Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-02-16
THE JAPANESE IN KOREA
Englishman's View of Their 1a-
 fluencc on Hermit Race.
CONDUCT OF THE LAPS DENOUNCED

Japanese In Korea to Be Destitute
 of Moral and Intellectual Fiber. Their Mutual Aversion to Each oth- or . Great Obstacle to Assimilation. Korean Arnay of Little Use.
 MT. Angus Hamilton is g well known English traveller and writer who has been for some years the Asiatic cor respondent of the Pall Mall Gazette. He has written a book on Korea, re- gently published by the Scrtbners. which is full of information and inter- est, says the New York Herald.
 The position of Korea in regard to the disputed questions between Japan and Russia MT. Hamilton describes as a hopeless one. Unfortunately the gov ernment of Korea is powerless to pre- vent either the advance of Russia or the steady spread of Japanese infiu- ence. She possesses neither army nor navy which can be put to any prac- tical use, and she is in that position in which a country is placed when un. able to raise it's voice upon it's own be. half. The army numbers few thou. sand men, who in the last few years have been trained to the use of Euro pean weapons. They are armed with the Gras Obsolete pattern), Murata, Martini and variety of muzzle load ing Smoothbore rifles. Their shooting powers are most indifferent, and they lack, besides. the qualities of courage and discipline. There is no artillery, and the cavalry arm is confined to a few hundred men with no knowledge of horsemanship and with no idea of their weapons or their duties. At a moment of emergency the entire force of mounted and dismounted men would become utterly demoralized. There are numerous general officers, while the navy is composed of twenty three ad- mirals and one iron built coal lighter, until quite lately the property of Japanese steamship company. Korea, ill short, Is the helpless, hapless sport of Japanese caprice or Russian lust.
 MT. Hamilton describes Korea as a land of exceptional beauty. Inhabited by people whose traditions and his tory extend over period of 5000 years and subjected to kaleidoscopic changes whereby smaller tribes were absorbed 
 overthrown by stronger, Korea has gradually. evolved one kingdom, which, embracing all units under her own pro- tection, has presented to the world through centuries more or less com posite and stable authority. There can be no doubt that the whilom vassal of China, in respect of which China and Japan made war, has taken much greater strides upon the path of prog ress than her ancient neighbor and liege lord There is no question of the superiority of the conditions under which the Koreans in Seoul live over those prevailing in Picking when each city is regarded as the capital of it's country, the representative center in which all that is best and brightest cOngregates.
 Tn less than decade Korea has pro. noted works of an industrial or hu- manitarian character which China at the present time is bitterly and fatally opposing. 1t is true that the liberal tendencies of Korea have been stimu- lated by association with the Japanese Without the guiding hand of that en-
 
 would enjoy today is infinitely prob- lematical. The contact has been who'll ly beneficial. It's continuation forms the strongest guarantee of the eventual development of the resources of the kingdom.
 The great obstacle in the way of the assimilation of the two peoples is the mutual aversion they have borne to each other for centuries. That aver sion has been only increased of recent years. Nor are the Koreans to be blamed for this, MT. Hamilton assures us, considering that it Is the scum of the Japanese nation that has settled In Korea.
 Puffed up with conceit. they permit themselves to commit social and ad- ministrative excesses of the most de- testable character. Their extrava- gant arrogance blinds them to the ab- surdities and follies of their actions, making manifest the fact that their gloss of civilization is the merest ve- neer." ...
 Their conduct in Korea, Mir. Hamil- ton tells us shows them to be destitute of moral and intellectual fiber. They are debauched in business, and the prevalence of dishonorable practices in public life makes thems indifferent to private virtue. Their interpretation of the laws of their settlements. as of their own country, is corrupt. Might is right. The sense of power Is tempered neither by reason, justice nor gen. erosity. Their existence from day to day, their habits and their manners, their commercial and social degrada- tion, complete an abominable travesty of the civilization which they profess to have studied.
 Ut is intolerable that government aspiring to the dignity of a first class power should allow its settlements in friendly and foreign country to be blot upon its own prestige and dis grace to the land that harbors them.' There are some 25,OOO Japanese. in Korea, and the Japanese settlement is the curse of every treaty port in Ko- req. It is at once the center of business and the scene of uproar, riot and con-