each district, the magistrate in his turn recouping himself by fresh exactions on the peasants ; could also claim forced loans if it should come to his knowledge that his tenant or neighbouring tradesman or peasant had, by any stroke of luck, increased his usual earnings ; and no matter how great the social pride and exclusiveness of the Yang ban, neither ever prevented him applying for a loan to either townsman or farmer, but they did prevent him even contemplating the indignity of repayment. The privilege of ignoring his debts was customary though not legal. Recognised legal 36 THE STORY OF KOREA rights were, however, many. His house was inviolate against the law and he himself against arrest except for treason. Plebeians on horseback were obliged to dismount when passing his house or on meeting him on the highway (in Japan they were not allowed to ride at all). He was entitled without paying for it to the best accommodation in inns. He was not compelled to appeal to the law to vindicate his dignity when offended, but was free to take the matter into his own hands and to measure out what punishment he liked. Magistrates of his own class, even if of a different political party, had no wish to interfere with him ; and if they had the wish, they dared not exercise it, as by so doing i;hey would offend the .whole of their order. If condemned to death, a penalty which was only inflicted for treason, the sentence was carried out, not publicly on the common execu- tion-ground as in the case of ordinary people for all offences, whether great or trivial, not with the slow torture which often accompanied the latter cases, but in secret, and in a manner which bore some resemblance to the samurai's treasured privilege of seppukii (harakiri). The Korean noble withdrew to his own apartment, where he took a cup of poison, and his end was as speedy as that of the Samurai when his head fell beneath the sword of his second. Whatever his vices and faults, the Yang ban was a picturesque figure, almost as much so, though in a different way, as the silk -clad, sword-girdled Samurai. Clad in flowing garments either of spot- less white or of silk of brilliant green, blue, or purple dyes, his stature intensified by his tall, broad- brimmed, conical hat of finely woven bamboo, lacquered in black to a degree of polish that would delight the heart of a Piccadilly lounger, he cultivated a slow and dignified gait, an erect carriage, and a haughty demeanour. If rich enough, he was, in his SOCIAL SYSTEM OF OLD KOREA 37 walks or rides, supported on either side by a servant, and whether attended or alone, whether on foot or on horseback, nothing on earth could induce him to derogate his dignity by an appearance of haste. As the Samurai of Japan belonged to separate fiefs, so did the Yang ban of Korea belong to separate political parties of their own class. The earliest of these parties, which are described in another chapter," were formed in the sixteenth century, and to one or other of them every Yang ban belonged, not choosing his own party by personal predilection or sympathy, but solely by the claims of heredity. The rival parties were saturated with the most intense hereditary hatred of each other, carried to the degree that intermarriage between them was unknown. The whole serious business of life of all their members was to defend themselves from or to cause injury to their antagonists of the opposite parties, and the only occasions on which they ever united was when the rights or privileges of their whole class were threatened. Then they invariably presented a solid front. At all times the fortunes of all members of each party were bound by the closest ties of self- interest. When the leader of one won the favour of the King and secured high office, his first use of it was to provide for all his followers, and on the fall of his rival, all followers of the latter, down to the humblest, shared in his loss of office. There was no permanent service either military or civil, unless in so far as one party had a long tenure of the royal favour and consequently of office. In one instance this tenure extended for over half a century, during the whole of which a!ll the members of the other parties were absolutely excluded from any share in the administration, from' any opportunity of devoting their abilities to the national service in any capacity ' Vide p. 134. 38 THE STORY OF KOREA whatever. In such times many of them fell into the extremes of poverty. The missionaries tell of instances they have known where nobles^ who had no commoners to plunder, could only eat rice once every three or four days, could neither have fires nor sufficient clothing in the most severe weather, and even died of cold and hunger. No privation could induce them to stain their rank by work. To have done so would have been to put an end to all the hopes under which they were content to suffer, that a turn in a wheel of fortune would some time bring their own party into power and office to themselves. It has been already said that theoretically all Government appointments were given to the successful candidates in the annual literary examina- tion. In practice the system was that the King took the leader of one of the great parties as his Prime Minister, and that the latter distributed the offices to his adherents at his pleasure. Many of the Kings of Korea were vigorous and capable rulers, who took and held the administration in their own hands with a firm grasp. Many of them, on the other hand, were quite the reverse, and were, vis-d-vis their prime ministers, as much rois faineants as were the Emperors of Japan when the Shoguns were in power. Just as the Shogun could do anything in the name of the Emperor and could rely on his ratification of all he did, so could the Korean minister do as he pleased when acting in the name of a weak or careless sovereign, who, though he did not possess the divine attributes of the heaven-descended Mikados, was vested by his people with a reverence which fell short only of that due to the gods, and with authority that reached the very extreme limits of the most unfettered absolutism. The King's person was always sacred. No subject YAXGBAX AT HOME — A GAME OE CHESS. (I-'roin Slo-cogriipii Copyright, Underwood i^ Uiida-.cood, London SOCIAL SYSTEM OF OLD KOREA 39 was ever permitted to mention his name in his hfe- time^ no male subject permitted to touch him, none even to approach him except in the attitude of the most reverential humility.- If, by accident, he touched any one, the place where he did so became sacred and had to be distinguished by a red ribbon for ever afterwards. His countenance was never engraved on the coins of the realm, where it could be soiled by the touch of vulgar hands. His portrait could only be painted after his death. No one could appear in his presence in mourning garb, none wear spectacles before him. Above all, nothing made of iron could ever touch him, and kingis have died in consequence, when their lives might have been saved by the timely application of a lance which no surgeon 'dared to use on them. When he died the whole nation went into mourning for three years, the pre- scribed period of mourning for a father, for the King was the father of all his people. For the first five months of this period a strict prohibition was laid on marriages, public or private, entertainments, the slaughter of animals, the execution of criminals, arid clothes made of unbleached hemp were alone allowed to be worn. The prerogatives of the King were on a par with the semi-divinity in which he was hedged. He was always absolute both in name and reality. The law was what he willed it to be. Over all his subjects, from the princes jof his own line down to the humblest peasant, he had the power of life and death. Their property, as well as their lives, was at his disposal. His duty was to watch over the public weal, to secure the observance of the laws, and to protect the people against tyranny or extortion on the part qi the officials . When the King was strong and capable, as some were, his duty was performed so far as was within'the capacity and judgment of one human being 40 THE STORY OF KOREA who was necessarily dependent on others for the carrying out of his commands ; but when his up- bringing in a servile and corrupt Court had its natural result in developing the worst vices of human frailty, weak and vicious himself, and surrounded and influenced only by the palace women and avaricious eunuchs, he often gave way to unrestrained debauchery, and became as incapable as he was un- willing to discharge efficiently the duties of his royal office. Then the contending factions of the Court had full scope for the exercise of their talents for intrigue, and high office was given, not to the able and upright but to the sycophant and pander who most successfully ministered to his master's worst vices. All offices were used unscrupulously for the spolia- tion of the people and the enrichment of the holders. The King, the people said, " saw nothing, knew nothing, could do nothing." The limit of taxation or extortion was only that of the people to pay. iWith a country blessed by Nature with a bountiful soil and abundant rainfall, a splendid climate, and undoubted sources of great mineral wealth, entirely exempt from all the great disasters of flood and earthquake that are the terrors of Japan, the peasants, who constituted nine-tenths of the common people, though gifted with great physical strength and powers of endurance, with moral and intellectual qualities that were not inferior to those of their industrious Chinese neighbours, with physical courage that made them as fearless of death or pain as the bravest of Japanese, had no incentive to industry when all the products of their labour were ruthlessly appropriated by the nobles and officials and only the ba,rest pit- tances left to the producers. Hunger was always present with them, famine frequently, and cholera followed in the track of famine to complete the work SOCIAL SYSTEM OF OLD KOREA 41 which it had begun. All these circumstances com- bined to render the peasants the most hopeless, helpless, apathetic, broken-spirited people on earth, compared with whom the Irish Roman Catholic, in the worst days of Orange domination and landlord absolutism, or the Russian serf might almost be called free, prosperous, and happy. Such were the conditions of the Korean people throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and these conditions continued with but little •modification till the beginning of the Japanese Protectorate in 1905. The rapacity and tyranny of the nobles were too engrained by long usance, the people too convinced that their only lot in life was to act as hewers of wood and drawers of water tp their masters, to admit of either being reformed, even by contact with the outer world, unless reform was forced on them as medicine is forced on a sick and refractory child. The feature of the social system of Korea which most forcibly impressed the first Europeans who visited the country after its opening to the world, as it also did the French missionaries, was not the tyranny and idleness of the nobles, nor the degrada- tion and misery of the peasants, striking though both were, but the absolute subjection of women. In other countries nobles were greedy and tyrannical and peasants starved and oppressed, but none afforded a parallel to the lot of Korean women. Rigid Mohammedans kept their women in absolute seclu- sion, but gave them lives of ease. The red Indians of America forced theirs to lead lives of unremitting and unending toil, but gave them liberty. The Koreans practised the vices of both without the redeeming indulgences of either. In her childhood and girlhood the Korean woman was and is the abject slave of her parents, in wife- 42 THE STORY OF KOREA hood of her husband, in widowhood a pariah ; and throughout all her life a soul-destroying, monotonous imprisonment was only relieved by a very few hours' liberty in the streets when night had fallen and, as far as men were concerned, the pleasures and work of the day were over. Women had no existence in the eyes of the law, no personal rights, not even names. They were only spoken of as the daughter, sister, or wife, as the case might be, of the men in whose houses they lived, who were their guardians, masters, and owners for the time being. Women who had no male guardian were like ownerless animals— the property of the first man who cared to take possession of them. In her marriage the woman had no voice ; her husband was selected for her by her father ; she never saw him, nor indeed any man outside the circle of her own family, before her wedding-day, and even then etiquette did not permit her, throughout all the wedding festivities and ceremonial, to ex- change a single word with him, not even when both had retired to the nuptial chamber. There, let the young husband be as gallant and amorous as he might, even heap compliments or questions on her, etiquette demanded that, seated in a corner of the room, she should remain dumb and immovable as a statue. The husband might disrobe her of her voluminous wedding garments ; she could neither assist nor repel him, neither utter a word nor make a gesture. The female servants of the family were all the time spying on her from the windows al^d straining their ears at the doors, and the least violation on her part of all that female etiquettte prescribed was quickly reported and made her the laughing-stock of her women friends. Once a young husband laid a wager with his friends that he would make his bride speak at their first interview. After A YAXGBAX S SEDAN' CHAIK. (Froni Sllmgmfb Cofyi iglil, Uiiilenmod & C'u Jcre-.w,/, l.oiuloii.) SOCIAL SYSTEM OF OLD KOREA 43 many vain efforts he at last said that the astrologers, when drawing his horoscope, had predicted for him a mute from birth as his wife ; he now saw their predictions were fulfilled, bait he was resolved not to retain a mute as his wife. The bride might have safely preserved her silence, for a marriage, once the legal formalities are concluded, cannot be annulled even by the newly discovered dumbness, deafness, or impotency of either party. Stung, how- ever, by his words, she answered bitterly : " My horoscope is even worse. The astrologer foretold that my husband should be the son of a rat, and he was not wrong." This is the most contemptuous epithet in the Korean vocabulary, and it reflects not only upon the person to whom it is applied but on his father, who is the subject of infinite veneration to every Korean son. The bridegroom, in this case, gained his wager, but he had to pay dearly for it in submitting to the jeers of his friends at the only speech which he had drawn from his bride, when they heard of what occurred from the prying maid- servants. After marriage the secluded life of the woman continued omchanged. Her husband never consulted her, rarely even conversed with her. She was to him only one who would work for him, secure his comforts, and give him children. AU her duties were towards him. She was required to be devoted, obedient, careful of his property and his reputation, to bring up his children in due observance of filial piety towards him, and to manage his household. The husband owed nothing to her. Conjugal fidelity had no part in his moral code ; it was obligatory on the wife, who was not permitted to harbour even a thought of jealousy against her rival. She could, if her husband were generous, entertain or visit her female friends, but could never look on or be seen 44 THE STORY OF KOREA by another man, not even by her own relations unless in the very nearest degree. If she were touched or even seen by one, she would be dishonoured for ever, a principle of ethics which occasionally pro- duced a result contrary to its intention. If a man, no matter what he may have been, outlaw or thief, gained secret access to a woman's apartments, it was safer for her to yield to him in silence rather than obtain protection by calling for it. In the latter case, it was known that she had been seen by a strange man and she was lost for ever. In the former, her dishonour might remain undiscovered and her reputation be saved. Even from her own children she could only expect a tithe of the reverence that it was her duty to teach them to render to their father. Filial piety was the first thing that was taught to every child in its own home, but the mother had no share in it. Children, especially boys, were tenderly loved and carefully brought up ; but the sons quickly learned, even in early childhood, that their mothers were domestic nullities, to whom no obedience, scarcely a pretence of obedience, was due. At the age of eight years they were removed from the inner, screened apartments of their homes where their mothers and sisters passed their lives. Thence- forward they lived entirely with the men, and all that they heard, all that they could see, served only to teach them the infinite inferiority of women ; and in the pride of their sex they quickly learned the scornful contempt for both mother and sisters which continued to all women throughout all their lives. The girls remained with their mother, and, by pre- cept and example, were taught to bear the burden of inferiority that belongs to a lower order of human beings. Death did not dissolve the disparity between the sexes. A widower wore half mourning for a few SOCIAL SYSTEM OF OLD KOREA 45 months, then remarried. A widow was obliged to wear deep mourning and remain a widow for all her life, no matter how young she might have been at the beginning of her widowhood ; her remarriage was an infamy and the law regarded the children born of such a marriage as illegitimate, and a noble who descended to such an alliance, equally with one who married a slave, was degraded from his rank to the level of the commoner. The natural result followed on this enforced chastity, and many young widows became the concubines of those who were willing to keep them. Those who endeavoured to lead honourable lives were exposed to many perils in their loneliness. Sometimes they were drugged and recovered to find a ravisher at their side who had dishonoured them in their stupor ; sometimes they were forcibly carried away during the night, and once a widow had become the victim of a man who lusted for her, no matter by what fraud or violence he had effected his purpose, law and custom made her his for ever. Widows not infrequently " followed their husbands in death " rather than face their future, and once, when there were rumours of civil war. Christian converts who were widows asked the priests for a dispensation to commit suicide if the troops on either side came near their dwellings as the only way to escape dishonour, and the fathers had the utmost difificulty in convincing them that even the fate they dreaded would not justify suicide, " a crime that was abominable before God." While such was the social status of women — ciphers both in society and in their ovm families — they, on the other hand, received a certain amount of outward politeness. Their own apartments were inviolable, sacred even to the officers of the law except in the case of treason. If a would-be pur- chaser proposed to visit a house that was for sale. 46 THE STORY OF KOREA he gave warning of his coming, so that the women's apartments might be closed, and he inspected only the general rooms that were used by the men of the house, and in which strangers were received. If a man wished to ascend to the roof of his own house, he first warned his neighbours, so that the doors and windows of the women's apartments in theirs might be closed. Even a husband, much though he might despise his wife, invariably used honorific terms in addressing her and the female members of his house- hold, the slaves alone excepted ; and in the streets the wall was invariably given to women, though only the poorest and lowest were ever seen in them by men. And every day the great curfew bell of the capital rang at nine o'clock, when darkness had fallen, as a signal to all the men that they must hurry home and take their turn in rigid domestic seclusion. Then the women trooped forth, and for a few hours they had the streets entirely to themselves, very drastic punish- ment being inflicted on any man who violated their privilege. The custom died out when Europeans, who could not be confined to their homes at any hour, began to reside in Seoul, and the streets are not now denuded of men. But its spirit remains, and nightfall still brings the time of comparative freedom for the women, when they are released from their prisons and permitted to take the air in t|ie streets or to make visits to their friends. The rich are carried in chairs, closely screened ; the well-to-do go on foot, but veiled or hooded, and attended by a servant, so their freedom is limited ; but human nature, though bound in iron fetters, is the same in Seoul as it is all over the world, and if romances reflect the true life of the people, the most rigid seclusion is not always effective in preventing the formation of liaisons, and the nightly liberation gives the oppor- tunity of meetings that is not always neglected. Both SOCIAL SYSTEM OF OLp KOREA 47 sexes have strong physical passions, and no barriers of religion, morality, or custom prevent their grati- fication when opportunity permits it without certainty of discovery. The description of the status of Korean women has been written in the past tense, as in its utmost strict- ness it applies to the years antecedent to the opening of Korea to the world, but very little modification is required to render it applicable to the women of the present day, when Korea has already had over thirty years' experience of the manners and customs of other nations. Some changes have taken place in their condition, and the abolition of their monopoly of the streets after nightfall is not the only reform which has been made in the customs that peculiarly affected them. Widows are now permitted to remarry, and girls to decline marriage until they have attained the age of sixteen. But all the reforms that have been made have not yet brought about any radical change in the social bonds that fetter their liberty and mental development. As they were in the days when the Roman Catholic missionaries, hidden in the houses of their native converts, in the confidence that was reposed in pastors whose purity and devotion were tested in the fierce fires of cruel persecution, were able to see and learii something of their lives, so they are to-day, secluded prisoners in their homes, nullities in all the incidents of life both within and beyond the walls of those homes. They are not altogether deficient in education. Some have a direct know- ledge of the Chinese classics; all can read the numerous translations in their own vernacular, printed in the Korean script ; but the portions which are available to women are those which inculcate their main duties, reverence and obedience to husbands and their parents, the upbringing of children and household duties, in all of which uncomplaining and 48 THE STORY OF KOREA unquestioning subjection is taught as a virtue that is on a par with chastity. Foreigners, not only Europeans but Chinese and Japanese, know little of them. All their descriptions of Korean women, of their slender, graceful, supple figures, their expres- sion of grave melancholy, their features, beautiful with small mouths, oval chins, frank eyes, fair com- plexions, crowned with heavy masses of ebony black hair, are founded on what these foreigners have seen of the Gesang, the sisters of the Geisha of Japan, chosen like the Geisha for their beauty when young, and like them taught and trained so as to be sparkling companions for men. To the present day, women of the upper classes only appear in the streets in screened chairs, of the middle closely veiled, and both are as inaccessible to the view as they are to the interchange of ideas with the European resi- dent or visitor. The women of the lower classes, whose share in the toils of daily life necessitates their appearance by day outside their own homes, do not now, at least in the capital and the principal trading ports, fly like frightened hares when they meet a European, as they used to do in the early years after the opening of the country, but they still avert their faces and do their best not to be seen. A man of their own country never even glances at them. It would be far beneath his dignity to do so, and any dereliction from what dignity imposed upon him would only expose him to the ridicule or contempt of his fellow-men. The chief occupation of the women of the lower classes is that of acting as washerwomen to the males of their family. The universal garment of men of all classes, except the high Yang ban or officials twho occasionally wear coloured silks, both in winter and summer, are long flowing robes of white cotton, and it is the task of the women to keep these robes in -', '■■ '^'" ^i "^ "^ ^* . "Si. ^. ^ Each kingdom had a long line of kings of varying characters and fortunes, who worked weal or woe to their countries, some of whom fell beneath assassin's knives, while others, deposed or defeated, died by their own hands ; some leaving behind them the hi^em'ories of strong and efficient government, which brought nothing but good to their subjects ; others those of merciless tyrants, sunk in debauchery and cruelty, whose memories are akin to those of Nero and Caligula. Each had its episodes of national triumph and reverse, its incidents of heroic fortitude and craven submission, amidst which all steadily progressed on the paths of learning, art, and industry ; each received its teachers and missionaries from China, and gave refuge to immigrants who came thence in thousands as fugitives, and gladly absorbed them in the ranks of its own population ; each preserved throughout its history the characteristics that had marked its origin . Each contributed in its turn to the stream of emi- grants that poured from the peninsula into Japan, bringing with them all that they themselves had learnt from China, and assisted in laying the foundations of the systems of religion, statecraft and literature, science, and social life which formed the civilisation of Japan for more than twelve hundred years, and was only replaced in the latter half of the nineteenth century by the higher civilisation of Europe. Korai was always warlike, always on the watch for ' The material in this chapter is to a considerable degree founded on Dr. Aston's translation of the " Nihongi," Mr. Parker's " Race Struggles in Korea/' and the Rev. John Ross's " History of Korea." STORY OF THREE KINGDOMS 67 THE THREE KINGDOMS 68 THE STORY OF KOREA opportunities to display, its arms either against China or its neighbours in the peninsula, its people retaining to the last the fighting spirit of their savage ancestors in Manchuria. All its story is closely associated with that of China. For over five hundred years from the beginning of the Christian era the whole of China was plunged in anarchy. Civil war between rival emperors, of whom there were never less than three at one time (and at one period there were no less than seventeen), never ended, and it was not until the year 587 that the Emperor Swi succeeded in bringing all the empire beneath the sway of his own throne. Korai grew into a formidable power, largely at China's cost, taking advantage of the dis- orders on the northern frontier of the empire and of its internal anarchy to absorb in her own territories districts that had long acknowledged China's suzerainty, and increasing her own population by throwing open the country as an asylum for Chinese refugees who fled to escape the miseries and dangers from which they were never free in the civil wars of their own lands. When she had made herself recognised as a strong military factor she was in turns courted as an ally by the rival dynasties who contended for the Imperial throne, or her punish- ment attempted by the successful aspirants for that dignity whom she had opposed or before whom she refused to bow in their hours of triumph. Her greatest struggle with China began at the close of the sixth century. It was then that the Tsin was replaced by the Swi dynasty of emperors on the Chinese throne, and Korai, which had been on friendly terms with the old, was naturally not very prompt in recognising the new dynasty, or in respond- ing to the friendly overtures made by it, while her southern rivals, on the other hand, were as urgent as she was the reverse in conciliating the goodwill of STORY OF THREE KINGDOMS 69 the new occupants of the Dragon throne. Silla had now grown greatly in influence and strength. She had conquered part of the Pekche territories, and had absorbed all of the old kingdom of Karak, and while still devoting herself mainly to internal affairs and industrial progress, had not neglected the development of her military strength. She had also made Korea's first essays in the construction of a navy, which had been already tested against Japanese pirates. Pekche, though shorn of much of her old territory by both Korai and Silla, had shown her military prowess by repelling a Chinese army which had landed on her shores to enforce the payment of tribute. Neither, nor both together, were a match for their northern neighbour, to which, throughout all its history, fighting had been second nature, and both eagerly stimulated the ill-will of the Chinese Emperor against it, and proffered their alliance in whatever operations he might undertake to vindicate his offended dignity. Both fondly hoped that the time had come in which they would be relieved for ever from their old enemy. Korai knew of the plot that was formed against her, and anticipated an invasion of her own territories by dispatching an expedition of 10,000 men across the River Liao, which, after having spread devasta- tion throughout what is now the province of Chi-li as far as the Great Wall, retreated to its own country in safety. The Emperor, undisputed master of all China, saw in this buccaneering expedition only a valid excuse for the conquest and annexation of Korai ; and, never doubting that the little mountain Power would fall at once before the might of China, he sent an army of 300,000 men to the northern frontier and simultaneously a powerful fleet to thfe River Tatong, on which was the Koraian capital, Phyong An, thus following the strategy of six 70 THE STORY OF KOREA hundred years previously. But both expeditions met with disaster, and the Koraians were scarcely called upon to fight in their own defence. Storms at sea broke up and destroyed the naval force befoiie it had even reached the shores of Korea. That sent by land was equally unfortunate, though its misfortunes were due more to the want of ordinary foresight than to Nature. It was at the height of the hot summer that the army reached the River Liao, the frontier of Korai. The heavy summer rains were at their worst and rendered the roads impassable for the provision-carts, and the army was so ill- provisioned and equipped that it perished of disease and hunger almost before it even saw a Koraian enemy. The Emperor accepted his defeat — it was in the year 598 — for the time, but it was only that he might make preparations which would secure an ample revenge in the future. Before the opportunity came he died, but the legacy of revenge was readily accepted by his suc- cessor, the great Emperor Yang, one of the boldest and ablest emperors, but at the same time one of the cruellest and most tyrannical, who has sat on the throne of China. His councillors and people had' no sympathy in his designs of conquest, for, though there was peace, there was great distress within the Empire, which had not yet recovered from the desola- tion of the civil wars and was now suffering from famine ; and the costly preparations for the great expedition that the Emperor meditated were a burden greater than could be borne, necessitating as they did, among other things, the taking away of ,the little food the people had to fill the military granaries. But the determined Emperor silenced the opposition by a proclamation in which it was plainly declared, in very few words, that whosoever presumed to criti- cise or oppose his intentions should do so at the STORY OF THREE KINGDOMS 71 expense of his head. In 6 1 1 all the preparations were completed. Then an invading force started on its way to Korai, the magnitude of which was such that it has been compared to that of Xerxes. It consisted of twenty-four divisions, and its numbers exceeded 1,100,000 men. When on its march it extended in an unbroken line for over 320 miles, and it took forty days to pass any given point pn the road.' At the same time, according to the old precedent, a naval force was dispatched to the River Tatong to attack Phyong An in the rear. It was little less imposing in its magnitude than the army. The ships covered the whole sea between the coasts of Korea and Shantung. The army had been raised in and at the expense of North China. The burthen of the navy was thrown on the south, where the suffering caused by its preparation was scarcely less than in the north. But nothing stood in the way of the iron will of the Emperor. In nowise daunted, the Koraians bravely awaited their invaders on the left bank of the River Liao. Three bridges were thrown across the river by the Chinese engineers, but they fell short by 10 feet of the opposite bank ; and when the soldiers, who had crowded on to the unfinished bridge, tried to leap from its end to the east bank or to wade or swim through the swift current, they were drowned in thousands or cut down as they endeavoured to fight their way to the steep bank. It took two days to remedy the first error, but when the bridge onoe touched the bank overwhelming numbers drove the Koraians before them in headlong rout, more than 10,000 being left dead on the field before the sur- vivors found sanctuary behind the walls of the city of Liao Yang. At Phyong An the defenders were more fortunate. When the Chinese landed from the fleet, ' Ross, " History of Korea," p. 134. 72 THE STORY OF KOREA they at first gained a victory over the army they found on their front, but, pursuing the retreating enemy too recklessly, they fell into an ambush on both sides and were driven back, with great loss, to their ships. They were still too strong, notwith- standing all they had lost, to justify the Koraians in following up their victory, by an attack on the ships, but the heart of the invaders was gone ; they did not even co-operate with the Northern army when it afterwards invested the city. The Koraians beaten at the banks of the Liao were different men when behind the lofty walls of their city of Liao Yang, and all the efforts of the Chinese to take the city were repulsed. Its siege lasted for several months ; and as there was no sign of yielding on the part of the garrison, the main portion of the great army continued its march, leaving a sufficient force behind to continue the investment. It was in early spring that the expedition started on its way from China ; it was not until autumn that it reached the banks of the Yalu. Thence a division of 305,000 men made a forced march to Phyong An, the Koraians retreating before it as it advanced, and at last was in striking distance of the city ; but it was exhausted by its rapid march and was short of provisions. Before it started, rations for one hundred days had been issued to each man, to be carried by himself, and warning was given that any one found throwing away his rations would be beheaded. But, even with this penalty before them in case of dis- covery, the weight of such a burthen in a forced march proved too great a temptation to the men, and their stores were wellnigh exhausted long before they reached Phyong An. The commander was therefore not very anxious to begin an assault on a city, strongly fortified, which from old experience he knew would be vigorously met by the enemy fighting 1 '^f:" '¥' "^ Z < o a STORY OF THREE KINGDOMS 73 behind their walls ; and he readily listened to and accepted an offer of submission that was tendered to him by the Koraian General, which, though the city remained intact, would, he thought, save his face before the Emperor. But the submission was only feigned. The moment the Chinese commenced their return march they were attacked by skirmishers who appeared everywhere at once, on both flanks and on their rear ; and when half the retreating army had crossed the River Chin Chin, ten miles to the north of Phyong An, the Koraians' main army, en masse, fell on and almost annihilated the other half that was still on the southern bank. The retreat then degenerated into a panic -struck rout, the pursuers slaughtering the broken and starving fugitives throughout the whole length ; and of the great dis- ciplined army of 305,000 men who had originally crossed the Yalu, less than 3,000 survived to recross it and at last find safety with the army on the northern bank. This was still strong enough to have carried out a second invasion, but winter was now drawing near and the Chinese were ill -provided with the require- ments of a winter campaign ; so a general retreat was ordered, and the great army withdrew across the River Liao, there to await the following spring. Next year the ambition of the Emperor was limited to the conquest of Liaotungj but while he was engaged in it news came to him of a serious rebellion in his own dominions, and his army could no longer be spared for foreign conquest. The chief incident of the second campaign was the renewal of the siege of the city of Liaotung. It was valiantly defended by the Koraians — every device that engineering skill could suggest, scaling ladders and high towers, pushed to the walls on wheels, " cloud ladders and flying towers," were tried, but the obstinacy and 74 THE STORY OF KOREA valour of the Koraians were proof against all, and the city was still safe in their hands when the retreat began. The siege was directed by the Emperor in person : " He had just completed an earthen rampart, sixty paces wide, close to and flush with the city wall, and a high-storied movable tower on eight wheels, higher than the city walls, whence missiles could be thrown down into the city, and these were about to be put in action, when a breathless messenger hurried into the camp at night and brought the news of a rebellion which threatened the Swi capital with a large volunteer army." ' The Emperor ordered an immediate retreat, abandoning his camp as it stood ; and the retreat was so well carried out that three days passed before the Koraians discovered that the siege was over. Famine and rebellions in China prevented any resumption of hostilities on her part, and four years later the Swi dynasty fell and Korai was able to make peace with the new Tang dynasty, to which she gave her allegiance and returned all the surviving captives of the war. The Imperial dynasty of the Tangs, one of the few dynasties that, in the early years of history, ruled the whole Chinese Empire and held their dominions in a firm grasp, began to reign in the early part of the seventh century, and as the fruitless and costly invasions of Korai had contributed much to the downfall of their predecessors, the policy of the new Emperor was naturally devoted to Korean affairs, with the aim of weakening the northern king- dom, which, comparatively insignificant as it was, had shown itself throughout its history a most truculent vassal and an aggressive neighbour of its suzerain. The relations between the great Empire and the little kingdom, peopled by hardy moun- ' Ross, " History of Korea," p. 141. STORY OF THREE KINGDOMS 76 taineers, full of the spirit of independence and of the pride of arms, resembled those between the Austrian Empire and Switzerland in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, or between the Spanish Kingdom and England at a later period. It seemed as if the great Colossus had only to stretch out its hand to crush the pigmy which was constantly in- flicting irritating pin -pricks in its huge body, but each time it had done so it had found that the pigmy, by its energy and courage, aided by its natural defences, was well able to hold its own. The southern kingdom of Silla, devoted principally, as it had always been, to industrial progress, had now become a military power, sufficiently strong to deserve consideration as an ally, and the new Emperor of China, as ambitious but more prudent than his predecessors, laid himself out to strengthen Silla, to aid her in the conquest and annexation of the other southern kingdom' of Pekche, so that in the end the whole strength of Southern Korea might be available for attacking Korai on the south while China herself assailed it on the north. Silla, on her side, used all the arts of diplomacy, in which she was well skilled, to flatter the pride of the Emperor and to conciliate his goodwill. She adopted the Chinese calendar, the greatest proof she could give, accord- ing to Oriental ideas, of her recognition of her suzerain, and the Chinese Court dress. The religion and literature of China she had already adopted, and her practice and study of both now became more eager than before, while her embassies to the Imperial Court were more frequent and the tribute they carried costly. At this period one of the most prominent lof the heroes of Old Korea appeared on the scenes. In the year 637 Hoh Su Wen, a Koraian soldier, murdered the reigning king with his own hand, and having 76 THE STORY OF KOREA placed the nephew of the dead monarch on the throne, became himself the de facto ruler of the kingdom. He was a man of keen ability, and, in addition, a combination not very common in the East or else- where, of immense physical strength and great personal stature. He emphasised his natural personal attractions by wearing the finest armour and apparel, and so great was the impression made by him on his own soldiers " that they hardly dared to look up into his face." • Ostensibly to recover some out- lying districts which were claimed by Korai, but had been seized and were in possession of Silla, but more probably to divert the attention of his own people from internal affairs and his own crimes and tyrannical usurpation of the executive, Hoh Su Wen declared war and invaded Silla, and when ordered by his suzerain to desist sent a contemptuous refusal. Such a defiance of the Emperor's dignity could not be overlooked. Once more a great army started on its way to invade Korai, nominally only with the object of punishing the murderer of the Emperor's vassal king, without any desire to injure either the people or the kingdom. The bitter experience of the former campaign had taught the Chinese a lesson which was not forgotten on this occasion, and caution guided every step of the invading army's advance. All Liaotung was overrun and its cities taken by storm, and the Chinese advanced on their way to the capital, Phyong An, without having met with one reverse, until they arrived before the city of Anchiu, only forty miles north of the capital. Here the Koraians made their last stand. At first, deceived by the generalship of the Chinese, who, it is said, were headed by their own Emperor, by whom ' Parker, " Race Struggles in Korea." According to Mr. Ross, Hoh Su Wen was distinguished by " his great size, ugly face, terrible manner, enormous strength, and a magic sword." STORY OF THREE KINGDOMS 77 the plans of the battle were made, they ventured on a sortie in mass, but the whole force was surrounded and cut off from the city, and more than 20,000 fell. The -Survivors, who fought their way back or had remained to garrison the city walls, undaunted by this reverse, still bade defiance to the victorious be- siegers, and held so obstinately to their fortress that the Chinese were, in the end, forced by the approach of winter and the increasing lack of provisions to abandon the siege and withdraw to their own country. This time their retreat was not harassed. The Koraians had suffered too severely to be able to conduct a vigorous pursuit, and were glad enough to see the backs of their foes as they started on their long march homewards ; but the privations of cold and hunger exacted their usual toll from the retreat- ing army. The Emperor was not wanting in chivalry to his enemies. Foiled though he had been, and deeply chagrined as he must have felt on seeing all his prudence and generalship rendered fruitless when in the very last stage of the road that led to triumph, he sent, at the beginning of his retreat, a present of one hundred pieces of silk to the commander of the Koraian fortress and a letter complimenting him on the gallantry of his defence. Some years passed away, during which the Emperor died and Korai, still governed by her arrogant usurper, was left in peace as far as China was concerned. But the old grudge against Silla was not forgotten by Korai, and she succeeded in drawing Pekche into her quarrel and both declared war against Silla. Silla had been not less observant of her duties as vassal to the new Emperor than she was to his predecessor and was now to reap her reward. Her prayer for help was at once answered and Korai was again invaded, and as all her strength was required to defend her own territories 78 THE STORY OF KOREA against China on the north, Silla was left free to do with Pekche as she could. The issue was not long in doubt. Pekche was governed by an in- capable King, who knew neither how to govern or lead himself nor to choose ministers or generals who could do so for him and who was guided in all he did principally by professional sorcerers and diviners, a class which has exercised immense influ- ence in Korea from her earliest days and continued to do so in the present generation of the twentieth century. The advice of the sorcerers and diviners conflicted with that of the most capable generals, but it was adopted in preference to theirs and the natural result followed. The Sillan army had an easy march into Pekche, and simultaneously with its advance from the east, a Chinese force was landed on the western shore. The capital fell almost with- out resistance before the allied armies ; the King fled from it but was soon taken, and he, with all his family and an immense number of his subjects, were sent as prisoners to China. A story is told by Mr. Hulbert, incidental to the fall of the capital, which is only one of the many interesting incidents that crowd the pages of his exhaustive history, but which are necessarily excluded by the limits of space from our own story, the pathos of which is such that we make an exception to the rule we have prescribed for ourselves and quote it in full as it is told by Mr. Hulbert. It is as brief as it is pathetic. " When the Silla army approached the capital, the King fled to the town now known as Kong-Ju. He left all the palace women behind him, and they, knowing what their fate would be at the hands of the Silla soldiery, went together to a beetling precipice which overhangs the harbour of Ta Wang and cast themselves from the summit into the water beneath. That precipice is famed in Korean song and story and is called by the exquisitely poetic name Nak-whaam, or the " Precipice of the Falling Flowers," STORY OF THREE KINGDOMS 79 Pekche now lost its independent existence as a kingdom, and was incorporated as a prefecture in the Chinese Empire and placed under Chinese governors. But it was not quite dead yet. Some of the beaten soldiers continued to maintain a guerilla warfare in the mountain fastnesses to which they had fled on the fall of their King and capital, and were a continued source of trouble both to the Chinese governors and to the Sillan armies who were ex- pected by the Emperor to support him. This con- tinued for three years (it was in 660 that the capital was taken), and then a more serious attempt was made to recover the national independence, and this time Pekche had the assistance of what should have been a powerful and efficient ally. We have not hitherto referred in this chapter to Japanese rela- tions with Korea, especially with the two southern kingdoms, as they were so frequent and intimate and productive of such influence on the future histories both of Korea and Japan that they merit a chapter to themselves. We shall here only anticipate what shall be said at length hereafter — that Japan's rela- tions with Pekche were on a more intimate scale than with Silla, and that they had been almost invariably those of friendship and alliance. Princes of the royal house of Pekche frequently visited the Court of the Mikado, and a son of the last King was actually at the Court when his father fell. In 663 a warrior priest of Pekche raised the standard of rebellion against the Chinese Governor of his native land, and at the same time sent to Japan to pray for help and for the return of the prince to be crowned as king. Both prayers were answered. A large Japanese force escorted the young prince and was prepared to associate with the Pekche patriots in their effort to shake themselves free both of China and Silla. At this time both the Chinese 80 THE STORY OF KOREA and Sillan troops were engaged in operations on the southern borders of their common enemy, Korai ; but when news reached them of the new outbreak both promptly turned southwards and marched with such speed and at the same time covered their move- ments so well that they took both the Pekche army and the newly landed Japanese by utter surprise. The Japanese suffered one of the few overwhelming disasters that history records outside their own borders. Their soldiers were slaughtered as they stood or driven into the sea to be drowned or slain by arrows shot from the shore, and their ships and almost the whole of the great expedition utterly destroyed, its ruin being hardly less complete than that which the Japanese in their turn inflicted on their Mongol invaders six hundred years later.' This was Pekche 's last despairing effort. It had already ceased to exist in name. Its people who were not dead or prisoners in China emigrated in hundreds to Japan, where they were adopted as sub- jects by the Mikado, and founded colonies whose descendants exist in Japan to this day. Only the tillers of the soil were left, and both land and people were ere long, when China found the retention of any dominion in Southern Korea was more trouble than it was worth, incorporated in Silla. Pekche was founded in i6 B.C. Its final fall at the end of its last struggle took place in 663 A.D., and it had therefore an independent existence as a kingdom ex- tending over 679 years. It had made great progress in all the elements of material civilisation, and of the three kingdoms, as will be seen later on, it was the one to whom Japan owed most for all she learned from Korea. The Koraians were principally soldiers, the Sillans cultivators of art and industry ; the people of Pekche united the best qualities of both, " The defeat according to the " Nihongi " was not so complete. STORY OF THREE KINGDOMS 81 and, though not the equal of either in their own spheres, became efificient soldiers and skilful artificers. If in nothing else their name lives in Eastern history as the early civilisers and proselytisers of Japan. Korai did not long continue to exist as an inde- pendent kingdom after the fall of Pekche. The great usurper Hoh Su ,Wen had, throughout all her san- guinary wars with China, been the mainstay of her military organisation, and the brave resistance which she had made to what appeared to be overwhelming armies, tha,t had only to strike to overcome an in- significant border kingdom, was mainly owing to the genius with which he utilised her resources and the spirit which the ex!ample of his valour infused into every man in the ranks of her army. He died four years after the fall of Pekche, and with him, murderer and tyrant as he was, departed, not only the guiding intellect, the bravest soldier of the kingdom, but the unity which had hitherto enabled its people to present a solid front to whatever foe threatened them. He left two sons, both as ambitious as himself. They quarrelled for the succession to his dignities, and the defeated one crossed over to his country's enemies, bringing with him a section, not only of his own countrymen but the border tribes on the northern frontiers of both China and Korai, who had hitherto thrown in their lot with the latter. Silla, relieved from all apprehension on her western frontier by the downfall of Pekche, was now free to throw her whole strength against Korai from the south and China again invaded it from the north. With discord among her own people, without her leader who had hitherto guided her to victory, and attacked at once on both sides, she still made a brave resist- ance, worthy of her old fame. She was first driven by the Chinese from all her territory beyond the Yalu, and while the Sillan army advanced on the 6 82 THE STORY OF KOREA capital, Phyong An, from the south, the Chinese, once across the Yalu, the passage of which was so keenly contested that over 30,000 Koraians were said to have been killed, had an easy march to the same goal. Before both, the city fell after a siege which lasted a month. An old prophecy fore- told the doom of Korai : " When the first King established the kingdom, he wished his government to last for a thousand years. His mother said : ' If thou governest the country well thou mayst accom- plish this. However, it will last for just seven hundred years.' " ' Another version of the prophecy contains the addition that 80 would be the cause of its downfall. Her existence lasted for 705 years, from 37 B.C. to 668 A.D., and the Chinese general who commanded the final invading army was eighty years old. Warning omens had been seen in the capital itself. Korea is outside the earthquake belt, and earthquakes are as rare in it as in England, but now earthquakes were felt and foxes were seen running in the streets. Such portents must have contributed their quota to the failing hearts of the superstitious people who were fighting their last battle of despair. One last gallant sortie was made in vain from the beleaguered city. Then the son of the great Hoh Su Wen, whose elevation to his father's dignity had cost his country so dearly, committed suicide rather than fall into the hands of his brother, who was with the invaders, from whom he could expect no mercy, and not another blow was struck. The city was taken, the King and his family and a large number of the soldiers and people were brought as captives to China, another large number being at the same time taken to Silla. Others fled to Silla of their own will, and preferring the rule of their neighbours in the penin- ' " Nihongi," vol. ii. p. 289. STORY OF THREE KINGDOMS 83 sula, even though they had been enemies, to that of alien Chinese, became Sillan subjects and stout recruits to the Sillan army. The old kingdom, from the Liao to the Tatong, with a population of 695,000 households, was incorporated as a military pre- fecture in the Empire. Throughout all its existence it had been almost constantly at war either with China or with its southern neighbours of the peninsula, and war was the chief occupation of its people. Their .civilisation, though older, was therefore, of necessity, of a lower order than that of either Pekche or Silla, which were favoured with milder climates and more g;ener;ously productive soils. But Buddhism early found its way to Korai ; and in its train came, as they did in a greater degree, not only into the two other Korean kingdoms but into Japan, learning, art, science, and technical industry. Korai was celebrated for " its graceful willow-leaf fans," and for its guitars made from beech and snake skin with ivory keys,' and for its talented musicians, as well as for its warriors and beautiful women. To this day the inhabitants of Northern Korea furnish the stoutest and bravest soldiers, those who, when behind their fortress walls, only a generation ago faced the French and American bluejackets and marines as bravely as their ancestors did the invading hordes of China, and though armed only with flintlocks never quailed for a moment under a rain of fire from the most modern artillery and rifles. And Phyong An has always furnished from its daughters the most beautiful of the Gesang that enlivened the Royal Court at Seoul. Many years did not elapse before complications arose between the two Powers, the Empire and Silla, which were responsible for the destruction of Korai. Silla had now nothing more to fear in the peninsula. Her population was largely reinforced by fugitives ' Parker, " Race Struggles in Korea.'' 84 THE STORY OF KOREA from both Pekche and Korai. Her experience in the wars which she had waged in alliance with China had taught her military science, and she had many of the old Koraian soldiers in her ranks, infusing their spirit into the less hardy or courageous Sillans. She was dissatisfied with her share of the spoil on the downfall of Korai, and ventured to try the conclusion of arms with her great suzerain and former ially. She was beaten, and forced to sue humbly for for- giveness, but the internal affairs of his own dominions caused the Emperor of China to take less and less interest in those of Korea, and his dignity having been satisfied with the humiliations and apologies of Silla, he left Korea entirely to her arbitrament. She gradually succeeded in extending her sway over the whole peninsula as far north as the River Tatong. For the next three hundred years the story of the peninsula is that of the progress of Silla in all the refinements of civilisation ; but along with that, in the latter part of this period, went the decline in military efficiency that is always the sure accompani- ment of luxury and security, while contests for the throne and rebellion became not uncommon incidents within her borders. At the capital, Kyun Ju, there was splendour, the evidence of which remained till the city was destroyed by Hideyoshi's vandals in 1594; but the provinces were neglected and fell into decay, suffering heavily in the frequent uprisings that took place against the central Government. Silla was unique among the three kingdoms, in that, during her history, she was on three occasions ruled by, a Queen, the last of whom occupied the throne from the year 888 to 898. The morals of this ,Queen were on a par with those of Katherine of Russia, and under her corrupt Court, whose promi- nent features were licence and dissipation, the con- dition of the nation fell lower and lower, and STORY OF THREE KINGDOMS 85 presaged only too truly its ultimate fall. The Taing dynasty was at the same time drawing to its close in China, and it is possible that the movement which culminated in .its overthrow may have had its influence in initiating a similar movement against the royal family of Silla. Be that as it may, among the many rebels or adventurers who appeared during the last Queen's reign there was one named Kung I, the son of one of the Queen's predecessors on the throne by a concubine, whose early life was passed as a priest in a Buddhist monastery, but to whom, when he grew to manhood, a life of military adventure proved more attractive than the safe monotony of the priest- hood. Gathering round him a large force of soldier bandits, he easily overran the north of the peninsula beyond the River Tatong, which was outside the Sillan jurisdiction ; and as his fame spread, as success followed his arms, so did his fighting strength increase. He extended his operations to Kang Won and Kyong Kwi, the central provinces of Silla, and finally, intoxicated -with his own success, he pro- claimed himself King of the territory which was occu- pied by his troops, and the weak, debauched, p,nd corrupt Government of Silla was helpless to prevent him. Kung I was, however, not the sole author of his own great fortune. Much of what he had achieved was due to the services and merits of Wang Kien, the youngest of his generals. Wang Kien was descended from the old royal house of Korai. He was bom in the year 878, and when he first rose to fame as the greatest of Kung I's lieutenants he was only twenty years of age. His future greatness was predicted even before his birth : — "The night the boj' was born luminous clouds stood above the house and made it as bright as day. The child had a very high forehead and a square chin and he developed rapidly. His birth had been long prophesied by a monk, who told his father, as he was 86 THE STORY OF KOREA building his house, that within its walls a great man would be born. As the monk turned to go the father called him back and received from him a letter which he was ordered to give to the yet unborn child when he should be old enough to read. The contents are unknown, but when the boy reached his seventeenth year the same monk reappeared and became his tutor, instructing him especially in the art of war. He showed him also how to obtain aid from the heavenly powers, how to sacrifice to the spirit of the mountains and streams so as to propitiate them." ' The monk's prophecies were amply fulfilled. The youth threw in his lot with the adventurer Kung I, and quickly rose to be his most trusted lieutenant. It was under him that the provinces of Kang iWon and Kyong Kwi were conquered, and he afterwards carried his arms in triumph into the south-western province of Cholla, where he had to overcome, not the royal army of Silla, which was now reduced to a state of hopeless impotency, but a southern rebel, Kyun Wun, who was in arms against both Silla and Kung I, and whose ambition was to win for himself the crown of Silla. iWhile the young lieutenant was thus winning glory for himself in the field, and becoming the idol of the soldiers and the rising hope of the people, dis- gusted with a Court that was yearly abandoning itself more and more to idleness and debauchery, a change had come over his first master. The ex- Buddhist priest had reverted to his old calling, not however, in the humble r61e of a priest. He had pre- viously proclaimed himself a king. He now went farther, and in the fervency of religion proclaimed himself the Buddhist Messiah, and exacted from all around him the devotion that was due to a god. Those who failed in their obeisance were put to death, and among those who suffered were his wife, whom he murdered with his own hand in a manner ' Hulbert's " History of Korea," vol. i. p. 129. STORY OF THREE KINGDOMS 87 too horrible to be described, and his two sons. As the popularity of the young general grew, so did the hatred and horror with which the self-made King was regarded. At last the troops mutinied and killed him, and proclaimed Wang Kien King in his stead- King, that is, of the district of Central and Northern Korea, which had formed the dominions of the dead tyrant during his brief period of assumed royalty. Silla still continued to drag on an inglorious existence in south-east Korea. In the south-west the rebel Kyun Wun, defeated as he had been by Wang Kien, was still powerful ; and while the latter was engaged in establishing order in his new kingdom in the north, in framing a good system of government under which the people should be prosperous and happy, Kyun Wun made a sudden dash on the capiJtal of Silla, and, taking it entirely by surprise, made it an easy prey. The King was killed, the Queen violated by the rebel leader himself, the palace ladies given to the soldiers, and the palace looted. It was now a question whether the crowned King of Northern Korea or the bloodthirsty rebel of the South should become the master of the whole peninsula. It was decided in the usual way, but it was not till after a long and hard -fought campai'gn that right finally triumphed, that Kyun Wun's army was de- stroyed, and he surrendered himself as a prisoner of war to his northern foe. This was in the year 935. In the same year the last King of Silla, the fifty- sixth of a line of sovereigns who had ruled over the kingdom throughout 992 years, from its foundation in 57 B.C., worn and weary with the wrongs and suflferiings of his house, despairing of restoring its fortunes pr of reforming his weak and corrupt Government, resigned his crown and handed over all his royal prerogatives to Wang Kien, who now became the ruler of a united kingdom which for) 88 THE STORY OF KOREA the first time comprised and was limited to the whole of the peninsula, bounded on the north by the Rivers Tumen and Yalu, and on its other three sides by the sea, which remained in its original territorial in- tegrity, unimpaired and unenlarged, from his day till the year of grace 19 lo, in which it was annexed by Japan. The end of the royal house of Silla, nearly a thousand years ago, resembles that of the last of the Kings of Korea in our own days. Deprived of his royal dignity by the Japanese, he has been granted the rank of an Imperial Prince of Japan and a revenue ample for his support, and every external sign of honour that could appeal to his vanity shown to him. But he has been told that he is henceforth a subject of the Emperor of Japan, that not a shadow remains of the absolute power which he and his fore- runners exercised over his people, who are his no more. And so it was with the last King of Silla in 935. Every outward honour that the tact and kind- ness of the generous victor could suggest was paid to him. His historic capital ceased to exist as such, and he was told to take up his residence at Sunto, the new capital founded by Wang Kien. He was escorted to it by a royal procession which extended over ten miles in length. He was met at the gates by ,Wa!ng Kien himself, was endowed with a princely revenue, and received his victor's daughter in mar- riage. But he had to perform obeisance to him who was now his sovereign and to subside into the ordinary ranks of the nobility of a new kingdom. CHAPTER V EARLY RELATIONS WITH JAPAN Japan's connection with Korea began, according to the story that is told in her own records, in the most remote periods of mythology. When Susa-no-o, the child of Izanagi and the brother of the Sun Goddess, was banished for his misdeeds from heaven and descended to earth, " the Nether Land," he is believed to have found his new home in the province of Izumo on the south-west coast of the main island ; but according to one of the traditions quoted in the Nihongi, his descent was made, not direct to the land of the gods but to that part of Korea which afterwards became the kingdom of Silla. He was not satisfied with what he found there : " So he lifted up his voice and said, ' I will not dwell in this land.' He at length took clay and made of it a boat in which he embarked and crossed over Eastwards until he arrived by the upper waters of the River Hi in Idzumo." He brought with him in his descent from heaven the seeds of trees in great number, and of the eighty kinds of fruits, but it was not until after he had settled in Izumo that he first planted them. In this myth may possibly be found the notice of the first prospector who spied the way for the great stream of immigrants which was subsequently to flow from Korea and colonise West Japan. Long afterwards, in B.C. 23> when what the 90 THE STORY OF KOREA Japanese claim to be the first period of their authentic history, though it has been shown by European savants to be almost as little worthy of credit as their mythology, was more than six centuries old, we find another notice of a visitor from Korea. At this time the kingdom' of Silla was already founded, and it had on its south-western borders the tribes who were afterwards united into the petty kingdom of Kara. It was from these tribes that the visitor came, riding in a boat, " a man with horns on his forehead." He landed in Tsuruga, and said that he had come to offer his allegiance to the Emperor of Japan. After long wanderings, spread over two years, he reached the Court of Yamato, where he remained another three years . Then gifts of red silk stuffs were bestowed upon him and he was per- mitted to return home.' It was in the reign of Sujin (B.C. 97-33), the tenth Emperor of Japan, whose native name was Mimaki, that the Korean landed .^ Sujin died during his stay, so he was told, when about to leave Japan, to make in future the august name of the Emperor that of his country. It was always Kara to the Koreans, but that part of Korea was thenceforward known to all the Japanese as Mimana. He was not allowed on his return to retain his gifts of red silk, as the neighbouring people of Silla, hearing of them, raised an army and, invading Mimana, robbed him of them all. Silla, on her part, then entered into com- munication with Japan. The King's son crossed over the intervening sea in B.C. 27, bringing with him offerings of gems, swords, and a sun-mirror, and after ' " Nihongi," vol. i. books v. and vi. "^ The names by which the Japanese emperors are known in his- tory are all posthumous. They were first conferred in the eighth century of the Christian era. Each Emperor had his own native name, but until the present reign it was never in his lifetime uttered. EARLY RELATIONS WITH JAPAN 91 visiting many places settled in Tajima and married a lady of the province. There is no further mention of Korea in the Japanese annals till the reign of the Emperor Chiuai, more than two hundred years later, but in the much more trustworthy annals of Korea there are records both of Japanese descents on the coasts of Silla, ancient preludes of the piratical raids that became so frequent between the thirteenth and sixteenth cen- turies, and also of the interchange of friendly com- munications between Silla and Japan, which show that the existence of the two countries must have been well known to each other. In the year 200 A.D., when the Emperor Chiuai was on the throne of Japan, a rebellion occurred, the suppression of which required his presence in Kiusiu. While there, his consort, the Empress Jingo, in a fit of divine inspiration told him that " a land in the west, full of treasures of gold and silver, a dazzling land, fair to look upon as a beautiful woman," had been bestowed upon him. The Emperor refused to credit, not only the gift but even the existence of the land, notwithstanding all that had been heard of it in previous years, and was punished by the gods for his want of faith with death. Then his strong-minded, courageous, and ambitious widow resolved to undertake the task that had been offered to her husband, and conquer " the land of riches " for herself and her descendants. She was at the time pregnant and therefore not in a very fit condition to undertake the organisation of a great overseas expedition, but her delivery was delayed by the curious obstetric expedient of tying a stone in her girdle, and under her directions an army was gathered and ships assembled from all the provinces. Repeated supernatural omens assured her of success, and in the tenth m,onth of the year 92 THE STORY OF KOREA 200 A.D. the great expedition sailed on a lucky day chosen by divination. Supernatural as were the omens that preceded its sailing, they were far surpassed by the facts that followed. The gods blessed it from the first. They sent a gentle spirit to guard the Emfpress and a rough one to lead her army. They sent a favourable wind which filled the sails ; the great fishes rose to the surface of the sea and bore the ships onward on their backs, so that not an oar had to be used. A great tidal wave followed, which, though the ships rode on it in perfect security, broke on the shores of Silla in a deluge that reached far up into the interior of the country and filled the inhabitants with terror. The King of Silla and his people were taken by utter surprise. " The banners of the invaders were resplendent in the sunlight ; the mountains and rivers flowed to the sound of drum and fife," and Silla, a nation more devoted to the arts of peace than of war, more skilled in the subtleties of diplomacy than in the use of military weapon^s, had nothing to oppose to them. Resistance was useless, so the King came to meet the Empress, and kneeling down, he bowed his head to the ground and promised that until the sun rises in the west, until the rivers flow backwards, and the river pebbles ascend to heaven and become the stars, Sillas will not cease to render homage and pay yearly tribute to Japan. His submis- sion was accepted by the Empress. Some of her suite proposed that the King should be put to death, but her orders to the army were : " Slay not the submissive," and this principle she loyally followed herself, and the King was spared. He had to pay dearly for his life. His treasures were seized. Eighty vessels were laden with the spoils of gold, silver, and silk, that were carried back to Japan ; EARLY RELATIONS WITH JAPAN 93 hostages were taken for the King's good behaviour, and the Empress's staff and spear were set up at his gate as memorials of his vassalage to after ages. It is not difficult to understand the easy conquest of an unwarlike kingdom, taken by surprise by invaders who were well trained to military efficiency by continued fighting in their own country ; but faith is sorely tested when we are told that the two re- maining kingdoms of Korea, Korai in the far north and Pekche in the west, awed by Silla's fate, followed her example, and without giving the army of the Empress occasion to strike a single blow, voluntarily pledged themselves to be for ever the vassals of Japan. Silla, on the east coast of the peninsula, directly facing Japan, was always exposed to attacks from the sea ; Pekche, on the west coast, was fairly secure ; while Korai, in the north, was totally inaccessible to Japan, unless her soldiers first accomplished a long, difficult march through a mountainous and hostile country, or her ships made a long and perilous voyage through unknown seas. Pekche repeatedly proved that her people were not destitute of military spirit and capacity, while Korai, so far from being a power that was likely to yield submissively to the mere threats of a semi-savage invader from a distant and unknown land, until her fall fought vigorously and successfully throughout all her history for her independence against over- whelming armies and flieets fromi China that lay only across her own borders, that fronted her on the seas just as Japan did Silla. It is unlikely in the extreme that either kingdom, in what is historically known to have been ~ their condition at the time, would have been in the least terrorised or even influenced by the downfall of Silla, which both held in contempt as a fighting factor. All Japanese, however, to the present day hold firmly to the belief that the whole 94 THE STORY OF KOREA of the peninsula of Korea submitted to their great Empress, that the three kingdoms bound themselves by similar vows, and thenceforth became the vassals of Japan, and Jingo's conquest was the remote foundation of every claim which Japan has since made on Korea down to the present generation. The researches and criticism of European savants, who are unbiassed by the national vanity and preju- dices of the descendants of the invaders, have cast a deep shadow of scepticism on the whole of the romantic story and leave as much faith in the fact of its historical occurrence as they do in the miraculous incidents that accompanied it. Dr. Aston,' the most profound of all scholars and investigators in both Japanese and Korean history, contemptuously dismisses the whole as a myth founded on two very distinct historical facts — that there was, at the time of the alleged invasion, an Empress of Japan, a woman of real determination and ability, and that not one but several Japanese invasions of Korea did occur, though at later periods, in which the Japanese did not invariably meet with the triumphant success that they claim for the Empress. The annals of early Korea have been shown by Dr. Aston to be much more reliable than those of Japan. In both cases the chronicles, prior to the introduc- tion of the art of writing and learning from China — to Korea in the fourth and Japan in the fifth century of the Christian era — are founded on oral tradition ; but those of Korea not only bear in them- selves much more striking evidence of reliability than do those of Japan, but in many of the events which they record they are confirmed by the undoubtedly ' The story of the invasion as just given and the main incidents described in this chapter are founded on Dr. Aston's translation of the " Nihongi " and his paper on " Early Japanese History," in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. xvi. EARLY RELATIONS WITH JAPAN 96 authentic contemporaneous records of China, which, when they refer to Japan, contradict or put a very different complexion on the statements of the Japanese historians. The early history of Korea is almost free from the miraculous or superhuman incidents which crowd that of Japan. Gods and goddesses, with all their virtues and vices, are as conspicuous by their absence in the one as they are by their frequent and active presence in the other. The first sovereign, " the founder " of Korea,' was a very human personage indeed, claiming neither divine descent, inspiration, nor guidance. His successors were not, like those of Japan, almost in- variai^bly centenarians, but lived and reigned only for the average periods of the lives and reigns of the sovereigns of other countries, of the west as well as of the east. Japan was always one empire, and there was, therefore, only one series of national records, the compilers of which could proceed without fear of criticism or rivalry. Korea originally consisted of three independent kingdoms, jealous of each other, frequently at war. Separate records were kept in each kingdom, each forming a check on the other, and they all present a reasonable degree qf uniformity in the great events which are described by the three in common. Finally, not only were writing and the study of Chinese literature and science introduced into Korea nearly half a century prior to the date of their introduction into Japan, but centuries prior to their introduction a large part of Korea was conquered by and became for a long period incor- porated in the Chinese Empire. Chinese officials governed it, and their scribes kept records of what was passing, which were preserved in the Chinese Imperial Archives and freely quoted by subsequent historians, both Chinese and Korean. All these cir- ' Ki-Tse, vide p. 51. 