1 
 
Korea's Fight for Freedom 
 
" Mr. F. A. McKenzie has been abused in the columns of the 
 Japanese press, with a violence which, in the absence of any 
 reasoned controversy, indicated a last resource. In answer to 
 his specific charges, only one word has been uttered — • lies ! ' 
 
 " Yet these charges embrace crimes of the first magnitude — 
 murder, plunder, outrage, incendiarism, and in short all the 
 horrors that make up tyranny of the worst description. It is 
 difficult to see how Mr. McKenzie's sincerity could be called 
 into question, for he, too, like many other critics of the new 
 Administration, was once a warm friend and supporter of Japan. 
 
 " In those days, his contributions were quoted at great length 
 in the newspapers of Tokyo, while the editorial columns ex- 
 pressed their appreciation of his marked capacity. So soon, 
 however, as he found fault with the conditions prevailing in 
 Korea, he was contemptuously termed a « yellow journalist ' and 
 a « sensation monger.' " — From "Empires of the Far East" by 
 F. Lancelot Lawson. London. Grant Richards* 
 
 " Mr. McKenzie was perhaps the only foreigner outside the 
 ranks of missionaries who ever took the trouble to elude the 
 vigilance of the Japanese, escape from Seoul into the in- 
 terior, and there see with his own eyes what the Japanese were 
 really doing. And yet when men of this kind, who write of 
 things which come within scope of personal observation and 
 enquiry, have the presumption to tell the world that all is not 
 well in Korea, and that the Japanese cannot be acquitted of 
 guilt in this context, grave pundits in Tokyo, London and New 
 York gravely rebuke them for following their own senses in 
 preference to the official returns of the Residency General. It 
 is a poor joke at the best ! Nor is it the symptom of a powerful 
 cause that the failure of the Japanese authorities to * pacify ' 
 the interior is ascribed to ■ anti- Japanese ' writers like Mr. 
 McKenzie."— From "Peace and War in the Far East," by £. J. 
 Harrison. Yokohama. Kelly and Walsh. 
 
Korea's Fight for 
 Freedom 
 
 By 
 
 f. a. Mckenzie 
 
 Author of "The Tragedy of Korea," "The 
 
 Unveiled East" "Through the 
 
 Hindenburg Line" etc. 
 
 New York Chicago 
 
 Fleming H. Rcvell Company 
 
 London and Edinburgh 
 
Copyright, 1920, by 
 
 JLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 
 r> 
 
 New York : 1 58 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago : 1 7 North Wabash Ave. 
 London : 2 1 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh : 75 Princes Street 
 
Preface 
 
 THE peaceful uprising of the people of 
 Korea against Japan in the spring of 1919 
 came as a world surprise. Here was a 
 nation that had been ticketed and docketed by- 
 world statesmen as degenerate and cowardly, re- 
 vealing heroism of a very high order. 
 
 The soldier facing the enemy in the open is in- 
 spired by the atmosphere of war, and knows that 
 he has at least a fighting chance against his foe. 
 The Koreans took their stand — their women 
 and children by their side — without weapons and 
 without means of defense. They pledged them- 
 selves ahead to show no violence. They had all 
 too good reason to anticipate that their lot would 
 be the same as that of others who had preceded 
 them — torture as ingenious and varied as Torque- 
 mada and his familiars ever practiced. 
 
 They were not disappointed. They were called 
 on to endure all that they had anticipated, in good 
 measure, pressed down and running over. When 
 they were dragged to prison, others stepped into 
 their place. When these were taken, still others 
 were ready to succeed them. And more are even 
 now waiting to join in the dreadful procession, if 
 
 5 
 
 435712 
 
6" ' V ••'••• PEEFACE 
 
 the protests of the civilized world do not induce 
 Japan to call a halt. 
 
 It seems evident that either the world made a 
 mistake in its first estimate of Korean character, 
 or these people have experienced a new birth. 
 Which is the right explanation? Maybe both. 
 
 To understand what has happened, and what, as 
 I write, is still happening, one has to go back for a 
 few years. When Japan, in face of her repeated 
 pledges, annexed Korea, her statesmen adopted an 
 avowed policy of assimilation. They attempted to 
 turn the people of Korea into Japanese — an inferior 
 brand of Japanese, a serf race, speaking the lan- 
 guage and following the customs of their overlords, 
 and serving them. 
 
 To accomplish this better, the Koreans were 
 isolated, not allowed to mix freely with the outer 
 world, and deprived of liberty of speech, person 
 and press. The Japanese brought certain material 
 reforms. They forgot to supply one thing — jus- 
 tice. Men of progressive ideas were seized and im- 
 prisoned in such numbers that a new series of 
 prisons had to be built. In six years the total of 
 prisoners convicted or awaiting trial doubled. The 
 rule of the big stick was instituted, and the Japa- 
 nese police were given the right to flog without trial 
 any Korean they pleased. The bamboo was em- 
 ployed on scores of thousands of people each year, 
 employed so vigorously as to leave a train of 
 cripples and corpses behind. The old tyranny of 
 
PREFACE 7 
 
 the yang-ban was replaced by a more terrible, be- 
 cause more scientifically cruel, tyranny of an un- 
 controlled police. 
 
 The Japanese struck an unexpected strain of 
 hardness in the Korean character. They found, 
 underneath the surface apathy, a spirit as deter- 
 mined as their own. They succeeded, not in as- 
 similating the people, but in reviving their sense of 
 nationality. 
 
 Before Japan acquired the country, large num- 
 bers of Koreans had adopted Christianity. Under 
 the influence of the teachers from America, they 
 became clean in person, they brought their women 
 out from the " anpang " (zenana) into the light of 
 day, and they absorbed Western ideas and ideals. 
 The mission schools taught modern history, with 
 its tales of the heroes and heroines of liberty, 
 women like Joan of Arc, men like Hampden and 
 George Washington. And the missionaries circu- 
 lated and taught the Bible — the most dynamic and 
 disturbing book in the world. When a people 
 saturated in the Bible comes into touch with 
 tyranny, either one of two things happens, the peo- 
 ple are exterminated or tyranny ceases. 
 
 The Japanese realized their danger. They tried, 
 in vain, to bring the Churches under Japanese con- 
 trol. They confiscated or forbade missionary text- 
 books, substituting their own. Failing to win the 
 support of the Christians, they instituted a wide- 
 spread persecution of the Christian leaders of the 
 north. Many were arrested and tortured on 
 
8 PEEFACB 
 
 charges which the Japanese Courts themselves 
 afterwards found to be false. The Koreans en- 
 dured until they could endure no more. Not the 
 Christians alone, but men of all faiths and all classes 
 acted as one. The story of their great protest, of 
 what led up to it, and the way in which it was met, 
 is told in this book. 
 
 To the outsider, one of the most repulsive 
 features of the Japanese method of government 
 of Korea is the wholesale torture of untried 
 prisoners, particularly political prisoners. Were 
 this torture an isolated occurrence, I would not 
 mention it. There are always occasional men who, 
 invested with authority and not properly controlled, 
 abuse their position. But here torture is employed 
 in many centres and on thousands of people. The 
 Imperial Japanese Government, while enacting 
 paper regulations against the employment of tor- 
 ture, in effect condones it. When details of the 
 inhuman treatment of Christian Korean prisoners 
 have been given in open court, and the victims have 
 been found innocent, the higher authorities have 
 taken no steps to bring the torturers to justice. 
 
 The forms of torture freely employed include, 
 among others : — 
 
 1. The stripping, beating, kicking, flogging, and 
 outraging of schoolgirls and young women. 
 
 2. Flogging schoolboys to death. 
 
 3. Burning — the burning of young girls by 
 pressing lighted cigarettes against their tender 
 
PEEFACE 9 
 
 parts, and the burning of men, women and children 
 by searing their bodies with hot irons. 
 
 4. Stringing men up by their thumbs, beating 
 them with bamboos and iron rods until unconscious, 
 restoring them and repeating the process, some- 
 times several times in one day, sometimes until 
 death. 
 
 5. Contraction — tying men up in such fashion 
 as to cause intense suffering. 
 
 6. Confinement for long periods under tortur- 
 ing conditions, as, e. g., where men and women are 
 packed so tightly in a room that they cannot lie or 
 sit down for days at a stretch. 
 
 In the latter chapters of this book I supply details 
 of many cases where such methods have been em- 
 ployed. Where it can safely be done, I give 
 full names and places. In many instances this is 
 impossible, for it would expose the victims to fur- 
 ther ill treatment. Sworn statements have been 
 made before the American Consular authorities 
 covering many of the worst events that followed 
 the 1919 uprising. These are now, I understand, 
 with the State Department at Washington. It is 
 to be hoped that in due course they will be pub- 
 lished in full. 
 
 When my book, " The Tragedy of Korea," was 
 published in 1908, it seemed a thankless and hope- 
 less task to plead for a stricken and forsaken na- 
 tion. The book, however, aroused a wide-spread 
 and growing interest. It has been more widely 
 
10 PEEFACE 
 
 quoted and discussed in 1919 than in any previous 
 year. Lawyers have argued over it in open court; 
 statesmen have debated parts of it in secret con- 
 ferences, Senates and Parliaments. At a famous 
 political trial, one question was put to the prisoner, 
 "Have you read the 'Tragedy of Korea' ?" It 
 has been translated into Chinese. 
 
 At first I was accused of exaggeration and worse. 
 Subsequent events have amply borne out my state- 
 ments and warnings. The book has been for a 
 long time out of print, and even second-hand copies 
 have been difficult to obtain. I was strongly urged 
 to publish a new edition, bringing my narrative up 
 to date, but I found that it would be better to write 
 a new book, including in it, however, some of the 
 most debated passages and chapters of the old. 
 This I have done. 
 
 Some critics have sought to charge me with be- 
 ing " anti-Japanese." No man has written more 
 appreciatively of certain phases of Japanese char- 
 acter and accomplishments than myself. My per- 
 sonal relations with the Japanese, more especially 
 with the Japanese Army, left me with no sense of 
 personal grievance but with many pleasant and 
 cordial memories. My Japanese friends were good 
 enough to say, in the old days, that these agreeable 
 recollections were mutual. 
 
 I have long been convinced, however, that the 
 policy of Imperial expansion adopted by Japan, and 
 the means employed in advancing it, are a grave 
 
PEEFACE 11 
 
 menace to her own permanent well-being and to 
 the future peace of the world. I am further con- 
 vinced that the militarist party really controls 
 Japanese policy, and that temporary modifications 
 which have been recently announced do not imply 
 any essential change of national plans and am- 
 bitions. If to believe and to proclaim this is " anti- 
 Japanese," then I plead guilty to the charge. I 
 share my guilt with many loyal and patriotic Japa- 
 nese subjects, who see, as I see, the perils ahead. 
 
 In this book I describe the struggle of an ancient 
 people towards liberty. I tell of a Mongol nation, 
 roughly awakened from its long sleep, under con- 
 ditions of tragic terror, that has seized hold of and 
 is clinging fast to, things vital to civilization as we 
 see it, freedom and free faith, the honour of their 
 women, the development of their own souls. 
 
 I plead for Freedom and Justice. Will the world 
 hear? 
 
 F. A. McKenzie. 
 
Contents 
 
 I. Opening the Oyster 
 
 II. Japan Makes a False Move 
 
 III. The Murder of the Queen 
 
 IV. The Independence Club 
 
 V. The New Era 
 
 VI. The Rule of Prince Ito 
 
 VII. The Abdication of Yi Hyeung 
 
 VIII. A Journey to the " Righteous Army ' 
 
 IX. With the Rebels .... 
 
 X. The Last Days of the Korean Empire 
 XL " I Will Whip You with Scorpions " 
 
 XII. The Missionaries .... 
 
 XIII. Torture a la Mode 
 
 XIV. The Independence Movement 
 
 XV. The People Speak — The Tyrants 
 
 Answer 
 
 XVI. The Reign of Terror in Pyeng-yang 
 
 XVI I. Girl Martyrs for Liberty . 
 
 XVIII. World Reactions .... 
 
 XIX. What Can We Do? . 
 
 IS 
 
 28 
 42 
 60 
 
 79 
 104 
 121 
 132 
 
 153 
 171 
 182 
 204 
 218 
 239 
 
 251 
 276 
 290 
 303 
 315 
 
 13 
 
OPENING THE OYSTER 
 
 UP to the last quarter of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, Korea refused all intercourse with 
 foreign nations. Peaceful ships that ap- 
 proached its uncharted and unlit shores were fired 
 upon. Its only land approach, from the north, 
 was bounded by an almost inaccessible mountain 
 and forest region, and by a devastated " No Man's 
 Land," infested by bandits and river pirates. 
 When outside Governments made friendly ap- 
 proaches, and offered to show Korea the wonders 
 of modern civilization, they received the haughty 
 reply that Korea was quite satisfied with its own 
 civilization, which had endured for four thousand 
 years. 
 
 Even Korea, however, could not keep the world 
 entirely in the dark about it. Chinese sources told 
 something of its history. Its people were the 
 descendants of Ki-tzse, a famous Chinese sage and 
 statesman who, eleven hundred years before Christ, 
 moved with his tribesmen over the river Yalu be- 
 cause he would not recognize or submit to a new 
 dynasty that had usurped power in China. His 
 followers doubtless absorbed and were influenced 
 by still older settlers in Korea. The result was a 
 
 x 5 
 
' <L 
 
 16 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 people with strong national characteristics, differ- 
 ent and distinct from the Chinese on the one side 
 and the Japanese on the other. 
 
 We knew that, as Korea obtained much of its 
 early knowledge from China, so it gave the younger 
 nation of Japan its learning and industries. Its 
 people reached a high stage of culture, and all 
 records indicate that in the days when the early 
 Briton painted himself with woad and when Rome 
 was at her prime, Korea was a powerful, orderly 
 and civilized kingdom. Unhappily it was placed as 
 a buffer between two states, China, ready to absorb 
 it, and Japan, keen to conquer its people as a pre- 
 liminary to triumph over China. 
 
 In the course of centuries, it became an inbred 
 tradition with the Japanese that they must seize 
 Korea. Hideyoshi, the famous Japanese Regent, 
 made a tremendous effort in 1582. _ Three hundred 
 thousand troops swept over Korea, capturing city 
 after city, and driving the Korean forces to the 
 north. Korea appealed to China for aid, and after 
 terrible fighting, the Japanese were driven back. 
 They left a Korea in ruins, carrying off everything 
 they could, and destroying all they could not carry 
 off. They kidnapped, among others, the skilled 
 workmen of Korea, and made them remain in Japan 
 and carry on their industries there. 
 
 Hideyoshi's invasion is of more than historic in- 
 terest. Korea has never recovered the damage 
 then done. The Japanese desire for Korea, 
 thwarted for the moment, smouldered, waiting for 
 
OPENING THE OYSTEE 17 
 
 the moment to burst afresh into flame. The mem- 
 ories of their terrible sufferings at the hands of the 
 Japanese ground into the Koreans a hatred of their 
 neighbour, handed down undiminished from gen- 
 eration to generation, to this day. 
 
 Korea might have recovered, but for another and 
 even more serious handicap. A new dynasty, the 
 House of Yi, succeeded to the Korean throne over 
 five centuries ago, and established a rule fatal to all 
 progress. The King was everything, and the 
 nation lived solely for him. No man was allowed 
 to become too rich or powerful. There must be 
 no great nobles to come together and oppose these 
 kings as the Norman Barons fought and checked 
 the Norman Kings of England. 
 
 No man was allowed to build a house beyond a 
 certain size, save the King. The only way to 
 wealth or power was by enlisting in the King's 
 service. The King's governors were free to plunder 
 as they would, and even the village magistrate, 
 representing the King, could freely work his will 
 on those under him. The King had his eyes every- 
 where. His spies were all over the land. Let 
 yang-ban (official or noble) however high show 
 unhealthy ambition or seek to conceal anything 
 from the royal knowledge and he would be called 
 to Court and broken in an hour, and would count 
 himself fortunate if he escaped with his life. 
 
 The Korean people are eminently pacific. Up to 
 a point, they endure hard things uncomplainingly. 
 It would have been better for them had they not 
 
18 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 suffered wrongs so tamely. The Yi method of 
 government killed ambition — except for the King's 
 service — killed enterprise and killed progress. The 
 aim of the business man and the farmer was to 
 escape notice and live quietly. 
 
 Foreigners attempted, time after time, to make 
 their way into the country. French Catholic 
 priests, as far back as the end of the eighteenth 
 century, smuggled themselves in. Despite torture 
 and death, they kept on, until the great persecution 
 of 1866 wiped them and their converts out. This 
 persecution arose because of fear of foreign aggres- 
 sion. 
 
 A Russian war vessel appeared off Broughton's 
 Bay, demanding on behalf of Russians the right of 
 commerce. The King at this time was a minor, 
 adopted by the late King. His father, the Tai Won 
 Kun, or Regent, ruled in his stead. He was a man 
 of great force of character and no scruples. He slew 
 in wholesale fashion those who dared oppose him. 
 He had the idea that the Christians favoured the 
 coming of the foreigner and so he turned his wrath 
 on them. The native Catholics were wiped out, 
 under every possible circumstance of brutality, and 
 with them perished a number of French Catholic 
 priests. By one of those contradictions which are 
 constantly happening in real life, the crew of an 
 American steamer, the Surprise, who were wrecked 
 off the coast of Whang-hai that year were treated 
 with all possible honour and consideration, and 
 were returned home, through Manchuria, officials 
 
OPENING THE OYSTER 19 
 
 conducting them and the people coming out to 
 greet them as they travelled through the land. 
 
 The French Minister at Peking determined on 
 revenge for the death of the priests. A strong ex- 
 pedition was sent to the Han River, and attacked 
 the forts on the Kangwha Island. The Korean 
 troops met them bravely, and although the French 
 obtained a temporary success, thanks to their 
 modern weapons, they were in the end forced to 
 retire. 
 
 An American ship, the General Sherman, set out 
 for Korea in 1866, sailing from Tientsin for the 
 purpose, it was rumoured, of plundering the royal 
 tombs at Pyeng-yang. It entered the Tai-tong 
 *River, where it was ordered to stop. A fight 
 opened between it and the Koreans, the latter in 
 their dragon cloud armour, supposed to be im- 
 pervious to bullets, sending their fire arrows against 
 the invaders. The captain, not knowing the 
 soundings of the river, ran his ship ashore. The 
 Koreans sent fire boats drifting down the river to- 
 wards the American ship. One of them set the 
 General Sherman in flames. Those of the crew who 
 were not burned on the spot were soon slaughtered 
 by the triumphant Korean soldiers. A more dis- 
 reputable expedition, headed by a German Jew, 
 Ernest Oppert and an American called Jenkins, left 
 Shanghai in the following year, with a strong fight- 
 ing crew of Chinese and Malays, and with a French 
 missionary priest, M. Feron, as guide. They 
 landed, and actually succeeded in reaching the royal 
 
20 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 <j 
 
 tombs near the capital. Their shovels were use- 
 less, however, to remove the immense stones over 
 the graves. A heavy fog enabled them to carry on 
 their work for a time undisturbed. Soon an angry 
 crowd gathered, and they had to return to their 
 ship, the China, They were fortunate to escape 
 before the Korean troops came up. The American 
 consular authorities in Shanghai placed Jenkins on 
 trial, but there was not enough evidence to convict 
 him. 
 
 The killing of the crew of the General Sherman 
 brought the American Government into action. 
 Captain Shufeldt, commander of the Wachusset, 
 was ordered to go to Korea and obtain redress. 
 He reached the mouth of the Han River, and sent a 
 message to the King, asking an explanation of the 
 matter. He had to retire, owing to weather con- 
 ditions, before the reply arrived. The Korean 
 reply, when eventually delivered, was in effect a 
 plea of justification. The Americans, however, 
 determined to inflict punishment, and a fleet was 
 sent to destroy the forts on the Han River. 
 
 The American ships, the Monaeacy and the Palos 
 bombarded the forts. The Korean brass guns, of 
 one and one-half inch bore, and their thirty pound- 
 ers, could do nothing against the American 
 howitzers, throwing eight and ten inch shells. The 
 American Marines and sailors landed, and in cap- 
 turing a hill fort, had a short, hot hand-to-hand 
 battle with the defenders. The Koreans fought 
 desperately, picking up handfuls of dust to fling in 
 
OPENING THE OYSTER 21 
 
 the eyes of the Americans when they had nothing 
 else to fight with. Refusing to surrender they were 
 wiped out. Having destroyed the forts and killed 
 a number of the soldiers, there was nothing for the 
 Americans to do but to retire. The " gobs " were 
 the first to admit the real courage of the Korean 
 soldiers. 
 
 Japan, which herself after considerable internal 
 trouble, had accepted the coming of the Westerner 
 as inevitable, tried on several occasions to renew 
 relations with Korea. At first she was repulsed. 
 In 1876 a Japanese ship, approaching the Korean 
 coast, was fired on, as the Japanese a generation 
 before had fired on foreign ships approaching their 
 shore. There was a furious demand all over the 
 country for revenge. Ito and other leaders with 
 cool heads resisted the demand, but took such steps 
 that Korea was compelled to conclude a treaty 
 opening several ports to Japanese trade and giving 
 Japan the right to send a minister to Seoul, the 
 capital. The first clause of the first article of the 
 treaty was in itself a warning of future trouble. 
 " Chosen (Korea) being an independent state 
 enjoys the same sovereign rights as does Japan." 
 In other words Korea was virtually made to disown 
 the slight Chinese protectorate which had been ex- 
 ercised for centuries. 
 
 The Chinese statesmen in Peking watched this 
 undisturbed. They despised the Japanese too 
 much to fear them, little dreaming that this small 
 nation was within less than twenty years to humble 
 
22 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 them in the dust. Their real fear at this time was 
 not Japan but Russia. Russia was stretching forth 
 throughout Asia, and it looked as though she would 
 try to seize Korea itself. And so Li Hung-chang 
 advised the Korean rulers to guard themselves. 
 " You must open your doors to other nations in 
 order to keep out Russia," he told them. At the 
 same time it was intimated to Ministers in Peking, 
 particularly to the American Minister, that if he 
 would approach the Koreans, they would be willing 
 to listen. Commodore Shufeldt was made Ameri- 
 can Envoy, and an American-Korean Treaty was 
 signed at Gensan on May 22, 1882. It was, truth 
 to tell, a somewhat amateurish production, and had 
 to be amended before it was finally ratified. It 
 provided for the appointment of diplomatic and 
 Consular officials, and for the opening of the 
 country to commerce. A treaty with Britain was 
 concluded in the following year, and other nations 
 followed. 
 
 One clause in the American Treaty was after- 
 wards regarded by the Korean ruler as the sheet 
 anchor of his safety, until storm came and it was 
 found that the sheet anchor did not hold. 
 
 There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between 
 the President of the United States and the King of Chosen 
 and the citizens and subjects of their respective Govern- 
 ments. If other powers deal unjustly or oppressively 
 with either Government, the other will exert their good 
 offices, on being informed of the case, to bring about an 
 amicable arrangement, thus showing their friendly feel- 
 ings. 
 
OPENING THE OYSTER 23 
 
 All of the treaties provided for extra-territoriality 
 in Korea, that is to say that the foreigners charged 
 with any offence there should be tried not by the Ko- 
 rean Courts but by their own, and punished by them. 
 
 Groups of adventurous foreigners soon entered 
 the country. Foreign ministers and their staffs 
 arrived first. Missionaries, concession hunters, 
 traders and commercial travellers followed. 
 
 They found Seoul, the capital, beautifully placed 
 in a valley surrounded by hills, a city of royal 
 palaces and one-storied, mud-walled houses, roofed 
 with thatch — a city guarded by great walls. States- 
 men and nobles and generals, always surrounded 
 by numerous retinues in glorious attire, ambled 
 through the narrow streets in dignified procession. 
 Closed palanquins, carried by sturdy bearers, bore 
 yet other dignitaries. 
 
 The life of the city revolved round the King's 
 Court, with its four thousand retainers, eunuchs, 
 sorcerers, blind diviners, politicians and place hunt- 
 ers. The most prominent industry — outside of 
 politics — was the making of brass ware, particu- 
 larly of making fine brass mounted chests. The 
 average citizen dressed in long flowing white robes, 
 with a high, broad-brimmed, black gauze hat. 
 Hundreds of women were ever busy at the river 
 bank washing these white garments. 
 
 Women of good family remained at home, except 
 for one hour after dark, when the men retired from 
 the streets and the women came out. Working 
 women went to and fro, with their faces shielded 
 
24 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FEEEDOM 
 
 by green jackets thrown over their heads. Their 
 usual dress was a white skirt coming high up and 
 a very short jacket. The breasts and the flesh 
 immediately below the breasts were often freely 
 displayed. Fishing and farming supported ninety 
 per cent, of the population, and the Korean farmer 
 was an expert. At sunset the gates of Seoul were 
 closed, and belated wayfarers refused admission 
 until morning. But there was no difficulty in 
 climbing over the city walls. That was typical. 
 Signal fires at night on the hills proclaimed that 
 all was well. 
 
 The Koreans were mild, good natured, and full 
 of contradictory characteristics. Despite their 
 usual good nature, they were capable of great 
 bursts of passion, particularly over public affairs. 
 They often looked dirty, because their white 
 clothes soiled easily; yet they probably spent more 
 time and money over external cleanliness than any 
 other Asiatic people. At first, they gave an im- 
 pression of laziness. The visitor would note them 
 sleeping in the streets of the cities at noon. But 
 Europeans soon found that Korean labourers, 
 properly handled, were capable of great effort. 
 And young men of the cultured classes amazed 
 their foreign teachers by the quickness with which 
 they absorbed Western learning. 
 
 The land was torn, at the time of the entry of the 
 foreigners, by the rivalry of two great families — 
 the Yi's, the blood relatives of the King, and the 
 Mins, the family of the Queen. The ex-Regent 
 
OPENING THE OYSTER T 25 
 
 was leader of the Yi's. He had exercised absolute 
 power for many years during the King's minority, 
 and attempted to retain power even after he ceased 
 to be Regent. But he reckoned without the Queen. 
 She was as ambitious as the Regent. The birth of a 
 son greatly improved and strengthened her author- 
 ity, and she gradually edged the Regent's party 
 out of high office. Her brother, Min Yeung-ho, 
 became Prime Minister; her nephew, Min Yung-ik, 
 was sent as Ambassador to the United States. The 
 Regent was anti-foreign; the Queen advocated the 
 admission of foreigners. The Regent tried to 
 strengthen his hold by a very vigorous policy of 
 •murder, attempting the death of the Queen and her 
 relatives. One little incident was an effort to blow 
 up the Queen. But Queen Min was triumphant 
 every time. The King, usually weak and easily 
 moved, really loved the Queen, refused to be in- 
 fluenced away from her, and was dominated by her 
 strong character. 
 
 In the summer of 1881 there was a famine in the 
 land. The Regent's agents were busy every- 
 where whispering that the spirits were angry with 
 the nation for admitting the foreigner, and that 
 Queen Min had brought the wrath of the gods on 
 them. The National Treasury failed, and many 
 of the King's soldiers and retainers were ready for 
 any trouble. A great mob gathered in the streets. 
 It first attacked and murdered the King's Minis- 
 ters, and destroyed their houses. Then it turned 
 against the King's palace. 
 
26 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 Word came to the Queen's quarters that the 
 rioters were hammering at the gates and would 
 soon be on her. The palace guards had weakened, 
 and some had even joined the people. Queen Min 
 was calm and collected. She quickly changed 
 clothes with one of her serving women, who some- 
 what resembled her in appearance. The serving 
 woman, dressed in the robes of the Queen, was 
 given a draught of poison and died. 
 
 The Queen hurried out- through a side way, in 
 peasant woman's dress, guarded by a water carrier, 
 Yi Yung-ik, who for his services that day rose till 
 he finally became Prime Minister of the land. 
 When the crowd broke into the Queen's private 
 apartments, they were shown the corpse and told 
 that it was the Queen, who had died rather than 
 face them. 
 
 The crowd swept on and attacked the Japanese 
 Legation. The Minister, Hanabusa, and his guard, 
 with all the civilians who could reach the place — 
 the rest were murdered — fought bravely, keeping 
 the mob back until the Legation building was set 
 afire. Then they battled their way through the 
 city to the coast. The survivors — twenty-six out 
 of forty — set to sea in a junk. They were picked 
 up at sea by a British survey ship, the Flying Fish, 
 and conveyed to Nagasaki. 
 
 There was, naturally, intense anger in Japan over 
 this incident, and loud demands for war. A little 
 more than three weeks after, Hanabusa returned 
 to Seoul with a strong military escort He de- 
 
OPENING THE OYSTER 27 
 
 manded and obtained punishment of the murderers, 
 the honourable burial of the Japanese dead, an 
 indemnity of 400,000 yen, and further privileges in 
 trade for the Japanese. 
 
 Meanwhile China, Korea's usually apathetic 
 suzerain power, took action. Li Hung-chang sent 
 4,000 troops to Seoul to maintain order. The 
 Regent, now humble and conciliatory, attempted to 
 put blame for the outbreak on others. But, that 
 did not save him. The Chinese, with elaborate 
 courtesy, invited him to a banquet and to inspect 
 their ships. There was one ship, in particular, to 
 which they called his honourable attention. They 
 begged him to go aboard and note the wonders of 
 the apartments below. The Regent went. Once 
 below, he found the door shut, and could hear the 
 ropes being thrown off as the ship hastily departed. 
 It was in vain for him to call for his attendants 
 and warriors waiting on the shore. 
 
 They took him to China, and Li Hung-chang 
 sent him into imprisonment and exile for three 
 years, until it was deemed safe to allow him to 
 return. 
 
 
II 
 
 JAPAN MAKES A FALSE MOVE 
 
 FOR hundreds of years it was the ambition of 
 Japan to replace China as the Protector of 
 Korea. It was the more mortifying, there- 
 fore, that the Hanabusa incident served to 
 strengthen China's authority. It gave Peking an 
 excuse to despatch and maintain a considerable 
 force at Seoul, for the first time for hundreds of 
 years. 
 
 The Japanese tried to turn the affair to their ad- 
 vantage by demanding still more concessions. The 
 Korean rulers found it hard to refuse these de- 
 termined little men. So they adopted a policy of 
 procrastination, arguing endlessly. Now Japan 
 was in a hurry, and could not wait. 
 
 The Japanese Minister at Seoul at this time was 
 Takezoi, timid and hesitating constitutionally, 
 but, like many timid folk, acting at times with great 
 rashness. Under him was a subordinate of stronger 
 and rougher type, Shumamura, Secretary to the 
 Legation. Shumamura kept in touch with a group 
 of Cabinet Ministers who had been to Japan and 
 regarded Japan as their model. They mourned to- 
 gether over the growth of Chinese power, and 
 
 28 
 
JAPAN MAKES A FALSE MOVE 29 
 
 agreed that it was threatening the independence of 
 the country. They repeated the rumour that a 
 secret treaty had actually been signed by the King, 
 recognizing Chinese supremacy in more binding 
 form than ever before. They felt that the Queen 
 was against them. Her nephew, Min Yung-ik, had 
 been on their side when he returned from America. 
 Now, under her influence, he had taken the other 
 side. 
 
 Kim Ok-kiun, leader of the malcontents, was an 
 ambitious and restless politician, eager to have the 
 control of money. One of his chief supporters was 
 Pak Yung-hyo, relative of the King, twenty-three 
 years old, and a sincere reformer. Hong Yung-sik, 
 keen on foreign ways, was a third. He was hun- 
 gry for power. He was the new Postmaster Gen- 
 eral, and a building now being erected in Seoul for 
 a new post-office was to mark the entry of Korea 
 into the world's postal service. So Kwang-pom, 
 another Minister, was working with them. 
 
 Kim Ok-kiun and Shumamura had long confer- 
 ences. They discussed ways and means. The re- 
 formers were to overthrow the reactionaries in the 
 Cabinet by the only possible way, killing them ; they 
 were then in the King's name to grant Japan fur- 
 ther commercial concessions, and the Japanese 
 were to raise a considerable loan which should be 
 handed over to Kim for necessary purposes. 
 
 Takezoi was on a visit to Tokyo when his 
 deputy and the Korean came to an understanding. 
 They were rather anxious to have the whole thing 
 
30 KOREANS FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 through before his return, for they knew, as every 
 one knew, that Takezoi was not the best man for 
 a crisis. But when the Minister returned from 
 Tokyo there was none so bold as he. He boasted 
 to his friends that Japan had at last resolved to 
 make war on China, and that every Chinaman 
 would soon be driven out of the land. He received 
 Kim and heard of his plans with satisfaction. 
 There would be no trouble about money. A few 
 Japanese in Seoul itself would arrange all that was 
 necessary. Let the thing be done quickly. 
 
 It had been customary for the Legations only to 
 drill their soldiers in daytime, and to inform the 
 Government before they were taken out to public 
 places. But one night Takezoi had his Japanese 
 troops turned out, marched up the great hill, 
 Namzan, commanding the city, and drilled there. 
 When asked why he did it, he cheerfully replied 
 that he had just made an experiment to see how 
 far he could startle the Chinese and Koreans; and 
 he was quite satisfied with the result. 
 
 He sought an interview with the King. He had 
 brought back the 400,000 yen which Japan had 
 exacted as indemnity for the Hanabusa outrage. 
 Japan desired Korea's friendship, he declared, not 
 her money. He also brought a stand of Japanese- 
 made rifles, a gift from the Emperor to the King, 
 and a very significant gift, too. The Minister urged 
 on the King the helpless condition of China, and the 
 futility of expecting assistance from her, and 
 begged the King to take up a bold position, an- 
 
JAPAN MAKES A FALSE MOVE 31 
 
 nounce Korea's independence and dare China's 
 wrath. The King listened, but made no pledges. 
 
 Kim and the Japanese Secretary called in their 
 allies, to discuss how to strike. One scheme pro- 
 posed was that they should send two men, dis- 
 guised as Chinese, to kill two of the Ministers they 
 had marked as their victims. Then they would 
 charge the other Ministers with the deed and kill 
 them. Thus they would get rid of all their enemies 
 at a blow. A second plan was that Kim should in- 
 vite the Ministers to the fine new house he had 
 built, should entertain them and then kill them. 
 Unfortunately for Kim, the Ministers were not 
 willing to come to his house. He had invited them 
 all to a grand banquet shortly before, and only a 
 few had accepted. 
 
