Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-28

of Germany: NJ Yuan Sic Kivae. the Chi
nese resident and NJ. kondo Masuki, the
charge d'affairs of Japan.
The Russian even then jealousy
striving to detach Korea from China. ana
there was friction between
The First him and NJ. Yuan. The quiet
s+roL. and unobtrusive Kondo was
secretly watching the play
for supremacy between the two rivals. one
day. when De waeber had decided to have
the Korean foreign office appoint an Amer
lean as foreign adviser to the king In Rus
sian interests. 10! on that very same aay
the foreign Office proclaimed the nomiha-
ton of a Japanese candidate. 1t was a
thunderbolt from cloudless SKY II
marked the first check to Russian amoi-
lions in Korea. 1t provoked the Chino-Jap-
anese war In 1894. which resulted In wrest-
ing Korea from the lap of China and plac-
ing her in the arms of Japan 1t led 10
the present conflict for supremacy In the
east between Russia and Japan. 1t has
closed. indeed the open door to the occi-
dental
NJ. Yuan, my former friend and colleague
In Seoul commanded Chinese army in
the Boxer rebellion Gen. Yuan Sic kwai
is viceroy and successor to the late Ii
Hung Chang. Should Japan maintain her
possession of Korea, Gen. Yuan occupies
very important poSltloH tpoii iiih "io'AN
depends the maintenance of the integrity OF
China. already threatened by the japanese
colonZat ton of Chinese provinces directed
by government at Tokyo.
Korea possesses two powerful secret trade
societies. with several hundred thousand
members. These guilds, known as Pusans
and Posang, recruited the first rom
the mobiles. the latter from the coolte class
These trade guilds date from several cell
turtles before Christ and were organized to
protect the commerce of the country from
the rapacity of the military and from the
vandalism of the government itself. This
apparent contradiction in a government so
autocratic existed likewise I'm feudal Eu-
rope. Guizot, in his Historic de la Civilisa-
ton en- Europe, says: The feudal rela-
lions of lord and vasSal and free societies
| existed at the same time; they were often
| COMPOUNDED and continually changed places
| with each other"
These guilds were formed after the Chi
nese model, but have no such commercial
Importance or elegance as
Trade those in China. In Shanghai
Guilds and Canton they possess SUI
perb edihces - clubs which
serve the Chinese merchant as restaurant
Boycotting indeed, assumed to be mod
ern institution, is clearly defined in the
| book of codes of the Chinese guilds, name
| ly. lHdt uuTlHS dli
with patrons or certain houses for whom
| work is interdicted the guilds prohibit all
| work to be done for them"
| During my residence in Korea l utilized
| two months leave by undertaking an ex-
| petition from Chemulpo to Fusan and
| thence by sampan to Quelpaert Island My
object was to discover If possible. the
origin of the Korean. Quelpaert had been
the base of the armies of the great Khan
| in the thirteenth century. Quelpaert had
never been visited until 1853. Hendrix Ha-
mel, a shipwrecked sailor from the Hol-
| land ship Sparwehr, was cast ashore there.
imprisoned and finally sent to Korea
My discoveries in Quepaert were limited
| to finding that the great mountain which
| rises in the center Of the island and of
| manifest volcanic origin Is sacred to a great
] was created first. 'One day" says The
| tradition. 1.-The heights opened and three
| men appeared and stood In the presence of
| each other-Ko. Pc and Yang.
| when the newly created recovered from
| their surprise they descended the mountain
| discussing serious things.
| Arrived at the seashore. they found a
| box in which there were three beautiful
women, whom they married They re-
| turned to Halla-San. where they found.
! dropped from the clouds, animals grains,
| etc. Hence the origin of man and beast"
X X
Returning to Fusan. 1 sent my interpreter
| and cook back to Korea and proceeded by
Japanese steamer to Vladi-
Interesting vostok. From Vladvostok
Tourney. went to Guensan, whence,
| with Korean and two
| ponies, took the overland road to the capi-
tai. 1 stopped the first night at the famous
| monastery Sok-Ouang- Sa, and. resuming
| the march, visited the gold-mining regions
| and discovered the sources Of the Han
| river.
| In NV tourney over a route hitherto UNI
] Travelled by a white man I met the aborig-
| inal Korean, who in form, racial character
| isticS and tradition Is undoubtedly a red
| man, not yellow, Intimately allied to the
| races of the Arctic regions-to the Esqui-
| maux.
On my return to the capital the king in
vited me to a private audience, in which he
| renewed his previous proffer to make me
| the commander-in-chef of the Korean
army. an honor which 1 had already re-
! spectfully declined, and which was reiter-
| ated with thanks. having no desire for a
| prolonged residence in the far east.
| Commerce with Korea is a delusion. That
| the United States should have been led into
| the manifest error of setting up Korea as
| a separate nation may only be excused upon
the ground that previous administra tons
| may have adopted policy of protection TO
| Korea inspired by the personal interests of
| irresponsible clerks to whom our foreign
affairs were too often committed without
| the necessary control.
The commerce of Korea, as we'll as all
| political interest In that country for the
| occidental. has passed hopelessly into the
| hands of the oriental. The United States
| government has maintained since 1882 at
| Seoul legation at great expense, involv-
] ing the sending of war vessels to protect
| its citizens against violence. or the coIiec-
! ton of some paltry debt from an impecu-
NOUS government. When Korea is passing
| as a nation-like a ship in the night-the
| time Is appropriate to suggest that the !e-
| cation be suppressed and replaced, IL need
| be by the less expensive and more useful
! consular agency.
| CHARLES CHAILLE-LONG,
! Ex-Consul General and Secretary of Lesa-
ton to Korea.