96 THE STORY OF KOREA cumstances combine to invest eiarly Korean history with a degree of credibiUty which none but the Japanese of the true faith can in the present day possibly accord to that of Japan. Both Korean and Chinese annals are absolutely silent as to the Empress Jingo's invasion, but they do record many Japanese incursions in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries of the Christian era. In 233 the invaders were defeated and slaughtered and their ships burnt; in 249, 294, and 364. they were again beaten back, each time with heavy loss ; in 346 and 393 attempts which they made to capture Kyun Ju, the capital of Silla, were unsuccessful, and during the fifth century no less than twelve attacks were made on Silla, in every one of which the Japanese had to retreat, almost always with heavy loss. Only one of them can be identified with any- thing that is mentioned in the Japanese annals. They were for the most part, no doubt, mere piratical raids on the part of the Kumaso, the savage inhabit- ants of Kiusiu, over whom but little controlling authority was in those centuries exercised by the Court at Yamato, which may, therefore, have been in total ignorance of the Kumaso excursions over the seas ; but it is evident frdm the fact that the Sillan capital, which lay some miles inland, was the objective in several instances, that the invaders must have occasionally been in very considerable force. It was not until forty-seven years after the great invasion that Pekche is again mentioned in the Japanese annals, while ninety-seven years elapsed before Korai again appears in them. In 247 Pekche sent " tribute," not apparently in fulfilment of a former pledge, but as an inducement to the founda- tion of friendly relations with a people of whose existence Pekche had only recently become aware. The messengers bearing it were graciously received, EARLY RELATIONS WITH JAPAN 97 but when their offerings were compared with those simultaneously brought from Silla, they were found to be of very inferior quality, " few and mean and of no value, while Silla sent rare objects in very great number." Inquiry elicited the disclosure that when passing through Silla on their way to Japan, the Pekche messengers had been forced, under threat of death, to exchange their offerings for those of Silla, and that the rare objects were really the tribute of Pekche and not of Silla. To the return envoy sent by Japan the King of Pekche swore that for a thousand autumns and for ten thousand years, without pause or limit, his land would bear the regular title of the Western Frontier, Province, and that every spring and autumn the envoys would attend the Japanese Court with tribute. The date of this oath is given as 249 A.D., but, as has been clearly proved by Dr. Aston and other commentators, all the early dates in the Nihongi are two cycles (120 years) too early. The proper date, assuming that the oath was really taken, should therefore be 369, a time at which not only was there strong enmity between Silla and Pekche, but the latter was also threatened on the north by Korai. It was, there- fore, no doubt anxious to secure the goodwill and the help of Japan in the complications that faced it in the peninsula, and its efforts were not in vain. Throughout all the remaining years of its existence as an independent kingdom' help was frequently given to it by Japan in its gravest crises, and a full return was made for this help by, the civilising and humanis- ing influences for which Japan was in the progress of time mainly indebted to Pekche. The first great contribution which it made was in sending a celebrated teacher of writing named Wani, whose arrival in Japan took place in 285 f according to the Nihongi, really in 405. Schools of 7 98 THE STORY OF KOREA Chinese writing and literature were founded in Pekche in 374, and thirty years later the pupils had become sufficiently proficient to act as teachers to others. Until Wani's arrival, Japan had no system of writing, no written records. Then began the studies which resulted in the wholesale adoption of all the principles of China's advanced system of civilisation, studies which to this day are the principal element in the education of a Japanese gentleman. Wani was the first of a long hst of cultured and skilled emigrants who poured into Japan through the succeeding cen- turies, who, as artistic and industrial specialists of high scientific and technical attainments, laid in Japan the foundations of her first acquaintance with all those arts and industries in which she is prominent at the present day. Missionaries followed in the track of the lay civilisers, and initiated the most triumphant campaign of propagandism' that the world has ever seen. In 552, Pekche was particularly anxious to cultivate the goodwill of Japan. The two other kingdoms of the peninsula had formed one of their few alliances, and both threatened to overwhelm, not only Pekche but the Japanese colony of Mimana. Pekche had been saved before by Japan when it had fallen against Korai alone, and now, threatened, not by one but by both its neighbours, help from Japan was once more anxiously desired. As an inducement to send it, the King included in his tribute what he regarded as his own most valued treasures — an image of Buddha, made by the sacred hands of Sakyamuni, and some volumes of the canonical books. Buddhism had been introduced into Pekche in 384, and had become the established religion of the kingdom. It now, for the first time, made its way into Japan, where it at first made slow progress, but before half a century had passed the ministrations, eloquence, and learning of the Korean EARLY RELATIONS WITH JAPAN 99 missionaries had such effect that the native gods were forgotten and Buddhism had become the religion of the whole nation, with devoted adherents in every class of life, from the Emperor on the throne downwards. Monks and nuns came as mission- aries in troops, first from Pekche and at a later date also from both Korai and Silla, and with them' came architects and builders, bell-founders, decora- tive artists whose best skill and energy were devoted to the glorifying of the religion that was new to Japan and to the provision for its services of temples worthy of all its divine merits. Civilisation and Buddhism went hand in hand through all Japan that in those days acknowledged the rule of the Emperor in Yamato (the north, it is to be r'emembered, was still held by the savage and unconquered Ainos). The original teachers of both were exclusively Korean, and many of the architectural and artistic triumphs of the early Korean proselytisers are still in existence. For its earliest knowledge of music and dancing, of astronomy, geography, and calendar -making, and of the less creditable arts of magic, invisibility, and geomancy, Japan was also indebted to Korea. Apart from the Koreans who came to Japan with the avowed object of acting as missionaries or teachers, there were large bodies who came solely as immigrants, seeking, as did the Chinese in Korea in the earlier centuries of the Christian era, refuge from the miseries of war in their own country and a new home in a land where they could hope for peace and security. In 666, two thousand emigrants qf both sexes migrated from Pekche and were settled in the eastern provinces, and smaller bodies from each of the three kingdoms, coming at various times, were similarly provided for, land being granted to them in the provinces of Qmi, Musashi, Shimotsuke, Hitachi, and Kawachi. These were all frontier pro- 100 THE STORY OF KOREA vinces of the dominions of the Emperor, exposed to the incursions of the Ainos, and the grants made to the Koreans were somewhat on a par with those on the Indian frontier made to early settlers in America, gifts that would have to be held with the sword. But the settlers were generously treated. They were provided with the necessaries of life and exempted from all taxation for three years, and from forced labour for ten years, and those of them who were of noble rank in their own homes were enrolled in the nobility of Japan. All must have infused a consider- able strain of Korean blood into the Japanese people of both high and low degree./ With Silla and Korai Japan's relations were not so close and friendly as with Pekche. Both sent frequent missions bearing what the Japanese always termed tribute, though it is somewhat difficult to understand why Korai, which was never conquered and had nothing to fear from Japan, should charge herself with the expense, trouble, and danger of send- ing tribute. Both, but Korai especially, sent mis- sionaries in considerable numbers. Korai, owing to her propinquity to China, was in advance of both Pekche and Silla in acquiring the civilisation and literature of China and in her conversion to Buddhism ; and the so-called tribute of Korai was principally the sacred images and books which were brought by missionaries, not as tokens of the vassalage of their country but as symbols of the holy faith which it was their dear object to instil into Japan. On two occasions only do the Japanese seem to have come into actual contact with Korai. Mimana, as already mentioned, bore some re- semblance to a Japanese colony, so much so, at least, that a Japanese resident and a garrison of Japanese troops were always stationed there. In 464 Silla, invaded by Korai, when her conditions were EARLY RELATIONS WITH JAPAN 101 " more precarious than a pile of eggs " sought the assistance of the Japanese from Mimana, and with their aid drew the Koraians into an ambush and totally defeated them. Nearly one hundred years later, the Emperor, taking the part of Pekche in her struggles, sent Sadahiko, a general whose name still lives in historical romance, " in command of an army of several tens of thousands of men," to attack Korai in conjunction with the troops of Pekche. He was victorious, and took and plundered the capital. Notwithstanding the assistance given to Silla on the occasions just mentioned, her relations with Japan were the reverse of those of allies. The fre- quent piratical descents that were made on her coasts by freebooters have already been referred to. More serious expeditions were occasionally sent against her, provoked by her own aggressioris on Japan's friends of Pekche, or on Japan's own sphere of Mimana. In 554, two years after the last King of Pekche made his despairing effort to buy Japan's assistance with the gift of his Buddhist treasures, his kingdom, was invaded by the combined forces of Korai and Silla. It fell before them and the King, who was taken prisoner, was, by the orders of the Sillans, murdered by a slave. Eight years later, in 526, the Nihongi curtly records that " Silla destroyed the Miyake of Imna." Attempts were subsequently made to re- establish the Japanese supremacy in it. In the autumn of the year in which it fell, an army was sent against Silla, which at first met with some success, but was eventually completely defeated by the Sillans, and two of its generals were taken prisoners. One of the two was accompanied in the field by his wife. She was taken prisoner along with her husband, who shamefully purchased his own life by giving his wife to be his captor's concubine. To make her dishonour complete she was ravished by 102 THE STORY OF KOREA her new master in a .public place, and then contemptu- ously restored to her husband. He was willing to take her back, but she was " dee;ply mortified and refused to live with him, saying : ' Thou, my former lord, having for no good reason sold thy hand- maiden's person, with what countenance could I now live with thee? ' " And she persisted in her refusal. The second prisoner was a man of different stamp ^ He was stripped of his clothes by the Sillans, and then, his naked back turned towards Japan, he was ordered to utter an insultingly contemptuous invita- tion to his own countrymen. He persisted in shouting the words of the invitation to the Sillans, and as torture failed to weaken his steadfastness, he was finally killed. Long before the fall of the two kingdoms of Korai and Pekche, Japan had begun to seek direct at its fountain-hqad the knowledge which she first derived through Korea. Japan was known to China at an early period of the Christian era, probably through Chinese adventurers who made their way to the Island Empire as they did to every part of the Asiatic continent ; but several centuries elapsed before Japan endeavoured to open up communication on her own account. In 306 (the proper date should be 426), we are told, two Koreans who, fifteen years previously, had emigrated to Japan with a large following and had been naturalised, were sent to China " to procure seamstresses," and had succeeded in fulfilling their mission with the aid of Korai. Visitors from China subsequently came to the Court on two or three occasions during the fifth century, bringing with them skilled workers, weavers and seamstresses, and were courteously received, but throughout the whole of the succeeding century China, divided between the northern and southern empires, was in a state of anarchy, and was too absorbed in EARLY RELATIONS WITH JAPAN 103 her own affairs to be able to pay "attention to a land beyond the sea. Towards the close of the sixth century pkina was reunited under the first Emperor~of~the^wi dynasty, and in the year 607 an official of the fifth rank, accompanied by an interpreter, was sent from Japan to the Court of Y,ang-Ti, the third Emperor of the Swi dynasty, the leader of the armies which invaded Korai in 611. Yang-Ti was cruel and debauched but vain and ambitious. He took the opportunity of sending along with the returning Japanese an envoy with a suite of twelve persons, to whom the Empress of Japan, who was reigning at the time, at the advice of her great minister Shotoku Daishi, paid high honour. .When the envoy took his departure, eight Japanese students, four of whom were priests, accom- panied him to his master's capital at Liaoyang, which, under Yang-Ti, had become a great seat of learning and possessed a library, founded by him, of 54,000 volumes, and remained there for more than thirty* years. From that time the Japanese students, who had hitherto completed their education in Korea, found their way in increasing numbers to China. Korea, as a source of learning and civilisation, as the provider of teachers, became neglected, and all intercourse with her gradually ceased. For six hundred years after the fall of Korai and Pekche and the unification of the peninsula by Silla it is hardly mentioned in Japanese history, and ' it was not till Kublai Khan launched his great armada that it again came into direct contact with Japan. Japan had acquired all that Korea could give her, and united ' Korea, under the protection of China, was too strong to be lightly meddled with by a nation whose hands were full of its own domestic affairs. CHAPTER VI UNITED KOREA Wang Kien was not long on his throne ere the last touch of legality was given to it by his recognition and investiture with the royal dignity by his Suzerain, the Emperor of China. While slowly climbing his upward path he had shown himself, not only a brave and able general but a capable civil administrator, receiving his first lessons in the science of govern- ment while acting as the lieutenant of the tyrant Kung-I in the provinces occupied in his name, and now that he was himself supreme ruler he soon showed that the lessons had not been thrown away. Valuable civil reforms were instituted. State institu- tions and national customs were modelled under the influence of the Chinese methods, and among other systems copied from them was that of the examina- tions of aspirants for civil posts, which lasted till the present generation in Korea and still exists in China. Buddhism was encouraged, with all its civilising influences, and a strong and well-disciplined army, no longer a terror but a protection to peaceful agriculturalists and traders, kept order throughout the provinces. He was nearly sixty years of age when he came to the throne, and his life, with all its success, had been strenuous from early youth, princi- pally passed in the field, where he shared the hard- ships of his soldiers . Now anxiety and hardship were replaced by the ease and luxury of an aristocratic 104 UNITED KOREA 106 Court, but the new King was not destined to enjoy them for long. He died within seven years from; his accession, leaving to his son an undisputed suc- cession, and having founded a dynasty which was destined to occupy the throne of Korea for more than 450 years. Wang Kien preceded lyeyasu, the great founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of Shoguns in Japan, by more than six centuries. The careers of the two, though the ages in which they lived were so widely distant, present many similarities. Both were military adventurers ; both carved out their own fortunes ; both possessed themselves of the honours and dignities of the leaders whom they had at first served as lieutenants ; both founded dynasties of long duration ; both were equally great as generals and as civil organisers and adminis- trators ; and both left testaments by which their successors were to be guided in their Government. Wang Kien advised his successors to cultivate the Buddhist religion but to be sparing in their ex- penditure on it ; to choose as the successors to the throne, not the eldest son but the one who showed himself to be best fitted for it ; to encourage and use the services of good men, and to keep bad at a distance ; to keep the army ready, and always be on the watch. These were precepts by which he had guided Tiis own life, and its success testified to their wisdom. It is not within the scope of the present work to relate in detail the story of his successors. The dynasty survived till the year 1392, and the characters of the kings during the four centuries of its existence, naturally varied. Some were worthy followers of the founder. Others had all the worgt vices that have characterised the worst sovereigns of the worst epochs either in the East or West. The advice of the founder as regards Buddhism was faith- 106 THE STORY OF KOREA fully followed in one point but not in the other. Several of his successors fell completely under the domination of Buddhist priests, to whom^ in. their religious fervour they surrendered all their freedom of will. The administration fell into the hands of a Buddhist hierarchy, who governed the country solely in the interests of their own religion and whose ranks were recruited from the aristocratic section of the people, not only voluntiarily — and the tempta- tions of rank, dignity, wealth, and influence were so great that they should have been sufficient to ensure a constant succession of ready aspirants for the coif — but compulsorily, every family in which there were four sons being ordered by royal rescript to devote one to the priesthood. Even this was not enough, and the order was afterwards extended to families in which there were only three sons. Temples of imposing magnificence were constructed at great cost, and when the buildings were finished more expense was incurred in splendid ceremonials at their dedication, at which priests from all parts of the country assembled in thousands, and still more expense in their endowment and in the celebration of the annual festivals.' As in Japan, in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- turies, the priests became strong enough to combine the callings of the soldier and the priest, converted their monasteries into impregnable fortresses, from which, when their ghostly influence temporarily waned, » During the eighth century an extraordinary revival of Buddhism took place in China, both among high and low. " Generals forsook their armies, ministers their portfolios, members of the imperial family their palaces, and merchants their business, and their families to build or dwell in monasteries, away from the clash of arms, the cares of state, or the din and bustle of life " (Ross). Korea in the fifteenth century seems not to have been unlike China in the eighth in its Buddhist fervour. UNITED KOREA 107 they sallied forth in well-armed and disciplined bands to revive it with the sword. Beneath their tyranny and exaction the lower ranks of the people were reduced to such misery that they sought refuge by Voluntarily sacrificing their status of free citizens and enrolling themselves as the hereditary slaves of great families, who armed and used them in furthering at the sword's point their own selfish ambition with utter indifference to the welfare of the State. On the one side were the powerful priesthood, numerous, wealthy, and determined, always with the sword in the right hand though they might carry the Buddhist Bible in the left ; and on the other were the civil and military mandarins, whose religious sympathies were gradually exhibited in favour of Confucianism, whichj notwithstanding all the Court favour shown to the Buddhists, had been slowly making its way in Korea from the time when the doctrines of its great founder first filtered in from China. As if these two contending factions, priests and nobles, for the favour of the King and the ofKces and power of government were not sufificient for the destruction of peace and order in a distracted State, further bitter rivalry burst out between the civil and military mandarins. One of the former, in the presence of the King, struck a military officer of high rank, whose cause was warmly espoused by his fellows, and a general massacre of the civil officials ensued. The military then seized all the offices of state, deposed and banished the King, placing his nephew on the throne in his stead, and threw the whole administra- tion into such disorder in their struggles both with the priesthood and the civilians that the whole country fell into a state of utter anarchy. The internal condition of Korea throughout this long period of disorder resembled that of Japan when, under the domination of the Ashikaga Shoguns, 108 THE STORY OF KOREA it was a scene of perpetual civil war, in which the people were reduced to the (utmost extremes of misery, starved, spoiled, and slain by the exactions, greed, and cruelty of the armies of contending feudatories. The Japanese were, however, spared the additional suffering and the humiliation of foreign invasion. Not so the Koreans. Japan, guarded from all foreign invaders by stormy seas and her own dangerous coasts, could mould her destiny secure from outside interference. Korea had always on her northern frontier restless, ambitious, and war-trained neighbours, who were ever on the watch for the opportunities and temptations that might be given to them by internal weakness or dissension in either China or Korea to extend their march southward from their northern steppes. One of the great Tuguisic tribes of nomads, whose original home was in Central Siberia, around Lake Baikal, and who had pursued a steady career of conquest, eastwards and south- wards, till they reached the frontiers of both China and Korea, was the Khitan, who gained possession of the whole of Manchuria and Liao tung, and whose strength was so great that in the eleventh century even the Emperors of China were glad to purchase immunity from' their invasions by the payment of heavy ransoms. It is from their name that that of Cathay, by which China was first made known (to medieval Europe, and which still survives in the Russian Khitai, is derived. Another powerful tribe who are said to be of the same race as the Manchus, the present rulers of the Empire, were the Nyuchi, who, coming from homes that lay in the wide districts which extended from the River Tumen to the River Sungari, spread themselves along the whole of the north-eastern frontier of Korea. They have left even a greater mark on Chinese history than the Khitan, whom they con- UNITED KOREA 109 quered and displaced, in that they overran the Empire as far as the Yangtse and founded the Kin or Golden dynasty of the Emperors of Northern China. As Cathay is derived from Khitan, so is the name China said to take its origin from Kin, which is pronounced " Jin " and sometimes written " Chin." ' A century later the Mongols— the " Braves "—another Central Asian tribe, descended, according to their own myths, from a blue wolf, migrated southward from their original home in the north-eastern Gobi, and, gather- ing strength and skill as they advanced, in their turn conquered the Nyuchi, overthrew the Kin dynasty, and, under their great leaders, Genghis Khan and his grandson, Kublai Khan, founded an empire which virtually included, not only all China but the whole north and centre of the Continent of Asia, and ex- tended from the China Sea to the shores of the Black Sea. All these tribes, when at the zenith of their fame and power, made their mark on Korean history, and either as invaders or allies, or in both capacities, added to the sufferings of the people by the wars which they forced on them or into which they dragged them. The Khitans, occupying the territory north of the Yalu, claimed to be legitimate representatives of the ancient kingdom of Kao Korai, and as such the right- ful owners of that part of the peninsula which lay to the north of the River Tatong. The claim was resisted by the Koreans, and the result was a raid in which the whole of the claimed Korean territory ' This is the derivation of "China" which is usually accepted. Mr. Ross, however, prefers to find its origin in the title of the Tsin dynasty, under which the Great Wall was built. He also derives " Mongol " from the Mongolian word meaning " Silver," not "brave " as jn the text, assuming that it was adopted as the title of the dynasty in imitation of the immediately preceding "Iron' and "Gold" dynasties. All three dynasties were of Turanian origin. 110 THE STORY OF KOREA was ruthlessly ravaged, though the raiders were ulti- mately driven back by the Koreans. Frightened at his own success, and apprehensive, in view of the great and increasing power of the Khitans, of what the future might bring, the Korean King sent an embassy to humbly acknowledge their supremacy and to beg their goodwill for the future. But the Khitan, who were now master of all the territory comprised in the modern Chinese provinces of Chili, Liaotung, and Kirin, who were already contemplating the assumption of the Imperial dignity and the title of Hwang Ti, or Emperor, which can properly be given on earth only to the Emperor of China, though pleased with this testimonial to their growing great- ness from an ancient and historic tributary of the Empire, were not satisfied. They demanded that the King of Korea should come and render homage in person, and when he refused, doubtful whether, if he trusted himself to Khitan hands, he should ever be permitted to return, another and more serious in- vasion followed ; and in ion the Khitan penetrated as far as the capital, Sunto, which they captured and burned. So changed had the Koreans become from their ancestors, who hurled defiance at and drove back the trained armies of the Tang emperors, that now a Korean soldier would not dare " even to look in the face of a Khitan." In their despair, Korea appealed to the Nyuchi for help, which was readily given. The combined forces of the Nyuchi and Koreans, by a pretended flight, tempted the victorious Khitans into an ambush, in which they were slaughtered in thousands. The alliance thus begun was continued between the two victors, and as the ambition of the Nyuchi, as they grew in numbers and organisation, and spreading all along the northern frontier of China drove the Khitans farther south and west, was satisfied with UNITED KOREA 111 their conquests in China, they did not attempt to interfere with Korea, who, on her side, humbly acknowledged the military supremacy of her ally and rendered to the Kin dynasty the same tributes of vassalage that she had been wont to lay before the former occupants of the Imperial throne. For two hundred years she enjoyed, as far as her external relations were concerned, unbroken peace, and then the dogs of war were once more let loose, and she had again to suffer the horrors of foreign invasion. This time her experience was even more bitter than it had ever been before. In the year 12 13 Genghis Khan, in his career of world-conquest, completely defeated the Kins, and thenceforward the protection of its old ally was lost to Korea. When the Mongol leader had ponsoli- dated his power in North China, and his larmies were pursuing their career of conquest to the Yangtse, he turned his attention to Korea and soon let loose his invincible horsemen on its northern provinces. Everything gave way before them. City after city was quickly taken ; a heavy tribute was exacted ; the King and his Court fled from the capital, the Kinig carrying with him the coffin which contained the remains of his ancestor, the founder of his line, but flying with such precipitancy that both he and his Court suffered intensely on the way : " It was the midst of the rainy weather, when the roads are well- nigh impassable. The whole cavalcade soon found itself mired, and torrents of rain added materially to the discomfort. Even ladies of noble rank were seen wading with bare limbs in the mud and carrying bundles on their heads. The wailing and crying of this forlorn multitude was audible for a long distance." ' All took refuge in the island of Kangwha, where the Mongols, who were only horsemen, to whom ' Hulbert, " History of Korea," vol. i. p. 195. 112 THE STORY OF KOREA even the few hundred yards of sea which separated the ,island from the mainland were an insuperable barrier, could not follow them. The Government being thus vacated, it was replaced by Mongol pre- fects, seventy-two of whom were appointed to carry on its details throughout the country. A heavy tribute was exacted, and two thousand members of noble families were taken as hostages to China. All Korea now became virtually a province of China, just as the beaten kingdoms of Korai and PSkche had been five hundred years before. The King lived in helpless seclusion at Kangwha, where he remained from 1232 to 1259. During this period his unhappy country was not allowed to remain in peace. In 1 24 1 his people, maddened by the exactions of the Mongol prefects, who neither understood nor cared for the time-established customs and institutions of Korea, and carried Qut their duties utterly regardless of both, rose in rebellion, and in the first brief moments of success, in which they took the small Mongol guards by surprise, murdered all the prefects. They had to pay a terrible reckoning for their out- break. Kublai Khan, boiling with anger, promptly dispatched an overwhelming army, against which the Koreans, now very different fighting men to the hardy mountaineers of old Korai, could make no stand, and were defeated and slaughtered wholesale by the Mon- golian horsemen wherever they met. The whole country was once more completely overrim, more heavy tributes were exacted, a more iron discipline imposed, and all the people, irrespective of rank or class, either cowered beneath the tyranny of their conquerors or, abandoning their homes, sought shelter in the wildest fastnesses of their rugged moun- tains or in the islands off the coast, both equally, inaccessible to the Mongol horsemen. Enough were left behind to furnish material to the conquerors UNITED KOREA 113 for a prolonged carnival of slaughter and for slaves, who were carried to China in tens of thousands. In 1259 the King — the son and successor of him who had first fled to Kangwha, who had died on the island — was induced to inaugurate his reign by return- ing to the capital in the first year after his accession, but it was only to rivet more firmly the chains on his Government. He was given a Mongol princess ia marriage, and from this time the position of the kings was much akin to that of the jheaven- descended Emperors of Japan throughout the Fuji- wara domination, the place of the Fujiwara in Japan being taken by the Mongol Court in Korea. As the Emperors of Japan were obliged to take their con- sorts from the ladies of the Fujiwara family, so were the Kings of Korea from the ladies of the Mongol Court, and the kings were the husbands and sons of Mongol ladies, under the absolute control of Mongol fathers-in-law or grandfathers, who left to them no active share in the administration of their Government. As the Fujiwara promptly deposed every emperor who showed the least tendency to become restive under their tutorship,, so did the Mon- gols depose or exile Korean kings who ventured to assert their independence. The condition of the kings was even more galling than that of their Imperial brothers in Japan. The latter were rendered nullities by their own subjects of the same stock as themselves, their near relatives, who, if they took away all real power from their; nominal sovereigns, had the fullest sympathy with them in all their national customs and observances, and tendered to them outwardly the profound rever- ence that was due to the viceg'erents of the gods of heaven on earth and the direct lineal descendants of the greatest of all the gods. In Korea the kings were the creatures of tutors who were their own 8 114 THE STORY OF KOREA relatives by maternal blood or marriage, but who were alien to them in race ; who were ignorant o£ and totally without sympathy with their national traditions ; who, in the contempt which bold an'd successful soldiers have for a beaten people who have lost their military qualities in ease and effeminacy, regarded their sovereign only as |a gilded puppet. The kings were forbidden even to use their native language or to preserve the traditional ceremonies of their Court. Nothing Korean was left them. They were forced to speak only the language and wear only the dress of their conquerors, and the Court at Sunto was in all its details a replica of that of Peking, where Kublai Khan had fixed his capital. The queens, too, shocked their subjects by their freedom. The seclusion of women is the most cardinal point in the social system of Korea. There is no record in Korean history of women who played the great parts on the historic stage of their country that so many of the Japanese women have done, even in military events. Korean heroines have earned the few humble niches .that have been given to them in the national temple of fame more by passive endurance than by active forti- tude. They have borne torture with the calm courage and unyielding determination of the early Roman martyrs or their later sisters in Japan, and have gone to the stake or scaffold without a tremor ; but they have never stood, as did so many Japanese, beside their husbands or sons to share actively m the last despairing defence of a hard -fought siege. Their whole training utterly unfitted them for heroism of that nature. Very different was the upbringing of the Mongol princesses, the daughters of men who were seldom absent from the battle or hunting field ; and when, while on the throne of Korea, some of these showed theipselves bold horsewomen and keen UNITED KOREA 115 hunters, the Korean sense of rigid female propriety- was shocked to its very core. iWhen the banners of the conquering Mongols had been carried in triumph and the beat of their drums had been heard all over Asia, from Korea and Siam to the Black Sea and Moscow, and Kubl^i Khan was the acknowledged ruler of an entire continent, of a greater extent of territory than all the rest of the history of the world shows to have ever passed under the sway of one man, one insignificant island Empire was still beyond the reach of his arm, was still un- numbered among his vassals. Japan was at this period, under the able and firm government of the Hojo regents, enjoying one of the few interregnums of peace and prosperity that fell to her lot in the Middle Ages. The intercourse which she carried on in earlier centuries with the Court of the southern Empire at Nanking, when she was supplementing, at its original fountain, the learning which she first acquired through Korea, had fallen into abeyance ; and Japan, being now able to provide her own teachers, had dispensed with those of China, just as she did in the nineteenth century with those of Europe when she had drawn from them all they had to impart. Her only connection with China was maintained by her piratical cruisers, which harried the coasts and terrorised and plundered the in- habitants. It was through these pirates, no doubt, that Kublai Khan's attention was drawn to Japan. His first motive in opening up negotiations was to put a stop to their raids, but in doing so two birds could be killed with one stone and his might and majesty made known beyond the seas, as they were on the continent, at the same time that security could be obtained for his people on the coasts of China. The story of his abortive negotiations and of his ill-fated expeditions belongs rather to Japan than 116 THE STORY OF KOREA Korea ; but as Korea was, sorely against her iwill, drawn into both, and as her sufferingte from' their consequences were long and bitter, it must be told here with the utmost brevity of which it admits. Five embassies were sent from China to Japan, the first in 1268, the last in 1273, each accompanied by Korean representatives. The opening words of the first letter from Kublai Khan, brought by the first embassy, were in themselves sufficient to kindle the anger and indignation of the high-spirited, un- conquered Japanese to white heat — " The Emperor of China ,addresses the King of Japan." The aldventurer and .robber, who had only emerged a generation previously from barbaric nomadism, by these words placed himself on a far higher level than the time- honoured Ruler of the Land of the Gods, himself a son of the gods. No reply was vouchsafed to the letter, though the embassy waited in Japan in vain for nearly six months. The subsequent embassies had even a worse reception. The envoys were de- tained as prisoners where they landed on the coast of Kiusiu, and not permitted to proceed to the Court either of the Shogun at Kamakura or of the Emperor at Kioto. Then Kublai determined to teach reason to the audacious and ill-mannered islanders. The Mongols, as before stated, were no sailors and haid no ships. But the Koreans, their humble yassaJs, were both experienced sailors and could construct ships, and Korea was the nearest point to Japan, from which the crossing of the sea from the continent was shortest. So the unhappy people were dragged into a quarrel in which they had no interest, iwith another nation whose military prowess was as well known to them as it was the reverse to their tyrant, and ordered to prepare a transport fleet, provisions for the Mongol army, not only while on its marth UNITED KOREA 117 through Korea but during the entire expedition, and a military contingent to co-operate with it. It was near the close of the year 1274 that this expedition sailed. The islands of Tsushima and Iki were taken after a stout resistance, but when the expedition reached the coast of Kiusiu the landing force was outnumbered and out -fought by the de- fenders ; and though the latter suffered heavily, the invaders were driven back to their ships with still greater loss. The defeat was followed by a. storm, which caused such damage to the ships that it was considered advisable that the whole fleet should with- draw, it having now become quite evident to the experienced Mongol soldiers that their force was en- tirely insufficient for the task assigned to them. They had on land hitherto been accustomed to carry all before them. Their one fight with the Japanese had taught them that they had now a foe who, man for man, was the equal of the best of themselves. On the other side, the Japanese, though victorious, had also lost heavily ; and Kublai, thinking they would hesitate to give him cause for another invasion, tried the experiment of another embassy, which had orders not to return without a written reply. This time his envoys were not only imprisoned but decapi- tated. This was in 1275. During the next if our iyears he was too fully occupied with continental affairs to give his attention to those beyond the sea, and it was not till 1279 that the tranquillisation of Southern China afforded him leisure to think again of Japan. Then, unwarned by the fate of the pre- vious, he sent another and a last embassy. Its faiembers were not, as had been their immediate predecessors, brought to Kamakura, but beheaded in Kiusiu, where they landed. This final outrage of the elementary principles of intertiational cotirtesy was more than a much milder and weaker man than 118 THE STORY OF KOREA the conqueror of continental Asia could have borne, and he was in no mood to submit to the gross insults which the Japanese had added to their former defiance. He was also now in a much stronger position than he had been at the time of his first experiment in over -seas expeditions. Then he was dependent solely on the Koreans for sailors and ships. Now he had at his disposal all the maritime resources of Southern China, on whose wind-swept coasts were tens of thousands of competent sailors. There an armada of 300 great ships with innumerable tenders was prepared, while the unhappy, exhausted, and downtrodden Korea was called upon to furnish another great fleet of more than 1,000 ships of all sizes fully manned and equipped. The fighting men embarked in both fleets were, according to the Japanese authorities, more than 100,000, but more than 180,000 according to the Korean and Chinese. The story of this expedition has been told else- where by the present writer,' and it will suffice herfe to say that even greater disaster attended it than that which befell the Armada of Spain on the British coasts ; and of all the proud force that sailed so gallantly for the conquest of Japan, it is said that only three men survived to carry the tale to their master. Storm and shipwreck caused the greatest loss, and on the shores of Kiusiu " the dead bodies covered the sea so that one could walk on it." Neither Kublai nor his own soldiers had any hCiart for further attempts to crush the independence of the islanders, who, in their turn, could do the Mongols no vital injury ; but Korea, Kublai's unwilling partner, which had been drained of her very life- blood in providing men, ships, and supplies, had to pay heavily for her share. For the next three hundred years her coasts were harried from end to end by ' Vide, "ThelStory of Old Japan." UNITED KOREA 119 Japanese freebooters, who not only scoured the seas on her east from the River Tumen southwards and swept the Korean shipping off them, but made their way even as far as the mouth of the River Tatongj on the west, landed in and plundered the Island of Kangwha, captured and burned Hangyang (Seoul), and came almost within shouting distance of the capital itself, killing, without distinction of age or sex, burning, and, plimdering wherever they appeared. The Japanese soldiers and sailors of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries looked upon the Koreans pre- cisely as the sailors of Elizabeth looked upon the Spaniards of the Western Main — would-be oppressors, if they had the courage and skill to carry out their wishes ; vermin whose extinction in any way and by any means was an acceptable tribute to the gods of heaven ; poltroons who, though outnumbering their overseas foes by three to one, would always flee before them, the wholesale plunder of whose property was no robbery. In Japan itself, through these centuries, peace was unknown ; every man's hand was against his neighbour ; might was the only right, and whosoever could enriched himself by despoiling others. Soldiers whose feudal lords were defeated and their fiefs confiscated, masterless and homeless, proscribed fugitives in their own country, jvvere always ready to seek across the seas com- pensation for what they had lost at home ; and the scant mercy which they had experienced from enemies and victors of their own nationality gave them little inducement to show mercy to aliens who could not defend themselves, their women, or their goods. Life to the Koreans on the coasts through those days was one unending dread. Neither day nor night was ever free from the anxious expectation of the signal that announced the approach of the swift galleys, carrying ruthless, unsparing plunderers. 120 THE STORY OF KOREA reduced by their own miseries at home to a condition of semi-savage ferocity. The Mongol dynasty in China lasted till 1368. Kublai Khan died in 1294, and his successors on the throne rapidly degenerated. They had always been aliens and conquerors in China ; they never assimilated with the real natives, and only main- tained their power when their strong right arms were guided by capable rulers, and when the last ■failed the first were of little use. In 1355 the oppressed Chinese rose in rebellion, under a leader who was the son of a common labourer and who himself had been a Buddhist priest, who changed his robes for armour and his rosary for the sword, and, placing himself at the head of his countrymen, proved himself a general of consummate genius and a civil ruler of infinite wisdom. Before him the Mon- gols were driven out of China, and when that ha,d been accomplished the labourer's son, the ex -priest, ascended the Imperial throne as the Emperor Hung Woo, and became the founder of the Ming or Bright dynasty of the Emperors of China, which lasted from 1368 till 1644. Throughout all the reigns of the Mongol Emperors the Kings of Korea, closely allied to them by blood, were their subservient vassals, rendering the most abject obedience to all their behests ; and the degradation of the Korean Court in its own interior morality was even more marked than that of the Imperial Court at Peking. When rebellion raised its head in China, and the rebels, under a low-born monk, drove their oppressors from throne and power, the infection crossed the borders and spread into Korea, and here, too, a capable leader was found when the exigency demanded it. The last sovereigns of the dynasty of Korea who survived the fall of the Mongols, when they were UNITED KOREA 121 relieved from the check which their former suzerains had exercised over them and had not yet had time to feel the strong hand of the Mings, gave way more and more to ease and licentiousness, and all the evils of their misgovemment became intensified. It had become the custom of the Crown Prince to spend part of his early manhood at the Mongol Court at Peking, where he imbibed Mongol vices and the taste for the coarse pleasures of the Mongol, and found the attractions of the Court so superior, both for himself and his Mongol wife, to those of his own, that often after he had succeeded to the throne his time was passed rather at Peking than in Sunto, his government being left to the tender mercies of cruel and avaricious officials. His predecessors wasted their resources in the building of temples and the promotion of Buddhism. Now it was on immense hunting trips that treasure was lavished, and the (cultivated fields of the people were ruthlessly trampled and the crops destroyed by the swarms of horsemen who accompanied the hunt. The Mongol queens often proved jealous consorts, and exercised a vigilant watch on their royal husbands ; but even the dread of their masculine wrath did not prevent the kings indulging in the worst licence. One king used to insist on the privilege of maiden rights ; another not only furnished his harem with the fairest maidens of noble families, but supplied his relatives at Peking with those he did not require for himself, and created such a reign of terror that the fathers of attractive daughters among the nobles were forced to hide them in obscurity ; another, not satisfied with his own harem, appropriated that of his dead father, and with all the chosen beauties of both harems at his disposal for the gratification of his lust, he used to wander in the streets at night and, entering haphazard the houses of well-to-do citizens. 122 THE STORY OF KOREA violate the daughters who took his fancy. All this time the people groaned under an intolerable burden of taxation, which was always being increased and the proceeds devoted solely to the licence and extravagance of the Court. At the head of the Army in the reign of the last of the depraved dynasty was Yi Taijo, who, though of noble descent from an old Silla • family and the son of an illustrious soldier, owed his position entirely to his own merits and services. He was as virtuous as he was brave and wise. He had especially dis- tinguished himself against the Japanese pirates, whom he often routed while his sovereign was passing his time in alternate hunting and debauchery. Weary with the ills of the nation, which he had in vain tried to minimise, he formed a conspiracy with his fellow-officers ; and though the King was his own son-in-law, he forced him to abdicate, and then banished him and all his family to Kang iWha. The throne was now vacant. There was no one in the kingdom so fitted to fill it as the leader of the con- spiracy, who had endeared himself to all the people by his services to the nation and by his wisdom and his goodness, and Yi Taijo was acclaimed as King amidst universal rejoicing. The choice of the people was readily ratified by the Ming Emperor, whose sympathies naturally went to an oppressed people and a leader who had overthrown an unworthy family of tyrants ; and when he had conferred the formal investiture on Yi Taijo, the legal confirmation of the latter's position was complete. The d3masty founded by Wang Kien in 935 thus came to an end in 1392, there having been in all thirty-three sovereigns of the line. That founded by Yi Taijo was destined to even a longer life, having continued to our own day, and being only closed when the annexation by Japan extinguished all kingship in Korea. CHAPTER VII CHOSEN— FIRST PERIOD The lives of the founders of the two dynasties of sovereigns who have reigned over united Korea present many similarities. Botli were soldiers who by their bravery and skill raised themselves from a comparatively humble position in life to one of royal dignity. Both led hard and strenuous lives. The personal merits and national services of both endeared them to the hearts of all their people and caused their accession to be received by all classes with unanimous acclamations of joy, in the hope, in the first case, that a country long torn by civil war would thence- forward enjoy internal peace and present a united front to foreign foes ; in the second, that an end would be put to a selfish and debauched Court that, in the last century of its existence, had wrought untold miseries on a misgoverned and oppressed people. Both attained their final dignities when far advanced in life, and both lived to enjoy and utilise them only for a few brief years. Taijo's first act on coming to the throne was to found a new capital. When the present Emperor of Japan resumed, after the lapse of many centuries, the direct control of the administration of his Empire and founded what was practically a new Government, it was considered politically advisable to change the Imperial capital, and the seat of government was removed from the old city of Kioto to the modern 133 124 THE STORY OF KOREA Yedo (Tokio). A similar spirit seems to have actuated the Korean statesmen at each change of dynasty. iWhen Silla, the last of the three kingdoms which shared the peninsula, fell, its historic capital, kyun Ju, rich though it was in architectural splen- dours and in all the luxuries of life, was abandoned in favour of Sunto, and there the successors of iWang Kien held their Court during four hundred years. When the last degraded representative of the Wang dynasty was deposed in favour of that of the Taijo, it was again considered advisable that a new capital should be chosen, that the last traces of the old dynasty should be erased, and a new departure made locally as well as politically. Notwithstanding all that the inhabitants of Sunto had suffered from the last member of the old dynasty, they had known him and his predecessors as their sovereigns for four hundred years ; their city had shared in the reflected glory of the Throne, and they could not be easily reconciled to their new sovereign, however great were his merits. This sentimental attachment to the old dynasty has lasted even to the present day ; and though over five hundred years have passed, the inhabitants of Sunto still cling to the memories of the good old days when their city was a splendid capital, and, forgetting the infamies of their predecessors, still look on the Taijo as usurpers, and were to the last regarded by the Taijo sovereigns as unworthy of their confidence. The change in Korea was greater than that which our own day has witnessed in Japan. The Emperor of Japan only moved from one great city to another, less dignified in its memories and less venerable in all its religious and historical associations, but already wealthier, more splendrd and prosperous than the one he had left. Taijo had to found his new capital by building a new city where there was only CHOSEN— FIRST PERIOD 125 a village before. The site chosen is a high testi- monial to his strategic skill, his commercial instincts, his regard for historic associations, and his taste for natural beauties, a taste which he shared with all his countrymen, who, in their love of all that is beautiful in Nature, are second only to the Japanese. Kioto and Edinburgh are rivals in their claims to be the most picturesquely situated cities in the world. The capital of Korea, on the banks of the wide and swiftly flowing River Han, encircled, except where the river flows, by picturesque hills, almost worthy of the name of mountains, falls little behind either, though its physical characteristics are unlike both. It lies almost in the heart of the kingdom, nearly equidistant from the extreme north and south ; it is connected with the sea by one of the very few navigable rivers in Korea ; from the military poin,t of view it is strong both in itself and in its outposts ; and in its historic memories it had equal claim's to the sentiments of the descendants of all the three ancient kingdoms, as it lay near the frontiers where all three met. Taijo called his new capital Han Yang (the Fortress on the Han) ; but just as the old Imperial capital of Japan was popularly known, not by its ancient title of Heianjo (the Castle of Peace) but as Miyako, so Han Yang came to be spoken of only as Seoul, both Japanese and Korean words having the same meaning, " the capital." With the change of his capital the new King changed also the name of his kingdom. From the unification it had been known as Korai, the title of the far-away district north of the Sungari from which, according to the accepted myths, the founder of the Korean race originally migrated, and afterwards of the vigorous kingdom of the north which so long resisted the might of China. Taijo reverted to the still older title of the Kingdom of Ki Tse, and decreed 126 THE STORY OF KOREA that his kingdom should henceforward be known as Chosen, the name by which their country has since been spoken of by the people, and by which it has been known to their Chinese and Japanese neighbours . The building of the new capital proceeded apace, and it was soon girdled with a crenelated wall, vary- ing from 25 to 40 feet in height, which winds over the hills and ravines on which the city is built for a total distance of 14 miles, and, with all its original gateways, remains to this day. There are eight gateways in all, each capped with one or two-storied pavilions and closed by heavy wooden gates. Two hundred thousand men were employed in its construc- tion. Some of the gates were only opened on rare and special occasions, such as for the egress of the King if it ever became necessary for him to take refuge in the mountain fortress of Pak-han, and all were rigidly closed from the hour at which the curfew was rung on the great city bell till dawn, between which hours neither rank nor money, neither cajolery nor bullying would procure admission for the belated traveller. While devoting himself to the building of the capital, the new King did not neglect the political reorganisation of the State. For administrative pur- poses the whole country was divided into eight provinces, which, though five of them have recently been subdivided by the Japanese into two, each re- taining its old name with the addition of North or South, have continued as they were 'first de- liminated down to our own day. Buddhism, much though the country owed to it for its first civilisation, in later years had proved nothing but a curse through the arrogance, tyranny, and licence of the priests. It therefore now fell on evil days, and its influence and power were curbed. China was now governed by a sovereign of its '.J. ,V-j:'^.!l-.'21SS VIEW OF SEOUL, LOOKING TOWARDS THE SoUTHEKX MOUXTAIN'. a-'ioiii S/i>iw;;r)/.) CHOSEN— FIRST PERIOD 127 own people, and no longer lay prostrate beneath the descendants of semi-savage northern warriors ; the indigenous civiHsation and litera'toire of China were eagerly cultivated at Peking, and as the Ming emperor had promptly recognised the new Korean dynasty, Korea, both in gratitude and for her own sake, fol- lowed the Peking fashion. Confucianism became her recognised religion and the basis of her moral ethics instead of Buddhism. Success in examinations in Chinese literature, with its consequent degrees, was made the sole passport to official employment ; the system of taxation was equitably reformed, and the whole military system reorganised, so that the army became a reality instead of what it had been under the last of the Yangs, a rabble that was impotent against foreign foes, and a terror only to the peaceful citizens of its own country. Feudalism was abolished. It had only existed in a very modified form in Korea, but some nobles had gathered around them such large bands of armed retainers that, under the preceding dynasty, they became a danger to the peace of the State, often using their power against the Court. They were now ordered to disband these retainers and their old military power therefore ceased to exist. Diplomatic representations were made to Japan to demand the repression of the pirates, whose raids still continued, not only on the coasts of Korea but of China ; but Japan was at this time in a condition of anarchy which rivalled the worst days of Korea, and its Government, even if willing, was helpless to curb its own lawless subjects. But the Korean soldiers, well drilled and equipped, soon became a match for the boldest of the pirates, and not only often drove them off with heavy loss, but pursued and exterminated them upon the sea. Three ports in the south — principal among them being Fusan — were declared to be open to honest Japanese traders 128 THE STORY OF KOREA or to Government missions, and the entry of Japanese into the kingdom otherwise than by, one of these ports was forbidden. Some of these reforms were not accomplished during Taijo's reign, but in those of his sons and immediate successors. Taijo's own reign lasted only for seven years, when, being now far advanced in years, he made way for his son by abdicating. His early successors were all rulers who showed themselves worthy of their descent, and under them the country had both peace that was imbroken, save for the incursions of Japanese raiders, and prosperity. To some of them it still owes a deep debt of grati- tude. Tai jong (1418-50), the younger son of Taijo, and the third of the line to reign, first conceived and carried out the idea of movable copper types. In 1403, forty-seven years before the first printing from movable type was known in Europe, the King said to his attendants : " Whoever is desirous of governing must have a wide acquaintance with books, which alone will enable him to ascertain principles and perfect his own character and to attain to success in regulating his conduct, in ordering his family aright, in governing and tranquillis- ing the State. Our country lies beyond the seas, and but few books reach us from China. Block-cut works are apt to be imperfect, and it is, moreover, difficult thus to print all the books that exist. I desire to have types moulded in copper, with which to print all the books that I may get hold of, in order to make their contents widely known. This would be of infinite advantage. But as it would not be right to lay the burden of the cost upon the people, I and my relations and those of my distinguished officers who take an interest in the undertaking ought surely to be able to accomplish this." ' To carry out the suggestion, the King contributed his own private treasure and furnished models for the types, and within a few months several hundred " Satow, " Notes on Movable Types in Korea." Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. x. CHOSEN— FIRST PERIOD 129 thousand were cast. His two successors on the throne developed what he had done ^id caused new founts to be cast, which exceeded the first both in fineness of workmanship and in size, so much so that, in the words of a contemporary scholar, " it would be impossible to add to the perfection of the workmanship. Henceforward there will be no book left unprinted and no man who does not learn. Literature and religion will make daily progress and the cause of morality must gain enormously." Not only books printed from these founts are still in existence, but even some of the very type cast by Tai jong. Printing from movable type made of clay as well as xylography had been long previously known in China, but the Koreans are entitled to the credit of having been the first to use the clearer and more durable metal type. The same sovereign displayed his readiness to sacrifice his own personal comfort for the benefit,' of his people in other ways than by devoting hipr treasure to the casting of type. In the year 1401, the first of his reign, there was famine in the land. The national alcoholic drink of the Koreans is, as is that of the Japanese, brewed from rice, and in order that all the grain might be spared for food, the King ordered that brewing should temporarily cease. When he found that his orders were not obeyed, he concluded that it was because drink was still served in the Court, and he therefore ordered that its use should cease even there. With this example before them, the people could no longer indulge themselves in what their sovereign abstained from, and his first orders were then readily obeyed. His son and successor, Se jong (1450-2), was a worthy follower of his great father. Great though the benefit conferred on his people by his father in his inven- tion of movable type and the diflfusion of literature 9 130 THE STORY OF KOREA that followed, it was surpassed by what the son achieved in inventing, with the assistance of some of the literati of the Court, the Korean alphabet, the On-mun, which is pronounced by expert sinologues to be one of the most perfect alphabets in the world. The father's types were only used for the printing of Chinese ideographs, the knowledge of which is the necessary accomplishment, not only of every scholar but of every gentleman in the three far Eastern nations — China, Japan, and Korea — and a limited knowledge of which is an essential part of even an elementary education. Both Koreans and Japanese owed their first acquaintance with the art of writing to China, and in both countries all writing was, for many centuries, confined to the system' of ideographs, which is all that the Chinese have to the present day. Its acquisition to a degree which enables the student to read anything but the most elementary books is a long and laborious task, demanding almost the whole of the first decade of a schoolboy's life, and many never go beyond the first steps. Women, almost universally, irrespective of rank or occupation, were also content with a very limited knowledge of the ideographs. To all these classic and the greater part of the current literature were sealed books. The Japanese eased the difficulty in some degree by the invention of their syllabaries, but the Korean king achieved a far more scientific and beneficial triumph by giving to his people an alphabet that was equally easy to acquire and apply. The seventh King, Sijo (1456-69), acquired the throne by deposing and murderipg the rightful occupant, a boy, but made such amends for his crime by a vigorous reign, characterised by reforms as beneficial as they were drastic, that his crime is forgotten arid only his merits remembered by the Koreans, and the succession of able, upright, and w a o o * o ^'^ OT^^ ^^ ^r::^;^^W^^r^ I 132 THE STORY OF KOREA active sovereigns of the Taijo line was only broken for the first time in 1494, when King Yunsan, the eleventh of the line, came to the throne, 102 years after the accession of the founder of the line. His mother, who was raised from the position of concubine to that of queen, was a woman of violent temper, who was degraded and banished from Court for having scratched the King's face in a fit of jealousy. She left to her son the legacy of avenging her, aiid his first act when he came to the throne at the age of twenty was to sentence to death, not only every one who had taken any part, no matter how insignificant or remote, in his mother's fall, but also, as was the custom at the time, all their families and households, relatives of any degree, wives, children, servants^ and slaves. Even death was not a barrier against his anger. The sanctity of the tomb is in China and Korea tenfold what it is in Europe. No greater outrage can be committed than that of disturbing the remains of father or ancestor, and when this takes place, no matter how innocent of any share in it son or descendants may be, disaster and punishment are sure to fall on them. Disturbance of graves has always been one of the greatest obstacles to railway development in China, and would have been in Korea had the people dared to raise their hands or voices against the Japanese, to whom the introduction of railways into Korea is owing, and who constructed the principal lines in time of war. The young King opened the graves of his mother's persecutors, who had died before his accession, and dismembered and flung the fragments of their bodies on the dustheaps. Women, horses, dogs, and falcons alike appealed to his tastes, and the fairest of women and the best of animals were sought for and taken throughout the whole country. No one was safe against his lust, cruelty, and cupidity, and CHOSEN— FIRST PERIOD 133 no ties of relationship were a bar to thein gratifica- tion. At last, after eleven years of misrule, he was deposed and banished. His successor was his half- brother. At his accession a curious instance was furnished of the Oriental practice of extending the guilt of an offender to his family. The new King's wife was a daughter of one of the late King's creatures who had aided him in his misdeeds. He had fallen with his master, and the ministry now insisted that his daughter should share his fate, and the King, though devoted to his wife, was forced to submit and replace her by another. The new King inherited all the best qualities of his father as a governor and reformer, and the example of his own life had such effect on the people that his reign, which extended over forty years, earned the title of the " Golden Age of Korean morals." " The people, revolting from the excesses of the depraved King, took on a Puritan simplicity. Men and women walked on opposite sides of the street. If any article was dropped on the road, no one would touch it, but would leave it for the owner to recover. No one had to lock his doors at night." ■ Two important incidents of his reign have to be mentioned — the first, a Japanese defeat ; the second, a persecution of Buddhists. The Japanese settlers at Fusan broke out in riot, not without some reason, against the local Korean authorities, and for a short time gave in the district a very colourable imitation of the worst of the pirate raiders. The strong King and Government were prompt in their measures. The rioters, attacked on land and their flight cut off by sea, were exterminated. This was in 15 12. From this year until 1573 there was no diplomatic inter- course between Korea and Japan, and the commercial intercourse was almost nil, carried on by a few ' Hulbert, " History of Korea,'' vol. i. p. 320. 134 THE STORY OF KOREA .straggling Japanese settlers who were rigidly con- fined to Fusan. It was in Japan the worst period of anarchy in its history, in which the whole Empire from end to end was seething in the worst passions and miseries of civil war. In 1573 order was restored under the dictatorship of Nobunaga,' and there was a commercial revival. The settlement at Fusan was extended and a brisker interchange of products originated, but still the Governments of the two countries kept aloof. It was in this reign that the repression or perse- cution of Buddhism reached its apogee. The literati, disciples of Confucius and profoimd students of the classics, had been gradually growing in influence and, through schools in every pravince, spread his doctrines and maxims among all classes. Buddhism was gradually eliminated ; the temples and monasteries were closed, the priests forbidden to enter the capital ; they were also forbidden to cele- brate marriages or funerals. Later kings who attempted to stem the tide of illiberality or to restore the ancient religion were deposed and exiled. The happy, golden days of Chung Jong were followed by a dark period when, in the minority of his successor, his mother governed as regent and was under the influence of unworthy favourites ; but we may pass over the interim until the year 1575. In that year a quarrel occurred between two powerful nobles of the Court, caused by one obtaining an honour to which the other considered he had better claims. All their retainers, friends, and dependents were drawn into the quarrel, and the result was the formation of two rival parties among the nobility, which germinated such bitterness that the rivalry became permanent, and the parties, afterwards sub- divided into four, have ever since survived. It is • Vide, "The Story of Old Japan." 