The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-21
THE KOREAN MINISTER.
AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF HIM
AND HIS FAMILY.

can Ways-SOme of the Costumes
of the Minister'S Wholesome Other
Matters of General Interest.
Washington, Feb. 2O.-The queerest as
well as the newest of the numerous lega-
tons in Washington is that from far
Korea-which latter word, by the way
you may spell with C or X, as suits
your fancy; or with equal correctness,
you may call the hermit kingdom, Kaole
or Gu aO-Hscien The first minister plen-
ipotentiary from the Land Of the Morn
ing Calm" to the United States, Mr.. Pom
Kwan Sob, came over during President
Arthur's administration and was recalled
few months ago 20 I'LL higher position
at home. Those who enjoyed the honor of
Mr.. Soh's acquaintance, speak of him as
one of the most scholarly, cultured and in
teresting foreigners whom Washington
has seen for many day. Under 35 years
of age. of splendid hight and strength, he
is a typical Tartar-of the race which has
given not only to Korea, but to China and
Japan all the great men of Oriental MIS-
tory, both ancient and modern. His long
dark, habrtually calm face might be that
of sphinx, and the steadfast black eyes
and commanding features show the men,
tai traits which make the Tartar a con-
queror and a master. With breadth of
character as well as physique, Mr.. Sob is
one of the most patriotic noblemen of the
new regime in Korea, identified with the
progressive party of his country. Several
times in course of his illustrious career he
has been forced to flee from his native
land-but he always stuck to his prnci-
pies and came off victorious in the end 1t
was mainly through his influence that the
hermit kingdom was opend a little way
TO the world. Induced by him, the new
government adopted the before unheard of
policy of building railroads from the
sea board TO the interior, of setting up tele-
graph lines, disseminating Korean pro-
ducts among other nations, and admitting
outer barbarans' to all parts of the
country. and last, but by no means least
as indicating the great change that has
come over kOrea-of establishing religious
liberty where for many centuries COnfu-
clanism had reigned supreme-Buddhism
as well as Christianity and all other forms
OF religion having previously been classed
as heathenism, too rank to be tolerated
within the borders of the kingdom. After
experiencing all the Vicissitudes which
| readers of the ARABIAN Nights" assoc
ciate with the despotic monarchies of the
| Orient, Mr.. Sob was lucky enough to save
| the life Of his King-and henceforth, dur
| ing that regime. his own life was more Sc
| cure than any other mans in the country.
| 1t happened during the riots of 1885 in the
| capital city of Seoul. The royal palace con-
| sists of a multitude of buildings covering
! an area of two square miles, enclosed
within a strong, high wall. Pom KWan Sob
| and several other ministers had taken ref
| uge in the palace when fighting ragged in
| the streets; and while the mob was bat
/ tering down the wall, intent upon murder
| ing the king, Mr.. Sob conducted that royal
! parsonage 90 little Buddhist temple in
the vicinity, where they remained in hid
/ ing together till the fuss blew oVer-for
| nobody thought of searching a shrine of
| Buddha for a Korean king, who is sup
posed to be as implacable an enemy of that
| deity as a devoted follower of COnfucius
! This service rendered the king his friend
| for life. But perhaps the queen preferred
to be a widow. AT any rate, she was
| presently persuaded that Sob had Joined
/ the Tong-Hak party in conspiring against
| her-and never before was his head in
| quite so much danger. He managed, how
| ever to elude the asSasstnS set upon his
| track and to reach the United States flag
| ship Trenton, which lay in the harbor,
and was received on board with the honor
| due to his rank During his years of ex-
| lie he sailed around the world, visited
| India, Paris. London, the United States,
| mastered several languages, studied polit-
! ical economy, and in short became the
most travelled and accomplished Korean
| on record. His successor in Washington,
| Mr.. Ye Pom Chin, is also highly edu-
| Gated man and a very handsome one, at
ter the oriental standard. Properly writ
| ten, his name is Chln Pom e Da Gam
| for in Korea names, like everything else,
| are very ceremonious affairs, governed
| by the Book of Rites. re is the ances-
| trial family name, shared in common with
| the family clan. Pom is merely his de-
| gree name denoting the nearness of his
4,
while Chin is his individual name, and Da
Gam his tide, indicating the rank of mar
| quis. Every one Of his kinsman of the
same degree removed from the aforesaid
| original ancestor is given the same cog
| nomen for one of his three names, ana
each degree has a different cognomen
ter Yes sons. though he has a dozen,
| must all have Chin as their degree name,
While ms grandsons VIII an be Poms.
| Thank heaven for plain, plebeian Smiths
| and Browns and Jones in our infant cOun-
| try! No name in all the Hermit Kingdom
is more old and honored than that of
Ambassador Ye. His father wears the
proud military insigns of two fighting
tigers on his left breast while the ann
bassador himself, being of the civil rank,
IA ia Gain' ,,t or MARQUIS. sports a
upon it,, At home Minister We is what
might be termed a landed baron, for
the old feudal system is still eXtant to a
| large degree in the Sunrise Land. He
owns immense rice fields which are cuI
tvated by the peasantry belonging to his
clan, over whose lives and destinies he
has absolute control. His wealth is es-
tmated to be somewhere in the neighbor-
hood OF 100000, which stands for more
in his country than 20000,000 in this.
Physically, Marquis Ye is almost a giant,
being six feet four inches in heeless
shoes and broad in proportion Though
finely educated in his native tongue, he
is wholly unversed i'm the ways of this
/ newer western cOuntry-haVng never be-
fore been out of his native land, which
was gray with age before our republic
/ was born. Unlike his predecessor, Mir.
Sob, he has not yet donned American
/ clothes-and when in fun robes of state
is a sight well worth beholding. The court
dress is OF heavy white silk, embroidered
all over in bewidering designs. and on
the front and back Of it two enormous
white swans embroidered in gold. AS be-
fore mentioned. the swans denote his civil
rank; were his a military title there,
| there would be two rampant tigers in
stead. But the strangest part of the cos
tune Is the tall hat. Of woven horse-hair,
with white jade buttons also marks OF
rank. on each side Of the forehead and
wide flaps, like the bows on "A Dutch bon
net. or the "binders" on the headgear Of
a horse, standing straight out above the
ears. on other state occasions he wears
a beautiful and very voluminous brocade
gown of a peculiar shade OF blue Oe-
tween electric" and robins egg'D, which
owes its peculiar tint 20 some trick of the
weavers art, known only IN Korea. 1t
also has the white swans on the back of
IL and over his ample bay window" and
the horse hair hat with the binders APP
pears TO be as indispensable to the OUTFIT
as monks coWl.
Several times In the early morning the
writer has met the Marquis We promenad-
Ing the little park near the legation on
Iowa Circle-always arrayed In an aston
ishing negligee Of green and blue brocade,