 " Make haste ! " urged Shumamura. " Japan is 
 ready for anything." At last some one hit on a 
 happy scheme. Twenty-two young Koreans had 
 been sent to Japan to learn modern military ways, 
 and had studied at the Toyama Military School at 
 Tokyo. Returning home, they had given an ex- 
 hibition of their physical drill and fencing before 
 the King, who was as delighted with them as a 
 child with a new toy. He had declared that he 
 would have all his army trained this way. The 
 leader of the students, So Jai-pil, nephew of one of 
 the King's favourite generals, was made a Colonel 
 of the Palace Guard, although only seventeen years 
 old. But despite the King, the old military leaders, 
 whose one idea of martial ardour was to be carried 
 
32 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 around from one point to another surrounded with 
 bearers and warriors who made a loud noise to 
 impress the crowd, shuddered at the idea of reform, 
 and managed to block it. The students were kick- 
 ing their heels idly around the palace. Here were 
 the very lads for the job. Appeal to their patriot- 
 ism. Let them do the killing, and their seniors 
 take the glory. And so it was decided. 
 
 The Japanese were talking so boastingly that it 
 would be surprising if the Chinese had learned 
 nothing. At the head of the Chinese troops was 
 Yuan Shih-kai, afterwards to prove himself the 
 strongest man in the Middle Kingdom and to over- 
 throw the Manchu dynasty. He said nothing, but 
 it does not follow that he did nothing. At a dinner 
 given to the Foreign Representatives, the Inter- 
 preter to the Japanese Legation delivered a speech 
 in Korean on the shameless unscrupulousness and 
 cowardice of the Chinese. He even went so far as 
 to' call them "sea slugs," giving a malicious glance 
 at the Chinese Consul-General while he spoke. 
 The Chinese official did not know Korean, but he 
 could understand enough of the speech to follow its 
 import. 
 
 The plans were now complete. Every victim 
 had two assassins assigned to him. The occasion 
 was to be the opening of the new post-office, when 
 Hong Yung-sik would give an official banquet to 
 which all must come. During the dinner, the de- 
 tached palace was to be set on fire, a call was to be 
 raised that the King was in danger, and the re- 
 
JAPAN MAKES A FALSE MOVE 33 
 
 actionary Ministers were to be killed as they rushed 
 to his help. Two of the students were appointed 
 sentries, two were to set fire to the palace, one 
 group was to wait at the Golden Gate for other 
 members of the Government who tried to escape 
 that way. Four young Japanese, including one 
 from the Legation, were to act as a reserve guard, 
 to complete the killing in case the Koreans failed. 
 The Commander of the Palace Guard, a strong 
 sympathizer, posted his men in such a way as to 
 give the conspirators a free hand. The Japanese 
 Minister promised that his soldiers would be ready 
 to cooperate at the right time. 
 
 On the afternoon of December 4th, the Japanese 
 Legation people busied themselves with fetching 
 ammunition and provisions from the barracks. In 
 the afternoon a detachment of soldiers came over. 
 They knew that the deed was to be done that night. 
 
 The dinner was held, according to plan. It was 
 a singularly harmonious gathering — up to a point. 
 Many were the jokes and pointed was the wit. 
 The gesang (geisha), spurred by the merriment of 
 their lords, did more than ever to amuse the guests. 
 The drink was not stinted. 
 
 Then there came a call of " Fire ! " It was the 
 duty of Min Yung-ik, as General Commanding the 
 right Guard Regiment, to keep the custody of the 
 fire apparatus. Deploring his rough luck in being 
 called to duty at such a time, he left the hall and, 
 surrounded by his braves and attendants, who were 
 waiting for him in the anteroom, made his way to 
 
34 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 his yungmun, or official residence. When he was 
 near the post-office five young men, armed with 
 sharp swords, suddenly broke through his guard, 
 killed one of the soldiers and attacked the Minister. 
 " He received seven sword slashes, all great ones, 
 two all but taking his head off," wrote a contem- 
 porary chronicler. He staggered back into the 
 banqueting hall, blood pouring from him. There 
 was at once great confusion. The Ministers not 
 in the plot, fearing that some ill was intended 
 against them, threw away their hats of state, turned 
 their coats, and concealed themselves amongst their 
 coolies. Fortunately for Min, just as the palace 
 doctors were about to attempt to stop his wounds 
 by pouring boiling wax on them, a modern surgeon 
 came hurrying up. He was Dr. Allen, an Amer- 
 ican Presbyterian missionary, the first to arrive in 
 Korea. He did such good work on his patient that 
 night that King and Court became friends of the 
 missionaries for ever on. 
 
 Leaving the banqueting hall, Pak Yung-kyo and 
 his companions at once hurried to the palace, in- 
 formed the King that a Great Event had happened, 
 and told him that he and the Queen must go with 
 them for their safety. They took him to the Tai 
 Palace, near at hand. Here they were at once sur- 
 rounded by the Japanese troops, by the students, 
 and some 800 Korean soldiers, under General Han 
 Kiu-chik, who commanded one of the four regi- 
 ments of the Palace Guard. 
 
 The King and Queen were of course accom- 
 
JAPAN MAKES A FALSE MOVE 35 
 
 panied by their own attendants. The Chief Eunuch, 
 who was among them, took General Han on one 
 side. " This is a very serious matter," he urged. 
 " Let us send for General Yuan and the Chinese." 
 General Han apparently weakened and agreed. 
 There was no weakening on the part of the stu- 
 dents. The Chief Eunuch and the General were 
 " one by one withdrawn from the King's presence " 
 and when outside were promptly despatched. 
 Then the King was bidden to write notes to his 
 chief anti-Progressive Ministers, summoning them 
 to his presence. As they arrived, " one by one, 
 each in his turn, was despatched by the students 
 and his body thrown aside." 
 
 The King called for the Japanese Minister. At 
 first he would not come. Finally he appeared. 
 He had arranged that most of the work was to be 
 done without his presence, in order to avoid diplo- 
 matic trouble. A number of edicts had been drawn 
 up which the King was obliged to sign. All kinds 
 of reforms were commanded, and the land was 
 made on paper, in an hour, into a modern state. 
 The reformers did not forget their own interests. 
 Hong Yung-sik, the Postmaster General, was made 
 Prime Minister, Kim Ok-kiun was made second 
 officer of the Royal Treasury, and the lad So Jai-pil, 
 on whom the chief command of the students and 
 Korean soldiers now devolved, was made General 
 Commanding a Guard Regiment. 
 
 In answer to his urgent entreaties, the King 
 was allowed next morning to return to his palace, 
 
36 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 the Japanese and the Progressives accompanying 
 him. It was soon clear, even to the reformers, that 
 they had gone too far. As news of the affair be- 
 came known, the people made their sentiments felt 
 in unmistakable fashion. Odd Japanese in the 
 streets were killed, others made their way to the 
 Legation and shut themselves in there, while the 
 Japanese Minister and the Progressives were 
 hemmed in the palace by an angry mob. 
 
 They were short of ammunition. The Japanese 
 had twenty-five rounds a man, the twenty-two 
 students had fifteen rounds apiece, and the eight 
 hundred Korean soldiers either had none or 
 destroyed what they had. There was plenty in the 
 Legation but the mob barred the way. General So 
 Jai-pil (to give him his new title) was on the move 
 day and night, going from outpost to outpost, 
 threatening and encouraging weaklings, and ar- 
 ranging and inspiring his men. 
 
 The affair started on the evening of December 
 4th ; the reformers remained in the palace until the 
 afternoon of December 7th. Then General Yuan 
 Shih-kai, the Chinese leader, approached the palace 
 gates and sent in his card, demanding admission. 
 The Queen had already smuggled a message out to 
 him begging his aid. The Japanese soldiers on 
 guard refused to allow him to enter. He gave 
 warning that he would attack. He had 2,000 
 Chinese troops and behind them were fully 3,000 
 Korean soldiers and the mass of the population. 
 
 Takezoi weakened. He did not want to risk an 
 
JAPAN MAKES A FALSE MOVE 37 
 
 engagement with the Chinese, and he declared that 
 he would withdraw his Guard, and take them back 
 to his Legation. Young General So drew his 
 sword threateningly, and told him that they must 
 stay and see it through. The Japanese captain in 
 command of the troops was as eager for a fight as 
 was So, and the Minister was for the time over- 
 ruled. 
 
 A great fight followed. The Chinese sought to 
 outflank the reformers, and to force an entry by 
 climbing over the walls. One of the personal at- 
 tendants of the King suddenly attacked the new 
 Premier, Hong Yung-sik, and slew him. The 
 Korean soldiers seemed to disappear from the scene 
 as soon as the real fighting started, but the students 
 and the Japanese did valiantly. They claimed that 
 they shot fully three hundred Chinese. The great 
 gate of the palace still held, in spite of all attacks. 
 But the ammunition of the defenders had at last all 
 gone. 
 
 " Let us charge the Chinese with our bayonets," 
 cried So. The Japanese captain joyfully assented. 
 But Takezoi now asserted his authority. He pulled 
 from his pocket his Imperial warrants giving him 
 supreme command of the Japanese in Korea and 
 read them to the captain. " The Emperor has 
 placed you under my command," he declared. 
 " Refuse to obey me and you refuse to obey your 
 Emperor. I command you to call your men to- 
 gether and let us all make our way back to the 
 Legation." There was nothing to do but obey. 
 
38 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 While the Chinese were still hammering at the 
 front gate, the Japanese and reformers crept quietly 
 around by the back wall towards the Legation. 
 The people in the building, hearing this mass of 
 men approach in the dark, unlit street, thought that 
 they were the enemy, and opened fire on them. A 
 Japanese sergeant and an interpreter were shot 
 down on either side of General So. Not until a 
 bugle was sounded did the Japanese inside the 
 building recognize their friends. The party 
 staggered in behind the barricades worn out. So, 
 who had not closed his eyes for four days, dropped 
 to the ground exhausted and slept. 
 
 He did not awake until the next afternoon. He 
 heard a voice calling him, and started up to find that 
 the Japanese were already leaving. They had re- 
 solved to fight their way to the sea. " I do not 
 know who it was called me," said So, afterwards. 
 " Certainly it was none of the men in the Legation. 
 I sometimes believe that it must have been a voice 
 from the other world." Had he wakened five 
 minutes later, the mob would have caught him and 
 torn him to bits. 
 
 The Japanese blew up a mine, and, with women 
 and children in the centre, flung themselves into 
 the maelstrom of the howling mob. The people of 
 Seoul were ready for them. They had already 
 burned the houses of the Progressive statesmen, 
 Kim, Pak, So and Hong. They tried, time after 
 time, to rush the Japanese circle. The escaping 
 party marched all through the night, fighting as it 
 
JAPAN MAKES A FALSE MOVE 39 
 
 marched. At one point it had to pass near a 
 Chinese camp. A cannon opened fire on it. At 
 Chemulpo, the coast port twenty-seven miles from 
 Seoul, it found a small Japanese mail steamer, the 
 Chidose Maru. The Koreans who had escaped with 
 the party were hidden. Before the Chidose could 
 sail a deputation from the King arrived, disclaim- 
 ing all enmity against the Japanese, but demanding 
 the surrender of the Koreans. Takezoi seemed to 
 hesitate, and the reformers feared for the moment 
 that he was about to surrender them. But the 
 pockmarked captain of the Chidose drove the 
 deputation from the side of his ship, in none too 
 friendly fashion, and steamed away. 
 
 The reformers landed in Japan, expecting that 
 they would be received like heroes, and that they 
 would return with a strong army to fight the 
 Chinese. They did not realize that the revolu- 
 tionist who fails must look for no sympathy or aid. 
 
 The Japanese Foreign Minister at first refused 
 even to see them. When at last they secured an 
 audience, he told them bluntly that Japan was not 
 going to war with China over the matter. " We 
 are not ready yet," said he. He then demanded of 
 the reformers what they were going to do with 
 themselves. This was too much for So Jai-pil. 
 His seniors tried to restrain him, but in vain. 
 " What way is this for Samurai to treat Samurai? " 
 he hotly demanded. " We trusted you, and now you 
 betray and forsake us. I have had enough of you. 
 I am going to a new world, where men stand by 
 
40 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 their bonds and deal fairly with one another. I 
 shall go to America." 
 
 A few weeks later he landed in San Francisco, 
 penniless. He knew scarcely any English. He 
 sought work. His first job was to deliver circulars 
 from door to door, and for this he was paid three 
 dollars a day. He attended churches and meetings 
 to learn how to pronounce the English tongue. He 
 saved money enough to enter college, and gradu- 
 ated with honours. He became an American citi- 
 zen, taking a new form of his name, Philip Jaisohn. 
 He joined the United States Civil Service and in 
 due course was made a doctor of medicine by Johns 
 Hopkins University. He acquired a practice at 
 Washington, and was lecturer for two medical 
 schools. Later on, he was recalled to his native 
 land. 
 
 The Korean reformers themselves saw, later on, 
 the folly of their attempt. " We were very young," 
 they say. They were the tools of the Japanese 
 Minister, and they had inherited a tradition of 
 political life which made revolt seem the natural 
 weapon by which to overthrow your enemies. 
 They learned wisdom in exile, and some of them 
 were subsequently to reach high rank in their coun- 
 try's service. 
 
 There is a sequel to this story. The King and 
 the Court regarded Kim Ok-kiun as the unpardon- 
 able offender. Other men might be forgiven, for 
 after all attempted revolts were no novelties. But 
 there was to be no forgiveness for Kim. 
 
JAPAN MAKES A FALSE MOVE 41 
 
 A price was put on his head. Assassins followed 
 him to Japan, but could find no opportunity to kill 
 him. Then a plot was planned and he was induced 
 to visit Shanghai. He had taken great pains to con- 
 ceal his visit, but everything had been arranged 
 ahead for him. Arriving at Shanghai he was 
 promptly slain, and his body was carried in a 
 Chinese war-ship to Chemulpo. It was cut up, 
 and exhibited in different parts of the land as the 
 body of a traitor. The mortified Japanese could 
 do nothing at the time. 
 
 Years passed. The Japanese now had control of 
 Korea. One of the last things they did, in 1910, 
 before contemptuously pushing the old Korean 
 Government into limbo, was to make it issue an 
 Imperial rescript, restoring Kim Ok-kiun, Hong 
 Yung-sik and others — although long dead — to their 
 offices and honours, and doing reverence to their 
 memory. 1 
 
 1 Curiosity may be felt about my authority for many of the 
 particulars supplied in this chapter. Accounts published by 
 foreigners living at Seoul at the time are of use as giving 
 current impressions, but are not wholly to be relied on for 
 details. A very interesting official report, based on informa- 
 tion supplied by the King, is to be found in the unpublished 
 papers of Lieutenant George C. Foulk, U. S. Naval Attache at 
 Seoul, which are stored in the New York Public Library. A 
 valuable account from the Japanese point of view was found 
 among the posthumous papers of Mr. Fukuzawa (in whose 
 house several of the exiles lived for a time) and was published 
 in part in the Japanese press in 1910. I learned the con- 
 spirators' side directly from one of the leading actors in 
 the drama. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE MURDER OF THE QUEEN 
 
 " X "X" TE are not ready to fight China yet," said 
 %/%/ the Japanese Foreign Minister to the 
 * 7 impetuous young Korean. It was ten 
 years later before Japan was ready, ten years of 
 steady preparation, and during that time the real 
 focus of the Far Eastern drama was not Tokyo 
 nor Peking, but Seoul. Here the Chinese and 
 Japanese outposts were in contact. Here Japan 
 when she was ready created her cause of war. 
 
 China despised Japan, and did not think it neces- 
 sary to make any real preparations to meet her. 
 The great majority of European experts and of 
 European and American residents in the Far East 
 were convinced that if it came to an actual con- 
 test, Japan would stand no chance. She might 
 score some initial victories, but in the end the 
 greater weight, numbers and staying power of her 
 monster opponent must overwhelm her. 
 
 The development of Korea proceeded slowly. 
 It seemed as though there were some powerful 
 force behind all the efforts of more enlightened 
 Koreans to prevent effective reforms from being 
 carried out. The Japanese were, as was natural, 
 the most numerous settlers in the land, and their 
 
 42 
 
THE MUEDER OP THE QUEEN 43 
 
 conduct did not win them the popular affection. 
 Takezoi's disastrous venture inflicted for a time 
 a heavy blow on Japanese prestige. The Japanese 
 dead lay unburied in the streets for the dogs to eat. 
 China was momentarily supreme. " The whole 
 mass of the people are violently pro-Chinese in their 
 sentiments," the American representative stated in 
 a private despatch to his Government, " and so 
 violently anti-Japanese that it is impossible to ob- 
 tain other than a volume of execrations and 
 vituperations against them when questioned." A 
 semi-official Japanese statement that their Minister 
 and his troops had gone to the palace at the King's 
 request, to defend him, made the matter rather 
 worse. 
 
 The affair would have been more quickly for- 
 gotten but for the overbearing attitude of Japanese 
 settlers towards the Korean people, and of Japa- 
 nese Ministers towards the Korean Government. 
 Officially they advanced claims so unjust that they 
 aroused the protest of other foreigners. The atti- 
 tude of the Japanese settlers was summed up by 
 Lord (then the Hon. G. N.) Curzon, the famous 
 British statesman, after a visit in the early nineties. 
 " The race hatred between Koreans and Japanese," 
 he wrote, "is the most striking phenomenon in 
 contemporary Chosen. Civil and obliging in their 
 own country, the Japanese develop in Korea a 
 faculty for bullying and bluster that is the result 
 partly of nation vanity, partly of memories of the 
 past. The lower orders ill-treat the Koreans on 
 
44 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 every possible opportunity, and are cordially de- 
 tested by them in return." * 
 
 The old Regent returned from China in 1885, to 
 find his power largely gone, at least so far as the 
 Court was concerned. But he still had friends and 
 adherents scattered all over the country. Furious 
 with the Chinese for his arrest and imprisonment, 
 he threw himself into the arms of the Japanese. 
 They found in him a very useful instrument. 
 
 Korea has for centuries been a land of secret 
 societies. A new society now sprang up, and 
 spread with amazing rapidity, the Tong-haks. It 
 was anti-foreign and anti-Christian, and Europeans 
 were at first inclined to regard it in the same light 
 as Europeans in China later on regarded the 
 Boxers. But looking back at it to-day it is im- 
 possible to deny that there was much honest patriot- 
 ism behind the movement. It was not unnatural 
 that a new departure, such as the introduction of 
 Europeans and European civilization should arouse 
 some ferment. In a sense, it would not have been 
 healthy if it had not done so. The people who 
 would accept a vital revolution in their life and 
 ways without critical examination would not be 
 worth much. 
 
 Few of the Tong-haks had any idea that their 
 movement was being organized under Japanese in- 
 fluences. It did not suit Japan that Korea should 
 develop independently and too rapidly. Disturb- 
 ances would help to keep her back. 
 
 * " Problems of the Far East," London, 1894. 
 
THE MURDER OF THE QUEEN 45 
 
 When the moment was ripe, Japan set her 
 puppets to work. The Tong-haks were suddenly- 
 found to be possessed of arms, and some of their 
 units were trained and showed remarkable military 
 efficiency. Their avowed purpose was to drive all 
 foreigners, including the Japanese, out of the coun- 
 try; but this was mere camouflage. The real pur- 
 pose was to provoke China to send troops to Korea, 
 and so give Japan an excuse for war. 
 
 The Japanese had secured an agreement from 
 China in 1885 that both countries should withdraw 
 their troops from Korea and should send no more 
 there without informing and giving notice to the 
 other. When the Tong-haks, thirty thousand in 
 number, came within a hundred miles of Seoul, and 
 actually defeated a small Korean force led by Chi- 
 nese, Yuan Shih-kai saw that something must be 
 done. If the rebels were allowed to reach and 
 capture the capital, Japan would have an excuse 
 for intervention. He induced the King to ask for 
 Chinese troops to come and put down the uprising; 
 and as required by the regulations, due notice of 
 their coming was sent to Japan. 
 
 This was what Japan wanted. She poured 
 troops over the channel until there were 10,000 in 
 the capital. Then she showed her hand. The 
 Japanese Minister, Mr. Otori, brusquely demanded 
 of the King that he should renounce Chinese 
 suzerainty. The Koreans tried evasion. The 
 Japanese pressed their point, and further demanded 
 wholesale concessions, railway rights and a 
 
46 KOREAN FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 monopoly of gold mining in Korea. A few days 
 later, confident that Europe would not intervene, 
 they commanded the King to accept their demands 
 unconditionally, and to give the Chinese troops 
 three days' notice to withdraw from the land. The 
 King refused to do anything while the Japanese 
 troops menaced his capital. 
 
 The declaration of war between Japan and China 
 followed. The first incident was the blowing up by 
 the Japanese of a Chinese transport carrying 1,200 
 men to Korea. The main naval battle was in the 
 Yalu, between Korea and Manchuria, and the main 
 land fight, in which the Chinese Army was des- 
 troyed, in Pyeng-yang, the main Korean city to the 
 north. The war began on July 25, 1894; the 
 Treaty of Peace, which made Japan the supreme 
 power in the Extreme East, was signed at Shimo- 
 noseki on April 17, 1895. 
 
 Before fighting actually began, the Japanese took 
 possession of Seoul, and seized the palace on some 
 trumpery excuse that Korean soldiers had fired on 
 them and they had therefore been obliged to enter 
 and guard the royal apartments. They wanted to 
 make their old friend and ally the ex-Regent, the 
 actual ruler, as he had been in the King's minority, 
 but he did not care to take responsibility. Japa- 
 nese soldiers turned the King out of his best rooms 
 and occupied them themselves. Any hole was 
 good enough for the King. Finally they compelled 
 the King to yield and follow their directions. A 
 new treaty was drawn up and signed. It provided : 
 
THE MUBDER OP THE QUEEN 47 
 
 1. That the independence of Korea was de- 
 clared, confirmed, and established, and in keeping 
 with it the Chinese troops were to be driven out of 
 the country. 
 
 2. That while war against China was being car- 
 ried on by Japan, Korea was to facilitate the move- 
 ments and to help in the food supplies of the Japa- 
 nese troops in every possible way. 
 
 3. That this treaty should only last until the 
 conclusion of peace with China. 
 
 Japan at once created an assembly, in the name 
 of the King, for the " discussion of everything, 
 great and small, that happened within the realm." 
 This assembly at first met daily, and afterwards at 
 longer intervals. There were soon no less than 
 fifty Japanese advisers at work in Seoul. They 
 were men of little experience and less responsibility, 
 and they apparently thought that they were going 
 to transform the land between the rising and setting 
 of the sun. They produced endless ordinances, and 
 scarce a day went by save that a number of new 
 regulations were issued, some trivial, some striking 
 at the oldest and most cherished institutions in the 
 country. The Government was changed from an 
 absolute monarchy to one where the King gov- 
 erned only by the advice of his Ministers. The 
 power of direct address to the throne was denied 
 to any one^ under the rank of Governor. One 
 ordinance created a constitution, and the next dealt 
 with the status of the ladies of the royal seraglio. 
 At one hour a proclamation went forth that all men 
 
48 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 were to cut their hair, and the wearied runners on 
 their return were again despatched hot haste with 
 an edict altering the official language. Nothing 
 was too small, nothing too great, and nothing 
 too contradictory for these constitution-mongers. 
 Their doings were the laugh and the amazement 
 of every foreigner in the place. 
 
 Acting on the Japanese love of order and of de- 
 fined rank, exact titles of honour were provided for 
 the wives of officials. These were divided into nine 
 grades : " Pure and Reverend Lady," " Pure Lady," 
 "Chaste Lady," "Chaste Dame," "Worthy Dame," 
 "Courteous Dame," "Just Dame," "Peaceful 
 Dame," and " Upright Dame." At the same time 
 the King's concubines were equally divided, but 
 here eight divisions were sufficient: "Mistress,'' 
 " Noble Lady," " Resplendent Exemplar," " Chaste 
 Exemplar," " Resplendent Demeanour," " Chaste 
 Demeanour," " Resplendent Beauty," and " Chaste 
 Beauty." The Japanese advisers instituted a num- 
 ber of sumptuary laws that stirred the country to its 
 depths, relating to the length of pipes, style of 
 dress, and the attiring of the hair of the people. 
 Pipes were to be short, in place of the long bamboo 
 churchwarden beloved by the Koreans. Sleeves 
 were to be clipped. The topknot, worn by all 
 Korean men, was at once to be cut off. Soldiers 
 at the city gates proceeded to enforce this last 
 regulation rigorously. 
 
 Japanese troops remained in the palace for a 
 month, and the King was badly treated during that 
 
THE MUBDEB OF THE QUEEK 49 
 
 time. It did not suit the purpose of the Japanese 
 Government just then to destroy the old Korean 
 form of administration. It was doubtful how far 
 the European Powers would permit Japan to ex- 
 tend her territory, and so the Japanese decided to 
 allow Korea still to retain a nominal independence. 
 The King and his Ministers implored Mr. Otori to 
 withdraw his soldiers from the royal presence. Mr. 
 Otori agreed to do so, at a price, and his price was 
 the royal consent to a number of concessions that 
 would give Japan almost a monopoly of industry 
 in Korea. The Japanese guard marched out of the 
 palace on August 25th, and was replaced by Korean 
 soldiers armed with sticks. Later on the Korean 
 soldiers were permitted to carry muskets, but were 
 not served with any ammunition. Japanese troops 
 still retained possession of the palace gates and ad- 
 joining buildings. 
 
 Another movement took place at this time as the 
 result of Japanese supremacy. The Min family — 
 the family of the Queen — was driven from power 
 and the Mins, who a few months before held all the 
 important offices in the kingdom, were wiped out 
 of public life, so much so that there was not a 
 single Min in one of the new departments of state. 
 
 Victory did not improve the attitude of the Japa- 
 nese to the Koreans. While the war was on the 
 Japanese soldiers had shown very strict discipline, 
 save on certain unusual occasions. Now, however, 
 they walked as conquerors. The Japanese Gov- 
 ernment presented further demands to the King 
 
60 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 that would have meant the entire trade of Korea 
 being monopolized by their countrymen. These 
 demands went so far that the foreign representa- 
 tives protested. 
 
 The new Japanese Minister, Count Inouye, pro- 
 tested publicly and privately against the violent 
 ways and rascalities of the new Japanese immi- 
 grants pouring into Korea. He denounced their 
 lack of cooperation, arrogance and extravagance. 
 " If the Japanese continue in their arrogance and 
 rudeness," he declared, " all respect and love due 
 to them will be lost and there will remain hatred 
 and enmity against them." 
 
 Several of the participants in the emeute of 1884 
 were brought back by the Japanese and Pak Yung- 
 hyo became Home Minister. He was very differ- 
 ent from the rash youth who had tried to promote 
 reform by murder eleven years before. He had a 
 moderate, sensible program, the reform and mod- 
 ernization of the army, the limitation of the powers 
 of the monarchy and the promotion of education 
 on Western lines. " What our people need," he 
 declared, " is education and Christianization." Un- 
 fortunately he fell under suspicion. The Queen 
 thought that his attempt to limit the power of the 
 King was a plot against the throne. He received 
 warning that his arrest had been ordered, and had 
 to flee the country. 
 
 Count Inouye ranks with Prince Ito as the two 
 best Japanese administrators sent to Korea. He 
 was followed, in September, 1895, by Viscount Gen- 
 
THE MURDER OF THE QUEEN 51 
 
 eral Miura, an old soldier, a Buddhist of the Zen 
 school and an extreme ascetic. 
 
 The Queen continued to exercise her remarkable 
 influence over the King, who took her advice in 
 everything. She was the real ruler of the country. 
 What if her family was, for a time, in disgrace? 
 She quietly worked and brought them back in of- 
 fice again. Time after time she checked both the 
 Japanese Minister and the Regent. 
 
 The Japanese Secretary of Legation, Fukashi 
 Sugimura, had long since lost patience with the 
 Queen and urged on Miura that the best thing was 
 to get rid of her. Why should one woman be al- 
 lowed to stand between them and their purpose? 
 Every day she was interfering more and more in 
 the affairs of state. She was proposing to disband 
 a force of troops that had been created, the Kun- 
 rentai, and placed under Japanese officers. It was 
 reported that she was contemplating a scheme for 
 usurping all political power by degrading some and 
 killing other Cabinet Ministers favourable to 
 Japan. Miura agreed. She was ungrateful. Dis- 
 order and confusion would be introduced into the 
 new Japanese organization for governing the coun- 
 try. She must be stopped. 
 
 While Miura was thinking in this fashion the 
 Regent came to see him. He proposed to break 
 into the palace, seize the King and assume real 
 power. As a result of their conversation, a con- 
 ference was held between the Japanese Minister 
 and his two leading officials, Sugimura and Oka- 
 
52 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 moto. " The decision arrived at on that occasion," 
 states the report of the Japanese Court of Pre- 
 liminary Enquiries, " was that assistance should be 
 rendered to the Tai Won Kun's (Regent's) entry 
 into the palace by making use of the Kunrentai, 
 who, being hated by the Court, felt themselves in 
 danger, and of the young men who deeply lamented 
 the course of events, and also by causing the Japa- 
 nese troops stationed in Seoul to offer support to 
 the enterprise. It was further resolved that this 
 opportunity should be availed of for taking the life 
 of the Queen, who exercised overwhelming in- 
 fluence in the Court." * 
 
 The whole thing was to be done according to 
 system. The Regent was made to bind himself 
 down to the Japanese. A series of pledges was 
 drawn up by Sugimura, and handed to the Regent, 
 saying that this was what Miura expected of him. 
 He, his son and his grandson " gladly assented " to 
 the conditions and he wrote a letter guaranteeing 
 his good faith. The Japanese Minister then re- 
 solved to carry out the plan, i. e., the attack on the 
 palace and the murder of the Queen, by the middle 
 of the month. A statement by the Korean War 
 Minister that the disbandment of the Kunrentai 
 troops was approaching caused them to hurry their 
 plans. " It was now evident that the moment had 
 arrived, and that no more delay should be made. 
 Miura Goro and Fukashi Sugimura consequently 
 determined to carry out the plot on the night of 
 Japanese official report, 
 
THE MUEDEE OF THE QUEEN 53 
 
 that very day." ' The Legation drew up a detailed 
 program of what was to happen, and orders were 
 issued to various people. Official directions were 
 given to the Commander of the Japanese battalion 
 in Seoul. Miura summoned some of the Japanese 
 and asked them to collect their friends and to act 
 as the Regent's body-guard when he entered the 
 palace. " Miura told them that on the success of 
 the enterprise depended the eradication of the evils 
 that had done so much mischief in the Kingdom for 
 the past twenty years, and instigated them to des- 
 patch the Queen when they entered the palace." 2 
 The head of the Japanese police force was ordered 
 to help; and policemen off duty were to put on 
 civilian dress, provide themselves with swords 
 and proceed to the rendezvous. Minor men, 
 " at the instigation of Miura, decided to murder 
 the Queen and took steps for collecting accom- 
 plices." " 
 
 The party of Japanese met at the rendezvous, to 
 escort the Regent's palanquin. At the point of 
 departure Okamoto (one of the Japanese Minister's 
 two right-hand men) " assembled the whole party 
 outside the gate of the Prine's (Regent's) resi- 
 dence, declaring that on entering the palace the 
 * fox ' should be dealt with according as exigency 
 might require, the obvious purpose of this declara- 
 tion being to instigate his followers to murder Her 
 Majesty the Queen." 4 The party proceeding to- 
 wards Seoul met the Kunrentai troops outside the 
 
 Japanese official report. * Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 
 
64 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 West Gate and then advanced more rapidly to the 
 palace. 
 
 The Japanese Court of Preliminary Enquiries, 
 which had Viscount Miura and his assistants before 
 it after the murder, reported all the facts up to this 
 point with great frankness. I have used its ac- 
 count solely in the above description. The Court 
 having gone so far, then added a final finding which 
 probably ranks as the most extraordinary state- 
 ment ever presented by a responsible Court of law. 
 " Notwithstanding these facts, there is no sufficient 
 evidence to prove that any of the accused actually 
 committed the crime originally meditated by them. 
 . . . For these reasons the accused, each and 
 all, are hereby discharged. ,, 
 
 What happened after the Regent and the Japa- 
 nese reached the palace? The party advanced, 
 with the Kunrentai troops to the front. Behind 
 them were the police, the officers in charge, and 
 twenty-six Japanese. An inner group of these, 
 about half of them, had special orders to find the 
 Queen and kill her. The gates of the palace were 
 in the hands of Japanese soldiers, so the con- 
 spirators had free admission. Most of the regular 
 troops paraded outside, according to orders. Some 
 went inside the grounds, accompanied by the rabble, 
 and others moved to the sides of the palace, sur- 
 rounding it to prevent any from escaping. A body 
 of men attacked and broke down the wall near to 
 the royal apartments. 
 
 Rumours had reached the palace that some plot 
 
THE MURDER OF THE QUEEN 55 
 
 was in progress, but no one seems to have taken 
 much trouble to maintain special watch. At the 
 first sign of the troops breaking down the walls 
 and entering through the gates, there was general 
 confusion. Some of the Korean body-guard tried 
 to resist, but after a few of them were shot the 
 others retired. The royal apartment was of the 
 usual one-storied type, led to by a few stone steps, 
 and with carved wooden doors and oiled-paper 
 windows. The Japanese made straight for it, and, 
 when they reached the small courtyard in front, 
 their troops paraded up before the entrance, while 
 the soshi broke down the doors and entered the 
 rooms. Some caught hold of the King and pre- 
 sented him with a document by which he was to 
 divorce and repudiate the Queen. Despite every 
 threat, he refused to sign this. Others were press- 
 ing into the Queen's apartments. The Minister of 
 the Household tried to stop them, but was killed 
 on the spot. The soshi seized the terrified palace 
 ladies, who were running away, dragged them 
 round and round by their hair, and beat them, de- 
 manding that they should tell where the Queen 
 was. They moaned and cried and declared that 
 they did not know. Now the men were pressing 
 into the side-rooms, some of them hauling the 
 palace ladies by their hair. Okamoto, who led the 
 way, found a little woman hiding in a corner, 
 grabbed her head, and asked her if she were the 
 Queen. She denied it, freed herself, with a sudden 
 jerk, and ran into the corridor, shouting as she ran. 
 
 \ 
 
56 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 Her son, who was present, heard her call his name 
 three times, but, before she could utter more, the 
 Japanese were on her and had cut her down. Some 
 of the female attendants were dragged up, shown 
 the dying body, and made to recognize it, and then 
 three of them were put to the sword. 
 