9 -A-f f^ \'J •ft-iiis BUDDHIST MONASTERY AN'D MONKS. irrciii SkyioSraph Ccpyyight, i'lulincw.l & i'lniiTn'Oini, Lciufcii.) To face p. 134. CHOSEN— FIRST PERIOD 135 to their antagonism, which never permitted them to sink party spirit in national patriotism, which placed party membership far above merit and far below guilt, which was the fountain of as wretched mis- government as the world has ever seen, that all the subsequent woes of Korea are as much owing as to aught else. The two parties first formed adopted the titles of Easterners and Westerners. Some years later an incident occurred as trivial as any of those which during the last two centuries were the causes of the formation of the Irish factions, the members of which could never meet at fairs, races, funerals, or other celebrations dear to the heart of the Irish peasant, without fighting, or of the inter -regimental feuds that formerly existed between certain regi- ments of his Majesty's Army. The Irish faction quarrels were always local ; those of the British regiments concerned no one but themselves and the police, who often suffered while the soldiers were settling their differences in orthodox British style ; but the results of the Korean squabble were national. Two further rival Court parties were formed, who dubbed themselves Southerners and Northerners. The Southerners subsequently absorbed the East- erners, and while these two formed one party, the Northerners split into two, distinguished as the Great and Little Northerners. The Great Northerners afterwards became involved in a con- spiracy against the King and the majority of its members suffered the death penalty, families being, as usual, included in the punishment of the head, so that the membens of the party were ahnost extermi- nated, the few survivors seeking refuge in the ranks of the Little Northerners. There were then three parties in the Court, Westerners, Southerners, and Little Northerners, and this division lasted for nearly a hundred years. 136 THE STORY OF KOREA Then a further cleavage took place, the cause — a dispute between a teacher and his pupil, both belong- ing to the Westerners, as to the proper wording of an epitaph-^again being trivial in the extreme, strongly testifying to the absolute banalities which occupied the minds and were magnified into great questions by the Korean courtiers. The Westerners Iwere now divided into '" Elders " and " Juniors," the respective backers of the teacher and the pupil in their literary differences. The four parties as last constituted — " Elders," " Juniors," " Southerners," and " Little Northerners " — survived until the present generation, and their influence was not dead even at the annexation ; the most powerful were the Southerners and the Elders. Every noble was obliged to belong to one or other of the four, and the membership was always hereditary, the son join- ing the party to which his father had belonged in his lifetime.' Political parties in other countries have always a well-defined political platform, and however much their members may be inwardly influenced by the possession or expectation of well-paid ofifices, out- wardly they are influenced solely by what each con- siders the good of the country. No such shallow pretence ever actuated or was ever professed by the Korean politicians. The sole object of all parties was ofiSce, and as all offices were in the gift of the King the attainment of his favour was a means to office. No merit, no ability, no national service on the part of the holder ever stood in the way of a member of an opposite party endeavouring to oust him by fair means or by foul, by assassination, by false charges supported by suborned evidence, or by bribery of the King's concubines or relatives. One illustration only need be quoted. It will be told in • Dallet, " Histoire de I'Eglise de Coree," vol. i. introduction. CHOSEN— FIRST PERIOD 137 the next chapter how, when Korea lay prostrate at the feet of the Japanese invaders, when her King was a fugitive and her capital occupied by the enemy, when her future, shrouded in apparently hopeless darkness, seemed to be that of a Japanese province, the entire outlook was changed and the country saved by the bravery and genius of one admiral.' It might have been expected that the nation would as one man have acclaimed the hero who had saved them, and that no party spirit would have stood in the way of heaping on him the honours he had so well deserved. Not so. He was not of the party who were around the King, who, while he was fighting on the seas, were cowering and quibbling far away from the enemy amidst the comforts of the Court. The King's jealousy was stimulated against him, and the reward which the Nelson of Korea received for his great services was that of reduction to the ranks of common seamen. The country had afterwards to pay dearly for the miserable ingratitude of the King and the political malignity of the courtiers. If the " outs " were unscrupulous in their methods of ousting the " ins," the latter were equally so in their own defence. They rigorously excluded their rivals from access to the King and availed themselves of every pretext to condemn them to death or exile. Whether an attempt to oust the " ins " failed or succeeded, the result in one respect was the same, no mercy was shown to the losers. The Confucian maxim that " the same canopy of Heaven cannot shelter the son or servant of an injured father or master and his wrongdoer " was even more pre- dominant in Korean than in Japanese ethics, and the vendetta, carried to its most bitter end, was not the least of the national ills that followed on the » Vide, p. i68. 138 THE STORY OF KOREA party system. The son of a murdered or exiled father was bound by the most sacred obligations of religion and honour to see that his enemy met with the same fate. The whole foundation of religion, now that Buddhism was dispossessed of all its hold, was the worship of ancestors, and whosoever did not avenge the wrongs of his father was forsworn, had forfeited his right to bear his name. " The noble who lost life or office through the machinations of an enemy bequeathed the duty of revenge to his descendants. Often he put upon them an outward symbol of their oath. He would, for example, give to his son a coat with the order never to disrobe himself of it till the vengeance was taken. The son wore it always, and if he died before his task was accomplished, he, in his turn, transmitted it to his son on the same condition. It is no uncommon thing to see nobles clad in rags which, for two or three generations, have night and day reminded them of the debt of blood that has to be paid before the souls of their ancestors can be at rest." ' The vendetta, with its inexorable claims, con- tributed no small quota to the political distractions that ensued from the never-ending party squabbles, and combined with them to render efficient govern- ment impossible. ■ Dallet, " Histoire de I'Eglise de Coree,'' vol. i. introduction. CHAPTER VIII HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION : THE FIRST STAGE We have now arrived at that period in her history at which Korea may be said to have' started on her downward path. For two centuries she had been governed by a dynasty of sovereigns who furnished many strong and capable rulers ; and though they always acknowledged themselves to be and acted as the vassals of China, they at the same time claimed and exercised the rights and privileges of perfectly independent sovereigns, both in the administration of their own kingdom and in their relations with Japan, the only foreign country beside China with which they were acquainted. Throughout these two centuries Korea had enjoyed peace that was only interrupted by the occasional raids of Japanese pirates, which, however disastrous to the localities which suffered from them, were insignificant from a national point of view. She had made great advances in civilisation and prosperity. Polite learn- ing, as typified in the knowledge of the Chinese classics, was universal among the higher classes, while among the lower many of her artisans had attained a high degree of technical and artistic skill. Both her agricultural and fishing industries were sources of considerable wealth, and her people, homogeneous, industrious, intelligent, and tranquil, lived in physical comfort and security. Peace, however, if it had its blessings, had also its national disadvantages, one of which was that the 139 140 THE STOm' OF KOREA military system had from' disuse and neglect fallen into a state of utter inefficiency. The whole people were included in two classes, and two classes only — on one side the nobles and on the other the commoners, who were mere serfs, the property of the nobles, to be dis- posed of at their will, as freely as any of their inani- mate possessions. The nobles were solely occupied in political intrigue, those who were in the favour of the King and held office for the time being striving to retain it, and those who were not giving all their thought, energy, and time to ousting their more fortunate compeers. Patriotism was sacrificed to the selfish desire of personal aggrandisement, and, relying on the long -continued immunity from foreign aggres- sion and, as an ultimate safeguard, on the protection of the suzerain China, the national defences were per- mitted to fall into the lowest abysses of decay. City walls and castles were unrepaired. The national militia was untrained and unequipped. Formerly every province had its own annual training under com- petent officers, but now the men were only assembled at long intervals in small force in their nearest towns or villages, where neither officers nor men had any opportunity of learning the science and duties of an army. That the Koreans retained no small degree of the military spirit and courage of which they had given so many proofs in the past ; that they possessed sailors not only bold and skilful but with tactical and inventive genius, they were soon to show ; but no country suddenly called upon to face an invasion of a powerful foe was ever less prepared to meet it than was Korea when that which we are now about to describe burst upon her. Japan was at this time governed, in the name of her Emperor, by the regent Hideyoshi, the greatest and ablest of all the military adventurers who throughout seven centuries usurped the administrative HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 141 functions of the Empire and kept their legitimate sovereigns in impotent seclusion in their palaces at Kioto. A man who had risen from the very lowest class of the people, the son of one of the humblest of peasants, and in his own youth a groom, he had by courage and genius raised himself to the position of the highest subject in the Empire, who held un- challenged in his own hands all the power and authority of a supreme Governor. For three cen- turies Japan had been torn from end to end by civil war, carried on with merciless, even savage, cruelty. From 1333, when the Hojos fell, till 1590, when Hideyoshi finally triumphed over the last of the great feudal barons who had dared to oppose him, and, , seated on what was only not a throne in name, had brought every fief throughout the country under his undisputed sway, it may safely be said that peace had been unknown within her border. Whatever Germany suffered throughout the Thirty Years War in the miseries of her people and the devastation and ruin of her fields and cities finds its parallel in what Japan suffered, not for thirty but for over two hundred and fifty years. But the miseries of the people had their counterbalancing advantages in the influence war exerted on the national character. As the Koreans were now, so had the mass of the Japanese people been serfs in the past ; and they were again, under the influence of long, unbroken peace within their own borders and immunity from foreign aggression, destined to become once more little better than abject serfs, whose lives and property were alike at the mercy of feudal chiefs who knew no mercy when it clashed with their own interests or selfish pleasures. But at this time the Japanese were not only a nation of soldiers but one of veterans, inured to warfare and masters of its science, in the past, as it was to be again in the 142 THE STORY OF KOREA future, soldiers were a limited and highly privileged class. Only one small section of the people were permitted to wear arms or expected to use them even in the highest duty of a citizen, the defence of king and country. But the wastage in the civil wars of those who were soldiers by descent had thrown the ranks open to peasants and artisans, even to the despised traders, whose physique, courage, and ambi- tion qualified them for military service, and all three classes had given ample evidence — just as they have done in the present generation — that they only re- quired training and opportunity to become converted into as formidable fighting men as were those who had inherited the spirit of soldiers from a long line of military ancestors and were stimulated by the pride of caste and rank. Hideyoshi could call to his standard an army whose efficiency and strength would -have been a legitimate pride to any general in the world, and he had abundance of experienced officers devoted to his service, many of whom had, as he himself, risen from the ranks. As soon as his own future was secured, Hideyoshi made endeavours to induce Korea to resume the time-honoured custom of sending tribute -bearing embassies to Japan. In 1587 he accredited as his envoy for this purpose a retainer, named Yuyaji, of the Feudal Lord of Tsushima, who proceeded with a retinue to Seoul ; but the choice was an unfortunate one, and the brusque demeanour of the envoy, together with the presumptuous tone of his master's letter which he carried with him, so disgusted the Koreans that they peremptorily refused to entertain the sug- gestion of an embassy from themselves. They said the journey was too long and too dangerous. The Japanese envoy on his return to his own country paid dearly for his uncouthness as a diplomatist and the failure of his mission ; for not only he but, HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 143 according to the custom of the day both in Japan and Korea in the case of offences against the State, all his family were put to death. A second mission was sent in the following year, the envoy this time being Yoshitoki, the Feudal Lord of Tsushima, the hereditary chief of his unfortunate predecessor, a young noble whose tact and courtesy seem to have been as marked as those of his re- tainer were the reverse. When he arrived at Seoul he was told informally that no favourable answer could be given to his request until certain Korean renegades in Japan who had acted as pilots and guides to Japanese pirates in their raids on the Korean coasts were surrendered. The envoy promptly sent for them to Japan. Eleven were brought over and submitted to the tender mercies of their own authorities, from whom they received a very short shrift. Then the Korean Government became all smiles, and consented that the old custom should be revived and that an embassy, properly accredited, should accompany Yoshitoki on his return to Japan. All these negotiations occupied considerable time ; for it was not till the spring of 1590 that the embassy, which included three ambassadors and a retinue of three hundred persons, and generally was on a scale of becoming splendour, started. Its journey from Seoul to Kioto, which can now be performed in less than three days, occupied three full months. Hideyoshi was, at the time of its arrival, occupied in the last of his domestic campaigns— the subjugation of the Hojo of Odowara,' the last of the territorial barons who refused to recognise his dicta- torship until compelled to do so by force of arms, but soon returned to Kioto. Even then the ambas- ' The Hojo of Odowara are not to be confounded with the regents of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Though of the same name, they were of different families and quite different positions. 144 THE STORY OF KOREA sadors, whose mission had been so desired by the parvenu, were not admitted to his presence, and it was not till five months had passed from their arrival that a formal audience was granted to them. When at last the audience was granted, Hideyoshi acted in a manner which outraged all the ambas- sadors' ideas, not only of the courtesy that was due to them as the personal representatives of the sovereign of a friendly State but of ordinary pro- priety, and shocked even his own courtiers. To his discourtesy at the audience he at first added a refusal to send a written reply to the letter which the ambassadors had borne from their King, and it was only after much persuasion by his own ministers that he was induced to write one. Even then it had to be returned to him for mod,ification, its language being so offensive that the ambassadors refused to receive it ; and in its final form it was vulgar in its glorification of Hideyoshi's career, which was com- pared to " the rising sun illuminating the whole earth," and offensive to Korea in the open threats that it contained not only to Korea but to her suze- rain; who was to her as " a father to his son." Its closing words were : " I will assemble a mighty host, and invading the country of the great Ming, I will fill with the hoar frost from ray sword the whole sky over the four hundred provinces. Should I carry out this purpose, I hope that Korea will be my vanguard. Let her not fail to do so, for my friendship with your honourable country depends solely on your conduct when I lead my army against China." ' ' This and the following chapter are mainly founded on Dr. Aston's history of the invasion, published in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vols, vi., ix., and xi., and on the letters of the Jesuit priests, summarised by Charlevoix and in Crasset's " History of the Church in Japan," though all other available authorities have been consulted. Quotations not otherwise noted are from Dr. Aston's work. HIDEYOSHl'S INVASION 145 The Korean ambassadors, slaves to the most punc- tilious etiquette, courteous to the utmost limits in all their own proceedings, and accustomed to the dignified ceremonial of the Chinese Court, returned to their own country, burning with indignant resent- ment. They had come to Japan at Hideyoshi's pressing invitation. They had revived the ancient custom of offering tribute. They had brought with them sincere protestations of friendship from their sovereign, and they had met with nothing but rude- ness. Nor was their indignation lessened when they discovered, as they did during their stay, that fall they had suffered was at the hands, not, as they imagined, of a King the equal in birth and rank of their own sovereign, but of a low-bom parvenu who, however powerful in fact, held only the office of regent in his own country. They were convinced and reported to their Government on their return that Hideyoshi meant war, that the only means by which it could be averted were by Korea allying herself with him against her suzerain, and placing at his disposal their country as a highway for ,his troops and their own military and naval resources in co-operation with his in whatever operations he might undertake. This was a course that the Korean code of morality would have considered sacrilege. Hideyoshi's proposals were rejected without hesita- tion, and the rejection was not softened by the closing words of the reply sent to his letter, in which his project of invading China was compared to " (measuring the ocean in a cockle-shell or ^ bee trying to sting a tortoise through its shell." Hideyoshi has been very justly called the Napoleon of Japan. He possessed both military and adminis- trative genius of the highest order, and his own merits and strength of character carried him, while still comparatively a young man, from a station in 10 146 THE STORY OF KOREA life far below that of Napoleon to the very highest office in the State to which a subject can attain, an office which made him de facto the absolute ruler of the Empire. His vanity and ambition were equally boundless. He had now brought all his own country to his feet. No one now dared to question his will. All the proud nobles of the Imperial Court who traced their descent to the gods of heaven, all the great feudal princes, many of them men of great ability, all except those who owed their rank and domains to himself, men of long descent, hitherto accustomed to exercise in their fiefs an unquestioned semi-sovereignty, now bent their knees before him and rendered reverential obedience to his dictates. He was a keen judge of men, and possessed the faculty of discovering the best of them and binding them to his own service by the chains of gratitude and pride, in some instances, perhaps, of fear. He had amassed immense wealth, which he used to build palaces worthy of an emperor for his own residence^ castles for his security, and temples in which the gods should be honoured in his name. Mindful of his own origin and the privations of his childhood and youth, he was ever solicitous for the welfare of the common people, who now under his rule en- joyed, for the first time for generations, full security of life, liberty, and property, and who ascribed all they had to him. He seemed to have all that Heaven could give to man, and he had won it all before he had passed his fiftieth year. But his ambition was not yet satisfied. His vanity still required new material for its gratification. The traditions of the Empress Jingo's invasion of Korea were implicitly accepted by the Japanese as historical facts. The glory of that exploit had been given to the son whom she carried in her womb during the invasion. The period of the invasion was HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 147 always mentioned by Japanese historians, not as that of the Empress Jingo but as that of " the Emperor in the womb," and h^ is still worshipped throughout '' the length and breadth of Japan as Hachiman, the god of war. In every town and village there lare temples in his honour, and no soldier ever departs for the field without previously imploring the divine protection of the god. Hideyoshi aspired to be deified after his death and worshipped by generations to come as the Shin-Hachiman, the new god of war, whose worship should supplement if not sup- plant that of the old god. His title to^that honour would be best — indeed, it could only be— established by a foreign conquest, by causing the glory of Japan to shine beyond the seas, and the only countries where that end could be attained were Koirea land China. Years before he had reached his pinnacle of fame and power he had proposed the conquest of Korea as a stepping-stone to the conquest of China to Nobunaga, his patron and the foimder of his fortune, promising that he would bring the three countries, Japan, China, and Korea, under one crown, " as easily as a man rolls up a piece of mattijng and carries it under his arm." His patron was now dead, and Hideyoshi could carry out his plans to his own sole glory. Important considerations of statecraft contributed to personal ambition in urging him on his way. While not forgetting himself, he had been most generous in rewarding those who had fought for him with the confiscated spoils of his beaten enemies. He could not, however, reward all the immense number of those who had claims on him according to their estimates of their own merits, nor endow all with the fiefs that made them territorial princes or nobles, and all the available land in Japan had been bestowed. Domestic peace seemed to be 148 THE STORY OF KOREA ensured for the future, and the soldier's occupation was gone. Idleness would soon breed discontent among those who had reason to draw unfavourable comparison between their own and their more for- tunate fellows' lots in life ; and it might even happen that their arms would, in the end, be raised against their old leader — if not against himself against his son when he was gone. A foreign conquest would destroy this peril. There would be ample occupation for the soldiers till it was achieved, ample lands to reward them afterwards, even to their wildest ex- pectations, and all temptation to restlessness on their part would be removed. Finally, there was the question of the native Christians. It was the time of Christianity's greatest successes in Japan. Introduced by St. Francis Xavier fifty years previously, and sedulously propagated by a band of the ablest and most devoted missionaries that the world has ever seen, it had had a continuous career of triumph ; and the converts of all classes in life, from great princes of the land down to the humblest peasants, were by this time said to number over 600,000. Among them were several of Hide- yoshi's ablest and most trusted officers and many thousands of his best soldiers. Hideyoshi had as yet made no attempt to check the spread of Chris- tianity — the first martyrdom of foreign priests and native converts took place in 1596— but he was evidently becoming somewhat uneasy at its possi- bilities as a political factor, especially in the southern island of Kiusiu, where it was in greatest force. Kiusiu would be the base of an invading fleet and army for Korea. The Kiusiu troops, recruited mainly from Christians, would be in the van of the invading army, and whether they perished or conquered an:d settled in Korea, Japan would equally be freed from the dangers of their presence. This was, according HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 149 to the Jesuit missionaries, the chief among all the incentives that urged the enterprise on Hideyoshi. If another incentive was wanted to complete all that have been mentioned, it was furnished by the rejec- tion of his overtures by Korea and the contemptuous reference to his ambitious project of invading China. The Jesuits were hardly more complimentary to his wisdom than were the Koreans. They called it " a foolish and temerarious enterprise, infinitely hazardous, if not morally impracticable, Japan being hardly one handful of earth in respect of the vast Empire of China." Once the determination was taken, Hideyoshi lost no time in beginning preparations with his usual energy and all-seeing prudence. A campaign against Satsuma, the most southern and one of the most powerful fiefs in Japan, four years previously, had taught him the requisites of an overseas expedition, and the lessons he had then learned were now turned to good account. A base was established at Nagoya, the modem Karatsu, now a prosperous town with a great trade in coal, with a: well -sheltered harbour, on the western coast of Kiusiu. At this place an army, which, counting camp followers, numbered over 300,000 men, was soon collected, and Hideyoshi in person supervised all its equipment on the spot. It was his original intention to have taken the chief command in the field himself, but at the last ill-health prevented him carrying out his intention. Much of his life had been passed in the field, where he had shared the privations of his soldiers. But when not in the field he had given way to the most reckless indulgence in the grossest sensuality, and drink, gluttony, and debauchery were prominent among his vices. Alternate privation and indulgence were now ^beginning to tell on him, though he was still far from being an old man, and his physical condition 150 THE STORY OF KOREA was such as to inhibit further active service. The command was therefore shared between two generals, Kato Kiyomasa and Konishi Yukinaga, who are them- selves two of the most interesting figures in Japanese history. Both were men who, like Hideyoshi himself, had risen from the ranks. The story of the lives of both are little less romantic than his own. Konishi was the son of a druggist at Sakai, the grejat commer- cial port of Japan in the days of Hideyoshi. In his boyhood he was sent by his father as an acolyte to the celebrated Buddhist temple of Miidera, and one day while he was there Hideyoshi, when out hunting, called at the temple to rest. The acolyte was ordered to serve tea to him, and the address and intelligence which he showed in doing so — ^he gradually increased the heat of successive cups of tea as he served them — so captivated Hideyoshi that he asked the monks to give the boy to him. Nothing that the great tyrant asked for could be Refused, and from that day the boy was in his personal service. His abilities and his devotion proved the unerring judgment of his master. His rise was rapid, and at the age of twenty-three he was general in command of the first division of the army in Korea. Kato was very much older ; he was already high in rank in Hideyoshi's military service when Konishi was a boy at the temple of Miidera. But he was the son of a blacksmith in Hideyoshi's native village in Owari. Perhaps he or his father was able to render gome kindness to Hideyoshi in his boyhood, when, before he was advanced to the position of a groom, he was a hawker of firewood ; but, whatever the reason, Hideyoshi, as soon as he began to rise in life, took the young blacksmith into his service, and as he developed into a brave and capable soldier he soon rose to high military rank. It is curious that he HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 151 achieved what was his great master's strongest ambition, but which he failed to realise— he was deified after his death." Konishi was converted to Christianity, and was not only one of the most fervent disciples of the Jesuit missionaries, but one of their most influential protectors in the dark days of persecution. Kato, on the other hand, was an ardent Buddhist, and hated Christians and their doctrine with a bitter hatred. These two commanded the first divisions of the Japanese army that were landed in Korea. That of Konishi was composed entirely of Christians ; that of Kato was blessed by Buddhist priests and fou,ght under Buddhist banners. Religion, therefore, added its quota to the rivalry between the two generals and their men. Simultaneously with the organisation of the troops a large fleet of transports had been prepared at the base. Every territorial prince whose fief bor- dered on the coast was ordered to furnish ships proportionate in number and tonnage to his revenue, and to man them every fishing village was called upon to provide ten men for every hundred houses it contained. All was ready, " down to the last gaiter button," before the end of May, 1592, and on the 24th of that month Konishi sailed with the first division. The Koreans had full warning of the fate that threatened them, but had not utilised to ,the best the interval that was given to them to prepare fo^ their defence. Long-continued peace had un- fitted them for war. They neglected to repair or strengthen their castles, their troops were ill- organised and equipped ; and while the Japanese ' Kato in his lifetime zealously expounded the cause of the Bud- dhists, especially of the Nichiren sect against Christians, and he was rewarded by having teniples erected in his honour after his death both at Kumanmoto, his own fief, and elsewhere. 152 THE STORY OF KOREA were now accustomed to the use of firearms, the Koreans had still only the bows and arrows and the spears of old days. The first firearm, in fact, that they had seen was presented to them by Hideyoshi's envoy, Yoshitoki, on the occasion of his final mission. On the other hand, the Koreans, as will be seen here- after, were better sailors and had better ships than the Japanese ; but with inconceivable negligence they made no use of their advantages in this respect at the beginning of the campaign, and both Konishi and Kato, who quickly followed him, were permitted to land in the south-east of Korea without opposition. The castle at Fusan, where Konishi landed, formed an exception to the general unpreparedness of the Korean defences. The port was the old gateway to Korea from Japan, the nearest to the Japanese shores, and the first appearance of the invaders was looked for at it. The castle was under the command of a brave and energetic officer and held a garrison of 6,000 men, who were quickly reinforced by others from the surrounding district as soon as the approach of the enemy's fleet was discerned through the haze that hung lightly over the sea. The deep trenches sui'rounding the castle were filled with water, anid all the approaches from the river bank and from the beach were thickly sown with caltrops to impale cavalry. On the walls more than 2,000 engines were planted for hurling darts and cartouch shots. Konishi's force had been transported in 800 vessels, so that it may be assumed to have amounted to 24,000 men, and this estimate does not much differ from the precise figures given by Japanese historians, on the exactness of which but little reliance can be placed, Japanese having, throughout the whole of their early history, been much given to numerical exaggeration in military affairs. When the whole army had been landed without opposition ne3,r the HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 153 castle, Konishi, undaunted by the formidable obstacle that was before him, summoned the Governor to surrender. The Governor answered that he could do nothing without orders from the King his master, whereupon Konishi gave orders for the assault on the following morning. It was delivered at four o'clock and continued throughout the day, the Koreans making a brave resistance and successfully repelling the first attempt. But the firearms of the Japanese, altogether new to the Korean soldiers, pre- vailed over their primitive weapons, and on a second attempt the Japanese succeeded in scaling the walls, from which the defenders had been swept by musketry fire ; and, once there, all was soon over and the Japanese were masters of the fortress. Their Christianity did not prevent them putting the Governor and his soldiers to the sword. After two days' rest the army advanced against the town of Tongnai, on the River Naktong, about five miles from Fusan, a still stronger fortress than the latter, garrisoned by 20,000 men, among whom, it is said, were the best troops that Korea could muster. If that were so, they must have been dispirited by the capture of Fusan or panic -struck by the musketry fire, for they made but a feeble resistance. The fight lasted only three hours. Konishi himself was the first to mount the scaling ladders that were placed against the walls, and was so well seconded by his men that more than 5,000 Koreans were killed, while the Japanese loss was only 100 killed and 400 wounded. With this trifling loss they were masters of the strongest town in Southern Korea, one also that was well stocked both with weapons and pro- visions. The moral effect of these blows following each other in rapid succession, both within a few days from the landing, was even more valuable than the capture of the forts. 154 THE STORY OF KOREA There were still five fortresses on the road between Fusan and the capital, Seoul, all of which were capable of defence, but when Konishi, not permitting his troops to delay either for rest or plunder, marched straight to the capital, each was hastily evacuated on his approach and taken possession of by the Japanese without resistance. The second division landed at Fusan four days later than Konishi's, and Kato, the general in command, finding nothing left to be done by him there, also started in the race for Seoul, not following in the direct track of Konishi but taking the more circuitous eastern road. This led by Kyun Ju, the ancient capital of the king;dom of Silla, la city attractive to the Japanese both from its wealth and from its historical associations. It was taken by storm, and Kato then pushed on by forced marches and joined Konishi near the town of Tyung Chiu, which lies on the north bank of a river, a branch of the Han, almost exactly half way on the central road from Fusan to Seoul. A few miles to the south of the river the road crosses a steep and narrow mountain pass, which could have been easily held by a small force against an advancing army, but it was neglected by the Koreans, who concentrated all their strength at Tyung Chiu. It was a fortified town, and even after the pass had been abandoned a strong resistance might have been made behind its walls or on the river bank ; but the Korean army, which the King, recovering from the sloth that had hitherto charac- terised him, had dispatched when he saw that his capital was threatened, consisted mainly of cavalry — ^the Jesuits gave its numbers as from sixty to seventy thousand men, " almost all cavalry " — and its leader thought it would prove most formidable in the wide plain that lay between the pass and the river, and there, in a position with a deep river in his rear that presaged absolute ruin for his whole army if defeated, HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 165 he determined to meet the invader. The two divisions of Konishi and Kato were now together, and their united strength amoimted to forty thousand men. Konishi's division was in the van. Kato had claimed this honour, but Konishi, having hitherto held the lead, refused to yield it, and Kato, indignant though he was, was obliged to submit. The relations between the two commanders had always been strained, and their former differences were now still further em- bittered by jealousy on Kato's part and by the con- sciousness on Konishi's that Kato was endeavouring to minimise the victories he had won. On this point the narrative of the Jesuits cannot be implicitly accepted. Konishi was their darling hero, their greatest convert, their mainstay in securing Hide- yoshi's continued tolerance, and they were bound to him alike by strong ties of gratitude for past services and by hopes for the future. Kato was their relent- less enemy and persecutor, so dreaded and hated by them that they sprake of him as " vir ter execrandus." There is, however, an undoubted historical foundation of fact for their description, which is as follows : " Konishi animated his men, saying they must either conquer or die ; he then ranged his troops in battalia, and forbade his officers to display their standards till the signal was given. Those of Korea on their side drew up all their squadrons in a half-moon, to surround the Japanese. Kato, seeing them closely engaged, instead of joining the army, drew aside, and resolved to let Konishi perish, or rescue him if there was any hazard of the day, and so gain the credit of the victory. But he was not at all in pain about it, for this brave general having given the signal, and the ensigns being now displayed, the van marched up to the attack, and broke through the enemy's squadrons. The combat was long and bloody, but the Korean horse, galled and frightened by the musquets, being rendered quite unserviceable, were obliged to save themselves at full speed. About eight thousand fell dead on the spot. Besides what were drowned in passing the River." ■ Crasset, " History of the Church in Japan," vol. i. 156 THE STORY OF KOREA The news of this disaster — ^it was even worse than the Jesuits descri'bied^ — was quickly brought by the fugitives to the capital, and there the destruction of the last obstacle that lay between it and the advancing Japanese created, as was natural, a universal panic which extended from the Court downwards. It was true that the city was fortified and might be defended, but its walls were fourteen miles in circumference and there was no force left within them capable of manning so great an extent. The panic, too, had extended to the few soldiers who were there, and they were deserting their posts and sharing in the general exodus of the inhabitants. The King in despair determined to withdraw to the north himself, and though he first burnt all the magazines, his departure was so hurried that it btecame a flight : " With a retinue the scantinesss of which told a melancholy tale of desertion in the hour of danger and misfortune, the King made his first day's march, followed, as he passed along, by the lamenta- tions of the inhabitants, who complained that they were being abandoned to the mercy of the invaders. His household was mounted on farm horses, no food had been provided for the journey, and a drenching rain fell during the whole day. Wretched with fatigue and hunger, they reached their lodgings at Kaishung late at night, lighted by the glare of a public building which had been set on fire by the King's orders to deprive the Japanese of materials for rafts with which to cross the river which flows through the south of that city. Food had been provided here for the King and his suite, but the kitchen was invaded by hungry guards and attendants, and barely enough was saved for the King's supper. His less fortunate household had no food until the following day, when they were allowed to share with some soldiers their rations of boiled rice." Three days after the King's flight, both Konishi and Kato, who had marched by different routes from Tyung Chiu, the former still following the central high-road and the latter taking that which lay to the west, reached the capital and entered it without HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 157 opposition, only twenty days after the first landing at Fusan, Konishi by the Eastern gate, and Kato, a few hours behind him, by the Southern gate. The whole march of more than three hundred miles from Fusan, during which one pitched battle and many skirmishes had been fought and three great fortresses stormed, was a race between the two rival commanders, and was accomplished in nineteen days by Konishi and in fifteen by a longer route by Kato. A large part of the town had been burned in the disorder which occurred between the King's departure and their own arrival, but enough of the buildings remained to enable the exhausted soldiers to be lodged and pi provisions for them to be fed. The occupation of the city was effected with the utmost order. " The in- habitants suffered nothing either from the pride or g'reed of the conquerors ; for the general and all the officers of this army, who were Christians, and had almost nothing in common with heathen soldiers, had no difficulty in preserving discipline among their mfen . A garrison of Koreans could not have entered Seoul more peaceably than did the victorious Japanese." ' This extract, of course, refers to Konishi's army, which was in full possession of the city before Kato came upon the scene. The Jesuits may be pardoned for describing the incident with some pride, for it is the only one of its kind which occurred throughout the whole war, and the fate of the garrisons of Fusan and Tongnai showed what even the Christian soldiers could do when provoked by resistance. For fifteen days the two divisions enjoyed a well- earned rest at Seoul, during which they were joined by other divisions which had landed later at Fusan and marched thence by the most western of the three roads that led to the capital, the last portion of which had been used by Kato. Hideyoshi's iiistruc- ' Charlevoix, " Histoire du Japon," vol. i. 158 THE STORY OF KOREA tions were now received for the disposal of the whole force. The north-eastern province of Ham Gyong, the most mountainojis and therefore presenting the greatest natural difficulties to an invading army, where the inhabitants were both the boldest and physically the strongest of all the Koreans, was assigned to Kato. Konishi was directed to continue his march northwards on the high-road from Seoul to the frontier of China, through the north-western provinces of Hoang Hai and Phyong An, while the other division commanders were to hold the metro- politan and southern provinces and maintain the lines pf communication. Both the northern divisions were largely reinforced from the others, and that of Konishi was later on increased by the inclusion in his command of two other full divisions, those of KurOda, feudal lord of Hizen, and of Yoshitoki, of Tsushima, the latter of whom, it will be remembered, fwas Hideyoshi's ambassador to Korea before the iwar. Both Konishi and Kato started on their northern march from Seoul together. Nearly thirty miles north of the capital the road is crossed by the River Injin, a tributary of the Han, the same river as that crossed at night in the glare of the burning' building by the King in his precipitous flight with his retinue of concubines and eunuchs. Here the Koreans made another effort to stem the progress of the advancing victors. Another large army was gathered on the northern bank, and all the boats on the river of every class and size were collected there, not one being left on the southern bank. There was no ford, the current was rapid and the river wide, and when the Japanese arrived at the southern bank all they could do was to stare helplessly at their enemy's great camp which was spread before them oh the flats across the river. Here they might have been -^- PALACE GATEWAY, SEOUL. (From Skrcoi^niph Copyright, Undetwood & Undct-u'oo.l, London.) To lace p. 158. HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 169 indefinitely held in check and harassed by guerilla attacks on their flanks, had it not been for the miser- able ineptitude of the Korean commanders. The Japanese feigned a retreat, and a section of the Koreans exultingly crossed the river in their boats to pursue them. Then the Japanese turned, drove their erstwhile pursuers in headlong rout before them, and seized their boats ; but even before they crossed the river the remainder of the Korean army on the northern bank, readily following an example that was set them by their generals, broke and fled northwards . The two Japanese generals now separated. Kato turned to the right on his long march into Ham' Gyong, the province which extends for three hundred miles along the Japan Sea, where he had to wage a continuous guerilla war, and where his soldiers had to suffer, far away from their base, the privations of a winter of a severity that was entirely new to them. Konishi continued on his direct northward march, where physical difficulties were comparatively few hut where the prospect of glory, in the capture of important cities, the pursuit of the King, and the possible invasion of China, was incomparably greater. It has been said that the choice of their respective spheres of operations was decided between the two commanders by drawing lots, their relations having become so strained that it was impossible for them to continue in co-operation ; but the more plausible explanation is that they acted under the instructions of Hideyoshi which have been already quoted, who, in his exultation at Konishi's earliest successes, the pride of which made him regard Konishi " as his own son restored to life," gave to him the sphere that was of highest promise. Leaving for the present Kato and his division to pursue their toilsome and adventurous march into the wild mountains of Ham Gyong, we shall follow 160 THE STORY OF KOREA the more important and dramatic fortunes of Konishi. Marching across the provinces of Hoang Hai, he reached the southern bank of the River Tatong six days after he parted from Kato. Here he found him- self in a somewhat similar position to that which had previously confronted the united divisions at the River Injin. The Koreans had gathered another army, strong in numbers if in nothing else, on the northern bank under the walls of the town of Phyong An, in which the fugitive King still took refuge. Phyong An lies about fifty miles from the mouth of the river. It was and is a lurge, prosperous, and populous city, a natural fortress in its situation, and its natural advantages were supplemented by all that the engineering skill of the day could effect with lofty walls and battlements. Sentiment endeared it to the Korean heart, as it was the capital of the old kingdom of Korai and com^pared with it Seoul was but a mushroom. The river that flowed past it, one of the -largest in Korea, was broad and swift. The Japanese had no boats, and though! there were fords the Japanese knew nothing of their where- abouts. It could not be hoped that the Koreans would again permit themselves to be drawn into a similar trap to that which had proved their ruin at the River Injin, and the Japanese were, therefore, once more at a deadlock. The strength of Konishi's force, increased on the one hand by large reinforcements but on the other diminished by the guards of the line of communica- tion with Seoul, was now over thirty thousand men, and so little promising was the outlook that he began to prepare winter quarters for the whole of this force. He first, however, attempted negotiations, this being the third occasion during the campaign on which the Japanese had endeavoured to come to terms with their enemies. The circumstances of the HIDEYOSHl'S INVASION 161 present attempt contained so many elements of the picturesque that it has often been a cause of wonder to the present writer that they have not been eagerly seized as subjects by Japanese artists. Not even a single Japanese had the means of crossing the river. So one was sent, unarmed and alone, to the river's edge, where he planted a branch of a tree with a paper hanging to it, and waited. He was soon observed from the opposite bank and a boat was sent to inquire what he meant. A letter from Konishi to Ri Toku Kei, the Korean official with whom the negotiations of Hideyoshi's first envoys had been principally conducted, was given to the messenger asking for an interview to discuss the conditions of peace, and the interview was soon arranged. It took place, in full view of the rival armies on both sides, in mid-stream in two small boats moored alongside each other — both provided by the Koreans — and the parties to it were well chosen. On the one side was Ri Toku Kei, on the other Yoshitoki, the chief, and the monk Genso, one of the members of Hideyoshi's second Embassy, both of whom had been for two years in Seoul before the war. All three envoys were therefore well acquainted with each other and were personally on terms of close friendship. The Japanese demands were practically a repetition, in less discourteous terms, of those of Hideyoshi when at Kioto : " Let the Koreans provide a free passage for the Japanese armies through their country to China and all would be well with them." Neither the pusillanimity of their imworthy King, who now abandoned Phyong An and continued his northern flight, not staying this time till he reached the frontier town of Aichiu, nor their long unbroken series of defeats had, it was evident, destroyed the spirit of the Koreans nor damped their fealty to their suzerain China. Not 11 162 THE STORY OF KOREA only was an indignant refusal given to the demands, but the Japanese were told that as longi as their forces were on Korean soil no proposal for peace on any terms would be entertained. The wisdom and generalship of the Koreans were in inverse ratio to their spirit and fealty. Again, as at the Injin, they lost patience, and quitted the safety of an impregnable stronghold to assume the offensive ag'ainst an enemy whose incontestable superiority in hand-to-hand fighting on equal terms had been so often proved. They essayed a night assault on the Japanese camp, hoping to take it by surprise. The execution of this attempt 'was as bad as its conception. Dawn had broken before the Koreans were across the river. Even then their first attack was successful, but the Japanese soon rallied, drove their assailants back to and across the river, and in the flight the fords were at last discovered to the Japanese. They were quickly utilised, and the Koreans, thoroughly disheartened by the failure of their sortie, fled out of the city by one gate almost as the Japanese entered it by another. Immense stores of grain were left for the victors, who were now amply provisioned and could wait in comfortable quarters till plans were completed for the invasion of China, to which, in their flush of triumph, they eagerly looked forward. So far the whole campaign had been an un- broken triumphal progress for the Japanese. They had overrun three-fourths of Korea without meet- ing with a single reverse, and Hideyoshi, now believing in the realisation of his wildest flights of ambition, poured further troops into the peninsula and again thought of placing himself at the head of his armies and leading the advance into China. But the tide of good fortune was now destined to turn, and the Japanese to experience a series of disasters which nullified all their former triumphs w X z < X HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 163 and forced upon them a retreat hardly less rapid than had been their victorious advance. No country in the world, not even excepting Switzerland or Japan, can be more adapted for guerilla warfare than Korea. It is all "a sea of mountains," amidst which the Japanese, ignorant of the roads and paths— the land had not then been mapped out for them in advance by an army of highly trained spies as it was before their modern wars with China and Russia— frequently strayed and got lost and were at the mercy of ambushed archers or of spearsmen Who burst on them in overwhelming numbers from the thick cover of the mountain forests. They had to depend largely on foraging for their supplies— Kato's army throug'hout its whole march, Konishi's from' the time when the supplies of the Phyong An granaries began to run low— and their foraging parties were frequently cut off and never heard of again, and even when successful they carried out their work in such constant dread of attack that their nerve-tension had scarcely any rest. Through all the campaign the Koreans had shown no lack of courage. No matter how often defeated, they had always been found ready even to take the offensive against their foes, who, they knew, were far more effectively armed and drilled than themselves, and all the misfortunes they had suffered were due, not to the cowardice or weakness of the men but to the incompet«ice and rashness of the officers. Guerilla bands of peasants, maddened by the plunder- ing of their homesteads, by seeing their families left to starve by alien marauders who necessarily thought only of themselvies, tmder the leadership and guidance, not of aristocratic officers but of their own fellows, everywhere hungi on the outskirts of the Japanese armies in every district of the country, and by the losses which they inflicted shattered all the confidence 164 THE STORY OF KOREA in their invincibility with which their early successes in the storming of castles and in pitched battles had imbued the Japanese. Few Oriental nations suffer from what is called " nerves," the Japanese perhaps the least of all. A Japanese will bear without a tremor the pain of an agonising surgical operation without an anaesthetic, the very thought of (which would make the bravest Englishman quail, and he will face and go through an ordeal, where death momentarily threatens him, with the unruffled forti- tude of the Stoic. But even the iron nerves of the Samurai in Korea, whose whole lives had been passed in war, began to give way under the constant strain to which they were subjected by the Korean guerillas, and instances began to occur in which even superior numbers did not enable them to hold their ground. Nor were the Korean successes confined entirely to the guerilla attacks. An assault made by ten thousand Japanese on the town of Chinju in the south of the province of Kyong-Syang was beaten back with a loss of more than half their number, though the defending garrison numbered less than three thousand ; and on the other hand, the town of Kyun Ju, the old Sillan capital, taken by Kato at the very outset of his campaign, was retaken by storm by the Koreans. It was At the siege of this town by the Koreans that the bomb made its first recorded appearance in the history of the World. Hitherto the Koreans had no firearms, and had suffered heavily, both in actual loss and morale, from the fire of the practised Japanese musketeers. Now the tables were turned. The Koreans had learnt the use of powder, and one of them, called Ri Chosen : "invented a cannon called Shin-ten-rai, or "heaven-shaking thunder," which by his art he secretly brought to the foot of the castle. It was put in operation and shot into the castle, where it fell HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 166 into the courtyard. The Japanese troops were ignorant of its construction, and rushed forward to see what curious missile had been shot at them by the enemy, when all of a sudden the gun- powder poison burst forth, with a noise which made heaven and earth to tremble, and it broke up into splinters of iron, which caused instant death to any one whom they struck. More than thirty men were killed in this way, and even those who were not killed were flung to the grotmd." It will be seen that, according to the Japanese account of it, the whole so-called cannon with its contents was shot into the castle. The cannon according to Korean record, as quoted by Mr. Hulbert, was made of bell metal, about eight feet in length, with a bore of twelve or fourteen inches, and the Korean records agree with those of Japan in stating that this machine could project itself bodily, through the air for a distance of forty paces. Mr. Hulbert suggests, that the dimensions and name apply, to the gun, and that it was a kind of mortar from which an explosive missile was discharged. It is not impossible, however, that the Koreans had cata- pults capable of hurling a large iron projectile for a distance of forty yards, even one eight feet long, and it would be more in consonance with both the Korean and Japanese accounts to assume that the invention was limited to the explosive missile and did not include the machine by which it was dis- charged. Whatever be the correct explanation s.s to the means by which it was discharged, its success was cpmplete. It so filled the Japanese garrison with terror that they hastily evacuated the city and left it to the Koreans. All these circumstances tended to raise the droop- ing spirits of the Koreans ; and they had also further subjects of congratulation, enough to make them think that the darkest hours of the national humilia- tion Jiad passed and that they could hope to free 166 THE STORY OF KOREA themselves from their ruthless invaders. China at last awakened to her responsibilities, to the duty which she owed to Korea and to Hideyoshi's schemes against herself, and was now coming to the help of her sorely tried vassal, the vassal whose misfor- tunes were mainly due to unswerving loyalty to the suzerain, and Korea gained command of the sea. CHAPTER IX HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION ; THE SECOND STAGE We have before stated that the Koreans were better sailors than the Japanese and possessed larger ships. They had, however, made no preparations for the war and had not ventured to face the great fleet with which Hideyoshi's transports were convoyed, either while it was on the high seas or during the early stages of the war when it lay at anchor in Korean harbours. However much Korea had to bewail the incapacity of her generals, their rashness or only too often their cowardice, she was fortunate enough to have in command of her fleet one whose name deserves enrolment among the greatest naval heroes of the world, who to the most undaunted courage, to the personal magnetism which made him a leader of mien, to fortitude in adversity, and to a noble generosity which enabled him to sink the sensi- bility, of injustice and unrequited merit in devoted patriotism, added tactical and inventive genius of a high order ; who combined, it may be said without very great exaggeration, the military seamanship of Nelson with the constructive skill, as far as it could be displayed in those days of engineering primitive- ness, of the most scientifio shipbuilders. While Japan's armies were triumphantly over- running the whole peninsula, her fighting: fleet lay idly in the shelter of the island of Konchi, a, little to the west of Fusan. The comtaunications 167 168 THE STORY OF KOREA with "Kiusiu were uninterrupted, and when all was well with the Army there seemed to be no scoip.e for the Navy. At last when Konishi was safely established in Phyong An, and was awaiting the arrival of the strong reinforcements which Hideyoshi had promised from his reserves at Nagoya, to continue his advance towards the frontier of China, he summoned the fleet to the estuary of the River Tatong to clear the west coast for the reinforce- ments which were to be sent by sea and so saved from the long overland march from Fusan, to protect their landing and to guard the river so that all the land forces might be free for the advance, for which' every available man would be required. The Korean Admiral, Yi Sun, had not been idle. He had com- pletely reconstructed his whole fleet. He had all his ships double decked, their bulwarks strengthened, both on the lower and upper decks, so as to afford effective shelter for his archers, and studded on thfeir outward sides with iron spikes as a protection against boarders. But his constructive skill went much farther, and for its result we cannot do better than quote in full Mr. Hulbert's description of what he very justly claims, assuming the descrij)tion to be correct, to have been the first ironclad in history : " The main reason for his unparalleled successes was the posses- sion of a peculiar war-vessel of his own invention and construction. It was called the Kwi-sun, or ' tortoise-boat,' from its resemblance to that animal. There is no doubt that the tortoise furnished the model for the boat. Its greatest peculiarity was a curved deck of iron plates, like the back of a tortoise, which completely sheltered the fighters and rowers beneath. In front was a hideous crested head erect, with a wide-open mouth, through which arrows and other missiles could be discharged. There was another opening in the rear, and six on either side for the same purpose. On the top of the curved deck there was a narrow walk from stem to stern, and another across the middle from side to side ; but every other part of the back bristled with iron spikes, so that an enemy who HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 169 should endeavour to board her would find himself immediately impaled upon a score of spear-heads. This deck, being of iron, rendered the ship impervious to fire-arrows, and so the occupants could go into action with as much security as one of our modern battle-ships could go into engagements with the wooden war-vessels of a century ago. In addition to this, she was built for speed, and could easily overtake anything afloat. This made her doubly formidable, for even flight could not avail the enemy. She usually did more execution after the flight commenced than before, for she could overtake and ram them one by one probably better than she could handle them when drawn up in line of battle." ' No mention is made by Japanese historians pf the iron deck or sheathing, although they describe the iron -spiked roofs. But even though Yi Sun may not claim to have been the inventor and builder of the first ironclad, he undoubtedly made his ships by far more powerful instruments of marine warfare than any that the Japanese could bring against them, and in one other respect he anticipated naval archi- tects of the nineteenth century. British residents at Chinese and Japanese ports in the sixties and seventies of the last century were familiar with the corvettes under the United States flag that were popularly known as " double-enders." They were paddle-wheel steamers, with stem and stern precisely similar, so that they would advance or retreat without turning, and were originally designed and built for service on the Mississippi in the Secessionist War. iWhen the war was over, they were sent to patrol the Chinese rivers, a service for which they were admirably adapted, and all their last years were passed in Eastern waters. Yi Sun made his most powerful galley? double-enders, with what result we shall soon see. The Japanese were busy at their anchorage pre-^ paring for their voyage to the north, when the Kprean ' Hulbert, " History of Korea," vol. i. p. 376. 170 THE STORY OF KOREA fleet appeared off the entrance of the inlet. They were no sooner seen by the Japanese than it became evident Korean sailors were as ready to fly as Korean soldiers, for the whole fleet turned at once and put out to sea. The Japanese sailors, burning to emulate the deeds of the soldiers, at once slipped their cables and started in hot pursuit. The Koreans had come with a favouring wind, so their oarsmen were fresh and the chase might have been a long one. Suddenly a signal was given ; there was no going-about pf the Korean fleet : the oarsmen simply reversed their oars, and down on the pursuing Japanese cajme the Koreans with all the speed that a strong wind at their backs and untired oarsmen could give them. The astounded Japanese found themselves trapped ; their ships, as they struggled against the head sea or endeavoured to wear, were rammed and sunk or set on fire by fire-arrows, and they were helpless in return. They could not board their enemy on account of the spikes ; their arrows and bullets were as impotent against the strong bulwarks and roofed decks of the Koreans as the fire of the Federal wooden liners was against the protected Merrimac, and neither side had cannon. The contest was a hopeless one. Soon the survivors were in full flight, the Koreans pursuing and sinking throughout, and it was a very small remnant of the fleet that at last found safety, not in its former anchorage but in the shelter of the River Naktong, almost under the very walls of Fusan. This great victory was followed by others. The coast was patrolled by swift Korean galleys, and no Japanese ship could approach it undetected ; so that all supplies and reinforcements from Japan were cut off, and the army of more than two hundred thousand men that was scattered throughout Korea, from the extreme frontier on the north-east to which Kato had HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 171 extended his march, and Phyong An in the north- west, where Konishi was eagerly awaiting the supplies and reinforcements that were never to comte, down to the southern provinces of ChoUa and Kyong Syang, had now to depend entirely on itself. History does not afford any more striking instance of the influence of sea power, of the salvation which it affords to a maritime nation, threatened or suffering from an over -seas invasion, and it is a pity that it was not known to Mahan, so that he might have used it in confirmation of the theories that are advocated in his great work. It at once changed the whole aspect of the war. It placed the invaders entirely on the defensive, forced them to convert their triumphant advance into a perilous retreat, and infused new hope and oourag:e into the Koreans, so that they prosecuted their guerilla warfare with re-i doubled energy and with a success that was as well- nigh unbroken as had been their defeats previously in pitched battles. The Japanese could not exist without foraging. Everywhere their foraging parties were ambushed and cut off and the camps were kept in a perpetual tension. The guerillas rendered a no less important service in detecting a number of their own countrymen who were paid spies in the service of the Japanese. Their punishment of the spies was drastic enough to deter very effectually other Koreans from playing the traitor, so that the Japanese had to rely on their own scouts for infor- mation and very often the scouting party never returned. The time was also at hand at which the Koreans were no longer to have to rely on their own unaided strength and resources. At the beginning of the war the Chinese were strongly suspicious of the good faith of the Kqreans, and notwithstanding successive appeals for help that were made to them by the fugitive King, his 172 THE STORY OF KOREA defeats and the rapid advance of the Japanese at first seemed only to confirm their suspicions. They thought that such rapidity could only have been attained with Korean connivance. The fall of Phyong An and the continued flight of the King a,t last showed them that their suspicions were ill- founded ; then tardily awaking to their duty, they sent a force of five thousand men from Liao Tung to recapture Phyong An, which, it ;is to be remembered was held by Konishi with thirty thousand veterans. The fatuousness of the Chinese commander equalled the very worst displays of the Koreans at the Injin and Tatong Rivers. Arrived opposite the town, he found the gates wide .open and no sign of resistance. So with his men he marched straight in, only to find himself attacked from both sides of all the narrow streets and lanes by Japanese archers and musketeers safely hidden in the houses. He and the majority of his men were shot down, and such panic seized the survivors that they did not draw bridle again till they were safely over their own frontier. This happened on October 3, 1592. It showed China the seriousness of the task which she had undertaken, and she now set herself in earnest to organise an army sufficient for it. While engaged in her preparations some illusory negotiations for peace were entered into between Konishi and a Chinese envoy named Chin Ikei, and an armistice was agreed on for fifty days. Its whole object was, however, only to give time to the Chinese, and before it was over a well-equipped and disciplined army which the Japanese historians alleged to have numbered two hundTed thousand men, but which, according to the more reliable Koreans, did not exceed forty thousand men, was on its way to Korea, and when there it was joined by large numbers of Koreans. The Japanese number probably applied HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 173 to the united Korean and Chinese armies, though! even then it was largely exaggerated. The difficulties of the Japanese scouts when they had lost the services of Korean spys have been already mentioned. The Chinese, crossing the Yalu on the ice and marching with ease and rapidity over the frozen roads to which they were well accustomed, were before Phyong An early in February, ,1593, and the first intimation Konishi had of their approach was afifordfed by their appearance. He made such hasty preparations as he could for defence, but was driven into the citadel with heavy toss. Adopting tactics which the Japanese themselves followed, both at Phyong An and Port Arthur, in their war with China in our own day, the Chinese commander did not completely invest the citadel, and purposely left the southern gate unguarded. Through it the Japanese retreated at night, and crossing the River Tatong on the ice, started on their retreat to Seoul under con- ditions no less severe than those which adcompanied Napoleon on his retreat from Moscow. Konishi's troops were nearly all from Kiusiu, and, unlike their Chinese foes, were totally unaccustomed to the arctic severity of the winter in Northern Korea. The country all round had been made a waste by them- selves. Konishi had established a line of bases at intervals along the road from Seoul to Phyong An;, in each of which he expected to find provisions ; but their commander, Otomo, Prince of Bungo, also a Christian, had deserted them when he heard of the fall of Phyong An, and without awaiting his chief or his army, had himself hurriedly retreated to the safety of Seoul. Hungry, benumbed with cold, foot- sore, and dispirited, the Japanese continued their retreat till they reached Seoul. On their way they were joined when near the capital by Kato, whom the fall of Phyong An had 174 THE STORY OF KOREA compelled to evacuate the province of Ham Gyong with no less precipitousness than Konishi had with- drawn from Phyong An. But while neither Chinese nor Koreans had ventured to molest the latter on his retreat, Kato had to fight his way through hordes of guerillas who were swarming all round him and to whom the new successes, both in the north and south, both on land and sea, had given new enter- prise and courage. His principal achievements, apart from the desolation he spread all round, was the capture as prisoners of war of two Korean princes, who were sent to organise the defences of the northj- eastern province when the King fled from Seoul. The rival Japanese generals had parted when the arms of both were triumphant, and it seemed certain that they would be carried in further triumph into China. They, met againj when it seemed more certain that they would have to fight for their very lives, and both commanded beaten and hunted armies. It was proposed that the retreat should be at once continued to Fusan, but bolder counsels prevailed, and it was determined to try the fortunes of war! once more before Seoul was abandoned. The Chinese, who had slowly followed the retreating armies from Phyong An, arrived at Pachiung, a day's march from the capital. A sharp skirmish took place in which they had the advantag^e, and, emboldened by this success, they advanced against the capital, outside of which they were mtet by the desperate Japanese. The battle was bitterly fought, but the short swords of the Chinese were no match for the long swords and muskets of the Japanese, and the victory was pn the side of the Japanese. The Chinese were driven from the field with terrible loss, and the Japanese were able to remain with security in Seoul. Their plight was desperate all the same. It has been told before that whfen they first entered Seoul HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 175 on their northern advance, the inhabitants suffereid no more than they would have done from' an army of their own countrymen. Whether it was that Christians were no longer predominant among the Japanese or a Christian general at their head in un- disputed command, or whether it was that the spirit of the army advancing in triumph was changed into remorseless cruelty when the same army was forced to fight in desperation for its very existence, need not be argued, but the fact remains that before the battle the Japanese slaughtered the inhabitants of the city wholesale, sparing only a number whom they forced to act as baggage coolies, and burnt the greater portion of the city. Their excuse foir this savage act was that they feared a demonstra- tion from the townspeople in their rear while they were engaged with the Chinese soldiers in their front. Its consequences reverted on themselves. They were houseless and foodless in a city that lay in the midst of a wasted country. Famine was all around them, and disease followed it, and they suffered not so much as but along with the wretched inhabitants. Soon their position was so desperate that they made overtures for peace — overtures that were willingly re- ceived by the Chinese general, who was not eager after his last experience to try again the ordeal of battle. An armistice was finally made, the principal terms of which were that the Japanese should evacu- ate the capital and withdraw to Fusan, and that an embassy should be sent by China to Hideyoshi to conclude a lasting peace. The evacuation was carried out on May 9, 1583, and the Chinese entered the city on the following day. The Japanese were permitted to continue their march to Fusan without molestation, and on arrival there to entrench themselves in fortified camps. Here, in a milder climate by the sea, with sufficient supplies. 