# The passing of Korea/Chapter 8

CHAPTER VIII
THE OPENING OF KOREA
KING CHUL-JONG died without issue, and the Dowager Queen Cho took violent possession of the seals of office, and nominated the present ruler as king. He was then twelve years old. The government had been for many years in the hands of a faction that looked upon the spread of Christianity with unconcern; and it was doubly unfortunate that the Queen of the deceased King was compelled to hand over the seals, for the power fell into the hands of that faction whose main policy was undying hatred of the new religion. The father of the new King was Prince Heung-sung, who is better known by his later title, Taiwunkun. He was a man of strong personality and imperious will, and however the people may have come to hate him, they always respected him. He was perhaps the last really strong man to appear on the stage of Korean politics. His main characteristic was an indomitable will, which took the bit in its teeth and swept on to the goal of its desire irrespective of every obstacle, whether of morals, economics, politics or consanguinity. But he was unable to read the signs of the time. The two great mistakes of his life were in supposing that he could eradicate Roman Catholicism by force, and in supposing that he could prevent the opening of the country to foreign intercourse.
His first act was to marry his son, the King, to his wife's niece, a member of the Min family, hoping thus to insure to himself a long lease of power as regent, and later as the practical shaper of the country's policy. Time showed how sadly he was mistaken. His second act was nearly as bad a blunder, for he set about taxing the people to the very quick, in order to rebuild ​for his son the Kyongbok Palace, which had lain in ashes since the days of the Japanese invasion in 1592. This enormous task was at last completed, but at terrible cost. It ruined the finances of the country, debased the national currency, and set in motion a train of economic blunders which had lamentable results. Assuredly he was not a great man, however strong he may have been.
In January of 1866 a Russian gunboat dropped anchor in the harbour of Wonsan, and a message was sent to court asking for freedom of trade with Korea. It is said that the Roman Catholics made use of the consequent uneasiness at court to suggest that the only way to thwart Russia was by making an alliance with England and France. The regent is said to have given this plan close and favourable attention. In the light of subsequent events, it is difficult to determine whether the regent's interest in this plan was real, or whether it was only a ruse whereby to make the final coup all the more effective. All things considered, the latter theory is the more probable. The French themselves believed that the regent was pushed on to the great persecution of 1866 by the violently anti-Christian faction that had raised him to power, and that it was simply another case of " If thou do it not, thou art not Caesar's friend." It is said that he reminded them of the burning of the summer palace at Peking and the occupation of the imperial Chinese capital; but they answered that they had killed Frenchmen before, and with impunity, and they could do it again. But whatever pressure was brought to bear upon him, he finally signed the death-warrant of the foreign priests, and on February 23 Bishop Berneux was arrested and lodged in prison. Brought up for trial, he said that he had come to save the souls of the Koreans, and that he had been in the country ten years. He refused to leave the country except by force. His death-warrant read as follows : ' The accused, who gives his name as Chang, refuses to obey the King; he will not apostatise ; he will not give the information required ; he refuses to return to his own country. Therefore after the ​usual punishments he will be decapitated." With him Bretenieres, Beaulieu and Doric were executed by decapitation. Their bodies were buried in a trench together, and later were recovered by Christians and given decent burial. A few days later Petitnicolas, Pourthie, Daveluy, Aumaitre and Huin were put to death. Of these Pourthie lost not only his life, but the manuscript of his Korean Grammar and his Latin-Korean-Chinese Dictionary, on which he had spent ten years of work. Three priests remained, Calais, Feron and Ridel. They remained secure in hiding, but the last was chosen to take a message to China, giving information of these terrible events. After almost incredible labours, he succeeded in taking boat from the shore of Korea with eleven native Christians, and making the harbour of Chefoo. An expedition would have been despatched against Korea at once had it not been for trouble in Cochin-China which demanded attention.
