The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-07-12
KOREA'S TRAGEDY.
BY WILLIAM 7 ELLIS,
Personal Representative, the PhiladeIphia Press

elers seem TO be far less welcorrn n
this picturesque country since japan
gained control than they are in Ia-
pan itselD. is such as 10 afford the
best material for new Zola TO arise
and startle civilization with a "J'ac-
cuse!' For instance. it is undeni-
able that up north the military
whether officially or unofficially
matters not-quartered their female
camp followers upon the natives with
such scandalous results that the
church officials compelled the Korean
Christians TO abandon their homes
rather than to endure and witness
the demoralizing use that was being
made of them.
Everybody knows that the Japan
ese have put into high places some
Of the worst rascals in that choice
collection OF srperlatiye rogues, the
Korean offlceholders, thus making
ludicrous her pretense of reform"
While | was in Korea the story
was published, and later authenti-
Gated, that young Japanese had
tried to force an old Korean out Of
up his ancestral habitation. There
upon the japanese set upon him ard
beat him, tied a beam to his shoul-
ders, weighed it with stones, and
then strung him up 20 the caves Of
his dwelling, where he died in
agony. When the murdered mans
son returned and discovered the
crime, he and some friends started
in pursuit. The murderer fed across
a river; the ayenger, with a knife
in his teeth, swan after him. The
fugitive was caught and killed, and
remember that Korea is in the
Orient, with immemorial customs
the heart and liver Of the criminal
were offered as a sacrifice to the
spirit of the slain Korean.
OF course, this was wrClg-one
crime never justifies az other: Lut the
deterrent effect will doubtless be
greater than the example made of
another Japanese slayer of a Korean,
who was sentenced by the Japanese
to an imprisonment of two ears.
The instance is one of several re-
ported of late whiSl would seem to
indicate that, driven to bay, the long
submissive Koreans are desperately
refusing to play the role of dumb,
driven cattle"
VIII Koreas day ever come
again? Is Japan going to succeed
in her apparent purpose of eliminat-
ing the Koreans, as she once elimi-
mated the Anus, and as the white
men eliminated the North American
Indian? Where is help to come for
the poor Korean, who, while he lacks
the enterprise and self-confidence of
the japanese, is in certain important
respects his pronounced superior?
His present Affections, by the way,
are really waking up the Koreans
dormant qualities.
Some Koreans are looking hope
fully to the meeting of The Hague
tribunal. Others expect that Russia
when rehabilitated will make COM
mon cause with her, or that Ger
many will express her belief in the
yellow peril doctrine by coming
to the help Of Chosen. Still others,
more far-seeing, point out that ia
pans conduct in Korea, of which
China must be perfectly aware, will
prevent the Japanese from ever
getting a foothold in China, and may
eventually lead Korea's ancient suze-
rain to reclaim her former depen-
dency. Foreigners seem to think
that an enlightened and aroused
public opinion in Great Britain will
do what force of arns may not do,
for Japan cares more for the public
opinion of civilization than for any
other power. Succor for poor Korea
surely will come from some quarter,
for-t the unendurable cannot be inter-
minable.-From an article in The
Independent.