176 THE STORY OF KOREA they could await with some patience the result of the embassy's mission to Hideyoshi. The negotiations were throughout exclusively between the Chinese and Japanese, neither of whom seem to have considered it incumbent on them to consult the Koreans. They, on their part, were fiercely indignant when the wanton invaders from whom^ they had suffered so terribly were allowed to retreat unmolested, and notwith- standing all their losses they still spurned every thought of peace so long as a single one of their enemies remained on Korean soil. The embassy, headed by the same Chin Ikei, who has been already mentioned, was soon on its way to Nagoya. On its arrival it was received by Hide- yoshi in the most friendly manner, and during its stay (which exceeded a month) was entertained with the ostentatious splendour that was on all occasions so dear to the heart of the great parvenu. But while the embassy was still at Nagoya, while Hide- yoshi was overwhelming the Chinese ambassador with compliments and hospitality, he showed that however much he may have abandoned his hope of conquer- ing China, he had lost nothing of his vindictiveness towards Korea, on which he laid all the blame pf the miscarriage of his great plans. It is true that he gave orders for the release of the two Korean princes who had been made prisoners by Kato, but this was done, not as a compliment to Korea, but as a concession to China of a point on which great stress had been laid throughout all the negotiations that had taken place from Seoul onwards. To Korea he forgave nothing. The unsuccessful assault by the Japanese on the town of Chinju has been previously mentioned. It was one of the strongest towns in Southern Korea, and such was the King's confidence in its impregna- bility that the royal treasures were sent there for HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 177 safety when the flight took placte from Seoul. Hide- yoshi was deeply mortified by the failure to take it, and his anger was not mollified by the fact that, after the repulse, the castle was the base of many guerilla attacks on the Japanese forces in the south, in which they suffered heavily. He did not forget it, and was determined to avenge his defeat before any peace was made. While the negotiations were in actual progress at Nagoya, while protestations of sincere friendship were being interchanged with the Chinese Ambassador, orders that Chinju must be taken were sent to the generals encamped at Fusan, in the neigh- bourhood of which place the whole strength of the Japanese in Korea, recently, reinforced by fifty thousand fresh soldiers, was now concentrated. The Koreans, in their turn, had assembled the largest force which had throughout the war been united into one army, and they were sufficiently confident in themselves to m'eet the Japanese in the open a little to the east of the town. But neither now nor at any time were they, no matter how bravely they fought, a match for the Japanese when in line of battle in the open field. On this occasion they were mowed down in thousands by the Japanese swords- men and driven back into the castle, which was im- mediately invested. Then the Japanese had a harder task. The storming parties were repeatedly driven back with heavy loss from the castle wall, until Kato devised " a testudo of ox -hides, stretched on a frame- work, which was pushed forward on wheels to the base of the castle walls. Under its protection the comer-stones were removed by crowbars and the wall fell, leaving a breach by which the Japanese effected an entrance." Then all was soon over. The massacre of the open field was repeated, and when that was over the old castle was levelled to the ground. Hideyoshi's vanity was appeased, the only 12 178 THE STORY OF KOREA object in this expedition, which in its utter wanton- ness rivalled the whole war, but at the cost of sixty thousand Korean lives and of a heavy loss among his own troops. This was the last military operation of what is called " the first invasion." Thenceforward the much harried country enjoyed a respite of peace for three years, while its fate was being discussed by the Chinese and Japanese authorities, with as little regard to its own wishes as reference to its opinions. Any- thing more deplorable than the condition of the country at this period it would be difficult to imagine. Even the worst records of Japan's own miseries throughout her civil wars or those of Germany during the Thirty Years War pale before the authentic historic descriptions of what the Koreans suffered, the details of which would be almost offensive to tell in this place. Their Chinese allies had been scarcely ^ less a burthen to them than their Japanese enemies. Both had eaten everything available, and between the two there was nothing left for the wretched natives, who starved. So great was the famine that spread throughout the whole land in 1594, in consequence of the impossibility of sowing or harvesting in the previous years, and of the consumption of the contents of all the granaries, that not even the Chinese pr Japanese soldiers could find enough to eat, a fact which accelerated the ultimate withdrawal of both. Notwithstanding all they had suffered, the Korean spirit was still unbroken. They burned for revenge on their enemies, and they still scorned the proposal of peace until the last Japanese soldier had left their shores. The whole story of the negotiations is a very curious illustration of the methods of Eastern diplo- matists and of the difficulties which they experienced with their own authorities. Hideyoshi had to be HIDEYOSHI'S INVASIOIS 179 convinced that he was being dealt with on equal terms with the Emperor of China. The latter, pn the other hand, believed that Hideyoshi was a suppliant begging forgiveness for his misdeeds, and humbly praying for the honour of being permitted to offer tribute as a vassal to the Son of Heaven. It says well for the astuteness of the diplomatists, if not for their honesty and truth, that both the Emperor and Hideyoshi were ultimately satisfied. The Koreans were warned that, if they, obstinately re- fused to make peacte, they could expect no further help from China, and a treaty was finally concluded at Peking, the main terms of which were : 1. That the Chinese Emperor should grant royal investiture to Hideyoshi. 2. That the Japanese should leave Korea. 3. That the Japanese should never again invade Korea. In concluding this treaty the Japanese envoy lat Peking showed himself no less astute or unscrupulous than had been the Chinese at Nagoya in glossing the truth so as to make his representations palatable to the Chinese Court. He went so far as to say that the sacred Emperor of Japan, the direct descendant of the gods, the lineal representative of a dynasty which had reigned for more than two thousand years, and the regent Hideyoshi, a lowly-bom peasant who only held his office while his right arm was strong enough to defend it, were one and the same person. The Chinese carried out their obligations under the treaty. Their troops were now entirely withdrawn from Korea, and an embassy was sent overland from Peking to Seoul on its way to Japan to carry out the ceremonial of Hideyoshi's investiture. The Japanese, on the other hand, notwithstanding their promises, continued to hold Fusan and a few other 180 THE STORY OF KOREA garrisons in its vicinity. New complications accord- ingly arose when this was discovered by the Chinese ambassadors, of whom' there were two, and they declined to continue their journey beyond Seoul until the Japanese fulfilled their obligations under the treaty. More Oriental duplicity followed. The Japanese evacuated all the garrisons except Fusan, and they only held this, they said, until the Chinese ambassadors gave evidence of their good faith by coming into the camp at that place. Then, when the ambassadors had given this proof, the Japanese said they must await further instructions from' Hideyoshi, and while they were waiting the two ambassadors were virtual prisoners in the camp. The senior of the two lost both his trust in Japanese honesty and his own courage, and absconded, leaving even his seals of office behind him', and, alone and unattended, secretly made his way by mountain paths back to Seoul, suffering much privation on the road. Further communication with Peking was rendered necessary by this contretemps, and what with the delay caused by it and by awaiting Hideyoshi's instructions, nearly a full year passed between the first arrival of the ambassadors at Fusan and their landing at Sakai, the port of Osaka where Hideyoshi was to receive them. They had made urgent endeavours to induce the Koreans to associate a Korean ambassador with them, but all they had succeeded in obtaining was the attachment of two subordinate officials to their own retinue. The Japanese, notwithstanding the treaty and all their subsequent assurances, still con- tinued to garrison Fusan. The mainspring of all the delay was the same as that which caused the war and the massacre of Chinju — Hideyoshi's personal vanity. He wished to display his own magnificence to the utmost, and the ambassadors were purposely delayed by his instruc- HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 181 tions in Fusan while he made the necessary prepara- tions to that end. What these preparations were is fully described by the Jesuits : " He built a great hall for audience so very spacious and large, that one might conveniently spread in it upward of a thousand Tatames. These Tatames are a fine and spacious sort of mats, full yard and a half long, and half yard broad, edged with gold and silk fringe, and embellished with rich and noble squares ; the hall itself was built of precious materials. All within was covered with gold. On the other side of the ditch that environed the palace, he raised a theatre of some sixty foot long, and two and twenty broad, supported by a number of pillars, partly plain, partly fluted, and partly twisted, but all of them curiously varnished, and distinguished with variety of figures, wrought in pure gold. Moreover by way of passage from the hall to this theatre, for all these curiosities were exposed, he laid a bridge over the ditch of some sixty foot long which cost, for workmanship only, near fifteen thousand crowns. It was covered at the top with gilt slaits, and the supports as well as the rails and greatest part of the pavement were all covered with plates of gold." • All his preparations were nullified and his vast expenditure wasted. On the night of August 30^ 1596, one of the most terrible of the many terrible earthquakes that have visited Japan spread death and destruction throughout Osaka, and it was followed within a few days by a second no less violent. " It was so frightful and terrible as if all the devils in Hell had broke loose." ' All Hideyoshi's great build- ings, including the Hall of the Thousand Mats, were levelled to the ground. His palace at Fushimi, which far exceeded the rest both in beauty, riches, and magnificence of structure, shared the same fate ; his concubines (of whom there were several hundreds) were crushed in its ruins, and he himself barely escaped, carrying his infant son in his arms, to take refuge in a peasant's hut in the mountains, where ' Crasset, " History of the Church in Japan,'' vol. ii. 182 THE STORY OF KOREA he remained sp terrified that none durst speak to him. More time was lost while the traces of the ruin were being effaced, and it was not till October that Hideyoshi was in a position to receive the embassy. The reception was shorn of much of its intended grandeur ; but it was still very impressive, and Hideyoshi, recovered from his fright and in high good-humour, was solenmly invested, in the presence of all his Court, with the insignia of royal rank that had been sent by the Emperor of China, and at the banquet which followed the investiture " all went merry as a marriage bell." The merriment was of short duration. The patent of investiture which accompanied the insignia was, as usual, written in the most classic Chinese, a language which, in its written form, is as intelligible to any educated Japanese gentleman as is a document in French to a European diplomatist. But Hideyoshi was not educated, and was therefore totally unable to read the patent himself. After the banquet was over he accordingly directed two priests to perform this service for him, and they, though they were earnestly begged by Konishi to modify its language, faithfully performed their functions of interpreters and read both the patent and the letter, in which it was enclosed verbatim. Its text was as follows : " The influence of the holy and divine one [Confucius] is wide- spread ; he is honoured and loved wherever the heavens overhang and the earth upbears. The Imperial' command is universal ; even as far as the bounds of the ocean where the sun rises, there are none vyho do not obey it. "In ancient times our Imperial ancestors bestowed their favours on many lands ; the Tortoise knots and the Dragon writing were sent to the limits of far Fusang [Japan], the pure alabaster and the great seal character were granted to the mountains of the sub- missive country. Thereafter came billowy times when communica- tion was interrupted, but an auspicious opportunity has now arrived when it has pleased us again to address you. HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 183 "You, Toyotomi Taira Hideyoshi, having established an Island Kingdom, and knowing the reverence due to the Central Land, sent to the vfest an envoy, and viith gladness and affection offered your allegiance. On the north you knocked at the barrier of ten thousand li, and earnestly requested to be admitted within our dominions. Your mind is already confirmed in reverent submissiveness. How can we grudge our favour to so great meekness ? " We do therefore specially invest you with the dignity of King of Japan, and to that intent issue this our commission. Treasure it up carefully. Over the sea we send you a crown and robe, so that you may follow our ancient custom as respects dress. Faithfully defend the Frontier of the Empire ; let it be your study to act worthily of your position as our Minister ; practise moderation and self-restraint ; cherish gratitude for the Imperial favour so bountifully bestowed upon you; change not your fidelity; be humbly guided by our admonitions ; continue always to follow our instructions. "Respect this 1" The tone of the letter was similar to that of the patent. It gave detailed instructions to Hideyoshi as to the administration of his ow^n Government ; and he was told to " respectfully follow the commands given to him and to let there be no deviation from them, for severe is the glance of Heaven and resplendently bright are the Imperial precepts." Hideyoshi's indignation at both documents was as might have been expected. Instead of being acclaimed as the royal equal of the Emperor of China, he found himself treated as a vassal who had erred from the path of duty to his suzerain and was now humbly suing for pardon. He tore off the crown and robes that had been sent to himj and flung the patent beneath his feet. He ordered the ambassadors to quit Japan without delay, without showing them the most ordinary courtesies of inter- national usage, and they embarked in such haste that they were obliged to take their passages in vessels with no proper accommodation for them or their suites. When the first burst of passion was over 184 THE STORY OF KOREA and time came for reflection, Hideyoshi recognised the folly of again embroiling himself with China and, tyrant as he was, directed his wrath against the innocent, suffering, and exhausted Korea. Two subordinate Korean officials accompanied the Chinese embassy. Hideyoshi from the first, even when he was most lavish in his compliments to the ambassadors, refused to receive them, alleging that the Korean princes who had been prisoners of war should either have come in person or sent an embassy of high officials to express their thanks for their release. This grievance was now disinterred and even more vigorous life given to it than it had originally. The Koreans were also charged with having concealed from Hideyoshi the true condition of China and with having thrown obstacles in the way of peace between China and Japan. These were quite sufficient grounds for a renewal of the war and for another invasion. Once more Japan was astir with military preparations ; and by March, 1 897, such strong reinforcements had been poured into Korea that a Japanese army of one hundred and thirty thousand men was encamped around Fusan, the principal commands being once mbre divided between Konishi and Kato. The question naturally arises, What had become of Korea's navy, and where was her distinguished admiral, that this great force, of the coming of which there was full warning, was permitted to land with no more opposition than that which was encountered by the first expedition? The answer is a sad illustration of the canker of the Court intrigue and corruption ;that turned Korea's military administration into rottenness and made her generals each anxious only for his own interests and as eager to thwart his rivals as he was to inflict damage on his enemies. The brave and able admiral had fallen a victim to the intrigues HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 185 of the miserable Court and to the slanders of political rivals, and, as has been told in a preceding chapter, the reward which he received for his great and glorious services was that, not only of deprivation of his command but of reduction to the ranks. He was now serving as a common sailor, while the fleet was commanded by one who owed his post entirely to Court influence, who united in himself the qualifica- tions of incompetence and drunkenness, and who was equally hated and despised by his men. Under such a commander the fleet had fallen into utter disor- ganisation and was useless as a defensive factor. The Japanese, on the other hand, taught by their previous bitter experience, had given special care to their naval affairs, and had now at their disposal a well manned and well found fleet. It is anticipating some- what the course of events, but for convenience sake the story may now be told of the naval operations of the second war. Won Kiun, the new admiral, lay idly in the shelter of one of the islands off the south-west co^t till the landing of the Japanese forces had been completed. The Japanese fleet after the landing of the troops re- mained in the harbour of Fusan, and Won Kiun at last very reluctantly obeyed the orders he had received to attack it. All the circumstances of the attack were the exact antithesis of those that attended Yi Sun's great victory, Yi Sun led a well found fleet, maniiied by officers and crews full of confidence in the skill and bravery of their admiral. He chose a day on which he had the advantage of a fair wind, so that his crews arrived on the scene of battle with all their physical strength in reserve. Won Kiun, on the other hand, comlmanded a fleet, largie in numbers and tonnage, but ill found in every respect, not even properly provided with the most necessary provisions, even with water, whose officers and crews despised 186 THE STORY OF KOREA and hated their admiral, and in advancing to the attack, on the day chosen by their admiral, all had to face a strong' head wind. The conse- quence was that, when they arrived on the scene, late in the day, all the energy of the cilews had been expended at their oars and they were, in addition, exhausted with hunger and thirst. The attack, feeble as it was, was easily beaten off, and the surviving Korean ships fled to a neighbouring island, where the crews, mad with thirst, rushed ashore for water. There they were again attacked by the victorious Japanese, and the survivors once more had to seek safety in an ignominious flight, this time to their original anchorage ; there they were safe for the time being. The admiral was not shot, as was a later English admiral, but, as an incentive to better conduct for the future, flogged. The punishment failed in its intention. He endeavoured to drown his humilia- tion in drink, and the result was that, soon after, both he and the remnant of his fleet were easily taken by the confident Japanese. Here we may leave the unfortunate Won Kiun, who appears no more in our story. We shall again have to mention his gallant rival, Yi Sun. The fruits of these naval successes /on the part of the Japanese were as striking as had been those of the Korean naval victory five years before. The Japanese had complete command of the sea, and their armies were at liberty to open the land cam- paign in full confidence that they would be supported by all the supplies and reinforcements they might require from Japan. Before endeavouring to describe the campaign we must revert to the Chinese. When the humiliated ambassadors returned to Peking after their insulting dismissal by Hideyoshi, they at first endeavoured to conceal what had loccurred and actually, prodiiced spurious presents which they HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 187 alleged had been sent by Hideyoshi in gratitude for the honour that had been shown to him by the Emperor. They had, however, no letter in reply to that of the Emperor, the presents were seen not to be Japanese productions, and a strict investigation that followed disclosed all the circumstances of the failure of their mission. The ambassadors were both disgraced — one of them subsequently bedame a fugitive to Japan, where he was imprisoned and beheaded — and it was determined to wipe out the affront that had been offered to the Emperor and once more espouse the cause of the threatened tributary. A beginning was made by sending a force of three thousand men, which was soon largely rein- forced. The whole of the south-western province of Cholla was occupied and the fortresses of Nam- won and Chinju strengthened and garrisoned. It was one of the principles of Hideyoshi's strategy that an invading army should support itself at the expense of the occupied country, and in fulfilment of this principle the Japanese, who, all told, numbered one hundred and thirty thousand men, remained in their camps near Fusan till the Korean harvest was ready for reaping. This was not until the month of October. A general advance was then made, the first object being the fortress of Namwon, which was taken by assault. The whole garrison was put to the sword, and over three thousand heads of the slain were pickled and forwarded to Hideyoshi as evidence of the victory. The provinces of Cholla and Chhung Chyong were then overrun, and Seoul was once more threatened, so much so that the advisability was discussed of the King once more leaving his capital. Only the ladies of the Court, however, were sent away, and the capital was saved by a fiercely contested battle at Chik-san, a town in the extreme north of Chhung Chyong, about eighty 188 THE STORY OF KOREA miles from the capital and not far from' Asan, where nearly three hundred years later the Japanese and Chinese were destined to again try the fortune of arms. The issue of the battle was undecided, but the Japanese loss was heavy : their prospect of being able to winter in the capital was gone ; large Chinese reinforcements, under the Commander-in-Chief, were, it was known, on their way to Seoul ; supplies were difficult to obtain ; and it was decided to retreat once more and winter in their old camps in the south. The retreat was accomplished without pursuit or attack on the way, but on the part of the Japanese it was a continuous progress of destruction. Each town that they passed on their march was ruthlessly plundered ; and the culmination of their vandalism was reached at Kyunju, the historic capital of the ancient king'dom of Silla, rich in noble memorials of the past and in the best artistic products of medieval Korean art. It was one of the birthplaces of the Japanese civilisation and contained much that should have appealed to theit national sentiment, but the soul of a retreating arnay, whose foes are not far off, is dead to sentimient. The town was sacked and as the Japanese marched out of it they set it on fire in many places, and left behind them only blackened walls and empty spaces to represent what had been a great and flourishing city. They were not allowed much time for repose when they reached their camps in the south. They were speedily followed by both Chinese and Korean forces ; and Yolsan, a strong'ly fortified town on the coast, with communication therefore by sea as well as by land with the headquarters at Fusan, the most northern of the Japanese positions, held by Kato with a large garrison, was soon invested by the allied artmies . The Japanese were driven from the outer entrench- HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 189 ments into the citadel, but they successfully repelled several vigorous efforts that were made to take the citadel by storm. Then the siege was converted into a blockade, which the Japanese were ill prepared to endure. Their land communications had all been cut off. The sea was open, but Yi Sun had been restored to his rank and command and he was once more afloat and his flag flying. Supplies could not be relied on from Fusan, when the vigorous and enterprising Korean admiral might swoop down on transports at any moment and the garrison of Yol- san was reduced to the utmost straits. " Their supplies of rice were soon exhausted, the cattle and horses followed next, and officers and men alike were in a short time reduced to the utmost extremities. They chewed earth and paper and, stealing out by night, thought themselves fortunate if they could find among the corpses lying outside the walls some dead Chinaman whose haversack was not entirely empty." Their only fuel was furnished by the arrows that were shot into the citadel by their foes. The New Year's festal season— the greatest social festival of the year with Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans alike — was passed within the fortress walls in gloom and want, while in the camps of the besiegers outside there were merriment and abundance. Surrender could have brought to the besieged nothing but the fate to which they had consigned the garrisons of Namwon, Chinju, and many others. They had never shown mercy to a fallen foe and could expect none themselves. But they were not destined to fall. The New Year (1598) had not long run its course when a strong relieving army came to their assistance from Fusan. The besieigers, simultaneously g,ttacked on the rear by fresh and vigorous soldiers and in their front by the emaciated garrison, whom their weak- ness did not prevent sallying forth to the assistance of 190 THE STORY OF KOREA their relievers, gave way and raised the siege, suffer- ing heavy loss as they retreated. Notwithstanding this defeat, the Chinese were still in such strength that they were able to confine the Japanese to their entrenched camps in the south- eastern comer of the peninsula ; and while the Chinese were being constantly reinforced from their own country and by Koreans, Hideyoshi, disappointed at the failure to advance on the capital, and now prob- ably so sick of the cost and losses of the war that he was only awaiting a favourable opportunity to make overtures for peace, withdrew sixty thousand men to Japan. He had another vital reason for this step. His own health was rapidly failing. His whole ambition now was to secure the succession to his infant son, and to that end he wished before he died to have all the available strength of an army on the devotion of whose officers he could rely close at his hand. Only sixty thousand Japanese soldiers were now left in Korea, but these were sufficient to hold their own against repeated attempts to dislodge them by greatly superior forces of both Chinese and Koreans. The last great battle was fought at So- chon, twenty miles due west of Fusan. Here an attack of the allies was beaten off by the Japanese with such slaughter that after the battle nearly thirty- nine thousand Chinese heads were gathered from the field. They were too numerous to send as trophies to Japan, so the ears and noses were cut off and sent in their place. This battle was fought on the 30th of October, and the soldiers had scarcely had time to rest after their gruesome task of packing the ears and noses had been completed when the news came that Hideyoshi was dead and that his dying words were, "Don't let my soldiers become ghosts in Korea." His closing days were darkened by the thought that all their sacrifices had been in vain and nothing HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 191 better than they had done could be hoped for in the future. However ruthlessly he had sacrificed them when his ambition and revenge still seemed open to gratification, his last thoughts were how to withdraw them with honour. The provisional Government which assumed office in Japan on his death hastened to fulfil his wishes. The coimtry was sick of the war, and it seemed only too likely that there would soon be full employment for all the soldiers in their own country — that Japan would soon again be in the agonies of civil war. One more episode has to be told. After the disgrace of Won Kiun, the old admiral Yi Sun was restored to his rank and command. He reorganised the fleet, |and by his tact completely won the goodwill of the Chinese admiral, who brought a large Chinese fleet to co-operate with him. The Japanese evacuation was carried out with great haste. Neither the Swiss nor the Irish are a greater prey to the effects of nostalgia than are the Japanese. Even in their own country they suffer from it when away from their native districts, and few are able to bear long ex- patriation. Some of the soldiers had been detained in Korea from the first invasion, and they and their more newly arrived comrades were one and all yearn- ing for home with a heart -sick longing that was impatient of delay. The moment permission came for them to leave Korea they crowded into transports without heed to the possible danger of the passage over seas on which they had now no naval security. They had scarcely started from Fusan when the allied fleets swooped down on one large division and destroyed many of the scattered Japanese ships, both convoys and transports. In this last fight Yi Sun died as Nelson died, shot on his own quarter- deck but surviving long enough to know that the war was ended by a Korean victory on the seas on which they had won their first great success. , 192 THE STORY OF KOREA The Japanese who escaped the allied fleets and reached their homies brought back with them large quantities of plunder. All the art treasures of Korea which they had not given to the flames they carried away with them, leaving Korea denuded of all her mementoes of the days in which her artists possessed a high degree of skill. Along with the art treasures they brought with them as prisoners of war many of the artists and skilled artisaiis who were settled in Japan and never permitted to return to their own land, and who are the ancestors of the Japanese potters whose work now commands the enthusiastic admiration of the connoisseurs of the West. They also brought back with them the practice of smoking. Tobacco had been made known to the Japanese by the Portuguese traders several years before the Korean War ; but it was during the war that its use spread among the soldiers, and they, on their return, introduced it among their compatriots at large, and laid the foundation of a national habit that is now almost universal among both men and women. Opposite the great temple of Daibutsu in Kioto, the building- of which was seventeen years later the remote cause of the ruin of Hideyoshi's only son, ai mound stands, capped by a stone monument, which is shown to every European visitor to the ancient capital of Japan as the Mimi Dzuka, or " ear mound." It is the g-rave of the ears and noses cut off, not only from the slain in battle but even from living Korean prisoners of war, and sent to Hideyoshi as evidence of his soldiers' exploits. Plunder which, however large to the units of the atmy, was insignificant from the national point of view, a few colonies of artists and skilled artisans, the use of tobacco, and the Mimi Dzuka were all the acquisitions that Japan had to show as the result of one of the most reckless, wanton, and cruel wars HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 193 that is told of in the history of the world, undertakfen solely, for the gratification of the ambition and vanity of one man. Its cost to the Japanese was a heavy one. More than three htmdred thousand soldiers were employed in the first invasion, and the number of those in the secoaid exceeded one hxmdred and thirty thousand. More than fifty thousand of these were left dead in Korea. Many more were missing, stragglers or deserters from the retreating or starving armies who were captured by the Koreans, and who were lost to their own people among the Korean mountains, where they became absorbed in the native population. All the value of the plunder brought to Japan was not a minute fraction of that of the treasure that had been expended. Military glory was the great asset of the war, and even that was not un- tarnished. Soldiers, who were veterans in themselves, who inherited all the instincts and traditions of pro- genitors who had been continuously fighting for two hundred years under experienced and skilful generals, armed with the best weapons of their time, at first carried all before them in overwhelming triumph ; but their career of victory was broken when they were confronted with the well equipped and disci- plined soldiers of another great power and when the whole of an outraged people rose in fury against their rapacity and cruelty. It was not long before the Koreans were avenged. .Within two years the soldiers and the two greatest of the generals who had slaughtered them' were in arms against each other. Kato, the anti-Christian, took the winning side, and lived in wealth and honour till a green old age, and after his death was deified and is still worshipped, not only as a national hero but as a Buddhist divinity. Konishi, the devout Christian, the pride of the Jesuit missionaries, was 13 194 THE STORY OF KOREA on the side of the losers, and! his head fell benieaAh the executioner's sword on the common execution- ground at Kioto only two years after the evacuation of Korea. Hideyoshi's only son perished in the destruction of the great castle which his father had built at Osaka, and with him died the last member of the dynasty which it was the great tyrant's ambi- tion to establish in power for ever, an ambition of which the Korean War was one of the side-issues. The ruin and humiliation inflicted on Korea were in inverse ratio to the gain and glory to Japan. Her population was more than decimated in battle, by famine, and by disease. The support of her Chinese allies had been almost as great a burthen to her as the plundering of her foes. Between the two the vmliappy native had starved^ and famine had broug'ht in its train cholera and typhus to comiplete its work!. The horrors that were witnessed after the Japanese evacuation of Seoul, not only in the capital itself but throughout the ravaged province would not bear telling m these pages. The King had been forced to seek safety in flight ; the capital and the two most ancient towns, both the seats of former capitals, both' rich in every tradition of history and religion that appealed to the veneration and pride of the people, had been occupied and sacked with remorseless cruelty ; industries had been destroyed, and the followers so exterminated that the industries vanished from Korea for ever, and the whole people were left with such memories of suffering, and outrage that to this day " the accursed nation " continues to be a common vernacular term in Korea for Japan. We have told the story of the war at some length, but it might have been considerably extended had not the limits of our space confined us to its general outlines and forbidden us to tell of the many instances of individual heroism which took place on both sides. HIDEYOSHI'S INVASION 195 It is in itself an interesting chapter in the world's history that has not been without its effect on modem politics in the Far East. It is specifically interesting as one that affords a very, vivid illustration of the value of sea power, as the one which g'ives us the first recorded instance of an ironclad in action and of the use of bonibs in sieges. CHAPTER X CHOSEN. SECOND PERIOD For fifteen years after the conclusion of the Korean War, Japan had her hands full enough at home to take away all thought of meddling with affairs beyond her borders. When the capture of the castle pf Osaka and the death of Hideyoshi's only son removed the last obstacle which stood in the path of lyeyasu's ambition, and the founder of the Tokugawa Shoguns was firmly established as the autocratic ruler of the Empire, his thoughts reverted to the scenes of Hide- yoshi's foreign campaigns, and to the renewal of official relations with Korea. Fusan had never been entirely abandoned by the Japanese, and trade in a very in- significant way had continued from the close of the war to be carried on between Fusan and Tsushima, but there was no official intercourse between the two Governments. Repeated informal requests were conveyed from the Court of the Shogun at Yedo to the Koreans through the feudatory of Tsushima that they should resume the old custom of sending tribute -bearing embassies to Japan ; but it was not until 1 617, when lyeyasu was dead and his son Hidetada, the second Tokugawa Shogun, ruled in his stead, that they at last consented. At this time the first English representatives of the East India Company were in Japan, endeavouring to acquire a share in the profitable trade that the Portuguese at first, and the Dutch later on, had for some years CHOSEN— SECOND PERIOD 197 cg.rried on at Nagasaki and! Hirado. Cocks, the head of the EngUsh adventurers, had just been summoned to Yedo from Hirado, and his overland journey was made ahnost simultaneously, with that of the first Korean embassy. From his description of the embassy and of the arrangements made for its reception, it is evident that the Shogun was more than gratified by this testi- monial to his greatness, and that he was anxious on his side to render every attention that international courtesy demanded, and to wipe out all memory of the affronts that Hideyoshi had heaped on the un- fortunate Korean missions before the war. At Hirado, where the ambassador landed with a suite which numbered in all more than five hundred persons, the local feudatory deputed his brother and twenty of the richest and handsomest of his vassals to wait on him, and at every town at which he stayed while on his way from Hirado to Yedo new houses were by order built for his recep- tion, and all the necessities for his journey, both by] land and water, provided for him with regal liberality at the Shogun's cost. The embassy passed through the great commercial city of Osaka, the actual scene of Hideyoshi's insults twenty-seven years before, " in very pompous sort," with trumpeters and " hobboys " sounding before them. Cocks was a little in advance of them throughout the journey. He had hoped to gain an interview with the ambassador and, in his ignorance of Korean exclusiveness, to pave the way for opening up a trade between England and Korea, which might be as profitable to the first European adventurers in the field as that with Japan had been to the Portuguese and Dutch. But fortune did not favour him. He had no interview, and the only direct result of the embassy to him was that, arriving a little in its advance at Fushimi, on the road 198 THE STORY OF KOREA between Osaka and Kioto, where its coming was expected, he and his sailors were mistaken by, the inhabitants for the more distinguished visitors who were on their way, and the streets were in their honour hastily strewed with sand and gravel, and " multitudes thronged to see us." Thenceforward peaceful relations continued be- tween Japan and Korea. Every year a mission bear- ing presents came to Yedo, all the expenses of its journey from Tsushima being defrayed by the rich ShogUns, who gladly paid this price for the tribute that was rendered to their vanity. This custom con- tinued till close on the end of the eighteenth century, when it be^an to pall on the sated palates of the Shoguns and to seem a luxury too dearly purchased by its cost. The Koreans were then told that their mission need come no farther than Tsushima, where it could discharge its offices with the local feudatory as the representative of the Shogun. Through all these years a Japanese trading factory was main- tained at Fusan under conditions not very dissimilar to those under which the Dutch were, at the same time, trading with the Japanese at Nagasaki. The Japanese at Fusan were not, as were the Dutch at Nagasaki, compelled to make an annual pilgrimage to the capital at a cost the enormity of which was a constant sore in the hearts of the frugal Dutchmen in Japan, nor to temporarily convert themselves into buffoons for the entertainment of courtiers who re- garded them as pariahs, almost as vermin, but the members of the factory were rigidly confined within its narrow limits and never permitted to proceed into the interior of the country, not even to enter the closely neighbouring prefectural town of Tongnai ; the number of their ships that were pertaitted to discharge or load in the harbour each year was strictly limited, and every, mercantile transaction, whether of sale or CHOSEN— SECOND PERIOD 199 purchase, took place under official supervision at appointed hours on two or three, fixed occasions in each year, .While, however,. s^jected to these com- mercial restrictions, the Japanese were present at Fusan rather as the English at Calais than the Dutch at Nagasaki — ^not like the latter, humble, cringing suppliants, willing to submit to any personal degrada- tion for the sake of the golden harvest which was yearly reaped by them, but like the English, tena- ciously clinging to the last vestige of their conquest of the whole country. The factory was under the control of So, the feudal prince of Tsushima, the direct descendant of Hide- yoshi's eitTOy and general, and a garrison of his men-at-arms was maintained in it, not so much for the protection of the traders, who had nothing to fear, but as the symbol of conquest. Its presence was as galling to the national pride of the Koreans as Was that of British and French troops in Yokohama to the Japanese themselves two hundred years later ; but the first Korean ambassador in vain asked that both soldiers and factory should be removed from Fusan, and Tsushima made the depot of trade be- tween the two countries. The Japanese continued to cling to their holding till the last chapter, when Fusan 'became what is called in the Far East " an open port " — i.e., a maritime city in which the subjects of other countries have the right under treaty provisions to reside and trade. The Koreans, on the other hand, " saved their faces " by the following explanation of the excieption in favour of the Japanese of their policy of national isolation : "In the reign of Sejong (1419-50) several barbarians from the Island of Tsushima left their homes and settled themselves at Fusan and two other small ports on the shores of Korea. The number of the settlers increased quickly. When Chong. Jong (1506-45) had been five years on the throne these 200 THE STORY OF KOREA barbarians made a disturbance and in one night destroyed the walls of Fusan and killed the prefect. They were suppressed by the Government troops and being then no longer able to live in, these ports they withdrew into the interior. A little later, how- ever, they asked pardon for their misdeeds and were accordingly permitted to settle themselves anew in their old quarters. Their stay in them did not last long, for shortly before 1592 they returned to their own homes. In 1599 King Sunjo had some interchange of letters with the Tsushima barbarians with the result that he invited them to their old settlements, where he built houses for them, treated them with kindness, and for their sakes held a market, lasting for five days from the 3rd of every month. He even permitted the market to be held more frequently when they had a very large quantity of goods." ' There is some historical foundation for the events here alluded to, but the manner in which the com- mercial closing of the settlement during its military occupation by Hideyoshi's invading armies from 1592 onvirards is passed over, the suggested inference that the Japanese obtained as suppliants what they de- manded or took at the sword's point, and their description as " barbarians " are illustrations of the methods of pandering to their own vanity which the Koreans had learned from^ their Chinese suzerain. Before the Koreans entered on the long period of peace which left them undisturbed in their national isolation for nearly two and a half centuries, they had to experience once more the humiliation and suffering of foreign invasion, to see their country, desolated as it had been from end to end by Hide- yoshi, once more prostrate at the feet of a foreign conqueror. We have told how, in turn, Korea found her suzerain in the Kin, Mongol, and Ming emperors of China, how the Kins were dethroned by the Mongols, both coming from the northern steppes of Asia and both aliens to the Chinese, and how the Mongols were in turn overthrown by the Mings, pure " Dallet, " Histoire de I'Eglise de Coree," vol. i. CHOSEN— SECOND PERIOD 201 Chinese, who ruled the Empire from' 1368 to 1644. Then the Mings were overthrown and China fell under the rule of the Manchus, people of the same stock as the Kins, who have retained possession of the Imperial throne till this day. The origin of the Manchus is wrapped in mythical romance. Three "heaven-born virgins " were bathing in a lake which lay near the Ever White Mountains, the northern frontier of Korea, when a magpie as it flew past dropped a blood -red fruit, which the youngest of the three took and ate. She immediately conceived and bore a son, who, when his m^other died, descended the River Hurka (a tributary of the Sungari, whose source is in the White Moun- tains) and became the chief of the local tribes. From him and his tribesmen the Manchus trace their descent. At the beginning of the seventeenth century they were a formidable power controlling the whole of Manchuria, and in the year 1 6 1 6 they were strong enough to invade Northern China and to defeat the Imperial Chinese army which was sent against them and to declare themselves independent. A few years later they established their capital at Mukden. At this period China was once more rent with internal disturbances, and taking advantage of them, the Manchus for the second time invaded the Empirie and captured not only Peking but Nanking. The last Emperor of the Mings, driven from' both his northern and southern capitals, in despair drowned himself in the Yang-Tsze, and in 1644 the first of the Manchu emperors was crowned in his stead. Into the wars that preceded this event, which from first to last spread over twenty-eight years, unhappy Korea was dragged by her duty to her suzerain. From the Mings Korea had experienced nothing but kindness. They had nobly come to her rescue when she was beaten to her knees by Japan, and it was 202 THE STORY OF KOREA owing to their help that the invaders had been forced to evacuate her capital and retreat in haste to their fortified lines on the coast. The Ming^, when their ovm hour of trial came, in their turn sought Korea's aid in their struggle against the Manchus, and not in vain. In 1619 twenty thousand Koreans joined the Chinese anny and along with it suffered a crushing defeat by the Manchus. This loyalty to their old suzerain was then further tested. The Manchu victor sent back all his Korean prisoners and deserteiirsj saying that "as of old the Chinese sent assistance to the Koreans it was very natural and right that the Chinese should now be assisted by them, and that he was therefore not in the least offended by their fidelity to their allies." Korea had thus an oppor- tunity to withdraw with honour ; but so far from that, she remained firm' in her duty to the Mings and did not even thank the Manchu for his proffered gener- osity. She had to pay dearly for her fidelity. The Manchus could not leave such an enemy on their flank and rear, and their second invasion of China was preceded by one of Korea. In February, 1627, they crossed the Yalu on the ice and rapidly drove the Koreans in rout before them the whole way from the frontier to the capital. Once more, as his predecessor Jiad done in 1231 before the Mongols, the King fled and endeavoured to find refuge in the time- honoured sanctuary at Kang Wha. Here he was safe, for the Manchus had, no more than the Mongols, the means of crossing the river, but he made overtures of peace which were accepted, and a treaty was concluded between him and Manchu envoys on the island. " At the ratification a white horse and a black ox were sacrificed, and a paper with the treaty provisions was burnt to inform Heaven and Earth." By this treaty Korea recognised the Manchus as her future suzerains. The two people were henceforth CHOSEN— SECOND PERIOD 203 to be " as elder and younger brothers," a relation- ship which, according to the Confucian ethics, in- volves, after the parent's death, the tnost absolute control of the younger by the elder, who is entitled to dispose or utilise as he will the property and services, even the life, of the younger. Korea did not keep the engagement so solemnly ratified. Her old reverence and affection for the Mings were still strong, and it was impossible to traiisfer them en bloc to the new power. She did not render the usual tribute, and what she did send she called a present instead of tribute : she refused to give up refugees in her territory, and absolutely refused to co-operate in any invasion of China ; her envoy to the Manchu Court assumed an air of equality, with the Manchu leaders, and at last in 1636 the Manchu patience was exhausted, and it was determined to bring the recalcitrant vassal to her senses. Eatly in the f ollowirig year an army of one hundred thousand men once ag'ain entered Korea from the north, and the old', old story was reputed, with the same harrowing details of defeat, slaughter, and plunder of the unhappy country and its people. The Court was again removed to Kang Wha, but the King in person maintained a valiant defence of his capital. He hoped for aid from China, but China's own troubles were enough for her and she could give none. Sallies from the beleaguered city and relieving forces from' the south and west of Korea were alike beaten back by the invincible Manchus ; the country around the city was devastated, provisions were exhausted, and famine threatened its defenders and inhabitants ; but the courage of the King did not give way till he heard that the Manchus had taken Kang Wha and that the Queen, the Crown Prince, and all the ladies of the Royal Family and the Court, as well as the wives of many of the principal nobles, were in their hands. 204 THE STORY OF KOREA The Manchus had obtained the use of boats, and, once on the island, their numbers overwhehned its slender garrison. All the ladies were courteously treated by their captors, but the King bent his head to this last blow and humbly sued for forgiveness and peace. Both were granted, but on hard terms. The King had, not only to formally renounce for ever his allegiance to his former suzerain but to promise aid against him in war ; to rendter faith- fully to the Manchus the loyalty he had igiven to the Mings ; to pay a heavy tribute ; to promise that he would build no fortresses without Manchu per- mission ; and finally to give the Crown Prince as a hostage for the faithful observance of these obligations. The crushed King accepted these conditions, " bow- ing to the ground." An interview with the victor followed. The King, the princes, and all the ministers were received in a yellow tent, yellow being the Imperial colour in China, where conqueror and conquered joined in worshipping Heaven. Then the King and all his retinue prostrated themselves on the ground, and implored pardon for their crimes. This was the last of his humiliations. When it was over he was asked to seat himself on the left hand of the Manchu chief, the place of honour according to Eastern ideas, above all the Manchu princes. The suzerainty of the Manchus proved to be less severe than the terms of peace warranted. Several years elapsed before Korea reconciled herself to it, during which she gave several causes of offence, but all her hopes of a reversal of ill-fortune, of a return to her old friends and suzerains, were ended when, in 1644, the Ming dynasty came to an end on the death of the last of the race, and that of the Manchus was firmly established on the Imperial throne. It was part of the policy of the Manchus CHOSEN— SECOND PERIOD 205 never to push their conquests to extretnfes, and when the fighting was over to spare the vanquished who yielded. They were even more conciliatory to the Koreans than they were to the Chinese. On the latter they imposed the pigtail and the Manchu dress. The Koreans were left free to follow their hereditary customs. No cession of any part of their territory was asked for. The tribute which they bound them- selves to render was reduced again and again, and little more was exacted than a formal annual ranbassy to Peking and the proper observance by it of the ceremonial that is due from' the mfessengers of a vassal to his suzerain. On the other hand, when famine threatened or visited Korea, as it often naturally did in a country dependent solely on its own harvests, whose laws prevented it supplying its deficiencies from foreign markets, large gifts of rice were freely and generously sent to her help from' China. From the year in which the Manchu rule iwas firmly established throughout China, Korea wrapped herself in a mantle of isolation from all the world. She had acquired through China, through Japan, and also through the very few shipwrecked Europeans who had fallen into her hands, a dim knowledge that there were other countries in the world, but they did not concern her. Only her two immediate neigh- bours, China and Japan, were definitiely known to her, and from both she had throughout almost the whole course of her history suffered bitterly. China had been her friend and protector, and had given her the literature and civilisation which she had acquired in a high degree. But it had been also a ruthless invader who time and time again had ravaged all her northern provinces, and even when driven back in defeat had left ruin and desolation behind. From Japan she had experienced nothing but suffering. 206 THE STORY OF KOREA -She it was who gave to Japan the religion, laws, ^rt, science, and social system' which she had herself received from China, and which were the foundation of all Japan's advanced civilisation for more than twelve hundred years, and she might, therefore, have looked to Japan for a meed of the respect whiich she rendered to China. Instead of that she had no memories exciept of the horrors of one of the most cruel and unprovoked invasions that the history of the world records, and of ruthless marauders on her coasts, who through unbroken centuries had made their names a terror to all her citizens. Korea now thought that her only safeguard for the future was to maintain as little intercourse with both China ajid Japan as was compatible, with the preservation of peace, arid to endeavour to persuade both that she had nothing within her own bwders that could appeal tO: the cupidity of either. The Japanese who traded with her were, as before stated, rigidly confined within the limits of their petty factory at Fusan. On her northern frontier a strip of neutral territory thirty miles in width was deliberately laid in waste, and became only the haimt of savage wild beasts and of still more savage human outlaws and brigands, so that none could pass through it even along the great high-road which led all the way from Seoul to Peking unaccompanied by strong guards. Three times every year a market was opened for a few days at the Border Gate, close to the modern city of Fung Wang Chang, and there Korean and Chinese traders met and exchanged their goods, the Koreans bartering ginseng*, the most highly prized drug in the Chinese pharmacopoeia, furs, paper, and gold, all of high value in proportion to their weight or bulk, and therefore capable of cheap and easy transport b^ land, for the many industrial pro- ducts of China and, as years went on, lor European PASS ON THE PEKING ROAD. (From Shuvfimfh Copyright, Uiuitru'OoJ & Uiid^ncocl, Loin/oii.) To face p. 206, CHOSEN— SECOND PERIOD 207 cottons and metal manufactures brought from the open ports of China. That was all the intercourse which the people could hold with their continental neighbours ; and even for that heavily, taxed licences had to be obtained^ and woe betide the returning Korean who could not exhib'it his licence at the barriers of his own strictly watched frontier town of Aichin 1 Oiice every year a great embassy was sent to Peking to tender the duties of the vassal King to his suzerain Emperor, and it stayed for a month in the Manchu capital. The Koreans adhered to their dress and coiffure of the Ming period, both abolished in China by the ManchuSj and the inhabitants of the Chinese capital used to see at each Korean visit the same garb in actual use as had been worn by their forbears of several generations back. It was as if the United States citizens who yearly visit England wore the dress and practised the gait and demeanour that were in vogue in the early years of George III. Once every year a return visit was made to Seoul by a high envoy of the Chinese Emperor, but under very different conditions. The Koreans during their stay at Peking wandered freely through the streets and saw without hindrance all that they, cared to see, and associated freely with the people. No obstacle was placed even on their intercourse with the European missionaries, whose influence was destined to produce important results. The Chinese ambassador was met by the King in person outside the city gate, and every possible honour that could testify the most profound respect was rendered to him! ; but he and his suite only remained a few days • in Seoul, interned the whole time in their lodgings, and every means was taken to obscure from them such wealth and resources as Korea possessed. Korea's isolation continued unbroken for over two 208 THE STORY OF KOREA hundred and thirty years, during which she went her own way, uninterfered with by the outside world. Japan's period of isolation, nearly co-existent with that of Korea, was equally long and equally rigid. But during it Japan was strongly and ably governed, her people enjoyed, not only freedom from foreign aggression but internal peace, and the lower orders of her people, though no better than serfs as far as the enjoyment went of political rights or freedom, were secure in their property, and were able to live lives of comfort and safety. Her Government, firmly established on well-defined principles, was adminis- tered by capable officials, honest according to their lights, taken from a limited and highly privileged class but chosen from that class for their capacity and trustworthiness, and their powers and authority were circumscribed within limits which were always recog- nised and could only be crossed at infinite peril to the life, rank, family, and property of their violator. In the testament in which the great founder of the Tokugawa Shoguns bequeathed to his descendants the principles of statecraft by which he directed they should be guided, he told them that " the People are the Foundation of the Empire " and that they were to choose as their ministers " true men," not those " who endeavour to win favour by adulation, flattery, or bribery." These directions were faithfully observed. The commons of Japan enjoyed happy and tranquil lives of such security, prosperity, and comfort, that they became the most light-hearted and laughter- loving people on earth, full of the joys of life, in- dustrious, ingenious, and artistic, and the whole Empire, in the words of Kaempfer, " a school of civility and good manners, in which the happiness and innocence of former ages were revived." In Korea everything was the reverse of what was seen in Japan. Between 1644 and 1876 twelve kings CHOSEN— SECOND PERIOD 209 successively sat on the throne, all of the line of Taijo. Among these were some strong and capable rulers who instituted important reforms intended particu- larly for the amelioration of the condition of the lower classes of their people. Hijo Jung (1649- 59), during whose reign Hamel and his comrades were shipwrecked and held as prisoners in Korea, abolished the punishment of beating criminals to death, lightened taxation, and renovated the military system. He also distinguished himself as a dress reformer, and the Korean Court dress continued to the reipi of the last of the kings to conform to his designs. His successor, Hyong Jong (1660-74) came to the throne as a boy, but he followed in his father's steps as a reformer, aided and advised in all he did by a powerful Prime Minister who served him throughout his reign. Some of the heaviest burdens of taxation were remitted, and the King curtailed his own personal expenditure to meet the deficiencies in the royal revenue. Men were for- bidden by him to desert their families in order to become Buddhist priests so that they might pass their lives in the ease and licence that were associated with the monasteries, and the practice was also for- bidden of taking girls by force to be used as palace women, not necessarily as concubines, but as ladies or servants of the Court, a position in which perpetual chastity was a rigid rule. Much was done by him to spread education in the districts of the Kingdom remote from the capital, which his predecessors had neglected, and generally every department of the State, every condition of social life, felt the bfenefit of his reforming hand. Yung Jong (1724-6) was another King distin- guished in Korean history for the series of reforms effected during his long reign, prominent among them being the measures which he took for the enforcement 14 210 THE STORY OF KOREA of tOBperance. He is perhaps the sole instance in all the history of the world of a monarch or even of a legislator who absolutely prohibited the manufacture, sale, or use of intoxicating liquors, and who in his ardour as a temperance reformer made the violation of his prohibition a capital offence and took care to secure that the law was no dead letter. When a high provincial official was found transgressing in his own district far away from the capital, where no doubt he thought ^e would be safe from discovery, the King not only ordered him to be executed but went in person to see the sentence carried out. Compulsory temperance only continued during the life of the King, which was, however, a long one. A similar revulsion to that which England witnessed when the Restoration put an end to the rigid austerity of puri- tanical legislation took place in Korea, and there are no harder or more constant drinkers in the world than the Koreans. The vice is common to all classes. It is the greatest happiness that can fall to the commoner to drown his cares in the forgetfulness of intoxication, and when he is able to do so he is the envy of his neighbours. Drunkenness is no more a discredit to the nobles than it was to the English country squire in the days of George II., and among the present-day imports from Japan no unsubstantial place is taken by French brandy, Scotch whisky, Russian Vodka, and Dutch gin, all in splendidly be- labelled bottles with gilded capsules, the industrial output of Osaka and Nagasaki, which are retailed, with a handsome commercial profit, at one shilling per bottle. The great merit which clings to this King's name is the revolution which he made in the social system of the nation by the emancipation of the serfs. Until his reign Korean society was composed of only, two classes, nobles (Yang ban) and serfs. Whoever was CHOSEN— SECOND PERIOD 211 not a noble was the bond serf of a nobje, bounidi to the soil, and liable even to be sold along with his family at his liege lord's pleasure. All the serfs were enfranchised with personal freedom by the King. It is sad to say that the apostle of temperance and liberty becamie in his old age, altogether without cause, jealous and suspicious of his son and heir, and left a blot on his otherwise fair name by the cruel murder of his son, who was shut in a chest and slowly starved to death. The kings that have been mentioned were the good kings of the line since 1644, All of them, whatever their merits, had the vices of cruelty as judged by present-day standards, and the instance that has just been given was only horrible in the eyes of Koreans from the fact that the sufferer was the King's own son and the recognised heir-apparent to the throne. The greatest virtues of all of them were the thought they gave to the welfare of the common people and the cessation which they enforced, during their reigns, of party strife at their courts. In each case one of the g'reat parties re- mained in power throughout nearly the whole reign, and the others, when they attempted to assert them- selves, to overthrow their opponents in office, had to pay a bitter reckoning. Their leaders and members were executed, murdered, banished, or fined without mercy. The kings whose names have not been given, weak, indolent, indulgent, and debauched, were worthy of the description, taken from the writings of the French priests, that has been given in a previous chapter. Some of them came to the throne as boys and were under the tutorship of their mothers or grandmothers, who held the regency during the Kings' minorities. However weak the character of Korean women in general may have been rendered by their moral subjection, however insignificant a factor they 212 THE STORY OF KOREA have becolne in all social life, some of those who have been on or near the throne have shown them- selves very strong and determined women, capable of using to the utmost at their own will the powers with which they were vested. Two of the female regents are mainly responsible for the merciless persecutions of the Christians, and in our own day, in the chequered reign of the last of the kings who can be said to have govetned, two ladies played, as will be seen hereafter, a g'reat part on the political stage. Neither female regent nor weak kings were able to check the political strife which was the curse of the nation. Both alike were subject to the latest partisan favourites or councillors to catch their ears, and these used their influence with king or regent solely for the advancement and enrichment of them- selves and their relatives. The Court was a imlaelstrom of intrigue, in which bribery, false accusations, assassination, and conspiracy were the only weapons used by either party. There were no foreign politics, no platform on which all cbuld unite in the common interest, and the hatred which in other parts of the world was exhausted on foreign foes had in Korea to find its only outlet on domestic riVals. Patriotism was never thought of ; and so deeply had the canker eaten into the body politic that even when, in our own time, Korea was brought face to face with the world and her national existence threatened by Russia' on the one side and Japan on the other, foreign policy was only a new weapon for use in domestic party strife, and it is to this party strife that the ultimate national downfall was mainly due. Amidst it all the people had no place. To the eyes of the nobles they were as negro slaves to the old Virginian planter, as Celtic peasants to the Protestant garrison of Ireland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They, counted for nothing : they were TOMB XKAK SEOUL. (From Ski-fo^mph Cof^yri/^ht, CiulcniWi.t & duhn^'ocJ, Lou.loii.) To faco p. 21-. CHOSEN— SECOND PERIOD 213 hewers of wood and drawers of water, whose spolia- tion was a prize for which rival parties strove, and the victors ruthlessly, pitilessly, barbarously extorted from them, to the least fraction, what were the only spoils of ofifice, not sparing them even when, as often happened, famine and its attendant, cholera, were spreading desolation and death far and wide. Under such g;ovemment it was inevitable that the people should become what they have been described in a previous chapter — the most miserable, hopeless, apathetic on earth. With a people whose lives were cast in squalid poverty on which no ray of brightness ever fell, from which there was no possible avenue of lescape,, and a nobility all whose energy and thought were exhausted on party strife, the country could make no progress in art, science, or industry ; and the civilisation of Korea shojwed no material advance in 1876, when Japan forced the first treaty on her, on what she had been when Hideyoshi's armies were withdrawn nearly three hundred years previously. In 1864 the twenty -ninth King of the dynasty, one of the weakest of the whole line, died childless, without having exercised his prerogative of nominat- ing an heir. The Queen -Dowager, the widow of a former king, took the duty upon herself, and having wrested by actual physical strength the Royal Seal from the widow of the late King, while his boidy, was still warm, and thus fortified herself with the symbol of royal authority, she nomiinated to the throne a boy of twelve years of age, whose father, one of the royal princes, was the grandson of King Sunjo (1800-34). The father had hitherto been a nonentity in the Court ; and with a boy King and an indifferent father the old Queen contemplated for herself a long regency. But no sooner was his son safe on the throne than the father at once showed himself m an entirely new light. The Queen was 214 THE STORY OF KOREA ousted, and thenceforward the Court idler became a determined statesman, assumed the regfency, and was for nine years the most prominent figure in the administrative life of the kingdom and till his death, in 1898, he was the most prominent factor in political life. He is known as the Tai Won Ktw, i(" the Lord of the Great Court "), and his son was ;the last de facto King of Korea, who reigned until his abdication, in 1907. The French missionaries de- scribed him, in the early years of his regency, as brusque, self-willed, and passionate, weak in body, but with a strong constitution, with fierce eyes that rolled incessantly in their sockets. In after years he showed himself cruel and vindictive, always restless and ambitious, unscrupulous in all his methods, and prepared to clear the way for the gratification of his ambition by murder and conspiracy. While still a boy-;-two years after his accession to the throne — the King was married to a bride chosen for him by his father, a lady of the Min family, one of the oldest in the Korean nobility. The Tai Won Kun anticipated that the lady, if she took any part at all in politics, would from gratitude, if for no other reason, be devoted to his interests. His anticipations were quickly falsified. The lady was devoted, not to the Regent, to whom she owed her throne, but to the family from which she sprang, and the great influence which she acquired on the King was, throughout her life, used unsparingly for their advancement. She was a woman of great intelligence, of strong character, well read in Chinese literature, intimately acquainted with the history of her own country, and in after years her intellectual capacity enabled her to acquire a grasp of foreign affairs which, together with her marked conversational powers, aroused the admira- tion of Count Inouye,' the veteran statesm,an of Japan. ' Now Marquis Inouye. CHOSEN— SECOND PERIOD 216 She was slight of stature ; but her diminutive tody contained a great, courageous heart, and bright, sparkling eyes reflected the brilliant intellect that was behind them. She soon incurred the jbitter hatred of the Regent. Spurred by her influence, the King assumed the full exercise of his own prerogatives and the administration of the king'dom in 1873, and the Tai Won Kun was forced to retire from ofSce. The Queen's brother was appointed Chief Minister, and the Tai Won Kun promptly caused him, his mother, and his son to be murdered by a tomb. Twice his hatred for the Queen induced him to endourage con- spiracies against the King, his own son. Twice he instigated attempts on the life of the Queen, the last of which was successful. Until 1873 he governed as an absolute ruler. Always a bigoted and intolerant Conservative, he was bitterly opposed to even a semblance of relationship with Europeans, and it was under him that French and United States fleets were driven back when they attempted to enter into rela- tions with the Government. Cruelty, that knew no mercy, was his second nature, and it was by his orders that the third Christian persecution was instituted and carried to its bitter end. These occurrences are des- cribed in subsequent chapters. The story of the King's reign is that of contemporary Korea, no longer isolated from the world, the pivot for fo,tty years of all the international policy of the Far East. CHAPTER XI EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS After the storming- of the city of Chin-ju that is described in a previous chapter,' when it seemed probable that the embassies sent to Japan by thej Emperor of China might succeed in concluding a lasting peace, Hideyoshi withdrew from Korea the greater part of his army which had served throughout the campaign, leaving only the division commanded by. Konishi to maintain the fortified camps around Fusan. Both Konishi and nearly all his men were, as before stated, devout Christians. They were the first of the invaders to land in Korea ; they were in the van and bore the brunt of the fighting throughout the whole campaign : they were the troops who had sufifered most severely from the privations of cold and hunger and the heaviest losses in battle, and they had therefore merited exceptional consideration from Hideyoshi. There was apparently no more glory to be won, and the excitement of a hard-fought campaign was to be replaced by the monotonous routine, of garrison duties in time of peace. Konishi 's division was entitled by all its services and merits to be spared from these duties, to be among the first who were allowed to return to the homes for which all tlie men were longing. Political considerations decreed otherwise. Hideyoshi still wished to keep the Christian soldiers at a distance from Japan, and ' Vide p.177. 