 The conspirators had brought kerosene with 
 them. They threw a bedwrap around the Queen, 
 probably not yet dead, and carried her to a grove 
 of trees in the deer park not far away. There they 
 poured the oil over her, piled faggots of wood 
 around, and set all on fire. They fed the flames 
 with more and more kerosene, until everything was 
 consumed, save a few bones. Almost before the 
 body was alight the Regent was being borne in 
 triumph to the palace under an escort of trium- 
 phant Japanese soldiers. He at once assumed con- 
 trol of affairs. The King was made a prisoner in 
 his palace. The Regent's partizans were sum- 
 moned to form a Cabinet, and orders were given 
 that all officials known to be friendly to the Queen's 
 party should be arrested. 
 
 The Japanese were not content with this. They 
 did everything they could, the Regent aiding them, 
 to blacken the memory of the murdered women. 
 A forged Royal Decree, supposed to have been 
 issued by the King, was officially published, de- 
 nouncing Queen Min, ranking her among the low- 
 est prostitutes, and assuming that she was not 
 dead, but had escaped, and would again come for- 
 ward. " We knew the extreme of her wickedness,'' 
 said the decree, " but We were helpless and full of 
 
THE MUEDER OP THE QUEEN 57 
 
 fear of her party, and so could not dismiss and pun- 
 ish her. We are convinced that she is not only 
 unfitted and unworthy to be Queen, but also that 
 her guilt is excessive and overflowing. With her 
 We could not succeed to the glory of the Royal 
 ancestors, so We hereby depose her from the rank 
 of Queen and reduce her to the level of the lowest 
 class." 
 
 The poor King, trembling, broken, fearful of be- 
 ing poisoned, remained closely confined in his pal- 
 ace. The foreign community, Ministers and mis- 
 sionaries, did their best for him, conveying him 
 food and visiting him. 
 
 If the Japanese thought that their crime could 
 be hushed up they were much mistaken. Some of 
 the American missionaries , wives were the Queen's 
 friends. A famous American newspaper man, Colo- 
 nel Cockerill,of the New York Herd d, came to Seoul, 
 and wrote with the utmost frankness about what he 
 learned. So much indignation was aroused that 
 the Japanese Government promised to institute an 
 enquiry and place the guilty on trial. Ito was then 
 Prime Minister and declared that every unworthy 
 son of Japan connected with the crime would be 
 placed on trial. " Not to do so would be to con- 
 demn Japan in the eyes of all the world," he de- 
 clared. " If she does not repudiate this usurpation 
 on the part of the Tai Won Kun, she must lose the 
 respect of every civilized government on earth." 
 Miura and his associates were, in due course, 
 brought before a court of enquiry. But the pro- 
 ceedings were a farce. They were all released, 
 
58 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 Miura became a popular hero, and his friends and 
 defenders tried openly to justify the murder. 
 
 Japan, following her usual plan of following pe- 
 riods of great harshness by spells of mildness, sent 
 Count Inouye as Envoy Extraordinary, to smooth 
 over matters. He issued a decree restoring the 
 late Queen to full rank. She was given the posthu- 
 mous title of " Guileless, revered " and a temple 
 called " Virtuous accomplishment " was dedicated 
 to her memory. Twenty-two officials of high rank 
 were commissioned to write her biography. But 
 the King was still kept a prisoner in the palace. 
 
 Then came a bolt from the blue. The Rus- 
 sian Minister at Seoul at this time, M. Waeber, 
 was a man of very fine type, and he was backed by 
 a wife as gifted and benevolent as himself. He 
 had done his best to keep in touch with and help 
 the King. Now a further move was made. The 
 Russian Legation guard was increased to 160 men, 
 and almost immediately afterwards it was an- 
 nounced that the King had escaped from his 
 jailers at the palace, and had taken refuge with 
 the Russians. A little before seven in the morning 
 the King and Crown Prince left the palace secretly, 
 in closed chairs, such as women use. Their escape 
 was carefully planned. For more than a week be- 
 fore, the ladies of the palace had caused a number 
 of chairs to go in and out by the several gates in 
 order to familiarize the guards with the idea that 
 they were paying many visits. So when, early in 
 the morning, two women's chairs were carried out 
 tyy the attendants, the guards took no special no- 
 
THE MURDER OF THE QUEEN 59 
 
 tice. The King and his son arrived at the Russian 
 Legation very much agitated and trembling. They 
 were expected, and were at once admitted. As it 
 is the custom in Korea for the King to work at 
 night and sleep in the morning, the members of 
 the Cabinet did not discover his escape for some 
 hours, until news was brought to them from out- 
 side that he was safe under the guardianship of his 
 new friends. 
 
 Excitement at once spread through the city. 
 Great crowds assembled, some armed with sticks, 
 some with stones, some with any weapons they 
 could lay hands on. A number of old Court dig- 
 nitaries hurried to the Legation, and within an 
 hour or two a fresh Cabinet was constituted, and 
 the old one deposed. 
 
 The heads of the Consulates and Legations 
 called and paid their respects to the King, the 
 Japanese Minister being the last to do so. For 
 him this move meant utter defeat. Later in the 
 day, a proclamation was spread broadcast, calling 
 on the soldiers to protect their King, to cut off the 
 heads of the chief traitors and bring them to him. 
 This gave final edge to the temper of the mob. 
 Two Ministers were dragged into the street and 
 slaughtered. Another Minister was murdered at 
 his home. In one respect the upheaval brought 
 peace. The people in the country districts had 
 been on the point of rising against the Japanese, 
 who were reported to be universally hated as op- 
 pressors. With their King in power again, they 
 settled down peaceably. 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB 
 
 IT was a double blow to Japan that the check 
 to her plans should have been inflicted by 
 Russia, for she now regarded Russia as the 
 next enemy to be overthrown, and was already 
 secretly preparing against her. Russia had suc- 
 ceeded in humiliating Japan by inducing France 
 and Germany to cooperate in a demand that she 
 should evacuate the Liaotung Peninsula, ceded to 
 her, under the Treaty of Shimonoseki, by China. 
 Forced to obey, Japan entered on another nine 
 years of preparation, to enable her to cross swords 
 with the Colossus of the North. 
 
 At the close of the nineteenth century Russia 
 was regarded as the supreme menace to world 
 peace. Her expansion to the south of Siberia 
 threatened British power in India; her railway de- 
 velopments to the Pacific threatened Japan. She 
 struggled for a dominating place in the councils of 
 China and was believed to have cast an ambitious 
 eye on Korea. Germany looked with dread on the 
 prospect of France and Russia striking her on 
 either side and squeezing her like a nut between 
 the crackers. Her statesmen were eager to obtain 
 
 60 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB 61 
 
 egress to the seas of the south, through the Darda- 
 nelles, and years before it had become a part of the 
 creed of every British schoolboy that " the Rus- 
 sians shall not enter Constantinople." 
 
 It was dread of what Russia might do that 
 caused England, to the amazement of the world, 
 to conclude an Alliance with Japan in 1902, for the 
 maintenance of the status quo in the Far East. 
 Japan, willing under certain conditions to forget 
 her grievances, had first sought alliance with Rus- 
 sia and had sent Prince Ito on a visit to St. Peters- 
 burg for that purpose. But Russia was too proud 
 and self-confident to contemplate any such step, 
 and so Japan turned to Britain, and obtained a 
 readier hearing. Under the Alliance, both Britain 
 and Japan disclaimed any aggressive tendencies in 
 China or Korea, but the special interests of Japan 
 in Korea were recognized. 
 
 The Alliance was an even more important step 
 forward for Japan in the ranks of the nations of the 
 world than her victory against China had been, and 
 it was the precursor of still more important devel- 
 opments. This, however, takes us ahead of our 
 story. 
 
 The King of Korea, after his escape from the 
 palace, remained for some time in the Russian Le- 
 gation, conducting his Court from there. Agree- 
 ments were arrived at between the Russians, Japa- 
 nese and Koreans in 1896 by which the King was 
 to return to his palace and Japan was to keep her 
 people in Korea in stricter control. A small body 
 
62 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 of Japanese troops was to remain for a short time 
 in Korea to guard the Japanese telegraph lines, 
 when it was to be succeeded by some Japanese 
 gendarmerie who were to stay " until such time as 
 peace and order have been restored by the Govern- 
 ment." Both countries agreed to leave to Korea 
 the maintenance of her own national army and 
 police. 
 
 These agreements gave the Korean monarch — 
 who now took the title of Emperor — a final chance 
 to save himself and his country. The Japanese 
 campaign of aggression was checked. Russia, at 
 the time, was behaving with considerable circum- 
 spection. A number of foreign advisers were in- 
 troduced, and many reforms were initiated. Pro- 
 gressive statesmen were placed at the head of af- 
 fairs, and the young reformer, So Jai-pil, Dr. Philip 
 Jaisohn, was summoned from America as Adviser 
 to the Privy Council. 
 
 It must be admitted that the results were on the 
 whole disappointing. Certain big reforms were 
 made. In the period between 1894 and 1904 the 
 developments would have seemed startling to those 
 who knew the land in the early eighties. There 
 was a modern and well-managed railroad operating 
 between Seoul and the port of Chemulpo, and 
 other railroads had been planned and surveyed, 
 work being started on some of them. Seoul had 
 electric light, electric tramways and an electric 
 theatre. Fine roads had been laid around the city. 
 Many old habits of mediaeval times had been abol- 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB 63 
 
 ished. Schools and hospitals were spreading all 
 over the land, largely as a result of missionary ac- 
 tivity. Numbers of the people, especially in the 
 north, had become Christians. Sanitation was im- 
 proved, and the work of surveying, charting and 
 building lighthouses for the waters around the 
 coast begun. Many Koreans of the better classes 
 went abroad, and young men were returning after 
 graduation in American colleges. The police were 
 put into modern dress and trained on modern lines; 
 and a little modern Korean Army was launched. 
 
 Despite this, things were in an unsatisfactory 
 state. The Emperor, whose nerve had been 
 broken by his experiences on the night of the mur- 
 der of the Queen and in the days following, was 
 weak, uncertain and suspicious. He could not be 
 relied on save for one thing. He was very jealous 
 of his own prerogatives, and the belief that some of 
 his best statesmen and advisers were trying to es- 
 tablish constitutional monarchy, limiting the power 
 of the Throne, finally caused him to throw in his 
 lot with the anti-Progressive group. 
 
 Then there was no real reform in justice. The 
 prisons retained most of their mediaeval horrors, 
 and every man held his life and property at the 
 mercy of the monarch and his assistants. 
 
 Some of the foreign advisers were men of high 
 calibre; others were unfitted for their work, and 
 used their offices to serve their own ends and fill 
 their own pockets. Advisers or Ministers and for- 
 eign contractors apparently agreed at times to fill 
 
64 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM: 
 
 their pockets at the cost of the Government. 
 There is no other rational explanation of some of 
 the contracts concluded, or some of the supplies re- 
 ceived. The representatives of the European 
 Powers and America were like one great happy 
 family, and the life of the European and American 
 community in Seoul was for a long time ideal. 
 There came one jarring experience when a Govern- 
 ment — it would be unkind to mention which — sent 
 a Minister who was a confirmed dipsomaniac. For 
 days after his arrival he was unable to see the Min- 
 isters of State who called on him, being in one long 
 debauch. The members of his Legation staff had 
 to keep close watch on him until word could be sent 
 home, when he was promptly recalled. 
 
 The young Koreans who were given power as 
 Ministers and Advisers after the Monarch escaped 
 from Japanese control were anxious to promote re- 
 form and education, and to introduce some plan of 
 popular administration. They were aided by one 
 British official, Mr. (now Sir John) McLeavy 
 Brown. Mr. Brown, trained in the Chinese Cus- 
 toms Service, was given charge of the Korean 
 Treasury and Customs, at the instigation of the 
 British Government. It was hoped that this ap- 
 pointment indicated that the British Government 
 would take a more active interest in Korean affairs. 
 Unfortunately Korea was far away, and the pre- 
 vailing idea in England at the time was to escape 
 any more over-seas burdens. 
 
 Mr. Brown was the terror of all men who re- 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB 66 
 
 garded the national treasure chest as the plunder 
 box. Even the King found his extravagance 
 checked, and Imperial schemes were delayed and 
 turned from mere wasteful squanderings to some 
 good purpose. When, for example, the Emperor 
 announced his determination to build a great new 
 memorial palace to the late Queen, Mr. Brown 
 pointed out that the first thing to do was to build 
 a fine road to the spot. The road was built, to the 
 permanent gain of the nation, and the palatial me- 
 morial waited. Old debts were paid off. The na- 
 tion was making money and saving. 
 
 A national economist always arouses many 
 foes. The popular man is the man who spends 
 freely. Officials who found their own gains lim- 
 ited and the sinecure posts for their relatives cut 
 down united against the British guardian of the 
 purse. Just about this time Russian control was 
 changed. M. Waeber left Seoul, to the universal 
 regret of all who knew him, and was succeeded by 
 M. de Speyer, who displayed the most aggressive 
 aspects of the Russian expansionist movement. A 
 Russian official was appointed Mr. Brown's suc- 
 cessor and for a beginning doubled the salaries of 
 the Korean office holders. This brought many of 
 the Korean office holders in line against Mr. Brown. 
 The latter held on to his office despite the appoint- 
 ment of the Russian, and when an active attempt 
 was made to turn him from his office, the British 
 Fleet appeared in Chemulpo Harbour. Mr. 
 Brown was to be backed by all the force of Eng- 
 
66 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 land. The Russians yielded and Mr. Brown re- 
 mained on at the head of the Customs, but did not 
 retain full control over the Treasury. 
 
 Had Britain or America at this time taken a hand 
 in the administration of Korean affairs, much future 
 trouble would have been avoided. They would have 
 done so as part of their Imperial task of " bearing 
 the burden of weaker nations." Many Koreans 
 desired and tried to obtain the intervention of 
 America, but the United States had not then real- 
 ized to the extent she was to do later that great 
 power brings great responsibilities, not for your 
 nation alone, but for all the world that has need of 
 you. 
 
 During the period of active reform following the 
 King's escape, the Progressives formed a league 
 for the maintenance of Korean union. At their 
 head was Dr. Philip Jaisohn, the boy General of 
 1884. The movement was one of considerable im- 
 portance. In response to my request, Dr. Jaisohn 
 has written the following description of what took 
 place : 
 
 THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB 
 
 " Early in 1896 I went back to Korea after an absence 
 of twelve years, at the urgent invitation of some Koreans 
 who at that time held high positions in the government. 
 When I reached Korea, I found that the Koreans who 
 had invited me had left their government positions, 
 either voluntarily or by force, and they were not to be 
 seen. It seemed that some of them had to leave the 
 country to save their lives. In those days the Korean 
 government changed almost every month. 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB 67 
 
 "At first I tried to help the Korean government in the 
 capacity of Adviser to the Privy Council, as they offered 
 me a five year contract to serve them in this manner. I 
 accepted the offer and gave some advice. For the first 
 month or two some of it was accepted by the Emperor 
 and his Cabinet officers, but they soon found that if they 
 carried out this advice, it would interfere with some of 
 their private schemes and privileges. They informed the 
 Emperor that I was not a friend of his, but a friend of 
 the Korean people, which at that time was considered 
 treason. My influence was decreasing every day at the 
 Court, and my advice was ignored. I gave up the idea of 
 helping the government officially and planned to give my 
 services to the Korean people as a private individual. 
 
 " I started the first English newspaper, as well as the 
 first Korean newspaper, both being known as The Inde- 
 pendent. At first this was only published semi-weekly, 
 but later on, every other day. The Korean edition of this 
 paper was eagerly read by the people and the circulation 
 increased by leaps and bounds. It was very encouraging 
 to me and I believe it did exert considerable influence for 
 good. It stopped the government officials from com- 
 mitting flagrant acts of corruption, and the people looked 
 upon the paper as a source of appeal to their ruler. This 
 little sheet was not only circulated in the capital and 
 immediate vicinity, but went to the remote corners of the 
 entire kingdom. A pathetic but interesting fact is that 
 it was read by a subscriber, and when he had finished 
 reading it, turned it over to his neighbours, and in this way 
 each copy was read by at least 200 people. The reason 
 for this was that most of the people were too poor to 
 buy the paper, and it was also very hard to get it to the 
 subscribers, owing to the lack of proper transportation 
 facilities at that time. 
 
 " After the paper was running in an encouraging man- 
 ner, I started a debating club, called The Independence 
 Club, and leased a large hall outside of the West Gate 
 which was originally built by the government to entertain 
 foreign envoys who visited Korea in olden times. This 
 hall was very spacious and surrounded by considerable 
 

 68 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 ground and was the best place in Korea for holding public 
 meetings. When this club was organized there were only 
 half a dozen members, but in the course of three months 
 the membership increased to nearly 10,000. There were 
 no obstacles or formalities in joining it and no dues or 
 admission were charged. As a result, many joined, some 
 from curiosity and some for the sake of learning the way 
 of conducting a public meeting in Parliamentary fashion. 
 
 "The subjects discussed were mostly political and 
 economical questions, but religion and education were not 
 overlooked. In the beginning the Koreans were shy 
 about standing up before an audience to make a public 
 speech, but after a certain amount of coaching and 
 encouragement I found that hundreds of them could 
 make very effective speeches. I believe the Koreans have 
 a natural talent for public speaking. Of course, all that 
 was said in these meetings was not altogether logical or 
 enlightening; nevertheless, a good many new thoughts 
 were brought out which were beneficial. Besides, the 
 calm and orderly manner in which various subjects were 
 debated on equal footing, produced a wonderful effect 
 among the Korean young men and to those who were in 
 the audience. 
 
 " In the course of a year the influence of this club was 
 very great and the members thought it was the most 
 marvellous institution that was ever brought to Korea. 
 The most remarkable thing I noticed was the quick and 
 intelligent manner in which the Korean young men 
 grasped and mastered the intricacies of Parliamentary 
 rule. I often noticed that some Korean raised a question 
 of the point of order in their procedure which was well 
 taken, worthy of expert Parliamentarians of the Western 
 countries. 
 
 " The increasing influence of the Independence Club 
 was feared not only by the Korean officials but by some of 
 the foreign representatives, such as Russia and Japan, both 
 of whom did not relish the idea of creating public opinion 
 among the Korean people. The members of the Inde- 
 pendence Club did not have any official status, but they 
 enjoyed the privilege of free speech during the meeting 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB 69 
 
 of this club, and they did not hesitate to criticize their 
 own officials, as well as those of the foreign nations who 
 tried to put through certain schemes in Korea for the 
 benefit of their selfish interests. In the course of a year 
 and a half the opposition to this club developed in a 
 marked degree not among the people, but among a few 
 government officials and certain members of the foreign 
 legations. 
 
 " The first time in Korean history that democracy made 
 its power felt in the government was at the time Russia 
 brought to Korea a large number of army officers to drill 
 the Korean troops. When this question was brought up 
 in the Independence Club debate, and the scheme was 
 thoroughly discussed pro and con by those who took part 
 in the debate, it was the consensus of opinion that the 
 turning over of the Military Department to a foreign 
 power was suicidal policy and they decided to persuade 
 the government to stop this scheme. The next day some 
 10,000 or more members of the club assembled in front 
 of the palace, and petitioned the Emperor to cancel the 
 agreement of engaging the Russian military officers as 
 they thought it was a dangerous procedure. The Em- 
 peror sent a messenger out several times to persuade them 
 to disperse and explain to the people that there was no 
 danger in engaging the Russians as military instructors. 
 But the people did not disperse, nor did they accept the 
 Emperor's explanation. They quietly but firmly refused 
 to move from the palace gates unless the contract with 
 Russia was cancelled. 
 
 " When the Russian Minister heard of this demonstra- 
 tion against the contract he wrote a very threatening letter 
 to the Korean government to the effect that the Korean 
 government must disperse the people, by force if neces- 
 sary, and stop any talk imputing selfish motives on the 
 part of the Russian government. If this was not stopped, 
 the Russian government would withdraw all the officers 
 from Korea at once, and Korea would have to stand the 
 consequences. This communication was shown to the 
 people with the explanation that if they insisted upon 
 cancelling this contract dire consequences would result 
 
70 KOREA'S FIGHT FOB FREEDOM 
 
 to Korea. But the people told the government they 
 would stand the consequences, whatever they would be, 
 but would not have Russian officers control their military 
 establishment. The Korean government finally asked the 
 Russian Minister to withdraw their military officers and 
 offered to pay any damage on account of the cancellation 
 of the contract. This was done, and the will of the peo- 
 ple was triumphant. 
 
 " But this event made opposition to the Independence 
 Club stronger than ever, and the government organized an 
 opposing organization, known as the Pedlars' Guild, 
 which was composed of all the pedlars of the country, 
 to counteract the influence this club wielded in the coun- 
 try, In May, 1898, I left Korea for the United States." 
 
 Dr. Jaisohn, as a naturalized American citizen, 
 was immune from arrest by the Korean Govern- 
 ment, and the worst that could happen to him was 
 dismissal. Another young man who now came to 
 the front in the Independence movement could 
 claim no such immunity. Syngman Rhee, son of a 
 good family, training in Confucian scholarship to 
 win a literary degree and official position, heard 
 with contempt and dislike the tales told by his 
 friends of foreign teachers and foreign religion. 
 His parents were pious Buddhists and Confucians, 
 and he followed their faith. Finding, however, 
 that if he hoped to make good in official life he 
 must know English, he joined the Pai Chai mission 
 school, in Seoul, under Dr. Appenzeller. He be- 
 came a member of the Independence Club, and is- 
 sued a daily paper to support his cause. Young, 
 fiery, enthusiastic, he soon came to occupy a promi- 
 nent place in the organization. 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB 71 
 
 The Independents were determined to have 
 genuine reform, and the mass of the people were 
 still behind them. The Conservatives, who op- 
 posed them, now controlled practically all official 
 actions. The Independence Club started a popular 
 agitation, and for months Seoul was in a ferment. 
 Great meetings of the people continued day after 
 day, the shops closing that all might attend. Even 
 the women stirred from their retirement, and held 
 meetings of their own to plead for change. To 
 counteract this movement, the Conservative party 
 revived and called to its aid an old secret society, 
 the Pedlars' Guild, which had in the past been a 
 useful agent for reaction. The Cabinet promised 
 fair things, and various nominal reforms were out- 
 lined. The Independents' demands were, in the 
 main, the absence of foreign control, care in grant- 
 ing foreign concessions, public trial of important 
 offenders, honesty in State finance, and justice for 
 all. In the end, another demand was added to 
 these — that a popular representative tribunal 
 should be elected. 
 
 When the Pedlars' Guild had organized its 
 forces, the King commanded the disbandment of 
 the Independence Club. The Independents re- 
 torted by going en bloc to the police headquarters, 
 and asking to be arrested. Early in November, 
 1898, seventeen of the Independent leaders were 
 thrown into prison, and would have been put 
 to death but for public clamour. The people rose 
 and held a series of such angry demonstrations 
 
72 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 that, at the end of five days, the leaders were re- 
 leased. 
 
 The Government now, to quiet the people, gave 
 assurances that genuine reforms would be insti- 
 tuted. When the mobs settled down, reform was 
 again shelved. On one occasion, when the citizens 
 of Seoul crowded into the main thoroughfare to 
 renew their demands, the police were ordered to 
 attack them with swords and destroy them. They 
 refused to obey, and threw ofl their badges, saying 
 that the cause of the people was their cause. The 
 soldiers under foreign officers, however, had no 
 hesitation in carrying out the Imperial commands. 
 As a next move, many thousands of men, acting on 
 an old national custom, went to the front of the 
 palace and sat there in silence day and night for 
 fourteen days. In Korea this is the most impress- 
 ive of all ways of demonstrating the wrath of the 
 nation, and it greatly embarrassed the Court. 
 
 The Pedlars' Guild was assembled in another 
 part of the city, to make a counter demonstration. 
 Early in the morning, when the Independents were 
 numerically at their weakest, the Pedlars attacked 
 them and drove them off. On attempting to re- 
 turn they found the way barred by police. Fight 
 after fight occurred during the next few days be- 
 tween the popular party and the Conservatives, 
 and then, to bring peace, the Emperor promised his 
 people a general audience in front of the palace. 
 The meeting took place amid every surrounding 
 that could lend it solemnity. The foreign repre- 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB 73 
 
 sentatives and the heads of the Government were 
 in attendance. The Emperor, who stood on a spe- 
 cially built platform, received the leaders of the 
 Independents, and listened to their statement of 
 their case. They asked that the monarch should 
 keep some of his old promises to maintain the na- 
 tional integrity and do justice. The Emperor, in 
 reply, presented them with a formal document, in 
 which he agreed to their main demands. 
 
 The crowd, triumphant, dispersed. The organi- 
 zation of the reformers slackened, for they thought 
 that victory was won. Then the Conservative 
 party landed some of its heaviest blows. The re- 
 formers were accused of desiring to establish a 
 republic. Dissension was created in their ranks by 
 the promotion of a scheme to recall Pak Yung-hio. 
 Some of the more extreme Independents indulged 
 in wild talk, and gave excuse for official repression. 
 Large numbers of reform leaders were arrested on 
 various pretexts. Meetings were dispersed at the 
 point of the bayonet, and the reform movement was 
 broken. The Emperor did not realize that he had, 
 in the hour that, he consented to crush the re- 
 formers, pronounced the doom of his own Imperial 
 house, and handed his land over to an alien people. 
 
 Dr. Jaisohn maintains that foreign influence was 
 mainly responsible for the destruction of the Inde- 
 pendence Club. Certain Powers did not wish 
 Korea to be strong. He adds : 
 
 " The passing of the Independence Club was one of 
 the most unfortunate things in the history of Korea, but 
 
74 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 there is one consolation to be derived from it, and that 
 is, the seed of democracy was sown in Korea through 
 this movement, and that the leaders of the present In- 
 dependence Movement in Korea are mostly members of 
 the old Independence Club, who somehow escaped with 
 their lives from the wholesale persecution that followed 
 the collapse of the Independence Club. Six out of the 
 eight cabinet members elected by the people this year, 
 (1919) were the former active members of the In- 
 dependence Club." 
 
 - Among the Independents arrested was Syngman 
 Rhee. The foreign community, which in a sense 
 stood sponsor for the more moderate of the Inde- 
 pendents, brought influence to bear, and it was un- 
 derstood that in a few days the leaders would be 
 released. Some of them were. But Rhee and a 
 companion broke out before release, in order to 
 stir up a revolt against the Government. By a mis- 
 understanding their friends were not on the spot 
 to help them, and they were at once recaptured. 
 
 Rhee was now exposed to the full fury of the 
 Emperor's wrath. He was thrown into the inner- 
 most prison, and for seven months lay one of a line 
 of men fastened to the ground, their heads held 
 down by heavy cangues, their feet in stocks and 
 their hands fastened by chains so that the wrists 
 were level with the forehead. Occasionally he was 
 taken out to be tormented, in ancient fashion. He 
 expected death, and rejoiced when one night he 
 was told that he was to be executed. His death 
 was already announced in the newspapers. But 
 when the guard came they took, not Rhee, but the 
 man fastened down next to him, to whom Rhee had 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB 75 
 
 smuggled a farewell message to be given to his 
 father after his death. His sentence was com- 
 muted to life imprisonment. 
 
 Lying there, the mind of the young reformer 
 went back to the messages he had heard at the 
 mission school. He turned to the Christians' God, 
 and his first prayer was typical of the man, " O 
 God, save my country and save my soul. ,, To him, 
 the dark and fcetid cell became as the palace of 
 God, for here God spoke to his soul and he found 
 peace. 
 
 He made friends with his guards. One of them 
 smuggled a little Testament in to him. From the 
 faint light of the tiny window, he read passage after 
 passage, one of the under-jailers holding the book 
 for him — since with his bound hands he could not 
 hold it himself — and another waiting to give warn- 
 ing of the approach of the chief guard. Man after 
 man in that little cell found God, and the jailer him- 
 self was converted. 
 
 After seven months of the hell of the inner cell, 
 Rhee was shifted to roomier quarters, where he 
 was allowed more freedom, still, however, carrying 
 chains around his neck and body. He organized a 
 church in the prison, made up of his own converts. 
 Then he obtained text-books and started a school. 
 He did not in the least relax his own principles. 
 He secretly wrote a book on the spirit of Inde- 
 pendence during his imprisonment. His old mis- 
 sionary friends sought him out and did what they 
 could for him. 
 
76 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 Rhee met plenty of his old friends, for the Con- 
 servatives were in the saddle now, and were arrest- 
 ing and imprisoning Progressives at every oppor- 
 tunity. Among the newcomers was a famous old 
 Korean statesman, Yi Sang-jai, who had formerly 
 been First Secretary to the Korean Legation at 
 Washington. Yi incurred the Emperor's displeas- 
 ure and was thrown into prison. He entered it 
 strongly anti-Christian; before two years were 
 over he had become a leader of the Christian band. 
 In due course Yi was released and became Secre- 
 tary of the Emperor's Cabinet. He carried his 
 Christianity out with him, and later on, when he 
 left office, became Religious Work leader of the 
 Seoul Y. M. C. A. Yi was one of the most loved 
 and honoured men in Korea. Every one who knew 
 him spoke of him in terms of confidence and praise. 
 
 Syngman Rhee was not released from prison 
 until 1904. He then went to America, graduated 
 at the George Washington University, took M. A. at 
 Harvard, and earned his Ph. D. at Princeton. He 
 returned to Seoul as an official of the Y. M. C. A., 
 but rinding it impossible to settle down under the 
 Japanese regime, went to Honolulu, where he be- 
 came principal of the Korean School. A few years 
 later he was chosen first President of the Republic 
 of Korea. 
 
 When Russia leased the Liaotung Peninsula 
 from China, after having prevented Japan from re- 
 taining it, she threw Korea as a sop to Japan. A 
 treaty was signed by which both nations recog- 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB 77 
 
 nized the independence of Korea, but Russia defi- 
 nitely recognized the supreme nature of the Japa- 
 nese enterprises and interests there, and promised 
 not to impede the development of Japan's commer- 
 cial and industrial Korean policy. The Russian 
 military instructors and financial adviser were with- 
 drawn from Seoul. 
 
 The Emperor of Korea was still in the hands of 
 the reactionaries. His Prime Minister and favour- 
 ite was Yi Yung-ik, the one-time coolie who had 
 rescued the Queen, and was now the man at the 
 right hand of the throne. 
 
 After a time Russia repented of her generosity. 
 She sought to regain control in Korea. She sent 
 M. Pavloff, an astute and charming statesman, to 
 Seoul, and a series of intrigues began. Yi Yung-ik 
 sided with the Russians. The end was war. 
 
 One personal recollection of these last days be- 
 fore the war remains stamped on my memory. I 
 was in Seoul and had been invited to an interview 
 with Yi Yung-ik. Squatted on the ground in his 
 apartment we discussed matters. I urged on him 
 the necessity of reform, if Korea was to save her- 
 self from extinction. Yi quickly retorted that 
 Korea was safe, for her independence was guaran- 
 teed by America and Europe. 
 
 " Don't you understand," I urged, " that treaties 
 not backed by power are useless. If you wish the 
 treaties to be respected, you must live up to them. 
 You must reform or perish." 
 
 " It does not matter what the other nations are 
 
78 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 doing," declared the Minister. " We have this day 
 sent out a statement that we are neutral and asking 
 for our neutrality to be respected." 
 
 "Why should they protect you, if you do not 
 protect yourself?" I asked. 
 
 " We have the promise of America. She will be 
 our friend whatever happens," the Minister in- 
 sisted. 
 
 From that position he would not budge. 
 
 Three days later, the Russian ships, the Variag 
 and the Korietz, lay sunken wrecks in Chemulpo 
 Harbour, broken by the guns of the Japanese fleet, 
 and the Japanese soldiers had seized the Korean 
 Emperor's palace. M. Hayashi, the Japanese Min- 
 ister, was dictating the terms he must accept. 
 Korea's independence was over, in deed if not in 
 name, and Japan was at last about to realize her 
 centuries' old ambition to have Korea for her own. 
 
THE NEW ERA 
 
 JAPAN was now in a position to enforce obedi- 
 ence. Russia could no longer interfere ; Eng- 
 land would not. A new treaty between Japan 
 and Korea, drawn up in advance, was signed — the 
 Emperor being ordered to assent without hesita- 
 tion or alteration — and Japan began her work as 
 the open protector of Korea. The Korean Gov- 
 ernment was to place full confidence in Japan and 
 follow her lead ; while Japan pledged herself " in a 
 spirit of firm friendship, to secure the safety and 
 repose " of the Imperial Korean House, and defi- 
 nitely guaranteed the independence and territorial 
 integrity of the country. Japan was to be given 
 every facility for military operations during the 
 war. 
 
 The Japanese at first behaved with great mod- 
 eration. Officials who had been hostile to them 
 were not only left unpunished, but were, some of 
 them, employed in the Japanese service. The 
 troops marching northwards maintained rigid dis- 
 cipline and treated the people well. Food that was 
 taken was purchased at fair prices, and the thou- 
 
 79 
 
80 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 sands of labourers who were pressed into the army 
 service as carriers were rewarded with a liberality 
 and promptitude that left them surprised. Mr. 
 Hayashi did everything that he could to reassure 
 the Korean Emperor, and repeatedly told him that 
 Japan desired nothing but the good of Korea and 
 the strengthening of the Korean nation. The Mar- 
 quis Ito was soon afterwards sent on a special mis- 
 sion from the Mikado, and he repeated and empha- 
 sized the declarations of friendship and help. 
 
 All this was not without effect upon the Korean 
 mind. The people of the north had learnt to dis- 
 like the Russians, because of their lack of discipline 
 and want of restraint. They had been alienated in 
 particular by occasional interference with Korean 
 women by the Russian soldiers. I travelled largely 
 throughout the northern regions in the early days 
 of the war, and everywhere I heard from the people 
 during the first few weeks nothing but expressions 
 of friendship to the Japanese. The coolies and 
 farmers were friendly because they hoped that 
 Japan would modify the oppression of the native 
 magistrates. A section of better-class people, es- 
 pecially those who had received some foreign train- 
 ing, were sympathetic, because they credited Ja- 
 pan's promises and had been convinced by old ex- 
 perience that no far-reaching reforms could come 
 to their land without foreign aid. 
 
 As victory followed victory, however, the atti- 
 tude of the Japanese grew less kindly. A large 
 number of petty tradesmen followed the army, and 
 
THE NEW ERA 81 
 
 these showed none of the restraint of the military. 
 They travelled about, sword in hand, taking what 
 they wished and doing as they pleased. Then the 
 army cut down the rate of pay for coolies, and, 
 from being overpaid, the native labourers were 
 forced to toil for half their ordinary earnings. The 
 military, too, gradually began to acquire a more 
 domineering air. 
 
