The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-12


 Useless.
 A war correspondent now at the front l sends from Seoul an interesting letter 1 under date of January 15. concerning corea, it's army. it's people, and its ways. In all the discussions about Japan and | Russia in the far east, which are oc- cupying the attention of the world, one hears no mention of the Corean army Yet the .Corean soldier is by no means a bad-looking type. There are 10000 of them in the standing army, 5000 Of them in Seoul, 5000 on the northern frontier and the rest are scattered throughout the country. They are clothed and equipped after the Japan ese fashion, in blue uniforms, boots, and canvas leggins, but have in addition large padded cotton overcoats and sheepskin collars They are well armed with 10000 of the latest pattern Japan csc rifles, 10000 Gras rifles. and an equal number of an older pattern Rus sian rife. With the exception of con- stant parades and guard work, they have had little training, however, and the officers are without military knowl- edge or experience.
 The main object of the army, which is purely voluntary, is to keep order in the country. It is, therefore. organized on the company system, each under a captain. The generals are all civilians, who are given rank through political Influence, and who not only are entire ly ignorant of military matters them selves, but keep down any of the junior officers who display zeal or professional knowledge,
 As may be imagined, the army is half-hearted sort of fconcern without any real discipline. There are only 200 cav airy altogether, mounted on the dimin- utive though hardy ponies of the coun- try, and the guns recently purchased in England have not yet been issued by the English commissioner of customs, in whose possession they still are.
 When we arrived the whole city was supposed to be in mourning for the late empress dowager, who had died some days before. Corean mourning consists in wearing a fine white material, which looks like Assam silk, over their other garments and hats Of the 5000 Core an troops quartered in the capital 1000 were on guard round the palace Night and day these wretched men stood in long gordon, shivering in the bitter cold wind, and with but short spells of relief On the occasion of some former royalty's decease, some enterprising scoundrel stole the body and held it up for ransom. As Coreans value their dead more than they dol their living, they are evidently deter mined that this shall not occur again. On January 5, however. the royal corpse was removed to another tenn porary resting place to await pro- pitious day for final interinent, and the sentries marched away.
 The management of the army, like that of the country in general. is in most hopeless way. No one else in the world but the mild and placid Corean could stand for a day the way things are done The emperor is the govern ment, and nothing can be done without him, but as he is continually busy at tending to tri1es there is no govern nlent. It is one vast system of squeeze, those temporarily in power making the most of their feeting opportunities.
 The residents of the capital appear to escape better than the unfortunate in- habitants of the rest of the country who are very heavily taxed indeed, the land tax alone being forty per cent. At the present time, on account of increas- ing war scares, the price of rice, the national food, has gone up very much and the poor people are even worse off than usual.
 The emperor is 51 years of age, one year younger than the emperor of Ja- pan. His eldest son, who should by right succeed him, is said to be half an idiot. There is another son in the palace, however who, in spite of being uneducated has the reputation of be- ing as bright as possible, and a general favorite. This may mean serious trou- ble, or even civil war, on the emper- or's death.
 It is a great pity that the govern snent should be so bad, for the Coreans are fine, manly looking race, of good physique and kindly nature. The mis- sicnaries who come in great numbers to Corea, find it a field of operations.
 There are about 4,O0O Japanese in Seoul and 1000 in Chemulpo, including about 200 soldiers, who guard the tele- graphs.
 Most of the foreign legations occupy the highest sites in the town, those of Japan and Russia in particular stand- ing on commanding positions overlook ing the palace. During the last few days guards have been sent up from the men-or-war at Chemulpo to the American, Russian and British lega- tions, and we have reason to believe that both the Russians and Japanese have respectively three ssad four ma chine guns ready to loose off into the palace, or at one another.
 Seoul is perhaps one of the most in- teresting cities in the world. It is for the most part enclosed by high wall, with four great gates, and resembles in many other ways the large cities of China. As in Peking, the palaces are enclosed by high walls, inside which the public and foreigners are not per- nitted. There is also a Corean "Tem- < pie of Heaven but on a smaller scale than in the Chinese capital.
 Not far from the river is an impos- ing looking factory, the Corean mint, where small nickel coins of low value are turned out to fake the nlaca nf