216 EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 217 the whole of Konishi's division was therefore detained in Korea. As a sop to the sense of injustice and ingratitude which this measure provoked among men who felt they had deserved better things, they werq permitted to have the ministrations of one of thei European priests from the Jesuit mission in Japaji ; and Father Gregorio de Cespedes, together with an ordained Japanese priest, therefore proceeded to Fusan early in the year 1 5 94, and remained in Southern Korea for over a year, not only ministering to the spiritual needs of the Japanese soldiers but to defeated foes, both on the battlefield and when prisoners of war. Hideyoshi was at this time he- coming more and more suspicious of the motives of Christianity and its European ministers. Kato, the enemy of Christianity, and rival of Konishi, was in Japan and had his ear, and was only too reajdyi to warn him of the dangers of encouraging the fanatical zeal of the soldier converts, even in Korea, and to, stimulate his suspicions that the missionary, propagandism was only a means to the acquisition of temporal power. Konishi found his position in Korea so insecure that he was obliged in prudence to send Cespedes back to Japan, and as the active persecution of Christians in Japan commenced soon afterwards, he was not able to replace him by another priest or priests during the remaining stages of the war. Father Cespedes was the iBrst European of whom we possess authentic information as having landed in Korea. Nearly two hundred years were destined to elapse before another missionary of his faith entered Korea, during the whole of which period the country, was hermetically closed against foreign inter- course. Its shores were occasionally visited by the exploring cruisers of European naval powers, but none of their ofificers or crews were ever allowed to 218 THE STORY OF KOREA do more than make a brief landing of a few hours' duration on the beach, and that only while they were under the protection of their own guns. Throughout the whole period the only Europeans of whom' we have any record that were admitted to the interior were a few shipwrecked Dutch sailors, cast away, on the inhospitable coast while on their voyage from Holland to tlie Dutch Trading Factory at Nagasaki, one of whom has left to us a vivid desciription both of his personal experiences while a captive and also of the customs, religion, and institutions of the country, the truth of which, much though it was doubted at the time at which it was first published, has since been amply confirmed by more learned writers and scientific observers. On January lo, 1653, the Dutch ship Sparrow- 'ftawk sailed from Texel for Nagasaki. On June 1st she arrived at Batavia, where she re- mained for fourteen days, and then sailed for Taiwan (Formosa), where she arrived on July i6th, and remained for another fortnight. On the 30th she started on the last stage of her long voyage. The late summer is the worst period of the year in the Southern China seas — that at which the dreaded typhoons may be expected to appear in their utmost violence — and it was the ill-fortune of the Sparrow- hawk to find them at their very worst from' the day on which she sailed from Taiwan. She met with a continued succession of violent gales, was driven out of her course, and after having been buffeted by waves and winds for a fortnig'ht, at last found herself, with her masts gone, helpless on a lee shore, on August 1 6th. The master commended the crew to their prayers, all hope being gone. The ship soon struck, and in the heavy sea at once went to pieces, and out of her total complement of sixty-six men, only thirty-six succeeded in reaching the shore. EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 219 most of them' more or less dangerously hurt. Among the survivors was Hendrick Hamel, the supercargo, to whom we owe the record of their sufferings and long exile. It was on the island of Quelpart that the wrleck took place. The survivors were kindly treated by the natives, though at first a great iron chain with a bell was put round the neck of each|, and the wreckage was all plundered, the timbers being burnt for the sake of the iron nails which fastened them together. The plunderers were, however, punished by the Governor, each receiving thirty or forty strokes on the soles of the feet with a cudgel, six feet long and as thick as a man's arm, the beating being so severe that the toes dropped off some of the feet ; and the shipwrecked sailors were fed and lodged, such care being taken of the sick that they werle " better treated by that idolater than they should have been among Christians." On October 29th, when they had been on the island for two and a half months, they were one day summoned to the Governor's office, where they found a man with a great red beard, who proved to be a fejlow- countryman of their own. He had been for twenty- seven years an exile in Korea. Like themiselvEs, he had sailed from Holland in one of the Dutch Company's ships for Nag-asaki, and when at the very end of his longi voyage, when his ship was off the Korean coast, he and some others had landed to obtain water, and three of them were taken prisoners by the natives. Their ship sailed away, leaving them to their fate ; and though Nagasaki and the Dutch factory were distant only a few days' sail ; though every year seven or eight Dutch ships arrived there any one of which might easily have called off Fusan either on her homeward or outward voyage ; though communications were regularly interchanged between 220 THE STORY OF KOREA the Japanese and Koreans at Tsushima and Fusan, and the officials of the Dutch factory knew that a Korean embassy came to Yedo (Tokio) every year with unfailing punctuality, no attempt seems ever to have been made by their countrymen to use these means as to inquiring after their fate. Two of the castaways served as soldiers with the Korean army in the Manchu War in 1635 ' and were killed in battle. The survivor, whose name was John Wetteree, was afterwards kept in an honourable captivity at Seoul, and it was he who now appeared to interrogate his shipwrecked countrymen, sent specially for that purpose from the Court at Seoul, to which the presence of the foreigners on Korean soil had been duly, re- ported by the officials at Quelpart. He had almost completely forgotten his own language, of which he had not the opportunity of using a single word in the eighteen years which had passed since the death of his fellow-captives. At first it was difficult to understand him, and it was not until after a month's association with the sailors that he recovered enough of the language to be able to converse with any fluency. He was now fifty-nine years of age, and had been in hopeless exile for twenty ^even years. It was the custom of the country, he told them-, to detain all strangers found within its limits, and, though they would be provided with food and cloth- ing, " they must never expect to leave it unless they got wings to fiy." They were all detained in the island till May of the following year. During their stay a change of Governors took place, much to the detriment of the unhappy captives, for they were worse fed and more strictly watched, and while their sufferings became greater the prospect of being brought, as they had been promised, to the capital of the country seemed ' Vide p. 202. EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 221 to become more rem0.te. In their impatience six of them' made a desperate attempt to escape in a small boat without either provisions or water, hoping to reach Japan, but they had scarcely started when they, were caught and brought back. They were then chained to a great log, and each received twenty-five strokes " on the bare buttocks from! a cudgel a fathom' long, four fingers broad, and an inch thick, being flat on the side that strikes and round on the other.. These strokes were so unmercifully laid on that the sufferers were forced to keep their beds for a month, and though the rest were unbound' yet they were confined and strictly guarded day and night." After that lesson there were no more attiempts to escape. At last in May orders came to carry them' to the Court. The distance from Quelpart to the mainland is only, thirty-five miles, yet the crossing was full of peril and discomfort. On the first attempt after struggling with contrary winds, they were obliged to put back, but the second attempt wias successful, though they were twenty-four hours in the boats, and all were scattered and landed at different places. During the passage their feet were fettered and one hand was made fast to a block to prevent their attempting to escape, which otherwise they might easily have done, for all the soldiers guarding them were seasick. On their way from their landing- place to the capital one of their number died^ but the rest performed the long journey without mishap, and as soon as they arrived they, were brought before the King. " They humbly beseeched his Majesty to send them: to Japan, so that they might one iday return thence to their homies," but it was only ,to find that all that Wetteree had told them' was con- firmed. " It was not the custom' of Korea to suffer strangers to depart." They were, in fact, at once 222 THE STORY OF KOREA adopted as Korean subjects, dressed as Koreans, en- rolled among the King's life-guards, and armed, and thenceforward for a time their lives were those pf ordinary privates in the ranks, with the same drills and marchings as the Korean soldier. In one respect they had similar experiences to their countrymen of high rank in Japan. Kaempfer, the Dutch historian of Japan, tells of how when the annual mission of the factory took place to the Court of the Shogun at Yedo the Governor of the factory and its high officers, Kaempfer himself, the learned physician and philosopher, included, were forced to dance, sing, make love, kiss, and exhibit numerous other buffoon- eries for the amusement of the Shogun's courtiers, especially the ladies of the Court. WJiat the grave and learned officials of high rank had to do at Ye'do the poor castaways had to do at Seoul. They wene ordered to sing, dance, and leap, to exercise and shoot after the Dutch manner. " Above all, the wives and children of the nobles were eager to view them, because the common people of Quelpart had spread a report that they, were a monstrous race, and when they drank were obliged to tuck up their noses behind their ears. But they, were amazed to see them better shaped than their own countrymen, and above all they admired the fairness of their com- plexion." We cannot follow the poor Dutchmen through all the details of their long captivity. They were full of suffering, want, and hard, unrequited labour, and on more than one occasion all the captives were threatened with death. They, had some hopes of making their condition known through the Chinese ambassador, who came each year from Peking to receive the homage of the King. They were for- bidden to attempt to comlmunicate with him', and confined within doors during his stay at Seoul set EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 223 that they should not be seen by him ; but on one occasion, in March, 1655, two of them hid outside the city on the day on which the ambassador set out on his return journey, and when he appeared at the head of his troops they laid hold of his horse's reins with one hand and with the other turned aside their Korean habit to let him see they were clad after the Dutch manner underneath. The only result was that the two were put in prison and never seen or heard of again by, their countrymfen, and the rest were subsequently banished from the capital to the province of " Thillado " (ChoUa). Their treatment in their new quarters varied under the- different Governors of the province. Sometimes it was kind : at others they were put to the roughest manual labour, carrying firewood from' the moun- tains and weeding grass, insuflficiently fed and still more insufficiently clothed, so that they suffered keenly from the winter cold. Throughout all the year 1662 there was a great famine. Acorns, pineapples, and other wild fruits were the only food of the people, abundance of whom died of want. The Dutchmen, reduced by death to twenty-two in number, were then distributed in different towns, it being impossible to support them all in one. Hamel and four com- panions were sent to a town on the south-east coast. Here they remained five years, all the time giving their best thoughts, whether well or ill treated, to planning the means of escape to Japan. At last they got their chance. Desperate under the increased tyranny of a new Governor, they obtained, through the assistance of a Korean whom they had been able to befriend, a boat, on the pretence that they wanted to g'o to the neighbouring isles to buy cotton ; three of their comrades from another district were able to join them, and on September 4, 1667, as the moon in its first quarter was setting, they crept along the 224 THE STORY OF KOREA city iwall, unperceived by anybody, carrying: with them their scanty accumulation of provisions, rice, pots of water, and a frying-pan. They embarked and crept out of the harbour without discovery, and, with- out a compass, scantily provisioned, knowing only that Japan lay somewhere to the east, they committed themselves in a frail open boat to the seas of whose; storms they had had such bitter experience prior to their shipwreck almost at the same season of the year, of whose dangers they must have learned much more during their captivity. Fortune favoured them this time. After having been at sea for eight days they succeeded in reaching the Goto Islands, where they, were taken in charge by the Japanese and brought to Nagasaki. There they, found their own country- men and the ships of the Company in whose service they had originally sailed. Passages were provided for them in the first ship to leave for home, and on July 20, 1668, they reached Amsterdam^ — all Enoch Ardens who had been mourned as dead for fifteen years. Hamel does not tell in his narrative whether at the time of his escape Wetteree was still alive. He knew, however, that thirteen survivors of the ship- wrecked crew of the Sparrowhawk were still under- g:oing all the miseries of an iron captivity and hope- less exile, miseries so great that to escape from' them he and his fellows had not hesitated to imperil their lives in an open boat, knowing that if their attempt failed a cruel punishment and more rigid captivity awaited them, and no doubt he told all this to thel Oifficials of the Dutch factory. They had only to ask and obtain the intervention of the Japanese, if for nothing else to make inquiries ; but it is another instance of the depths of degradation to which the early Dutch traders with Japan allowed themselves to fall in their cupidity for gain, that they left their EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 226 countrymen, servants of their own Company, ship- wrecked and castaway while in the discharge of their duty, to their fate rather than risk offending or troubling the Japanese by making a single repre- sentation on their behalf. Nothing was ever heard of them again, nothing is told of them' in Korean history j and how or when they died, whether they had to pay the penalty of their comrades' escape by torture and execution or, as Wetteree, lingered out hopeless lives in captivity, is entirely unknown. Many other Europeans of whom we now know nothing may have met with the same fate. One European ship out of every three that in those days sailed to the Eastern seas was never heard of again after leaving her last port of departure, and it is not unreason- able to suppose that the Sparrowhawk was not the only one that was cast away on the storm- beaten and dangerous coasts of Eastern or Southern Korea. In the year 1797, Captain Broughton, in his voyage of discovery in H.M.S. Providence, cruised along the east coast of Korea, and as a melnento of his visit gave his name to the great bay in the south of the province of Ham Gyong, which it still bears on European maps and charts. Nineteen years later, H.M. ships Lyra and Alceste, which had just con- veyed Lord Amherst's Mission to Peking, visited the south-west coast, and Captain Basil Hall, the com- mander of the Lyra, has left a description to us of what he saw during his stay of eleven days on the coast and in the group of islands off it, to which he gave the name " Sir Jamfes Hall Islands," in memory of his father, the President of the Edinburgh Geographical Society. Neither of the great navi- gators made any endeavour to penetrate into ,the country, and their principal interest in it was purely professional, to delineate its coast line for the benefit 15 226 THE STORY OF KOREA of sailors who might follow them.' In 1835 the first French missionary succeeded in crossing the northern frontiers and making his way to Seoul, but his story and that of his colleagues belongs to another chapter. Ten years later Captain Belcher in H.M.S. Sama- rang surveyed the coasts of Quelpart and the harbour of Port Hamilton, and early in 1846 a French frigate appeared at the entrance of the River Han and delivered to the local officials a letter demanding from the Government an explanation of the execution of the three missionaries, seven years before .2 The letter contained an intimation that other ships would come later to receive the reply, and in compliance with it, two frig'ates, la Gloire and la Victorieuse, arrived off the coast in August of the same year. Their visit was unfortunate. Both grounded on un- charted shoals at hig'h-water, and when the tide fell, rapidly and deeply as it always does on the wjest coast, both were left high and dry on the rocks, and both became total wrecks. The crews were landed on an island near at hand^ and one of the lifeboats was sent to Shanghai to convey tidings of their mis- fortune and to bring a ship to their relief. Before it came, however, all the shipwrecked men were taken • In the year 1875, while Korea still rigidly maintained her hermit- like seclusion, the present writer visited the coasts in an English man-of-war. Captain Hall's description of his experience might be applied verbatim to those of the writer on that occasion. The Koreans were civil and polite, but refused to permit any advance inland from the beach, to sell anything — even beef — or to give admission to the towns or villages, and it was intimated that huge piles of stones — the Koreans are the most expert stone throwers in the world — were ready to welcome any one who attempted to approach either. On the other hand, they betrayed the most intense curiosity themselves, visited every part of the ship, and, it mjust be added, stole freely, several of their thefts, which were not discovered at the time, proving very inconvenient. » Vide p. 271, EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 227 away by an English steamer which happened to pass on her voyage from Newchwang. While they were on the island they were well treated by the inhabit- ants, and an official who came from' the capital not only permitted provisions to be sold to them but offered in the name of his Government to provide boats for their safe conveyance to China. They were, however, rigidly secluded, their camp on the island watched all night by Government boats with lanterns, no intercourse beyond what was absolutely necessary was permitted with the natives, and, although the official knew the object with which the two frigates had come to Korea, he neither brought nor mentioned the reply to the first letter. The visit of the frigates, notwithstanding' its un- fortimate determination, aroused the Korean Court to the danger to the national seclusion which was provoked by their failure to reply to the original letter from the French Government, and to prevent further visits from the foreign barbarians a reply, was sent by Peking after the removal of the ship- wrecked sailors. As the reply is an interesting illus- tration of Oriental argument and diplom'acy, it is, notwithstanding its length, worth quoting in full, as it is given by Pallet in a translation from the version that was published in Korea under a royal proclama- tion that it should be made known to all the king'dom : " Last year, the inhabitants of one of our Islands delivered to us a letter brought to them, they said, by foreign ships. We were much astonished by this news and, on opening the letter, we saw that it was addressed to our Ministers by a Chief of your Kingdom and that its contents were as follows : " ' You have put to death three worthy men from our country, Imbert, Maubant and Chastan.' We desire to ask you why you killed them. You will perhaps say that Korean law forbids foreigners to ' Vide p. 271. 228 THE STORY OF KOREA enter the kingdom, and that the men were condemned for having disobeyed this law. But if Chinese, Japanese or Manchurians entered Korea, you would not dare to kill them but would have them sent back to their own country. Why then did you not treat these men as you would have treated Chinese, Japanese or Manchurians ? Had they been guilty of homicide, arson or other crimes of like kind, you would have been justified in punishing them and we should have had nothing to say against it. But as they were innocent and you condemned them unjustly, you have deeply insulted the Kingdom of France.' " To this letter we reply clearly : In the year Kei-hai, some foreigners were arrested in Korea. We do not know at what period they introduced themselves into our country. They were dressed like Koreans and spoke our language ; they travelled at night and slept during the day ; they covered [veiled] their faces ; they were secretive and associated with rebels, scoundrels and ungodly people. Are these the men mentioned in the letter of your Chief ? Under examination in the Court of Justice they did not say that they were Frenchmen, and even if they had said so, it would have been the first time for us to have heard of your country, and would have been no reason for us not to apply our law which forbids people to enter clandestinely into ours. Besides their conduct in changing their names and clothing proved to us their ill-will and rendered it im- possible to compare them to persons shipwrecked by accident on our coast. " Our kingdom is surrounded by seas and foreigners are often ship- wrecked on our coasts ; in that case, we come to their aid, we give them food and, if possible, send them back to their own country. Such is the law of our country. If your compatriots had been ship- wrecked people what reason is there why we should have treated them otherwise than we would have done the Chinese, Manchurians or Japanese ? You say further that these Frenchmen were killed with- out legal cause and that in doing this, we have deeply insulted you. These words much astonish us. We do not know how far Korea is from France, and we have no communications with you. What motive should we have had to insult you ? Think what you would do yourselves if some Korean came secretly and in disguise into your country to do harm. Would you leave him in peace ? If Chinese, Japanese or Manchurians were to act as your countrymen have done we should punish them according to our law. Formerly we condemned a Chinaman to capital punishment for entering the country in secret and in disguise. The Chinese Government did EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 229 not complain of this because it knew our laws. Even if we had known that the men we put to death were French, we should not have been able to spare them, as their actions were more criminal than homicide or arson ; much more were we, when ignorant of their nationality, obliged to sentence them to the last penalty. The thing is quite clear and requires no further explanation. " We know that you intend coming this year to request an answer to your letter, but as it was delivered to us without the necessary formalities, there is no obligation on us to send any reply to it. It is not the affair of a local governor. Our kingdom is subordinate to the Chinese Government and our foreign affairs must be referred to the Emperor. " Report this to your chief and do not be surprised that, in order to explain to you the true state of affairs, we have been obliged to speak to you as we have done." ' The logic of the answer is irresistible, but logic does not atone in the eyes of a great nation for the murder of its subjects, and France would no doubt have followed the matter farther had it not been for her own internal affairs. It is a strange fact that revolutions in France have always seemed to occur just at periods when the protection or advance- ment of the interests of the Catholic Church in the Far East required active measures on the part of her Government or the authorities of the Church. The revolution of 1798 caused the Church in China and Korea to be uncared for and neglected for many years. In the case just told the Korean letter had hardly reached Paris when the revolution of 1848 occurred and Korea was utterly forgotten. In 1870, the massacre at Tientsin was at once followed by the downfall of Napoleon, and the Far East had perforce once more to be entirely disregar'ded. Nothing was done after the rescue by English ships of the crews of the Gtoire, and Victorieuse. Korea was told by the French representative in China that she would expose herself to serious dangers if in ■ Dallet, " Histoire de I'Eglise de Coree," vol. ii. p. 33q. 230 THE STORY OF KOREA future she failed to send a Frenchman arrested in Korea to Peking, but she could laugh at the threat. The French did not even send a ship to collect the salvage from the wrecks of the two frigates, and twenty years lapsed before their men-of-war were seen again from the Korean shores. Then they made a serious effort, not only to obtain satisfaction for more murdered priests but to break down the barriers of Korean civilisation. In the year 1866, the year in which the effort just alluded to was made by the French, two attempts were made to enter Korea by private adventurers. Twice in that year, prior to the French, a German named Oppert, a trader who had resided for some years at Shanghai, endeavoured to ascend the River Han, his ostensible object being, of course, trade, but on both occasions he found it advisable to with- draw without having achieved anything beyond a superficial survey of the river approaches. In the same year a United States schooner was wrecked on ,the poast pf Hoang-Hai. The crew were saved ^nd kindly treated by the local authorities, once the latter had assured themselves that they were not dealing with missionaries who had deliberately adopted this violent means of gaining an entry to their coimtry. They were finally conducted to the frontier town of Aichiu, whence they reached the Treaty Port of New- chwang in North China. While the shipwrecked men were still in Korea, another United States schooner, the General Sherman, left Chef 00, avowedly for the same purpose as that of Oppert, to endeavour to sell her cargo to the Koreans. It was afterwards ascer- tained that she had entered the River Tatong almost at the same time as Oppert entered the Han, but while the latter returned in safety none of the passengers or crew of the General Sherman were ever seen again by European eyes. In the following EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 231 year (1867) Oppert became the leader of a more notorious expedition. In association with an American citizen named Jenkins, he succeeded in chartering two steamers, one of a thousand tons, and therefore of considerable size for those days, and the other a tug of small size and shallow draft suitable for river work. Both were manned by a large crew of Manila and Chinese sailors, both ships and sailors being fully armed. Along with them went a French priest who was said to have been one of the missionaries who had lived in and escaped from the persecution in Korea, and whO' now went as interpreter and guide. The avowed object of the expedition, as un- blushingly acknowledged afterwards in a book written by, its leader, was that of sacrilege and robbery, but evil was to be committed only that good might come out of it. One of the royal tombs was to be opened and certain relics taken from it, to which the Regent of Korea at the time, the Tai Won Kun, attached great value, believing that the safety and the welfare of his own house were indissolubly associated with their preservation. If, therefore, possession of them could be obtained, they might be used as a fulcrum to extort from! the proud and conservative Regent, who bitterly hated all Europeans both then and afterwards, who was the instigator of the whole- sale persecution of Christians that was then at its height, concessions which would secure the safety of Christians and open the way to trade with Europe. The German adventureir, a Hamburg Jew, of no social standing among the European comtnunities in the East, constituted himself an ambassador to that end and actually drafted a treaty which he proposed to force upon the Tai Won Kun. This excuse may have been sufficient to deceive and enlist the services of the French priest, who would have hesitated at 232 THE STORY OF KOREA nothing that might secure the wellbeing of his be- loved converts in Korea ; but there is no doubt that the object of Oppert and his American co-adventurer was very different. Korea was always known to be rich in gold ; and vague traditions, percolating through the annual Korean tribute-bearing embassies to Peking, that Korean kings were buried in coffers of solid gold, had become current in Shanghai and other European trading settlements on the China coast. It was with the deliberate purpose of rifling their tombs that Oppert's buccaneering expedition set out, and, while the benefit of the doubt must be given to the owners and crew of the General Sherman, whose mouths were closed by death before they had the opportunity of speaking in their own defence, there is only too much reason to believe that their purpose was not widely different. The fate of the General Sherman may be told here, as it was afterwards ascertained from the information of the Koreans themselves. She succeeding in ascending the river when it was flooded by summer rains, as far as Phyong An, but while there the falling of the river caused her to take the ground and fall on her side. While in this helpless position an altercation occurred between some of her crew and the natives, and the latter, not acting at the suggestion or under the leadership of the officials but under the spur of their own indignation at the foreigners' conduct, attacked the ship in a huge mob, and though suffering severe loss, destroyed both the ship and crew, some of the crew being killed, others drowned as they leaped into the river from the burn- ing ship, and some who were taken alive executed. Oppert was more fortunate. He was a man of considerable ability, literary as well as mercantile ; and many years afterwards, when the Japanese had broken the barriers of Korea's exclusiveness and EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 233 European attention was being directed to it as a new field for trade and politics, he published a work in which he described his own voyages to Korea, and gave interesting particulars, which were then almost wholly novel, of what he had seen. He ascended, not the River Tatong as did the General Sherman but the Han, leading direct to the capital, and a strong party fully armed having beep landed, an attempt was made to excavate what was believed to be a royal tomb. But when the earth had been cleared away, with much labour, heavy stone flags were found beneath which the plunderers were un- able to move with the tools they had with them, and they had to return to their ship with their object unfulfilled. On their way back they were attacked by a large native crowd but were strohg enough with their modem firearms, opposed to gingalls and stones, to keep their assailants at a distance and to make their way to their boats with insignificant loss to them- selves. The country being now roused against them, it was hopeless to pursue their original object, and the " fleet " returned to Shanghai, where its piratical nature soon leaked out. The American who had financed and engineered the expedition was arrested and brought to trial before the United States Consular Court, but there was not sufficient evidence to justify a conviction for any offence known to the common law of the United States ; and the United States had not at its disposal the machinery of Orders in Council which enabled Great Britain to create offences which, though un- known to the common or statute law of the Empire, were rendered necessary by the peculiar conditions of our extra-territorial jurisdiction in the Far East. The accused therefore escaped all punishment. The case of the German, Opp^rt, was even, a more striking illus- tration of the evils of extra-territoriality when Powers 234 THE STORY OF KOREA who enjoy its privileges fail to provide the necessary machinery for fulfilling the moral obligations which it imposes on them. Prussia had then neither political nor commercial interests in the Far East, and the prospect that it should ever have either seemed as remote as it does at the present that the German Empire may one day wrest from England the chain of Imperial colonies that guard the ocean highway to the East. Prussia was therefore repre- sented only by merchant consuls, vested with no higher criminal jurisdiction than enabled them to deal with a drunken seaman. They had not the legal authority, and, if they had had the legal authority, they had neither the theoretical nor practical knowledge that would have enabled them to deal with such a case as that of Oppert, and the nearest court in which any charge could be preferred against him was in Prussia. He therefore escaped scot-free, and became lost to public notice until the publication of his book, fourteen years afterwards. The evil that he did Ibng survived his departure from China. When the Japanese made their first treaty with Korea, ten years after Oppert's expedition, the memory of his attempted outrage on the grave of one of their kings was still strong enough to form a considerable factor for the foundation of the hatred against Europeans which was universal among all classes. We have told this story of Oppert's attempted piracy as it is of some interest as illustrating what was possible in those days in the China Seas, when acts that more than savoured of piracy, both on land and sea, were not wholly unknown even on the part of British subjects. Insignificant as the case may appear on first sight, the knowledge of what had happened quickly spread through all Korea, and had the result of intensifying the already existing hatred EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 236 of Europeans and the belief that all were only robbers to be kept out of the country at any cost. Th|e General Sherman affair had more important results, but before describing them we have to relate the story of the French attempt to make the names of Europe and Christianity respected in Seoul. The protection of Roman Catholics throughout the whole of the so-called uncivilised world was one of the principles of the foreign policy of Napoleon III. It was when he was at the height of his power and influence that the intellig'ence of the Christian perse- cution of 1866 and the massacre of the bishop and the missionaries in Korea ' reached Peking, and his diplomatic representative at the Chinese capital thought he would be only anticipating his master's instructions by taking immediate steps for avenging an outrage on priests who were entitled to his good ofiSces, not only as Roman Catholics but as French citizens. Accordingly, after having delivered an ulti- matum to the Chinese Government, as Korea's suzerain, the language of which, in its bombastic arrogance, was quite worthy of his Imperial master, he called upon the French admiral on the China Station to vindicate the honour of France. In October, 1866, the fleet, numbering seven ships of war of varying calibre, proceeded to the entrance of the River Han. As another curious illustration of the conditions of European intercourse with the East in these days, it may be mentioned that both Great Britain and France maintained garrisons of very substantial strength of their own troops at Yoko- hama. The object of these garrisons was to secure for European residents the protection in Japan from Japanese rebels iri arms against their own Govern- ment which that Govemmient was not able to guarantee itself. The object was justified by the conditions ' Vide p. 283. 236 THE STORY OF KOREA of Japan at the time, but it should have been strictly observed, and if a temporary withdrawal of the troops could be made with safety, equally so could a per- manent one. The French troops were now with- drawn from Yokohama and embarked on the fleet that was to invade Korea. Japan was thus made a basis from which an attack was delivered on a friendly power, with which she had every reason to be in sympathy, and the whole policy of keeping French soldiers in Yokohama stultified. The island of Kang Wha, or " the Flower of the river " — so called from its fertility and the beauty of its situation — lies at the mouth of the River Han, about forty-five miles from the capital. It has always been one of the fortified outposts of the capital, and it was frequently the refuge of the Korean kings when domestic trouble or foreign invasion forced them to forsake their capital. In the town which is on the island duplicates of the national archives at Seoul are carefully preserved, and there were also in it large magazines of such war material as the Koreans possessed and a reserve of treasure. More interesting than 'the war material and treasure was the royal library. " The library was very rich. Two or three thousand books printed in Chinese with numerous drawings, on good paper all well labelled, the greater number very bulky, bound with badges of copper on covers of silk green or crimson, amongst them the ancient history of Korea in sixty volumes. What was most curious, was a book formed of Marble Tablets, folding like the panels of a screen on hinges of gilded copper, each tablet protected by a pad of scarlet silk. The whole was placed in a pretty copper box, which was in its turn encased in a wooden box painted red with scrolls of gilded copper. When opened these tablets formed a book of about a dozen pages. They contained, some say, the moral law of the country, according to others, whose opinions are more likely to be correct, the favours accorded to the Kings of Korea by the Emperor of China. The Koreans valued it highly. In another case, was the EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 237 perfectly sculptured marble tortoise, under the pedestal of which was the royal seal, the seal which was so formidable that the simple- minded Koreans could neither touch or even see it, and the possession of which has many times sufficed to transfer royal authority and to end revolutions. This seal was new, and seemed never to have been used." " The French landed in the island, attacked the town, and undeterred by a heavy fire frora jingals, broke through the gates with hatchets and quickly found themselves in full possession of it. Reinforce- ments were hastily sent from' Seoul to garrison another fortress in the island, and when the French attacked this a few days after their first triumph they met with so warm a reception that they were obliged to retreat in disorder with considerable loss, followed to their boats with triumphant shouts from the Koreans. Before embarking, they set fire to the city of Kang Wha, and it was burned from end to end. This was the end of the expedition. The French came to the conclusion that a few hundred soldiers and sailors, landed where they could not be protected by the guns of their fleet, were insufficient to conquer a nation, even one so backward in military equipment and science as were the Koreans, and re- turned to China to await orders or reinforcement , from home. When the orders came they brought a |* disapproval of the action of the minister, and p,s S, European affairs soon afterwards gave the Emperor enough to occupy both his thoughts and his soldiers, | nothing was ever heard of further French operations i against Korea. | Another power took up the gauntlet which Korea, in adhering to her national policy of rigid isolation, flung in the face of Western nations. The United States was the Power which, by firm diplomacy backed by a strong fleet, compelled Japan to depart " Pallet, " Histoire de I'Eglise de Coree," vol. ii. p. 579. 238 THE STORY OF KOREA from the same policy that Korea still followed, and her statesmen thought they might be equally success- ful in Korea. The disappearance of the General Sherman furnished the excuse. Nothing definite was known as to her fate or that of her crew — who it is to be remembered were supposed to have gone to Korea on a peaceful trading adventure — and inquiry had to be made in regard to it. Measures were also to be taken which would ensure the safety of American sailors who might subsequently be shipwrecked on Korean coasts, and the coast and rivers surveyed for the use of shipping that approached Korean waters. Incidentally to these objects a treaty of commerce might also be concluded. The United States fleet was stronger than that of the French, and was commanded by one of the ablest and most experienced admirals in their navy. Diplomacy was represented by the minister at Peking, who accompanied the fleet, all whose qualities were the antithesis of those of the bombastic Napoleonic Frenchman, and who had the full confidence and was armed with the explicit in- structions of his Government. All preparations having been made, the fleet sailed from Nagasaki on May 1 6, 1 87 1, and a few days later was off the imouth of the Han. Some days were passed there waiting for replies to the letters which were sent to the capital, and then, none having been received, boats were sent out to survey the river. When they had proceeded a little distance up it and were opposite the island of Kang ,Wha, heavy fire was opened on them from all the forts on the island, all repaired and strengthened since the French escapade of five years previously. But the Korean guns were trained after the old Chinese fashion, to sweep only one particular spot, and as the boats took a course which brought them outside this spot few of them were struck, while such was the quality of Korean powder and shot that EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 239 the few which were struck were uninjured. The fire was returned with all the vigour that could be given to it by open launches, armed with fourteen - pounder howitzers, and a couple of gun-boats with eight-inch rifled guns, and this was quite sufficient to silence the forts for the time. The flotilla then returned to its base with the fleet, its casualties, after a hot engagement, being limited to two men slightly wounded. Ten days more passed. Then some officials came bearing a Ijetter, the translation of which was as follows : , " In the year 1868, a man of your nation whose name was Febiger, came here, and communicated, and went away. Why cannot you do the same ? In the year 1866, a people called the French came here, and we refer you to them for what happened. This people and kingdom have lived in the enjoyment of their own civiUsation four thousand years, and we want no other. We trouble no other nations. Why should they trouble us ? Our country is in the furthest east, yours in the furthest west. For what purpose do you come so many thousand miles across the sea? Is it to enquire about the vessel destroyed [the General Sherman] ? Her men committed piracy and murder and they were punished with death. Do you want our land ? That cannot be. Do you want intercourse with us ? That cannot be." ' The visitors were of too low rank to be personally received by either the minister or admiral. They gave no hope of any of higher degree coming, of any apology for the firing on the boats, and no further communication was received from the capital. An advance in force was therefore decided upon. Another and a much larger flotilla was sent up the river, a landing effected, and the forts on the island, captured and destroyed after two days' desultory fighting, during which three Americans were killed ' Japan Mail, 1871. Febiger was the commander of the United States man-of-war Shenandoah, which made a preliminary survey of the entrance of the Han. 240 THE STORY OF KOREA and hundreds of the Koreans mowed down by the Remington rifles and shell and shrapnel fire of the Americans. Then the honour of the flag' having been vindicated, and the hopelessness recognised of a treaty of friendship with the Koreans after such pre- liminaries to peaceful negotiation, the fleet sailed away as the Frenchmfen had done before them. The results of the two expeditions within a few years of each other were not only fruitless as far as the promotion of Western interests was concerned, but were, on the contrary, mischievous in the extreme. Just as the Japanese claimed a victory over the British fleet when it withdrew from Kagoshima,' so now did the Koreans claim to have victoriously repulsed the French and United States fleets when they threatened their shores ; and their victory served to confirm the worst and most bigoted prejudices, not only of the autocratic Regent but of the entire official hierarchy, their resolution to maintain the national isolation, and their confidence in their own invincibility. The object of the French expedition was to avenge murdered Catholics and secure immunity for them in the future. When the expedition was driven away, as the Koreans believed it to have been, the persecution of native Christians was renewed with redoubled vigour and cruelty, and the executioner and the torturer became busy in every district in which the presence of a Christian was suspected. Thene are ?iot wanting some who even ascribe the Tientsin massacre of 1870 to the loss of French prestigie consequent on the Korean fiasco. The United States had full warning from the experience of the French of what they had reason to expect. Their motives in the expedition were un- doubtedly humane and Christian ; but they knew the expedition mig'ht not be entirely a pacific one, and if force was to be used it should have been strong' ' Vide " The Story of Old Japan." EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONS 241 enough to have been invmcible, and it should have been carried out to the last degree. As it was, the only thing achieved by it was the destruction of life and property, While the Koreans, convinced by both expeditions of the wanton aggressiveness pf Europeans as well as of their incapacity and cowardice, extended their contempt to the Japanese whOi had just entered on their first essay in the acquisition of European civilisation, and expressed that contempt in insultingi letters which nearly brought war between them arid Japan, and which un-' doubtedly would have brought war had it not been for Japan's own internal complications at the time. As it was Korea was left alone both by Europeans and Japanese for five years more, and then Japan was strong enough and determined enough to accomplish what the United States had so vainly essayed. 16 CHAPTER XII CHRISTIANITY TO THE FIRST PERSECUTION The first Christian missionary landed in Japan in the year 1549, and a campaign of propagandism then began which rivalled in its success the greatest triumjihs of the Apostles. Fifty years afterwards the toleration which the Japanese at first extended to the new doctrine was changed into merciless perse- cution, and that, in its turn, equally rivalled the cruelty with which Nero pursued the Christians of Rome. It also rivalled the Roman persecution in the heroic fortitude of countless martyrs, in the torture, in all the most hideous forms that human ingenuity in its most fiendish mood could devise, which they suffered rather than forsake their faith. Persecution in its most active form in Japan lasted for forty years, at the end of which Christianity was exterminated, not to appear again until, under treaties with European Powers, missionaries acquired the leg'al right to propagate their faith. The early pioneers of the faith confined their efforts to Japan. One of them', it has been told, paid a brief visit to Korea, not as an apostle to its people but as a chaplain to the soldiers who were slaug'htering and plundering them, and while there his ministrations were limited to the soldiers who had already been con- verted in Japan. Among the natives other than those who were made prisoners of war he did nothing, probably could do nothing. He was ignorant of their S4a THE FIRST PERSECUTION 243 language, and the fact that he came under the aegis and on the staff of a conquering' army would not have commended him to them as a preacher of mercy and brotherly love. When the Japanese withdrew from Korea " not a trace of Christianity was ileft. The country was closed to Heaven by the jealousy of Hell." They brought back with them to their own country many prisoners of war, who passed the rest of their lives in Japan. The prisoners quickly acquired the Japanese language, and the missionaries extended to them the efforts which had been employed with such success among their conquerors and gaolers. Many of them were converted. Many after- wards 'clung to the faith through all the fierce fires of persecution and bore torture and agonising death with the same unquailing spirit as that which was universally displayed by the Japanese martyrs. The Korean martyrs in Japan were only known to the priests by their baptismal names, and there are now no means by which their native names can be identified. More than i8o years passed after their deaths before Christianity numbered another Korean among its believers. In 1601, Ricci, an Italian of noble birth, the great Jesuit missionary who performed in China the part of Xavier in Japan, took up his residence, at the invitation of the Court, in Peking ; and there his profound scholarship, not only in Wiestem science, especially in mathematics and astronomy, but in the Chinese language and literature, as well as the unsullied purity of his life, made so profound an impression that he lived in honour till his death, in 1610, and death did not terminate the marks of respect which were rendered to him by a Government to whom his faith was utterly antagonistic. A splendid tomb was erected for his remains and a residence provided for his 244 THE STORY OF KOREA spiritual successors. The great mission which Ricci founded has continued its work in Peking till this day ; his name is to this day the best known in the Empire of all the Europeans with whom China had her earliest associations. The members of the Korean embassies which annually carried the tribute to Peking had, in the freedom which they enjoyed during their stay in the northern capital, many opportunities of seeing and meeting both Ricci and his successors, which, it may be assumed, were liberally used by both the Jesuits in the zeal with which they embraced every chance of sowing the seeds of their Gospel, no matter how unpromising the soil, and by inquisitive Koreans, who, when not under the direct eye of their own Government, were not averse to acquire some know- ledge of the world of the West, which under their policy of national isolation was otherwise to them a sealed book. They received from' the Jesuits objects which were full of wonder — clocks, telescopes, eye-glasses, and, translations in Chinese of European scientific works. They also received the outward symbols of the Roman Catholic faith — crucifixes, images, rosaries, pictures, and translations of religious works. The latter included Ricci's " Veritable Doctrine of the Lord of Heaven," a work dealing with the Divine attributes and character, in which a parable is drawn between Christianity and the teachings of the Chinese literati. It also appealed to the Koreans in that it contained a powerful ex- posure of Buddhism, which had fallen into disrepute among them. In 1720, the Korean Ambassador in Peking had many conferences with the missionaries, the result of which was that he found similarities between tTbe Christian doctrines of self-denial, the purification of the heart, and the holy Incarnation and those of the literati of China. THE FIRST PERSECUTION 245 For fifty years after their importation the books received little, if any, attention. Then they were studied and debateid by a small coterie of noble Koreans, and one among' them was so impressed that he resolved to order the rest of his life by their pre- cepts. He had no calendar to tell him of Sundays, so he abstained from' work and devoted himself to prayer every seventh day of each lunar month ; he had no Church almanack nor Prayer Book to tell of fast days, so he abstained altogether from luxuries. He was not a Christian, was never baptized, and made no converts to his opinions and methods, and it was not. till 1784 that the first Korean received the sacrament of baptism. There was a young scion of a noble family, dis- tinguished for the high offices in the Government which had been held by its members, whose firmness and strength of character procured for him the soubriquet of Piek-l (" Stone -wall ").' He was of great stafure and unusual strength, and was therefore intended by his father for a military career ; but he was devoted to study, and not even the unbounded respect and unquestioning obedience that were due in Korea by a son to his father could induce him to adopt the career which his father wished. His read- ing included some of the imported books, both scientific and religious, and with the latter he became profoundly impressed. For thirteen years he pondered over them, vainly longing for further en- lightenment on the subject of which they treated. At last, in 1783, the father of one of his friends, a noble equally well bom with himself, was nominated third ambassador to Peking, and he took his son ' This is the translation that' is given in Dr. Griffis's " Corea, the Hermit Nation." The present writer has been unable to find the ideographs' in which the original is written, and cannot therefore verify the translation. 246 THE STORY OF KOREA in his train. Piek-I eagerly seized the opportunity. He urged his friend to take this chance " which the Supreme Deity has evidently given in His pity for Koreaand His desire to save it " — to go on his arrival in Peking to the temple of the Lord of Heaven, to confer with the priests, to examine their doctrine, and learn the ceremonies of their religion. " It is," he said, " a matter of life and death : eternity is in your hands : do not treat it lightly." The friend faithfully performed his task. The bishop of the Church at Peking' at this time "was Alexander de Govea, a Portuguese of the Franciscan Order, a man scarcely less celebrated for his piety and learning than the Jesuit founder. By him Seng- houng-I — this was the friend's name — was converted and baptized, and he returned to his home full of all the zeal of a new convert, having promised to the bishop in Peking that he would suffer all the torments of death rather than abandon his faith, and that he would faithfully observe the evangelical laws, among them that " which forbade a plurality of wives." Piek-I eagerly absorbed the contents of the books which his friend brought with him, the explanations of the Sacraments, the Catechism, the Gospels, the lives of the saints, and the breviaries, and his faith in Christ was complete. A new life entered into his soul, and he could not keep his joy to himself. His enthusiasm' and his arguments convinced other friends, and the waves of Christianity began to spread, not only among his friends in the capital but beyond its walls. Seng-houng-I — the first Korean to be formally admitted into the Church — received the baptismal name of Pierre, "as it was hoped that he would be the first stone of the Church in Korea." Piek-I had commenced the work of conversion, so when he was baptized by Seng-houng-I, he received the name of THE FIRST PERSECUTION 247 Jean Baptiste, and the third convert, Kouen-I, was named Frangois Xavier, in honour of the first apostle of the East. All three became zealous propagandists, and converts flowed to them, both of their own and of the lower classes. Their success was not less striking than that of the first Jesuits in Japan. The condition of the common people in Korea, oppressed beyond human capacity of endurance, was at this time not imlike that of the people in Japan whejn Xavier began to preach. It was then the worst period of disorder in the history of Japan, when the sufferings of civil war were at their height, and a religion which promised eternal happiness after a life of misery was irresistibly attractive to the long- suffering peasants of both Japan and Korea. In both countries they were encouraged by the example of their own nobles, who, though actuated by higher motives than perhaps were the first peasants to embrace the faith, still saw in the promise of eternal salvation a reward that was far above all that earth could give them, even when its gifts were of the best. Christianity enjoyed fifty years of toleration in Japan, and it might possibly have continued to enjoy it indefinitely had it not been for the in- discretion of the missionaries. In Korea persecution broke on it at lonce. The sympathy of caste prtvented any interference on the part of the officials with nobles of high rank, such as were the first converts, but in less than a year after the return of Sengi-houng-I from Peking one of the lower ranks of officials was tortured and banished as a Christian, and soon after died from the injuries caused by the torture. He was the first Christian martyr in Korea. His co- religionists of noble birth demanded the right of sharing his fate, saying that they were of the same belief as the martyr and equally merited whatever 248 THE STORY OF KOREA justice was meted out [to himi, but pn them the Mmister of Crimes dared not lay his hand and he refused even to listen to them: He was, however, determined to suppress the new religion from the first, and a public edict was soon issued against it. At the same time, family influence was brought to bear on all the known converts. Fathers and elder brothers used all the authority which long -established custom vested in them to bring back their erring wards to the ancestral cult, and where the prospect of torture and public odium had failed domestic tyranny in some cases succeeded. It is sad to tell that the two first apostates, the two first to yield to the threats and entreaties of their relatives, were the first converts. Both Seng-houng-I, the first stone of the Church, and Piek-I, the inheritor of the name of the Baptist, yielded to the prayers of their families and publicly renounced their faith. The last died — ^not having knowtn a happy hour after his relapse — within a year ; the first lived to repent, to be received once more within the fold, and again to recant and accept offices which involved the public profession of idolatry. He was punished by the contempt, not only of the faithful Christians but by that of his fellow-heathens, and the reproach of having been the first to introduce Christianity into Korea clung not only to him but to his descendants. Notwithstanding his apostasy, he did not escape the fate of his more true and steadfast fellow-converts. On April 8, 1 80 1, he was beheaded along with six Christians. " He, the first to be baptized ; he who had brought baptism and the gospel to his countrymen, marched to death with martyrs, but was not a martyr ; he was beheaded as a Christian, but died a renegade." It is pathetic to read of the simple faith of the early Christians . They knew nothing of apostolic succession or of the ordination of priests, but they THE FIRST PERSECUTION 249 had heard of and one of them had seen bishop and priests in Peking, and they knew that J:he Church should have its ministers of varying rank, its organisation of government, its sacraments and services. So they elected a bishop and priests from among their own ranks, and all the Holy Sacraments of the Church werg: administered by the elected hierarchy, according to the lights that Were afforded by the books in their possession, and devoutly re- ceived by all the converts. But when their toy church had existed for two years doubts began to assail them^ and at great personal risk one of their nimiber secretly left his home and made the long, perilous, and arduous journey of more than a thousand miles to Peking to consult Bishop Govea. In due time he brought back the Bishop's reply, written on silk in order that it might be the more easily hidden and carried. It was that the only Sacrament which the converts could administer was that of baptism. Then the same messenger made the journey once more, this time to beg for jthe services of one of the European priests to instruct them and administer the Sacraments which they could not, and also to submit for the opinion of the bishop certain questions of faith. Again the journey was safely performed. A promise was brought back that a priest would be sent to them : they were instructed how to make wine from grapes and all that was required for the formal celebration of the Sacrament of baptism was given to them — chalice, missals, orna- ments, &c. They were told at the same time that the worship of ancestors was inconsistent with the sincere profession of the Christian faith. The worship of ancestors is one of the cardinal elements of Confucianism, the -recogtnised religion of Korea, where it was carried to its extreme extent and where it was also the foundation of the strongest 250 THE STORY OF KOREA family ties. Its neglect meant the abandonment of everything that the Korean held most sacred in the duty which he owed to his king, his country, and his family. Hitherto, the converts, in their simple faith, had united their old observances with the Christian ceremonies, and while careful of their duty to God, had not neglected what they and their forefathers had been taught for coimtless generations was their chief duty on earth. Now they were suddenly told that, if sincere in their new faith, they must incur the deepest odium' of their fellow-citizens and the penalties of the law, by abandoning the principal element in the observance of the old. When Ricci inaugurated his great mission in Peking he declared that the worship of ancestors, which dated in China from' centuries before the Christian era, and which the Koreans received from China, was not inconsistent with Christianity. He considered it to be merely a civil ceremony. This was in keeping with the policy of the Jesuits, who endeavoured wherever it was possible to reconcile in their missionary work native with Christian observances, and to avoid offence against time- honoured beliefs. Much of Ricci's success as a proselytiser was no doubt due to his liberality, which was not shared by the other sects of the Roman Church. Govea was a Franciscan. He did not give his decision without due thought, nor until he had consulted all the oldest and most able missionaries in China, but to him and to them the practice was equally abhorrent, and the decision that it must be abandoned by the Korean Christians was un- equivocal. It is somewhat difficult for a layman, not of the Roman Church, to see how reverence for parents and ancestors, even if carried to an extreme degl'ee, can conflict with an earnest belief in God, or how SEOUL— THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN. (From Stenc^raf'h Cof^yi i.i^lit, Undinvcod & I'lukncooJ, Loudon.) THE FIRST PERSECUTION 251 a very few of the simplest and briefest observances, practised nightly before the tablets which stand in the living room of every household, high or low, in China, Japan, and Korea, can constitute such ^ violation of the Second Comtn'andment as to merit banishment from the Christian fold, but so it was and is still held by all missionaries in the East, not those of the Roman faith alone. Little more than twenty years ago the practice was unequivocally con- demned by the General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Shanghai, and Nonconfortnists have been no less rigid in their attitude towards it, no less wanting in tolerance and liberality, than the most devout Catholics. Ancestof worship' is the foundation, not only of the religion but of the loyalty, patriotism, and of all the bonds of the household life and domestic happiness of every man, woman, and child in China, Japan, and Korea. The reverence and affection which it teaches for all those who have gone before are the sentiments that from earliest child- hood are most deeply implanted in every heart, and they have done nothing but good to the nation, the family, and the individual. It is always difficult to eradicate a faith that has been held from child- hood. It is still more difficult when the abandonment of the old faith involves in it a condemnation of those who are held most dear and an acceptance of the belief that honour paid to their memories is a wicked form of idolatry that is odious in the sight of God. The present writer has always believed that this in- hibition has been the most formidable obstacle that has stood in the way of missionary success in the Far East, and he has had abundant reason to view with considerable incredulity the assurance, honestly given by many of the best and greatest missionaries of the present day, that their converts have entirely abandoned the practice of their old cult. 252 THE STORY OF KOREA The results of Govea's instructions were disastrous in Korea. Many recanfed who thought themselves ' Christians, and had been willing to brave persecu- tion for their "faith, but were shocked at the n^w limitation that was imposed on what was their second nature. Mahy more complied and continued firm. Nothing can be kept secret in Korea. The people are the most irrepressible gossips in the world, and the news soon spread that some among them were neglecting their most sacred duty. Such sacrilege must, it was believed, bring misfortune both on the family and on the nation. In 1801, the country was unhappily visited by a great drought which seemed to verify the worst predictions, and a storm of odium broke on the Christians that speedily turned into active persecution. Many martyrs died after cruel tortures which they bore unflinchingly, and among the martyrs was the priest, a young Chinaman named Tsiou, whom Govea in fulfilment of his promise had sent from Peking, choosing him' for this dangerous mission in preference to his European colleagues for his knowledge of Chinese literature, and the similarity of his features to those of the Koreans, as well as for his fervid piety and zeal. He was both the first Christian priest to labour among the Korean people and the first to obtain the crown of martyr- dom. He succeeded in making his way to Seoul in 1.794, and there for six months ministered to the converts who thronged to receive the Sacraments from him. In his ignorance of the customs of the country, he readily received all who came to him, great though the crowd was, and among them was one who proved a traitor and betrayed his presence to the authorities. Orders were given for his immediate arrest, but he was warned in time and escaped to another house while a Korean Christian remained in that which he had left, and tried, when the officers came, to pass THE FIRST PERSECUTION 253 him'self off as the Chinese priest for whom they were searching. His identity was soon discovered, and with two other fellow-converts, both of whom had assisted in bringing Tsiou across the frontier, jhe was btought before the judges. All three were tor- tured many times. They were beaten, their arms and legs dislocated, their knees crushed, but they were firm through all their sufferings and refused to betray either the priest or any of their fellow-converts. This was in the reign of King Sunjo (1784-1800), a capable and merciful ruler who always refused to sanction any wholesale persecution. But absolute though he was, he could not resist the universal clamour of his subjects for the blood of the three tortured converts, and he was at last forced to sign their death-warrants. The three were then beheaded, and their bodies thrown into the river, an indignity bitter in the extreme to the Koreans, among whomi the rites of burial are always perforlmed with punctilious and solemn ceremony. The priest would undoubtedly have been taken and shared their fate, had not the merciful King ordered his officers to moderate their zeal. He found refuge with a Christian lady of noble birth, who herself afterwards became a martyr, who for three mionths, unknown to all the other inmates of her home, kept himi hidden and fed him in an outhouse used for the storage of firewood. Then, Jiaving won the sympathy of her mother, she brought him into the house, aWd as Korean law held the house of a noble inviolate, Tsiou liveid there in safety for three years, studying the language and performing the duties of his office as far as his opportunities permitted, always both ill and out of doors using the greatest precautioins against dis- covery. Some of the members and servants even of the family which sheltered him did not know of his presencte. 