 In Seoul itself a definite line of policy was being 
 pursued. The Korean Government had employed 
 a number of foreign advisers. These were steadily 
 eliminated; some of them were paid up for the full 
 time of their engagements and sent off, and others 
 were told that their agreements would not be 
 renewed. Numerous Japanese advisers were 
 brought in, and, step by step, the administration 
 was Japanized. This process was hastened by a 
 supplementary agreement concluded in August, 
 when the Korean Emperor practically handed the 
 control of administrative functions over to the 
 Japanese. He agreed to engage a Japanese finan- 
 cial adviser, to reform the currency, to reduce his 
 army, to adopt Japanese military and educational 
 methods, and eventually to trust the foreign rela- 
 tions to Japan. One of the first results of this new 
 agreement was that Mr. (now Baron) Megata was 
 given control of the Korean finances. He quickly 
 brought extensive and, on the whole, admirable 
 changes into the currency. Under the old methods, 
 Korean money was among the worst in the world. 
 The famous gibe of a British Consul in an official 
 
82 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 report, that the Korean coins might be divided into 
 good, good counterfeits, bad counterfeits, and 
 counterfeits so bad that they can only be passed off 
 in the dark, was by no means an effort of imagina- 
 tion. In the days before the war it was necessary, 
 when one received any sum of money, to employ an 
 expert to count over the coins, and put aside the 
 worst counterfeits. The old nickels were so cum- 
 bersome that a very few pounds' worth of them 
 formed a heavy load for a pony. Mr. Megata 
 changed all this, and put the currency on a sound 
 basis, naturally not without some temporary trou- 
 ble, but certainly with permanent benefit to the 
 country. 
 
 The next great step in the Japanese advance was 
 the acquirement of the entire Korean postal and 
 telegraph system. This was taken over, despite 
 Korean protests. More and more Japanese gen- 
 darmes were brought in and established themselves 
 everywhere. They started to control all political 
 activity. Men who protested against Japanese ac- 
 tion were arrested and imprisoned, or driven 
 abroad. A notorious pro-Japanese society, the II 
 Chin Hoi, was fostered by every possible means, 
 members receiving for a time direct payments 
 through Japanese sources. The payment at one 
 period was 50 sen (Is.) a day. Notices were 
 posted in Seoul that no one could organize a po- 
 litical society unless the Japanese headquarters 
 consented, and no one could hold a meeting for dis- 
 cussing affairs without permission, and without 
 
THE NEW EKA 83 
 
 having it guarded by Japanese'poli'ce. Allletters 
 and circulars issued by political societies were first 
 to be submitted to the headquarters. Those who 
 offended made themselves punishable by martial 
 law. 
 
 Gradually the hand of Japan became heavier and 
 heavier. Little aggravating changes were made. 
 The Japanese military authorities decreed that 
 Japanese time should be used for all public work, 
 and they changed the names of the towns from 
 Korean to Japanese. Martial law was now en- 
 forced with the utmost rigidity. Scores of thou- 
 sands of Japanese coolies poured into the country, 
 and spread abroad, acting in a most oppressive 
 way. These coolies, who had been kept strictly 
 under discipline in their own land, here found them- 
 selves masters of a weaker people. The Korean 
 magistrates could not punish them, and the few 
 Japanese residents, scattered in the provinces, 
 would not. The coolies were poor, uneducated, 
 strong, and with the inherited brutal traditions of 
 generations of their ancestors who had looked upon 
 force and strength as supreme right. They went 
 through the country like a plague. If they wanted 
 a thing they took it. If they fancied a house, they 
 turned the resident out. 
 
 They beat, they outraged, they murdered in a 
 way and on a scale of which it is difficult for any 
 white man to speak with moderation. Koreans 
 were flogged to death for offences that did not de- 
 serve a sixpenny fine. They were shot for mere 
 
84 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 awkwardness. Men were dispossessed of their 
 homes by every form of guile and trickery. It was 
 my lot to hear from Koreans themselves and from 
 white men living in the districts, hundreds upon 
 hundreds of incidents of this time, all to the same 
 effect. The outrages were allowed to pass unpun- 
 ished and unheeded. The Korean who approached 
 the office of a Japanese resident to complain was 
 thrown out, as a rule, by the underlings. 
 
 One act on the part of the Japanese surprised 
 most of those who knew them best. In Japan it- 
 self opium-smoking is prohibited under the heavi- 
 est penalties, and elaborate precautions are taken 
 to shut opium in any of its forms out of the coun- 
 try. Strict anti-opium laws were also enforced in 
 Korea under the old administration. The Japa- 
 nese, however, now permitted numbers of their 
 people to travel through the interior of Korea sell- 
 ing morphia to the natives. In the northwest in 
 particular this caused quite a wave of morphia- 
 mania. 
 
 The Japanese had evidently set themselves to 
 acquire possession of as much Korean land as pos- 
 sible. The military authorities staked out large 
 portions of the finest sites in the country, the river- 
 lands near Seoul, the lands around Pyeng-yang, 
 great districts to the north, and fine strips all along 
 the railway. Hundreds of thousands of acres were 
 thus acquired. A nominal sum was paid as com- 
 pensation to the Korean Government — a sum that 
 did not amount to one-twentieth part of the real 
 
THE NEW EEA 85 
 
 value of the land. The people who were turned 
 out received, in many cases, nothing at all, and, in 
 others, one-tenth to one-twentieth of the fair value. 
 The land was seized by the military, nominally for 
 purposes of war. Within a few months large parts 
 of it were being resold to Japanese builders and 
 shopkeepers, and Japanese settlements were grow- 
 ing up on them. This theft of land beggared thou- 
 sands of formerly prosperous people. 
 
 The Japanese Minister pushed forward, in the 
 early days of the war, a scheme of land appropria- 
 tion that would have handed two-thirds of Korea 
 over at a blow to a Japanese concessionaire, a Mr. 
 Nagamori, had it gone through. Under this pro- 
 posal all the waste lands of Korea, which included 
 all unworked mineral lands, were to be given to 
 Mr. Nagamori nominally for fifty years, but really 
 on a perpetual lease, without any payment or com- 
 pensation, and with freedom from taxation for 
 some time. Mr. Nagamori was simply a cloak for 
 the Japanese Government in this matter. The 
 comprehensive nature of the request stirred even 
 the foreign representatives in Seoul to action. For 
 the moment the Japanese had to abandon the 
 scheme. The same scheme under another name 
 was carried out later when the Japanese obtained 
 fuller control. 
 
 It may be asked why the Korean people did not 
 make vigorous protests against the appropriation 
 of their land. They did all they could, as can be 
 seen by the " Five Rivers " case. One part of the 
 
86 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 Japanese policy was to force loans upon the Korean 
 Government. On one occasion it was proposed 
 that Japan should lend Korea 2,000,000 yen. The 
 residents in a prosperous district near Seoul, the 
 "Five Rivers," informed the Emperor that if he 
 wanted money, they would raise it and so save 
 them the necessity of borrowing from foreigners. 
 Soon afterwards these people were all served with 
 notice to quit, as their land was wanted by the 
 Japanese military authorities. The district con- 
 tained, it was said, about 15,000 houses. The in- 
 habitants protested and a large number of them 
 went to Seoul, demanding to see the Minister for 
 Home Affairs. They were met by a Japanese po- 
 liceman, who was soon reenforced by about twenty 
 others, who refused to allow them to pass. A 
 free fight followed. Many of the Koreans were 
 wounded, some of them severely, and finally, in 
 spite of stubborn resistance, they were driven back. 
 Later, a mixed force of Japanese police and soldiers 
 went down to their district and drove them from 
 their villages. 
 
 The Japanese brought over among their many 
 advisers, one foreigner — an American, Mr. Stevens 
 — who had for some time served in the Japanese 
 Foreign Office. Mr. Stevens was nominally in the 
 employment of the Korean Government, but really 
 he was a more thoroughgoing servant of Japan 
 than many Japanese themselves. Two foreigners, 
 whose positions seemed fairly established, were 
 greatly in the way of the new rulers. One was Dr. 
 
THE NEW ERA 87 
 
 Allen, the American Minister at Seoul. Dr. Allen 
 had shown himself to be an independent and im- 
 partial representative of his country. He was 
 friendly to the Japanese, but did not think it neces- 
 sary to shut his eyes to the darker sides of their 
 administration. This led to his downfall. He 
 took opportunity, on one or two occasions, to tell 
 his Government some unpalatable truths. The 
 Japanese came to know it. They suggested indi- 
 rectly that he was not persona grata to them. He 
 was summarily and somewhat discourteously re- 
 called, his successor, Mr. E. V. Morgan, arriving at 
 Seoul with authorization to replace him. The next 
 victim was Mr. McLeavy Brown, the Chief Com- 
 missioner of Customs. Mr. Brown had done his 
 utmost to work with the Japanese, but there were 
 conflicts of authority between him and Mr. Megata. 
 Negotiations were entered into with the British 
 authorities, and Mr. Brown had to go. He was too 
 loyal and self-sacrificing to dispute the ruling, and 
 submitted in silence. 
 
 As the summer of 1905 drew to a close it became 
 more and more clear that the Japanese Govern- 
 ment, despite its many promises to the contrary, 
 intended completely to destroy the independence 
 of Korea. Even the Court officials were at last 
 seriously alarmed, and set about devising means to 
 protect themselves. The Emperor had thought 
 that because Korean independence was provided 
 for in various treaties with Great Powers, therefore 
 he was safe. He had yet to learn that treaty rights, 
 
88 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 unbacked by power, are worth little more than the 
 paper upon which they are written. 
 
 The Emperor trusted in particular to the clause 
 in the Treaty with the United States in 1882 that if 
 other Powers dealt unjustly or oppressively with 
 Korea, America would exert her good offices to 
 bring about an amicable arrangement. In vain did 
 the American Minister, his old friend Dr. Allen — 
 who had not yet gone — try to disillusion him. 
 
 Early in November the Marquis Ito arrived in 
 Seoul on another visit, this time as Special Envoy 
 from the Emperor of Japan. He brought with him 
 a letter from the Mikado, saying that he hoped the 
 Korean Emperor would follow the directions of the 
 Marquis, and come to an agreement with him, for 
 it was essential for the maintenance of peace in the 
 Far East that he should do so. 
 
 Marquis Ito was received in formal audience on 
 November 15th, and there presented a series of de- 
 mands, drawn up in treaty form. These were, in 
 the main, that the foreign relations of Korea should 
 be placed entirely in the hands of Japan, the Korean 
 diplomatic service brought to an end, and the Min- 
 isters recalled from foreign Courts. The Japanese 
 Minister to Korea was to became supreme admin- 
 istrator of the country under the Emperor, and the 
 Japanese Consuls in the different districts were to 
 be made Residents, with the powers of supreme 
 local governors. In other words, Korea was en- 
 tirely to surrender her independence as a State, and 
 was to hand over control of her internal adminis- 
 
THE NEW EEA 89 
 
 tration to the Japanese. The Emperor met the re- 
 quest with a blank refusal. The conversation be- 
 tween the two, as reported at the time, was as 
 follows. 
 
 The Emperor said — 
 
 " Although I have seen in the newspapers various 
 rumours that Japan proposed to assume a protectorate 
 over Korea, I did not believe them, as I placed faith in 
 Japan's adherence to the promise to maintain the in- 
 dependence of Korea which was made by the Em- 
 peror of Japan at the beginning of the war and embodied 
 in a treaty between Korea and Japan. When I heard 
 you were coming to my country I was glad, as I believed 
 your mission was to increase the friendship between our 
 countries, and your demands have therefore taken me 
 entirely by surprise." 
 
 To which Marquis Ito rejoined — 
 
 " These demands are not my own ; I am only acting in 
 accordance with a mandate from my Government, and 
 if Your Majesty will agree to the demands which I have 
 presented it will be to the benefit of both nations and 
 peace in the East will be assured for ever. Please, there- 
 fore, consent quickly." 
 
 The Emperor replied — 
 
 " From time immemorial it has been the custom of the 
 rulers of Korea, when confronted with questions so mo- 
 mentous as this, to come to no decision until all the 
 Ministers, high and low, who hold or have held office, 
 have been consulted, and the opinion of the scholars and 
 the common people have been obtained, so that I cannot 
 now settle this matter myself." 
 
90 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 Said Marquis Ito again — 
 
 " Protests from the people can easily be disposed of, 
 and for the sake of the friendship between the two coun- 
 tries Your Majesty should come to a decision at once." 
 
 To this the Emperor replied — 
 
 " Assent to your proposal would mean the ruin of my 
 country, and I will therefore sooner die than agree to it." 
 
 The conference lasted nearly five hours, and then 
 the Marquis had to leave, having accomplished 
 nothing. He at once tackled the members of the 
 Cabinet, individually and collectively. They were 
 all summoned to the Japanese Legation on the 
 following day, and a furious debate began, starting 
 at three o'clock in the afternoon, and lasting till 
 late at night. The Ministers had sworn to one an- 
 other beforehand that they would not yield. In 
 spite of threats, cajoleries, and proffered bribes, 
 they remained steadfast. The arguments used by 
 Marquis Ito and Mr. Hayashi, apart from personal 
 ones, were twofold. The first was that it was 
 essential for the peace of the Far East that Japan 
 and Korea should be united. The second appealed 
 to racial ambition. The Japanese painted to the 
 Koreans a picture of a great united East, with the 
 Mongol nations all standing firm and as one against 
 the white man, who would reduce them to submis- 
 sion if he could. 1 The Japanese were determined 
 
 *As it may be questioned whether the Japanese would use 
 such arguments, I may say that the account of the interview 
 
THE NEW EEA 91 
 
 to give the Cabinet no time to regather its strength. 
 On the 17th of November, another conference be- 
 gan at two in the afternoon at the Legation, but 
 equally without result. Mr. Hayashi then advised 
 the Ministers to go to the palace and open a Cabi- 
 net Meeting in the presence of the Emperor. This 
 was done, the Japanese joining in. 
 
 All this time the Japanese Army had been mak- 
 ing a great display of military force around the 
 palace. All the Japanese troops in the district had 
 been for days parading the streets and open places 
 fronting the Imperial residence. The field-guns 
 were out, and the men were fully armed. They 
 marched, countermarched, stormed, made feint at- 
 tacks, occupied the gates, put their guns in posi- 
 tion, and did everything, short of actual violence, 
 that they could to demonstrate to the Koreans that 
 they were able to enforce their demands. To the 
 Cabinet Ministers themselves* and to the Emperor, 
 all this display had a sinister and terrible meaning. 
 They could not forget the night in 1895, when the 
 Japanese soldiers had paraded around another pal- 
 ace, and when their picked bullies had forced their 
 way inside and murdered the Queen. Japan had 
 done this before; why should she not do it again? 
 Not one of those now resisting the will of Dai 
 Nippon but saw the sword in front of his eyes, and 
 
 was given to me by one of the participating Korean Ministers, 
 and that he dealt at great length with the pro-Asian policy 
 suggested there. I asked him why he had not listened and 
 accepted. He replied that he knew what such arguments 
 meant. The unity of Asia when spoken of by Japanese meant 
 the supreme autocracy of their country. 
 
92 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 heard in imagination a hundred times during the 
 day the rattle of the Japanese bullets. 
 
 That evening Japanese soldiers, with fixed bay- 
 onets, entered the courtyard of the palace and 
 stood near the apartment of the Emperor. Mar- 
 quis Ito now arrived, accompanied by General 
 Hasegawa, Commander of the Japanese Army in 
 Korea, and a fresh attack was started on the Cabi- 
 net Ministers. The Marquis demanded an audi- 
 ence of the Emperor. The Emperor refused to 
 grant it, saying that his throat was very bad, and 
 he was in great pain. The Marquis then made his 
 way into the Emperor's presence, and personally 
 requested an audience. The Emperor still refused. 
 " Please go away and discuss the matter with the 
 Cabinet Ministers," he said. 
 
 Thereupon Marquis Ito went outside to the Min- 
 isters. " Your Emperor has commanded you to 
 confer with me and settle this matter/' he declared. 
 A fresh conference was opened. The presence of 
 the soldiers, the gleaming of the bayonets outside, 
 the harsh words of command that could be heard 
 through the windows of the palace buildings, were 
 not without their effect. The Ministers had fought 
 for days and they had fought alone. No single for- 
 eign representative had offered them help or coun- 
 sel. They saw submission or destruction before 
 them. "What is the use of our resisting?" said 
 one. " The Japanese always get their way in the 
 end." Signs of yielding began to appear. The 
 acting Prime Minister, Han Kew-sul, jumped to 
 
THE NEW EEA 93 
 
 his feet and said he would go and tell the Emperor 
 of the talk of traitors. Han Kew-sul was allowed 
 to leave the room and then was gripped by the Jap- 
 anese Secretary of the Legation, thrown into a 
 side-room and threatened with death. Even Mar- 
 quis Ito went out to him to persuade him. " Would 
 you not yield," the Marquis said, " if your Emperor 
 commanded you?" "No," said Han Kew-sul, 
 " not even then! " 
 
 This was enough. The Marquis at once went to 
 the Emperor. " Han Kew-sul is a traitor," he 
 said. " He defies you, and declares that he will not 
 obey your commands." 
 
 Meanwhile the remaining Ministers waited in 
 the Cabinet Chamber. Where was their leader, 
 the man who had urged them all to resist to death? 
 Minute after minute passed, and still he did not re- 
 turn. Then a whisper went round that the Japa- 
 nese had killed him. The harsh voices of the 
 Japanese grew still more strident. Courtesy and 
 restraint were thrown off. " Agree with us and be 
 rich, or oppose us and perish." Pak Che-sun, the 
 Foreign Minister, one of the best and most capable 
 of Korean statesmen, was the last to yield. But 
 even he finally gave way. In the early hours of 
 the morning commands were issued that the seal 
 of State should be brought from the Foreign Min- 
 ister's apartment, and a treaty should be signed. 
 Here another difficulty arose. The custodian of 
 the seal had received orders in advance that, even 
 if his master commanded, the seal was not to be 
 
94 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 surrendered for any such purpose. When tele- 
 phonic orders were sent to him, he refused to bring 
 the seal along, and special messengers had to be 
 despatched to take it from him by force. The Em- 
 peror himself asserts to this day that he did not 
 consent. 
 
 The news of the signing of the treaty was re- 
 ceived by the people with horror and indignation. 
 Han Kew-sul, once he escaped from custody, 
 turned on his fellow-Ministers as one distraught, 
 and bitterly reproached them. " Why have you 
 broken your promises? " he cried. "Why have 
 you broken your promises? " The Ministers found 
 themselves the most hated and despised of men. 
 There was danger lest mobs should attack them 
 and tear them to pieces. Pak Che-sun shrank away 
 under the storm of execration that greeted him. 
 On December 6th, as he was entering the palace, 
 one of the soldiers lifted his rifle and tried to shoot 
 him. Pak Che-sun turned back, and hurried to the 
 Japanese Legation. There he forced his way into 
 the presence of Mr. Hayashi, and drew a knife. 
 " It is you who have brought me to this," he cried. 
 " You have made me a traitor to my country." He 
 attempted to cut his own throat, but Mr. Hayashi 
 stopped him, and he was sent to hospital for 
 treatment. When he recovered he was chosen by 
 the Japanese as the new Prime Minister, Han Kew- 
 sul being exiled and disgraced. Pak did not, how- 
 ever, hold office for very long, being somewhat too 
 independent to suit his new masters. 
 
THE NEW ERA 95 
 
 As the news spread through the country, the 
 people of various districts assembled, particularly 
 in the north, and started to march southwards to 
 die in front of the palace as a protest. Thanks to 
 the influence of the missionaries, many of them 
 were stopped. " It is of no use your dying in that 
 way," the missionaries told them. " You had bet- 
 ter live and make your country better able to hold 
 its own." A number of leading officials, including 
 all the surviving past Prime Ministers, and over a 
 hundred men who had previously held high office 
 under the Crown, went to the palace, and de- 
 manded that the Emperor should openly repudiate 
 the treaty, and execute those Ministers who had 
 acquiesced in it. The Emperor tried to temporize 
 with them, for he was afraid that, if he took too 
 openly hostile an attitude, the Japanese would pun- 
 ish him. The memorialists sat down in the palace 
 buildings, refusing to move, and demanding an an- 
 swer. Some of their leaders were arrested by the 
 Japanese gendarmes, only to have others, still 
 greater men, take their place. The storekeepers 
 of the city put up their shutters to mark their 
 mourning. 
 
 At last a message came from the Emperor: 
 " Although affairs now appear to you to be danger- 
 ous, there may presently result some benefit to the 
 nation." The gendarmes descended on the peti- 
 tioners and threatened them with general arrest if 
 they remained around the palace any longer. They 
 moved on to a shop where they tried to hold a 
 
96 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 meeting, but they were turned out of it by the 
 police. Min Yong-whan, their leader, a former 
 Minister for War and Special Korean Ambassador 
 at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, went home. 
 He wrote letters to his friends lamenting the state 
 of his country, and then committed suicide. Sev- 
 eral other statesmen did the same, while many 
 others resigned. One native paper, the Whang 
 Sung Shimbun, dared to print an exact statement of 
 what had taken place. Its editor was promptly ar- 
 rested, and thrown into prison, and the paper sup- 
 pressed. Its lamentation voiced the feeling of the 
 country : — 
 
 " When it was recently made known the Marquis Ito 
 would come to Korea our deluded people all said, with 
 one voice, that he is the man who will be responsible for 
 the maintenance of friendship between the three coun- 
 tries of the Far East (Japan, China, and Korea), and, 
 believing that his visit to Korea was for the sole purpose 
 of devising good plans for strictly maintaining the prom- 
 ised integrity and independence of Korea, our people, 
 from the seacoast to the capital, united in extending to 
 him a hearty welcome. 
 
 " But oh ! How difficult is it to anticipate affairs in 
 this world. Without warning, a proposal containing five 
 clauses was laid before the Emperor, and we then saw 
 how mistaken we were about the object of Marquis Ito's 
 visit. However, the Emperor firmly refused to have any- 
 thing to do with these proposals and Marquis Ito should 
 then, properly, have abandoned his attempt and returned 
 to his own country. 
 
 " But the Ministers of our Government, who are worse 
 than pigs or dogs, coveting honours and advantages for 
 themselves, and frightened by empty threats, were 
 trembling in every limb, and were willing to become 
 
THE NEW ERA 97 
 
 traitors to their country and betray to Japan the integrity 
 of a nation which has stood for 4,000 years, the founda- 
 tion and honour of a dynasty 500 years old, and the rights 
 and freedom of twenty million people. 
 
 " We do not wish to too deeply blame Pak Che-sun 
 and the other Ministers, of whom, as they are little better 
 than brute animals, too much was not to be expected, 
 but what can be said of the Vice-Prime Minister, the 
 chief of the Cabinet, whose early opposition to the pro- 
 posals of Marquis Ito was an empty form devised to 
 enhance his reputation with the people? 
 
 " Can he not now repudiate the agreement or can he 
 not rid the world of his presence? How can he again 
 stand before the Emperor and with what face can he 
 ever look upon any one of his twenty million compa- 
 triots ? 
 
 "Is it worth while for any of us to live any longer? 
 Our people have become the slaves of others, and the 
 spirit of a nation which has stood for 4,000 years, since 
 the days of Tun Kun and Ke-ja has perished in a single 
 night. Alas ! fellow-countrymen. Alas ! " 
 
 Suicides, resignations, and lamentation were of 
 no avail. The Japanese gendarmes commanded 
 the streets, and the Japanese soldiers, behind them, 
 were ready to back up their will by the most un- 
 answerable of arguments — force. 
 
 Naturally, as might have been expected by those 
 who know something of the character of the Japa- 
 nese, every effort was made to show that there 
 had been no breach of treaty promises. Korea 
 was still an independent country, and the dignity of 
 its Imperial house was still unimpaired. Japan 
 had only brought a little friendly pressure on a 
 weaker brother to assist him along the path of 
 progress. Such talk pleased the Japanese, and 
 
98 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 helped them to reconcile the contrast between their 
 solemn promises and their actions. It deceived no 
 one else. Soon even, the Japanese papers made 
 little or no more talk of Korean independence. 
 " Korean independence is a farce," they said. And 
 for the time they were right. 
 
 The Emperor did his utmost to induce the 
 Powers, more particularly America, to intervene, 
 but in vain. The story of his efforts is an interest- 
 ing episode in the records of diplomacy. 
 
 Dr. Allen, the American Minister, wrote to his 
 Secretary of State, on April 14, 1904, telling of the 
 serious concern of the Korean Emperor over recent 
 happenings. " He falls back in his extremity upon 
 his old friendship with America. . . . The Em- 
 peror confidently expects that America will do 
 something for him at the close of this war, or when 
 opportunity offers, to retain for him as much of his 
 independence as is possible. He is inclined to give 
 a very free and favourable translation to Article I 
 of our treaty of Jenchuan of 1882 " (A e., the 
 pledge, " If other Powers deal unjustly or oppress- 
 ively with either Government, the other will exert 
 their good offices, on being informed of the case, to 
 bring about an amicable arrangement, thus show- 
 ing their friendly feeling "). 
 
 In April, 1905, Dr. Allen transmitted to Wash- 
 ington copies of protests by an American mission- 
 ary and certain Koreans against the conduct of 
 Japanese subjects in Korea. Dr. Allen was shortly 
 afterwards replaced by Mr. Edwin V. Morgan. 
 
THE NEW ERA 99 
 
 In October, 1905, the Emperor, determined to 
 appeal directly to America, enlisted the services of 
 Professor Homer B. Hulbert, editor of the Korea 
 Review, who had been employed continuously in 
 educational work in Seoul since 1886, and des- 
 patched him to Washington, with a letter to the 
 President of the United States. Mr. Hulbert in- 
 formed his Minister at Seoul of his mission and 
 started off. The Japanese learned of his departure 
 (Mr. Hulbert suggests that the American Minister 
 may have informed them) and used every effort to 
 force a decision before the letter could be delivered. 
 
 On the same day that Mr. Hulbert reached 
 Washington the Korean Cabinet were forced to 
 sign the document giving Japan a protectorate over 
 their land. Formal notification had not yet, how- 
 ever, arrived at Washington, so it was resolved not 
 to receive Mr. Hulbert until this had come. 
 
 " I supposed that the President would be not only will- 
 ing but eager to see the letter," said Mr. Hulbert in a 
 statement presented later to the Senate ; " but instead of 
 that I received the astounding answer that the President 
 would not receive it. I cast about in my own mind for 
 a possible reason, but could imagine none. I went to the 
 State Department with it, but was told that they were 
 too busy to see me. Remember that at that very moment 
 Korea was in her death throes ; that she was in full treaty 
 relations with us; that there was a Korean legation in 
 Washington and an American legation in Seoul. I de- 
 termined that there was something here that was more 
 than mere carelessness. There was premeditation in the 
 refusal. There was no other answer. They said I might 
 come the following day. I did so and was told that they 
 
100 KOKEA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 were still too busy, but might come the next day. I 
 hurried over to the White House and asked to be ad- 
 mitted. A secretary came out and without any prelim- 
 inary whatever told me in the lobby that they knew the 
 contents of the letter, but that the State Department was 
 the only place to go. I had to wait till the next day. But 
 on that same day, the day before I was admitted, the 
 administration, without a word to the Emperor or Govern- 
 ment of Korea or to the Korean Legation, and knowing 
 well' the contents of the undelivered letter, accepted Ja- 
 pan's unsupported statement that it was all satisfactory 
 to the Korean Government and people, cabled our lega- 
 tion to remove from Korea, cut off all communication 
 with the Korean Government, and then admitted me with 
 the letter." 
 
 On November 25th Mr. Hulbert received a mes- 
 sage from Mr. Root that 
 
 " The letter from the Emperor of Korea which you in- 
 trusted to me has been placed in the President's hands 
 and read by him. 
 
 " In view of the fact that the Emperor desires that the 
 sending of the letter should remain secret, and of the 
 fact that since intrusting it to you the Emperor has made 
 a new agreement with Japan disposing of the whole 
 question to which the letter relates, it seems quite im- 
 practicable that any action should be based upon it." 
 
 On the following day Mr. Hulbert received a 
 cablegram from the Emperor, which had been des- 
 patched from Chefoo, in order not to pass over the 
 Japanese wires: — 
 
 " I declare that the so-called treaty of protectorate re- 
 cently concluded between Korea and Japan was extorted 
 at the point of the sword and under duress and there- 
 
THE NEW ERA lOl 
 
 fore is null and void. I never consented to it and never 
 will. Transmit to American Government. 
 
 " The Emperor of Korea." 
 
 Poor Emperor! Innocent simpleton to place 
 such trust in a written bond. Mr. Root had al- 
 ready telegraphed to the American Minister at 
 Seoul to withdraw from Korea and to return to the 
 United States. 
 
 No one supposes that the Washington authori- 
 ties were deceived by the statement of the Japanese 
 authorities or that they believed for one moment 
 that the treaty was secured in any other way than 
 by force. To imagine so would be an insult to 
 their intelligence. It must be remembered that 
 Japan was at this time at the very height of her 
 prestige. President Roosevelt was convinced, 
 mainly through the influence of his old friend, Mr. 
 George Kennan, that the Koreans were unfit for 
 self-government. He was anxious to please Japan, 
 and therefore he deliberately refused to interfere. 
 His own explanation, given some years afterwards, 
 was: 
 
 " To be sure, by treaty it was solemnly covenanted that 
 Korea should remain independent. But Korea itself was 
 helpless to enforce the treaty, and it was out of the ques- 
 tion to suppose that any other nation, with no interest of 
 its own at stake, would do for the Koreans what they 
 were utterly unable to do for themselves." 
 
 There we have the essence of international 
 political morality. 
 
 The letter of the Emperor of Korea to the Presi- 
 
102 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 dent of the United States makes interesting read- 
 ing: 
 
 " Ever since 1883 the United States and Korea have 
 been in friendly treaty relations. Korea has received 
 many proofs of the good will and the sympathy of the 
 American Government and people. The American Rep- 
 resentatives have always shown themselves to be in sym- 
 pathy with the welfare and progress of Korea. Many 
 teachers have been sent from America who have done 
 much for the uplift of our people. 
 
 " But we have not made the progress that we ought. 
 This is due partly to the political machinations of foreign 
 powers and partly to our mistakes. At the beginning of 
 the Japan-Russia war the Japanese Government asked 
 us to enter into an alliance with them, granting them the 
 use of our territory, harbours, and other resources, to 
 facilitate their military and naval operations. Japan, on 
 her part, guaranteed to preserve the independence of 
 Korea and the welfare and dignity of the royal house. 
 We complied with Japan's request, loyally lived up to 
 our obligations, and did everything that we had stipulated. 
 By so doing we put ourselves in such a position that if 
 Russia had won, she could have seized Korea and an- 
 nexed her to Russian territory on the ground that we 
 were active allies of Japan. 
 
 " It is now apparent that Japan proposes to abrogate 
 their part of this treaty and declare a protectorate over 
 our country in direct contravention of her sworn prom- 
 ise in the agreement of 1904. There are several reasons 
 why this should not be done. 
 
 " In the first place, Japan will stultify herself by such a 
 direct breach of faith. It will injure her prestige as a 
 power that proposes to work according to enlightened 
 laws. 
 
 " In the second place, the actions of Japan in Korea 
 during the past two years give no promise that our people 
 will be handled in an enlightened manner. No adequate 
 means have been provided whereby redress could be se- 
 cured for wrongs perpetrated upon our people. The 
 
THE NEW EEA 103 
 
 finances of the country have been gravely mishandled by 
 Japan. Nothing has been done towards advancing the 
 cause of education or justice. Every move on Japan's 
 part has been manifestly selfish. 
 
 " The destruction of Korea's independence will work 
 her a great injury, because it will intensify the contempt 
 with which the Japanese people treat the Koreans and 
 will make their acts all the more oppressive. 
 
 "We acknowledge that many reforms are needed in 
 Korea. We are glad to have the help of Japanese ad- 
 visers, and we are prepared loyally to carry out their 
 suggestions. We recognize the mistakes of the past. It 
 is not for ourselves we plead, but for the Korean people. 
 
 ""At the beginning of the war our people gladly wel- 
 comed the Japanese, because this seemed to herald needed 
 reforms and a general bettering of conditions, but soon it 
 was seen that no genuine reforms were intended and 
 the people had been deceived. 
 
 " One of the gravest evils that will follow a protectorate 
 by Japan is that the Korean people will lose all incentive 
 to improvement. No hope will remain that they can ever 
 regain their independence. They need the spur of na- 
 tional feeling to make them determine upon progress and 
 to make them persevere in it. But the extinction of 
 nationality will bring despair, and instead of working 
 loyally and gladly in conjunction with Japan, the old-time 
 hatred will be intensified and suspicion and animosity 
 will result. 
 
 " It has been said that sentiment should have no place 
 in such affairs, but we believe, sir, that sentiment is the 
 moving force in all human affairs, and that kindness, 
 sympathy, and generosity are still working between na- 
 tions as between individuals. We beg of you to bring 
 to bear upon this question the same breadth of mind and 
 the same calmness of judgment that have characterized 
 your course hitherto, and, having weighed the matter, 
 to render us what aid you can consistently in this our 
 time of national danger. " 
 
 [Private Seal of the Emperor of Korea.] 
 
VI 
 
 THE RULE OF PRINCE ITO 
 
 MARQUIS ITO was made the first Japa- 
 nese Resident-General in Korea. There 
 could have been no better choice, and no 
 choice more pleasing to the Korean people. He was 
 regarded by the responsible men of the nation with 
 a friendliness such as few other Japanese inspired. 
 Here was a man greater than his policies. Every- 
 one who came in contact with him felt that, what- 
 ever the nature of the measures he was driven to 
 adopt in the supposed interests of his Emperor, he 
 yet sincerely meant well by the Korean people. 
 The faults of his administration were the necessary 
 accompaniments of Japanese military expansion; 
 his virtues were his own. It was a noble act for 
 him to take on himself the most burdensome and 
 exacting post that Japanese diplomacy had to offer, 
 at an age when he might well have looked for the 
 ease and dignity of the close of an honour-sated 
 career. 
 