In June the American sailing-vessel Surprise was wrecked off the coast of Whang-hai Province, and the crew were kindly treated by the authorities and taken across the Yalu, and handed over to the Chinese for safe conduct to Tientsin. Even in the midst of an anti-foreign demonstration of the severest type, these people were humanely treated and sent upon their way. Of another stamp was the General Sherman affair. This vessel approached the Korean coast in September, and in spite of warnings and threats persisted in sailing up the Tadong River to Pyeng-yang. This was possible only because of high spring tides in conjunction with a heavy freshet, and it looked to the Koreans as if the Americans were burning their ships behind them, for by no possibility could the vessel be extricated from her dangerous position. Orders were therefore given for her destruction. She was burned with fire-rafts, and her crew were massacred as fast as they came ashore. Here again small blame is to be attached to the Koreans, considering the provocation.
THE LATE REGENT, PRINCE TAI-WUN
In 1871 an American expedition was fitted out to go to Korea and attempt to conclude some sort of treaty with Korea relative to the treatment of American seamen who were cast upon the shores of the peninsula, but also, and mainly, to open up trade relations. Admiral Rogers was in charge, and the flotilla consisted of five vessels, - the Colorado, Alaska, Bernicia, Monocacy and Polos. Frederick F. Low, .the American minister at Peking, went with the fleet to carry on the diplomatic part of the undertaking. He knew very well, as is seen in the official correspondence, that it was a hopeless task, but he obeyed orders.
They reached the western coast of Korea at the end of May, and attempts were at once made to communicate with the government, but the regent shrewdly suspected that the expedition had to do with the massacre of the crew of the General Sherman, and determined to handle the Americans as he had the French. While the flotilla was waiting for an answer from Seoul, two of the smaller vessels were sent up the estuary between Kang-wha and the mainland to take soundings and make observations. This place was considered the very gate to the capital, and the extreme unwisdom of the act appeared when a small Korean fort on the island opened fire on the boats. The latter returned the fire, but ​withdrew to report. It was decided that as the flag had been fired upon, an immediate attack was necessary in order to uphold the honour of the American Republic. A considerable force was sent against the little fort; the party landed, made its way across some very rough ground and stormed the place at the point of the bayonet. The Koreans fought with desperation, and every one of them fell at his post. Their ammunition gave out, but they caught up gravel in their fists and threw it into the faces of the Americans. The fort was taken, and the honour of the flag was vindicated with the loss of a single American officer. The victorious party then withdrew ; and as it was now manifestly impossible to effect a friendly settlement of the matter, and the force at his command was utterly inadequate to accomplish anything decisive, the whole fleet sailed away. The regent cared little for the loss of a few earthworks on Kang-wha. Even if the Americans had overrun the peninsula and yet had not unseated the King, their final withdrawal would have left the government in the firm belief that the foreigners had been whipped. The approach of American gunboats up to the very " Gibraltar of Korea " was taken by the regent as a declaration of war, and the loss of the little garrison on Kang-wha was but a small price to pay for their exultation upon seeing the American vessels hull down in the Yellow Sea. The regent immediately caused the erection of a monument in the centre of Seoul, on which were carved anathemas against anyone who should ever propose peace with any Western power.
But in the interval the great awakening had taken place in Japan, and a new force was launched upon the troubled seas of Oriental politics. In the first flush of this wonderful dawn of modern Japan, the people who had steered the ship of state into that desired haven fancied that a similar success might be achieved in Korea, and an envoy was sent by way of Fusan, where still existed the Japanese trading-station, to see what could be done in Seoul. This was Hanabusa, and he succeeded in getting into communication with the Queen's party. It must ​be noted that the time had now come when the regent must hand over the reins of power to his son, the King. His complete absorption of all the functions of the government had aroused the jealousy of the Queen's family, and a determined effort was being made to combat the regent's power. This was so successful that in 1873 ne shook off the dust of Seoul from his shoes, and retired to a neighbouring town in disgust.
A new era was now opened. The friends of the ex-regent were many and powerful, and they encompassed the murder of the Queen's father, and committed other atrocities; but the Min faction was master of the situation, and the policy of seclusion gave way to one of genuine advancement. There can be no question that at first the Queen's faction stood for what is generally called progress. It had no special leaning toward China, and having reversed the policy of the regent it stood ready to do whatever was necessary to open up the country to foreign intercourse. The trouble came later, but of this anon.
