The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-05


of one small copper mine worked for the
purpose of providing a portion Of the min
eral necessary for their coinage the bal
ance being purchased from China. none
of these deposits are disturbed. AL
the gold and silver used by them is i'm
ported from Japan and China; no
coal is used, and as the supply of wood
The widest flights of my fancy
were never able TO reach the probable
cause of the willingness 10 open up the
wealth of the nation, and the inquiries |
put TO the natives who could understand
me were Invariably met with frightened
look and the general appearance of horror
at such an oGcroachmeut or questioning
on a subject too sacred for contemplation.
The idea of attempting to comprehend
the mysterious ways of their kings and
all the great people who sit around him
at Seoul never enters the simple minds of
the pOpulace. They regard the mandates
of their rulers with the same reverence
and unquestioning observance that the
most devout follower of Confucius shows
toward his prophet.
The King of COrea bears the same rela-
ton to the emperor of China that the
Khedive of Egypt does 10 the Sultan of
Turkey; he Is the vassal of the Chinese
ruler, aud this fact much to his disgust,
is set forth in every public document that
is promulgated, and is proclaimed to the
world far and wide with the lack OF mod
esty and consideration for which the
Chinese nation is noted.
Notwithstanding this encroachment
upon the dignity of this high official, he
is surrounded by an eXhaustless ceremony
that accounts for the extravagant esti-
nation in which he is held. He is very
holy, so holy, in fact, that where people
speak of him they simply say him and
when they want TO be very subservient
they say it, but they never say Ii Hsi,
the name under which this gentleman
suffers. This name is apparently only
given to him TO use in public documents,
for no one ever has the temerity to use it
in addressing him, and it is never men
toned aloud anywhere in the kingdom
If any subject wishes TO practice on it he
goes under the ground and does it by
himself; TO utter it above ground Is sac
religious, and the man'guilty is cut up into
eight pieces and "A piece sent to each
province
Then there is another interesting law
to further sanctify the head of the,state;
this law provides that any person who
touches the king with any implement or
weapon of metal shall have some horrible
thing done TO him. II is impossible for
me to say what the punishment is con-
nected with this, because the punishment
for each ohense, as enumerated in the
criminal code, becomes progressively
worse as the crimes are described, and as
boiling oil IS the most mercitul of the en-
tire lot, it does not make much difference
what the others are.
THE KINGS sANeTITY.
On the face of it this law about touch
ing king with metal weapon appears
TO be all right, but it has a boomerang
aIn "a
astrously few years ago. The famous
Iieng- tseng- Tai-Oung, an early century
ruler, was taken sick with an abscess on
his neck, and cried loudly for relief. All
the great doctors of several nations there
about were gathered together and agreed
that all there was to be done was to lance
il, but as this would be touching the
royal person with a metal weapon, and as
the law was explicit in the penalty for
such an offense, and there was no ruling
power in existence that had the power to
change the law, the doctors all singly
and collectively, refused to be dropped in
molten lead for the mere purpose of saw
! ing the life of the ruler, and so Tieng-
tseng-Tai-Oung died in horrible agony.
This inconvenient law also prevents
the king being shaved, and as the true
| Oriental is too much occupied with the
! thoughts of the @eItaPe Of his people to
! w al bHluB 1OI ulUlSEli, inc KINGS OF [ O.
rea wear full boards. On the other
hand, for the king to touch anybody is
| considered such an extraordinary honor
| that very serious obligations ever after
| rest upon the person so touched The
| most formidable of these is the necessity
! for wearing forever a brass plate over
the spot touched but the subject is ex-
empt from wearing more than one plate
over the same spot If the king happens to
! i'm FNHfgsf IN FlNs
kings wives are living castanets when
the walk.
1t is worthy of mention that while a
kings name is sacred during his lifetime
Immediately upon his death it becomes
common property and is handled about
with the most reckless freedom. As soon
as the present ruler dies his successor
will put up monuments to him all over the
country and they will be plastered with
Ii Hsi. All his present subjects will
then criticise his good and bad actions.
and will sheer or applaud as they may
feel disposed. No penalty is attached for
libel on a dead ruler. Doubtless the
reason is because every known penalty
has been attached to libels on live one.
THE LAW COURTS.
The law courts of Corea are perma-
nenlly as exciting as the recent strikes
were temporarily. The only difference
between the witness and the principal in
a Corean lawsuit is that the PRINCIPAL
frequently gets off unscathed, while the
witness is invariably manned and fire.
quently crippled for life. The PRINCIPALS
show their cleverness by declining to tes-
tify in their own behalf for as each wit
ness comes forward he is warned by the
judge of the terrible penalties of commit
ting perjury, and 10 still further Impress
il upon him his legs are beat with clubs
his body is cut by cords being drawn rap
idly back and forth across it,
his shoulders are dislocated or he is
suspended by his arms from the ceiling
The judge then addresses him worry kindly
and says something to this effect "Now.
you see what we can do, and what we
will do If you don't tell the truth in this
case, and If you want 10 escape IT, YOU
want 10 tell all You know and tell 1t hon
estly." Truthfuluess is one of the most
beautiful attributes Of COrean character.
No salary is paid the official, but in view
of this economical plan for conducting the
government, no restrictions are placed
upon those in Office In their exercise of
blackmail and eXtortion u is notice
able that all the officials occupy elabor-
ate residences and live in comparative
luxury. The Seng-ei tsieng. q minister
answering TO our Secretary Of State. re-
ceiyes salary equivalent TO about 81 600.
AZ one time, tradition say S, there were
books published in the Chinese LANGUAGE
which were more or less read and seemed
hFaNh afTan faHVaaNr t..