 The Marquis brought with him several capable 
 Japanese officials of high rank, and began his new 
 rule by issuing regulations fixing the position and 
 duties of his staff. Under these, the Resident- 
 General became in effect supreme Administrator of 
 Korea, with power to do what he pleased. He had 
 
 104 
 
THE RULE OF PRINCE ITO 105 
 
 authority to repeal any order or measure that he 
 considered injurious to public interests, and he 
 could punish to the extent of not more than a year's 
 imprisonment or not more than a 200 yen fine. 
 This limitation of his punitive power was purely 
 nominal, for the country was under martial law and 
 the courts-martial had power to inflict death. Resi- 
 dents and Vice-Residents, of Japanese nationality, 
 were placed over the country, acting practically as 
 governors. The police were placed under Japanese 
 inspectors where they were not themselves Japa- 
 nese. The various departments of affairs, agri- 
 cultural, commercial, and industrial, were given 
 Japanese directors and advisers, and the power of 
 appointing all officials, save those of the highest 
 rank, was finally in the hands of the Resident-Gen- 
 eral. This limitation, again, was soon put on one 
 side. Thus, the Resident-General became dictator 
 of Korea — a dictator, however, who still conducted 
 certain branches of local affairs there through na- 
 tive officials and who had to reckon with the in- 
 trigues of a Court party which he could not as yet 
 sweep on one side. 
 
 To Japan, Korea was chiefly of importance as a 
 strategic position for military operations on the 
 continent of Asia and as a field for emigration. The 
 first steps under the new administration were in the 
 direction of perfecting communications throughout 
 the country, so as to enable the troops to be moved 
 easily and rapidly from point to point. A railway 
 had already been built from Fusan to Seoul, and 
 
106 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 another was in course of completion from Seoul to 
 Wi-ju, thus giving a trunk line that would carry 
 large numbers of Japanese soldiers from Japan 
 itself to the borders of Manchuria in about thirty- 
 six hours. A loan of 10,000,000 yen was raised on 
 the guarantee of the Korean Customs, and a million 
 and a half of this was spent on four main military 
 roads, connecting some of the chief districts with 
 the principal harbours and railway centres. Part 
 of the cost of these was paid by the loan and part 
 by special local taxation. It may be pointed out 
 that these roads were military rather than indus- 
 trial undertakings. The usual methods of travel 
 and for conveying goods in the interior of Korea 
 was by horseback and with pack-ponies. For 
 these, the old narrow tracks served, generally 
 speaking, very well. The new roads were finely 
 graded, and were built in such a manner that rails 
 could be quickly laid down on them and artillery 
 and ammunition wagons rapidly conveyed from 
 point to point. Another railway was built from 
 Seoul to Gensan, on the east coast. 
 
 The old Korean " Burglar Capture Office," the 
 native equivalent to the Bow Street Runners, or 
 the Mulberry Street detectives, was abolished, as 
 were the local police, and police administration was 
 more and more put in the hands of special con- 
 stables brought over from Japan. The Japanese 
 military gendarmerie were gradually sent back and 
 their places taken by civilian constables. This 
 change was wholly for the good. The gendarmerie 
 
THE KULE OF PEINCE ITO 107 
 
 had earned a very bad reputation in country parts 
 for harshness and arbitrary conduct. The civilian 
 police proved themselves far better men, more con- 
 ciliatory, and more just. 
 
 One real improvement instituted by the Resi- 
 dency-General was the closer control of Japanese 
 immigrants. Numbers of the worst offenders were 
 laid by the heels and sent back home. The Resi- 
 dency officials were increased in numbers, and in 
 some parts at least it became easier for a Korean 
 to obtain a hearing when he had a complaint 
 against a Japanese. The Marquis Ito spoke con- 
 stantly in favour of a policy of conciliation and 
 friendship, and after a time he succeeded in winning 
 over the cooperation of some of the foreigners. 
 
 It became more and more clear, however, that 
 the aim of the Japanese was nothing else than the 
 entire absorption of the country and the destruction 
 of every trace of Korean nationality. One of 
 the most influential Japanese in Korea put this 
 quite frankly to me in 1906. " You must un- 
 derstand that I am not expressing official 
 views,' , he told me. " But if you ask me as an 
 individual what is to be the outcome of our 
 policy, I only see one end. This will take sev- 
 eral generations, but it must come. The Korean 
 people will be absorbed by the Japanese. They 
 will talk our language, live our life, and be an in- 
 tegral part of us. There are only two ways of 
 colonial administration. One is to rule over the 
 people as aliens. This you British have done in 
 
108 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 India, and therefore your Empire cannot endure. 
 India must pass out of your rule. The second way 
 is to absorb the people. This is what we will do. 
 We will teach them our language, establish our 
 institutions, and make them one with us." 
 
 The policy of the new administration towards 
 foreigners was one of gradual, but no less sure, ex- 
 clusion. Everything that could be done was done 
 to rob the white man of what prestige was yet left 
 to him. Careful and systematic efforts were made, 
 in particular, by the Japanese newspapers and some 
 of the officials to make the native Christian con- 
 verts turn from their American teachers, and throw 
 in their lot with the Japanese. The native press, 
 under Japanese editorship, systematically preached 
 anti-white doctrines. Any one who mixed freely 
 with the Korean people heard from them, time after 
 time, of the principles the Japanese would fain have 
 them learn. I was told of this by ex-Cabinet 
 Ministers, by young students, and even by native 
 servants. One of my own Korean " boys " put the 
 matter in a nutshell to me one day. He raised the 
 question of the future of Japan in Asia, and he sum- 
 marized the new Japanese doctrines very succinctly. 
 " Master," he said to me, "Japanese man wanchee 
 all Asia be one, with Japanese man topside. All 
 Japanese man wanchee this; some Korean man 
 wanchee, most no wanchee; all Chinaman no 
 wanchee." 
 
 It may be thought that the Japanese would at 
 least have learnt from their experience in 1895 not 
 
THE KULE OF PRINCE ITO 109 
 
 to attempt to interfere with the dress or personal 
 habits of the people. Nothing among all their 
 blunders during the earlier period was more dis- 
 astrous to them than the regulations compelling the 
 men to cut off their topknots. These did Japan 
 greater harm among the common people than even 
 the murder of the Queen. Yet no sooner had 
 Japan established herself again than once more 
 sumptuary regulations were issued. The first was 
 an order against wearing white dress in winter- 
 time. People were to attire themselves in nothing 
 but dark-coloured garments, and those who re- 
 fused to obey were coerced in many ways. The 
 Japanese did not at once insist on a general system 
 of hair-cutting, but they brought the greatest pres- 
 sure to bear on all in any way under their authority. 
 Court officials, public servants, magistrates, and the 
 like, were commanded to cut their hair. Officials 
 were evidently instructed to make every one who 
 came under their influence have his topknot off. 
 The II Chin Hoi, the pro-Japanese society, followed 
 in the same line. European dress was forced on 
 those connected with the Court. The national cos- 
 tume, like the national language, was, if possible, to 
 die. Ladies of the Court were ordered to dress 
 themselves in foreign style. The poor ladies in 
 consequence found it impossible to show them- 
 selves in any public place, for they were greeted 
 with roars of derision. 
 
 The lowered status of the white in Korea could 
 be clearly seen by the attitude of many of the Japa- 
 
110 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 nese towards him. I heard stories from friends of 
 my own, residents in the country, quiet and in- 
 offensive people that made my blood boil. It was 
 difficult, for instance, to restrain one's indignation 
 when a missionary lady told you of how she was 
 walking along the street when a Japanese soldier 
 hustled up against her and deliberately struck her 
 in the breast. The Roman Catholic bishop was 
 openly insulted and struck by Japanese soldiers in 
 his own cathedral, and nothing was done. The 
 story of Mr. and Mrs. Weigall typifies others. Mr. 
 Weigall is an Australian mining engineer, and was 
 travelling up north with his wife and assistant, Mr. 
 Taylor, and some Korean servants, in December, 
 1905. He had full authorizations and passports, 
 and was going about his business in a perfectly 
 proper manner. His party was stopped at one 
 point by some Japanese soldiers, and treated in a 
 fashion which it is impossible fully to describe in 
 print. They were insulted, jabbed at with bay- 
 onets, and put under arrest. One soldier held his 
 gun close to Mrs. Weigall and struck her full in 
 the chest with his closed fist when she moved. 
 The man called them by the most insulting names 
 possible, keeping the choicest phrases for the lady. 
 Their servants were kicked. Finally they were 
 allowed to go away after a long delay and long 
 exposure to bitter weather, repeated insults being 
 hurled after them. The British authorities took 
 up this case. There was abundant evidence, and 
 there could be no dispute about the facts. All the 
 
THE RULE OP PRINCE ITO 111 
 
 satisfaction, however, that the Weigalls could ob- 
 tain was a nominal apology. 
 
 Then there was the case of the Rev. Mr. McRae, 
 a Canadian missionary living in northeastern 
 Korea. Mr. McRae had obtained some land for 
 a mission station, and the Japanese military author- 
 ities there wanted it. They drove stakes into part 
 of the property, and he thereupon represented the 
 case to the Japanese officials, and after at least 
 twice asking them to remove their stakes, he pulled 
 them up himself. The Japanese waited until a 
 fellow-missionary, who lived with Mr. McRae, had 
 gone away on a visit, and then six soldiers entered 
 his compound and attacked him. He defended 
 himself so well that he finally drove them off, al- 
 though he received some bad injuries, especially 
 from the blows from one of the men's rifles. Com- 
 plaint was made to the chief authorities, and, in 
 this case, the Japanese promised to punish the of- 
 ficer concerned. But there were dozens of in- 
 stances affecting Europeans of all ranks, from con- 
 sular officials to chance visitors. In most cases the 
 complaints were met by a simple denial on the part 
 of the Japanese. Even where the offence was ad- 
 mitted and punishment was promised, the Euro- 
 peans would assure you that the men, whom it had 
 been promised to imprison, came and paraded them- 
 selves outside their houses immediately afterwards 
 in triumph. In Korea, as in Formosa, the policy 
 was and is to humiliate the white man by any means 
 and in any way. 
 
112 KOKEA'S FIGHT FOR FEEEDOM 
 
 Two regulations of the Japanese, apparently 
 framed in the interests of the Koreans, proved to be 
 a dangerous blow at their rights. New land laws 
 were drawn up, by which fresh title-deeds were 
 given for the old and complicated deeds of former 
 times. As the Koreans, however, pointed out, 
 large numbers of people held their land in such a 
 way that it was impossible for them to prove their 
 right by written deeds. Until the end of 1905 large 
 numbers of Koreans went abroad to Honolulu and 
 elsewhere as labourers. The Residency-General 
 then framed new emigration laws, nominally to 
 protect the natives, which have had the result of 
 making the old systematic emigration impossible. 
 Families who would fain have escaped the Japanese 
 rule and establish themselves in other lands had 
 every possible hindrance put in their way. 
 
 Act after act revealed that the Japanese con- 
 sidered Korea and all in it belonged to them. Did 
 they want a thing? Then let them take it, and woe 
 be to the man who dared to hinder them ! This 
 attitude was illustrated in an interesting fashion by 
 a bit of vandalism on the part of Viscount Tanaka, 
 Special Envoy from the Mikado to the Korean 
 Emperor. When the Viscount was in Seoul, late 
 in 1906, he was approached by a Japanese curio- 
 dealer, who pointed out to him that there was a 
 very famous old Pagoda in the district of P'ung- 
 duk, a short distance from Song-do. This Pagoda 
 was presented to Korea by the Chinese Imperial 
 Court a thousand years ago, and the people be- 
 
THE EULE OF PKINCE ITO 113 
 
 lieved that the stones of which it was constructed 
 possessed great curative qualities. They named it 
 the "Medicine King Pagoda " (Yakwang Top), and 
 its fame was known throughout the country. It was 
 a national memorial as much as the Monument near 
 London Bridge is a national memorial for English- 
 men or the Statue of Liberty for Americans. Vis- 
 count Tanaka is a great curio-collector, and when 
 he heard of this Pagoda, he longed for it. He men- 
 tioned his desire to the Korean Minister for the 
 Imperial Household, and the Minister told him to 
 take it if he wanted it. A few days afterwards, 
 Viscount Tanaka, when bidding the Emperor fare- 
 well, thanked him for the gift. The Korean Em- 
 peror looked blank, and said that he did not know 
 what the Viscount was talking about. He had 
 heard nothing of it. 
 
 However, before long, a party of eighty Japa- 
 nese, including a number of gendarmes, well 
 armed and ready for resistance, swooped down on 
 Song-do. They took the Pagoda to pieces and 
 placed the stones on carts. The people of the dis- 
 trict gathered round them, threatened them, and 
 tried to attack them. But the Japanese were too 
 strong. The Pagoda was conveyed in due course 
 to Tokyo. 
 
 Such an outrage could not go unnoticed. The 
 story of the loss spread over the country and 
 reached the foreign press. Defenders of the Japa- 
 nese at first declared that it was an obvious and 
 incredible lie. The Japan Mail in particular opened 
 
114 KOKEA'S FIGHT FOB FEEEDOM 
 
 the vials of its wrath and poured them upon the 
 head of the editor of the Korea Daily News — the 
 English daily publication in Seoul — who had dared 
 to tell the tale. His story was " wholly incredible." 
 " It is impossible to imagine any educated man of 
 ordinary intelligence foolish enough to believe such 
 a palpable lie, unless he be totally blinded by preju- 
 dice." The Mail discovered here again another 
 reason for supporting its plea for the suppression 
 of " a wholly unscrupulous and malevolent mis- 
 chief-maker like the Korea Daily News" " The 
 Japanese should think seriously whether this kind 
 of thing is to be tamely suffered. In allowing such 
 charges at the door of the Mikado's Special Envoy 
 who is also Minister of the Imperial Household, the 
 Korea Daily News deliberately insults the Mikado 
 himself. There is indeed the reflection that this 
 extravagance will not be without compensation, 
 since it will demonstrate conclusively, if any demon- 
 stration were needed, how completely unworthy of 
 credence have been the slanders hitherto ventilated 
 by the Seoul journal to bring the Japanese into 
 odium." 
 
 There were instant demands for denials, for ex- 
 planations, and for proceedings against the wicked 
 libeller. Then it turned out that the story was 
 true, and, in the end, the Japanese officials had to 
 admit its truth. It was said, as an excuse, that the 
 Resident-General had not given his consent to the 
 theft, and that Viscount Tanaka did not intend to 
 keep the Pagoda himself, but to present it to the 
 
THE EULE OP PRINCE ITO 115 
 
 Mikado. The organ of the Residency-General in 
 Seoul, the Seoul Press, made the best excuse it 
 could. " Viscount Tanaka," it said, "is a ' con- 
 scientious official, liked and respected by those 
 who know him, whether foreign or Japanese, but 
 he is an ardent virtuoso and collector, and it ap- 
 pears that in this instance his collector's eagerness 
 got the better of his sober judgment and dis- 
 cretion." But excuses, apologies, and regrets not- 
 withstanding, the Pagoda was not returned. 
 
 It may be asked why the white people living in 
 Korea did not make the full facts about Korea 
 known at an earlier date. Some did attempt it, but 
 the strong feeling that existed abroad in favour of 
 the Japanese people — a feeling due to their magnifi- 
 cent conduct during the war — caused complaints 
 to go unheeded. Many missionaries, while in- 
 dignant at the injury done to their native neigh- 
 bours, counselled patience, believing that the abuses 
 were temporary and would soon come to an end. 
 
 At the beginning of the war every foreigner — 
 except a small group of pro-Russians, sympathized 
 with Japan. We had all been alienated by the 
 follies and mistakes of the Russian Far Eastern 
 policy. We saw Japan at her best, and we all be- 
 lieved that her people would act well by this weaker 
 race. Our favourable impressions were strength- 
 ened by the first doings of the Japanese soldiers, 
 and when scandals were whispered, and oppression 
 began to appear, we all looked upon them as 
 momentary disturbances due to a condition of war. 
 
116 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 We were unwilling to believe anything but the best, 
 and it took some time to destroy our favourable 
 prepossessions. I speak here not only for myself, 
 but for many another white man in Korea at the 
 time. 
 
 I might support this by many quotations. I take, 
 for instance, Professor Hulbert, the editor of the 
 Korea Review, to-day one of the most persistent and 
 active critics of Japanese policy. At the opening of 
 the war Professor Hulbert used all his influence 
 in favour of Japan. 
 
 " What Korea wants," he wrote, " is education, and 
 until steps are taken in that line there is no use in hoping 
 for a genuinely independent Korea. Now, we believe 
 that a large majority of the best-informed Koreans realize 
 that Japan and Japanese influence stand for education 
 and enlightenment, and that while the paramount in- 
 fluence of any one outside Power is in some sense a 
 humiliation, the paramount influence of Japan will give 
 far less genuine cause for humiliation than has the para- 
 mount influence of Russia. Russia secured her predomi- 
 nance by pandering to the worst elements in Korean 
 officialdom. Japan holds it by strength of arm, but she 
 holds it in such a way that it gives promise of something 
 better. The word reform never passed the Russians' 
 lips. It is the insistent cry of Japan. The welfare of 
 the Korean people never showed its head above the 
 Russian horizon, but it fills the whole vision of Japan; 
 not from altruistic motives mainly but because the pros- 
 perity of Korea and that of Japan rise and fall with the 
 same tide." ' 
 
 Month after month, when stories of trouble came 
 from the interior, the Korea Review endeavoured to 
 1 Korea Review, February, 1904. 
 
THE KULE OF PEINOE ITO 117 
 
 give the best explanation possible for them, and to 
 reassure the public. It was not until the editor was 
 forced thereto by consistent and sustained Japanese 
 misgovernment that he reversed his attitude. 
 
 Foreign visitors of influence were naturally 
 drawn to the Japanese rather than to the Koreans. 
 They found in the officials of the Residency-General 
 a body of capable and delightful men, who knew the 
 Courts of Europe, and were familiar with world 
 affairs. On the other hand, the Korean spokes- 
 men had no power or skill in putting their case so 
 as to attract European sympathy. One dis- 
 tinguished foreigner, who returned home and wrote 
 a book largely given up to laudation of the Japa- 
 nese and contemptuous abuse of the Koreans, ad- 
 mitted that he had never, during his journey, had 
 any contact with Koreans save those his Japanese 
 guides brought to him. Some foreign journalists 
 were also at first blinded in the same way. 
 
 Such a state of affairs obviously could not last. 
 Gradually the complaints of the foreign community 
 became louder and louder, and visiting publicists 
 began to take more notice of them. 
 
 The main credit for defending the cause of the 
 Korean people at that time must be given to a 
 young English journalist, editor of the Korea Daily 
 News. Mr. Bethell took up an attitude of strong 
 hostility to the Nagamori land scheme, and came, 
 in consequence, in sharp hostility to the Japanese 
 officials. This naturally led to his close association 
 with the Korean Court. The Daily News became 
 
118 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 openly pro-Korean; its one daily edition was 
 changed into two separate papers — one, the Dai 
 Han Mai 11 Shinpo, printed in the Korean language, 
 and the other, printed in English, still calling itself 
 by the old name. Several of us thought that Mr. 
 Bethell at first weakened his case by extreme ad- 
 vocacy and by his indulgence in needlessly vin- 
 dictive writing. Yet it must be remembered, in 
 common justice to him, that he was playing a very 
 difficult part. The Japanese were making his life 
 as uncomfortable as they possibly could, and were 
 doing everything to obstruct his work. His mails 
 were constantly tampered with; his servants were 
 threatened or arrested on various excuses, and his 
 household was subjected to the closest espionage. 
 He displayed surprising tenacity, and held on 
 month after month without showing any sign of 
 yielding. The complaint of extreme bitterness 
 could not be urged against his journal to the same 
 extent after the spring of 1907. From that time he 
 adopted a more quiet and convincing tone. He at- 
 tempted on many occasions to restrain what he con- 
 sidered the unwise tactics of some Korean ex- 
 tremists. He did his best to influence public 
 opinion against taking up arms to fight Japan. 
 
 Failing to conciliate the editor, the Japanese 
 sought to destroy him. In order to cut the ground 
 from under his feet an opposition paper, printed in 
 English, was started, with an able Japanese jour- 
 nalist, Mr. Zumoto, Prince Ito's leading spokesman 
 in the press, as editor. Few could have done the 
 
THE RULE OF PRINCE ITO 119 
 
 work better than Mr. Zumoto, but his paper, the 
 Seoul Press, failed to destroy the Daily News. 
 
 Diplomacy was now brought into play. During 
 the summer of 1906, the Japanese caused the trans- 
 lations of a number of articles from the Dai Han 
 Mai II Shinpo (the Korean edition of the Daily Mail) 
 to be submitted to the British Government, with a 
 request that Mr. Bethell's journal might be sup- 
 pressed. 
 
 On Saturday, October 12th, Mr. Bethell received 
 a summons to appear on the following Monday at 
 a specially appointed Consular Court, to answer the 
 charge of adopting a course of action likely to cause 
 a breach of the peace. 
 
 The trial took place in the Consular building, Mr. 
 Cockburn, the very able British Consul-General, 
 acting as Judge. The short notice made it impos- 
 sible for Mr. Bethell to obtain legal aid, as there 
 were no British lawyers nearer than Shanghai or 
 Kobe. He had to plead his cause under great dis- 
 advantages. 
 
 Eight articles were produced in court. Six were 
 comments on or descriptions of fighting then taking 
 place in the interior. They were no stronger, if 
 as strong, as many of the statements published in 
 this book. 
 
 The Consul-General's decision was as anticipated. 
 He convicted the editor, and ordered him to enter 
 into recognizances of £300 to be of good behaviour 
 for six months. The Korea Daily News in comment- 
 ing on the matter, said, " The effect of this judg- 
 
120 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 merit is that for a period of six months this news- 
 paper will be gagged, and therefore no further re- 
 ports of Japanese reverses can be published in our 
 columns." 
 
 In June, 1908, Mr. Bethell was again prosecuted 
 at a specially convened court at Seoul, presided over 
 by Judge Bourne of Shanghai. The charge, made 
 by Yagoro Miura, Secretary to the Residency-Gen- 
 eral and Resident for Seoul, was of publishing vari- 
 ous articles calculated to excite disorder and to stir 
 up enmity between the Government of Korea and 
 its subjects. 
 
 Mr. Bethell was represented by counsel and ap- 
 plied to have the case heard before a jury. The 
 application was refused. He was convicted, sen- 
 tenced to three weeks' imprisonment and required 
 to give security for good behaviour for six months. 
 He did not very long survive his sentence. 
 
 The people of Korea cherish his memory, and 
 the^name of " Beth-ell," as they call him, is already 
 becoming traditional. "We are going to build a 
 great statue to Beth-ell some day," they say. " We 
 will never forget the man who was our friend, and 
 who went to prison for us." 
 
VII 
 THE ABDICATION OF YI HYEUNG 
 
 THE Court party was from the first the 
 strongest opponent of the Japanese. 
 Patriotism, tradition, and selfish interests 
 all combined to intensify the resistance of its mem- 
 bers. Some officials found their profits threatened, 
 some mourned for perquisites that were cut off, 
 some were ousted out of their places to make room 
 for Japanese, and most felt a not unnatural anger 
 to see men of another race quietly assume authority 
 over their Emperor and their country. The Em- 
 peror led the opposition. Old perils had taught 
 him cunning. He knew a hundred ways to feed 
 the stream of discontent, without himself coming 
 forward. Unfortunately there was a fatal strain 
 of weakness in his character. He would support 
 vigorous action in secret, and then, when men 
 translated his speech into deeds, he would disavow 
 them at the bidding of the Japanese. On one point 
 he never wavered. All attempts to make him for- 
 mally consent to the treaty of November, 1905, [ 
 were in vain. " I would sooner die first! " he cried. ■ 
 " I would sooner take poison and end all ! " 
 
 In July, 1906, the Marquis Ito began to exercise 
 
 121 
 
122 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 stronger constraint on the personal life of the Em- 
 peror. One evening a number of Japanese police 
 were brought into the palace. The old palace 
 guards were withdrawn, and the Emperor was 
 made virtually a prisoner. Police officers were 
 posted at each gate, and no one was allowed in or 
 out without a permit from a Japanese-nominated 
 official. At the same time many of the old palace 
 attendants were cleared out. The Resident-Gen- 
 eral thought that if the Emperor were isolated from 
 his friends, and if he were constantly surrounded by 
 enthusiastic advocates of Japan, he might be coerced 
 or influenced into submission. Yet here Marquis 
 Ito had struck against a vein of obstinacy and de- 
 termination that he could scarce have reckoned 
 with. 
 
 The Emperor had taken every opportunity to 
 send messages abroad protesting against the treaty. 
 He managed, time after time, still to hold communi- 
 cation with his friends, but the Japanese took good 
 care that traitors should come to him and be loud- 
 est in their expressions of loyalty. Little that he 
 did but was immediately known to his captors. In 
 the early summer of 1907 the Emperor thought 
 that he saw his chance at last of striking a blow for 
 freedom through the Hague Conference. He was 
 still convinced that if he could only assure the 
 Powers that he had never consented to the treaty 
 .robbing Korea of its independence, they would then 
 send their Ministers back to Seoul and cause Japan 
 to relax her hand. Accordingly, amid great secrecy, 
 
THE ABDICATION OP YI HYETJNG 123 
 
 three Korean delegates of high rank were provided 
 with funds and despatched to the Hague under the 
 guardianship of Mr. Hulbert. They reached the 
 Hague only to be refused a hearing. The Confer- 
 ence would have nothing to say to them. 
 
 This action on the part of the Emperor gave the 
 Japanese an excuse they had long been looking for. 
 The formation of the Korean Cabinet had been 
 altered months before in anticipation of such a 
 crisis, and the Cabinet Ministers were now nomi- 
 nated not by the Emperor, but by the Resident- 
 General. The Emperor had been deprived of ad- 
 ministrative and executive power. The Marquis 
 Ito had seen to it that the Ministers were wholly 
 his tools. The time had come when his tools were 
 to cut. The Japanese Government assumed an atti- 
 tude of silent wrath. It could not allow such of- 
 fences to go unpunished, its friends declared, but 
 what punishment it would inflict it refused to say. 
 
 Proceedings were much more cleverly stage- 
 managed than in November, 1905. Nominally, the 
 Japanese had nothing to do with the abdication of 
 the Emperor. Actually the Cabinet Ministers held 
 their gathering at the Residency-General to decide 
 on their policy, and did as they were instructed. 
 They went to the Emperor and demanded that he 
 should abandon the throne to save his country from 
 being swallowed up by Japan. At first he refused, 
 upon which their insistence grew greater. No news 
 of sympathy or help reached him from foreign 
 lands. Knowing the perils surrounding him, he 
 
124 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 thought that he would trick them all by a simple 
 device. He would make his son, the Crown Prince, 
 temporary Emperor, using a Chinese ideograph for 
 his new title which could scarce be distinguished 
 from the title giving him final and full authority. 
 Here he overreached himself, for, once out, he was 
 out for good. On July 19th, at six o'clock in the 
 morning, after an all-night conference, the Em- 
 peror was persuaded to abdicate. 
 
 The new Emperor, feeble of intellect, could be 
 little more than a tool in the hands of his advisers. 
 His father, however, intended to remain by his side, 
 and to rule through him. In less than a week the 
 Japanese had prepared a new treaty, providing still 
 more strictly for the absolute control of everything 
 in the country by Japan. The six curt clauses of 
 this measure were as far-reaching as they could 
 possibly be made. No laws were to be acted upon 
 or important measures taken by the Government 
 unless the consent and approval of the Resident- 
 General had been previously given. All officials 
 were to hold their positions at the pleasure of the 
 Resident-General, and the Government of Korea 
 agreed to appoint any Japanese the Resident-Gen-' 
 eral might recommend to any post. Finally, the 
 Government of Korea was to engage no foreigner 
 without the consent of the Japanese head. 
 
 A few days later a fresh rescript was issued in 
 the name of the new Emperor, ordering the dis- 
 bandment of the Korean Army. This was written 
 in the most insulting language possible. " Our ex- 
 
THE ABDICATION OF YI HYEUNG 125 
 
 isting army which is composed of mercenaries, is 
 unfit for the purposes of national defence," it de- 
 clared. It was to make way " for the eventual 
 formation of an efficient army." To add to the in- 
 sult, the Korean Premier, Yi, was ordered to write 
 a request to the Resident-General, begging him to 
 employ the Japanese forces to prevent disturbances 
 when the disbandment took place. It was as though 
 the Japanese, having their heel on the neck of the 
 enemy, slapped his face to show their contempt for 
 him. On the morning of August 1st some of the 
 superior officers of the Korean Army were called 
 to the residence of the Japanese commander, Gen- 
 eral Hasegawa, and the Order was read to them. 
 They were told that they were to assemble their 
 men next morning, without arms, and to dismiss 
 them after paying them gratuities, while at the 
 same time their weapons would be secured in their 
 absence. 
 
 One officer, Major Pak, commander of the smart- 
 est and best of the Korean battalions, returned to 
 his barracks in despair, and committed suicide. 
 His men learnt of what had happened and rose in 
 mutiny. They burst upon their Japanese military 
 instructors and nearly killed them. They then 
 forced open the ammunition-room, secured weapons 
 and cartridges, posted themselves behind the win- 
 dows of their barracks, and fired at every Japanese 
 they saw. News quickly reached the authorities, 
 and Japanese companies of infantry hurried out and 
 surrounded their barracks. One party attacked the 
 
126 KOKEA'S FIGHT FOB FEEEDOM 
 
 front with a machine-gun, and another assaulted 
 from behind. Fighting began at half-past eight in 
 the morning. The Koreans defended themselves 
 until noon, and then were finally overcome by a 
 bayonet charge from the rear. Their gallant de- 
 fence excited the greatest admiration even among 
 their enemies, and it was notable that for a few 
 days at least the Japanese spoke with more respect 
 of Korea and the Korean people than they had ever 
 done before. 
 
 Only one series of incidents disgraced the day. 
 The Japanese soldiers behaved well and treated the 
 wounded well, but that night parties of low-class 
 bullies emerged from the Japanese quarter, seeking 
 victims. They beat, they stabbed and murdered 
 any man they could find whom they suspected of 
 being a rebel. Dozens of them would set on one 
 helpless victim and do him to death. This was 
 stopped as soon as the Residency-General knew 
 what was happening, and a number of offenders 
 were arrested. 
 
 Late in August the new Emperor of Korea was 
 crowned amid the sullen silence of a resentful peo- 
 ple. Of popular enthusiasm there was none. A 
 few flags were displayed in the streets by the order 
 of the police. In olden times a coronation had been 
 marked by great festivities, lasting many weeks. 
 Now there was gloom, apathy, indifference. News 
 was coming in hourly from the provinces of up- 
 risings and murders. The II Chin Hoi — they call 
 themselves reformers, but the nation has labelled 
 
THE ABDICATION OF YI HYEUHG 127 
 
 them traitors — attempted to make a feast, but the 
 people stayed away. " This is the day not for 
 feasting but for the beginning of a year of mourn- 
 ing," men muttered one to the other. 
 
 The Japanese authorities who controlled the 
 coronation ceremony did all they could to minimize 
 it and to prevent independent outside publicity. In 
 this they were well advised. No one who looked 
 upon the new Emperor as he entered the hall of 
 state, his shaking frame upborne by two officials, 
 or as he stood later, with open mouth, fallen jaw, 
 indifferent eyes, and face lacking even a flickering 
 gleam of intelligent interest, could doubt that the 
 fewer who saw this the better. Yet the ceremony, 
 even when robbed of much of its ancient pomp and 
 all its dignity, was unique and picturesque. 
 
 The main feature of this day was not so much 
 the coronation itself as the cutting of the Emperor's 
 topknot. 
 
 On the abdication of the old Emperor, the Cab- 
 inet — who were enthusiastic hair-cutters — saw their 
 opportunity. The new Emperor was informed that 
 his hair must be cut. He did not like it. He 
 thought that the operation would be painful, and 
 he was quite satisfied with his hair as it was. Then 
 his Cabinet showed him a brilliant uniform, covered 
 with gold lace. He was henceforth to wear that 
 on ceremonial occasions, and not his old Korean 
 dress. How could he put on the plumed hat of a 
 Generalissimo with a topknot in the way? The 
 Cabinet were determined. A few hours later a 
 
128 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 proclamation was spread through the land inform- 
 ing all dutiful subjects that the Emperor's topknot 
 was coming off, and urging them to imitate him. 
 
 A new Court servant was appointed — the High 
 Imperial Hair-cutter. He displayed his uniform in 
 the streets around the palace, a sight for the gods. 
 He strutted along in white breeches, voluminous 
 white frock-coat, white shoes, and black silk hat, 
 the centre of attention. 
 
 Early in the morning there was a great scene in 
 the palace. The Imperial Hair-cutter was in at- 
 tendance. A group of old Court officials hung 
 around the Emperor. With blanched faces and 
 shaking voices they implored him not to abandon 
 the old ways. The Emperor paused, fearful. 
 What power would be filched from him by the 
 shearing of his locks? But there could be no hesi- 
 tating now. Resolute men were behind who knew 
 what they were going to see done. A few minutes 
 later the great step was taken. 
 
 The Residency-General arranged the coronation 
 ceremony in such a manner as to include as many 
 Japanese and to exclude as many foreigners as 
 possible. There were nearly a hundred Japanese 
 present, including the Mayor of the Japanese settle- 
 ment and the Buddhist priest. There were only 
 six white men — five Consuls-General and Bishop 
 Turner, chief of the Anglican Church in Korea. 
 The Japanese came arrayed in splendid uniforms. 
 It was part of the new Japanese policy to attire 
 even the most minor officials in sumptuous Court 
 
THE ABDICATION OP YI HYEUNG 129 
 
 dress, with much gold lace and many orders. This 
 enabled Japan to make a brilliant show in official 
 ceremonies, a thing not without effect in Oriental 
 Courts. 
 
 Shortly before ten o'clock the guests assembled 
 in the throne-room of the palace, a modern apart- 
 ment with a raised dais at one end. There were 
 Koreans to the left and Japanese to the right of the 
 Emperor, with the Cabinet in the front line on one 
 side and the Residency-General officials on the 
 other. The foreigners faced the raised platform. 
 
 The new Emperor appeared, borne to the plat- 
 form by the Lord Chamberlain and the Master of 
 the Household. He was dressed in the ancient 
 costume of his people, a flowing blue garment 
 reaching to the ankles, with a robe of softer cream 
 colour underneath. On his head was a quaint 
 Korean hat, with a circle of Korean ornaments 
 hanging from its high, outstanding horsehair brim. 
 On his chest was a small decorative breastplate. 
 Tall, clumsily built, awkward, and vacant-looking — 
 such was the Emperor. 
 
