Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1905-12-27

lsE lysSH and comparatively obscure country
Is-EEnLfT TE43E as Korea might easily pass unno.
ticed. And yet tragedy is being
quietly enacted IN that unhappy little empire which
il we'll calculated to evoke the pity and indignation
Of lovers Justice and liberty. Few OF the details
are permitted to filter through the strict Japanese
censorship, buteven the soft phrases Of Oriental
diplomacy cannot disguise the main fact that Japan
has little Korea BY the throat and is choking her
into submission to the spoiation OF her liberties,
while all the great powers giving their approval,
! the United States the first OF all.
Tt is true that Japan says she is merely assuming
sprotectoraten Korea for their mutual bene-
4 fit and protection, but students Of modern history
can easily guess the rest. The opinions Of Koreans
II themselves are emphatically evidenced by the fact
that last week when the Marquis Ito arrived from
/ Japan to take charge Of the government the dis
patches told with truly Japanese 5revity that the
unhappy Korean emperor at first refused to sign
away his palace until O'Clock in the morning, he
persisted in his refusal until the Japanese gendarmes
were brought in to enforce ItO's ultimatum. What
that was can also be easily inferred by anyone who
familiar with the stern Oriental code; but wheth
ef the emperor signed the fatal paper or chose the
alternative OF the honorable death,o by olsen
bOweling himself, is left to the imagination. At all
events, no sign Of his existence has come from the
passre since thAt fateful night.
4 Litter q brief and abortiVe attempt at public pro-
test according to yesterdays cables the protesting
officials 'ssquattiDg in the court yard Of the bu
Feau OF decorations which is surrounded by Japan
ese police end infantry who patrOing the streets
with fixed bayonetsv y while sthe streets are throDg
ed with the whispering but orderly crowds, How
Oriental that 'sQuatting and Whispering" is, and
what contrast to the bloody finish OF KOrea's pro.
totypes in history, Poland and ireland. But it
must be remembered that Korea is the land Of thei
morning calm" and her people are doctrinated with
the passive fatalsm Of the Asiatics. Min Young
Whan, former Korean minister to the United States
and cousin Of the late queen seems to have been the
Eastern KosciuskO Of the occasion, but his way of
getting revenge upon his country's oppressors was
asO unique in it's Orentalism- after making his
protest and being rebuifed he committed suicide by
cutting his throat AT least it may be said for him
that his method was quite aseffectual as any at. |
tempt would have been to cut his enemies thrOats.
Thus was accomplished the quiet tragedy Of blot |
ting ont one Of the helpless little Kingdoms OF the
EARTH In doing this political murder OF an ancient
dynasty Japan is justified bv the great powers on
the modern theory Of the sshigher civilizationv +
This means, according to English logic In the case
OF the BOers that the Japanese are superior race
and can develop KOrea's resources better than the
Koreans, and therefore they have right to seize
the country and dispOseess and despoil its inhabi
tdnts Between individuals it Is admitted that such
doctrine is monstrOusly sinful but as 20 nations
especially where they are not well equipped with
Krupp guns, it Is merely carrying out the divine
purpose Of civilizng the earth.
And so poor, little Korea In no longer ssthe land
Of the morning calm Her people may protest and
hang their heads ID shame, and commit suicide II \
they will, but the enterprisiHg Japs will exploit the
country for it's hidden treasures Of god "copper" coal
and iron.