Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-08-05
IN FAR-oFF KOREA.
The Conditions Which Led 10 the Out.
break Of Hostiitiss.
DESCRIPTION or TIE COUNTRY.
Corrupt and Tyranicai Oneers--siineral
Resources, Agriculture-Innu-
ence Of China.
written for the Dispatch.)

written for the Dispatch)
I have taken a run from China TO ko-
rea, and It took me three days to 20 from
Tien-Tsln TO the harbor OF Chcmulpo.
was grounded for time on the Peiho
river, and had rough voyage over the
Yellow sea, but / am now In the biggest
city of this wonderful kingdom. and /
am surrounded by the queerest sights and
the strongest people on the face Of the
globe. / found the harbor OF Chemuipo
filed with gunboats. and. after sailing up
the river Han, i was met about four
miles from the city with a chair from the
American legation, which was carried By
| four Koreans and which was guarded by
soldiers. IT was in this way ! came Into
the city OF Seoul. I passed through the
gates without trouble, and / am now al
| most at home in this Korean world. 1
have a most efficient interpreter. whom
| call General PAX. He comes or one
| Of the Oldest fsmillec of this coun-
| try, and his grandfather was a big
magistrate. He has as much cheek as
New York plumber. General Greenhouse.
| the American adviser 10 the king. mas
| loaned him 20 me during my stay. lie IL
| the confidential interpreter OF the Gen-
eIal and he viii accompany me in my
| tour of Korea. He Is such an aristocratic-
| looking man that / always feel out OF
place when ! ask him TO do anything for
me. He Is far better dressed than | am.
| His brand new horse-halr hat. / venture,
cost SIS. and this Is tied on under his
chin with ribbons Of black gro5 grain
silk. He wears u gown Of the most DELI
| cate sky blue. This reaches from his
neck TO his feet. 1t is tied at the waist
with a purple silk cord, and the sleeves
Of 1t have pockets in them so large that
they would hold "A baby. He speaks
English well, and he Is an invaluable man
| in these troubious times With him and
| a couple of soldiers or kesoes / feel quite
safe. 1 usually ride In a chair borne on
the shoulders of four men in uniform.
while the soldiers trot along at my side.
/ sometimes think that PAX Is ashamed of
ne, or that he thinks he ought TO be
riding, too. He generally walks about
ten feet In advance or that much In the
rear, and swings himself along as though
re we're q gentleman of leisure. If there
are any other Korean mobiles about !
can't get him to help the photographer
or do any sort OF manual labor. This
would be beneath him. He is very par
ticular about my carrying anything, and
we have to take an extra coolie along
for this purpose.
A KOREAN ARTIST.
have also a Korean artist with me,
and strange as II may seem, am getting
some very fine pictures made or Korean
types and scenes by this man. He paints
as well as sketches, and is considered
the finest artist of the kingdom He
is q noble. and it IL hard TO get him TO
do work quickly but his pictures are
true to life, although they seem strange
to American eyes, He sketched one Of
my soldiers for me to-day, and also made
some pictures Of the rebels who are
making such trouble here He gave me
a picture Of an official on his way to the
palace. 1 saw the fellow going past the
door, and asked him to sketch him. The
official was dressed In long green gown.
with official boots of black cloth peeping
from under its hem. lie had great
belly-band, decorated with gold, sticking
out from his waist, and his horse-hair
cap had huge wings fastened to its back,
persopifying ears. and denoting that he
was always ready to listen 10 the COM
mands OF the King. He sat in chair
upon leopard-skin. and two Korean
coolies in uniform took him along on the
dead run, while his servant ran by his
side Behind him came one OF the
Kings officials. possibly a general or the
army from the country. He had amber
beads around his neck, a bow In one hand.
and culver Of arrows at his back, while
other arrows were fastened TO the crown
of his hat. The Koreans are good shots.
and they still stick to the bow and arrow,
both for amusement. and TO a certain
extent for war. The Kings troops are
armed with modern guns. but many OF
the rebels have bows. and not few OF
them carried tridents.
THE REBELLION.
And this brings me to the rebellion. 1t
IS a mighty big story. and 1t is hard to
handle it in a newspaper letter am
told by those closest to the King that
the rebels did not intend to fight against
his Majesty at all. They only took up
arms 10 Dust the officials of their
provinces. They have been terribly op-
pressed. Offices have been sold FOR years,
and of late years the prices of the offices
have gone up, and the tenure OF once
has been shortened. There is one man
here who has had this matter in charge
who is worth many millions OF dollars
to-day. He was poor man ten years
ago. and his fortune has been made by
squeezing The officials have had to pay
so much for Offices that they have over
and they have oppressed them TO such
an extent that starvation stared them in
the face. Had the King let them alone
and not come to the support Of his OIL
Gals there would have been no rebellion
against him. He sent, however. his troops
out to punish them. The rebels defeated
the troops, and the King asked the Chi
| nese for some soldiers to help him put
down the trouble. The japanese also sent
soldiers, and this walled city of Seoul
now swarms with armed men. There are
guards everywhere. The law against men
going out at night is strictly enforced,
and any one but foreigner found wan-
dering about the streets is liable to arrest.
| The gates are carefully guarded. and the
walls are watched. The japanese have
| a large camp at the pass OF the mountains
between here and the port of Chemulpo.
and every one Is excited and alarmed as
! to the possibilities of a war, not only
between the King and his rebellious
subjects, but between China and Japan.
The Chinese and japanese soldiers are
| by no means friendly to one another
and the japanese are ready and ANXIOUS
| for a pretext to fight.
OUR MARINES READY.
The Baltimore Is still in the harbor OF
Cbemulpo. and our marines are ready TO
march from tneTe NJ Il ffiuiuSii' hotiSc W
protect our legation and the missionaries.
The KOREANS to q large extent look upon
| the matter as a great joke. They walk
| about in their fine white gowns, smoking
pipes as long as themselves AMI laughing
| under their big black hats at the queer
| figures which the Chinese and japanese
| soldiers make. They go by thousands to
| the camp, and they do not seem TO realize
| that .he very existence of their govern
ment is threatened. The King, however,
understands 1t very well. lie is terribly
| alarmed, and he cOunsels with his officials
night after night, under the electric-lights
| Of the palace. He does no work whatever
| in the daytime, ana there is a rumor that
he fears assassination, and that he likes
no dark corners in his palace. His troops
have shown themselves unable TO cope
with the rebels among his own people, to
say nothing Of the Chinese and japanese.
They have been defeated several times.
and they are largely outnumbered by the
forces of Japan and China which are
now on Korean soil. The Kings army
consists. all told, OF not more than 5000
| troops. Some of these are we'll armed,
and a number have been trained by the
American officers who came over here to