In 1876 the first foreign treaty was signed with Japan. It seems that a Japanese war-vessel had approached the coast near Chemulpo, and had been fired upon by a Korean fort. A company of troops was landed and the fort was taken. The Korean government claimed that the commandant of the fort did not know that the vessel belonged to Japan; but however this may have been, it ended by Korea assenting to the ratification of a treaty of peace and friendship with Japan. By this instrument the Japanese recognised the independence of Korea, and treated with her as an equal, a policy which she has continued until recently. A minister was sent to Seoul in 1879 in the person of Hanabusa, whom we have already mentioned. A Korean envoy was also sent to Japan. The government arrested two French priests who had just arrived in Seoul, and they were in some danger; but while the authorities were considering the matter, and hesitating lest this act be inconsistent with the changed conditions, the Japanese minister secured their release and their transportation to Japan. ​With the year 1880 began a train of events which caused the complete destruction of all the hopes which had been held out regarding Korea's genuine progress. It must be remembered that the Min family were sponsors for the opening of the country, and they took the lead in all innovations. They may not have been actuated by the highest motives, and it is more than likely that their new power went to their heads; but at the same time the hope of the country lay in them. Korea was not ready to inaugurate the sweeping changes which Japan had made. The temperament of her people and the nature of her institutions alike forbade it. But there arose in Seoul a faction which was determined to force the Koreans to an extreme policy of reform. One or two of these men had been in Japan and had imbibed the spirit of reform; and in their enthusiasm they thought the conservatism of centuries could be reversed in an hour. Unfortunately the Japanese thought the same thing, and were in full sympathy with these extreme radicals, calling them the liberal party, and growing restive under the slower methods of the Mins. The latter soon came to see that the Japanese were bent upon putting the power into the hands of these radicals, and in pure self-defence they turned to the Chinese for help. This was the beginning of the end. The inexperience of the Japanese had blocked all hope of a peaceful and judicious introduction of reforms, and had thrown the ruling faction into the arms of China, whose one desire now was to retrieve the mistake she had made in declaring that she was in no way responsible for or interested in Korea's blunders. We can here put our finger upon the very point where the conflict between Japan and China, and consequently the conflict between Japan and Russia, had its inception. If Japan had handled the situation with tact, allowed China to retain her shadowy patronage, and led the Min faction along a conservatively liberal path, there might have been a very different outcome. Or if Japan had been ready to face China and fight it out then and there, Korea's future would have been better secured. As it was, the ruling faction came to regard ​Japan not as a friend, but as a decided enemy, and their whole power was directed toward preventing the things which Japan wished to accomplish. As yet the King himself was not completely under the domination of the Min family, and he looked with considerable complacency upon the efforts of the radicals to introduce reforms independently of the Min faction. He was not violently opposed in this, but the meshes of the conservative party were being thrown around him, and he was gradually being drawn away. And so the two parties were fairly well balanced for the time. On the one side was the Min family with a number of allied families, and on the other were the comparatively isolated members of the radical party, - Kim Hong-jip, Kim Ok-kyun, Pak Yong-hyo, Su Kwang-bum, Su Cha-p'il and others. We say isolated because they had only personally imbibed the spirit of radical reform, and they had behind them no large and deeply rooted family connection that was ready to see them through to a successful issue. They put on foot some important and salutary reforms, which were watched by the people with amused tolerance as the antics of madmen ; but they were not taken seriously. These men came the nearest to being genuine patriots that Korea has ever seen. They were far ahead of their times, and what they desired was the very best thing for Korea. The fact that Korea did not want it - would have none of it - can never detract from the honour due those men. They were loyal to their best instincts, but they fell just short of greatness because they were unwilling to see their temporary ascendency checked in order that they might be of future use. They thought that it was a case of "now or never," in which opinion they were mistaken.
