The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1910-09-08
The End OF Korea.

| The announcement that the Korean
monarchy which has been farce for
three years, has come to an end closes
the last chapter in the history OF a
country so old that its claim TO 1900
years ofcivilization cannot be disputed.
The prophecy that was made upon
tablets of stone and set up at the gates
of Seoul generation ago is now full
filled. The Tai Won Kun, a courtier
and intriguer who later played sorry
role as traitor to his country and an
accomplice in the murder of the Queen,
| declared that the establishment OF
Diplomatic relations with foreign
countries and the opening OF Korean
ports would mean the extinction OF
| Korea by stronger power. Let
this be n solemn warning TO 10000
generations" said the Tai Won Kun,
and the tablets with the warning
stood at the gates of the walled capital
till Emperor VI Heui proclaimed a
progressive policy, opened negotia-
tions with foreign countries and de-
clared at an end the policy of exclusion
that had governed the destinies OF
| Korea for centuries one generation
has seen the prophecy indicated
The few stormy years that marked
| the beginning of the end of the reign
of VI Heui must have served to inn
press upon him the sapiency of the
Tai Won Kun. After his Queen had
met a cruel death at the hands of the
japanese and the treaties made by
Japan to preserve the integrity q
Korea had been diSregarded, the En-
peror was forced from the throne, put
under surveillance and compelled TO
witness the humiliating spectacle OF
the elevation of a mentally incompet-
ent son TO the throne. The puppet
| Emperor, who was robbed OF all power
over even the most unimportant inter-
nal affairs, served the ends of the
japanese admirably till the time came
for causing him to lay aside the scepter
The Seoul dispatches to the effect that
vi Sick willingly consented to the
| proposals for annexation made by the
| Emperor of Japan are somewhat
| amusing but also pathetic. VI Sick
was as powerless to interfere with the
course Of events as il he had been a
peasant working in a rice field, and
according to those who have had a
| personal acquaintance with him he is
hardly capable Of considering matters
Of state Understandings. There will
probably be a great many suicides in
| Korea rs n result Of the annexation
when the news that Japan has ordered
native papers not to publish finds its
way throughout the country and the
| alarmed and unorganized insurgents
will doubtless do a little damage here
and there and pay heavy penalties for
their misdceds. But the Koreans as Il
whole are without resources and the
suppression Of insurgency does not in
volve a military problem Of large pro-
portions.
| Upon sentimental grounds the pass
| ing of Korea is n rcgrettable para
graph in world history. It's great age,
and the fact that it is a land of schol-
airs which produced a literature of no
lmean pretentions when the islands
that constitute the Japanese Empire
were peopled by sayages, give it dis,
tlnction. Its people are pleasure-lov-
ing and easy going and their sociability
and hospitality have caused foreigners
, soJournng in Korea to compare then
with the Southcrncrs Of the old regime
in the United States. But worlt
that moves forward held no place
among Independent countries for :
nation that regarded the tortoise witt
vcneration as an example OF wise con
servatsm and conceived the future
, brilliant in accordance with the pos
= sibility of its measuring up TO Tho
/ standards Of n glorious past.
Had the Tai Won Kun been n great
e err prophet he could have foretold alonl
t with the tragedy Of the Hermit King
Il dom's death rs a result of the abandon
n ment Of exclusion, the futility o
i attempting TO continue that polio.
e without a navy or IN army capable O
d inspiring the respect OF foreigl
!. Powers
III Korea, which was old when the frs
d licrod ruled Jerusalem and whose hill
S are surmounted by windswept altar
y which are believed TO antedate TIL
e monuments that constitute the unsol>
n ed mystery Of the Nile Valley, perishe
,e Of dry rot. a land of impractica
y dreamers, it became land of incaI
$ ables. It's end, If pathetic, Is at leas
Ie less unfortunate than that OF king
D. doms chat met. their deaths in seas {
blood IN the Middle Ages. Nowaday