 In ancient days all would have kow-towed before 
 him, and would have beaten their foreheads on the 
 ground. Now no man did more than bow, save 
 one Court herald, who knelt. Weird Korean music 
 started in the background, the beating of drums and 
 the playing of melancholy wind instruments. The 
 Master of Ceremonies struck up a chant, which 
 hidden choristers continued. Amid silence, the 
 Prime Minister, in smart modern attire, advanced 
 
130 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOR FEEEDOM 
 
 and read a paper of welcome. The Emperor stood 
 still, apparently the least interested man in the 
 room. He did not even look bored — simply vacant. 
 
 After this there was a pause in the proceedings. 
 The Emperor retired and the guests went into the 
 anterooms. Soon all were recalled, and the Em- 
 peror reappeared. There had been a quick change 
 in the meantime. He was now wearing his new 
 modern uniform, as Generalissimo of the Korean 
 Army. Two high decorations — one, if I mistake 
 not, from the Emperor of Japan — hung on his 
 breast. He looked much more manly in his new 
 attire. In front of him was placed his new head- 
 dress, a peaked cap with a fine plume sticking up 
 straight in front. The music now was no longer 
 the ancient Korean, but modern airs from the very 
 fine European-trained band attached to the palace. 
 The Korean players had gone, with the old dress 
 and the old life, into limbo. 
 
 The Japanese Acting Resident-General and mili- 
 tary commander, General Baron Hasegawa, strong 
 and masterful-looking, stepped to the front with a 
 message of welcome from his Emperor. He was 
 followed by the doyen of the Consular Corps, M. 
 Vincart, with the Consular greetings. This Con- 
 sular message had been very carefully sub-edited, 
 and all expressions implying that the Governments 
 of the different representatives approved of the pro- 
 ceedings had been eliminated. Then the corona- 
 tion was over. 
 
 Two figures were conspicuous by their absence. 
 
THE ABDICATION OF YI HYEUNG 131 
 
 The ex-Emperor was not present. According to 
 the official explanation, he was unable to attend 
 because " his uniform had not been finished in 
 time." Really, as all men knew, he was sitting re- 
 sentful and protesting within a few score yards of 
 the spot where his son was crowned. 
 
 The second absent figure was the Russian Con- 
 sul-General, M. de Plangon. It was announced 
 that M. de Plangon was late, and so could not at- 
 tend. Seeing that M. de Plangon lived not ten 
 minutes' walk from the palace, and that the guests 
 had to wait nearly an hour after the time announced 
 before the ceremony began, he must have over- 
 slept very much indeed on that particular morning. 
 Oddly enough, M. de Plangon is usually an early 
 riser. 
 
VIII 
 A JOURNEY TO THE " RIGHTEOUS ARMY " 
 
 IT was in the autumn of 1906. The Korean 
 Emperor had been deposed and his army dis- 
 banded. The people of Seoul, sullen, resent- 
 ful, yet powerless, victims of the apathy and folly 
 of their sires, and of their own indolence, saw their 
 national existence filched from them, and scarce 
 dared utter a protest. The triumphant Japanese 
 soldiers stood at the city gates and within the pal- 
 ace. Princes must obey their slightest wish, even 
 to the cutting of their hair and the fashioning of 
 their clothes. General Hasegawa's guns com- 
 manded every street, and all men dressed in white 
 need walk softly. 
 
 But it soon became clear that there were men 
 who had not taken the filching of their national in- 
 dependence lightly. Refugees from distant vil- 
 lages, creeping after nightfall over the city wall, 
 brought with them marvellous tales of the happen- 
 ings in the provinces. District after district, they 
 said, had risen against the Japanese. A " Right- 
 eous Army " had been formed, and was accom- 
 plishing amazing things. Detachments of Japanese 
 had been annihilated and others driven back. 
 Sometimes the Japanese, it is true, were victorious, 
 
 132 
 
A JOURNEY TO THE M EIGHTEOUS AEMY » 133 
 
 and then they took bitter vengeance, destroying a 
 whole countryside and slaughtering the people in 
 wholesale fashion. So the refugees said. 
 
 How far were these stories true? I am bound 
 to say that I, for one, regarded them with much 
 scepticism. Familiar as I was with the offences of 
 individual Japanese in the country, it seemed im- 
 possible that outrages could be carried on sys- 
 tematically by the Japanese Army under the direc- 
 tion of its officers. I was with a Japanese army 
 during the war against Russia, and had marked 
 and admired the restraint and discipline of the men 
 of all ranks there. They neither stole nor out- 
 raged. Still more recently I had noted the action 
 of the Japanese soldiers when repressing the upris- 
 ing in Seoul itself. Yet, whether the stories of tbe 
 refugees were true or false, undeniably some inter- 
 esting fighting was going on. 
 
 By the first week in September it was clear that 
 the area of trouble covered the eastern provinces 
 from near Fusan to the north of Seoul. The rebels 
 were evidently mainly composed of discharged sol- 
 diers and of hunters from the hills. We heard in 
 Seoul that trained officers of the old Korean Army 
 were drilling and organizing them into volunteer 
 companies. The Japanese were pouring fresh 
 troops into these centres of trouble, but the rebels, 
 by an elaborate system of mountain-top signalling, 
 were avoiding the troops and making their attacks 
 on undefended spots. Reports showed that they 
 were badly armed and lacked ammunition, and 
 
134 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 there seemed to be no effective organization for 
 sending them weapons from the outside. 
 
 The first rallying-place of the malcontent Koreans 
 was in a mountain district from eighty to ninety 
 miles east of Seoul. Here lived many famous 
 Korean tiger-hunters. These banded themselves 
 together under the title of Eui-pyung (the " Right- 
 eous Army"). They had conflicts with small 
 parties of Japanese troops and secured some minor 
 successes. When considerable Japanese reinforce- 
 ments arrived they retired to some mountain passes 
 further back. 
 
 The tiger-hunters, sons of the hills, iron-nerved, 
 and operating in their own country, were naturally 
 awkward antagonists even for the best regular 
 troops. They were probably amongst the boldest 
 sportsmen in the world, and they formed the most 
 picturesque and romantic section of the rebels. 
 Their only weapon was an old-fashioned percussion 
 gun, with long barrel and a brass trigger seven to 
 eight inches in length. Many of them fired not from 
 the shoulder, but from the hip. They never missed. 
 They could only fire one charge in an attack, owing 
 to the time required to load. They were trained to 
 stalk the tiger, to come quite close to it, and then to 
 kill it at one shot. The man who failed once died; 
 the tiger attended to that. 
 
 Some of the stories of Korean successes reaching 
 Seoul were at the best improbable. The tale of 
 one fight, however, came to me through so many 
 different and independent sources that there was 
 
A JOWRNEY TO THE " EIGHTEOUS ABMY » 135 
 
 reason to suspect it had substantial foundation. It 
 recalled the doings of the people of the Tyrol in 
 their struggle against Napoleon. A party of Japa- 
 nese soldiers, forty-eight in number, were guarding 
 a quantity of supplies from point to point. The 
 Koreans prepared an ambuscade in a mountain val- 
 ley overshadowed by precipitous hills on either side. 
 When the troops reached the centre of the valley 
 they were overwhelmed by a flight of great boulders 
 rolled on them from the hilltops, and before the 
 survivors could rally a host of Koreans rushed upon 
 them and did them to death. 
 
 Proclamations by Koreans were smuggled into 
 the capital. Parties of Japanese troops were con- 
 stantly leaving Chinkokai, the Japanese quarter in 
 Seoul, for the provinces. There came a public 
 notice from General Hasegawa himself, which 
 showed the real gravity of the rural situation. It 
 ran as follows: — 
 
 " I, General Baron Yoshimichi Hasegawa, Commander 
 of the Army of Occupation in Korea, make the follow- 
 ing announcement to each and every one of the people 
 of Korea throughout all the provinces. Taught by the 
 natural trend of affairs in the world and impelled by 
 the national need of political regeneration, the Govern- 
 ment of Korea, in obedience to His Imperial Majesty's 
 wishes, is now engaged in the task of reorganizing the 
 various institutions of State. But those who are igno- 
 rant of the march of events in the world and who fail 
 correctly to distinguish loyalty from treason have by 
 wild and baseless rumours instigated people's minds and 
 caused the rowdies in various places to rise in insurrection. 
 These insurgents commit all sorts of horrible crimes, such 
 as murdering peaceful people, both native and foreign, 
 
136 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 robbing their property, burning official and private build- 
 ings, and destroying means of communication. Their 
 offences are such as are not tolerated by Heaven or 
 earth. They affect to be loyal and patriotic and call 
 themselves volunteers. But none the less they are law- 
 breakers, who oppose their Sovereign's wishes concern- 
 ing political regeneration and who work the worst pos- 
 sible harm to their country and people. 
 
 " Unless they are promptly suppressed the trouble may 
 assume really calamitous proportions. I am charged by 
 His Majesty, the Emperor of Korea, with the task of 
 rescuing you from such disasters by thoroughly stamp- 
 ing out the insurrection. I charge all of you, law-abiding 
 people of Korea, to prosecute your respective peaceful 
 avocations and be troubled with no fears. As for those 
 who have joined the insurgents from mistaken motives, 
 if they honestly repent and promptly surrender they will 
 be pardoned of their offence. Any of you who will seize 
 insurgents or will give information concerning their 
 whereabouts will be handsomely rewarded. In case of 
 those who wilfully join insurgents, or afford them refuge, 
 or conceal weapons, they shall be severely punished. 
 More than that, the villages to which such offenders be- 
 long shall be held collectively responsible and punished 
 with rigour. I call upon each and every one of the people 
 of Korea to understand clearly what I have herewith said 
 to you and avoid all reprehensible action." 
 
 The Koreans in America circulated a manifesto 
 directed against those of their countrymen who 
 were working with Japan, under the expressive title 
 of " explosive thunder," which breathed fury and 
 vengeance. Groups of Koreans in the provinces 
 issued other statements which, if not quite so pic- 
 turesque, were quite forcible enough. Here is 
 one: — 
 
 " Our numbers are twenty million, and we have over 
 
A JOUENEY TO THE " EIGHTEOUS AEMY » 137 
 
 ten million strong men, excluding old, sick, and children. 
 Now, the Japanese soldiers in Korea are not more than 
 eight thousand, and Japanese merchants at various places 
 are not more than some thousands. Though their weap- 
 ons are sharp, how can one man kill a thousand? We 
 beg you our brothers not to act in a foolish way and not 
 to kill any innocent persons. We will fix the day and the 
 hour for you to strike. Some of us, disguised as beggars 
 and merchants, will go into Seoul. We will destroy the 
 railway, we will kindle flames in every port, we will 
 destroy Chinkokai, kill Ito and all the Japanese, Yi Wan- 
 yong and his underlings, and will not leave a single rebel 
 against our Emperor alive. Then Japan will bring out 
 all her troops to fight us. We have no weapons at our 
 hands, but we will keep our own patriotism. We may 
 not be able to fight against the sharp weapons of the 
 Japanese, but we will ask the Foreign Consuls to help 
 us with their troops, and maybe they will assist the right 
 persons and destroy the wicked; otherwise let us die. 
 Let us strike against Japan, and then, if must be, all die 
 together with our country and with our Emperor, for 
 there is no other course open to us. It is better to lose 
 our lives now than to live miserably a little time longer, 
 for the Emperor and our brothers will all surely be killed 
 by the abominable plans of Ito, Yi Wan-vong, and their 
 associates. It is better to die as a patriot than to live 
 having abandoned one's country. Mr. Yi Chun went to 
 foreign lands to plead for our country, and his plans did 
 not carry well, so he cut his stomach asunder with a 
 sword and poured out his blood among the foreign na- 
 tions to proclaim his patriotism to the world. These of 
 our twenty million people who do not unite offend against 
 the memory of Mr. Yi Chun. We have to choose be- 
 tween destruction or the maintenance of our country. 
 Whether we live or die is a small thing, the great thing 
 is that we make up our minds at once whether we work 
 for or against our country." 
 
 A group of Koreans in the southern provinces 
 petitioned Prince Ito, in the frankest fashion : — 
 
138 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 " You spoke much of the kindness and friendship be- 
 tween Japan and Korea, but actually you have drawn 
 away the profits from province after province and dis- 
 trict after district until nothing is left wherever the hand 
 of the Japanese falls. The Korean has been brought to 
 ruin, and the Japanese shall be made to follow him down- 
 wards. We pity you very much ; but you shall not enjoy 
 the profits of the ruin of our land. When Japan and 
 Korea fall together it will be a misfortune indeed for you. 
 If you would secure safety for yourself follow this rule : 
 memorialize our Majesty to impeach the traitors and put 
 them to right punishment. Then every Korean will re- 
 gard you with favour, and the Europeans will be loud in 
 your praise. Advise the Korean authorities to carry out 
 reforms in various directions, help them to enlarge the 
 schools, and to select capable men for the Government 
 service; then the three countries, Korea, China, and 
 Japan, shall stand in the same line, strongly united and 
 esteemed by foreign nations. If you will not do this, and 
 if you continue to encroach on our rights, then we will 
 be destroyed together, thanks to you. 
 
 " You thought there were no men left in Korea ; you 
 will see. We country people are resolved to destroy 
 your railways and your settlements and your authorities. 
 On a fixed day we shall send word to our patriots in the 
 north, in the south, in Pyeng-yang and Kyung Sang, to 
 rise and drive away all Japanese from the various ports, 
 and although your soldiers are skillful with their guns it 
 will be very hard for them to stand against our twenty 
 million people. We will first attack the Japanese in 
 Korea, but when we have finished them we will appeal 
 to the Foreign Powers to assure the independence and 
 freedom of our country. Before we send the word to 
 our fellow-countrymen we give you this advice." 
 
 I resolved to try to see the fighting. This, I 
 soon found, was easier attempted than done. 
 
 The first difficulty came from the Japanese 
 authorities. They refused to grant me a passport, 
 
A JOUBKEY TO THE " KIGHTEOUS AEMY w 139 
 
 declaring that, owing to the disturbances, they 
 could not guarantee my safety in the interior. An 
 interview followed at the Residency-General, in 
 which I was duly warned that if I travelled with- 
 out a passport I would be liable, under International 
 treaties, to " arrest at any point on the journey 
 and punishment." 
 
 This did not trouble me very much. My real 
 fear had been that the Japanese would consent to 
 my going, but would insist on sending a guard of 
 Japanese soldiers with me. It was more than 
 doubtful if, at that time, the Japanese had any right 
 to stop a foreigner from travelling in Korea, for the 
 passport regulations had long been virtually ob- 
 solete. This was a point that I was prepared to 
 argue out at leisure after my arrest and confine- 
 ment in a Consular jail. So the preparations for 
 my departure were continued. 
 
 The traveller in Korea, away from the railroads, 
 must carry everything he wants with him, except 
 food for his horses. He must have at least three 
 horses or ponies: one for himself, one pack-pony, 
 and one for his bedding and his " boy." Each pony 
 needs its own " mafoo," or groom, to cook its food 
 and to attend to it. So, although travelling lightly 
 and in a hurry, I would be obliged to take two 
 horses, one pony, and four attendants with me. 
 
 My friends in Seoul, both white and Korean, 
 were of opinion that if I attempted the trip I would 
 probably never return. Korean tiger-hunters and 
 disbanded soldiers were scattered about the hills, 
 
140 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 waiting for the chance of pot-shots at passing Japa- 
 nese. They would certainly in the distance take 
 me for a Japanese, since the Japanese soldiers and 
 leaders all wear foreign clothes, and they would 
 make me their target before they found out their 
 mistake. A score of suggestions were proffered as 
 to how I should avoid this. One old servant of 
 mine begged me to travel in a native chair, like a 
 Korean gentleman. This chair is a kind of small 
 box, carried by two or four bearers, in which the 
 traveller sits all the time crouched up on his 
 haunches. Its average speed is less than two miles 
 an hour. I preferred the bullets. A member of 
 the Korean Court urged me to send out messengers 
 each night to the villages where I would be going 
 next day, telling the people that I was " Yong guk 
 ta-in " (Englishman) and so they must not shoot 
 me. And so on and so forth. 
 
 This exaggerated idea of the risks of the trip 
 unfortunately spread abroad. The horse merchant 
 demanded specially high terms for the hire of his 
 beasts, because he might never see them again. I 
 needed a " boy," or native servant, and although 
 there are plenty of " boys " in Seoul none at first 
 was to be had. 
 
 I engaged one servant, a fine upstanding young 
 Korean, Wo by name, who had been out on many 
 hunting and mining expeditions. I noticed that he 
 was looking uneasy, and I was scarcely surprised 
 when at the end of the third day he came to me 
 with downcast eyes. " Master," he said, " my 
 
A JOURNEY TO THE " RIGHTEOUS ARMY » 141 
 
 heart is very much frightened. Please excuse me 
 this time." 
 
 "What is there to be frightened about?" I de- 
 manded. 
 
 " Korean men will shoot you and then will kill 
 me because my hair is cut." The rebels were re- 
 ported to be killing all men not wearing topknots. 
 
 Exit Wo. Some one recommended Han, also 
 with a great hunting record. But when Han heard 
 the destination he promptly withdrew. Sin was a 
 good boy out of place. Sin was sent for, but for- 
 warded apologies for not coming. 
 
 One Korean was longing to accompany me — my 
 old servant in the war, Kim Min-gun. But Kim 
 was in permanent employment and could not ob- 
 tain leave. " Master," he said contemptuously, 
 when he heard of the refusals, " these men plenty 
 much afraid." At last Kim's master very kindly 
 gave him permission to accompany me, and the 
 servant difficulty was surmounted. 
 
 My preparations were now almost completed, 
 provisions bought, horses hired, and saddles over- 
 hauled. The Japanese authorities had made no 
 sign, but they knew what was going on. It seemed 
 likely that they would stop me when I started out. 
 
 Then fortune favoured me. A cablegram arrived 
 for me from London. It was brief and emphatic : — 
 
 " Proceed forthwith Siberia." 
 
 My expedition was abandoned, the horses sent 
 
142 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 away, and the saddles thrown into a corner. I 
 cabled home that I would soon be back. I made 
 the hotel ring with my public and private com- 
 plaints about this interference with my plans. I 
 visited the shipping offices to learn of the next 
 steamer to Vladivostock. 
 
 A few hours before I was to start I chanced to 
 meet an old friend, who questioned me confi- 
 dentially, " I suppose it is really true that you are 
 going away, and that this is not a trick on your 
 part?" I left him thoughtful, for his words had 
 shown me the splendid opportunity in my hands. 
 Early next morning, long before dawn, my ponies 
 came back, the boys assembled, the saddles were 
 quickly fixed and the packs adjusted, and soon we 
 were riding as hard as we could for the mountains. 
 The regrettable part of the affair is that many 
 people are still convinced that the whole business 
 of the cablegram was arranged by me in advance 
 as a blind, and no assurances of mine will convince 
 them to the contrary. 
 
 As in duty bound, I sent word to the acting 
 British Consul-General, telling him of my de- 
 parture. My letter was not delivered to him until 
 after I had left. On my return I found his reply 
 awaiting me at my hotel. 
 
 " I consider it my duty to inform you," he wrote, " that 
 I received a communication on the 7th inst. from the 
 Residency-General informing me that, in view of the 
 disturbed conditions in the interior, it is deemed inad- 
 visable that foreign subjects should be allowed to travel 
 in the disturbed districts for the present. I would also 
 
A JOUENEY TO THE " BIGHTEOUS AEMY ** 143 
 
 call your attention to the stipulation in Article V. of the 
 treaty between Great Britain and Korea, under which 
 British subjects travelling in the interior of the country 
 without a passport are liable to arrest and to a penalty." 
 
 In Seoul no one could tell where or how the 
 " Righteous Army " might be found. The informa- 
 tion doled out by the Japanese authorities was 
 fragmentary, and was obviously and naturally 
 framed in such a manner as to minimize and dis- 
 credit the disturbances. It was admitted that the 
 Korean volunteers had a day or two earlier des- 
 troyed a small railway station on the line to Fusan. 
 We knew that a small party of them had attacked 
 the Japanese guard of a store of rifles, not twenty 
 miles from the capital, and had driven them off and 
 captured the arms and ammunition. Most of the 
 fighting, so far as one could judge, appeared to have 
 been around the town of Chung-ju, four days' 
 journey from Seoul. It was for there I aimed, 
 travelling by an indirect bridle-path in order to 
 avoid the Japanese as far as possible. 
 
 The country in which I soon found myself pre- 
 sented a field of industry and of prosperity such as 
 I had seen nowhere else in Korea. Between the 
 somewhat desolate mountain ranges and great 
 stretches of sandy soil we came upon innumerable 
 thriving villages. Every possible bit of land, right 
 up the hillsides, was carefully cultivated. Here 
 were stretches of cotton, with bursting pods all 
 ready for picking, and here great fields of buck- 
 wheat white with flower. The two most common 
 
144 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 crops were rice and barley, and the fields were 
 heavy with their harvest. Near the villages were 
 ornamental lines of chilies and beans and seed 
 plants for oil, with occasional clusters of kowliang, 
 fully twelve and thirteen feet high. 
 
 In the centre of the fields was a double-storied 
 summer-house, made of straw, the centre of a sys- 
 tem of high ropes, decked with bits of rag, running 
 over the crops in all directions. Two lads would 
 sit on the upper floor of each of these houses, pull- 
 ing the ropes, flapping the rags, and making all 
 kinds of harsh noises, to frighten away the birds 
 preying on the crops. 
 
 The villages themselves were pictures of beauty 
 and of peace. Most of them were surrounded by a 
 high fence of wands and matting. At the entrance 
 there sometimes stood the village " joss," although 
 many villages had destroyed their idols. This 
 " joss " was a thick stake of wood, six or eight feet 
 high, with the upper part roughly carved into the 
 shape of a very ugly human face, and crudely 
 coloured in vermilion and green. It was supposed 
 to frighten away the evil spirits. 
 
 The village houses, low, mud-walled, and thatch- 
 roofed, were seen this season at their best. Gay 
 flowers grew around. Melons and pumpkins, 
 weighted with fruit, ran over the walls. Nearly 
 every roof displayed a patch of vivid scarlet, for the 
 chilies had just been gathered, and were spread 
 out on the housetops to dry. In front of the 
 houses were boards covered with sliced pumpkins 
 
A JOTJBNEY TO THE " BIGHTEOUS AEMY » 146 
 
 and gherkins drying in the sun for winter use. 
 Every courtyard had its line of black earthenware 
 jars, four to six feet high, stored with all manner 
 of good things, mostly preserved vegetables of 
 many varieties, for the coming year. 
 
 I had heard much of the province of Chung- 
 Chong-Do as the Italy of Korea, but its beauty and 
 prosperity required seeing to be believed. It af- 
 forded an amazing contrast to the dirt and apathy 
 of Seoul. Here every one worked. In the fields 
 the young women were toiling in groups, weeding 
 or harvesting. The young men were cutting 
 bushes on the hillsides, the father of the family pre- 
 paring new ground for the fresh crop, and the very 
 children frightening off the birds. At home the 
 housewife was busy with her children and prepar- 
 ing her simples and stores; and even the old men 
 busied themselves over light tasks, such as mat- 
 making. Every one seemed prosperous, busy, and 
 happy. There were no signs of poverty. The up- 
 rising had not touched this district, save in the most 
 incidental fashion. 
 
 My inquiries as to where I should find any signs 
 of the fighting always met with the same reply — 
 " The Japanese have been to Ichon, and have 
 burned many villages there." So we pushed on for 
 Ichon as hard as we could. 
 
 The chief problem that faced the traveller in 
 Korea who ventured away from the railways in 
 those days was how to hasten the speed of his 
 party. " You cannot travel faster than your pack," 
 
146 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 is one of those indisputable axioms against which 
 the impatient man fretted in vain. The pack-pony 
 was led by a horseman, who really controlled the 
 situation. If he sulked and determined to go 
 slowly nothing could be done. If he hurried, the 
 whole party must move quickly. 
 
 The Korean mafoo regards seventy li (about 
 twenty-one miles) as a fair day's work. He prefers 
 to average sixty li, but if you are very insistent he 
 may go eighty. It was imperative that I should 
 cover from a hundred to a hundred and twenty li 
 a day. 
 
 I tried a mixture of harsh words, praise, and 
 liberal tips. I was up at three in the morning, 
 setting the boys to work at cooking the animals' 
 food, and I kept them on the road until dark. Still 
 the record was not satisfactory. It is necessary in 
 Korea to allow at least six hours each day for the 
 cooking of the horses' food and feeding them. This 
 is a time that no wise traveller attempts to cut. 
 Including feeding-times, we were on the go from 
 sixteen to eighteen hours a day. Notwithstanding 
 this, the most we had reached was a hundred and 
 ten li a day. 
 
 Then came a series of little hindrances. The 
 pack-pony would not eat its dinner; its load was 
 too heavy. " Hire a boy to carry part of its load," 
 I replied. A hundred reasons would be found for 
 halting, and still more for slow departure. 
 
 It was clear that something more must be done. 
 I called the pack-pony leader on one side. He was 
 
A JOUENEY TO THE " KIGHTEOUS AEMY » 147 
 
 a fine, broad-framed giant, a man who had in his 
 time gone through many fights and adventures. 
 " You and I understand one another," I said to him. 
 " These others with their moanings and cries are 
 but as children. Now let us make a compact. You 
 hurry all the time and I will give you " (here I 
 whispered a figure into his ear that sent a gratified 
 smile over his face) " at the end of the journey. 
 The others need know nothing. This is between 
 men." 
 
 He nodded assent. From that moment the trou- 
 ble was over. Footsore mafoos, lame horses, 
 grumbling innkeepers — nothing mattered. " Let 
 the fires burn quickly." " Out with the horses." 
 The other horse-keepers, not understanding his 
 changed attitude, toiled wearily after him. At 
 night-time he would look up, as he led his pack- 
 pony in at the end of a record day, and his grim 
 smile would proclaim that he was keeping his end 
 of the bargain. 
 
 " It is necessary for us to show these men some- 
 thing of the strong hand of Japan," one of the lead- 
 ing Japanese in Seoul, a close associate of the 
 Prince Ito, told me shortly before I left that city. 
 " The people of the eastern mountain districts have 
 seen few or no Japanese soldiers, and they have no 
 idea of our strength. We must convince them how 
 strong we are." 
 
 As I stood on a mountain-pass, looking down on 
 the valley leading to Ichon, I recalled these 
 words of my friend. The " strong hand of Japan " 
 
148 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 was certainly being shown here. I beheld in front 
 of me village after village reduced to ashes. 
 
 I rode down to the nearest heap of ruins. The 
 place had been quite a large village, with probably 
 seventy or eighty houses. Destruction, thorough 
 and complete, had fallen upon it. Not a single 
 house was left, and not a single wall of a house. 
 Every pot with the winter stores was broken. The 
 very earthen fireplaces were wrecked. 
 
 The villagers had come back to the ruins again, 
 and were already rebuilding. They had put up 
 temporary refuges of straw. The young men were 
 out on the hills cutting wood, and every one else 
 was toiling at house-making. The crops were 
 ready to harvest, but there was no time to gather 
 them in. First of all, make a shelter. 
 
 During the next few days sights like these were 
 to be too common to arouse much emotion. But 
 for the moment I looked around on these people, 
 ruined and homeless, with quick pity. The old 
 men, venerable and dignified, as Korean old men 
 mostly are, the young wives, many with babes at 
 their breasts, the sturdy men, had composed, if I 
 could judge by what I saw, an exceptionally clean 
 and peaceful community. 
 
 There was no house in which I could rest, so I 
 sat down under a tree, and while Min-gun was 
 cooking my dinner the village elders came around 
 with their story. One thing especially struck me. 
 Usually the Korean woman was shy, retiring, and 
 afraid to open her mouth in the presence of a 
 
A JOURNEY TO THE " RIGHTEOUS ARMY » 149 
 
 stranger. Here the women spoke up as freely as 
 the men. The great calamity had broken down the 
 barriers of their silence. 
 
 " We are glad," they said, " that a European man 
 has come to see what has befallen us. We hope 
 you will tell your people, so that all men may 
 know. 
 
 " There had been some fighting on the hills be- 
 yond our village," and they pointed to the hills a 
 mile or two further on. "The Eui-pyung" (the 
 volunteers) " had been there, and had torn up some 
 telegraph poles. The Eui-pyung came down from 
 the eastern hills. They were not our men, and had 
 nothing to do with us. The Japanese soldiers 
 came, and there was a fight, and the Eui-pyung 
 fell back. 
 
 " Then the Japanese soldiers marched out to our 
 village, and to seven other villages. Look around 
 and you can see the ruins of all. They spoke many 
 harsh words to us. ' The Eui-pyung broke down 
 the telegraph poles and you did not stop them/ 
 they said. ' Therefore you are all the same as 
 Eui-pyung. Why have you eyes if you do not 
 watch, why have you strength if you do not prevent 
 the Eui-pyung from doing mischief? The Eui- 
 pyung came to your houses and you fed them. 
 They have gone, but we will punish you.' 
 
 "And they went from house to house, taking 
 what they wanted and setting all alight. One old 
 man — he had lived in his house since he was a 
 babe suckled by his mother — saw a soldier lighting 
 
150 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 up his house. He fell on his knees and caught the 
 foot of the soldier. * Excuse me, excuse me,' he 
 said, with many tears. ' Please do not burn my 
 house. Leave it for me that I may die there. I 
 am an old man, and near my end.* 
 
 " The soldier tried to shake him off, but the old 
 man prayed the more. ' Excuse me, excuse me/ 
 he moaned. Then the soldier lifted his gun and 
 shot the old man, and we buried him. 
 
 " One who was near to her hour of child-birth 
 was lying in a house. Alas for her! One of our 
 young men was working in the field cutting grass. 
 He was working and had not noticed the soldiers 
 come. He lifted his knife, sharpening it in the sun. 
 * There is a Eui-pyung,' he said, and he fired and 
 killed him. One man, seeing the fire, noticed that 
 all his family records were burning. He rushed in 
 to try and pull them out, but as he rushed a soldier 
 fired, and he fell." 
 
 A man, whose appearance proclaimed him to be 
 of a higher class than most of the villagers, then 
 spoke in bitter tones. " We are rebuilding our 
 houses," he said, " but of what use is it for us to 
 do so? I was a man of family. My fathers and 
 fathers' fathers had their record. Our family 
 papers are destroyed. Henceforth we are a people 
 without a name, disgraced and outcast." 
 
 I found, when I went further into the country, 
 that this view was fairly common. The Koreans 
 regard their family existence with peculiar venera- 
 tion. The family record means everything to 
 
A JOURNEY TO THE " EIGHTEOUS ARMY " 151 
 
 them. When it is destroyed, the family is wiped 
 out. It no longer exists, even though there are 
 many members of it still living. As the province 
 of Chung-Chong-Do prides itself on the large num- 
 ber of its substantial families, there could be no 
 more effective way of striking at them than this. 
 
 I rode out of the village heavy-hearted. What 
 struck me most about this form of punishment, 
 however, was not the suffering of the villagers so 
 much as the futility of the proceedings, from the 
 Japanese point of view. In place of pacifying a 
 people, they were turning hundreds of quiet fam- 
 ilies into rebels. During the next few days I was 
 to see at least one town and many scores of villages 
 treated as this one. To what end? The villagers 
 were certainly not the people fighting the Japanese. 
 All they wanted to do was to look quietly after their 
 own affairs. Japan professed a desire to conciliate 
 Korea and to win the affection and support of her 
 people. In one province at least the policy of 
 house-burning had reduced a prosperous com- 
 munity to ruin, increased the rebel forces, and 
 sown a crop of bitter hatred which it would take 
 generations to root out. 
 
 We rode on through village after village and 
 hamlet after hamlet burned to the ground. The 
 very attitude of the people told me that the hand 
 of Japan had struck hard there. We would come 
 upon a boy carrying a load of wood. He would 
 run quickly to the side of the road when he saw us, 
 expecting he knew not what. We passed a vil- 
 
152 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOB FBEEDOM 
 
 lage with a few houses left. The women flew to 
 shelter as I drew near. Some of the stories that I 
 heard later helped me to understand why they 
 should run. Of course they took me for a Japa- 
 nese. 
 
 All along the route I heard tales of the Japanese 
 plundering, where they had not destroyed. At 
 places the village elders would bring me an old man 
 badly beaten by a Japanese soldier because he re- 
 sisted being robbed. Then came darker stories. 
 In Seoul I had laughed at them. Now, face to face 
 with the victims, I could laugh no more. 
 
 That afternoon we rode into Ichon itself. 
 This is quite a large town. I found it practically 
 deserted. Most of the people had fled to the hills, 
 to escape from the Japanese. I slept that night in 
 a schoolhouse, now deserted and unused. There 
 were the cartoons and animal pictures and pious 
 mottoes around, but the children were far away. 
 I passed through the market-place, usually a very 
 busy spot. There was no sign of life there. 
 
 I turned to some of the Koreans. 
 
 "Where are your women? Where are your 
 children ?" I demanded. They pointed to the 
 high and barren hills looming against the distant 
 heavens. 
 
 " They are up there," they said. " Better for 
 them to lie on the barren hillsides than to be out- 
 raged here." 
 
IX 
 
 WITH THE REBELS 
 
 DAY after day we travelled through a suc- 
 cession of burned-out villages, deserted 
 towns, and forsaken country. The fields 
 were covered with a rich and abundant harvest, 
 ready to be gathered, and impossible for the in- 
 vaders to destroy. But most of the farmers were 
 hiding on the mountainsides, fearing to come down. 
 The few courageous men who had ventured to 
 come back were busy erecting temporary shelters 
 for themselves before the winter cold came on, and 
 had to let the harvest wait. Great flocks of birds 
 hung over the crops, feasting undisturbed. 
 
 Up to Chong-ju nearly one-half of the villages 
 on the direct line of route had been destroyed by 
 the Japanese. At Chong-ju I struck directly across 
 the mountains to Chee-chong, a day's journey. 
 Four-fifths of the villages and hamlets on the main 
 road between these two places were burned to the 
 ground. 
 
 The few people who had returned to the ruins 
 always disclaimed any connection with the " Right- 
 eous Army." They had taken no part in the fight- 
 ing, they said. The volunteers had come down 
 from the hills and had attacked the Japanese; the 
 
 *53 
 
154 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 Japanese had then retaliated by punishing the local 
 residents. The fact that the villagers had no arms, 
 and were peaceably working at home-building, 
 seemed at the time to show the truth of their 
 words. Afterwards when I came up with the 
 Korean fighters I found these statements con- 
 firmed. The rebels were mostly townsmen from 
 Seoul, and not villagers from that district. 
 