254 THE STORY OF KOREA In I goo King Sun jo died, and his death "was a misfortune to all his people, Who lost in him both a ftiend and a wise and merciful ruler, but above all to the Christians^ to whom the news of his death came as a thunderbolt." They felt that their last protection against their persecutors was gone, and their fears proved to be only too well founded. The dead King was succeeded by his son, a boy of twelve years of age, during whose minority his grand- mother ' acted as regent . She was bitterly opposed to Christianity, and once the funeral ceremonies of the late King, which lasted five months, were com- pleted, she lost no time in issuing a decree pro- hibiting Christianity throughout the whole realm, placing its believers under the ban of the law, order- ing their arrest wherever found, and giving full power to the judges to punish them without mercy. This was followed in the next year by a still more drastic decree, in which it was proclaimed that Christians should be treated as Rebels, and in order that none should escape, that all householders should be regis- tered in groups of five, all the niiembers of which should be mutually responsible for each other and the headman of the five responsible for all. It was impossible to hope that the Chinese priest could long remain hidden, even in the sanctuary of a noble's house, while the search for native Christians was being so vigorously pursued. It was known that he was in the country, and even under the late King the police had made efforts to find him. Now their efforts were redoubled. Tsiou, thinking that the persecution of the natives might be moderated if he returned to China and it became known that he had done so, escaped from Seoul and succeeded in reaching the frontier town of Aichiu. There his conscience smote him. He was abandoning his flock in the hour of peril. He returned straight to Seoul, THE FIRST PERSECUTION 265 and though the Christians were willing again to undergo the great danger of hiding him he refused to allow them to do so, and going quite alone to the prison, he surrendered himself, sayingj " I am the priest for whom you have been so long searching in vain." His trial and condemnation soon followed, and on May 31, 1801, the day of the Holy Trinity, he was publicly beheaded, and his head was after- wards exposed like that of a common criminal for five days. In the preceding chapter ' it has been told how, in the year 1846, the Korean Government attempted to justify itself to that of France for having put three French missionaries to death, by saying that they had in accordance with the law inflicted the death penalty on a Chinaman who had been guilty of the same offence as the French. The case they then referred to was that of Tsiou, but boldly as they quoted it in 1846, they were not at all easy in their minds as to the responsibility which they had incurred to their suzerain by the execution of one of his subjects. In accordance with the terms of their convention between the Empire and the kingidom, " every subject of either found upon the territory of the other must be sent back to his own Sovereigta." Some of the Korean ministers wished this course to be taken before Tsiou's execution ; but the majority, unable to reconcile themselves to parting with the chief representative of a religion which all hated, voted for his death, and persuaded the Queen Regent to sigh the warrant. When all was over, they became uneasy at what they had done, and caused a report to be spread among their own people that Tsiou was not a Chinaman but a native of Quelpart. When the next annual embassy went to Peking a long written explanation was sent to the Emperor by the Reg'ent • Vide p. 228. '^ 266 THE STORY OF KOREA in the name of the young King', in which jt was alleged that Tsiou's real nationality was only dis- closed by his accomplices after his dfeath ; that he was one of a set of brigands who had brought trouble on the " Little Kingdom," and had been justly punished ; that nothing appeared in him' during his trial, neither in his language, his dress, nor his out- ward appearance, to show that he was not a Korean. The judges, it was added, saw in him only the leader of the renegades among their own countrymen, and it was as such that he was condemned and executed. The opening sentences of the letter dfes- cribed both the fidelity of the Koreans to the religion and morality which they had received from China, and the wickedness of the Christians : " His Imperial Majesty knows that since the day when the remains of the army of the Yen retired to the East," the Little Kingdom has always been distiijguished for its punctuality in fulfilling all obligations ordered by rites, justice, and loyalty, and for its general fidelity and duty. This has in all ages been acknowledged by the Middle Court [the Court of China] . This kingdom, which has always preserved its purity of manners, esteems above everything the doctrine of Confucius. No books other than those of Chou-cha, of Ming, or of Lo' have ever been admitted into this kingdom by literati or mandarins ; rtiuch less have they ever been studied by them. The very women and children of the streets and cottages are familiar with the five fundamental duties and the three great cables, the props of society, and make them alone the ordinary rule of conduct. All other doctrine is strange to the Little Kingdom, and error has never penetrated it. But about ten years ago a sect of monsters appeared, barbarous and infamous persons, who set themselves up as votaries of a doctrine which they say they have brought from Europe, who utter blasphemies against Heaven, affect only scorn for our learned ' That is, from the year 1122 B.C., when Ki Tse emigrated to and founded Korea on the fall of the Yen dynasty in China (vide p. 51). ' The books of Confucius. THE FIRST PERSECUTION 257 men, rebel against their prince, stifle all feeling of filial piety, abolish sacrifice to ancestors and burn the memorial tablets ; who, preaching a heaven and a hell, fascinate and draw to their side ignorant and imbecile people ; who by means of baptism, efface the atrocities of their sect; who conceal depraved books, and with witchcraft assemble women from all parts and live like the brutes and the birds of the poultry-yard. Some call themselves spiritual fathers (priests) others devotees to the religion (Christians). They change their names to take titles and surnames, thus following the example of the brigands Pe-ling and Houang-kin.' They devote themselves to divination and extend error and trouble from the capital to re- mote provinces. Their doctrine spreads with the rapidity of fire and their followers multiply in a terrifying manner. The Emperor in his reply severely reprimanded the King for a suggestion in a part of his letter that we have not included in the quotation that Christianity first became known to the Koreans owing to attaches of the annual embassies having heard of it from the Europeans who were living in Peking. " That is a calumny," said the Emperor ; " they must have heard of it from elsewhere. Europeans have been allowed to live in the Mother capital because they understand mathematics, and we apply to them to reckon the time and observe the heavens. They have their use in the department of mathematics, but they are not permitted to communicate with strangers . These Europeans, crossing the seas to come to Peking, all know how to submit themselves to public order and to obey laws. In more than one hundred years that they have been here they have never secretly preached religion, and no one has ever been led astray by them." ^ But not a word was said in the published version of the letter as to the fate of ' Secret Societies in China. = In commenting on this sentence, Dallet says : " No other Government in the world would have had the effrontery to deny facts that were known to all its subjects." 17 258 THE STORY OF KOREA the Emperor's own subject, from which it was in- ferred by the Christians, either that his Court had been mollified by a large bribe, or that the full contents of the letter had not been made known. Be the explanation as it may, it is quite evident that in executing the Chinese priest the Koreans felt that they had exceeded their authority, and the pre- cedent was not one, as they afterwards alleged it to be, which justified them in putting French subjects to death without notice to the Government of France. In 1 80 1 Christianity had spread largely among the lower classes of the people, and the total number of believers was estimated at ten thousand. On them the officials had no compunction in carrying out the orders of the Regent. They were arrested every- where, thrown into prison, tortured, and executed. Nor were the higher classes spared. Even women of noble family who, according to Korean law, were exempt from every penalty unless incurred by the treason of the heaJd of the family, were dragged to prison and beheaded, on one occasion five suffering simultaneously, among them the lady who had courageously sheltered the Chinese priest. Through- out the whole year and during part of 1802 the exe- cutioners were never idle, and the vigour of the persecution did not cease till the enemies of the faith were glutted with blood. When it did, Christianity was ruined in Korea. There were many true believers left, but their leaders had all been killed. The survivors were poor and ignorant, scattered among the heathen, without communion with each other. Almost all their books and the instruments of service had been destroyed, or were buried in the earth, or hidden in holes in walls. The terror that was spread by the terrible events of 1801 sank into the very souls of the believers, and none dared to THE FIRST PERSECUTION 259 practise the observances of the Church except in the closest secrecy. In 1811, they found courage and means to send letters to the Bishop at Peking, and through him to the Pope, imploring the aid of a spiritual director, but neither Pope nor Bishop could help them except with sympathy. The Pope was a prisoner at Fontainebleau ; the French Revolution had deprived the Church at Peking of all its material resources : it was now exposed to persecution in China and could hardly support itself, and the good old Bishop, " his heart broken," could not even give the Koreans hope of help in the future. In 18 15, in 18 19, and in 1827 there were more persecutions. In all except the last there was the samte record with all its ghastly details of torture and execu- tion. In the last the death penalty was not inflicted. The King, following the example of his predecessor Sunjo, refused to sanction the sanguinary measures of his ministers, and only imprisonment was im- posed, and when five years later the country was visited by long-continued rains and consequent floods, and the King, following the usual custom, endeavoui;ed to propitiate the favour of Heaven by acts of mercy, the Christians were included in the general amnesty to prisoners and released. Strange to say, though the last persecution was the shortest (it only con- tinued for three months) and least severe of all that had taken place, the ratio of those w'ho apostatised while it lasted was the highest. Nearly fifty years had passed since the first Korean was baptized in Peking, and throughout the whole of this long period the native Christians had only once enjoyed the countenance of an ordained priest, and all their entreaties for further spiritual guidance had been in vain. And yet though without priests and forced to scatter and seek shelter in the lonely mountain fastnesses, they had clung to their simple 260 THE STORY OF KOREA beliefs, and to the best of their lights had carried out the observances of their Church, undismayed by cruel persecution and hideous suffering, long im- (prisonment, and poverty and ruin that were em- bittered by the alienation of relatives and friends. There were many relapses among them, but they fade into insignificance in comparison with the numbers of those who proved steadfast in the worst hours of trial. No Christians — ^neither in Rome nor in Japan — have ever gone through more or greater trials for their faith. In Europe the wars of Napoleon were now long over, the Bourbons were on the throne of France, the temporal power of the Pope was restored, and he was again on the papal throne of Rome. Some years had, howeveir, to elapse before the Society of Foreign Missions at Paris, the Society which, since its foundation at the close of the sixteenth century, controlled and provided for all the Roman mis- sionaries to the Far East, had sufficiently recovered from the ruin brought upon it by the confiscations of the French revolutionaries to undertake new fields of work. All the funds at its disposal were insufficient to provide the most frugal support for those already in existence or to send new workers, and it was not till the year 1829 that the Society was in a position to accede to the urgent representations of the Pope and the pathetic prayers that had been so often made by the Korean converts. The last of these had been received so far back as 1825. It urged the Pope not only to send priests but a ship to the Korean shores, the prestige of which would secure the liberty to practise their religion in safety, both to priests and converts, and open the way for the entry of Christianity into Korea by the sea, " the way by which it had from its earliest days reached the most distant countries in the world." THE FIRST PERSECUTION 261 "The Koreans are for the most part," it was said in the latest Korean letter, " ignorant and timid, inclined to despise and ill treat those who seem to be more ignorant and timid than themselves. But they are great lovers of novelties and judging by the reports we have heard of the wisdom and strength of Europeans, Koreans would regard them as spirits. If then a European ship were to appear suddenly, our people would be too astounded at first to know what to do, but once they learnt the virtue and strength of the Westerners they would receive theni with kindness and joy. Even if inclined to injure them, they would do nothing without first consulting the Emperor of China, and he would no doubt be of opinion that a European ship on a foreign shore was no business of his. If missionaries only were sent they could not escape the vigilance of the officials or the mistrust of the people, and all hope of spreading Christianity would vanish." The militant suggestions of the letter were not adopted, but after inquiry from all the experienced missionaries in the East as to the practicability of opening a mission in Korea, especially as to the possibility of a European being able to enter a country whose frontier was jealously guarded against all foreigners, it was decided that a Vicar-apasto- lique should be appointed. Great care had to be taken in the selection of the man best fitted for so dangerous an enterprise, but this difficulty was solved when Barthelemy Brugui^re, a missionary who had already laboured for five years in Siam and had been appointed Coadjutor-Bishop in that diocese, offered himself for the work. He was a man of equal intelligence and energy who had devoted himself, body and soul, to his duties, and he was at once accepted by tlie Pope as the pioneer of European priests in Korea. In July, 1832, he left Singiapore (the diocese of Siam included the Straits Settlements) for his new work. Another priest of the diocese, Jacques Honor^ Chastan, was eager to accompany him but was told that he must wait another oppor- tunity. Help was, however, provided for him from 262 THE STORY OF KOREA Europe. Two young Chinese aspirants for the priest- hood were being 'educated at Naples. Both when they heard of the proposed mission to Korea volun- teered to accompany M. Bruguiere, and the one who was chosen, whose name was Yu, had already arrived in China, and was seeking for means to enter Korea when Bruguiere sailed from Singapore. Nearly three hundred years previously Xavier had made the voyage to Japan from Malacca, in infinite peril from pirates and storms. In Japan he suffered great privations of cold, hunger, and fatigue, when on his way on foot from Yamaguchi to Kioto, la journey of three hundred miles, which it took him thirty days to accomplish. All that he suffered fades into nothingness when compared with the miseries that in the nineteenth century attended the land stages of Brugui^re's longer journey. It was a time of Christian persecution in Northern China, and he had to travel disguised as a Chinaman. He could not wear the Chinese shoes, so, to avoid the Chinese officials, and prevent notice of his approach filtering to Korea, he was forced to walk long distances over rocky paths and hills barefooted. He was often without food and could procure none without be- traying his disguise. He was deserted by guides, and Wandered, lost and alone, among the hills and forests of Manchuria. The guides who helped him almost stifled him with the coverings with which they hid him in the native inns in the burning heat of August, and on the roads he could scarcely breathe owing to the hat and veil in which they obscured his face. He contracted dysentery and itch, and suffered intensely from both, and was not allowed to call a native doctor to his help, lest his identity should be exposed. Throughout all his travels his ignorance of the language and customs of China caused numerous difficulties, which added to the THE FIRST PERSECUTION 263 anxiety from which he was never wholly free, but he never once let his courage fail or lost his deter- mination to persevere in the task he had undertaken. Three years were spent on the entire journey, and the frontier of Korea was at last rfeached, but he was destined not to cross it. Worn out with all the hardships through which he had passed, he died on October 13, 1835, when the goal for the attainment of which he had suffered so much was almost within his view. Though he never set foot in the country he is entitled to be called the first European martyr of the Church in Korea. The place which he left vacant was eagerly occu- pied by Pierre Philibert Maubant, a missionairy in Tartary, whose offer of his help in Korea had been accepted by Bruguifere. He had followed Bruguiere in the last few stages of his journey and came to the place where he died in time to celebrate the Burial Service at his grave. Then he resolved to persevere alone. Five Korean Christians were awaiting Bruguifere on the frontier. They met Maubant instead. Guided by them, he crossed the wide strip of neutral desert and two of the three frozen branches of the River Yalu, and then towards midnight, almost exhausted with the fatigue and anxiety of the last long day on foot, he reached the third branch, on the left bank of which was the Korean frontier guard. The rest of the story may be told in his own words : "We had been travelling since the preceding midnight almost always on foot. The man who was to carry me, then took me on his back, and we advanced slowly, crossing the river, to within about a perch from the gate of Aichiu, where was the Korean custom house. Instead of exposing ourselves to the danger of an inspection and the questions which the excited officers usually put to each traveller, we slipped into a drain pipe constructed in the town wall. One of my three guides had already passed through and was within gun shot in front, when a dog at the custom house, seeing us coming 264 THE STORY OF KOREA out of the hole began to bark. Then, I thought to myself, it is finished. The officers will come ; they will find us in a fraudulent act, will question us at length, and without doubt will recognise me as a foreigner. Let God's will be done ! But God did not allow things to happen as I feared; we continued to advance into the town and no one appeared. " I thought we were going at once to some inn or house where I could be hidden, but not at all. We had still another custom house to pass. There was another aqueduct in tke walls of the quarter where we were so we slipped into it. At the moment I went in I saw, at the other end, a man passing with a lamp in his hand. Again I thought of our great danger, but nothing annoying happened to us. At last, a few steps further on, I was taken into a little room shaped like a large baker's oven. Here I found those qf my guides who had gone on in front. We partook of a miserable meal of raw salted turnips and rice boiled in water, and we stretched ourselves out as well as we could, six of us, in this narrow space, to pass the rest of the night. Two or three hours later, we had to take a second meal like the last and make a start an hour before dawn. My feet were covered with blisters ; but troubles of this sort do not stop a missionary. I started on foot as I had done the day before. Two or three leagues from Aichiu I found two other Christians with three horses. From there, I continued my journey chiefly on horseback." Once past the frontier, the rest of the way was easy. The journey to the capital was made on horse- back, and there he found the native Christians and the Chinese priest Yu who had secretly entered Korea in advance of him. Unforttmately, Yu proved, not- withstanding his education at Naples and the zeal which had first prompted him to volunteer his services for Korea, a very uiiworthy successor of the young Chinese priest who was martyred in 1801. He abused his sacred ofiSce by extortion and repeated violations of his vow of chastity, thwarted Maubant, whose coming he resented as an encroachment on his own sphere, in all his measures, and finally had to be sent back to China under a threat of excommimi- cation. Maubant was the first European to enter Seoul since the shipwrecked Dutchmen were there STREET IX OLD SEOUL. (From Stereograph Copyrighi, Underwood & Undirivood, London.) To face p, 264. THE FIRST PERSECUTION 265 two hundred years before. Little over a year later he was joined by Chastan, who, after waiting ^is opportunity for two years, during which he laboured among the native Christians of Manchuria, passed the frontier disguised as a poor man carrying his own pack, and in another year, on December i8, 1837, Laurent Marie Joseph Imbert, Bishop of Capse and Vicar-Apostolic, also succeeded in crossing the frontier, and " the Korean soil was for the first time trodden by the feet of a bishop." All the three first missionaries were of peasant birth, but all were dis- tinguished for their learning and piety and for the zeal and success with which they had worked for years in other fields. For two years all three laboured assiduously, not only in the capital but in the provinces both in the north and in the south. They made long and difficult journeys, enduring constant privations, to satisfy the crowds of Christians who thirsted for the Sacraments and who had confessions to make extending over twenty, thirty, or forty years. Korean mourning lends itself to the complete disguise of the identity of the mourner. A dress of unbleached grass cloth, an enormous hat of plaited straw many feet in circumference, its rims curving dovmwards, a screen of cloth held before the mouth, and a staff differentiate the mourner in such a way that none can recognise him or mistake him for other than a mourner ; and etiquette forbids that he should address or be addressed by others in the streets. Disguised in this garb, the priests went everywhere safe from all interference by those who did not know them, and the thought of betrayal never entered the minds of their converts. The condition of the con- verts was pitiable. Many of them were in prison. Many more, abandoning homes and property, had taken refuge in barren mountain solitudes where they 266 THE STORY OF KOREA suffered indescribable miseries, and some died from cold and hunger, but where they were free from the odium and persecution that their open neglect of ancestral worship brought upon them. To the dis- tress which their condition caused to the priests was added the never-ending anxiety lest the converts should be exposed by discovery to the terrible penalties which the law sanctioned for those who practised the " pernicious doctrine." Every service had to be held, every Sacrament administered, with the utmost secrecy, and the priests were sometimes unknown even to some of the members of the families with whom they lodged in their wanderings. With all its disabilities their work flourished. They had been told before they came that they would find thirty to forty thoilsand Christians in Korea, but if there ever had been this number persecution and neglect had so diminished them that Maubant found on his arrival there were at the utmost not more than six thousand. At the close of 1838 there were more than nine thousand, and at the dawn of the year 1839 the Church in Korea seemed to be entering on a bright future of peace and prosperity. " But the tree of faith has never been firmly planted in a heathen land without being watered with blood, and the more it g^rows the more must blood be given in abundance to its roots." In 1839 the Regent, who had shown some toler- ance, retired from office, and the executive fell into the hands of one who was a venemous enemy to Christianity. At no time had the embers of perse- cution ceased to smoulder, and every year, even those in which the prospects of safety seemed to be brightest, had its isolated instances of the imprison- ment and execution of converts whose position or activity brought them into prominent notice. Now persecution was once more to burst into Violent flames, THE FIRST PERSECUTION 267 and all the worst horrors of 1 80 1 were to be intensified. The new Regent lost no time in putting his authority in force, and all the evil passions of the enemies pf the faith were at once let loose, while terror produced many apostates who purchased their own safety by the betrayal of their fellows. Men, women, and children were arrested wholesale, tortured with beat- ings which made the flesh fall off their bodies ; their legs were broken so that the marrOw protruded from the bones, and delicate women of noble birth were subjected to indignities -VYhich caused them to suffer more than the worst physical torture would have done. Many gave way. Some who had held a prominent place among the believers not only renounced the faith which they had done so much to spread, but, under the dictation of the judg'es, " repeated the foulest imprecations on God, on the Holy Trinity, on the roost holy Virgin." These were exceptions. The majority held firm through every trial, and many sought the glorious crown of martyrdom and calmly bowed their heads to the executioners' swords. In Japan the victims of the persecution, while including many, both men and women, of high rank, feudal chiefs of great pirincipalities, and ladies of the Court, were for the most part of the lowest and poorest classes who, according to their beliefs, were changing, after one sharp moment of agonising pain, lives of down-trodden serfs for the glories of paradise. In Korea the reverse was the case. The victims were mainly of the upper classes, who had all that they could desire on earth — rank, power, wealth, luxury, and ease. All these they gladly sacrificed, and under- went the imprisonmient, torture, and shameful deaths from which their rank should have legally exempted them. It is not possible within our limits to relate the particulars of individual cases. We shall only 268 THE STORY OF KOREA make one exception as an illustration of all. A mother and two daug'hters of noble family, whose estate was some distance from the capital, were con- verted, but ,the husband and father was a violent enemy of Christianity, and they were therefore obliged to practise t]tieir religion in secret. T^e eldest daughter, arrived at marriageable age, was betrothed in the usual way by her father to a heathen, but rather than submit to such a marriage the girl pretended lameness, and for three years remained prone on her bed. Then the intended bridegroom, weary of waiting, married another. The second sister in her turn was betrothed in like manner. She wished to preserve her virginity, and so she fled from her home, and to prevent any search being made for her, she stained her clothes with blood, tore them in tatters, and scattered the pieces in the thickets near her home. Her parents thought she had been devoured by a tiger, and mourned for her as dead. Both sisters took refuge with an aunt in the capital, also a Christian, and within a few months the mother was secretly told of their safety. The father, seeing that her grief had ceased, begged her to hide nothing from him, and when he heard all he forgave his daughters and promised to thwart their faith no more. They were soon visited by their mother, and mother and aunt, also sisters, the two daughters, and two other women, one of whom was well bom like them- selves, whom the aunt supported as Christians, were all together in one house. They heard of the martyr- dom of other Christian women, and all six, eager to follow such an example and give their lives for Christ, resolved to surrender themselves to the authorities . The judge of the Criminal Court was astounded at their action. He besought them to renounce their errors, and when they refused they were flogged and THE FIRST PERSECUTION 269 remitted to prison. Five days afterwards they were again brought before the court, and the judge asked them whether, " having tasted the sufferings of prison, they were now of a better frame of mind." " How can we say one thing to the judge to-day and the opposite to-morrow? " was the reply of all. The judge endeavoured to argue with them, to overcome their firmness, first by gentleness, then by threats, and finally by further tortures, but all were in vain. They were again all remitted to prison, this time to the common gaol for thieves, where, after having suffered much from hunger and thirst, and from the insanitary surroundings to which they were entirely unused, one died of the putrid gaol fever. The others were beheaded. During the first stages of the persecution the three missionaries were hidden by their followers in different secluded parts of the country, the Bishop in a lonely village on the coast, lying in a valley that was equally obscured from passing boats and wayfarers on land. A boat was kept in readiness for him, so that if the contingency arose he could escape by sea. Gradually it leaked out from apostatising prisoners that there were three foreigners in the land, and all the energies of the police were vainly exerted in the efforts to trace them. The Bishop's mitre, the mission chest, and other evidence were found, but the three foreigners were securely hidden, and their re- treats were known only to a few of the converts. When the persecution was at its height, and the news came to the Bishop of all that his people were suffer- ing he determined to surrender himself and to send the two priests out of the country, hoping thereby that, vengeance having been taken on the principal foreign offender, the natives would be spared. On July 29th all three met at great peril, and thje two priests then refused to obey, their Bishop, either 270 THE STORY OF KOREA to forsake their people or to submit the boatmen, who might have helped to land them on the coast of China, to the penalties which they would incur by doing so. The three separated, only to be united again when they appeared before the judges. On the morning of August loth the Bishop celebrated his last Mass, and then, alone and unattended, went to the place where he knew the police were and there surrendered himself. He was bound with the red ropes that were used to strangle criminals, brought to the capital, and when he refused to disclose the hiding-place of the two priests subjected to the torture " bending of the bones." ■ The priests were penniless . The mission funds had been taken with the chest : the converts around them were too poor to help them, all had been reduced to indigence, and they had to beg their daily bread in imminent danger of detection. They had obeyed the orders which their superior had given them at their last meeting to continue their hiding till they ■ There were three varieties of this torture. In the first, the knees and the two big toes were tightly bound together and two sticks were thrust into the space between the knees and toes. The sticks were then pulled in opposite directions until the bones of both legs were bent outwards like a bow, after which they were allowed to return slowly to their original shape. In the second, only the toes were tied together. A large wedge of wood was then placed between the legs. Ropes were passed round each knee, and the ropes were pulled in opposite directions by two men and the knees forced inwards till the joints of the two knees touched. In the third, " the dislocation of the arms," the arms were tied below the elbows and behind the back, and the shoulders were forced towards each other by two large sticks used as levers. The arms were then untied and the executioner, placing his foot on the chest, pulled the arms towards him until the bones resumed their former position. When the torturers were experienced at their work they were able to carry it out in such a way that the bones only bent, but if they were novices, the bones broke at the first pressure. THE FIRST PERSECUTION 271 heard from him again. Just before his arrest he sent Maubant a few Hnes in Latin. " The good shepherd gives his Hfe for his sheep : give you'ri- selves to the .police," and Maubant forwarded the letter to his colleague. Twelve days passed before they could meet. Then both surrendered, and in a few days all three were before the judges. They were bastinadoed and beaten, each receiving seventy blows from the cudgel before the sentence of death was passed on them. At last on September 21st they were carried in chains to the execution-gtound, their hands bound behind their backs, with an escort of more than a hundred soldiers. " On the ground a stake had been planted from the top of which floated a flag, embroidered with the sentence of the condemned. When they arrived they were at once stripped of their garments, only their drawers being left. Then the soldiers bound their hands in front of their chests, passed long staves under their arms, and stuck arrows through their ears, and after sprinkling their faces with water powdered them with lime. Six men then carried each by the staves under their arms three times round the whole ground, atnidst the derision and coarse gibes of the crowd. At last they were made to kneel and a dozen soldiers ran round them swords in hands, in mock combat, giving each of the kneeling priests a cut from the sabre as they passed. Chastan at the first blow, which merely grazed his shoulder, instinctively rose but immediately fell again on his knees. Imbert and Maubant never moved. When all was over, the bodies were exposed for three days, and then buried in the sand on the river bank." A watch was kept by disguised police lest they should be removed, but twenty days later seven or eight Christians, resolved to brave death if they failed, succeeded at a second attempt in raising the bodies, and having placed them in coffins, reinterred them in new graves on a hill about ten miles from the capital, and there they rest till this day. The sacrifice was in vain. The persecutioti continued with all its 272 THE STORY OF KOREA bitterness both in the capital and in the provinces, and till the end of the year executions followed each other in rapid succession. It was only when the judges were sated with blood, when all the Christians who had not died were in prison, exiled, or scattered in the mountains^ that it ceased. Its ultimate results were widely different to those which were the object of the Korean ministers. The comparison may be frivolous, but it is so a propos that it may perhaps be pardoned. " Made in Germany " gave to the industrial products of Germany aji advertisement which largely increased their consumption in England — the very last result foreseen by the legislators responsible for it. So it was with Christianity in Korea : — " From the highest ministers of state down to the lowest servant of the prisons, judges, magistrates, nobles, literati, commoners, police, and executioners, in the most remote districts as well as in the capital, all heard of Christianity, all learned something of its principal dogmas. The seed of the Word of God, was carried by the tempest to the four winds of heaven and who shall say in how many souls the fruit of salvation sprang from the seed thus sown ? At any rate, from this time Koreans ceased to despise Christians and their doctrine. There was no diminution in the hostility of the Government ; but public opinion gave their due to the charity, modesty, patience, good faith, to all the virtues, of which the converts had given so many striking examples." ' ' All the quotations both in this and in the succeeding chapter are, where not otherwise stated, taken from the " Histoire de I'Eglise de Coree.'' CHAPTER XIII CHRISTIANITY — PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION The news of the death of the three missionaries was slow in reaching the outside world. Uneasiness was felt in the Church in China when, throughout the year 1 840, no word came from them, but two years had passed ere the worst fears were confirmed. Three new missionaries — ^Jean Joseph Ferrdol, a native of Avignon, Ambroise Maistre, of Annecy, and Marie Antoine Nicholas Daveluy — had resolved to devote their lives to Korea, and when the death of Imbert was known, the first was consecrated as Bishop of the vacant diocese. In the meantime the Opium War of 1842 had taken place, and the military might of China had been shattered to pieces. Hongkong was ceded to Great Britain ; Nanking, the ancient capital of the south, was only saved from capture by a treaty of peace ; and five great cities of China were open to foreign trade and residence under conditions which provided fully for the security of life, property, and religion. The Koreans slowly and vaguely heard of the humiliation of their great suzerain, but Korea was still left closed and unassailed, was still obdur- ately determined to retain her conservative policy of isolation. For three years the three new mis- sionaries vainly sought a way into their sphere of work. Ferr^ol with great toil made his way through the almost unknown wilds of Manchuria in the hope of passing the north-east frontier at Hunchun, but he found the guards there no less strict than at 18 373 274 THE STORY OF KOREA Aichiu in the north-west, and he had to make his long journey back again to await another opportunity. Some years before, three young and promising proselytes had been smuggled out of the country and sent by Imbert to study for the priesthood at Macao. One of them was Andrew Kim, who amply repaid all the expense and trouble that had been expended on his behalf. He was not only a devout servant of the Church, but a fearless, enterprising, and re- sourceful man. He was the companion and guide of Ferr^ol in his efforts to cross the frontier, and when they failed, he, by his Bishop's directions, evaded the guards and secretly returned to Seoul alone. There, weary of waiting for the spiritual assistance of which his fellow-Christians had none for six years, he conceived a bold plan, one full of physical perilj which only undaunted courage could have faced. He purchased a small fishing-boat for 146 dollars, and after much persuasion he induced eleven fellow- Christians, all fathers, sons, or relatives of martyrs, to embark with him. Only four of them were fisher- men, one was a house carpenter, and the rest peasants, and not one of them had ever been on the high sea. None of them knew anything of navigation, and they had to trust themselves to the pilotage of the clerical student who had passed all his life in a monastery. With such a crew Kim resolved to make his way in an open boat over one of the most stormy and fog- ridden seas in the world to Shanghai, a voyage of fully five hundred miles . The legal were not less than the physical perils. China had agreed by treaty to return to Korea all Korean sailors who laiided on her coast, and those who were thus returned were tried and, if found guilty of wilfully leaving their country, were punished with death. The voyage realised in its perils all its worst antici- pations. For three days the little boat was help- PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION 275 lessly tossed on the mountainous sea in a storm of wind and rain. : sails, rudder, provisions, and clothing were all swept away, and every moment was expected to be the last. When the storm subsided the plight of the crew was desperate. The boat was a helpless wreck, and for three days they had neither food nor water. Many Chinese junks passed them but took no notice of their signals of distress. At lasr one from Canton took pity on them and agreed, for a promise of i,ooo dollars, to tow them to Shanghai. There were more perils to be overcome, but they reached Wosung, the port at the entrance of the tributary of the Yangtsze on which Shanghai lies. They were quickly boarded by the Chinese ofificials of the port, to whom they represented them- selves as castaways. They would probably have met with little mercy from the Chinese, who, faithful to their treaty obliga- tions, would have arrested and sent back the whole crew to Korea, by land. But the British fleet was at anchor at Wosung. Kim, on his arrival, had taken his anchorage right in the centre of the British ships, and the interest of the officers was keenly stirred in the strange craft, the like of which they had never seen before. It was still more keenly stirred when they heard the details of the adventurous voyage and its object from the accomplished and highly-educated gentleman, able to speak and write equally well in Latin and French, whom they discovered in the apparently poor, ragged, half -starved fisherman. Chinese officials at that time and for many years afterwards entertained a wholesome respect for the civil and naval representatives of Great Britain,, and when they found that the protection both of the British Consul at Shanghai and of the naval officers was given to the destitute Korean they interfered with him no more. It was a long cry to Korea. The 276 THE STORY OF KOREA prospect of ever being called upon to answer for any failurfe to discharge their treaty obligations to that country was remote. The British, who insisted on the humane treatment of sailors in distress, were present and active. It was best to choose the least of two evils ; and Kim, landed at Shanghai by British officers in one of their own boats, and there taken into the care of the British Consul, was allowed to repair and re-provision his boat, all the funds he required, both for these purposes and to discharge his obligation to the Cantonese sailor* who had towed him, being provided by the Roman Catholic mission in Shanghai. Kim had his reward. Ferreol hastened from Macao to Shanghai, and his first act was to ordain Kim to the priesthood, to consecrate the first native- born priest of Korea. It was on Sunday, August 17, 1845, that the ceremony was performed, and in another fortnight everything was ready. The return voyage to Korea was begun, but this time Ferreol and Daveluy, who were embarked with great secrecy in the darkness of night, shared its dangers. Ferreol, in one of his subsequent letters, described the boat : " She was twenty-five feet long, nine feet wide, seven feet deep. Not a nail had been used in building her ; only pegs held the boards together : there was no tar, no caulking, the Koreans being ignorant of all these improvements. To two masts of an immoderate height were fastened two sails of straw mats, badly sewn together. The fore part of the boat, occupying a third of its entire length, was open as far as the hold. It was there that the capstan was placed, surrounded with a thick rope made of plaited grass, half rotten, which was covered with fungus in wet weather. At the end of this rope was bound an anchor of wood, our hope of safety. The deck was formed partly of mats, partly of boards laid side by side without fastenings of any kind. Add to that three openings from the deck into the cabin in the stern. When it rained or when the waves broke over the bulwarks, not a drop of water was lost. It had to be received on the back and then jerked off on one's arms.'' PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION 277 It was on Septemt)er i, 1845, that they sailed ia this frail craft. On October 12th they succeeded in landing on a lonely island, and thence, disguised in mourning, both priests made their way into the country, Ferrdol proceeding to the capital. The brave and faithful Kim was soon added to the list of martyrs. Within less than a year from his return to his native land he was detected in communication with the Chinese fishermen who annually visited the coast of Korea. They were never permitted to land, and any Korean who communicated with them on sea was punished with death. Kim tried to induce them to give passages to new missionaries. He was seen and arrested, and on his trial it was disclosed that he was a Christian. He gloried in it before the judges, refused all inducements to recant, and then, after the usual torture, he was executed on September i6, 1846, " as an enemy to the State," in the same way as had been the three European priests . .When the French frigates made their ill-fated visit i to the Korean coast in 1846 they brought with them P^re Maistre and a young Korean named Tsoi, the second of the three proselytes who had been study- ing for the priesthood at Macao. Both hoped that they would be able to enter Korea, if not openly under the aegis of the French flag, secretly during the frigates' stay on the coast. The wreck and the subse- quent close surveillance to which all the crews were subjected spoiled their hopes, and they were obliged to return to Shanghai with the rest. They wanted to remain at all hazards, but the French Commandant refused to be party to the inevitable perils to which they would be exposed. Tsoi had given his services as interpreter to the French officers in all their negotiations with the Koreans, not openly as a Korean, but disguised as a Chinaman, unable to speak ' Vide p. 226. 278 THE STORY OF KOREA or understand the Korean language but able to com- municate in the ideographs which form the common system of writing of both countries. The position was an interesting one. Facing the Koreans was the young fugitive yearning after a long absence to speak in his own language once more, but not daring to expose himself to certain detection, to the ruin of all his hopes, by uttering a single word ; listening to the discussions which took place between the officials before they replied to the French officers and maintaining the appearance of ignorance until they had put what they thought proper in writing ; writing, in his turn, replies that were ready on the tip of his tongue for verbal expression ; anxious with a sickening longing for news of his fellow-Christians, both of the priests and of his own countrymen, yet not daring to put a single direct question in regard to them. At last he did ask one officer if there were any Christians remaining in Korea, and if the King still persecuted them. " Yes," was the reply, " we are determined to make an end of this wretched sect and to put all Christians whom we can find to death." Once he found a native Christian by tracing on the palm of his hand the Chinese ideographs for Jesus and Mary and, though the presence and watchfulness of other Koreans prevented any but the most guarded con- versation, he hoped through this convert to find the means of getting away from the island in which he was interned with the shipwrecked Frenchmen and reaching the main land. But the convert never appeared again, and the vigilance of the guards around the island both by night and by day rendered further communication impossible. It was not till five years after their arrival that Ferreol and Daveluy were joined by Maistre, who at last succeeded in landing in the south from a Chinese junk, and for three more years these three PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION 279 missionaries carried on their work in the midst of the same dangers and privations that were suffered by their martyred predecessors. Then Ferreol died, no less a martyr than they, though not by the execu- tioner's sword. Maistre died in 1857, but now that the way to Korea by sea had been successfully ex- ploited, the places of those who died were more than filled by new workers. Simeon Francis Berneux was consecrated bishop in place of Ferreol, and with two priests, Michel Alexandre Petitnicholas and Charles Antoine Pourthie, also succeeded in landing from a Chinese junk about forty -five miles from the capital. They were afterwards followed by other priests, Feron, Aumaitre, Breteni^res, Dorie, Landre, Joano, Ridel, Calais, Beaulieu, and Huin. In the year 1859 there were 16,700 Christians, and from that year onward till 1866 their number steadily increased, the priests working among them, always in secrecy and disgfuise, their presence not unknown but winked at by the authorities. It was not from the authorities that priests and converts now suffered. The sword of the executioner was no longer busy, but both priests and converts were regarded by the native heathen with " satanic hatred," and the local persecu- tions of isolated Christian communities, instituted and carried out, not by the officials but by ordinary citizens, were hardly less bitter to bear than the more fatal methods of the Government in former days. Events outside Korea wakened the minds of her Governors to the fact that it might not always be prudent to torture or murder Europeans found within her jurisdiction, even though their presence and objects were contrary to the national law. Peking* was taken by the allies, and the Emperor of China was compelled to seek safety in an ignominious flight ; his great summer palace, the splendour of which was 280 THE STORY OF KOREA famed in Korea, was ruthlessly sacked ; amd peace was purchased by him with a heavy indemnity and the grant of full liberties to Christianity throughout all his Empire. Russia tricked the humiliated and crushed Emperor into the cession of the great Usuri territory in the east of Asia and was now Korea's imtnediate neighbour on her north-east frontier ; and all three powers, Britain, France, and Russia, were giving signs, unmistakable to the Korean embassies at Peking, signs still more unmistakable from the occasional cruises of their warships on Korean coasts, that, if cause were given them, they would not be unready to deal with the vassal kingdom as they had done with the suzerain Empire. In 1863, the King died. As is told in another chapter, he was succeeded by a boy who was under the control of his grandmother as Regent. She was soon replaced in that office by the new King's father, the Tai Won Kun, and the party in the State which had from the first shown itself most hostile to Christians, which was mainly responsible for the persecution of 1801, again came into power. The Tai Won Kun was not unfavourably disposed towards either the missionaries who he knew were in the country or their religion, and had even in- directly sounded the Bishop as to the influence he could possibly exercise to prevent the Russians in- sisting on the demand which they had made to open commercial relations with Korea, promising that if he succeeded religious liberty would be accorded as his reward. On the other hand, petitions flowed in on the new Government, in which it was urged to revert to the purity of ancient customs and to destroy the Christian religion to its very roots. Drought, followed by excessive rain and violent autumnal storms, des- troyed the harvest and caused a famine in the winter of 1865, and heretofore famine had always increased PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION 281 the hatred to the Christians, whose " pernicious doctrine " was supposed to have contributed to the ills of the country, and who, when want came, were always fair subjects for plunder and spoliation. Still all went well. Conversions increased in the provinces, even among the rough and uncouth inhabitants of the north ; the priests went their rounds throughout the whole country without interference, and in a few instances openly celebrated the Sacraments. But the warning whispers of the coming tempest were audible, and with all their realised triumphs the hopes of the missionaries were smothered in uneasiness when they thoug'ht of what 1866 might bring in its train. Their worst anticipations were more than realised. In January a Russian warship appeared at Gensan, and the commander presented a letter in which liberty of trade and residence was imperatively demanded for Russian merchants. It also intimated that if the demand was not granted Russian troops would cross the frontier to enforce it. The reply was that Korea was a vassal of China, and could enter into no relations with any other nation without the Emperor's permission, but that an extraordinary ambassador would be immediately sent to Peking to inquire as to his wishes. Court and Ministry were deeply moved by this event, and while their perplexity was at its height some Christian nobles of Seoul, not in other respects very earnest in their religion, but mem'bers of families that had fallen in the previous persecutions, thought they saw an opportunity of winning liberty for their co-religionists and fame and honour for themselves. They concocted a letter to the Regent in which they urged that the only means of resisting Russian aggression were to be found in an alliance with France and England, and that such an alliance could easily be made through the good 282 THE STORY OF KOREA offices of the French Bishop in Korea. The letter, drawn up with the want of tact that is natural ,to ill-informed people, was at first received favourably by the Regent, and for a time it was thought that Christianity would be freed, and the Christians, " drunk with joy," spoke of building in Seoul a cathedral worthy of the capital. Their joy was short- lived. The dominant party at Court was still bitterly hostile, and time and time again had urged the issue of new prohibitory edicts. Nothing was, they now said, to be feared from the Russians. Their warship was gone, and their troops had not crossed the frontier : — " On the other hand, the Korean embassy, which had left for Peking in December, 1865, had just sent a letter in which it was said that- the Chinese were putting the Europeans who were scattered through the country to death. This letter reached Seoul towards the end of January. It was like oil thrown on fire. The four principal ministers loudly voiced their disapproval of the Regent's behaviour to the Bishop. " Hatred to the Europeans ! " they cried. " No alliance with them or our kingdom will be done for. Death to all the Western savages ! Death to all Christians ! " The Regent reminded them of the Franco-British expedition to China, of the danger to which such behaviour would expose them, of the possible invasion of Korea. " No," was the answer, " such fears are idle; have we not already killed several of these Europeans ? Who has ever attempted to revenge their death ? What harm has it done us ? " This allusion was to the deaths of Imbert, Maubant, and Chastan, martyred in 1839, perhaps also to those who, shipwrecked at different times on the shores of Korea, had been pitilessly massacred. The Regent was alone in his opinion. Whether he was convinced by their reasoning or, led by their fanaticism, was forced to yield to the torrent in order not to risk his own authority or compromise his position, will only be known later when the missionaries have re-entered Korea and have been able to make complete inquiries as to what happened at that time. Whatever may have been his reason, he gave in, and signed the death-warrant of all the bishops and European priests and put into vigorous practice the laws against Christians." PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION 283 On the afternoon of February 23rd a large force of police suddenly entered the Bishop's resi- dence and arrested him and six native Christians. The Bishop was at first placed in the common gaol, where he had thieves and murderers for his fellow- prisoners, but on the morrow he was transferred to the State prison, where he was placed in the quarter reserved for prisoners condemned to death. The prison had a curious feature. All the prisoners were in separate cells, and to prevent men speaking to each other across the partitions, little bells suspended all round were continually rung in such a manner as to render all conversation impossible. On the 26th he was brought before the High Court, composed of all the ministers. There, firmly fastened in a chair, his legs bared, his ankles, knees, and arms all bound so that movement was impossible, he was interrogated. " Why do you come to this country? " "To save souls." " How long have you been here? " " Ten years." " If you are released and ordered to quit the country, will you obey? " " Not unless expelled by force." " Will you apostatise? " " No ; I have come to preach the religion which saves souls, and you propose that I renounce it I " " If you do not obey, you will be beaten and tortured." " Do as you wish — enough of vain questions." Then his feet were bastinadoed, and he was beaten till the bones of his legs were denuded of flesh, and his whole body became one sore, and similar tortures were renewed on subsequent days. Breteni^res, Beaulieu, and Doric were also arrested and were placed in the same State prison as the Bishop, but no one knew of the presence of the others. All three underwent the same tortures as the Bishop. When the torture was over and sentence of death was pro- nounced, all were conducted to the common prison, 284 THE STORY OF KOREA where they met for the first time since their arrest. On March 8th they were brought to the execution ground, to the ground on the river bank which was only used when it was desired to carry out the sentence with the utmost pubHcity, and there all were done to death in precisely the same manner as their predecessors in 1839. Dorie was the last to suffer. He had to witness the agonies of all the others before his own turn came. The first four victims were arrested in or near the capital. The hue and cry was soon set in motion against those in the provinces, and Pourthie, Petit- nicolas, Daveluy, Huin, and Aumaitre were all arrested in turn and carried as prisoners amidst the jeers and insults of the people in every town and village through which they passed to the capital, where they were tried and condemned with the same tortures as the first. Daveluy, who was the Co- adjutor-Bishop, Huin, and Aumaitre were the last victims. The celebration of the young King's marriage was near at hand. Sorcerers and diviners were busy at the palace in selecting an auspicious day for the ceremony, and it was feared that torture and execution in the capital would bode ill for the royal nuptials. So the last three were taken to the coast, seventy-five miles south of the capital, and there on March 30th, which happened to be Good Friday, the sentence was carried out. In the case of Daveluy the execution was particularly barbarous. One stroke of the sword was given which caused a terrible wound. Then, while the victim was quiver- ing in agony, the executioner delayed to squabble with the officers as to his payment, and it was only after a long wrangle that he completed his work. Along with the missionaries the converts had their full meed of suffering. They were vigorously sought for in every province. Many were executed ; their PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION 285 number is not known, and possibly never will be known ; others were banished, imprisoned, and plundered. All Christian books and furniture were destroyed, and, paralysed with terror, broken, scattered, deprived of their pastors as in 1839, those who escaped arrest found their only safety in hiding themselves or their religion. Christianity was in 1886 as completely extirpated in Korea as it hjad been in Japan in the second quarter of the seventeenth century. And all this happened within a few weeks. On February 1 5th bright hopes were held that the dawn of religious liberty was about to break. On March 30th the ruin of Christianity was complete. The officials were not wholly nor universally merciless, though mercy to any prisoners was not a Korean quality. The priests could have avoided their fate had they consented to leave the country. The converts were given every opportunity to recant . As had happened in Japan, so also in Korea pious frauds were practised, and prisoners' words were twisted so as to give them the sense of recantation, when the utterers had no such intention. Sometimes the prisoner's hand was forcibly made to trace a semblance of a signature to a written acknowledg- ment of his errors, and some magistrates who, though not Christians themselves, disapproved of the perse- cution, made both their search and interrogations as perfunctory as they could with safety to themselves. Th'ree missionaries — Feron, Ridel, and Calais — remained alive. It was well known that there had been twelve priests in Korea besides the Bishop : it was suspected that there were others, and only nine had fallen. Orders were sent to all the pro- vincial authorities to make the most rigorous search, great rewards were promised them, and every week their zeal was stimulated by fresh instructions. Military posts were established at all cross-roads, 286 THE STORY OF KOREA and the soldiers were ordered to permit none to pass unless after a strict examination, but " the soldiers soon wearied of this troublesome duty, and except in the neighbourhood of the capital took themselves off and left the watch to their empty sentry-boxes " ! The three European fugitives were driven from place to place by police and spies. During the day they hid in holes in walls or among the rocks of the most inaccessible mountains. At night they travelled by deserted by-paths, all the time their hearts torn with anguish at the ruin of their Christians, the dis- couragement of new converts, and apostasy of the weak. They had many narrow escapes in which they were saved from arrest, som'etimes by the ingenuity of the converts, sometimes by what appeared to be the direct intervention of Providence. Throughout all they had one great consolation. No thought of their betrayal ever entered the minds of their converts. They were faithfully guided in all their wanderings, and the poorest owner of the poorest cabin in which they were hidden or lodged was never tempted by the great rewards that were offered for their arrest. Once Ridel and Feron lodged for two months in the house of a poor widow, in a wretched hamlet, who had six children to support, and the Christians of the village, all equally poor, sold all that they had to procure food for them. They had still no wish to leave Korea, but they decided that one of them should endeavour to carry the news of what had happened to China, and Ridel was chosen for the task. Christians provided a boat, manned by eleven sailors, and in this he safely reached Chefoo, after a voyage only less perilous than that of Kim ten years before. Thence he went to Tientsin, where he saw Admiral Roze, the Commander of the French Fleet on the China Station, to whom he told all that had occurred in Ko'rea, and a few months later the French expedi- PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION 287 tion the story of which is told in another chapter made its vain essay to avenge the martyred mis- sionaries and to secure safety for the future. The Regent seemed to be drunk with vanity and cruelty. A courier came from Peking with warn- ings of the danger he incurred by slaying European priests, but he haughtily answered that he had killed foreigners before, that it was his right to do so, and that it concerned no one but himself. Even the Chinese were not spared, and the crews of two junks on the coast which were searched to see if Europeans were on board were all massacred because some cotton goods of European manufacture were found among their cargoes . New edicts were issued against the Christians, and death was prescribed for them and their relatives down to the sixth degree. The terms of the edicts were carried out to the fullest extent. The executioners were busy everywhere. Some of the martyrs took their last glimpse of life on the banks of the River Han, where two French ships had anchored a month previously. " It was on account of the Christians that the barbarians came there — it was owing to them that the waters of the river had been sullied by the ships of the West. It was necessary that the stain should be washed away with Christian blood." (When two French ships that were the forerunners of the invading fleet were making their first reconnaisance on the coast, the two priests, who re- mained when Ridel left and were still leading the lives of hunted fugitives, always in imminent danger of arrest, made endeavours to reach the coast, but when they did so the ships had gone. They heard also, when hidden in the mountains, of the presence of the Roma, the vessel which carried Oppert on his second endeavour to find the entrance to the River Han. When Oppert was on shore his 288 THE STORY OF KOREA attention was attracted by two poor-looking natives, who, when they caught his eye, made surrepti- tious signs of the cross. On his approaching them one of them slipped into his hands a paper on which was written the words : " Ego Phillipus alumnus coreensis secumdum pactum cum duobus nautis heri ante mediam noctem veni in hunc destinatum locum et tota nocte hie vigilavimus. In hac nocte post tenebras navicula veniret optimum erit nunc etiam hie sumus." ' They were messengers from the fugitive priests in the hills. Oppert waited for them at night, but they did not appear again, and it is probable that they were seen communicating with him and arrested. Failing to find succour either in the warships of their own country or from the German adventurer, their position daily becoming more desperate, and the danger to their devoted converts who sheltered them more intensified, the priests resolved to risk again the dangers of the sea, and they embarked in a frail, open boat on the very day on which Adniiral Roze sailed from Chefoo on his great expedition.^ They might have met his fleet on the way, but an unfavourable wind drove them to the north, out of the ordinary course from China, and as their boat was unfitted, both in its size and construction, for the high seas, they were fortunate in falling in with some Chinese smugglers, by whom they were brought in safety to Chefoo, where they arrived on Octobe'r 26th, having been in all on the sea for fourteen days. Korea was then once more without the help of a single foreign priest. The escaped missionaries remained in Chma, always hoping that the chance would be given to them of returning to ' Oppert, " A Forbidden Land." = Vide p. 235. PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION 289 the field which, with all they, had suffered in it, they still loved. It was thought that, if the French would not endeavour to wipe out the discredit of their first abortive attempt by another expedition, this time with a sufficient force, the English would do so in order to re-establish European prestige in the Far East, now sadly smirched by the French defeat. But neither French nor English did anything. Hopes were again raised when the United States fleet en- deavoured to open the closed doors in 1871, but the United States attempt when it came was as abottive as the French. Korea was left to herself. The Regent, bursting With pride at having driven back with little cost the Europeans before whom the capital of his mighty suzerain had igtiominiously fallen, drew still more closely the barriers which closed his country against all the world, and haughtily proclaimed that who- soevet even suggested the least relaxation of the time- honoured policy would be dealt with as a traitor. And as fot the Christians they were held to be already traitors, false to their country as well as to their religion. All their property was confiscated, and the zeal of spies and renegades was stimulated by the promise of sharing in the spoils. They were proscribed as rebels, to be arrested and dragged to prison wherever found and there strangled at once without the formality of preliminary trial. In previous persecutions the unhappy victims were able to find refuge by emigrating to other provinces . Now they were forbidden to settle in new districts with- out licence ftom the local magistrates, and the licence was only issued after a rigorous examina- tion as to theiT motives. Orphans, whose parents had been martyred, were entrusted to heathen families, who were told to rear them in hatred of the Christianity which made them orphans. These 19 290 THE STORY OF KOREA were the fortunate ones. Others were cast on the hig'hways to die of cold and hunger as the brood of an accursed sect. Executions were always carried out in the presence of those who were to suflfer later so as to add to their terror. Formerly those who apostatised were released, and the officials, as has been told, endeavoured to construe apostasy from words that conveyed no such intention. Now even those who, in the agonies of torture, uttered some words that bore the meaning were straightway carried from the court and beheaded. The only result of their weakness was that they were saved from further torture. The swords of the executioners were in- sufficient for the work they had to do, and a guillotine was devised by which twenty-five heads could be separated from the bodies at one stroke. Between 1866 and 1870 there were more than eight thousand Christian martyrs, apart from those who perished of cold and hunger in the barren mountains to which ^ they fled. Deprived of its priests, of every native whose social position, intelligence, or wealth could have encouraged or helped its poorer members, the Church was dead, and Christianity extirpated in Korea, even before the United States guns were heard on its shores. All hopes of its revival were at an end when those guns were silenced. The story of the Church in Japan, three hundred years older than that of the Church in Korea, as told by the present writer,' was taken to a large extent from the " History of the Church of Japan," compiled from the letters of the Jesuit priests who were the first missionaries. The present story of that in Korea has been taken to a still larger extent, almost entirely^ from the later " Histoire de I'Eglise de Cor6e," com- piled by P^re Dallet, from the letters and reports of the French missionaries who sacrificed their lives • Vide " The Story of Old Japan," PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION 291 in Korea. The latter work, which is full of detail of the lives and sufferings of individuals, both French and Korean, is contained in two bulky volumes, each of just under six hundred closely printed pages. The writer has endeavoured to include in his story the salient points in the histoty of over one hundred and twenty years, and to provide his readers with a connected outline of one of the most harrowing chapters in the whole history of Christianity. Those in whom the story, as the writer has tried to tell it in the limits of space at his disposal, may arouse the desire for further information can only be re- ferred to Ballet's eloquent and thrilling pages. They form as yet the only material that is available for our knowledge of the whole subject. In Japan, on the other hand, we have not only the writings of the Jesuits as our authorities, but all the results of the researches in native histories and records of the great English savants, whose pro- found scholarship is one of the brightest spots in the record of what Englishmen have done in or for Japan. All their researches have served to confirm what is told by the Jesuits and to prove that what they have said is disfigured neither by serious ex- aggeration nor misrepresentation. Thirty years have now passed since European relations began with Korea. An American scholar has compiled from the native authorities an exhaustive history of the country from the mythical down to the present age, which bears in its internal evidence every mark of reliability and accuracy from which we have largely borrowed in the previous chapters. An English mis- sionary has produced a great dictionary of the language. But it would be idle to say that Korea has as yet had its Satow, Aston, or Chamberlain. Time will, no doubt, bring them ; but in the interim may we not lend to the writings of the French mis- 292 THE STORY OF KOREA sionaties the same credit that has been proved to be justly due to their Jesuit predecessors in Japan, and accept what is told by them' as the authentic history of a missionary enterprise that is unsurpassed in the sublime fortitude and heroism of its pioneers by any that has ever been seen in other ages or quarters of the world? The story of Korea's opening to the world will be told in another chapter. Even before the French treaty was concluded two French priests once more made their way to the capital. They were taken under the protection of the Japanese minister, but even his presence, even the certainty that whatever happened would be promptly known to the outer world, did not prevent their position being full of danger, so much so that the minister felt it his duty to advise them^ to leave, advice which, under the circumstances, became a command. They were soon able to return. Within a few years all the g'reat European Powers interested in the Far East had their treaties duly signed and rati- fied, under which their citizens had the rights of trade and residence in Korea, and the practice of their religion was free. Missionaries at once flocked there, the French Roman Catholics in the van, quickly followed from England, America, Canada, and Australia by Protestants of all the varied denomi- nations whose ex^getic controversies are a source of bewilderment to the simple-minded native seeker for the Gospel of Christ. Prelatists and Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists, the Salvation Army, the Young Men's Christian Association, and perhaps a score of others, have now their representative missions in Korea, and all claim success in their proselytising. In 1899 there were twenty thousand Protestant con- verts. Ten years later their number had increased fourfold, and the pride of -the missionaries was not o o a o CO w o < PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION 293 in the number but " in the supreme faith and apos- tolic fervour " of their converts. When the annexa- tion was proclaimed there were 453 missionaries in Korea. Fifty of themi were French citizens, and they included all the Roman Catholics. Four were Russians of the Greek Church. The rest, of whom 306 were United States citizens, 90 British, and 3 German subjects, comprised the Protestant mis- sionaries of all denominations. There are said to be over 200,000 native Christians of all denomina- tions, the greatest number belonging, as is natural from its greater age in Korea, to the Roman Catholic Church. Next to it in number of its follbwers comes the Greek Church, while among' the Protestant Churches the foremost places are taken by the Presbyterians and Methodists. In every province, in every great city throughout the whole peninsula, missionaries are found working ; churches, rising high above the low roofs of the native houses, are prominent features in the towns, and all are well filled by worshippers on Sundays and holidays. The most striking' architectural feature in the capital is perhaps the imposing Roman Catholic cathedral which in late years ha.s more than realised the brightest hopes of the simple converts of 1866. At Kang-Wha, the historic island in which the kings of Old Korea were wont to seek a harbour of refuge in times of danger, there is a great Church of England mission, presidfed over by a bishop, with all the equipment of brothers and sisters of the most advanced ritualistic school. At Phyong An, " the most wicked city in all Korea," the ancient capital, a large number of American missionaries reside, and the Presbyterian Church alone has a regular Sunday congregation of over fifteen hundred converts, while its mid-week prayer-meeting has an average attend- ance of eleven hundred. Is there any single church 294 THE STORY OF KOREA in all England or Scotland that can boast of a similar mid-week congregation? By leading lives of a degree of self-denying poverty that borders on asceticism, by condemning themselves to lifelong expatriation, which is never re- lieved by furloughs in Europe, the Roman Catholics, both priests and nuns, still endeavour to follow the example of their martyred predecessors ; the English Ritualists follow at some distance the example of their Roman Catholic confreres by the exercise of strict frugality ; the Nonconformists, with their wives and children around them, lead the same lives as the pastors of their own Churches in their own country. Missionaries, whether Catholic or Protestant, no longer steal at night through drain-pipes, nor cross the dangerous China Seas in open boats, but take their passages in ocean steamers as well found as any in the world. They have not to live as solitary fugitives in peasant cabins, dependrait on their poor owners for food and safety, but in their own spacious European houses, built on sites that are carefully chosen, both for their sanitary and picturesque advantages, furnished with every domestic appliance that can moderate the heat of summer and the cold of winter. They no longer make their weary journeys on foot hidden beneath the stifling garb of the mourning native, but in express trains, fitted with dining and sleeping cars and all that is required to make railway travelling easy, or, where railways are not available, in chairs or on horseback, with an attendant train of obsequious baggage coolies, carry- ing ample provision of food, clothing, and bedding. Their converts have now nothing to fear. They had, on the contrary, much to gain in the help that was afforded to them by their pastors against the tyranny of their own officials prior to the beginning of the Japanese Protectorate. Their faith has not been tried PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION 296 in the fires of persecution that purified that of their fathers and grandfathers. Still, it would be unfair to doubt it, any more than do those missionaries who know tliem ; and if the numbers of the professed) converts and their willingness to contribute out of their own most scanty means to the support of their Churches are tests of success, the missionaries of the present day have nothing to fear from a com- parison of the results of their zeal, industry, ability, and devotion with those of their martyred prede- cessors. The late Prince Ito was not a believer in Christianity, either in its doctrine or as a means for the betterment of his own countrymen. He once, many years ago, told the present writer that he wanted everything from the West except its religion, but that he could see nothing that would tend to the moral amelioration of humanity, either in the doctrine or the practices of Christianity, which Japanese would not find equally well in their own faith and moral codes and observances. And yet, when Resident- General at Seoul, he paid a high compliment to the religious and educational work of European mis- sionaries in Korea, promising them that his own Government would give every assistance to their efforts, and inviting their co-operation in promoting the future welfare of the people. He was not a man either to give praise where it was not deserved, or to invoke aid which might be fruitless, and no, higher certificate could possibly be given to the efficiency of missionary work in Korea than in his words, the purport of which we have taken from a Japanese and not from a missionary authority. CHAPTER XIV MODERN KOREA — I 868-84 In 1868 the last o'f the Tokugawa Shoguns, the dynasty which had governed Japan for more than two and a half centuries, resigned his great office, and the direct control of the executive reverted into the hands of the Emperor, who thus resumted the full prerogatives of the sovereignty of which his ancestors had been deprived by successive families of military usurpers for more than seven centuries. A complete revolution simultaneously took place in the whole administrative and social systems of Japan. Feudalism was abolished, and the resolution was taken by the new Government to substitute the civilisation of Europe for that of China as the con- trolling factor in the social and political life of the nation. It has been already told how the Japanese factory was maintained at Fusan, and a tribute-bearing embassy sent by Korea each year, at first, in the earlier years of the Tokugawas, to Yedo, and after- wards in the later years to Tsushima. Korea acknow- ledged vassalage to bbth China and Japan ; but while the Koreans paid infinitely more deference and observed their vassal obligations with far greater punctiliousness to China, accepting from China in- structions as to the succession of their kings, their laws, and their calendar which they would not have done from Japan, Japan always claimed that her rights towards Korea were earlier in origin, and rested on MODERN KOREA-1868-84 297 a better foundation than those of China. During the civil war which preceded the restoration of the Emperor Korea was forgotten, and even the embassy to Tsushima lapsed. Once, however, the war was over and the Emperor was firmly established on his throne in his new capital at Tokio, the precedent set by lyeyasu two hundred and fifty years pre- viously was followed, and an intimation of what had taken place was sent to the Korean Government, accompanied by an invitation to renew the old observances. The Tai Won Kun was at this time at the very height of his influence and power as Regent of the kingdom. He had just, as he believed, defeated the forces of France ; he had extirpated the hated doctrine of Christianity ; he considered himself and his country invincible, and he was saturated both with pride at what he had achieved and with the most bigoted conservative prejudices. For Japan, who had opened her doors to Europeans and was, he was told, now about to adopt their civilisation, he had nothing but contempt, and the reply which he sent to the courteous communica- tion from the new Government of the Empire con- veyed his contempt in the most insulting manner that could be embodied in words. It was as follows : "We have received your letter and have given it very deep consideration, comparing your dispatch with other dispatches. It is a long time since there has been any intercourse between our two countries. Your dispatch demands payment of tribute. We will show how this a£Eair stands. Taiko Sama/ without provocation or cause of any kind, invaded Korea, and made Korea sign a document agreeing to pay tribute. In those days Korea was unprepared for war, and had not even been informed of the intention of Japan. But it is very different now. The invasion by Taiko was a crime committed against Korea by Japan, which is not yet punished. Your demand is so unreasonable, that instead of Korea paying you ' Hideyoshi. 