The military riot of 1882 was caused by the wretched treatment of the troops, whose rice was mixed with sand in order that one of the high officials might line his pockets. When it broke out, the Min family was the main point of attack. Several of them were killed and others fled. The palace was invaded, and the Queen was saved only by a trick, for she was carried out ​on the back of a faithful retainer, who claimed she was his sister, and escaped to a country retreat. At the same time, with the utmost inconsistency, the Japanese were attacked, and had to beat a retreat to Chemulpo and thence to Japan. The legation was burned, and several Japanese were killed. The ex-regent was called back to power, and some fondly believed that the good old days had returned. This did not appear so clear when Count Inouye arrived at Chemulpo and began negotiations for the settlement of the difficulty. But the regent put him off, and practically refused to treat; so the count returned to Japan. Hardly had he gone when a Chinese force of three thousand men arrived, one of their officers being the well-known Yuan Shih-kei, who was to play an important role in Korea. These troops had come in the interests of the Min faction. They immediately seized the ringleaders of the revolt, and ten of them were torn asunder by bullocks. The ex-regent was then inveigled on board a boat in the river and spirited away to China. The Queen came back from her temporary banishment, and all was quiet again. The peace with Japan was patched up by the payment of an indemnity, and relations were resumed. The Chinese now had a firm hand on the government, and held it there by virtue of the fact that they had acted as the Queen's deliverers. Through their influence P. G. von Mollendorff was asked to come and establish a customs service here, and to act as general adviser. Two of the Chinese generals were attached to his staff.
In May of 1883 Commodore Schufeldt at Chemulpo drew up a treaty between Korea and the United States, and General Foote was sent as first American minister to the Korean court. In the following autumn treaties with Germany and Great Britain were also signed. Korea was now a recognised member, in good and regular standing, of the family of treaty powers. She was de jure an independent kingdom, for China had not only put no obstacles in the way of the ratification of these treaties, but had even facilitated them. Her subsequent claim to suzerainty was ​comical in its incongruity. It was in this same year that Min Yong-ik, the nephew of the Queen and a prominent official, headed an embassy to the United States. He was accompanied by a number of young Koreans, most of whom were of the liberal party. At this time Min Yong-ik was the one important member of the Min faction who favoured radical reform, but on his return to Korea the clan feeling proved too powerful, and he gradually went over to the other side.
The year 1884 saw the two rival factions draw to the crisis which could not be averted. Reform movements were attempted, but the radical faction was thwarted at every turn by the conservatives, who had the Chinese behind them, and the ear of the King besides. The Chinese had a strong body of troops here also, which made the radicals feel that in order to carry out their plans it would be necessary to obtain Japanese support of a like character. The young Koreans who had been sent to Japan to learn military tactics now came home. At their head was Su Cha-p'il, better known as Dr. Philip Jaisohn. He was an ardent member of the radical faction. The leaders of that party communicated with the Japanese, or at least an understanding was arrived at, that Japan should back them in their attempt to stem the current of conservatism. As winter came on, it became more and more apparent that one or other of the two factions must give in, and the conservatives were so thoroughly intrenched that the radicals were very much disheartened. There were two possible courses open to them : one was to step down and out, and give the conservatives free rein, and the other was to take things into their own hands by a coup de main, and crush the opposition. While they were discussing this matter, and were arranging for a Japanese man-of-war to come to their support, the news leaked out that a plan was on foot for the violent deposition of the conservative faction. The imminent danger in which this placed the radical faction caused them to act at once. The new post-office was to be opened with a banquet on December 4. Min Yong-ik was one of the principal ​guests, but members of both factions were there, together with some of the foreign representatives, the Chinese generals, and the foreign adviser Von Mollendorff. In the midst of the dinner Min Yong-ik was called out, and he was attacked by an assassin in the court, who wounded him horribly with a sword and made his escape. All was instantly in confusion. The Koreans hastily dispersed, and the wounded man was taken to the residence of Von Mollendorf, where he was cared for at the skilful hands of Dr. H. N. Allen, the newly arrived missionary physician from America. It has never been proved that this attack was made by the radicals themselves, but at any rate they saw that they must act promptly, for whether the crime was theirs or not they knew that it would be charged against them. It was now necessary for them to strike a swift, sharp blow or be destroyed seriatim. They chose the former course, and hurried to the palace, where they secured possession of the King's person, and forced him to send to the various heads of departments, ordering them to present themselves before him. These men came one by one, and as fast as they came they were cut down in cold blood by the company of students, lately from Japan, who had come to the palace as body-guard to the radical leaders. In this revolting massacre seven men were destroyed, including one of the eunuchs who had been influential on the conservative side. The King was then made to send to the Japanese minister, asking for a guard. This was immediately sent, and it looked as if the coup had been a success. The Chinese, however, looked at it differently, and forthwith made a regular military attack upon the palace, knowing full well that the situation could not possibly be of the King's making. The four hundred Japanese had a good deal of ground to cover, for the palace is of great extent, and the Chinese force outnumbered them seven to one. This action on the part of the Chinese had evidently not been anticipated by the revolutionists, and it soon became clear that the situation could not be maintained. The King and the people were all against the movement, and the situation could be saved ​only by throwing Japan and China at each other's throats. The play was decided not to be worth the candle, and so the Japanese, in company with the radical leaders, forced their way out of the city to Chemulpo, and made their way to Japan.