 Between 10,000 and 20,000 people had been 
 driven to the hills in this small district alone, either 
 by the destruction of their homes or because of 
 fear excited by the acts of the soldiers. 
 
 Soon after leaving Ichon I came on a village 
 where the Red Cross was flying over one of the 
 houses. The place was a native Anglican church. 
 I was later on to see the Red Cross over many 
 houses, for the people had the idea that by thus ap- 
 pealing to the Christians' God they made a claim on 
 the pity and charity of the Christian nations. 
 
 In the evening, after I had settled down in the 
 yard of the native inn, the elders of the Church 
 came to see me, two quiet-spoken, grave, middle- 
 aged men. They were somewhat downcast, and 
 said that their village had suffered considerably, 
 the parties of soldiers passing through having taken 
 what they wanted and being guilty of some out- 
 rages. A gardener's wife had been violated by a 
 Japanese soldier, another soldier standing guard 
 over the house with rifle and fixed bayonet. A boy, 
 attracted by the woman's screams, ran and fetched 
 the husband. He came up, knife in hand. " But 
 
WITH THE REBELS 155 
 
 what could he do? " the elders asked. " There was 
 the soldier, with rifle and bayonet, before the door." 
 
 Later on I was to hear other stories, very similar 
 to this. These tales were confirmed on the spot, 
 so far as confirmation was possible. In my judg- 
 ment such outrages were not numerous, and were 
 limited to exceptional parties of troops. But they 
 produced an effect altogether disproportionate to 
 their numbers. The Korean has high ideals about 
 the sanctity of his women, and the fear caused by 
 a comparatively few offences was largely respon- 
 sible for the flight of multitudes to the hills. 
 
 In the burning of villages, a certain number of 
 Korean women and children were undoubtedly 
 killed. The Japanese troops seem in many cases 
 to have rushed a village and to have indulged in 
 miscellaneous wild shooting, on the chance of there 
 being rebels around, before firing the houses. In 
 one hamlet, where I found two houses still stand- 
 ing, the folk told me that these had been left be- 
 cause the Japanese shot the daughter of the owner 
 of one of them, a girl of ten. " When they shot 
 her," the villagers said, " we approached the sol- 
 diers, and said, ' Please excuse us, but since you 
 have killed the daughter of this man you should 
 not burn his house.' And the soldiers listened 
 to us." 
 
 In towns like Chong-ju and Won-ju practically 
 all the women and children and better-class families 
 had disappeared. The shops were shut and barri- 
 caded by their owners before leaving, but many of 
 
156 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 them had been forced open and looted. The 
 destruction in other towns paled to nothing, how- 
 ever, before the havoc wrought in Chee-chong. 
 Here was a town completely destroyed. 
 
 Chee-chong was, up to the late summer of 1907, 
 an important rural centre, containing between 2,000 
 and 3,000 inhabitants, and beautifully situated in a 
 sheltered plain, surrounded by high mountains. It 
 was a favourite resort of high officials, a Korean 
 Bath or Cheltenham. Many of the houses were 
 large, and some had tiled roofs — a sure evidence of 
 wealth. 
 
 When the " Righteous Army " began operations, 
 one portion of it occupied the hills beyond Chee- 
 chong. The Japanese sent a small body of troops 
 into the town. These were attacked one night on 
 three sides, several were killed, and the others were 
 compelled to retire. The Japanese despatched 
 reinforcements, and after some fighting regained 
 lost ground. They then determined to make Chee- 
 chong an example to the countryside. The entire 
 town was put to the torch. The soldiers carefully 
 tended the flames, piling up everything for destruc- 
 tion. Nothing was left, save one image of Buddha 
 and the magistrate's yamen. When the Koreans 
 fled, five men, one woman, and a child, all wounded, 
 were left behind. These disappeared in the flames. 
 
 It was a hot early autumn when I reached Chee- 
 chong. The brilliant sunshine revealed a Japanese 
 flag waving over a hillock commanding the town, 
 and glistened against the bayonet of a Japanese 
 
WITH THE EEBELS 157 
 
 sentry. I dismounted and walked down the streets 
 and over the heaps of ashes. Never have I wit- 
 nessed such complete destruction. Where a month 
 before there had been a busy and prosperous com- 
 munity, there was now nothing but lines of little 
 heaps of black and gray dust and cinders. Not a 
 whole wall, not a beam, and not an unbroken jar 
 remained. Here and there a man might be seen 
 poking among the ashes, seeking for aught of value. 
 The search was vain. Chee-chong had been wiped 
 off the map. "Where are your people ?" I asked 
 the few searchers. " They are lying on the hill- 
 sides," came the reply. 
 
 Up to this time I had not met a single rebel sol- 
 dier, and very few Japanese. My chief meeting 
 with the Japanese occurred the previous day at 
 Chong-ju. As I approached that town, I noticed 
 that its ancient walls were broken down. The 
 stone arches of the city gates were left, but the 
 gates themselves and most of the walls had gone. 
 A Japanese sentry and a gendarme stood at the 
 gateway, and cross-examined me as I entered. A 
 small body of Japanese troops were stationed here, 
 and operations in the country around were ap- 
 parently directed from this centre. 
 
 I at once called upon the Japanese Colonel in 
 charge. His room, a great apartment in the local 
 governor's yamen, showed on all sides evidences of 
 the thoroughness with which the Japanese were 
 conducting this campaign. Large maps, with red 
 marks, revealed strategic positions now occupied. 
 
158 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 A little printed pamphlet, with maps, evidently for 
 the use of officers, lay on the table. 
 
 The Colonel received me politely, but expressed 
 his regrets that I had come. The men he was fight- 
 ing were mere robbers, he said, and there was noth- 
 ing for me to see. He gave me various warnings 
 about dangers ahead. Then he very kindly ex- 
 plained that the Japanese plan was to hem in the 
 volunteers, two sections of troops operating from 
 either side and making a circle around the seat of 
 trouble. These would unite and gradually drive 
 the Koreans towards a centre. 
 
 The maps which the Colonel showed me settled 
 my movements. A glance at them made clear that 
 the Japanese had not yet occupied the line of coun- 
 try between Chee-chong and Won-ju. Here, then, 
 was the place where I must go if I would meet the 
 Korean bands. So it was towards Won-ju that I 
 turned our horses' heads on the following day, after 
 gazing on the ruins of Chee-chong. 
 
 It soon became evident that I was very near to 
 the Korean forces. At one place, not far from 
 Chee-chong, a party of them had arrived two days 
 before I passed, and had demanded arms. A little 
 further on Koreans and Japanese had narrowly 
 escaped meeting in the village street, not many 
 hours before I stopped there. As I approached 
 one hamlet, the inhabitants fled into the high corn, 
 and on my arrival not a soul was to be found. 
 They mistook me for a Japanese out on a shooting 
 and burning expedition. 
 
WITH THE EEBELS 159 
 
 It now became more difficult to obtain carriers. 
 Our ponies were showing signs of fatigue, for we 
 were using them very hard over the mountainous 
 country. It was impossible to hire fresh animals, 
 as the Japanese had commandeered all. Up to 
 Won-ju I had to pay double the usual rate for my 
 carriers. From Won-ju onwards carriers abso- 
 lutely refused to go further, whatever the pay. 
 
 " On the road beyond here many bad men are to 
 be found," they told me at Won-ju. " These bad 
 men shoot every one who passes. We will not go 
 to be shot." My own boys were showing some 
 uneasiness. Fortunately, I had in my personal 
 servant Min-gun, and in the leader of the pack- 
 pony two of the staunchest Koreans I have ever 
 known. 
 
 The country beyond Won-ju was splendidly 
 suited for an ambuscade, such as the people there 
 promised me. The road was rocky and broken, 
 and largely lay through a narrow, winding valley, 
 with overhanging cliffs. Now we would come on 
 a splendid gorge, evidently of volcanic origin ; now 
 we would pause to chip a bit of gold-bearing quartz 
 from the rocks, for this is a famous gold centre of 
 Korea. An army might have been hidden securely 
 around. 
 
 Twilight was just gathering as we stopped at a 
 small village where we intended remaining for the 
 night. The people were sullen and unfriendly, a 
 striking contrast to what I had found elsewhere. 
 In other parts they all came and welcomed me, 
 
160 . KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 sometimes refusing to take payment for the ac- 
 commodation they supplied. " We are glad that 
 a white man has come." But in this village the 
 men gruffly informed me that there was not a scrap 
 of horse food or of rice to be had. They advised 
 us to go on to another place, fifteen li ahead. 
 
 We started out. When we had ridden a little 
 way from the village I chanced to glance back at 
 some trees' skirting a corn-field. A man, half- 
 hidden by a bush, was fumbling with something in 
 his hands, something which he held down as I 
 turned. I took it to be the handle of a small reap- 
 ing-knife, but it was growing too dark to see 
 clearly. A minute later, however, there came a 
 smart " ping " past my ear, followed by the thud 
 of a bullet striking metal. 
 
 I turned, but the man had disappeared. It would 
 have been merely foolish to blaze back with a .380 
 Colt at a distance of over a hundred yards, and 
 there was no time to go back. So we continued on 
 our way. 
 
 Before arriving at Won-ju we had been told that 
 we would certainly find the Righteous Army around 
 there. At Won-ju men said that it was at a 
 place fifteen or twenty miles ahead. When we 
 reached that distance we were directed onwards to 
 Yan-gun. We walked into Yan-gun one afternoon, 
 only to be again disappointed. Here, however, we 
 learned that there had been a fight that same morn- 
 ing at a village fifteen miles nearer Seoul, and that 
 the Koreans had been defeated. 
 
WITH THE EEBELS 161 
 
 Yan-gun presented a remarkable sight. A dozen 
 red crosses waved over houses at different points. 
 In the main street every shop was closely barri- 
 caded, and a cross was pasted on nearly every door. 
 These crosses, roughly painted on paper in red ink, 
 were obtained from the elder of the Roman Catholic 
 church there. A week before some Japanese sol- 
 diers had arrived and burned a few houses. They 
 spared one house close to them waving a Christian 
 cross. As soon as the Japanese left nearly every 
 one pasted a cross over his door. 
 
 At first Yan-gun seemed deserted. The people 
 were watching me from behind the shelter of their 
 doors. Then men and boys crept out, and grad- 
 ually approached. We soon made friends. The 
 women had fled. I settled down that afternoon in 
 the garden of a Korean house of the better type. 
 My boy was preparing my supper in the front court- 
 yard, when he suddenly dropped everything to rush 
 to me. " Master," he cried, highly excited, " the 
 Righteous Army has come. Here are the sol- 
 diers." 
 
 In another moment half a dozen of them entered 
 the garden, formed in line in front of me and 
 saluted. They were all lads, from eighteen to 
 twenty-six. One, a bright-faced, handsome youth, 
 still wore the old uniform of the regular Korean 
 Army. Another had a pair of military trousers. 
 Two of them were in slight, ragged Korean dress. 
 Not one had leather boots. Around their waists 
 were home-made cotton cartridge belts, half full. 
 
162 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 One wore a kind of tarboosh on his head, and the 
 others had bits of rag twisted round their hair. 
 
 I looked at the guns they were carrying. The 
 six men had five different patterns of weapons, and 
 none was any good. One proudly carried an old 
 Korean sporting gun of the oldest type of muzzle- 
 loaders known to man. Around his arm was the 
 long piece of thin rope which he kept smouldering 
 as touch-powder, and hanging in front of him were 
 the powder horn and bullet bag for loading. This 
 sporting gun was, I afterwards found, a common 
 weapon. The ramrod, for pressing down the 
 charge, was home-made and cut from a tree. The 
 barrel was rust-eaten. There was only a strip of 
 cotton as a carrying strap. 
 
 The second man had an old Korean army rifle, 
 antiquated, and a very bad specimen of its time. 
 The third had the same. One had a tiny sporting 
 gun, the kind of weapon, warranted harmless, that 
 fathers give to their fond sons at the age of ten. 
 Another had a horse-pistol, taking a rifle cartridge. 
 Three of the guns bore Chinese marks. They were 
 all eaten up with ancient rust. 
 
 These were the men — think of it — who for weeks 
 had been bidding defiance to the Japanese Army! 
 Even now a Japanese division of regular soldiers 
 was manoeuvring to corral them and their com- 
 rades. Three of the party in front of me were 
 coolies. The smart young soldier who stood at the 
 right plainly acted as sergeant, and had done his 
 best to drill his comrades into soldierly bearing. A 
 
WITH THE KEBELS 163 
 
 seventh man now came in, unarmed, a Korean of 
 the better class, well dressed in the long robes of a 
 gentleman, but thin, sun-stained and wearied like 
 the others. 
 
 A pitiful group they seemed — men already 
 doomed to certain death, fighting in an absolutely 
 hopeless cause. But as I looked the sparkling eyes 
 and smiles of the sergeant to the right seemed to 
 rebuke me. Pity! Maybe my pity was misplaced. 
 At least they were showing their countrymen an 
 example of patriotism, however mistaken their 
 method of displaying it might be. 
 
 They had a story to tell, for they had been in the 
 fight that morning, and had retired before the Japa- 
 nese. The Japanese had the better position, and 
 forty Japanese soldiers had attacked two hundred of 
 them and they had given way. But they had killed 
 four Japanese, and the Japanese had only killed two 
 of them and wounded three more. Such was their 
 account. 
 
 I did not ask them why, when they had killed 
 twice as many as the enemy, they had yet retreated. 
 The real story of the fight I could learn later. As 
 they talked others came to join them — two old men, 
 one fully eighty, an old tiger-hunter, with bent back, 
 grizzled face, and patriarchal beard. The two new- 
 comers carried the old Korean sporting rifles. 
 Other soldiers of the retreating force were outside. 
 There was a growing tumult in the street. How 
 long would it be before the triumphant Japanese, 
 following up their victory, attacked the town? 
 
164 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 I was not to have much peace that night. In 
 the street outside a hundred noisy disputes were 
 proceeding between volunteers and the townsfolk. 
 The soldiers wanted shelter; the people, fearing the 
 Japanese, did not wish to let them in. A party of 
 them crowded into an empty building adjoining the 
 house where I was, and they made the place ring 
 with their disputes and recriminations. 
 
 Very soon the officer who had been in charge of 
 the men during the fight that day called on me. 
 He was a comparatively young man, dressed in the 
 ordinary long white garments of the better-class 
 Koreans. I asked him what precautions he had 
 taken against a night attack, for if the Japanese 
 knew where we were they would certainly come on 
 us. Had he any outposts placed in positions? 
 Was the river-way guarded? "There is no need 
 for outposts," he replied. " Every Korean man 
 around watches for us." 
 
 I cross-examined him about the constitution of 
 the rebel army. How were they organized? From 
 what he told me, it was evident that they had 
 practically no organization at all. There were a 
 number of separate bands held together by the 
 loosest ties. A rich man in each place found the 
 money. This he secretly gave to one or two open 
 rebels, and they gathered adherents around them. 
 
 He admitted that the men were in anything but 
 a good way. " We may have to die," he said. 
 " Well, so let it be. It is much better to die as a 
 free man than to live as the slave of Japan." 
 
WITH THE EEBELS 165 
 
 He had not been gone long before still another 
 called on me, a middle-aged Korean gentleman, 
 attended by a staff of officials. Here was a man of 
 rank, and I soon learned that he was the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief for the entire district. I was in 
 somewhat of a predicament. I had used up all my 
 food, and had not so much as a cigar or a glass of 
 whiskey left to offer him. One or two flickering 
 candles in the covered courtyard of the inn lit up 
 his care-worn face. I apologized for the rough sur- 
 roundings in which I received him, but he immedi- 
 ately brushed my apologies aside. He complained 
 bitterly of the conduct of his subordinate, who had 
 risked an engagement that morning when he had 
 orders not to. The commander, it appeared, had 
 been called back home for a day on some family 
 affairs, and hurried back to the front as soon as he 
 knew of the trouble. He had come to me for a 
 purpose. " Our men want weapons," he said. 
 " They are as brave as can be, but you know what 
 their guns are like, and we have very little ammuni- 
 tion. We cannot buy, but you can go to and fro 
 freely as you want. Now, you act as our agent. 
 Buy guns for us and bring them to us. Ask what 
 money you like, it does not matter. Five thousand 
 dollars, ten thousand dollars, they are yours if you 
 will have them. Only bring us guns ! " 
 
 I had, of course, to tell him that I could not do 
 anything of the kind. When he further asked me 
 questions about the positions of the Japanese I was 
 forced to give evasive answers. To my mind, the 
 
166 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 publicist who visits fighting forces in search of in- 
 formation, as I was doing, is in honour bound not 
 to communicate what he learns to the other side. 
 I could no more tell the rebel leader of the exposed 
 Japanese outposts I knew, and against which I 
 could have sent his troops with the certainty of 
 success, than I could on return tell the Japanese the 
 strength of his forces. 
 
 All that night the rebels dribbled in. Several 
 wounded men who had escaped from the fight the 
 previous day were borne along by their comrades, 
 and early on the following morning some soldiers 
 came and asked me to do what I could to heal them. 
 I went out and examined the men. One had no 
 less than five bullet-holes in him and yet seemed 
 remarkably cheerful. Two others had single shots 
 of a rather more dangerous nature. I am no sur- 
 geon, and it was manifestly impossible for me to 
 jab into their wounds with my hunting-knife in the 
 hope of extracting the bullets. I found, however, 
 some corrosive sublimate tabloids in my leather 
 medicine case. These I dissolved, and bathed the 
 wounds with the mixture to stop suppuration. I 
 had some Listerine, and I washed their rags in it. 
 I bound the clean rags on the wounds, bade the men 
 lie still and eat little, and left them. 
 
 Soon after dawn the rebel regiments paraded in 
 the streets. They reproduced on a larger scale the 
 characteristics I had noted among the few men who 
 came to visit me the evening before, poor weapons 
 and little ammunition. They sent out men in ad- 
 
WITH THE REBELS 167 
 
 vance before I departed in the morning to warn 
 their outposts that I was an Englishman (really I 
 am a Scots-Canadian, but to them it was all the 
 same) who must not be injured. I left them with 
 mutual good wishes, but I made a close inspection 
 of my party before we marched away to see that 
 all our weapons were in place. Some of my boys 
 begged me to give the rebels our guns so that they 
 might kill the Japanese! 
 
 We had not gone very far before we descended 
 into a rocky and sandy plain by the river. Sud- 
 denly I heard one of my boys shout at the top of 
 his voice, as he threw up his arms, " Yong guk 
 ta-in." We all stopped, and the others took up the 
 cry. "What does this mean?" I asked. "Some 
 rebel soldiers are surrounding us," said Min-gun, 
 " and they are going to fire. They think you are 
 a Japanese." I stood against the sky-line and 
 pointed vigorously to myself to show that they were 
 mistaken. " Yong guk ! " I shouted, with my boys. 
 It was not dignified, but it was very necessary. 
 Now we could see creeping, ragged figures running 
 from rock to rock, closer and closer to us. The 
 rifles of some were covering us while the others ad- 
 vanced. Then a party of a couple of dozen rose 
 from the ground near to hand, with a young man in 
 a European officer's uniform at their head. They 
 ran to us, while we stood and waited. At last they 
 saw who I was, and when they came near they 
 apologized very gracefully for their blunder. " It 
 ^was fortunate that you shouted when you did," 
 
168 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 said one ugly-faced young rebel, as he slipped his 
 cartridge back into his pouch ; " I had you nicely 
 covered and was just going to shoot." Some of 
 the soldiers in this band were not more than four- 
 teen to sixteen years old. I made them stand and 
 have their photographs taken. 
 
 By noon I arrived at the place from which the 
 Korean soldiers had been driven on the day before. 
 The villagers there were regarded in very un- 
 friendly fashion by the rebels, who thought they 
 had betrayed them to the Japanese. The villagers 
 told me what was evidently the true story of the 
 fight. They said that about twenty Japanese sol- 
 diers had on the previous morning marched quickly 
 to the place and attacked two hundred rebels there. 
 One Japanese soldier was hurt, receiving a flesh 
 wound in the arm, and five rebels were wounded. 
 Three of these latter got away, and these were the 
 ones I had treated earlier in the morning. Two 
 others were left on the field, one badly shot in the 
 left cheek and the other in the right shoulder. To 
 quote the words of the villagers, "As the Japanese 
 soldiers came up to these wounded men they were 
 too sick to speak, and they could only utter cries 
 like animals — ' Hula, hula, hula!' They had no 
 weapons in their hands, and their blood was run- 
 ning on the ground. The Japanese soldiers heard 
 their cries, and went up to them and stabbed them 
 through and through and through again with their 
 bayonets until they died. The men were torn very 
 much with the bayonet stabs, and we had to take 
 
WITH THE EEBELS 169 
 
 them up and bury them." The expressive faces of 
 the villagers were more eloquent than mere 
 description was. 
 
 Were this an isolated instance, it would scarcely 
 be necessary to mention it. But what I heard on 
 all sides went to show that in a large number of 
 fights in the country the Japanese systematically 
 killed all the wounded and all who surrendered 
 themselves. This was not so in every case, but it 
 certainly was in very many. The fact was con- 
 firmed by the Japanese accounts of many fights, 
 where the figures given of Korean casualties were 
 so many killed, with no mention of wounded or 
 prisoners. In place after place also, the Japanese, 
 besides burning houses, shot numbers of men whom 
 they suspected of assisting the rebels. War is war, 
 and one could scarcely complain at the shooting of 
 rebels. Unfortunately much of the killing was in- 
 discriminate, to create terror. 
 
 I returned to Seoul. The Japanese authorities 
 evidently decided that it would not be advisable to 
 arrest me for travelling in the interior without a 
 passport. It was their purpose to avoid as far as 
 possible any publicity being given to the doings of 
 the Righteous Army, and to represent them as 
 mere bands of disorderly characters, preying on the 
 population. They succeeded in creating this opin- 
 ion throughout the world. 
 
 But as a matter of fact the movement grew and 
 grew. It was impossible for the Koreans to ob- 
 tain arms; they fought without arms. In June, 
 
170 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 1908, nearly two years afterwards, a high Japanese 
 official, giving evidence at the trial of Mr. Bethell 
 before a specially convened British court at Seoul, 
 said that about 20,000 troops were then engaged in 
 putting down the disturbances, and that about one- 
 half of the country was in a condition of armed re- 
 sistance. The Koreans continued their fight until 
 1915, when, according to Japanese official state- 
 ments, the rebellion was finally suppressed. One 
 can only faintly imagine the hardships these moun- 
 taineers and young men of the plains, tiger hunters, 
 and old soldiers, must have undergone. The taunts 
 about Korean " cowardice " and " apathy " were 
 beginning to lose their force. 
 
X 
 
 THE LAST DAYS OF THE KOREAN EMPIRE 
 
 PRINCE ITO— he was made Prince after the 
 abdication of Yi Hyeung — was Resident- 
 General of Korea from 1906 to 1908, and was 
 followed by Viscount Sone, who carried on his 
 policies until 1910. Ito is still remembered as the 
 best of the Japanese administrators. 
 
 He had an exceedingly difficult task. He had to 
 tear up an ancient administration by the roots, and 
 substitute a new. This could not fail to be a pain- 
 ful process. He had the best and the worst in- 
 stincts of a nation aroused against him, the patriot- 
 ism and loyalty of the Korean people, and also their 
 obstinacy and apathy. He was hampered by the 
 poor quality of many of the minor officials who had 
 to carry out his orders and still more by the char- 
 acter of the settlers from his own land. The neces- 
 sities of Japanese Imperial policy compelled the in- 
 fliction of much injustice on the Korean people. 
 The determination to plant as many Japanese on 
 Korean soil as possible involved the expropriation 
 of Korean interests and the harsh treatment of 
 many small Korean landowners and tenants. The 
 
 171 
 
172 ROEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 powerful and growing commercial interests of 
 Japan were using every possible pressure to ex- 
 ploit Korea, to obtain concessions and to treat the 
 land as one to be despoiled for their benefit. Ito 
 meant well by Korea, and had vision enough to see 
 that the ill-treatment of her people injured Japan 
 even more than it did them. It was his misfortune 
 to be committed to an impossible policy of Im- 
 perial absorption. He did his utmost to minimize 
 its evils and promote reforms. 
 
 Unfortunately, all of his subordinates did not see 
 eye to eye with him. His military chief, Hasegawa, 
 believed in the policy of the strong hand, and prac- 
 ticed it. A large majority of the Japanese immi- 
 grants acted in a way fatal to the creation of a 
 policy of good-will. The average Japanese re- 
 garded the Korean as another Ainu, a barbarian, 
 and himself as one of the Chosen Race, who had the 
 right to despoil and roughly treat his inferiors, as 
 occasion served. 
 
 Some Koreans stooped to the favourite Oriental 
 weapon of assassination. 
 
 In 1907 Mr. W. D. Stevens, Foreign Adviser to 
 the Korean Government, was murdered by a 
 Korean when passing through San Francisco. In 
 October, 1909, Prince Ito, when making a journey 
 northwards, was killed by another Korean at Har- 
 bin. Both of the murderers were nominal Chris- 
 tians, the first a Protestant and the second a Cath- 
 olic. A deadly blow was struck at the Korean 
 cause by the men who thus sought to serve her. 
 
THE LAST DAYS OF THE KOREAN EMPIRE 173 
 
 This book will probably be read by many 
 Koreans, young men and women with hearts aflame 
 at the sufferings of their people. I can well un- 
 derstand the intense anger that must fill their souls. 
 If my people had been treated as theirs have, I 
 would feel the same. 
 
 I hope that every man guilty of torturing, out- 
 raging or murder will eventually be brought to 
 justice and dealt with as justice directs. But for 
 individuals, or groups of individuals to take such 
 punishment into their own hands is to inflict the 
 greatest damage in their power, not on the person 
 they attack, but on the cause they seek to serve. 
 
 Why? 
 
 In the first case, they destroy sympathy for their 
 cause. The conscience of the world revolts at the 
 idea of the individual or the irresponsible group of 
 individuals taking to themselves the right of in- 
 flicting death at their will. 
 
 Next, they strengthen the cause they attack. 
 They place themselves on or below the level of the 
 men they seek to punish. 
 
 A third reason is that the assassins in many cases 
 reach the wrong man. They do not know, and 
 cannot know, because they have had no full oppor- 
 tunity of learning, what the other has had to say 
 for himself. Too often, in trying to slay their vic- 
 tim, they injure others who have nothing to do 
 with the business. 
 
 To attack one's victim without giving him an op- 
 portunity for defence is essentially a cowardly 
 
174 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 thing. Assassination — I prefer to give it its sim- 
 pler name, murder — is wrong, whatever the sup- 
 posed excuse, fundamentally wrong, wrong in 
 principle, fatal in its outcome for those who adopt 
 it. Have nothing to do with it. 
 
 The murder of Prince Ito was a cruel blow for 
 Korea. It was followed by an attempt to assas- 
 sinate the Korean Premier, the man who had 
 handed his country over to Japan. For some time 
 the military party in Japan had been clamouring 
 for a more severe policy in the Peninsula. Now it 
 was to have its way. General Count Terauchi was 
 appointed Resident-General. 
 
 Count Terauchi was leader of the military party 
 in Korea, and an avowed exponent of the policy of 
 " thorough." A soldier from his youth up, he had 
 risen to the General Staff, and in 1904 was Min- 
 ister of War in the fight against Russia, earning 
 his Viscountcy for brilliant services. Strong, re- 
 lentless, able, he could only see one thing — Japan 
 and the glory of Japan. He regarded the Koreans 
 as a people to be absorbed or to be eliminated. He 
 was generally regarded as unsympathetic to Chris- 
 tianity, and many of the Koreans were now Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 Terauchi came to Seoul in the summer of 1910, 
 to reverse the policy of his predecessors. He was 
 going to stamp the last traces of nationality out of 
 existence. Where Ito had been soft, he would be 
 hard as chilled steel. Where Ito had beaten men 
 with whips, he would beat them with scorpions. 
 
THE LAST DAYS OF THE KOEEAN EMPIEE 175 
 
 Every one knew ahead what was coming. The 
 usual plan was followed. First, the official and 
 semi-official plan was followed. The Seoul Press, 
 now the lickspittle of the great man, gave good 
 value for the subsidy it receives. It came out with 
 an article hard to surpass for brutality and hypoc- 
 risy : — 
 
 " The present requires the wielding of an iron hand 
 rather than a gloved one in order to secure lasting peace 
 and order in this country! There is no lack of evidence 
 to show an intense dissatisfaction against the new state 
 of things is fermenting at present among a section of the 
 Koreans. It is possible that if left unchecked, it may 
 culminate in some shocking crime. Now after carefully 
 studying the cause and nature of the dissatisfaction just 
 referred to, we find that it is both foolish and unrea- 
 sonable. . . - HjTVLX^ v 
 
 " Japan is in this country with the object of promoting 
 the happiness of the masses.' She has not come to Korea 
 to please a few hundred silly youngsters or to feed a 
 few hundred titled loafers. It is no fault of hers that 
 these men are dissatisfied because of their failure to satisfy 
 them. . . . She must be prepared to sacrifice anybody 
 who offers obstacles to her work. Japan has hitherto 
 dealt with Korean malcontents in a lenient way. She has 
 learned from experience gained during the past five years 
 that there are some persons who cannot be converted by 
 conciliatory methods. There is but one way to deal with 
 these people, and that is by stern and relentless methods." 
 
 The Japan Mail, as usual, echoed the same senti- 
 ments from Yokohama. " The policy of concilia- 
 tion is all very well in the hands of such a states- 
 man as the late Prince Ito," it declared. "But 
 failing a successor to Prince Ito, more ordinary 
 
176 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 methods will be found safer as well as more effi- 
 cacious." 
 
 Viscount Terauchi settled in the capital, and it 
 was as though a chill had passed over the city. He 
 said little, in public. Callers, high and low, found 
 him stern and distant. " He has other things to 
 think of than pleasant words," awed Secretaries re- 
 peated. Things suddenly began to happen. Four 
 Japanese papers were suspended in a night. An 
 item in their columns was objectionable. Let 
 others be very careful. The police system was re- 
 versed. The gendarmerie were to be brought back 
 again in full force. Every day brought its tale of 
 arrests. Fifteen students were arrested this morn- 
 ing; the old Korean President of the Railway 
 Board had been hurried to prison; the office of a 
 paper in Pyeng-yang had been raided. It was as 
 though the new Governor-General had deliberately 
 set himself to spread a feeling of terror. 
 
 The Korean must not so much as look awry now. 
 Police and gendarmes were everywhere. Spies 
 seemed to catch men's thoughts. More troops 
 were coming in. Surely something was about to 
 happen. 
 
 Yet there were some smiling. They were called 
 to the Residency-General to hear good news. This 
 man was to be made a peer; he had served Japan 
 well. This man, if he and his kin were good, was 
 to be suitably rewarded. Bribes for the com- 
 plaisant, prison for the obstinate. 
 
 Men guessed what was coming. There were 
 
THE LAST DAYS OF THE KOREAN EMPIRE 177 
 
 mutterings, especially among the students. But 
 the student who spoke bravely, even behind closed 
 doors to-day, found himself in jail by evening. 
 The very walls seemed to have ears. 
 
 Then it was remarked that the Ministers of State 
 had not been seen for some days. They had shut 
 themselves in, refusing to see all callers. They 
 feared assassination, for they had sold their coun- 
 try. Policemen and troops were waiting within 
 easy calls from their homes, lest mobs should try 
 to burn them out, like rats out of their holes. 
 
 And then the news came. Korea had ceased to 
 exist as an even nominally independent or separate 
 country. Japan had swallowed it up. The Em- 
 peror — poor fool — was to step off his throne. After 
 four thousand years, there was to be no more a 
 throne of Korea. The Resident-General would 
 now be Governor-General. The name of the na- 
 tion was to be wiped out — henceforth it was to be 
 Chosen, a province of Japan. Its people were to be 
 remade into a lesser kind of Japanese, and the more 
 adept they were in making the change, the less they 
 would suffer. They were to have certain benefits. 
 To mark the auspicious occasion there would be an 
 amnesty — but a man who had tried to kill the 
 traitor Premier would not be in it. Five per cent 
 of taxes and all unpaid fiscal dues would be re- 
 mitted. Let the people rejoice! 
 
 The Japanese expected an uprising, and were all 
 ready for one. " Every man should be ready to 
 fight and die in the cause of his nation's independ- 
 
178 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 ence," they said tauntingly to the Koreans. But 
 the people's leaders kept them in. Up on the hills, 
 the Righteous Army was still struggling. The 
 people must wait for better times. 
 
 One man stuck a proclamation on the West Gate, 
 threatening death to the traitors. Man after man, 
 scholars, old soldiers, men who loved Korea, com- 
 mitted suicide, after telling of their grief. " Why 
 should we live when our land is dead? " they asked. 
 
 The Japanese sneered because the people did 
 nothing. " We may assume, indeed, that all fear 
 of a national uprising is now past," declared a semi- 
 Government organ. " The nation obviously has 
 no leaders competent to execute and direct a cru- 
 sade in the cause of independence. Whether that 
 lack is due to adroit management on the part of the 
 Japanese or to unpatriotic apathy on the part of the 
 Koreans we cannot pretend to judge." 
 
 The Japanese decree announcing the annexation 
 of the country was in itself an acknowledgment that 
 the Japanese administration so far had been a fail- 
 ure. Here is the opening paragraph : — 
 
 "Notwithstanding the earnest and laborious work of 
 reforms in the administration of Korea in which the 
 Governments of Japan and Korea have been engaged for 
 more than four years since the conclusion of the Agree- 
 ment of 1905, the existing system of government of that 
 country has not proved entirely equal to the work of 
 preserving public order and tranquillity, and in addition 
 a spirit of suspicion and misgiving pervades the whole 
 peninsula. 
 
 " In order to maintain peace and prosperity and the wel- 
 
THE LAST DAYS OF THE KOKEAN EMPIEE 179 
 
 fare of the Koreans and at the same time to ensure the 
 safety and repose of foreign residents, it has been made 
 abundantly clear that fundamental changes in the actual 
 regime of government are actually essential." 
 
 The declaration announced various changes. It 
 abrogated all Korean foreign treaties, and brought 
 the subjects of foreign nations living in Korea un- 
 der Japanese law. In other words, extra-terri- 
 toriality was abolished. The Government agreed 
 to maintain the old Korean tariff for ten years both 
 for goods coming in from Japan and abroad. This 
 was a concession to foreign importers whose trade 
 otherwise would have been swamped. It also al- 
 lowed ships under foreign registers to engage in 
 the Korean coasting trade for ten years more. 
 
