The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-20


 cling over the country. One such case was that of MT. A. R. Weigall, an Aus tralian mining engineer, who had his wife with him. The soldiers insulted the latter and Weigall narrowly escaped be- ing shot The treatment of Mrs. Weigall was barbarous. The Japanese excuse this, however, by saying that Weigall refused to give information about him self to the soldiers. When they asked him how old he was he said, "One hun dred and ten,' and he claimed that his name was King Edward the Sixth and that he lived in Buckingham palace. Sim liar answers given to a company of our troops in the Philippines would not lead to good treatment although none of them would commit the barbarty and inde- cencies performed by this Japanese squad.
 coreans Against coreans.
 It is also claimed that a great deal of the fighting is a matter of private war fare between the Coreans. There are no end of feuds among these people and the average native will do anything to bring about the death of those aganist whom he has a personal grudge. The Japanese do not understand the Corean language and they have to rely upon the natives as spies and interpreters. Such men point out those whom they hate as insurgents and as a result have them killed. The Japanese have taken many of the old Corean soldiers into their police force and are using them as gensd-armes throughout the country. Such Coreans are much more cruel than the Japanese themselves and they are believed to be responsible for large proportion of at- tacks upon the so-called insurgents.
 The Country Unsafe.
 With conditions like these, the country is unsafe for foreigners when trav- Icing without some kind of protection The Corean people believe in the mission aries and the rebels respect them, but many of the bands are ignorant to an ex- treme and at a distance they cannot tell the difference between a Japanese and a European. Many Japanese dress in European clothes, and the rebels are prone to think any man so dressed a Japanese and to shoot him on sight. Not long ago, MT. Erdman, a Presbyterian missionary at Taiku, about one hundred miles north of Fusan, went on a trip over the country. He had on a khaki suit and khaki is the color worn by the Japanese soldiers when in the field As a result, he was taken for a Japanese and narrowly escaped with his life The rebels who captured him insisted he was lying when he told them he was a missionary and an American. It was only his fair hair and blue eyes that enabled him to hold them back until some more intelligent Coreans arrived and convinced his captors that he was speaking the truth. Another missionary who was travelling in black clothes was also attacked and had a narrow escape.
 The Rebels and Our Consul General.
 Some of these Emp Yungs operate in the mountains, not far from the capital and pleasure parties from Seoul are often in danger. A few months ago MT. Thomas Summons, the American consul general, took a picnic trip with his wife and son into the mountains near here They went in chairs and jinrinkishas and the son, who is now a student in liar yard university, led the procession. He was dressed in khaki, and @ band of five rebels caught sight of him. They lev eled their guns and ordered the party to stop. Mrs. Summons had a bunch of flowers in her hands and she waved these at them, supposing them friendly Coreans. In the meantime the consul general came up, and it was only with difficulty that he was able to show the men that they were Americans and to keep them from firing. Had these Emp Yungs done as many of their fellows fre- quently do, that is, shoot on sight, the boy would have been killed.
 The Coreans and the United States.
 This attack upon the consul general had nothing whatever to do with the feeling which many patriotic Coreans now hold in regard to our country Until the present they have always looked upon us as their best friend among the nations. It was our government which made the first treaty that opened their land to the world. This was in 1882 when Commodore Shufeldt came. here with a fleet and had conference with the King. In this treaty 1t was stated that if other powers dealt unjustly or oppressively with Corea that the United States would in- terfere and try to bring about an amcable arrangement. The Coreans construed this as meaning that we would support them against any other nation in preserving their independence. Before the Emperor was deposed he sent commissioners to America, asking our aid against the Jap anese, and the commissioners were not received Many of the people look upon this as a breach of international faith and feel that we have sold them out to Japan.
 It was this that largely caused the as sassination of Stevens. He was an Amer ican In the employ of the Japanese. and was then on his way to Washington. as they thought, to put another nail in Corea's coffin. They were woefully mis- taken, for Stevens, like his master, Prince Ito, was one of the best friends that the Corean people have ever had, and
 
 ence under the protection of Japan.
 In understand that the recent visit>of our fleet to Japan was another thorn la the flesh of Corea, as in that act we seemed to have allied ourselves with their enemy. The first report of the fleet which was distributed over Corea was that 1t was coming to recapture this country and put the retired emperor back on his throne as well as to conoller la pan. Another story published last fall was that 5000 Americans were coming to Corea to spy out the land, and prepare the way for big force which should pun ish Japan. This, when sifted down. proved to be the small company of men and women who have since arrived from England to organize a Salvation Army movement to Corea.
 Coreans Must Stay at Home. Notwithstanding this feeling, many Co., reans would now like to go to America. and they bitterly resent the provisions of | the Japanese which prevent their leaving | the country. They are not allowed to | sail for the United States from any of the | Corean ports, and if they should go to China they would be kept from sailing | to America via Shanghai. Some of the | people want to go just because they | cannot. One such came to one of our | missionaries the other day and asked | him to arrange some way for him to get | out of the country. He said: Tt is the | strangest thing that I never wanted to | visit America before, but now that can | not I am crazy to go." I believe this policy Is mistake on the l part of the Japanese. They should allow | 4t r,- fn h,