The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1871-09-27
The Corean Crusade.
INTERESTING COMMENTS BY THE EAs-
TERN PRESS.

INTERESTING COMMENTS. BY THE EAs-
TERN PRESS.
The proceedings of the United States
expedition have not been conducted in
spirit consistent with the usages OF
civilization, nor with the principles OF
the United States Constitution. The
intention of the President and his min
listers may have been pure. There
was good ground for sending a min
lister to Corea, to make treaty il
possible; and in any case to obtain in
formation respecting ship C k
American subjects. A force was also
necessary to protect the minister, and
give dignified character to his mis-
sion. But before such force was
called upon to pour forth its artillery
upon the poor, half-armcd, undrillcd
and ignorant Cureans, care should have
been taken to exhaust every effort OF
diplomacy. We do not discover that
this was done; and Mr.. Low seems to
have acted as inefficiently as the head
of the mission as he did in Pekin on the
occasion of the Tien Tesin massacre,
The whole of the blame attaches to
him that single shot was fired. We
admit that had he acted never so well
and never SO wisely, the folly of the
Coreans might have led them into the
fatal error of firing upon the United
States ships and called down upon
them similar retribution to that they
have suffered, and then they would
have been wholly and solely the cause
of their own misfortunes, and the YER
dict of the civilized world would have
been that they were rightly served
But Mr.. Low did not put forth all the
powers of diplomacy. The squadron
approached the capital, and commune
cations were opened with the natives
These communications were of "a friend
ly character on both sides; but as the
personages who announced themselves
as "sent by the King of Corca to ascer-
tain the nature and objects of sucl
squadron, had no credentials; moth.
ing to indicate their rank, nothing
even to show that they came from the
King, the Minister and Admiral alike
declined to see them; directing the
interpreters to inform them that the
Minister and Admiral would treat only
with some high officer bearing proper
credentials as the Kings plenipoten.
tiary."
He is shown at once the error made
by the United States Government in
sending on such delicate mission q
man totally IMMERSED i'll diplomacy
Can anything be more absurd than to
refuse to see any one but an officer
bearing plenipotentiary credentials
Was Mr.. Harris a plenipotentiary when
he arranged the American treaty with
this country7 or at any time during
his residence in Japan? The officers
who arrived on board the Colorado
were at least so far accredited they
bore letter, evidently from the Gov.
| eminent, if not from the King direct
1t would have been we'll therefore tc
have been more modest in the demands
and it would have been no great low.
ering of the ENJOYS dignity, had he
caused letter to be written to the
King or his Ministers, detailing the
objects of the visit Of the squadron
announcing that there was Minister
Plenipotentiary on board the flagship
who had come on simple diplomatic
mission, and who would be glad il
officers of suitable rank were sent tC
communicate with him, and to pave
the way for further friendly advances
The United States Envoy Extraordi.
nary and Minister Plenipotentiary
then was the sole cause Of the fighting
aud bloodshed that took place; ant
automatically the expedition was al
unqualified failure. But the singnlal
iinaptitude of the Minister for the du
ties devolving upon him reflects OF
the government who accredited him
The Coreans did only what any othel
people in the world would have done
There is no treachery on their part
1t is altogether a misapplication o
terms to call their acts by that name
The survey party were in reality inva
ding their territory, and the squadron
was menace to the Sovereign. No
all the sophism and special pleading il
the universe can make anything els'
aof them. The moment the boats wer'
ordered off on the survey duties, i
was virtual declaration of war; ant
the Coreans would have been very
reprehensible had they not resisted
They were not strong enough, howe
yer, for their enemy, and the boat
gave them an initiatory lesson as to TIL
kind of metal md mattla thev woult