298 THE STORY OF KOREA tribute, it is for you to return the money paid by Korea. In your dispatch you have made many insinuations of your having adopted foreign customs ; we can assure you that Japan is Japan, Korea is Korea — but Korea has its own customs. Some years back we had a difference with a country called France, which is, among barbarians, considered to be very powerful and very large, whilst Korea is very small — but we defeated that great country. We assembled all our warriors, every one of whom was ready to die. According to our old treaty of friendship, whenever either is attacked by barbarians, the other is to help. To show our honesty, when the barbarians went to your country, we immediately wrote to you that we had made every preparation to help you. During the French attack on Korea we day and night expected that you would come with your forces to our aid ; but not having received your assistance we wrote and informed you of our distress, informing you of our position, and asking for immediate help. You have neither sent us aid, nor any answer to our dispatch. From that day our treaty of friendship was at an end. We no longer consider each other friends but enemies. The tone of your dispatch is so friendly that we look upon it as treachery ; and after having been so friendly with Japan and being repaid by treachery, we never can be friendly again. Not only have you broken the treaty as above described, but you have also broken another very chief point of treaty in adopting the manners and customs of the Western barbarians. Our information is, that you have adopted French drill ; and whenever you want money you go to England ; and if you wish to tax your own people or impose duties you take advice from America. But you have never consulted us, as agreed in our old treaty. You think the Western barbarians are great people. We, Koreans, are a very small country, but yet we have the courage to put in writing to you, that Western barbarians are beasts. The above we intend as a direct insult to you and your allies — the barbarians. We desire that you should join them and bring your great ships and your army here. Fusan is the nearest part of Korea to Japan. To make your attack as inexpensive as possible to you and your friends, we will send and clear Fusan for a battle-field, and will appoint the battle. It is use- less to go into any correspondence, because the wrong you have done to us is so great, that your apologies will not avail. The only alternative is a bloody war — a war that will cost Japan all its warriors ; and then we will bring you to terms. This is our intention. You must not attempt to write us again ; and the above is a notice to you to make all preparation, for either Japan must invade Korea, or Korea will invade Japan. MARBLE PAtJODA IN SEOUL. {From Stei-eograpit Ccf'yn'illil, Vinli-ncood & Vtideruooil, LoiiJon.) MODERN KOREA— 1868-84 299 The receipt of this letter was concealed by the Japanese Government, which was fully occupied at the time by its own serious domestic difficulties. It leaked out, however, two years later, and it was then asserted, and it is now believed, that the letter was a forgery ; but even if the version that has just been given is not correct, there is no doubt that the Tai Won Kun's reply embodied an insulting and con- temptuous refusal of the Japanese proposal. The high-spirited Samurai of Japan were plunged into a fervour of patriotic indignation when they heard of the insult offered to their Emperor by a petty kingdom which had been twice conquered by their ancestors, whose military capacity and civilisa- tion they regarded with equal contempt. They demanded that they should be at once led to Korea to wipe out the insult in blood, and several of the leading members of the new Government were in full sympathy with them. But wiser counsels prevailed. Japan was in no condition to undertake a foreign war, even against a power so insignificant and close as Korea. The foreign and domestic problems which her new Government had to solve were already sufficient to exhaust to the utmost the time and talents of her ministers, all of whom were new to their duties, without adding to them complications with Korea. Her finances had not recovered from the burthens of her own civil war. Her new military system was in its infancy and she had neither a naval nor a mercantile fleet. The affront was for the moment accepted and Korea was left alone. But it was only to await another and more fitting time. In September, 1875, the Unyo Kwan, a gunboat, was fired on by a Korean fort at the entrance of the River Han. It was stated at the time that the gun- boat had only called to obtain wood and water, while on a voyage from Nagasaki to New-chwang, but 300 THE STORY OF KOREA she was in reality engaged in surveying the approaches to the Han in view of future contingencies. The insult to the flag was promptly returned. The fort was first shelled, and then stormed and taken by a landing party. The comparative fighting capacity of the Koreans and Japanese at the time may be estimated from the fact that the Korean garrison consisted of 250 men and the landing party of 32 officers and men. The Koreans had only bows and old matchlocks to oppose to the Japanese rifles of the most modern pattern, but, on the other hand, they were behind the walls of their castle, a position in which their foes have ever found them' formidable antagonists, from the days of the Swi Emperors of China to those of the French and United States fiascoes. Neairly the whole garrison was killed, many as they tried to swim across the river that was near being drowned or shot by the Japanese, one of whose qualities was not mercy to beaten foes, as they struggled in the water. A great quantity of spoil was taken — matchlocks, drums (one of the drums was six feet in diameter), banners — and brought to Tokio, where it was publicly exhibited. Once more, as in 1872, the cry for war was raised in Japan by the hot-headed and ambitious Samurai, and as Japan was now in a very difi^erent position to what she had been in 1872, with a small but efficient army and the nucleus of a navy and mercantile marine, she could have safely luidertaken to bring such a power as Korea to her own terms. The Government had, however, to consider not only Korea but her suzerain, China, who mig'ht, if the vassal were assailed, come to her assistance as in the days of Hideyoshi ; and with the wisdom and patience which the ministers of the Emperor have displayed in every incident of their foreign policy throughout his reign they disregarded the jingoism' of a section MODERN KOREA— 1868-84 301 of their citizens and resolved to endeavour to bring Korea to terms and induce her to abandon her policy of national isolation by diplomacy. Japan had other and more vital reasons to actuate her than the solace - ment of woimded pride. Russian aggression in the Far East was an ever-present nightmare to the Japanese statesmen throughout the first decades of the Emperor's reign. Russia had, in Japan's own case, when she was distracted by civil war and had not even the semblance of a navy, actually attempted to lay hands on the island of Tsushima, and was only prevented from carrying her designs further by the British fleet. Russia had also g'iven evidence that in her lust of territory she did not considisr the island of Yezo beyond the possibility of acquisition. She, had profited by the weakness and ignorance of China to extend her continental possessions down to the very frontier of Korea, but she still wanted a sea outlet. To gain that, no duplicity, no use pf force that promised success would be spared. Korea, isolated, ignorant, and weak, with her splendid ice- free harbours, offered all and more than could be desired, and was a tempting morsel to the insatiable appetite of the Czar, too great a temptation to be resisted when the time came, unless Russia was assured that yielding to it would cost ttiore than it was worth. Korea's fate was, on the other hand, of as vital importance to the future national security of Japan in the eyes of her statesmen as were, not to say Afghanistan and Egypt but Ireland to Great Britain. Her incorporation by a strong military and aggressive Western power would be as great a threat to the independence and national security of Japan as would Ireland, independent or under the influ- ence of a hostile power, be to the safety of the British Empire. Korea's security could only be insured by bringing her into the comity of the nations of the 302 THE STORY OF KOREA world and inducing her to educate and arm herself according to modem methods, as Japan was now endeavouring to do. China was induced, not only to assent to the Japanese proposals but to advise Korea to accept them. She warned Korea to expect no military aid in any troubles that might ensue from resisting the Japanese demands. She cited her own example as a lesson. Great and powerful though China was, her "Government had found it impossible to close their country against foreigners, and had, therefore, found protection by entering into friendly relations with them. How, then, could a poor and weak country like Korea expect to succeed where China had failed, and maintain its isolation against all the powers of the world, of whom' Japan was only the forerunner? When it was known in Japan that Chinese neutrality could be relied on all preparations were quickly com- pleted, and in January, 1876, an expedition sailed for Kang-Wha, sufficiently strong, though its whole object was peaceful, to forcibly repel any insult or attack that might be offered to it by the Koreans. Japan in the result achieved a complete triumph, one that did much to enhance her reputation for firm and astute statesmanship in the eyes of the world. The narrow-minded, intolerant Regent of Korea was no longer in office. The young King had attained his majority, and with his personal assumption of the control of the executive, the conservative entourage of the Regent had been replaced by younger and more progressive officials. The demands formulated in courteous but unmistakable terms by the Japanese envoys were accepted by them', and on February 26, 1876, a Treaty of "Peace and Friendship" was concluded, which terminated for ever, not only Korea's national isolation from the world but, theoretically at least, her dependence on China. The MODERN KOREA— 1868-84 303 first clause of the treaty declared that Korea was an independent State, enjoying the same sovereign rights as Japan, and that all intercourse between the two should be conducted on terms of equality. Others provided for the abolition of the old factory at Fusan with its primeval restrictions, and the open- ing of Fusan and two other ports to the trade and residence of Japanese subjects ; for the rescue and treatment of shipwrecked crews ; for the appointment of Consuls at the ports, and for the establishment of a legation at the capital. The same extra-terri- torial clauses that Perry had forced on the Japanese when they were ignorant of all international usages, of which they afterwards so bitterly complained, were introduced by them' into their first treaty with Korea, and it may be noted here that this was only the first of many incidents in Japan's intercourse with Korea that found their exact counterpart in the story of her own early relations with European Powers. Others will be mentioned hereafter. Two of the proposals of the Japanese were long resisted by the Koreans. For centuries the latter had been accustomed to use the Chinese calendar^j a usage which among Oriental nations was the strongest outward mark of vassalage. To depart from their old custom was an innovation which at first appeared too revolutionary to the Koreans, but they finally yielded and consented to date the treaty, not according to the Chinese style, which would have been totally inconsistent with the newly-asserted inde- pendence of Korea, but as the four hundred and eighty-fifth year from' the founding of Chosen — in other words, from the accession of the first king of the last dynasty, when the name of Chosen was resurrected as that of the unified kingdom of the peninsula. The second difficulty occurred in regard to the 304 THE STORY OF KOREA titles by which the respective sovereigns of the two countries should be described. The title by which the ruler of Korea had always been recognised by China was that of Wang (Japanese O), which means sovereign, or royal prince, and in very ancient times this was also the only title which was held even by the Emperor of China. In the feudal period of China, in the early centuries of the Christian era, every ruler of a fief assumed it, and the Emperor was then discriminated from mere feudal chiefs by the more high-sounding title Hwattg Ti (Supreme Ruler), the ruler to whom not only his own subjects but all the sovereigns of other nations of the world are inferior. When the Japanese adopted the civilisation of China they also adopted as the designation of their Sovereign the term Kotei, which is the Japanese pronunciation of the ideographs that are read in Chinese as Hwang Ti, and of course conveys to the Japanese mind precisely the same signification as does Hwang Ti to the Chinese. The Japanese had precisely, ,the same idea in adopting the title as that which actuated the Chinese. They thought that the Sovereign of Japan, the direct descendant of the Gods of Heaven, the supreme ruler of the divine Land of the Gods, was superior to all other sovereigns on earth. He alone could therefore be properly described as Kotei. This belief was put in practice when the first treaties were concluded both by China and Japan in the names of their Emperors with the great powers of the West. The two Empetors were described in them as Hwang Ti or Kotei, while the Queen of Great Britain and other European sovereigns were described as Wang or O, and these terms remained in the treaties until European diplomatists learnt their dero- gatory signification. The King of Korea, a vassal of China, had never claimed or received any higher MODERN KOREA— 1868-84 305 title from his suzerain than that of Wang. He was too inured to that, too unconscious of the freedom from the shackles of Chinese suzerainty that iwas being thrust upon him, to desire another ; and yet he was now asked to treat on terms of equality, as an independent sovereign, with the Emperor of Japan, whom his representatives would describe in no other term than that of Kotei. The difficulty was got over after long discussion, which at first threatened to put a stop to all the negotiations, by the treaty being formulated in the names of the Governments and not, according to the usual international practice, in those of the sovereigns of the two countries. For a few years the Japanese were satisfied with their moral victory. They did not bring back with them a high idea of the resources of Korea or pf any prospect of a valuable trade springing up between the two countries. In the few places they had seen they found signs of great poverty — Chouses, food, and clothing all poor — and all the outward marks of a low order of civilisation, and the physical characteristics of the country impressed them as little as did the conditions of the people. The soil seemed to be poor, hard, and ill-suited for cultivation, the vegetation sparse and stdnted, timber scarce, and what there was of it of inferior quality. Pines were plentiful, but they were not straight and graceful like those in Japan, and the demand for fuel was so great that the trees were never permitted to g'row to a great height. The houses were constructed of stone and earth without plaster, thatched with rice, straw, and miserably small. Few of them had ceilings, and the floors were made of hardened earth and covered only with oil-paper 6r, in the better-class houses, with leopard -skins. The streets were indescribably filthy. There was no sanitation, no drainage, and nothing seemed to be done to remove the accumulations of 20 306 THE STORY OF KOREA household refuse and ordure that were piled up all along the sides of even the best streets, rendering them equally offensive to sight and smell. Both art and manufactures were in a low state. The best pictures that Korean artists could produce might be purchased for a few pence in Japan ; the silk was useless ; the cotton, though cheap, of low quality, and all that the commercial experts of the expedition could see that gave hopes of profitable trade in the future were dried fish^ seaweed, and hides. The Koreans sent a complimentary embassy to Tokio to return the visit which the Japanese envoyiS had made to Korea, and there they saw for the first time all the wonders of Western civilisation which Japan had acquired ; but, with that, official inter* course between the two countries camfe to a temporary end. The Satsuma rebellion broke out, and all the energy and thought of the Government of Japan were concentrated on its suppression and on the re- covery from the terrible sacrifice of men and money which it entailed on the nation. It was not till 1880 that a minister was sent to take up his residence in Seoul, and the three ports provided in the treaty were opened and occupied by Japanese traders. Liberal opinions had, in the meantime, been steadily gaining ground among the ruling classes in Korea. Some of them had visited Japan, and the tales which they and the embassy brought back of all they had seen there filled the others with the desire to start Korea on the same path of progress. The King was with them. So also was the Queen, a strong-minded, courageous, and able woman, though her liberality was possibly the outcome of her hatred for the Tail .Won Kun, who was still faithful to his old tenets, and still had a large and influential following in the country, rather than from any honest conversion to the cause of progress. Advice was coming from ROAD OUTSIDE SEOUL. (From Sfercogrtipli Copyriglil, I'ncknvood & Viuici-.ccoii, London.) MODERN KOREA— 1868-84 307 Li Hung Chang, the great statesman of China, who had in the interim quietly absorbed and colonised the old strip of neutral territory on the northern frontier, which strongly supported the views of the Korean liberals, and when, in 1882 and 1883, repre- sentatives of the United States and Great Britain appeared at Chemulpo, due intimation of their coming having been first sent through the Government of China, treaties were also concluded with them. Other European powers — ^France, Germany, Russia, and Italy — followed, and Korea was finally and irre- trievably committed to diplomatic and commercial intercourse on equal terms with the despised bar- barians of the West. As it was in Japan in the first decade that followed her opening to the world so also was it in Korea. These chapters in the histories of both countries are almost identical. Liberal statesmen in Japan, yielding to the dictates of prudence which told them that they had no means to resist demands that would be enforced by overwhelming military strength, opened their country to foreigners, but by doing so they incurred the universal odium of their own ill-informed coimtrymen, and what they had done was bitterly condemned by conservative fanatics who thought themselves patriots, who enforced their views by frequent assassinations both of the ministers of their Government and of the first Europeans to reside in the country. In Japan in the early days of harl foreign intercourse desperate attacks were twice made by armed men at night on the British Legation in the capital with the avowed object of murdering all its inmates ; and so insecure were the lives of all Europeans that Great Britain and France, the two powers of the West that were then most deeply interested in the commercial expansion of the East, were obliged to establish strong garrisons of their 308 THE STORY OF KOREA ttoops in Yokohama to render to their citizens the protection and security which the Japanese Govern- ment of the time could not give them. The only, foreigners in the capital of Seoul in 1882 were Japanese, and they were limited to the ministers and a large staff which included, not only secretaries, student interpreters, and servants, but a few officers of the army, and some policemen who acted as a guard, the whole numbering about forty -two persons. They had been in the capital for yearly two years ; and though they had during those years frequently been subjected to the insults and jeers of the lower orders of the people when outside the walls of their Legation — just as were the staff of the English Legation in the streets of Yedo in the early sixties — ^they had, on the whole, somewhat reconciled the general mass of the population to their presence. The Tai [Won Kun had been out of office [since 1873. He had been obliged to witness impotently the changes that had taken place in the policy of his country, but had abated nothing of his old pre- judices nor his confidence that Korea could still hold her own against the barbarians of the West as she had done before. The new departure was hateful to him ; still more hateful to him was the Queen, whjd was mainly responsible for this departure and who had brought it about, not from any patriotic sense of the welfare of the country, but as a lever for procuring the favour of the King and office for the members of her own family. His political adherents diligently spread his views among a large section of the people, and only a spark was required to kindle the flames that were ready to burst forth. A mutiny among the Korean troops who had been defrauded of their pay by a dishonest officer furnished the spark. For two months they had received neither pay nor rations. A liberal quantity of rice of the MODERN KOREA— 1868-84 309 best quality was ordered to be distributed among them, but the comm.issariat officer charged with its distribution sold it and replaced it by a less quantity of rice of an inferior quality, and the deficiency in weight was made up by an adtaixture of sand. The infuriated troops broke from their barracks to vent their rage on the officer, whom they beat to death in his own house, and on the Govemmlent. From the soldiers the disorder spread to the people, and soon a mob of four thousand soldiers and men, mad with fanaticism and personal wrongis, was gathered, which proceeded to vent its fury on all the ministers of the Government who were thought to be favour- able to the new order of affairs. Even the palace was not spared. Instig'ated, no doubt, by the emissaries of the Tai Won Kun, an attack was made on it, aaid the mob made their way into the apart- ments of the King and cut down in his presence some of his principal officials. They did not lay hands on the King himself, but they angrily demanded the Queen. She disappeared', and it was for some time thought that she had been murdered and her body carried away. .When the riot broke out several Japanese, suspect- ing nothing, were as usual scattered throughout the streets. All who had the misfortune to meet the mob were killed at once, and in the afternoon, when the rioters had exhausted their fury against their own countrymen, they turned on the Legation and made a combined attack on it. For seven hours it was gallantly defended, and then the buildings were set on fire from' the outside and the defenders were therefore forced to evacuate them. Forming into a wedge arid keeping together, with their minister at their head, the small Japanese party held the gr,ea.t mob at bay with their swords and revolvers, and fought their way through the narrow streets. 310 THE STORY OF KOREA all the time under a heavy fusillade of stones. Stones, it might be thought, are but poor weapons when opposed to revolvers, but the Koreans are the most expert stone-throwers in the world, both in their accuracy of aim and in the force and distance of the throw. Many of the Japanese were wounded and bruised. Had they broken all must have perished. But, like brave men, they kept their phalanx firmly, and carrying their wounded in the centre, they succeeded as night fell in getting out of the city. They were twenty -six miles from Chemulpo. They had no food. A deluge of rain came on and added to the miseries of their long night march. They lost their way in the black darkness, and it was not till the afternoon of the following day that they reached the port. There the local Korean official provided them' with quarters and promised to protect them, and, worn and exhausted, all fell down on the floors of the rooms that were given to them and were instantaneously asleep. They were soon roused. Another attack was made on them — again they had to fight their way, this time not only through an angry mob but against disciplined soldiers. They at last reached the beach, where they seized a boat in which they put to sea, without food or water, with only the lightest summer clothing, and it all in rags, to protect them against the cold of nighty without one expert boatman among their number. They knew, however, that H.M.S. Flying Fish was somewhere in the neighbourhood, and after having been for one day and a half at sea they were seen and rescued by her and brought to Nagasaki. Five of their original number had been killed, and five of those taken on board the Flying Fish were seri- ously wounded. Four more were killed by the mob in Seoul at the first outbreak, before they could find refuge in the Legation. MODERN KOREA— 1868-84 311 The Tai Won Kun enjoyed a momentary triumph. He was once more back in power. The hated Queen had disappeared, and was supposed to be dead. The Japanese had gone, and the King was entirely under his influence. But on August i6th, within less than a inonth from the burning of their Legation, the Japanese were back again, the minister being this time accompanied by a strong military force which could be reinforced in a day from the fleet of war- ships that was now lying off Chemulpo. He had brought with him an ultimatum from his Government, demanding satisfaction for the outrage on the Lega- tion and the murders of Japanese citizens, and the Tai Won Kun had no choice but to stifle his pride and accept the terms that were offered to him. They included a substantial indemnity, an apology, the punishment of the leaders of the rioters, new privi- leges for Japanese traders, and the right to station Japanese troops in the capital for the protection of the Legation — all bitter pills for the savage old tyrant to swallow. The last condition presents another parallel between the early European events in Japan and the Japanese in Korea. When British and French troops were stationed in Yokohama, the Japanese Government was called upon to provide barracks for them' at its own cost. It had never made any agreement to do so, and Sir Harry Parkes, the British Minister in Japan at the time, never under- stood on what principle the burthen was thrown upon it. Japan was neither a conquered nor a hostile country, but both the British and French Governments instructed' their representatives to insist on it. That of Japan was too weak to resist ; extensive barracks were built and kept in repair during the whole time — ^more than ten years — in which British and French troops were in Japan, entirely at the cost of the Japanese Government. To this day the injury which 312 THE STORY OF KOREA was thus added to insult rankles in the hearts of the Japanese, but they followed the precedent them- selves in Korea, and the Korean Govemmtent was called upon to provide and pay for proper quarters for the Japanese troops whom they were forced to admit into their capital. Li Hung Chang was at this time Viceroy of Chili, and the director of China's foreign policy. Korea had declared her independence when she made her treaty with Japan^ and when China sanctioned the independent relationship which Korea then assumed with a foreign Power, she ostensibly abandoned her own title to exercise any authority in the future in Korea's affairs, but the stroke of a pen was not sufficient to permanently, loosen the ties and senti- ments of suzerainty that had existed for centuries. Frightened by the presence of the Japanese troops and warships, Korea appealed to China, and China answered by dispatching to Seoul a large force of the troops which, under the direction of Li Hung', Chang, had been drilled and equipped according to the latest Western models, and held ready for any emergency in the garrison of Tientsin. For a time a collision seemed to be imminent between the Japanese and Chinese, but it was averted by the withdrawal of the latter from the capital. The camp which they established a few miles beyond its walls became a permanent one, the ostensible reason for its maintenance being the duty which China owed to her vassal King, who had received his investiture from the Emperor, to protect him if necessary against his own rebellious subjects, and to maintain him on his throne. The Japanese, on the other hand, when their new treaty had been signed, withdrew all the forces that they had in the first instance sent to sup- port their minister, with the exception of a guard of one or two companies of infantry for their Le^gation. MODERN KOREA— 1868-84 313 Li Hung Chang was evidently determined thence- forth to make the influence of China felt in the peninsular kingdom. One of the ablest of his sub- ordinates was sent as commissioner to the capital with instructions to take an active part in its domestic affairs ; and his first act was one that showed how China, even when under the control of the enlightened Viceroy, still adhered in her foreign diplomacy to her old methods of duplicity and cunning. The Tai Won Kun was invited to visit the Chinese camjp. Once within its fences, he was made a prisoner, and having been unceremoniously bundled on board one of the Chinese men-of-war that lay off the coast, he was carried to Tientsin, where he was fated to remain in captivity for three years. .With his re- moval, the most disturbing element in the foreign affairs of Korea disappeared, and the King was at liberty to continue the relations which he had begun with Western powers and the progressive policy to which his father was so bitterly opposed. In the foreign affairs of Korea China disclaimed all in- fluence, and thus pursued a double course. On the one side, she openjy avowed her duty and intention to maintain the King on his throne. On the other, she left to him the control of his foreign relations and the entire responsibility for whatever obligations he might incur to foreign powers. The Queen, who it was thought had perished in the disturbance of July, and for whom national mourning had been ordered, reappeared safe and well. When the mutineers were searching for her through the palace on the night of the great outbreak, one of the palace guardsmen threw a veil over her and carried her on his back right through the midst of the mob' out of the palace. He was repeatedly stopped and questioned, but said that he was taking his mother, who was one of the palace servants, to a place of 314 THE STORY OF KOREA safety. For the night the Queen was hid in an humble house in the town. On the following' day she was taken in a common travelling chair, unattended, by mountain paths to a remote village in the pro- vince of Chhung Chyong, and there she remained in obscurity for two months. Then, when all was quiet again, the fact that she was alive was dis- closed, and she was brought back to the palace in becoming state and restored to her proper dignity. One of the chairmen who assisted in her escape after- wards rose to a high position in the State, and will be mentioned subsequently. During the two years which followed the outbreak of 1882 intercourse increased between Japan and Korea. The apology for the attack on the Legation was brought by a special embassy to Tokio, and during its stay the members made a thorough study of the progress Japan had achieved in Western civilisation, now much more apparent than in 1875, and became profoundly impressed with its results. Some of them remained in Tokio when the embassy had performed its function, and their official status was at an end ; other Koreans of good birth came as students or sightseers, and when they returned home they were full of progressive ideas, and eager to see their own countrymen embark on the career which Japan had so successfully pursued. Political parties, the everlasting curse of Korea, thwarted all their hopes. The influence of the Queen over the King was all-powerful. When her old enemy, the Tai Won Kun, was still a factor in the State, she had opposed his conservative intolerance, but it was the man and not the policy to which she objected. When he was removed from: the scene all the offices in, the State were once more filled by her relatives, and their conservatism was traditional. All their sympathies were with the old civilisation of China, MODERN KOREA— 1868-84 315 and the reformers who had come back from Japan, who were members of rival families to the Min, could find no outlet for their abilities and aspirations. Two new parties were formed — ^that of the Queen and her relatives on the one side, whose platform was conservatism' and the friendship and protection of China, and that of the reformers on the other, with the platform' of progress, which would gradually enable Korea to stand alone, and the friendship and support of Japan. Beneath these outward professions there were, however, the old family antagonisms, which were too deeply planted in the hearts of all to be eradicated even by the new condition in which Korea now found herself. Reform and progress were weapons that could be used in the destruction of family rivals as well as for the benefit of the country. Diplomatic and consular representatives of other powers were now resident in Seoul. Great Britain had concluded a new treaty. It has been mentioned already that a treaty had been made in the early part of 1883. Great Britain was then represented at Tokio by Sir Harry Parkes, the greatest diplomatist and consul of any nationality that has ever served in {he Far East, whose knowledg'e of both China and Japan, and whose appreciation of all the essential elements of the political and commercial interests of tlae British Empire in the Far East were foimded on a lifelong experience of both countries. His services were of course available for the neg'otia- tion of the new treaty with Korea, but for some in- scrutable reason the task was entrusted by the British Government, not to the well-tried and trusted diplomatist but to the admiral who chanced at the moment to hold the command of the fleet on thq China Station. The result was most unsatisfactory. The diplomatic skill of the gallant admiral was on a par with his knowledge of Asiatic people, and 316 THE STORY OF KOREA the treaty was deficient in many points that were of vital importance for the conduct of trade and the security of British subjects resident in Korea. For- tunately, the first blunder could be amended. The admiral's treaty was not ratified, and in April, 1884, Sir Harry Parkes was sent to Seoul, comtnissioned to conclude a new treaty. His commanding' person- ality, long Eastern experience, and profound know- ledge of the Asiatic character enabled him' to accomplish his task within a fortnight, the new treaty being as complete in all its provisions as the first was the reverse. Sir Harry Parkes was accompanied by his daughter,! who, though little more than a girl in years, had already presided with her father for two years over the Legations at Tokio and Peking. The wife of the first United States Minister |was already in the capital, and the conclusion of the British treaty was signalised by another marked de- parture from' ancient customs. Both ladies were invited to an audience with the Queen at the palace, the two being the first women of the West, not only to be admitted within the sealed precincts of the women's quarters of the palace but to enter the capital. The Queen, who less than two years before had fled in disguise from' murderous assassins, whose life had only been saved by the devoted self-sacrifice of one of the palace ladies and the courage and loyalty of some of her huniblest servants, proved to be a most gracious lady, who, with all her con- servative prejudices, with all her attachment to the time-honoured customs of antiquity could discharge the new social duties of her great station with no less charms of tact, dignity, and kindliness than would have been shown by one of her European sisters at a similar function. » Now Mrs. J. J. Keswick, of Mabie, Dumfriesshire. MODERN KOREA— 1868-84 317 Mrs. Keswick has kindly furnished the writer with the following description (written at the time) of her audience with the Queen :— " Yesterday (May 7, 1884) Mrs. Foote, the wife of the American Minister and I were presented at the Korean Court. An invitation from the Queen had come to us the previous day, and we arrived in the Palace grounds at the appointed hour — four o'clock. In the grounds we were received at some distance from the Palace itself by two ladies in waiting, the gentlemen, both of the two Legations and Korean, who had hitherto escorted us not being permitted to accompany us any further. The ladies were iil full court costume, long baggy white trousers and sweeping blue grenadine skirts and Small cape bodies ; over all, a robe of stiff green brocade which came down to the knees and was fastened behind by a crimson belt which hung low down. Their hair was dressed very high on their heads in the most, elaborate style of plaits and bows and they wore neat little shoes and white stockings. " We were conducted by the ladies to a small summer-house where cakes and coffee were handed to us. Then we were shown round the grounds and into some of the ladies' private apartments which were quite devoid of furniture (a la ^aponaise), and then, after waiting for about an hour, we were informed that their Majesties were ready to receive us. We were ushered into a courtyard, up some steep steps, and into a long room open down one side and hung with fine bamboo mats. The Queen was seated behind a table on the right of the King, and the little Prince on his left. The Queen was very much painted and powdered and wore the same dress as her waiting women, only on her uppermost robe she had some gold embroidery on the shoulders which, at a distance, reminded one of epaulettes. The King's robe was crimson and he had also the gold on the shoulders ; he wore the high official cap. The Prince, a bright little fellow, eleven years old, was dressed in a robe of some dark material and was just the image of his father. Both King and Queen were very gracious ; they inquired how I liked their country, and were very much surprised to hear that I rode on horseback ; they expressed their pleasure at the satisfactory settlement of the Treaty, and hoped that both countries would always remain on good terms with one another. Then the little Prince got down from his chair and came to shake hands with us. They inquired how old I was, how many brothers and sisters I had, and what their 318 THE STORY OF KOREA ages were, and they hoped I had received good news from home ; they also conversed very pleasantly with Mrs. Foote. " The Queen is very small, but evidently understands how to hold her own, and rules the King who is a bright, cheery, little man. After the reception had lasted about half an hour, their Majesties suggested that we might be tired, so we were invited to retire and rest in a small room adjoining where sweetmeats and cups of tea were offered to us. We were then informed that some fireworks had been arranged for our entertainment which were to take place later, and that, therefore, the Queen hoped that we would remain to dinner. Of course we accepted the invitation with much pleasure. " Whilst we were resting, the Queen sent in a little present to Mrs. Foote and myself which consisted of a small workbox con- taining many little cushions and cases prettily embroidered and worked by the ladies of the Palace. One amusing incident occurred which I must just mention. Whilst resting after our audience with the Queen, some of the ministers and chamber ladies of the Palace came in to see us, and one of the oldest of them, who wished to be very polite, took out his cigar case and offered us each a large cigar ! I refused, of course, thanking him at the same time, and explaining that it was not the rule with English ladies to smoke. I should perhaps mention here that all the Korean women and even children smoke a great deal, you scarcely ever see the former without long pipes in their mouths. After this we had another interview with their Majesties ; this time, however, they were in simple everyday dress— the King in loose robe and high hat, the Queen in the ordinary petticoat and cape of the Korean women. She is evidently a spirited, courageous little woman, and as I looked at her seated there, surrounded by her court, I could not help thinking of the time two years ago, when a rebellion occurred in Korea and she had to fly for her life. Three times she was captured by the rebels, and the third time she only escaped by disguising herself as a peasant woman : so she has truly experienced dangers and vicissitudes in her life. " When it became dark, we dined. Some of the Korean Ministers were present and two of our officers were also invited, the first time that gentlemen had been admitted to the palace. The dinner was served in foreign style, the waiters were not great adepts at serving, but all was nicely arranged and the food was well cooked. The conversation flagged rather as, having only one interpreter, we could not all talk at once, but the Ministers tried to make themselves agreeable by signs and their intentions were MODERN KOREA— 1868-84 319 friendly. When the dinner was over, we rejoined the ladies and witnessed the fireworks from a little pavilion. The court was lighted with lanterns of various colours which made the scene look gay. The fireworks were nothing very striking, some in the shape of Korean characters for happiness and some fire fountains were the only pretty or novel ones that I saw. We were getting rather weary too for we had been nearly six hours at the palace, and our minds were on the stretch the whole time ; so when shortly after- wards we received a message from the Queen saying she would like to see us once more before leaving, we were very glad and went immediately. The King, Queen, and Prince were seated as before at their respective tables. The Queen began the conversation (as usual) asking how we liked the fireworks. We thanked her for the entertainment, and said we had spent a very pleasant time at the palace. Then we were introduced to the Prince's httle betrothed bride, a nice child of thirteen years old, very shy, poor little mite, and very much painted and powdered. After a little more conversation, we bowed our adieus and left, being escorted home by some of the King's soldiers carrying the gay lanterns that had illuminated the court during the fireworks — so we were informed — quite an imposing procession." The following is a translation of the letter of which a reduced facsimile is given on page 131 : — " On the isth day of the 4th month of the 493rd year of Great Chosen, Ha, Lady of the Household of the first rank, desires to know how Miss Parkes has passed the night. Yesterday, when she arrived here she was in the enjoyment of robust health, but Madame Ha fears she must have been greatly fatigued. She hopes she has rested well and is now quite restored. "The three Palaces (King, Queen and Crown Prince) are well and send their compliments. "Her Majesty the Queen sends by a messenger a few poor specimens of Korean productions which she begs Miss Parkes to accept, and is sorry they are not of more value." CHAPTER XV MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 There now seemed to be a complete change both in the Government and people in their attitude towards foreigners. Reforms and industries founded on Western models were introduced. The streets of the capital, which had hitherto continued ;to justify the description given of them by the Japanese in 1876, were cleansed, alterations were made in the Court dress, a model farm established, and a powder-mill erected. New treaties were signed, European diplo- matists took up their permanent residences in the capital, and a still greater departure was made when a special embassy was sent to the United ^tates with a near relative of the Queen at its head. The ambassador, whose name was Min Yong Ik, was at the time one of the most progressive of the Court nobles. He had already visited Japan and brought back with him' a conviction that Korea's hope for the future lay in her following the example that Japan held forth to her, and he had since used his position in the Court and his family connection with the Throne to impress his own convictions on the King, not without success. The King was evidently adapting himself to the altered conditions of the time. The strong'-minded and influential Queen had shown her willinglness to meet Europeans in social intercourse : several of the progressive party had been nominated to responsible posts in the Govprn- 820 MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 321 ment ; and while the officials of opposite tendency were not only numerous but still held the mopt im- portant offices of the State, they were obliged to cloak their prejudices in sullen silence. Last of all, the Tai Won Kun, the archangel of bigotry, was a prisoner in China. All seemed to promise well for a fair future of peace and progress, when once more the curse of party faction cast its poisonous blight on Court, Government, and people. The Progressionists were not satisfied with all they had achieved. As in Japan in the seventies and even later, as at the present day among our own subjects in India, their leaders wanted to run before they had learnt to walk without stumbling, to accom- plish in a day the reforms that in other countries had only been achieved after centuries of struggle and study. Murder has ever been one of the principal party weapons in Korea, and the Progressionists now resolved to use it for the removal of the leadin'g Conservative ministers from the side and councils of the King. On the night of December 4, 1 884, a State banquet was given to celebrate the opening of a new post- office. It was attended by all the foreign diplomatic representatives except the Japanese, by the principal ministers of the Government, and by many of the great nobles. Among the latter was Min Yong Ik, the former ambassador to the United States. He had in ithe interval which had passed since his return disassociated himself from the Progressionists and espoused the party of the Conservatives and had, in consequence, become the object of intense ani- mosity on fhe part of the former. Towards the close of the banquet a fire broke out in ai; adjoining building, and the party broke up ; Min Yong Ik, one of the duties of whose office was to superintend the measures for the prevention of fire, hurried out 21 322 THE STORY OF KOREA in advance of the rest of the guests. He had scarcely got outside the gateway, when he was suddenly attacked by armed men, and received several severe sword wounds. While the confusion and alarm of the rninisters at this incident were at their heig'ht, the progressive leaders hastened to the palace, and there the King, already inclined towards their policy of reform, was completely under their influence. It was not difficult to persuade him that a general conspiracy had broken out, that both his throne and his life were in danger, and that his hope of safety lay in obtaining the protection of the Japanese against his own subjects who hated his liberal tendencies. Two messengers were promptly dispatched to the Japanese minister (who, it is to be remembered, was not present at the banquet) with letters request- ing his immediate presence at the palace. They were followed by a third bearing an autograph letter from the King to the same effect, and the Japanese minister promptly complied and proceeded to the palace at the head of his entire guard of 130 soldiers under the command of a captain. Japanese sentries were placed at all the gates of the palace, the King's own chambers were surrounded by a strong guard, and the King', now effectually cut off from all com- munication with his responsible ministers, was in the hands of the ptogressive conspirators. Justice in, KoTea was speedy when it had to be directed against political adversaries. The power of life and death over all his subjects without distinction of rank was always the prerogative of the King. Warrants were issued in his name, and before dawn broke seven of his ministers, all prominent Conservative leaders, had been arrested and summarily executed. Several of the King's own personal attendants, eunuchs and others, known to be favourable to the Conservatives, met with the same fate. All the vacant offices wetie MODERN KOREA— 1884-1906 323 then conferred on the progressive leaders, and their party was now established in power. Their triumph was short-lived — shorter even than had been that of the Tai Won Kun in 1882. The surviving Conservatives sent tidings of what had happened to the commander of the Chinese troops outside the capital, and appealed for his help to protect the King against his own rebellious subjects. This was the duty for which Chinese troops were kept in Korea, and the commander had therefore no hesitation in comiplying with the appeal made to him. He at once marched his mien to the palace ; there they were met by the Japanese, already in possession, and a brisk encounter took place between the two. The Japanese fought with their usual bravery, but the overwhelming numbers of the Chinese, who were no less well-drilled and armed than the Japanese, gave them the victory. The palace gates were taken. The Japanese minister and troops had to retreat to their own Legation, losing several of their men as they did so, but preserving good order, and the Progressionists were left to their fate. A few of them succeeded in escaping to the Japanese Legation, and thence out of the country, but the majority were taken and hacked to pieces by their own infuriated countrymen. They had enjoyed two days of power. How far the Japanese Minister was responsible for the original conspiracy, whether he was a con- scious partner in it, or his own want of judgment and perspicacity made him merely a tool in the hands of the astute and unscrupulous Koreans, is not publicly known, though a critical investigation of all the facts that are known tend to show that he was both a tool and a conspirator. He did not attend the banqviet which afforded the opportunity for the first outbreak, though, as doyen of the diplo' 324 THE STORY OF KOREA matic corps, it was peculiarly his duty to have done so, unless prevented by ill-health. His Legation guard was already paraded in full order, with arms and ammunition, and ready to march when the first messenger from the palace arrived there ; but this was afterwards explained by the fact that the troops' orders required them always to parade in case of fire. Both he and his staff had been ostentatiously on such intimate terms of friendship with the pro- gressive leaders that the latter had come to be gener- ally known in Korea as " the Japanese party." One of the chief eunuchs of the palace was murdered in his presence, and with all his own soldiers at his elbow he made no attempt to protect the un- fortunate man by force, though he is said to have remonstrated with the murderers. Whatever may have been the degree of responsibility, his action was equally unfortunate for the good name of his own country, for Korea, and for his political friends, who would not have stirred had they not felt they could rely on his moral and material support., The hatred of the lower classes of Korea for the Japanese, transmitted from their ancestors of the time of Hideyoshi, had not been in the least minimised by the new order of affairs. The capital was in a condition of universal riot during the following days of the emeute, and placid and gentle as are the Koreans in their ordinary lives, no nation in the world can furnish a mob that is more crue,l, more reckless of their own and others' lives, than they when their passions are fully roused. When all the Progressionists who could be found had been killed and their homes pillaged and burnt, the wrath of the rioters turned towards the Japanese. All whose houses were scattered through the city met the same fate as the progressive conspirators, and then the Legation itself was attacked. The staff and guard MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 325 had been increased by, Refugees, both Japanese and Korean, who had escaped from the streets, and there were now nearly three hundred persons in all, including several women and children, inside its walls. There were no provisions, not even water, for so large a number. They were shut pff from all hope of help. The Government was disorganised ; the troops whom it could have summoned to restore order were joined with the rioters, and all were now gathered round the walls of the Legation thirsting for the blood of its inmates. The situation was a herald in a small way of what occurred in Peking in I goo — different, however, from it in that the garri- son, without provisions or the possibility of obtaining them, had no other resource than that of fighting their way out of the Legation and the city to the sea coast as their predecessors had done two years before. The minister was not the same as the one who had the same trying experience in 1882 ; but what- ever the diplomatic blunders of the present had been, when it came to a physical figiht for his own pre- servation and. that of his countrymen who looked to him for protection, he showed no less courage and resource than his predecessor. The soldiers were formed into a square, with women, children, wounded, and Korean refugees in the centre, and the whole body then fought their way through the streets swarming with rioters, both civilians and soldiers who had cast aside all thei bonds of discipline, to the great southern gate of the city. This they found barred against them. It was of solid con- struction and great strength, but fortunately among the Japanese were some carpenters who had brought their axes with them in their retreat and they cut a way through for the whole party. Marching through the whole night, through heavy falls of snow 326 THE STORY OF KOREA as their predecessors had done through storms of rain, suffering severely from the bitter cold and impeded by the women and children, they reached Chemulpo without further loss in eighteen hours. Long diplomatic negotiations followed this affair. The Japanese people again clamoured for war, this time even more loudly against China than against Korea, but two of the ablest ministers that Japan ever possessed, Ito and Inouye, were entrusted with a settlement, the former with China and the latter with Korea, and both were eminently successful. An agreement was come to and signed at Tientsin on April 19, 1885, defining the relations that China and Japan should for the future occupy towards each other in Korea, the principal items of which were that both should withdraw their troops from Korea, that neither should again dispatch troops to the peninsula without previous notice to the other ; and that Korea should be encouraged by both powers to work out her own salvation in the paths of projgress and good government. In his negotiations with Korea, Inouye had an easier task than his colleague in China. He knew that Japan, in the person of her accredited representative, had not been guilt- less, and he easily obtained the moderate indemnity which he asked for the murdered Japanese and for the Legation, which had been destroyed by the rioters after its evacuation. It is not our purpose to follow in detail the history of Korea during the next ten years. Japan had for the time being destroyed all possibility of in- fluencing the country, either for its or her own good. She was sincerely desirous of leading it into the paths of modem progress, pf helping it to acquire such strength and knowledge as would in time enable it to take care of itself, even against Russia. But she had lost the chance of gaining respect and affec- MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 327 tion on the part of her pupil, without which no teacher, no matter how accomplished or earnest, can ever be successful. Hatred, bitter and intense, was the predominant feeling in Korean hearts to Japan and the Japanese. Korea was flung into the arms of her old suzerain by the events of 1884. The Queen, the courtiers, all the principal officials of the kingdom, who were all members of the Queen's family, were devoted to China and all that the Con- servatism of China implied. Some of them' were •bigoted followers of Confucianism, saturated with a veneration for his philosophy that rendered all sympathy with European thought or science im- possible. Some, more practical statesmen, honestly believed that Korea's national security and progress depended wholly on the support of China. The sur- vivors of the progressive leaders were fugitives in Japan or the United States, dependent on charity for their support. The Tai Won Kun was permitted to return from his imprisonment in China, but all his former influence and prestige were gone — drowned in the tide of prosperity which had carried his hated rivals, the Mins, to power, and he lived with his few followers in obscure retirement. Yuen, Li Hung Chang's deputy, little if at all less able and astute than his great chief, was at the capital, no longer as com- missioner but as Resident, a semi-gubernatorial office, and he was de facto the King of Korea. Nothing was done without consulting him, nor without ihis sanction. European technical -advisers were engagied and new industries started ; political and official advisers were also engaged to help in the refarm of the State administration ; Koreans were sent abroad to study ; but Yuen was ever in the background, and real national progress was impossible among 'a people who themselves tenaciously clung to all their oldest traditions and customs. Foreign trade largely 328 THE STORY OF KOREA increased, especially in imports. A Customs service, managed on the model of and conducted by officers of the g'reat China service, was established, and the receipts from duties increased three and four fold within very few years. Populous settlements were established (at the open ports. Here again Japan was unfortunate. The Japanese who came to these ports were the reverse of a credit to their country ; unscrupulous adventurers, bullies, and the scum of all the ruffiandom of Japan predominated among them, and their conduct and demeanour towards the gentle, submissive, and ignorant natives, who were unresisting victims to their cupidity and cruelty, were a poor recbm'mendation of the new civilisation pf which they boasted. On the other hand, Chinese traders — law-observing, peaceable, and scrupulously honest in all their transactions — were living cer- tificates of the morality engendered by a faithful observance of the old. One subsequent incident to the emeate of 1884 should be mentioned. In 1885 relations were so strained between Great Britain and Russia that war between them seemed to be imminent ; and in order both to provide an additional coaling-station for her fleet in the event of war, and to block the passage of Russian cruisers southwards on possible raids on the British Colonies, Great Britain occupied the Nan Hau Islands (Port Hamilton) without the consent of or even any previous attempt to obtain the consent of either Japan, Korea, the .owner of the islands, or China, the suzerain of the owner. All three powers mildly protested, the only result being an offer from H.M. Government to lease the islands from Korea at an annual rental of five thousand pounds, the amount of the rental being fixed by the lessees. The offer was refused, as its acceptance would have placed it out of the power KIM OK KirX. To faci; p. 328. MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 329 of Korea to refuse a similar offer from Russia in regard to another port. The British flag was hoisted and a garrison established on the islands. The occu- pation lasted for two years, notwithstanding continued remonstrances from China, and then, the Russian crisis having passed away, it ended, China guaran- teeing that " neither the group of Korean Islands in which Port Hamilton is situated nor any part of Korean territory should be occupied by another Power," while Russia at the same time gave an ex- plicit guarantee to China, distinctly declaring that " in the future Russia would not take Korean territory." Subsequent history afforded interesting comments on both guarantees. Among the leaders of the conspiracy in 1884 who escaped from Korea, the most prominent was a young noble named Kim Ok Kiun. He was a man of marked intelligence, of the most attractive manners, and when a member of the embassy which came to Tokio in 1882 he made a most favourable im- pression on all the European diplomatists with whom he came in contact, while his attainments as an accomplished and elegant Chinese scholar no less favourably impressed the statesmen and scholars of Japan. He was in turn equally impressed with the advantages of European civilisation, and his ability, and enthusiasm made him a leader among the Pro- gressionists after his return to his own country. Un- fortunately, his enthusiasm made him also a leader of the conspiracy of 1884, and its failure made him a refugee in Japan. The old forms of justice were still in force in Korea, and the vengeance of his political enemies, which could not reach himself, fell upon his family and relatives. All — ^men, women, children, and servants — ^were put to death, and all his property confiscated. This did not tend to soften the bitterness which he felt in his exile to those 330 TH^ STORY OF KOREA in power in his own country, and while enjoying the hospitality and protection of Japan he was constantly engaged in plotting and planning in conjunction with Japanese agitators, of whom there were always plenty in Japan, new schemes for the overthrow of his Government. His charm of manner, his accomplish- ments, to which in his exile he added the acquisition of the Japanese language, his position as a political fugitive bereft of country and family, secured for him a toleration, even a welcome, in Japan, which was not rendered the less friendly by the knowledge of the remorseless cruelty and unscrupulous methods that he had already used and was ready to use again to gain his ends. But his plotting at last became too evident, and after many warnings he was de- ported from Tokio by the Japanese Government as a menace to the good relations which it was anxious to maintain with Korea, first to the remote and iso- lated Bonin Islands, where he compared himself to Napoleon at St. Helena, and when it was found that the climate of the islands was too exhausting for him he was again moved to Hakodate, a move which might be compared to one from Jamaica to New- foundland. After some years in both places he was once more permitted to return to Tokio on the promise of good behaviour ; but his abilities, com- bined with a restless disposition, entirely unfitted him for a life of political inactivity, and he was no sooner back in Tokio than he was plunged again in plots and intrigues in conjunction with fellow-exiles and Japanese sympathisers. Through all the years he was in Japan, whether in the capital or in remote outlying districts, he was never lost sight of by his own Government, which never lost its desire for revenge for his share in the outbreak of 1884, nor ceased to regard him as a potential danger to its own stability. Several MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 331 attempts were made to procure his formal extradition, and when they failed his Government did not disdain to send its emissaries to Japan to use against him the orthodox Korean methods of assassination — by knife or poison. One of them at last succeeded in decoying him to Shanghai, and two days after his arrival he was shot in his hotel by the false friend who had brought him there. The Chinese authori- ties relieved themselves of their duty of vindicating this outrage on their soil by sending both the assassin and the body of his victim in a man-of-war to Korea. There the news of the event had been received with joy, which was indecently exhibited, by the Min party, who were in power, and with sullen sorrow and in- dignation by would-be reformers. The assassin, a man of high degree, else he could not have imposed his friendship on Kim Ok Kiun, was openly honoured with rank and ofifice, and the body of his victim was given to the public executioner for mutilation and exposure as that of a criminal who had paid the last penalty of the law. The action both of the Chinese and Korean Governments aroused much indignation in Japan ; and though the Japanese had no locus standi which afforded them legitimate grounds for formal protests to either, it contributed in no small degree to the ill-will which was shortly afterwards to appear and culminate in events that revolutionised the rela- tions of all three powers. The Tong Haks were members of a Society formed in 1864, whose object was the maintenance of all the old national customs and religion, as against Christianity and its doctrines, which were then gaining some ground. With the disappearance of Christianity after the persecution of 1 866, the object of the Society had disappeared, and the Society itself had apparently ceased to exist. Nothing had been heard of the Tong Haks throughout all the early incidents of 332 THE STORY OF KOREA foreign intercourse. Their sentiments and aspira- tions and those of Kim Ok Kiun were as opposite as the poles, and it is difficult to believe that any sympathy with the latter's fate could have entered their minds. But at the same time, there