This was the first great reverse that Japan suffered at the hands of the Chinese, and the .question was definitely settled as to the attitude that Korea should take. She was henceforth completely in China's hands, and was destined to remain there until Japan reversed the verdict in 1894, just ten years later.
These ten years may be passed over without much comment. They witnessed a continual encroachment by China upon Korea's independence, and a hopeless acquiescence on the part of the latter, which came near to alienating the good-will of her best friends. The most important work of this decade was the introduction of Protestant Christianity in the peninsula. Several American societies began work here almost simultaneously, and in each case with marked success. The Korean temperament is such that it seems specially open to approach by Christianity. This peculiar susceptibility lies in the fact that Christianity, the most rational and at the same time the most mystical of all religions, finds in the Korean a like combination of rationality and idealism. Whether this theory be correct or not, the fact remains that Christian teaching at the hands of Protestant missionaries was readily accepted by the Koreans, and within the decade large portions of the country were dotted with Christian chapels and schools, the Scriptures were partly printed and disseminated, a large Christian literature was published, and, in every activity of Christian life, whether of an evangelistic or philanthropic nature, the foundations were laid for a work that should not stop short of the Christianising of the entire nation. It had been the fashion in certain circles to speak slightingly of Christian missions, but this is done only by those who are either unconvinced of the paramount claims of Christianity, or by those who, uninformed themselves, are willing to ape opinions that are fashionable. The extreme rancour of those who assail an ​institution of whose workings and results they are almost wholly ignorant can be reasonably explained only on the theory that they are goaded on to such assault by an uneasy conscience. The cause of missions does not need any apology or vindication, but we cannot forbear to wish that fewer of those who have enjoyed the hospitality of missionaries in foreign lands should be guilty of the unspeakable meanness of vilifying them after returning to the home lands.
This decade witnessed the opening of the various treaty ports of Chemulpo, Fusan, Wonsan and Seoul, the construction of telegraph lines, the opening of a Government Hospital and an English Language School, the building of a mint and other important government institutions, and the introduction of a thousand different products of Western thought. For several years Judge O. N. Denny, the foreign adviser, tried to keep Korea out of the clutches of China. His arguments were conclusive, but of little avail in the face of Korea's willingness to fall back upon the old-time relationship of suzerain and vassal. There can be little doubt that if the war had not intervened and reasserted Korean independence the foreign powers would have felt constrained to remove their legations.
The whole world knows the story of how the gradual encroachments of China led up to the war, and how the predictions of almost all the experts were falsified by the remarkable energy and skill displayed by Japan. That war swept through Korea and across the Yalu, leaving the country in the hands of Japan. The military prowess of the island empire was proved beyond a doubt, but it was yet to be shown that she had the peculiar kind of ability which could construct an independent power out of such material as she found in Korea. It was at this point that her weakness was revealed. The methods she adopted showed that she had not rightly gauged the situation, and showed her lack of adaptability to the new and strange conditions with which she was called upon to grapple. The brutal murder of the Queen, and the consequent alienation of Korean ​good-will, the oppressive measures which led the King to throw himself into the hands of Russia, all these things demonstrated the lack of that constructive ability which was necessary to the successful solution of the knotty problem.
The decade beginning with 1894 saw a continuance of the old difficulty under a new guise. It was no longer a struggle between Japan and China, but between Japan and Russia. And just as Japan failed in the diplomatic duel with China, so she failed in the diplomatic duel with Russia. In each case a final resort to arms was necessary.