The morning times., 1895-10-14
Chaos RE|GHS IN KOREA
ESCAPE OF PRINCE PAX.
Continued from First Page.

has lived here 4 number of years. yesterday
furnished The Times with the fol 10 wing facts
concerning his native land. The queen,
whose assassination has been reported,
was for twenty years ruler OF the country
She was the enemy OF progress and devoted
to gathering MONEY frUm the people Tor the
gratlflcations OF her whinls.
She sold offices TO the highest bidder
OiIen the bio Tor goverEorship " ould be
alniOst as high as the total pay of the
position. The officials in such cases made
from the people Further the Cuepn had her
own secret Officers who went through the
country ieyying tribute and Furnishing even
by dealh any who refused to pay
BURDEN OF NISRULE
The laws Were the same that had come
down through many generations and wholly
unsuiied to modern civilization. The. bur
Gen OF such n:srule finally became too
great and the party OF progress overthrew
the government.
Prince PAX, " no had ten years before
been obliged 10 escape from the country,
because oil his OF position TO nssTule, " as
recalled from Toxic, Japan. " here he had
taken refuge He was made minister of
the interior. That was little less tnan
eighteen months ago. he at once intro
dnced series ofreforms in the laws.
lie fixed yearly allowance for the
royal family. They had been accustomed
TO Ia ke from the public treasury any money
10 be found there whenever they wanted
II. He established police system. and
He settled the relations between soldiers
and civiianS on a satisfactory basis, and
Introduced numerous reforms in the laws
Rarbarous punishmeuts were abolished
and government business generally was
made TO proceed along the lines approved
among eulighien peoples.
The queen. of course, was dissatisfied.
Her supply of money from the public trea s.
ury was limited, and her secret employees
were restrained by the police from rOibiug
citizens. But the war between China ard
Japan strengthened the refornlers, for they
took sides with Japan.
After the war Prince PAX continued his
wise administration. but the Japanese be-
gan to demand concessions. AS patriot,
newspapers began 10 attack him. The
Japanese living in Korea were especially
bitter against aim.
THE QUEENS CHANCE.
In these difficulties of the Prince PAX
was the queens opportunity to regain
power. She has, during the twenty years
of her reign, spent money lavishly and
much has gone for luxurious trapping from
foreign lands. She has had a ooterie of
favorItes, some Americans, some English,
Serplan, anu OTHER natioiidllties who have
become wealthy In supplying her demands.
These, OF course, were ready to aid her
n any possible way.
When the Japanese clamor arose against
the Prince, SaSaki, a Japanese faVcrite
got up story OF how an attempt was to
be made on the queens life. The queen
carried the report to the king and an order
was issued that the Prince be seized and
imprisoned. When he could not be found
an edict was posted that he be taken dead
or alive.
The prince, however, escaped. Since
then there has been a return to the old
conditions, against which the progressive
Koreans revolted originally. DR.. Jaisohn
said it need be no surprise If another revo-
luton had taken place. 1t would naturally
follow that Prince PAX would be recalled.
No word was received here yestpr,i ~ CON
cerning the reported assassina ton of the
queen. At the Korean legation il was
stated that a dispatch of inquiry had been
sent to Seoul and a reply was hourly ex-
pected.
PRINCE PAK'S BLOOD.
The reigning king, Chi Rec, came to the
throne as an adopted son OF his predecessor,
who was his fathers cousin. His wife is
the daughter of noble and has been the
real ruler of the country. Prince PAX is
sOnin-law OF the preceding king. His
wife is dead. Under Korean custom his
marriage made him q leading member of
royal family. Only one other takes pre-
cedence. that Is a son of the king
The present crown prince Is practically an
imbecile, but his younger brother, now about
eighteen years old, is an intelligent, pro-
gressive young man and sympathizes with
the reform party.
Prince PAX yesterday told Times re-
porter the story of his escape from Seoul.
He had been minister of the interior a year
and two months of the time acting prime
the royal decree came to his office at mid