is no doubt that the surviving members who had been living in provincial obscurity seized the opportunity afforded by the discredit brought on the Government by the incident, both abroad and among a section of its own people, to assert themselves once more. A re- bellion occurred in the province of Cholla which spread both northwards and eastwards, and developed so rapidly as soon to threaten the very existence of the Government. The rebels professed no disloyalty to the King, but declared in a published ultimatum that they meant to remove from his side " the ministers, governors, and magistrates who were in- different to the welfare of their country, and bent only on enriching themselves," The troops sent against them were repeatedly defeated, and at last the Government, thoroughly alarmed, appealed to its suzerain for help. China complied, and sent a large force to Korea, warning Japan, as she was bound to do by the Treaty of Tientsin, that she had done so. Japan, in her turn, quickly sent an equally large force, and the first step was taken that led to the China -Japan War. The subsequent incidents that culminated in war may be summarised with the utmost brevity in the statements that Japan proposed to China that both should join in reforming the corruption and in- efficiency that characterised the Korean Government ; that China refused, and Japan then undertook the task herself ; that both powers largely reinforced their troops in the peninsula ; that an encounter on the sea, that might almost be called accidental, was the first open signal of the war. Two battles MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 333 were fought on Korean soil. The Chinese were driven from As an, a village on the coast about fifty miles from Seoul, where they had established them- selves in an entrenched camp. They retreated in good order to Phyong An, their old battle -grounjd in the days of Hideyoshi, where they united with a large Chinese force that had marched from the northern frontier. Here they were soon again attacked by the Japanese, and suffered a crushing defeat. After that the war was carried on beyond Korea's borders, and in every stage, both on sea and land, complete victory attended the Japanese arms. China was beaten to her knees : her capital was threatened, and would have fallen had it not been for the peace that was concluded at Shimonoseki on April 17, 1895. The first clause of the treaty of peace provided for the " recognition of the full and complete inde- pendence of Korea by China." China's suzerainty was over. All her rig'ht to interfere in the affairs of the peninsula for which she had paid so dearly, was at an end, and Japan was left free to use all the prestige she had now acquired as the conqueror of the mighty Empire in forcing on the Korean Government the domestic reforms that were con- sidered essential to its future salvation. She gave the greatest proof she could of her earnestness by, entrusting the duty to Count Inouye, whose experi- ence, ability, and courage as a statesman were second only to those of Prince Ito, his lifelong fr-iend and fellow-worker, if indeed second even to his. Un- fortunately, Count Inouye made the one great mis- take of his otherwise unclouded career. He judged the receptive capacities of the Koreans by those of his own countrymen, and proceeded to thrust upon thetti a series of national and domestic reforms that were as bewildering in their novelty as they were 334 THE STORY OF KOREA in their number, and extended from the remodelling of the Court, the army, and th)e local government down to such details as the length of the pipes which were ,the inseparable companions of every Korean, man, woman, and child, and the method of dressing the hair. Insignificant as the latter may appear, it was one that appealed to the greatest pride of Korean manhood. In Korea boys wear their hair in a lon^ plait which hangs down their backs, a style that gives them an intensely feminine appear- ance, and which imposed on all early European visitors to Korea a wrong belief as to their sex., After marriage — and a Korean continues to be a boy in the estimation of the law and of the people till he is married — the plait is cut off and the hair gathered in a topknot on the crown, and the dignity of a hat is assumed. Topknot and hat are the out- ward symbols of full manhood, though the wearer may be still a boy of very tender years. Count Inouye ordered that both plaits and topknots should be abandoned and the European style of hair- dressing followed. A similar reform had been un- resistingly accepted in his own country, but it pro-- duced a perfect furore of opposition in Korea. Not only subordinate officials but even Cabinet ministers resigned their offices rather than obey it, though the King set them a good example by having his own hair, as well as that of the Crown Prince and of all the palace attendants, cut in the new style. In the capital people were forced to obey, but it was only in its well- policed streets that those who did so dared to show themselves. And the capital was nearly starved. Farmers, bringing their produce to its markets, could not enter the gates with their topknots. Police were stationed at all the main g'ates to tell them of the new order and to see that it was obeyed. They could not return to their own villages without the top- o K o o 13 o K s O K m O w « Q O S MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 336 knots. If they did, they were mobbed and beaten by their indignant fellow -villagers. So they left the capital to itself, and its markets were empty-. The only class who really profited by the order were the Japanese barbers in Seoul, who reaped a golden harvest, none of their Korean confreres having as yet acquired the art of European hair-dressing. While Count Inouye remained in Koi^ea all went well, but when he left and his plaice was taken by an official with none of his ability or strength of character, who was as fitted for dealing with the delicate task that confronted him as a rustic clown is to be entrusted with the rnanagement of a com- plicated machine, all that he had effected was speedily undone. Viscount Miura, the new Resident, was an oM soldier who had won some distinc- tion jn active service, but a tyrant, competent perhaps to discharge the duties of a military dictator in a conquered country under martial law, where the soldiers of the conqueror were granted unlimited licence, but no other. His appointment was one of the worst of the many blunders which Japan com- mitted in Korea. While such was the character of the personal representative of the Emperor, that of the ordinary Japanese citizens who now flocked to Korea in greatly increasing numbers, to exploit the fields of plunder that success in war had opened to them', was even worse. As in 1884, adventurers, ruffians, and bullies who could find no scope for their talents in their own country poured into Korea, and speedily made themselves a terror to the unhappy, downtrodden, and submissive people. Those who have only known the polished, scholarly, quick-witted, and accomplished gentlemen, the highest models of smiling and dignified courtesy, that are met in London or in the Court or salons of Tokio, or the suave tradesmen of the White City in 1910, can form but 336 THE STORY OF KOREA little idea of the Japanese hooligan, whether of the lower or the middle classes — ^there are abundance of both — ^when he can give full play to his cruelty and cupidity. Korea was now overrun by such, and they brought terror with them' wherever they came. Everywhere, both in towns and in the country, they found easy victims in a timid and defenceless people. The Korean peasants, it may be said, suffered from them little worse than they, had been accustomed for centuries to endure from their own nobles and officials. But the methods of the two were different. Under his own authorities the sanctity of the peasant's home was always inviolate : his person was safe so long as no criminal accusation could be formu- lated against him ; all his scruples were respected. Neither home, person, nor sentiment was ever safe when a Japanese rowdy came upon the scene. The most high-spirited English lad will patiently sub- mit to a caning from his schoolmaster, but the meekest would fight tooth and nail against a similar infliction at the hands of a stranger, even if he had been caught red-handed in deeds that might merit the punishment. The Korean is no mor6 than a schoolboy. .What he would bear uncomplainingly from his own authorities was a source of bitter humiliation as well as suffering when it came frolm the hands of his traditional enemies. All through the country there were Japanese officials whose duty it was to restrain and punish the licence of their own countryjnen. But the first conception of his duty that was present to the minds of the subordinate Japanese local officials was that they should pro- tect and shield their own countrymen, let the right lie where it may, and under their chief in Korea they gave full play to their partiality. An outraged Korean had as much chance of redress through the offices of a Japanese official in a district remote MODERN KOREA— 188^1905 337 enough to be safe from foreign criticism as a negro slave from a magisterial bench of Southern planters or an English poacher in the eighteenth century from one of game-preserving squires. All foreign witnesses, press correspondents, travellers, and missionaries — one of the most out- spoken of the latter was Bishop Corfe, the head of the Anglican Mission— are unanimous in their con- demnation of the conduct of the lower classes of the Japanese in Korea at this period. But there is a higher authority in regard to it than any European. Even Count Inouye, great and polwerful as he was, would have hesitated to condemn his own countrymen in a foreigti land had he not the strongest reasons for it, and his description of it as published in the Nichi Nichi Shimbun, which, at the time, worthily occupied in Tokio the position that the Times holds in London, was as follows : " All the Japanese are overbearing and rude in their dealings with the Koreans. The readiness of the Chinese to bow their heads may be a natural instinct, but this trait in their character is their strength as merchants. The Japanese are not only overbearing but violent in their attitude towards the Koreans. When there is the slightest misunderstanding, they do not hesitate to employ their fists. Indeed, it is not uncommon for them to pitch Koreans into the river, or to cut them down with swords. If tnerchants commit these acts of violence, the conduct of those who are not merchants may well be imagined. They say : ' We have made you an independent nation, we have saved you from the Tonghaks, whoever dares to reject our advice or oppose our actions is an ungrateful traitor.' Even military coolies use language like that towards the Koreans. Under such circumstances, it would be a wonder if the Koreans developed much friendship with the Japanese. It is natural that they should enter- tain more amicable feelings toward other nations than toward the Japanese. For this state of things the Japanese themselves are responsible. Now that the Chinese are returning to Korea, unless the Japanese correct themselves and behave with more moderation, they will entirely forfeit the respect and love of the Koreans. " Another circumstance that I regret very much for the sake of the 22 '■n^*-!^^-''-.-!!' -I. 338 THE STORY OF KOREA Japanese residents is, that some of them have been unscrupulous enough to cheat the Korean Government and people by supplying them with spurious articles. The Koreans, taught by such experience, naturally hesitate to buy from the Japanese. An examination of recent purchases made by the Korean Government from Japanese merchants would cause any conscientious man to cry out. I do not say that the Japanese alone have been untrustworthy. But I hope that, in future, they will endeavour to get credit for honesty instead of aiming at immediate and speculative gains.'' All the traditional hatred of the Koreans towards the Japanese was intensified by their experience now that the protecting hand of China was gonei, and the hatred of the people was exceeded by that of the Court. One of the political refugees of 1884, Pak Yong Hyo, had returned to Korea under the wings of Count Inouye. He was only less odious to the Court than was Kim Ok Kiun, and yet Inouye's influence was such that he obtained for him a high ofHce in the Ministry. Inouye had insisted that the Queen should interfere no more in the Government. But her strength of character and ability were such that even he found it expedient to give way to her to some extent, and when he was gone her influence was as great as ever. All the great offices were once more filled by her relatives and partisans, and Pak Yong Hyo was again obliged to find personal safety in flight. Through all these events the Tai Won Kun was living in retirement near the capital, but always keep- ing his watchful eye on the current of affairs and ready when the opportunity came to seek vengeance on his hated antagonists — 'both the Queen and her relatives. He was embittered almost to madness when his favourite grandson was convicted of a plot against the Government and, notwithstanding all his privileges of royal blood, was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. All his tendencies were MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 339 Chinese, all his desires were to see foreigners ex- pelled and the old policy of isolation re-established, and none of his countrymen hated the Japanese more than he. But all his aspirations, all his hatred to foreigners were submerged in the over-mastering passion with which he hated the Queen, who had now continuously thwarted him for more than twenty years, and to whom' all his official impotency was due. To gratify that hatred, he was willing to resort once more to his old methods of violence and assassi- nation, and to ensure their success by joining his fortunes with those of the Japanese. In Miura he found a ready tool. Between the two a plot was formed which in its atrocious, cowardly cruelty finds few parallels in the history of the world. On the morning of October 8, 1895, before dawn, a sudden attack was made on the palace by the Tai Won Kun, at the head of a crowd, which included some of his own family adherents, but was mainly composed of Japanese, not only of some of the worst rowdies, but of police officers, officials, and even some members of the staff of Miura's Legation. The palace guard was taken entirely by surprise, and quickly overpowered, and then the savage crowd spread itself throughout the whole of the vast build- ings, seeking the Queen. Every one who attempted to oppose them' was ruthlessly cut down : the ladies of the palace were beaten and drag'ged over the floors by their hair to make them disclose the hiding'- place of their royal mistress ; and when their courage and loyalty were proof against these outrages, they were brutally murdered ; " slashed to death and their corpses burnt " was the description given in the Japanese papers of their fate before it was known that the murderers included prominent Japanese. At last the Queen was found, and her fate was that which had already befallen her faithful ladies, and Japanese MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 341 her rank as Queen, but is the acme of crime and heinousness. We therefore, in pursuance of Our family precedents, are compelled to depose Our Queen and to degrade her to the level of the common people." The wretched truth soon became known ; and the Japanese, who were in Korea as the apostles of modem civilisation, whose mission it was to purify a Government that was seething: in corruption, to expose the blessings of good government and security of life and property to a people who knew none of them, now appeared as employing the worst methods of savage barbarism, and their chief representative as the ally and partner of a bloodthirsty assassin. The Japanese Government were wholly guiltless in the matter. The moment the truth was known to it (strange to say that the truth was first made knoAvn at Tokio by telegrams from the Japanese ministers at Washington and St. Petersbilrg), Miura, the whole staff of his Legation, numbering more than forty persons, and all his satellites, both military and civil, were recalled, and a universal demand for their punishment was made in the press. It was even sug'gested that one and all should atone for the dis- grace which they had brought upon their country by the time-honoured expedient of harakiri. For a few months the King remained in his palace, a prisoner in the hands of his father — the Tai Won Kun— and the new Ministry. He was broken and cowed by what had happened, in such terror of his life that the only food which either he or the Crown Prince would touch was what was brought to him in locked boxes from the house of an American medical missionary. At last he escaped, and both King and Prince, secretly carried out of the palace at night in the common palanquins that were used by the female servants, fled to the Russian Lega- tion. There he was not only free but, as he carried 342 THE STORY OF KOREA the Government with him wherever he went, he was able by a stroke of his pen to deprive his erstwhile masters of all legal authority, and to appoint his own ministers in their places. All that Japan had gained by the China War was now hopelessly lost, and every reform which she had accomplished was undone. The affairs of the kingdom were directed by the Xing' from his sanctuary in the Russian Leg'ation and he, in the revulsion of his freedom after his imprison- ment, ran riot in an orgy of reactionary decrees. Corruption was again rife in every branch of the administration, all domestic affairs were in utter confusion, rebellion broke out in several provincial districts, and the outlook for the future became more hopeless than it had been even when the influence of China was all-powerful. Russia had now taken the place that China formerly occupied, and so far followed the old policy of China in leaving the King absolute freedom to deal with the internal affairs of his kingdom as he pleased, that it seemed as if she was deliberately giving Korea enough rope to hang herself, that she was paving the way for Korea to fall into her own arms through the weakness that was being engendered by corruption and inefficiency. The King enjoyed the hospitality of the Russian Legation for two years, and then he left it to take up his residence in a newly erected palace, and simultaneously he assumed the title of Emperor. The distinction dtawn in Oriental minds between the titles which are translated into English as Emperor and King has already been explained. The latter always involves the idea of subjection to a suzerain, and throughout the long years of Korea's history she had always acknowledged herself as the vassal kingdom of China. Her vassalage nominally ended in 1876, when her first treaty was concluded with Japan, but it lasted, in fact, till the termination of the China- MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 343 Japan War. Count Inouye, desirous to emphasise in the minds of the Korean people the fact that they had entirely thrown off the shackles of Chinese in- fluence, during his stay at the Korean capital urged that the title should then be changed, but old associa- tions were still strong, and the King had not the courage to take what was in his eyes a drastically revolutionary step. In 1897, when he left the Russian Legation for his own newly-built palace, he had become inured to his freedom from his suzerain, and the step which appeared so formidable two years previously had lost its terrors for him. It was not one taken, as most Europeans believed at the time, merely for the gratification of the personal vanity of a weak and capricious sovereign, but, at the advice of his own ministers, as a serious political measure to emphasise, not only to his subjects but to his Chinese and Japanese neighbours, the complete inde- pendence which Korea was now supposed to enjoy in all her affairs both foreign and domestic. The condition of the country, the disorganisation of the corrupt and incompetent Government, the position of the King himself, fresh from his retreat in a foreign Legation and still leaning on foreign support, rendered the address in which his ministers urged him to the step pathetic in the light in which it endeavoured to describe both King and country : Your Majestys enlightened thoughts, chivalrous disposition, and grandeur of wisdom surpass the hundred monarchs of the World. Your natural character equals the workings of heaven above and earth beneath, your greatness and goodness have reached Holy Light. Since your Coronation your goodness and beneficent influence have been felt everywhere for three decades and your ruling has been in accord with the spirit of the classics. Of late years the country experienced troubles and dangers but through Your Majestys goodness the foundation of the country became again secure and the multitudinous confusions gave way to orderliness and 344 THE STORY OF KOREA righteousness. The future of the dynasty has been transferred to a soUd rock and prosperity has replaced anxiety and worry. The establishment of independence and maintenance of freedom are solely due to the merciful help of Heaven and the continuation of your glorious career." The King yielded to the " six armies and the ten thousand citizens who were clamouring: at the palace gates," and in October, 1907, was once more crowned with great ceremony, this time as Emperor. He was speedily congratulated by the Czar on his new dignity, and Russian influence continued to be the directing factor in all his affairs. With the assumption of an Imperial crown the King changed the nam© of what had been his jkingdom to that of the Empire of Tai-han, great Han. The name adopted by the first king of the Wang dynasty ii^ 93 5j when the peninsula w'as unified tmder one crown, as the officijal designation of his kingdom' was Korai, the name of the most northern of the three old kingdoms which originally shared the peninsula between them, and also of the far distant district in Manchuria where the remote ancestor of the kings of old Korai was born, and it is from this that the name by which Europeans have always known the peninsula, Korea, is derived. When Ni Taijo formed the second royal dynasty in 1392, he reverted to the still older title of Chosen, the designation of the land colonised by Ki Tse eleven hundred years before Christ, and Korea was always officially known to both Japanese and Chinese as Chosen down to our own time. A popular designation of it, almost as old in its remote origin as either Korai or Chosen, both among Chinese and Japanese as well as among its own people, was " the Eight Circuits of Keirin." The " Eight Circuits " are, of course, the eight pro- vinces into which the unified kingdom was divided by King Wang, and which continue to the present MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 346 day. Keirin (pleasantly sounding as it is in Japanese, its literal translation is the rather prosaic and un- meaning one of " cock -forest ") was originally a name of Silla, which was subsequently extended to Korai. Its origin is found in the following story : Talha, the fifth King of the Sillan dynasty (58- 81 A.D.), once, in the ninth year of his reign, heard a cock repeatedly crowing through a night in early ^pring in the forest that lay to the west of his castle, and, wondering what it would portend, he sent an officer in the morning to inquire into it. The officer found a white cock of glorious plumage still crowing, and hanging from a branch of a tree beneath which the cock sat was a golden casket. He reported what he had seen, and then the King had the casket brought to him' and opened, and in- side was found an infant boy of wondrous beauty. The King" was childless. He was delighted ■yvith what he had found, saying that Providence had sent him an heir. Thenceforward the forest was called " Keirin," and .the name was subsequently extended to the whole of Silla, and still later to the peninsula, while a white cock became an heraldic emblem of Korea just as the chrysanthemum is one of Japan. Before the three kingdoms existed, coeval with the earliest Korai and Chosen, were the three Han or districts into which, as already told in a previous chapter, the south of the peninsula was divided in the earliest days. In place of the three Han, all Korea had become one great Han, and it was of this Tai Han that the erstwhile King was ac- claimed as Emperor in '1897. The kingdom of Korai existed for four centuries, that of Chosen for over five, but the new empire was destined for a brief and troublous life of only thirteen years.' Twice the Japanese attempted to secure their own ' Vide note to list of illustrations. 346 THE STORY OF KOREA position in Korea vis-d-vis Russia, first by the con- vention negotiated at St. Petersburg in 1896, and second by that neg'otiated at Tokio in 1898, known from the names of their signatories, the first as the Yamagata-Lobanofif, and the second as the Nishi- Rosen, convention. All conventions were in vain. Russia pursued her own course reg'ardless of all treaty obligations, obtained and held control of the military and financial systems of Korea, and, while she had agreed to respect' Korea's territorial integrity and not to obstruct the development of commercial and industrial relations with Japan, she was rapidly securing for herself concessions which placed the most valuable resources of Korea at her disposal. Her minister at Seoul was always in the confidence of the King, and, backed both by the g;ratitude which the King owed for the protection given to him in his time of peril and by the prestige of Russia, was practically able to obtain all that he asked. It seemed only a question of time when Korea should become in name as she already appeared to be in fact, a Russian province, when a series of incidents occurred that were as insignificant in their origin as they were momentous in their results. Among the many concessions granted by the Korean King when a refugee in the Russian Legation, in 1896, was one to a Russian subject for cutting timber in the valley of the River Yalu, on the north-western frontier. This concession was a valuable one, in view of the building of the trans- Siberian Railway, the immense number of sleepers that would be required, and the rich forests of the Yalu valley, which could furnish the material, while the river itself afforded easy and cheap facilities for transport from the forests to the borders of Man- churia. Members of the Imperial family of Russia and high officials in Eastern Siberia took large MODERN KOREA-^1884-1905 347 pecuniary interests in it, so that the concessionaire became assured of strong political and official support whenever the time came at which it suited him to make use of it. It was never made public, and nothing was heard of it till the summer of 1903, when Chinese labourers from Manchuria began to fell timber on an extensive scale under Russian direction ; and the labourers were soon followed by soldiers, to protect them from the mounted Chinese bandits that infested Manchuria immediately to the north of the Yalu. The sale of land to foreigners outside the limits of the recognised settlements was forbidden by Korean law, but a large tract was purchased by the Russian timber concessionaires at Yong Ampho, a Korean port on the Yalu, about fifteen miles from its mouth, from the Korean owners. Substantial dwellings, sawmills, and other buildings were erected on it, the river frontage was embanked, and every intention was manifested of founding a large settle- ment. A little farther up the river, on the Man- churian side, is the Chinese port of Antung. Yong Ampho is said to be one of the ten best harbours in Korea. If the possession of Yong Ampho was combined with that of Antung, which, like the rest of Manchuria, was at thte time in Russian occupa- tion, the River Yalu could be closed to all approach from the sea, and the Russians, with open contempt for both Japanese and Korean protests, gave every indication of their intentions. A fort was erected on thte highest part of the acquired land in Korea, guns were mounted, and a garrison established in it. A second fort was commenced on the Man- churian side, on a cliff commanding the river, a few miles farther up. The Korean Government was awakened by these proceedings to the danger which threatened their northern frontier and their north- western province. An old prophecy foretold that 348 THE STORY OF KOREA when the Tartar was in the north and a shrimp in the south and white pines grew in the valley of the Yalu the end of Korean independence would be near. The configuration of Japan is supposed to resemble a shrimp, and Japanese settlements were now all over the south — at Fusan, Masampo, and Seoul. The Russian Tartar was establishing himself in the north and lining the valleys of the Yalu with white telegraph posts made of pine, and all com- bined to signify the realisation of the prophecy. Korea was still under the thumb of Russia, the King (now the Emperor), both in gratitude and fear, sub- servient in all things to the masterful Russian minister at Seoul ; but both King and Government, pressed by the Japanese minister, who was supported by the diplomatic representatives of the other powers at Seoul, especially by those of England and the United States, plucked up courage to send orders to the local Governor of .Wiju, the most important frontier town of Korea and the capital of the pre- fecture, to stop the illegal sale of real estate. The Governor reported that the Russian methods rendered him powerless, that the Russians simply took possession of the land in the first instance, with or without the consent of the native owners, and went through the form of buying it afterwards. The Russian minister in Seoul, in answer to the .feeble protests of the Government, declared that the " valley of the Yalu " included not only the line of the river itself throughout its entire length, but all its tributaries and all the adjoining districts, and that a concession to cut timber implied the privilege of exercising every operation incidental to it, in no matter how remote a degree. He claimed, there- fore, the right to construct railways or roads, erect telegraphs, acquire land for building purposes, and to take whatever military measures appeared to be MODERN KOREA— 1884-1905 349 prudent for the protection of the Russian settlers engaged in all or any of these works. He claimed, in fact, the fullest military control and very exten- sive proprietorial rights over the entire north-west frontier. The Japanese Government was profoundly moved by the Russian proceedings and claim, recognising that if both were permitted to pass without resistance they would form stepping-stones for further extension of the Russian sphere of influence that might end in the absorption of the whole peninsula. She had before her many incidents of Russian methods and of Russia's cynical disregard of the most solemn treaty obligations when it suited her to break them. Russia had already in her present action violated in their most essential items both the conventions she had made with Japan for the regulation of their mutual interests in Korea. She had stationed troops in Korean dominions, though they were not necessary for the protection of existing settlements ; and she had acquired land in places not open to the residence of foreigners in defiance of the provisions of Korean law, in both respects outraging! the sovereignty of Korea as an independent kingdom, which she had solemnly bound herself to recognise. Japan tried in vain to rouse the Korean Government to take steps which would throw some moral obstacles in the way of Russia's encroachment, but neither the King nor his ministers would go beyond their first feeble pro- tests, and they blindly and fatuously yielded to all the dictates of the Russian minister. Japan then tried to safeguard her own interests by offering to Russia a free hand, as far as she was concerned, in Manchuria, provided the safety and independence of Korea were adequately guaranteed ; and she ex- hausted every step that was possible in patient diplomacy in her endeavour to procure Russia's 350 THE STORY OF KOREA assent to the guarantees which she considered essen- tial. Russia treated her well-meant and courteous efforts with offensive indifference till her patience was exhausted, and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 began. Its result as completely put an end to Russia's further interference in Korea as the China-Japan War had done that of China ten years before. By the second clause of the Treaty of Peace which closed the war Russia pledged herself to : "recognise the preponderant interest, from political, military, and economic points of view, of Japan in the Empire of Korea, and not to oppose any measure for its government, protection, or control that Japan might deem it necessary to take in Korea in conjunction with the Korean Government." By two great wars Japan had freed Korea from all interference on the part of the two great neigh- bouring Empires, and she was now herself at liberty to start on the task of the regeneration of the unhappy kingdom which had been the ostensible object of all her interference in its affairs for thirty years. Korea henceforth stood towards Japan in the same relation as that of Egypt to Great Britain since 1882, and the task before her was very similar to that which faced Great Britain — to reform a Government rotten with corruption to its very core, and to elevate a people reduced by ages of oppression and spoliation to the lowest abysses of unrelieved misery and hopeless poverty. CHAPTER XVI THE JAPANESE PROTECTORATE, 1905-IO Japan entered on the war with Russia with absolute confidence in her own success, in so far as the future relative positions of the two Empires in the Far East were concerned. She had neither design nor hope to injure Russia as a great European Power, but her long preparations, carefully and minutely made during ten years, always with the same goal in view, her confidence in the skill of her officers and the devoted bravery of her men, and the exhaustive in- formation as to the conditions of the Russian Asiatic defences that she had obtained through her secret service — the most wonderfully organised in the world — left her with not a particle of doubt as to the result of her campaigns in Korea and Manchuria. The subordinate officers and private soldiers had no less confidence in themselves than their Government and generals. Some of them had seen, all had heard ofj the conduct of the Russian Asiatic troops during the Boxer troubles in 1900, when they indulged in a perfect orgy of slaughter and rapine, and their dis- cipline, drill, organisation, and skill in arms were all alike regarded with utter contempt by the Japanese soldiers. The object of the war was to free Korea from the ever-present danger of absorption by Russia. For Manchuria, Japan then cared but little. She would have been perfectly willing to have left 351 352 THE STORY OF KOREA Russia a free hand there, provided she was in return left equally free in Korea. But her own national safety, even her existence, depended on Korea's con- tinuance as an independent kingdom, or, failing that, her incorporation in the Japanese Empire. All Korea's history in recent years left no hope that she could ever reform herself. With the example of Japan before her, with all that she had learned from her own intercourse with European nations, her Government had continued to be immerged in cor- ruption, to be ruled by sordid intrigue, and to be influenced only by selfish considerations of class interests. They had given no evidence of patriotism, honesty, or capacity. They had adbpted reforms that were forced upon them, but were ready to abandon them the moment the pressure was removed. They had helplessly cast themselves, in turn, on the pro- tection of China, Japan, and Russia, and never afforded any prospect that the time would come when they could stand alone, able to govern their own people with justice and mercy or to defend themselves against foreign aggression. With such a Government strong measures were necessary, and Japan, once she was free and untrammelled, lost no time in showing to the world that she meant to take them. Japan, as we have said, had no doubts as to the ultimate issue of her land campaigns, and in the very first month of the war she assured herself of the command of the sea, but before even the Russian army had been driven from the Yalu the first of many so-called agreements was concluded between the Governments of Korea and Japan. The former pledged itself to adopt the advice of the latter jn regard to the improvement of its administration, and the latter undertook the responsibility of maintaining peace, both internal and external, and " guaranteed the safety and repose of the linperial House " and iM.-.^ THE JAPANESE PROTECTORATE 353 " the independence and territorial integrity, of Korea." Under this agreement Japan resumed the position of administrative adviser, which was all that she had held during the brief r^g'ime of Count Inouye in 1895. She was to give Korea advice, but, theo- retically, Korea was still free to adopt or reject it as she pleased. When Japan's " free hand " in Korea, her " paramount political, military, and economical interests," were formally recognised by Russia in the Portsmouth Treaty of September, 1905, and by England, in its Treaty of Alliance of August in the same year, the first was soon followed by further agreements, the last of which, signed in July, 1907, converted Japan's advisory into a directing position, and gave to her the control of Korea's finance and diplomacy, of her postal and teldgraph services, and, finally, of the whole of her internal affairs. The Korean Army was disbanded as useless and hopeless, a source of expense to the country, and formidable only to its own peaceful citizens. A Japanese Resident -General was appointed in 1905, and the agreement of 1907 vested him with what was prac- tically sovereign authority, giving him complete con- trol of all legislative and executive functions and the right of appointing and dismissing officials on his sole responsibility. Japanese Residents were also nominated at the principal ports, who, in like ways, virtually became the Governors of their respective districts. Korean ministers were still the nominal chiefs of all the principal Government departments, but in each they had Japanese officials as their vice- ministers and Japanese technical advisers were em- ployed in every bureau. The disbandment of |the Korean Army was followed by several local risings, in which the disbanded soldiers drilled and led the insurgents ; and profiting, as their ancestors had done when fighting against Hideyoshi, by the facilities for 23 354 THE STORY OF KOREA guerilla warfare which the natural conditions of the country afforded, they offered such a stout resistance to the Japanese troops sent against them that they, were not suppressed till after many months, with great loss in killed and wounded to themselves and substantial loss to the Japanese. Japan testified her desire to use her new powers; to the very utmost advantage by nominating Marquis Ito, the great statesman to whose constructive genius she herself owed so much, as the first Resident- General ; and he, with characteristic energy and thoroughness, started at once on cleansing the Augean stable which he found before him, in which the foulest stall of corruption was, perhaps, the Court itself. In taxation, in the administration of justice, in the police service, in every sphere of national and local administration, selfish and dishonest parasites of the Court, acting in the name of the King, " who saw nothing, heard nothing, knew nothing," were casting their fatal blight on the nation, with no thought of anything but their own enrichment. The entire administration of the Court, its property and revenues, was taken in charge by Japanese officials ; the Court and State were differentiated, so that con- fusion between the Royal and State revenues no longer existed ; a Cabinet was formed on the model of that in Japan, in which the head of each depart- ment is responsible for the efficient conduct of all business that falls within his jurisdiction. An elaborate scheme of local government was adopted, under which considerable powers of local taxation and administration were left to the authorities pf each district. The judicial and executive functions were, under the Korean Government, vested in the same officials. They were now separated and inde- pendent courts of justice established, presided over, both in the central and district courts, by Japanese THE JAPANESE PROTECTORATE 355 judges, and a beginning was made in codifying the laws. Hitherto the administration of justice had been entirely at the will of executive officials, and their decisions were invariably given to the party who offered the highest bribe. Torture was an inci- dent in every criminal trial, and not only the accused but the witnesses were subjected to it. The prisons were infernos of human suffering, destitute of every semblance of sanitation, in which the prisoners often died of hunger or cold ; where punishments of flogging, so severe as often to cause permanent mutilation or death, were of daily occurrence ; where the death penalty — inflicted for very trivial crimes — iwas carried out in slow and agonising forms of strangulation or poisoning ; and where no distinction was made between the convicted felon and the prisoner awaiting trial, between the professional criminal whose whole life had been an unbroken career of murder and robbery and the pilferer who had yielded to a momentary temptation. All these abuses were re- formed with an unsparing hand. Jails were estab- lished ,on the model of those in Japan, where the punishment and reformation of criminals have been elevated into a science, the guiding principle of which is that, while the guilty must be punished, his reformation is always to be kept in view, so that when his freedom comes he may be a useful member of society. Along with the new prisons, steps were taken to organise an efficient police-force, and training schools were established in which the prin- cipal details of their duties were taught to candidates . Schools of every grade— primary, high, normal, technical, and industrial— were opened ; and though it was not found practicable to make education com- pulsory at first, and great prejudices against Japanese teachers had to be overcome before parents could be induced to trust their children to them, the advan- 356 THE STORY OF KOREA tages of the new schools are now beingi steadily learned by the people, and the numbers of the pupils show large annual increases. Hospitals and water- works have been established in the great cities, both in accordance with the most advanced principles of medical and engineering science, and both are con- tributing to the improved health and sanitation of the people. The last result of Prince Ito's administration which we need mention is the improvement of the internal communications. Korea, under its own Government, possessed only one great highway that was worthy of the name of a road— that which led from the capital to the north-west frontier, which was con- structed mainly for the benefit of the annual Chinese embassy. Save that, the roads were merely bridle- paths, unfitted for either military or commercial traffic, which, at the very, best, permitted the passing of two laden oxen. The construction of new roads, well laid and drained, with wide spaces on both sides, was at once commenced, and the work is being steadily pushed forward. The inception of railways in Korea was the result of American enterprise, but it .passed at a very early stage into the hands of Japanese ; and all that exist are now under the control and management of the Imperial Railway Board at Tokio. The total length now in actual operation is 637 miles of a standard gauge of 4 feet 8| inches, the two principal lines being from Fusan to Seoul, with a branch to Chemulpo, and from Seoul to .Wiju on the frontier, these two lines pro- viding a continuous route from the south-eastern to the north-western extremity of the peninsula. At the south they are connected with the railways of Japan by steamers which run twice daily from both Fusan and Shimonoseki, and on the north only the com- pletion of a bridge across the Yalu is awaited to o a < « m z m a M in Eh THE JAPANESE PROTECTORATE 357 connect Seoul by rail with. Europe.' All have been entirely, constructed by Japanese engineers with Japanese capital. In the fifteen years that have elapsed since Japan acquired the possession of Formosa she has done more for the material advance- ment of the island and the development of its great resources than the Chinese had achieved during nearly three centuries. In the four years which have elapsed since she acquired effective control of the administration of Korea she has already accomplished more permanent reforms than all that Korea did of herself, with her able European advisers, in her pre- vious experience, during twenty-five years, of Western civilisation . The particulars we have given are only an index of [the great work which Prince Ito had already accomplished when he fell by an assassin's hand on October 26, 1909. In giving all credit due to him for the material benefits which he conferred on Korea, and for the reforms which he made in her political and social system, that which is no less due to one who preceded him must not be forgojtten. iWhen the administration of the Korean Customs, while the kingdom was still independent, was entrusted to the ofificials of the great Customs Service of China, Mr. McLeavy Brown,^ a British subject, of Irish birth and education, who had had long experience in China, was appointed Chief Com- missioner in Korea. He soon afterwards united with that the office of Controller of the National Treasury, and he served Korea for over ten year's in the dual capacity. Working in the face of the opposition, not ,only of a corrupt and bigoted Ministry, but of ■ At the time of writing only a light military railway connects the frontier with Mukden, but the permanent line will be completed and open to traffic in a ffew months. " Now Sir John McLeavy Brown. 358 THE STORY OF KOREA European diplomatists and consuls who were seeking concessions and contracts for their own citizens and political (advantages for their countries, and who, to gain their own selfish ends, were not ashamed to pander to the worst vices of the Government and to offer a passive obstruction to all reform, without the prestige and active support of a great and success- ful military power at his back, he not only raised Korean finance and currency from the abyss of chaos and corruption into which they had been brought by dishonest officials, and effected a great retrenchment in the national expenditure, but he transformed the whole appearance of the capital by the paunicipal reforms which he initiated and carried throug'h. Its streets were drained, and, freed from the obstruction of pedlars' booths which had formerly choked them, they became broad, picturesque, sanitary thorougassim) Reports of the various Mission- ary Societies engaged in Korea Foreign Office London Yoko- hama JAPANESE PUBLICATIONS Chosen Jijo (Korean Affairs) ... Chosen Kinkio Kibun (Reports on the present condition of Korea) Sensen Kokwa Chosen Ronshiu (The Reasons for Wai: or Peace with Korea) Reports of the Japanese Residency-General in Korea : The Reorganisation of the Finances of Korea Reform and Progress in Korea Reform and Progress in Korea Recent Progress in Korea The Tenth Financial and Economic Annual of Japan Yenomoto Muyo Tokio War Office Kirishima Tokio Tokio 5 1890- (1910 ( 1870- l 1910 1900-10 1882 1882 1882 1906 1908 1909 1910 1910 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF JAPAN The Introduction of Tobacco into Japan Satow The Korean Potters in Satsuma ... „ Hideyoshi's Invasion of Korea, Part I. Aston Proposed Arrangement of Korean Alphabet „ Hideyoshi's Invasion of Korea, Part II, »f ,1 »f 111. ,, Vol. vi. Vol. viii. Vol. ix. Kojiki or Records of Ancient Matters Early History of Printing in Japan ... Further Notes on Movable Type in Korea Chamberlain Satow Vol. 388 BIBLIOGRAPHY Hideyoshi's Invasion of Korea, Part IV A Secret Trip in the Interior of Korea A Visit to the West Coast and Capital of Korea Notes on the Capital of Korea The Manchus ... Early Japanese History Korean Popular Literature ... Race Struggles in Korea Hi no maru or National Flag of Japan The On mun — when Invented Chhoi Chhung — a Korean Marchen Aston Vol. xi. Kenny ft Hall t> Bonar J} Parker Vol. xiv. Aston fi jj Vol. xviii. Parker )/ Aston Vol. xxii. fj Vol. xxiiL » Vol, xxviii o INDEX Agriculture, obstacles to, 368 ; '■^jmproved by Japanese, 370. Aichu, town of, 19; timber in- dustry of, 19; besieged by Chinese 77 ; barrier town be- tween Korea and China, 207 Ainos, 97 Alceste, H.M.S., visits Korea, 225 Alexander de Govea, Bishop at Peking, 246 Ancestor worship, 249 ; forbidden by missionaries, 250 Animals, domestic, 15 ; wild, 15 Annexation of Korea, 381, 383. Antung, port of, 347 Arch of Independence, 23 Art in Korea, 375 Asan, town of ,1188; Chinese driven from, 333 Aston, Dr., 66, 94, 97 Aumaitre, priest, 279; execution of, 284 Baiji, see Pekche. Basil Hall, Captain, visits coast of Korea, 25 Beaulieu, Jesuit priest in Korea, 279 ; tortured and executed, 283 Belcher, Captain, surveys Quel- part, 226 Bell, the city bell of Seoul, 22 Ben-han, position of, 62 Berneux, Simeon Francis, conse- crated Bishop, 279; lands from junk, 279 ; tortured and executed, 283 Birds in Korea, 17 Bomb, first mention of, 164 Bretenieres, Jesuit priest in Korea, 279; tortured and executed, 283 British Legation in Japan, attacks on, 307 Bruguiere, Barthelemy, appointed Apostolic Vicar to Korea, 261 ; journey of, to Korean borders, 262 ; death of, 263 Buddha and Buddhism, 98-99, 104, 133, 134 Calais, priest in Korea, 279 Cathay, derivation of, 109 Census, 366-7 Cespedes, Gregorio de, chaplain to Hideyoshi's troops, arrives at Fusan, 217 Chemulpo, 14; comparison of, with Yokohama and description of, 21, 22 Chhung Chyong, meaning of name, 18 ; harbours of, 24, 314 ; in- vaded by Hideyoshi, 187 Chik-san, battle of, 187 Chi-li, province of, 69 ; devastated, 69 Chin, origin of name of China, 109 390 INDEX Chin9-Japan War, first step to- wards, 332 Chinampo, port of Phyong An, 20 Chin Ikei, Chinese Envoy, 172 ; received by Hideyoshi, 176 Chinju, assault of, 164 ; Korean treasure in, 177 ; taking of, 177 Chiuai, Emperor of Japan, 91 Cholla, meaning of name, 18 ; harbours of, 24 ; invaded by Wang Kien, 85 Chosen, first use of name, 32 ; end of kingdom of, 56; name of, resumed, 126 Chow, Emperor, 51 Christians, faith of early Korean, 248 ; treatment and sufferings of, 258, 260, 290 ; beg for priests, 259 ; rank of, 267 ; six female, martyred, 268 ; increase in numbers of, 279 ; supposed to cause niisfortune, 281 ; declared traitors, 289; number of, in Korea, 293 Christianity, introduction of, into Japan, 148 ; spread of, in Korea, 258 Chung Jong's good reign, 134 Church, Roman Catholic, in Korea, 229 Climate of Korea, 27, 28 Cocoons, 370 Cock, heraldic emblem, 345 Cocks, head of English factory in Japan, 197 Confucianism inculcates worship of ancestors, 249 Conservative party, treatment of, 322 ; call in Chinese troops, 323 Consuls, Prussian merchant, 234 ; in Korea, 315 Corfe, Bishop, 337 Cotton, 370 " Court, Korean," scene of intrigue, 212 Crops raise^36Q Customs serVic^ established, 328 Dagelet, Island, 11 Daveluy, Marie Antoine Nicholas, missionary to Korea, 273 ; travels in small boat with Ferreol, 276 ; torture and execution of, 284 Diamond Mountains, description of, 13 Dictionary, Korean, 291 Diplomatic representatives in Korea, 315 Dutch in Korea, 224, 225 " Easterners," political party, 135 East India Company in Japan, 196 Elders, political party, 136 Embassy, Korean, to Japan, 143 ; treatment of, 145 ; return to Korea, 145 ; to Tokugawa Sho- gun, 197 ; to China, 207 ; to United States, 360 Emperors, rival, in China, 68 Examinations in Chinese literature 127 Exports, 378 Factory, Japanese, in Fusan, 199 ; Dutch, in Deshima, 198 j^amine in Korea, 178 Farming implements, 369 Febiger, 239 Feron, priest in Korea, 279 ; es- cape and sufferings of, 286 ; travels to Chefoo, 286 ; appeals to Admiral Roze, 286 INDEX 391 Ferreol, Jean Joseph, consecrated, Bishop, 273 ; travels in small boat to Korea, 276 ; describes boat, 276 ; death of, 279 Feudalism, in Korea, abolished, 127 ' Fish, abounds in Korea, 17 ; much caught by Japanese, 17 Fishing, Korean, primitive, 17 Forests, 370 ; percentage, 371 French, Government^ letter to Korea, 226 ; reply to, 227, 228, 229 ; threat to Korea, 230 ; fleet proceeds to River Han, 235; , result of attack on Kang Wha, 237, 240 Fujiwara, Japanese noble family, 117 Fung Wang Chang, border city, 206 Fusan, harbour of, 12 ; description of, 25 ; factory at, 133, 198, 199 Gate of Gratitude, 23 General, Chinese, executed, 57 ' General Sherman, U. S. ship, lost, 230, 232 Genghiz Khan, 109 ; defeats the Kins, III ; conquers Korea, iii Gensan, opening of, to trade, 26 ; birthplace of Taijo, 27 ; monas- tery of, 27 ; Russian warship at, 281 Genso, Japanese monk, 161 Gesang, training of, 48 Gloire la, French frigate, grounded, 226 ; men of, rescued by Eng- lish, 226 Gold in Korea, 232 ; annual value of export, 374 Golden age of Korean morals, 133 Goto Islands, 234 Graves, disturbance of, brings mis- fortune, 132 ; opened by Kipg Yunsan, 132 Great Britain's trade with Korea, 379, 381 ; rivalry in trade with Japan, 380 Guerilla warfare in Korea, 163 ; affects nerves of Japanese, 164 Guillotine devised, 290 Hachiman, God of War, 147 Ha-in, commoners of Korea, 32 Hairdressing of men, 334 ; reform in, causes rebellion, 334 Hall of the Thousand Mats, de- struction of, 181 Hamel, shipwreck of 209 ; escape of, 224 ; writes earliest descrip- tion of Korea, 10 Ham Gyong, province of, 13 ; meaning of, 18 ; description of, 26 Han, river, 14; freezing of, 27; French frigate at entrance to, 226. Han ;Yang, fortress on the Han, 125 Han, 60 Han yang, burnt, 119 Heian-jo, ancient name of Kioto, Hideyoshi, regent of Japan, 140 ; low birth of, 141 ; sends envoy to Korea, 142; reception of envoy from, 142 ; insults Korean ambassador, 144 ; boastful letter of, 144; Napoleon of Japan, 14S ; character of, 146 ; plans conquest of Korea, 147, 148; prepares for war, 151 ; receives Chinese envoy, 176 ; frees Korean princes, 176 ; orders taking of, Chinju, 177; duplicity 392 INDEX of, 1 80; reception of Ambassa- dors by, 181 ; hall of audience, 181 ; investiture of, 182 ; anger of, 184 ; refuses to receive Koreans, 184 ; again prepares for war, 184 ; withdraws troops from Korea, 190 ; failing health of, 190 ; dying words of, 190 ; death of, 190; death of son of, 194 Hidetada, son of lyeyasu, 196 Hijo Jung, reforms of, 209 Hirado, foreign trade of, 197 History of Korea, 291 " Histoire de I'Eglise de Coree," 293 Hiuga, province of, 28 Hoang-hai, meaning of name, 18 ; position of 20 ; Konishi's march on, 158 ; U. S. steamer wrecked at, 230 Hoh Su Wen, murders King of Korai, 75 ; appearance of, 76 ; declares war on Silla, 76 ; in- fluence of, 8i ; death of, 81 ; sons of, 81 Hojo, regents, 115 ; subjugated by Hideyoshi, 143 Hong Kong, cession of, 273 Huin, priest in Korea, 279 ; execu- tion of, 284 Hulbert, " History of Korea," 65, 78, 165, 168 Hunchun, 273 Hung Woo, emperor, 120 Hwang Ti, title of, no Hyong Jong, reforms of, 209 Iksan, landing of Kijun at, 62 Imbert, Laurent Marie Joseph, Vicar Apostolic in Korea, 265 ; of peasant origin, 265 ; disguise used by, 265 ; surrenders to police, 270 ; tortured, 270'; body of, reinterred by converts, 271 Imna, State of, 64 Imports present day, 210, 378, 379 Injin river, meeting of Japanese and Koreans on, 161 Inouye, Count, in China, 326 ; to reform Korea, 333 ; opinions in Nichi Nichi Shimbun, 337I Investiture, patent of, of Hide- yoshi, 182 Ito, Prince,in Korea, 326; Resident- General, 354 ; institutes reforms, 355 ; assassination of, 357 lyeyasu, resembles Wang Kien, 105; requests tribute from Korea, 196 Izaenagi, 89 Japan, receives teachers and mis- sionaries from I Korea, 66 ; sends help to Pekche, 80 ; wholesale defeat of, by Chinese and Sillan troops, 80 ; early relations of, with Korea, 89, 91 ; friendship of, with Pekche, 97 ; contrasted with Korea, 208 ; demands renewal of vassalage, 297 ; word of Emperor of, law, 365 Japanese, make peace with China, 17s ; evacuate Seoul, 175 ; en- trench themselves at Fusan, 188 ; retreat from Seoul, 188 ; sack Kyunju, 188; nostalgia, 191; ships destroyed, 191 ; carry art treasures from Korea, also artists and artisans, 192 ; at Fusan, 199 ; proposals to Korea, 301 ; expedition to Kang-Wha, 302; eonclude treaty with Korea, 302 ; clauses in treaty made by, INDEX 393 303 ; murders of, in Korea, 309 ; Legation ' burnt, 309 ; leave Seoul, 310 ; demand indemnity, 311 ; in Seoul join conspiracy, 323 ; escape to Chemulpo, 326 ; lose influence in Korea, 327 ; adventurers flock to Korea, 335; power in Korea, 360; love of their Emperor, 364 Jesuits first arrive in Korea, 9; priest in Korea, 217 ; in Peking, 244; confer with Korean am- bassadors, 245 Jingo, Empress of Japan, invades Korea, 91 ; miraculous voyage of, 92; terms of treaty with King of Silla, 92 ; staff and spear of, 93 ; son of, 147 Joano, Roman Catholic priest, 279 Juniors, political party, 136 Kaempfer, Dutch historian, 242 Kagoshima, 240 Kamakura, 117 Kang Wha, city and island of, described, 23 ; attacked by foreigners, 24 ; treaty signed at, 24 ; seat of Episcopal Mission to Korea, 24 ; taken by Man- chus, 293 ; royal library of, 236 ; taken and burnt by French, 227 ; Christian Church in, 293 Kang won, province of, 14 ; mean- ing of name, 18 ; description of, 26 ; invaded by Kung I, 85 Kao, forms kingdom of Kao Kaoli, 59 ; extent of kingdom of, 60 Kaoli, see Korai, 57. Kara, kingdom of, sends am- bassadors to Japan, 90 ; Japanese name for, 90 Karak, kingdom of, 63 ; absorbed by Silla, 64 Kato Kiyomasa, General, 150 ; parentage of, 150 ; hatred of, to Christianity, 151 ; marches into Ham Gyong,iiS9 ; takes Korean princes prisoner, 174 Keirin, meaning of, 345 Kesvrick, Mrs., in Korea, 317 Khitan tribe, take possession of Manchuria and Liaotung, 108 ; demands homage from Korea, no ; Sunto burnt by, no ; give derivation to Cathay, 108 Khordadbeh describes Korea, 9 Kim ok Kiun escapes from Korea and joins Progressionists, 329 ; escapes to Japan, 329 ; family of, executed, 329; deported by Japanese to Bonin Islands, 330 ; deported to Hakodate, 330 ; shot in Shanghai, 331 ; body of, sent to Korea, 331 ; body of, dis- honoured, 331 Kim, Andrew, fearless Christian, 274 ; voyage of, to Shanghai, 274 ; arrives at Wosung, 275 ; appeals to British officers and is helped by them, 275 ; or- dained first Korean-born priest, 276 ; mart)Tdom of, 277 King of Korea, sacredness of person of, 38, 39 ; prerogatives of, 39 ; flies to Kang Wha, 202 ; submits to Manchus, 204 ; last, 214 ; body of, said to be buried in gold coffer, 232 ; in hands of the Progressionists, 322 ; sufferings of, 341 ; escapes to the Russian Legation, 342 ; assumes title of Emperor, 342 Ki Tse, first mention of, 50 ; founds 394 INDEX Chosen, 51 ; improves country and introduces civilisation, 52 ; eight laws of, 52 ; descendant flies from capital, 53 ; name re- stored to kingdom by Taijo, 125 KiusiUj province ofj 11, 91 ; Mon- gol Embassy lands in, 117 Konchi, island of, 167 Konishi Yukinaga, General, 150 ; early years, 150 ; enters Seoul, 157 ; marches on Phyong An, 160 ; fights against Kato, 193 ; execution of, 194 Korai or Kaoli, State of, 57 ; origin of name, 60 ; struggle of, with China, 68 ; invaded by China, 70, 71 ; again invaded by China, 76 ; doom of, prophesied, 82 ; people of, 83 ; change of name of, 125 Korea, geographical position of, 9, II ; visited by European men- of-war, 10 ; area and boundaries of, II ; Straits of, 11 ; islands of, 1 1 ; coasts of, 13 ; mountains of, 14 ; meat-eating nation, 15 ; earliest history of, 50 ; high civilisation of, 65 ; Hulbert's History of, 65 ; ruled by Silla, 84; degradation of Court of, 121 ; decline of, 139 ; effect of war on, 194 ; assists Mings against Manchus, 202 ; invaded by. Manchus, 203 ; treaty of, with Manchus, 203 ; greater isolation of, 205 ; sends insult- ing letters to Japan, 241, 297, 299 ; poverty of, 305 ; houses of, 305 ; prospects of trade in, 306 ; embassy to Japan in 1882, 314 ; climate and cultivation, 370 Koreans, resemblance of, to Bretons, 30; seclusion of, 30; courage of, 40 ; hatred of, for foreigners, 282 ; send embassy to Tokio, 306 ; study in Japan, 313 ; suffer from Japanese roughs, 336 Korietz, gunboat, sunk, 21 Kotei, title of, 304 Kouen I, renamed Francois Xavier, embraces Christianity, 247 Kudara, joins Pekche and declares war on Silla, 77 ; resists Silla, 81 Kumaso, invade Korea, 96' Kuroda, Lord of Hizen, 158 Kung I proclaims himself King of Silla, 85 ; proclaims himself Buddhist Messiah, 86 ; murders wife and sons, 87 ; death of, 87 Kwisun or tortoise-boat, described, 168 Kyong-Kwi, meaning of name, 18 ; wealth of, 20 ; invaded by Kung I, 85 Kyong-syang, province of, 18 ; meaning of name, 18 ; historical interest of, 25 Kyunju, capital of Silla, 25 ; splen- dour of, 84 ; sack of, by Hide- yoshi's troops, 84, 154, 188 ; retaken by Koreans, 164 Kyun Wun rebels against Silla, 86 ; struggle of, with Wang Kien, 87 ; defeated and surrenders to Waflg Kien, 87 Lakes of Korea, 15 Landre, Roman Catholic priest, 279 Language of Korea allied with Japanese, 30 Lazareff, Port, 12 INDEX 395 Legation, Japanese, in Korea, at- tacked and burnt, 309 ; again attacked and burnt, 323, 324; stafE of, recalled, 341 Li Hung Chang, 307 ; sends troops to Korea, 31!?, 313 Liao river, 70 ; battle on banks of, Liao Tung, attacked by Yu Ku, 54; attempted conquest of, by Emperor Yang, 73 Liao Yang, siege of, by Chinese, 72 ; description of siege of, 74 ; seat of learning visited by Japanese, 103 Lyra, H.M.S., visits Korea, 225 Mahan, 171 Ma-han, position of, 62 ; descrip- tion of inhabitants of, 62 Maistre, Pere, tries to reach Korea, 277 ; lands in Korea, 278 ; death of, 279 Manchu tribe, 108 ; m3rthical origin of, 201 ; invades China, 201 ; captures Peking and-Nan- king, 201 ; treatment of Korean prisoners by, 202 Manchuria, 11 ; plains of, 57 Manufactures, Korean, 375, 376 Market at Fung Wang Chang, 206 Marriage in Korea, 42, 367 Masampo, harbour of, 12 Maubant, Pierre Philibert, suc- ceeds Mgr. Bruguiere, 863 ; crosses frozen river Yalu, 263 ; description of journey of, 263-4 '> tortured and executed, 271 ; body of, reinterred by converts, 271 McLeavy Brown, Sir J., 357 ; ser- vices of, to Korea, 357 Miidera, temple of, 150 Military system, inferiority of, 140 Mimana, 64 ; Japanese troops in, 100 Mimi Dzuka or Ear Mound, 192 Mineral wealth of Korea, 373 Ming or Bright Dynasty of China, 120 ; kindness of, to Korea, 201 -^Mining forbidden, 373 ; state of industry, ■374 Min 'Yong Ik, ambassador to United States, 320 ; attack on, 322 Missionaries, Roman Catholic, enter Korea, 10 ; of various creeds enter Korea, 292 ; Bud- dhist, in Japan, 99 ; at time of annexation, 293 Miura, Viscount, succeeds Count Inouye in Korea, 335 ; con- spiracy with Tai Won Kun, 339 ; recall of, 341 Miyake or State granary, 64 ; des- troyed by Silla, loi Nagasaki, Dutch trade of, 197 Nagoya, 149. Naktong river, 14, 153 Nam Hau group, islands of the, 13. 328 Namwon, garrisoned, 197; taken by Japanese, 187 ; garrison slaughtered, 1&7 Napoleon III. protects Roman Catholics, 23$ " Nelson of Korea," 137 Newchwang, treaty port of, 230 Nihongi, dates in the, 97 Nishi-Rosen convention, 346 Nobunaga, 134 " Northerners," political party, 135 Nyuchi tribe, 108 ; combines with Korea, no 396 INDEX On mun, invention of, 130 ; letter written in, 131 Opium war, 273 Oppert, attempts to ascend River Han, 230 ; makes survey, 230; second attempt made by, 231 ; draws up treaty, 231 ; book on Korea by, 233 ; attempts to open royal tomb, 233 ; evil influence of, 234 Oriental Consolidated Mining Company, 374 Otomo, Prince of Bungo, 173 Pachiung, Chinese reach, 174 ; battle of, 174 Pagoda, the marble, in Seoul, 23 Paik Tu mountain, 13 Pak Han, fortress of, 126 Pak Yong Hyo, 238 Palace, attack on, 339 ; fate of defenders of, 339 Parkes, Sir Harry, 311 Patriotism sacrificed, 140 Peasants, degradation of, 41 Pekche or " hundred crossers," 63 Kijun joins, 63 ; unites with Silla against Korai, 69 ; declares war on Silla, 77 ; King of, weak, 78 ; fall of capital of, 78 ; fate of women of palace of, 78 ; incor- porated in Chinese Empire, 79 ; attempts to recover indepen- dence, 79 ; prays Japan for help, 79 ; people of, emigrate to Japan and found colonies, 80 ; date of fall of, 80 ; submits to Empress Jingo, 93 ; sends tribute to Japan, 96 ; King of, sends image of Buddha to Japan, 98 ; King of, murdered, loi Peking, treaty signed at, 179 ; taking of, by allies, 279 ; summer palace of, sacked, 279 Persecution of Christians, 242-7 ; more violent, 267 ; result of, 272 Petitnicholas Michel Alexandre, lands in Korea, 279 Phyong An, province of, 14 ; meaning of name, 18 ; descrip- tion of, 18 ; battle of, in 1894, 19 ; taking of, by Japanese, 19 ; agricultural and mineral wealth of, -20; planned assault of, by Chinese, 72 ; feigned submission of, 73 ; taken by Chinese and Silla, 82 ; inhabitants of, fly to Silla, 82 : beauty of women of, 83 ; Konishi marches on, 160 ; second invasion of, by Chinese, 173 ; Presbyterian Church in, 293 Piek I., meaning of name, 245 ; embraces Christianity, 246 ; re- named Jean Baptiste, 246 ; re- cantation of, 248 ; death of, 248 Pirates, Japanese, 115-19; driven from Korean coasts, 127 ; punish- ment of, 143 Population, 366 Portsmouth Treaty, 353 Port Hamilton occupied by British, 328 Pourthie, Charles Antoine, lands in Korea, 279 Priests, poverty of, in Korea, 269 ; last leave Korea, 288 Primorsk, province of, 11 Progressionists, 321 ; animosity of, towards Min Yong Ik, 321 ; de- feated by Conservatives, 323 Prophecy of Korea's doom, 348 Proselytes study at Macao, 274 Providence, H.M.S., 225 INDEX 397 Queen, last, of Korea, character of, 214 ; disappearance of, 308 ; re- appearance, 313 ; meets Euro- peans, 320 ; power of, 338 ; murdered, 340 ; body of, burnt, 340 ; successor of, 359 Queens of Silla, 84 Quelpart, Island of, 10, 12, 219 Race, probable origin of, 28 ; characteristics of, 29 Railway, first, in Korea, 22, 356 Regents, female, 212, 213, 254 Ricci, Jesuit bishop, founded mission in Peking, 243 ; respect of Chinese for, 243 ; death of, 244; book by, sent to Korea, 244; condones ancestor wor- ship, 250 Ri-Chosen, inventor of cannon, 164 Ridel, Roman Catholic priest in Korea, 285 Rivers of Korea, 14 Royal seal, 213 Roze, Admiral, French Com- mander-in-chief, naval expedi- tion, 281 Russians, obtain Usuki territory from China, 280 ; demand right to trade, 281 Sadahiko, general, attacks Korai, lOI Sakai, Chinese ambassadors land at, 180 Sakyamuni, image of Budda made by, 98 Samarang, H.M.S., 226 Samurai, anger of, against Korea, 229 ; demand war with Korea, 300 Schools founded, 355 Se Jong, 129 ; invents alphabet, 130 Seng-houng-I, first Korean con- verted to Christianity, 246 ; re- named Pierre, 246 ; recantation and death of, 248 Seoul, position of, 14 ; alteration in, 22 ; walls and gates of, 22 ; casting of bell of, 22 ; power of Tai won Kun, 23 ; likened to a laundry, 49 ; ancient name of, 12 ; eight gateways of, 126 ; occupation of, by Japanese, 157 Serfs, emancipation of, 210 Shimonoseki, peace of, 333 Shin-han, position of, 62 Shinra, explanation of term, 63 ; change of name, 63 Shin-ten-rai, a cannon devised by Korean, 164 Shipwrecked Dutch sailors, 218 ; attempt to escape, 221 ; punish- ment of, 221 ; detained in Korea, 222 ; stories of, 222 ; escape to Japan, 224 Silk, raw, 370 Silla, foundation of, 63 ; increase in power of, 69; unites with Pekche against Korai, 69 ; be- comes military power, 75 ; appeals to China for help, 77 ; answer to appeal, 78 ; invades Korai, 81 ; takes up arms against China, 84; defeat of , 84 ; Queen of, likened to Katherine of Russia, 84; weakness of Government of, 85 ; decline of 87 ; capital of, attacked by Kyun Wun and king killed, 87; parallel drawn between royal house of, and last king of present-day Korea, 398 INDEX 88 ; communicates with Japan, 90 ; Prince of, marries Japanese lady, 91 ; king submits to Em- press Jingo, 92 ; sends tribute to Japan, 96 ; seizes treasures of Pekche intended for Japan, 97 ; defeats Japanese army, loi Sochon, battle of, igo So, prince of Tsushima, 199 "Southerners," 135 Sparrowhawk, wreck of, 218 ; plundering of, 219 ; kind treat- ment of survivors of wreck of, 219 Stones, throwing of, in Korea, 310 Sujiri, Emperor, 90 Sungari River, 57, 108 Sunjo, King, 253 ; persecution of Christians in reign of, 253 ; death of, 254 Sunto, ancient capital, 20 ; Court of, 114; no longer the capital, 124 Swi, Emperor, brings whole of China under his sway, 68 ; fall of dynasty, 74 Taijo, Yi, king divides Korea into eight circuits, 17 ; acclaimed as king, 122 ; founder of a new dynasty, 123 ; establishes capital at Seoul, 124 ; changes name of kingdom, 125 ; abdication, 128 Taijong invents copper types, 128, 129 ; successors to, 129 Tai-han, Korea named, 344 Tai Won Kun, 214 ; forced to retire, 215; not unfavourably dis- posed to Christians, 280 ; out of office, 308 ; hatred of, to foreigners, 308; hatred of, to Queen, 308 ; deported to China, 313 ; returns to Korea, 327 ; grandson imprisoned, 338 ; con- spiracy with Japanese, 339 Talha, King of Silla, 345 Tang, dynasty of, 74 ; policy of, 74 ; close of, 85 Tan gun, descent of, to earth, 50 Tatong River, 14, 18 ; negotia- tions at, 161 ; Japanese fleet almost destroyed at, 170 ; U. S. S. Sherman lost in, 230 Taxation, limit of, 40 ; influence on Korean character, 40 Three Kingdoms, History of, 65 Tides, violent, 13 Tientsin, massacre of, 229 ; reason assigned for massacre of, 240; agreement signed at, 326 Tigers in Korea, 15, 16 Tobacco, use of, in Japan, 192 Tokugawa Shognns, 196 ; resign authority, 296 Tomb, result of attempt to exca- vate royal, 233 Tong Haks, society, 331 Tongnai, fortress of, taken by Honishi, 153 Tortures, description of, 270 Trade, increase in, 328 Treaty first with Japan, 302; British treaty, 315, 316 ; of Alliance be- tween Great Britain and Japan, 353 Tribute paid to China and Japan, 296 Troops, English and French, in Japan, 235 ; reason for with- drawal of, from Yokohama, 236 ; mutiny of Korean, 308 Tsiou, work of, in Korea, 252 ; first Christian priest, 252 ; escapes , to Aichiu, 254 ; returns to Seoul, INDEX 399 254 ; martyrdom of, 255 ; death of, reported to China, 256. Tsol, proselyte, return from Macao to Korea, 277; interprets for French ofi&cers, 278 Tumen River, 11, 108 Tung Ming, miraculous birth of, 58 ; founder of Puyu, 58 Tyung Chin, town of, 154 ; battle of- IS5 United States, naval expedition to Korea, 237; result of, 240; minister's wife received by Queen, 316 ; remonstrance against Russian oppression, 348 Unsan, goldmine, 374 Unyo Kwan, Japanese gunboat, fired on by Korean fort, 299 ; shells fort at Mouth of River Han, 300 ; landing party storms and takes fort, 300 Variag, Russian cruiser, fight with Japanese, 21 Vendetta, 138 Victorieuse, French frigate, grounds on Korean coast, 226 ; rescue of crew by English ship, 227 Wang Kien, general of Kung I, 85 ; greatness of, 85 conquers provinces of Kang Won and Kyong Kwai, 86; proclaimed King of the North after Kung I, 87 ; recognised as king by China, 104 ; introduces examination of candidates for civil posts, 104 ; death of, 105 ; followers of, 105 ; end of dynasty of, 122 Wang, title of, 304 Wani, teacher of writing, arrives in Japan from Pekche, 97 "Westerners," political party, 135 ; subdivision of, 139 Wetteree, John, Dutch sailor, prisoner in Korea for twenty- seven years, 220 ; fate not known, 22s White cock, emblem of Korea, 345 Widows in Korea, 45 Women, subjection, in Korea, 41, 42 ; marriage, 42 ; seclusion, 46 ; education, 47 ; appearance, 48 ; under Mongol rule, 114 ; present day, 48 Won Kiun, Admural, '185 ; in- efficiency of, 185 ; defeat of, 186 ; flogged, 186 ; taken by Japanese, 186 Writing, introduction of, 95 Xavier, St. Francis, 148 Yalu River, 1 1 ; name given to, by Koreans, 14 ; freezing of, 27 ; forests in valley of, 346 Yamato, 228 Yamagata-Lobanoff convention, 346 Yang, Emperor of China, cruelty of, 70 ; plans invasion of Korai, 71 Yang ban or nobles of Korea, 32, 33 ; meaning of word, 32; com- parison of, with English nobility, 32 ; privileges of the, 34, 36 ; occupations of, 35 ; compared with Irish landlords, 35 ; legal rights of, 36 ; appearance of, 36 ; political parties of, 37; tenure of office by, 37 ; poverty of, 38 400 INDEX Yang-Ti, Emperor of Swi dynasty, sends envoys to Japan, 103 ; encourages learning, 103 Yin dynasty of China, fall of, SI Yi Sun, Admiral, 168 ; reconstructs fleet and builds ironclad, 168 ; deprived of his command, 185 ; restored to flag rank, 189 ; wins goodwill of Chinese admiral, 191 ; death of, 191 Yi Taijo, see Taijo. Yolsan, town of, 188 ; Japanese besieged at, 189 Yong Ampho, Russian settlement at, 347 Yoshitoki, lord of Tsushima, envoy to Korea, 143 ; negotiates with Ri Toku Kei, 161 Yu, Pere Pacifique, 262 ; abuses his sacred office, 264 ; threat of ex- communication, 264 Yuen, Li Hung Chang's deputy, de facto King of Korea, 327 Yu Ku, grandson of Wiman, 53; embassy to China, 54; attacks Liao-Tung, 54 ; Chinese Em- peror sends armies against, 54 ; second embassy, 54 ; murder of, 56 Yung Jong, distinguished for re- forms, 209 ; prohibits intoxicat- ing drinks, 210; murders his son, 211 HNWTN BKOTBEES, LIMITED, THB GBESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.