The morning call., 1895-01-13


l have just received letters from Korea
stating that the whole country is in state
of anarchy. The Tong Haks, or rebels.
have sprung up again in different parts OF
the kingdom. The Japanese send out
| troops to subdue them, but the moment
they are conquered in one place they
spring up in another, and they honeyeomo
even the ranks of the people in Seoul.
The Kinglis said to be in great danger. and
| he fears assassination more than ever.
There are many Koreans who hate every
thing connected with japan, and as the
| King is now working in combination with
the Japanese troops he is charged by some
with selling out the country. l wrote you
some weeks ago OF my interview with him.
did not describe his palaces and his court.
II would be impossible for any one to have
the access to these buildings to-day which
had while was in Seoul.
The King of Korea does all bis work by
the electric light. He sleeps in the day.
| time, and receives all of his callers at
night. There is a wall about twenty fset
| high which runs clear around his palace
| city, and there are warehouses Oh top
| of it in which sentinels stand day and
| night. Every 300 feet along the outside
of the wall there is a little guardhouss
| about five feet square, which contains
| two armed soldiers. Each of these
] guardhouses has a we'll within it lined
with straw, ard while one soldier watches
the other curls himself up like a caterpillar
| in this we'll and goes to sleep. The SOL
| diers all sleep in their day clothes. aud
they rarely have blankets. The gates
which 60 into the palace city are guarded
| by soldiers, and there are always servants
! and officials about them. At one time the
King thought of running lot of live wires
around the palace walls. in order that any
one who attempted to climb over them
might be killed by the terrible electric
shock which would result from the contact
| The buildings 10 the Kings palace cities
(he has two in SeouD are numbered BY
hundreds. They cover many hundred
acres, and he has miles of apartments in
different parts of the grounds. He keeps
his movements secret, and only the few
est people know in which palace he sleeps
| or how long he will stay there. You can
| never tell where to find him, and it would
be almost impossible to lay plan for his
abduction. He has all the walls of his pal
ace city lighted. and when the electric
plant is in full blast every corner will be
as bright at night as it is in the daytime.
He sleeps in a room guarded by eun uchs,
and in receiving his officials thsy are re-
CURED to come into the palace during the
daytime, and they wait around until his
Majesty is ready to receive them In the
evening. As soon as it becomes dusk the
gates which enter the palace are closed
with heavy doors plated with iron. They
are locked with massive iron bars, and
the keys are then taken into the King.
1t is death to any one outside of the
gatekeeper to touch the locks, and they
are so heavy that one Of them is load
for man.
The scenes about these gates are more
gorgeous than those of the ARABIAN
Nights" They are surrounded by all the
queer characters who make up official
Korea. There are soldiers in plum-colored
pantaIoons and blue coats. There are the
Kings musicians In yellow, and there are
all sorts of gorgeous servants. dressed in
bright gowns. Men with paddles for whip
ing the people squat under the walls. their
sleeves rolled up to the shoulder and their
brawhy muscles ready for action. There
are gorgeously caparisoned ponies, who
stamp their feet and neigh. There are
leopa chairs watched by
servants in livery, awaiting the coming of
out OF their owners. who have gone in to
see the King. There are lacbeys of all
sorts, and as you look you see that the
"Black Crook" is here outdone. There
are no such gorgeous people on the planet
as these officials. Here comes one of them
on horseback. He has servant on each
side to steady him as he sits in the saddle
Another servant leads the horse, and he
fans himself as he rides through the
streets. His gown is of light blue silk,
and he looks clean enough to be eaten. l
doubt. however, whether investigation
whould show this to be the case, and it
makes me think of the young society lady
who, before going to party. yells down
to her mother as follows:
sSay, ma, shall | wash for high or a
low necked dress"
Just behind this man, looking even
more gorgeous, comes another noble riding
on monocycle. with six men pushing and
carving him. This machine runs on the
bicycle principle, and it has been In use in
Korea for ages. The peopl~, go down on
their knees when he passes by. snd no is
undoubtedly very high official indeed. He
has on official boots Of black broadcloth.
ffteen-dolar horsehair cap covers his
head, and the leopard skin, which is only
permitted TO be used by officials, covers
the back of bis chair. note that the other
officials get out of their chairs when they
meet him. This is etiquette in Korea, and
it provides that the man of low rank must
never be above a man of higher station.
As the monocycle approaches the gaudy
dude on horseback sees him. and his fan
drops in dismay. He is proud. and he
doesn't like to get Gown. but there is no
help for 1t. He is an under officer, and be
cannot tower above the man in the char.
He orders his servants to stop. They lift
him off his horse. and he walks along while
his superior rides by. As the chair comes
up, its retinue of servants howl to all to
get out of the way and to bow down be-
fore the great man they are carrying. And
they do bow and they bow quick. The
officials of Korea try not to meet each
other on the streets. because of humilia-
tions which they have to undergo of this
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