 The annexation was put in the form of a treaty 
 between the Emperors of Japan and Korea, as 
 though the surrender of their land had been the act 
 of the Koreans themselves, or their ruler. 
 
 His Majesty the Emperor of Japan and His Majesty 
 the Emperor of Korea having in view the special and 
 close relations between their respective countries and to 
 ensure peace in the Extreme East, and being convinced 
 that these objects can best be attained by the annexation 
 of Korea to the Empire of Japan have resolved to con- 
 clude a Treaty of such annexation and have for that 
 purpose appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say, 
 His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, Viscount Mas- 
 
 kata Terauchi, His Resident General. 
 And His Majesty the Emperor of Korea, Ye Wan 
 Yong, His Minister President of State, 
 Who, upon mutual conference and deliberation, have 
 agreed to the following articles. 
 
180 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 Article i. His Majesty the Emperor of Korea makes 
 complete and permanent cession to His Majesty the Em- 
 peror of Japan of all rights of sovereignty over the whole 
 of Korea. 
 
 Article 2. His Majesty the Emperor of Japan accepts ' 
 the cession mentioned in the preceding Article, and con- 
 sents to the complete annexation of Korea to the Empire 
 of Japan. 
 
 Article 3. His Majesty the Emperor of Japan will 
 accord to their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of 
 Korea and His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince of 
 Korea, and Their Consorts and Heirs such titles, dignity 
 and honour as are appropriate to their respective rank 
 and sufficient annual grants will be made for the main- 
 tenance of such titles, dignity and honour. 
 
 Article 4. His Majesty the Emperor of Japan will 
 also accord appropriate honour and treatment to the 
 members of the Imperial House of Korea and their heirs, 
 other than those mentioned in the preceding Article and 
 the funds necessary for the maintenance of such honour 
 and treatment will be granted. 
 
 Article 5. His Majesty the Emperor of Japan will 
 confer peerages and monetary grants upon those Koreans 
 who, on account of meritorious services, are regarded as 
 deserving of such special treatment. 
 
 Article 6. In consequence of the aforesaid annexation, 
 the Government of Japan assumes the entire government 
 and administration of Korea, and undertakes to afford 
 full protection for the property and person of Koreans, 
 obeying the laws then in force, and to promote the wel- 
 fare of all such Koreans. 
 
 Article 7. The Government of Japan will, so far as 
 circumstances permit, employ in the public service of 
 Japan in Korea those Koreans who accept the new regime 
 of Japan loyally and in good faith, and who are duly 
 qualified for such service. 
 
 Article 8. This Treaty, having been approved by His 
 Majesty the Emperor of Japan and His Majesty the Em- 
 peror of Korea shall take effect from the day of its 
 promulgation. 
 
THE LAST DAYS OF THE KOREAN EMPIRE 181 
 
 Some defenders of Japan have wasted much ef- 
 fort in attempting to show that in destroying the 
 Korean Empire Japan did not break her word, al- 
 though she had repeatedly pledged herself to main- 
 tain and preserve the nation and the Royal House. 
 Such arguments, under the circumstances, are 
 merely nauseating. Japan wanted Korea; so soon 
 as she was able, Japan took it. The only justifica- 
 tion was 
 
 "The good old rule . . . the simple plan, 
 That he shall take who has the power, 
 That he shall keep, who can." 
 
XI 
 " I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCORPIONS " 
 
 THE Japanese administration of Korea from 
 1910 to 1919, first under Count Terauchi 
 and then under General Hasegawa, re- 
 vealed the harshest and most relentless form of 
 Imperial administration. When formal annexation 
 was completed in 1910 all the hindrances which had 
 hitherto stood in the way of the complete execution 
 of Japanese methods were apparently swept on one 
 side. The Governor-General had absolute power 
 to pass what ordinances he pleased, and even to 
 make those ordinances retroactive. Extra-terri- 
 toriality was abolished, and foreign subjects in 
 Korea were placed entirely under the Japanese 
 laws. 
 
 Japanese statesmen were ambitious to show the 
 world as admirable an example of efficiency in 
 peace as Japan had already shown in war. Much 
 thought had been given to the matter for a long 
 time ahead. The colonial systems of other coun- 
 tries had been carefully studied. Service in Korea 
 was to be a mark of distinction, reserved for the 
 best and most highly paid. National pride and 
 national interest were pledged to make good. 
 Money was spent freely and some of the greatest 
 
 182 
 
"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCORPIONS" 183 
 
 statesmen and soldiers of Japan were placed at the 
 head of affairs. Ito, by becoming Resident-Gen- 
 eral, had set an example for the best of the nation 
 to follow. 
 
 Between the annexation in 1910 and the uprising 
 of the people in 1919, much material progress was 
 made. The old, effete administration was cleared 
 away, sound currency maintained, railways were 
 greatly extended, roads improved, afforestation 
 pushed forward on a great scale, agriculture de- 
 veloped, sanitation improved and fresh industries 
 begun. 
 
 And yet this period of the Japanese administra- 
 tion in Korea ranks among the greatest failures of 
 history, a failure greater than that of Russia in 
 Finland or Poland or Austria-Hungary in Bosnia. 
 America in Cuba and Japan in Korea stand out as 
 the best and the worst examples in governing new 
 subject peoples that the twentieth century has to 
 show. The Japanese entered on their great task 
 in a wrong spirit, they were hampered by funda- 
 mentally mistaken ideas, and they proved that they 
 are not yet big enough for the job. 
 
 They began with a spirit of contempt for the 
 Korean. Good administration is impossible with- 
 out sympathy on the part of the administrators; 
 with a blind and foolish contempt, sympathy is im- 
 possible. They started out to assimilate . the 
 Koreans, to destroy their national ideals, to root 
 out their ancient ways, to make them over again as 
 Japanese, but Japanese of an inferior brand, sub- 
 
184 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 ject to disabilities from which their overlords were 
 free. Assimilation with equality is difficult, save in 
 the case of small, weak peoples, lacking tradition 
 and national ideals. But assimilation with in- 
 feriority, attempted on a nation with a historic ex- 
 istence going back four thousand years is an abso- 
 lutely impossible task. Or, to be more exact, it 
 would only be possible by assimilating a few, the 
 weaklings of the nation, and destroying the strong 
 majority by persecution, direct killing and a steady 
 course of active corruption, with drugs and vice. 
 
 The Japanese overestimated their own capacity 
 and underestimated the Korean. They had care- 
 fully organized their claque in Europe and America, 
 especially in America. They engaged the services 
 of a group of paid agents — some of them holding 
 highly responsible positions — to sing their praises 
 and advocate their cause. They enlisted others by 
 more subtle means, delicate flattery and social am- 
 bition. They taught diplomats and consular of- 
 ficials, especially of Great Britain and America, that 
 it was a bad thing to become a persona non grata to 
 Tokyo. They were backed by a number of people, 
 who were sincerely won over by the finer sides of 
 the Japanese character. In diplomatic and social in- 
 trigue, the Japanese make the rest of the world 
 look as children. They used their forces not 
 merely to laud themselves, but to promote the be- 
 lief that the Koreans were an exhausted and good- 
 for-nothing race. 
 
 In the end, they made the fatal mistake of believ- 
 
"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCOKPIONS" 185 
 
 ing what their sycophants and flatterers told them. 
 Japanese civilization was the highest in the world ; 
 Japan was to be the future leader, not alone of 
 Asia, but of all nations. The Korean was fit for 
 nothing but to act as hewer of wood and drawer of 
 water for his overlord. 
 
 Had Japan been wise and long-sighted enough 
 to treat the Koreans as America treated the Cubans 
 or England the people of the Straits Settlements, 
 there would have been a real amalgamation — al- 
 though not an assimilation — of the two peoples. 
 The Koreans were wearied of the extravagances, 
 abuses and follies of their old administration. But 
 Japan in place of putting Korean interests first 
 ruled the land for the benefit of Japan. The Japa- 
 nese exploiter, the Japanese settler were the main 
 men to be studied. 
 
 Then Japan sought to make the land a show 
 place. Elaborate public buildings were erected, 
 railroads opened, state maintained, far in excess of 
 the economic strength of the nation. To pay for 
 extravagant improvements, taxation and personal 
 service were made to bear heavily on the people. 
 Many of the improvements were of no possible 
 service to the Koreans themselves. They were 
 made to benefit Japanese or to impress strangers. 
 And the officials forgot that even subject peoples 
 have ideals and souls. They sought to force 
 loyalty, to beat it into children with the stick and 
 drill it into men by gruelling experiences in prison 
 cells. Then they were amazed that they had bred 
 
186 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 rebels. They sought to wipe out Korean culture, 
 and then were aggrieved because Koreans would 
 not take kindly to Japanese learning. They treated 
 the Koreans with open contempt, and then won- 
 dered that they did not love them. 
 
 Let us examine the administration more closely 
 in detail. 
 
 Its outstanding feature for most of the people 
 is (I use the present tense because as I write it 
 still continues) the gendarmerie and police. These 
 are established all over the country, and they have 
 in effect, although not in name, power of life or 
 death. They can enter into any house, without 
 warrant, and search it. They destroy whatever 
 they please, on the spot. Thus if a policeman 
 searches the room of a student, and sees a book 
 which does not please him, he can — and does — 
 often burn it on the spot. Sometimes he takes it 
 into the street and burns it there, to impress the 
 neighbours. 
 
 One of the police visits most feared by many 
 villagers is the periodical examinations to see if the 
 houses are clean. If the policemen are not satis- 
 fied, they do not trouble to take the people to the 
 station, but give them a flogging then and there. 
 This house examination is frequently used by po- 
 lice in districts where they wish to punish the 
 Christians, or to prevent their neighbours from be- 
 coming Christians. The Christian houses are vis- 
 ited and the Christians flogged, sometimes without 
 even troubling to examine the houses at all. This 
 
"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCOKPIOtfS »~187 
 
 method particularly prevails in parts of the Pyeng- 
 yang province. 
 
 The police can arrest and search or detain any 
 person, without warrant. This right of search is 
 freely used on foreigners as well as Koreans. Any 
 Korean taken to the police station can, in practice, 
 be kept in custody as long as wanted, without trial, 
 and then can be released without trial, or can be 
 summarily punished without trial by the police. 
 
 The usual punishment is flogging — only Koreans 
 and not Japanese or foreigners are liable to be 
 flogged. This punishment can be given in such a 
 way as to cripple, to confine the victim to his home 
 for weeks, or to kill. While it is not supposed to 
 be practiced on women, on men over sixty-five or 
 on boys under fifteen, the police flog indiscrimi- 
 nately. 
 
 The Japanese Government passed, some years 
 ago, regulations to prevent the abuse of flogging. 
 These regulations are a dead letter. Here is the 
 official statement: 
 
 " It was decided to retain it (flogging), but only 
 for application to native offenders. In March, 
 1912, Regulations concerning Flogging and the En- 
 forcing Detailed Regulations being promulgated, 
 many improvements were made in the measures 
 hitherto practiced. Women, boys under the age of 
 fifteen and old men over the age of sixty are ex- 
 empt from flogging, while the infliction of this pun- 
 ishment on sick convicts and on the insane is to be 
 postponed for six months. The method of inflic- 
 
188 KOKEA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 tion was also improved so that by observing 
 greater humanity, unnecessary pain in carrying out 
 a flogging could be avoided, as far as possible." ■ 
 
 So much for the official claim. Now for the facts. 
 
 In the last year for which returns are available, 
 1916-17, 82,121 offenders were handled by police 
 summary judgment, that is, punished by the police 
 on the spot, without trial. Two-thirds of these 
 punishments (in the last year when actual flogging 
 figures were published) were floggings. 
 
 The instrument used is two bamboos lashed to- 
 gether. The maximum legal sentence is ninety 
 blows, thirty a day for three days in succession. 
 To talk of this as " greater humanity " or " avoid- 
 ing unnecessary pain " gives me nausea. Any ex- 
 perienced official who has had to do with such 
 things will bear me out in the assertion that it is 
 deliberately calculated to inflict the maximum of 
 pain which the human frame can stand, and in the 
 most long drawn out manner. 
 
 Sick men, women and boys and old men are 
 flogged. 
 
 In the disturbances of 1919 wounded men who 
 were being nursed in the foreign hospitals in Seoul 
 were taken out by the police to be flogged, despite 
 the protests of doctors and nurses. There were 
 many cases reported of old men being flogged. 
 The stripping and flogging of women, particularly 
 young women, was notorious. 
 
 'Annual Report of Reforms and Progress in Chosen. Keijo 
 (Seoul), 1914. 
 
"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCORPIONS" 189 
 
 Here is one case of the flogging of boys. 
 
 The following letter from a missionary in Sun- 
 chon — where there is a Presbyterian hospital, — 
 dated May 25, 1919, was printed in the report of 
 the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in 
 America. I have seen other communications from 
 people who saw these boys, amply confirming the 
 letter, if it requires confirmation. 
 
 Eleven Kangkei boys came here from . All 
 
 the eleven were beaten ninety stripes — thirty each day 
 for three days, May 16, ij and 18, and let out May i8th. 
 Nine came here May 22nd, and two more May 24th. 
 
 Tak Chan-kuk died about noon, May 23rd. 
 
 Kim Myungha died this evening. 
 
 Kim Hyungsun is very sick. 
 
 Kim Chungsun and Song Taksam are able to walk but 
 are badly broken. 
 
 Kim Oosik seemed very doubtful but afterwards im- 
 proved. 
 
 Choi Tungwon, Kim Changook, Kim Sungkil, and Ko 
 Pongsu are able to be about, though the two have 
 broken flesh. 
 
 Kim Syungha rode from on his bicycle and 
 
 reached here about an hour before his brother died. The 
 first six who came into the hospital were in a dreadful 
 fix, four days after the beating. No dressing or anything 
 had been done for them. Dr. Sharrocks just told me 
 that he feels doubtful about some of the others since 
 Myungha died. It is gangrene. One of these boys is a 
 Chun Kyoin, and another is not a Christian, but the 
 rest are all Christians. 
 
 Mr. Lampe has photographs. The stripes were laid 
 on to the buttocks and the flesh pounded into a pulp. 
 
 Greater humanity! Avoiding unnecessary pain! 
 It is obvious that the method of police abso- 
 
190 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 lutism is open to very great abuse. In practice it 
 works out as galling tyranny. A quotation from 
 the Japan Chronicle illustrates one of the abuses : 
 
 " In the course of interpellations put forward by a 
 certain member in the last session of the Diet, he re- 
 marked on the strength of a statement made by a public 
 procurator of high rank in Korea, that it was usual for 
 a gendarme who visits a Korean house for the purpose 
 of searching for a criminal to violate any female inmate 
 of the house and to take away any article that suits his 
 fancy. And not only had the wronged Koreans no means 
 of obtaining redress for this outrageous conduct, but the 
 judicial authorities could take no proceedings against the 
 offender as they must necessarily depend upon the gen- 
 darmerie for acceptable evidence of crime." 
 
 The police tyranny does not end with flogging. 
 When a person is arrested, he is at once shut off 
 from communication with his friends. He is not, 
 necessarily, informed of the charge against him ; his 
 friends are not informed. He is not in the early 
 stages allowed counsel. All that his friends know 
 is that he has disappeared in the grip of the police, 
 and he may remain out of sight or sound for 
 months before being brought to trial or released. 
 
 During this period of confinement the prisoner is 
 first in the hands of the police who are getting up 
 the case against him. It is their work to extract a 
 confession. To obtain this they practice torture, 
 often of the most elaborate type. This is particu- 
 larly true where the prisoners are charged with 
 political offences. I deal with this aspect of affairs 
 
"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCOKPIONS" 191 
 
 more in detail in later chapters, so that there is no 
 need of me to bring proof at this point. 
 
 After the police have completed their case, the 
 prisoner is brought before the procurator, whose 
 office would, if rightly used, be a check on the 
 police. But in many cases the police act as procu- 
 rators in Korea, and in others the procurators and 
 police work hand in hand. 
 
 When the prisoner is brought before the court he 
 has little of the usual protection afforded in a Brit- 
 ish or American Court. It is for him to prove his 
 innocence of the charge. His judge is the nominee 
 of the Government-General and is its tool, who 
 practically does what the Government-General tells 
 him. The complaint of the most sober and experi- 
 enced friends of the Koreans is that they cannot 
 obtain justice unless it is deemed expedient by the 
 authorities to give them justice. 
 
 Under this system crime has enormously in- 
 creased. The police create it. The best evidence 
 of this is contained in the official figures. In the 
 autumn of 1912 Count Terauchi stated, in answer 
 to the report that thousands of Korean Christians 
 had been confined in jail, that he had caused en- 
 quiry to be made and there were only 287 Koreans 
 confined in the various jails of the country (New 
 York Sun, October 3, 1912). The Count's fig- 
 ures were almost certainly incorrect, or else the 
 police released all the prisoners on the day the 
 reckoning was taken, except the necessary few kept 
 for effect. The actual number of convicts in Korea 
 
192 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 in 1912 was close on twelve thousand, according to 
 the official details published later. If they were 
 true they make the contrast with later years the 
 more amazing. 
 
 The increase of arrests and convictions is shown 
 in the following official return. 
 
 
 Number of Koreans Imprisoned 
 
 
 Convicts 
 
 Awaiting trial 
 
 Total 
 
 1911 
 
 7,342 
 
 9,465 
 
 16,807 
 
 1912 
 
 9,652 
 
 9,842 
 
 19,494 
 
 1913 
 
 11,652 
 
 10,194 
 
 21,846 
 
 1914 
 
 12,962 
 
 11,472 
 
 24,434 
 
 1915 
 
 14,411 
 
 12,844 
 
 27,255 
 
 1916 
 
 17,577 
 
 15,259 
 
 32,836 
 
 Individual liberty is non-existent. The life of 
 the Korean is regulated down to the smallest detail. 
 If he is rich, he is generally required to have a 
 Japanese steward who will supervise his expendi- 
 ture. If he has money in the bank, he can only 
 draw a small sum out at a time, unless he gives 
 explanation why he needs it. 
 
 He has not the right of free meeting, free speech 
 or a free press. Before a paper or book can be 
 published it has to pass the censor. This censor- 
 ship is carried to an absurd degree. It starts with 
 school books; it goes on to every word a man may 
 write or speak. It applies to the foreigners as well 
 as Koreans. The very commencement day 
 speeches of school children are censored. The 
 Japanese journalist in Korea who dares to criticize 
 the administration is sent to prison almost as 
 
"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCOKPIONS" 193 
 
 quickly as the Korean. Japanese newspaper men 
 have found it intolerable and have gone back to 
 Japan, refusing to work under it. There is only 
 one newspaper now published in Korea in the 
 Korean language, and it is edited by a Japanese. 
 An American missionary published a magazine, 
 and attempted to include in it a few mild comments 
 on current events. He was sternly bidden not to 
 attempt it again. Old books published before the 
 Japanese acquired control have been freely des- 
 troyed. Thus a large number of school books — 
 not in the least partizan — prepared by Professor 
 Hulbert were destroyed. 
 
 The most ludicrous example of censorship gone 
 mad was experienced by Dr. Gale, one of the oldest, 
 most learned and most esteemed of the mission- 
 aries in Korea. Dr. Gale is a British subject. For 
 a long time he championed the Japanese cause, 
 until the Japanese destroyed his confidence by their 
 brutalities in 1919. But the fact that Dr. Gale was 
 their most influential friend did not check the Japa- 
 nese censors. On one occasion Dr. Gale learned 
 that some Korean " Readers " prepared by him for 
 use in schools had been condemned. He enquired 
 the reason. The Censor replied that the book 
 " contained dangerous thoughts." Still more puz- 
 zled, the doctor politely enquired if the Censor 
 would show the passages containing " dangerous 
 thoughts." The Censor thereupon pointed out a 
 translation of Kipling's famous story of the ele- 
 phant, which had been included in the book. " In 
 
194 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 that story," said he ominously, " the elephant re- 
 fused to serve his second master." What could be 
 more obvious that Dr. Gale was attempting to 
 teach Korean children, in this subtle fashion, to 
 refuse to serve their second master, the Japanese 
 Emperor! 
 
 For a Korean to be a journalist has been for him 
 to be a marked man liable to constant arrest, not 
 for what he did or does, but for what the police 
 suppose he may do or might have done. The 
 natural result of this has been to drive Koreans 
 out of regular journalism, and to lead to the crea- 
 tion of a secret press. 
 
 The next great group of grievances of Koreans 
 come under the head of Exploitation. From the 
 beginning the Japanese plan has been to take as 
 much land as possible from the Koreans and hand 
 it over to Japanese. Every possible trick has been 
 used to accomplish this. In the early days of the 
 Japanese occupation, the favourite plan was to 
 seize large tracts of land on the plea that they were 
 needed for the Army or Navy; to pay a pittance for 
 them; and then to pass considerable portions of 
 them on to Japanese. " There can be no ques- 
 tion," admitted Mr. W. D. Stevens, the American 
 member and supporter of Prince Ito's administra- 
 tion, " that at the outset the military authorities in 
 Korea did intimate an intention of taking more 
 land for their uses than seemed reasonable." 
 
 The first attempt of the Japanese to grab in 
 wholesale fashion the public lands of Korea, under 
 
"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCORPIONS » 195 
 
 the so-called Nagamori scheme, aroused so much 
 indignation that it was withdrawn. Then they set 
 about accomplishing the same end in other ways. 
 Much of the land of Korea was public land, held by 
 tenants from time immemorial under a loose sys- 
 tem of tenancy. This was taken over by the Gov- 
 ernment-General. All leases were examined, and 
 people called on to show their rights to hold their 
 property. This worked to the same end. 
 
 The Oriental Development Company was 
 formed for the primary purpose of developing 
 Korea by Japanese and settling Japanese on Ko- 
 rean land, Japanese immigrants being given free 
 transportation, land for settlement, implements and 
 other assistance. This company is an immense 
 semi-official trust of big financial interests in direct 
 cooperation with the Government, and is supported, 
 by an official subsidy of £50,000 a year. Working 
 parallel to it is the Bank of Chosen, the semi-official 
 banking institution which has been placed supreme 
 and omnipotent in Korean finance. 
 
 How this works was explained by a writer in the 
 New York Times (January 29, 1919). "These 
 people declined to part with their heritage. It was 
 here that the power of the Japanese Government 
 was felt in a manner altogether Asiatic. . . . 
 Through its branches this powerful financial insti- 
 tution . . . called in all the specie in the coun- 
 try, thus making, as far as circulating medium is 
 concerned, the land practically valueless. In order 
 to pay taxes and to obtain the necessaries of life, 
 
196 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOB FBEEDOM 
 
 the Korean must have cash, and in order to obtain 
 it, he must sell his land. Land values fell very rap- 
 idly, and in some instances land was purchased by 
 the agents of the Bank of Chosen for one-fifth of 
 its former valuation." There may be some dispute 
 about the methods employed. There can be no 
 doubt about the result. One-fifth of the richest 
 land in Korea is to-day in Japanese hands. 
 
 Allied to this system of land exploitation comes 
 the Corvee, or forced labour exacted from the 
 country people for road making. In moderation 
 this might be unobjectionable. As enforced by the 
 Japanese authorities, it has been an appalling bur- 
 den. The Japanese determined to have a system 
 of fine roads. They have built them — by the 
 Corvee. 
 
 The most convincing evidence for outsiders on 
 this land exploitation and on the harshness of the 
 Corvee comes from Japanese sources. Dr. Yo- 
 shino, a professor of the Imperial University of 
 Tokyo, salaried out of the Government Treasury, 
 made a special study of Korea. He wrote in the 
 Taschiw-Koron of Tokyo, that the Koreans have 
 no objection to the construction of good roads, 
 but that the official way of carrying out the 
 work is tyrannical. " Without consideration and 
 mercilessly, they have resorted to laws for the ex- 
 propriation of land, the Koreans concerned being 
 compelled to part with their family property almost 
 for nothing. On many occasions they have also 
 been forced to work in the construction of roads 
 
"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCORPIONS" 197 
 
 without receiving any wages. To make matters 
 worse, they must work for nothing only on the days 
 which are convenient to the officials, however in- 
 convenient these days may be to the unpaid 
 workers." The result has generally been that 
 while the roads were being built for the convenient 
 march of the Japanese troops to suppress the 
 builders of the roads, many families were bank- 
 rupted and starving. 
 
 " The Japanese make improvements," say the 
 Koreans. " But they make them to benefit their 
 own people, not us. They improve agriculture, 
 and turn the Korean farmers out and replace them 
 by Japanese. They pave and put sidewalks in a 
 Seoul street, but the old Korean shopkeepers in 
 that street have gone, and Japanese have come. 
 They encourage commerce, Japanese commerce, 
 but the Korean tradesman is hampered and tied 
 down in many ways." Education has been wholly 
 Japanized. That is to say the primary purpose of 
 the schools is to teach Korean children to be good 
 Japanese subjects. Teaching is mostly done in 
 Japanese, by Japanese teachers. The whole ritual 
 and routine is towards the glorification of Japan. 
 
 The Koreans complain, however, that, apart 
 from this, the system of teaching established for 
 Koreans in Korea is inferior to that established for 
 Japanese there. Japanese and Korean children are 
 taught in separate schools. The course of educa- 
 tion for Koreans is four years, for Japanese six. 
 The number of schools provided for Japanese is 
 
198 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 proportionately very much larger than for Koreans, 
 and a much larger sum of money is spent on them. 
 The Japanese may however claim, with some jus- 
 tice, that they are in the early days of the develop- 
 ment of Korean education, and they must be given 
 more time to develop it. Koreans bitterly complain 
 of the ignoring of Korean history in the public 
 schools, and the systematic efforts to destroy old 
 sentiments. These efforts, however, have been 
 markedly unsuccessful, and the Government school 
 students were even more active than mission school 
 students in the Independence movement. 
 
 It was a Japanese journalist who published the 
 case of the Principal of a Public School for girls 
 who roused the indignation of the girls under him 
 during a lecture on Ethics with the syllogism, 
 " Savages are healthy; Koreans are healthy; there- 
 fore Koreans are savages." Other teachers roused 
 their young pupils to fury, after the death of the 
 ex-Emperor, by employing openly of him the 
 phrase which ordinarily indicates a low-class coolie. 
 In the East, where honorifics and exact designa- 
 tions count for much, no greater insults could be 
 imagined. 
 
 The greatest hardships of the regime of the 
 Government-General have been the denial of jus- 
 tice, the destruction of liberty, the shutting out of 
 the people from all real participation in administra- 
 tion, the lofty assumption and display of a spirit 
 of insolent superiority by the Japanese, and the 
 deliberate degradation of the people by the cultiva- 
 
" I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCOKPIONS " 199 
 
 tion of vice for the purpose of personal profit. In 
 the old days, opium was practically unknown. To- 
 day opium is being cultivated on a large scale under 
 the direct encouragement of the Government, and 
 the sale of morphia is carried on by large numbers 
 of Japanese itinerant merchants. In the old days, 
 vice hid its head. To-day the most prominent fea- 
 ture at night-time in Seoul, the capital, is the bril- 
 liantly lit Yoshiwara, officially created and run by 
 Japanese, into which many Korean girls are 
 dragged. Quarters of ill fame have been built up 
 in many parts of the land, and Japanese panders 
 take their gangs of diseased women on tours 
 through smaller districts. On one occasion when 
 I visited Sun-chon I found that the authorities had 
 ordered some of the Christians to find accommoda- 
 tion in their homes for Japanese women of ill fame. 
 Some Koreans in China sent a petition to the 
 American Minister in Peking which dealt with 
 some moral aspects of the Japanese rule of Korea. 
 They said : 
 
 "The Japanese have encouraged immorality by re- 
 moving Korean marriage restrictions, and allowing mar- 
 riages without formality and without regard for age. 
 There have been marriages at as early an age as twelve. 
 Since the annexation there have been 80,000 divorce cases 
 in Korea. The Japanese encourage, as a source of reve- 
 nue, the sale of Korean prostitutes in Chinese cities. 
 Many of these prostitutes are only fourteen and fifteen 
 years old. It is a part of the Japanese policy of race ex- 
 termination, by which they hope to destroy all Koreans. 
 May God regard these facts. 
 
 ■ The Japanese Government has established a bureau 
 
200 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 for the sale of opium, and under the pretext that opium 
 was to be used for medicinal purposes has caused Ko- 
 reans and Formosans to engage in poppy cultivation. 
 The opium is secretly shipped into China. Because of 
 the Japanese encouragement of this traffic many Koreans 
 have become users of the drug. 
 
 " The Japanese forbid any school courses for Koreans 
 higher than the middle school and the higher schools es- 
 tablished by missionary organizations are severely regu- 
 lated. The civilization of the Far East originated in 
 China, and was brought first to Korea and thence to 
 Japan. The ancient books were more numerous in 
 Korea than in Japan, but after annexation the Japanese 
 set about destroying these books, so that Koreans should 
 not be able to learn them. This ' burning of the books 
 and murder of the literati ' was for the purpose of de- 
 basing the Koreans and robbing them of their ancient 
 culture. . . . 
 
 "How can our race avoid extermination? Even if 
 the Government of Japan were benevolent, how could 
 the Japanese understand the aches and pains of another 
 race of people? With her evil Government can there be 
 anything but racial extermination for us ? " 
 
 From the time of the reopening of Korea the 
 Japanese have treated the Koreans in personal in- 
 tercourse as the dust beneath their feet, or as one 
 might imagine a crude and vixenish tempered 
 woman of peasant birth whose husband had ac- 
 quired great wealth by some freak of fortune treat- 
 ing an unfortunate poor gentlewoman who had 
 come in her employment. This was bad enough 
 in the old days; since the Japanese acquired full 
 power in Korea it has become infinitely worse. 
 
 The Japanese coolie punches the Korean who 
 chances to stand in his august path. The Japanese 
 
"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCOBPIONS" 201 
 
 woman, wife of a little trader, spits out the one 
 contemptuous sentence she has learned in the Ko- 
 rean tongue, when a Korean man draws near on 
 the boat or on the train. The little official assumes 
 an air of ineffable disdain and contempt. A mem- 
 ber of the Japanese Diet was reported in the Japa- 
 nese press to have said that in Korea the Japanese 
 gendarmes were in the habit of exacting from the 
 Korean school children the amount of deference 
 which in Japan would be proper to the Imperial 
 Household. 
 
 The lowest Japanese coolie practices the right to 
 kick, beat and cuff a Korean of high birth at his 
 pleasure, and the Korean has in effect no redress. 
 Had the Koreans from the first have met blow with 
 blow, a number of them no doubt would have died, 
 but the Japanese would have been cured of the 
 habit. The Korean dislike of fighting, until he has 
 really some serious reason for a fight, has encour- 
 aged the Japanese bully; but it makes the bully's 
 offence none the less. 
 
 Japanese officials in many instances seem to de- 
 light in exaggerating their contempt on those 
 under them. This is particularly true of some of 
 the Japanese teachers. Like all Government offi- 
 cials, these teachers wear swords, symbols of 
 power. Picture the dignity of the teacher of a 
 class of little boys who lets his sword clang to ter- 
 rify the youngsters under him, or who tries to 
 frighten the girls by displaying his weapon. 
 
 The iron rule of Terauchi was followed by the 
 
202 KOKEA'S FIGHT FOE FKEEDOM 
 
 iron rule of Hasegawa, his successor. The strug- 
 gle of the rebel army in the hills had died down. 
 But men got together, wondering what steps they 
 could take. Christians and non-Christians found a 
 common bond of union. Their life had come to a 
 pass where it was better to die than to live under 
 unchecked tyranny. Thus the Independence move- 
 ment came into being. 
 
 The Koreans who, despoiled of their homes or 
 determined to submit no longer to Japan, escaped 
 into Manchuria, escaped as a rule by the difficult 
 and dangerous journey across the high mountain 
 passes. What this journey means can best be un- 
 derstood from a report by the Rev. W. T. Cook, of 
 the Manchuria Christian College at Moukden. 
 
 " The untold afflictions of the Korean immigrants com- 
 ing into Manchuria will doubtless never be fully realized, 
 even by those actually witnessing their distress. In the 
 still closeness of a forty below zero climate in the dead 
 of winter, the silent stream of white clad figures creeps 
 over the icy mountain passes, in groups of tens, twenties 
 and fifties, seeking a new world of subsistence, willing 
 to take a chance of life and death in a hand-to-hand 
 struggle with the stubborn soil of Manchuria's wooded 
 and stony hillsides. Here, by indefatigable efforts, they 
 seek to extract a living by applying the grub axe and 
 hand hoe to the barren mountain sides above the Chinese 
 fields, planting and reaping by hand between the roots 
 the sparse yield that is often insufficient to sustain life. 
 
 " Many have died from insufficient food. Not only 
 women and children but young men have been frozen to 
 death. Sickness also claims its toll under these new 
 conditions of exposure. Koreans have been seen stand- 
 ing barefooted on the broken ice of a riverside fording 
 
"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCORPIONS" 203 
 
 place, rolling up their baggy trousers before wading 
 through the broad stream, two feet deep, of ice cold water, 
 then standing on the opposite side while they hastily 
 readjust their clothing and shoes. 
 
 " Women with insufficient clothing, and parts of their 
 bodies exposed, carry little children on their backs, thus 
 creating a mutual warmth in a slight degree, but it is in 
 this way that the little ones' feet, sticking out from the 
 binding basket, get frozen and afterwards fester till the 
 tiny toes stick together. Old men and women, with bent 
 backs and wrinkled faces, walk the uncomplaining miles 
 until their old limbs refuse to call them further. 
 
 " Thus it is by households they come, old and young, 
 weak and strong, big and little. . . . Babies have 
 been born in wayside inns. 
 
 " In this way over 75,000 Koreans have entered dur- 
 ing the past year, until the number of Koreans now living 
 in both the north and western portions of Manchuria now 
 totals nearly half a million." ' 
 
 1 Report to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. 
 
XII 
 
 THE MISSIONARIES 
 
 I HAVE had occasion in previous chapters to 
 make occasional reference to the work of the 
 missionaries in Korea. It is necessary now to 
 deal with them in detail, for they had become one 
 of the great factors, and from the Japanese point 
 of view one of the great problems, of the country. 
 
 Long before Korea was open to the outside 
 world, missionary pioneers tried to enter it. The 
 French Catholics forced admission as far back as 
 the end of the eighteenth century, and made many 
 converts, who were afterwards exterminated. Gut- 
 zaleff, a famous Protestant pioneer, landed on an 
 island at Basil's Bay, in 1832, and remained there 
 a month, distributing Chinese literature. Mr. 
 Thomas, a British missionary, secured a passage on 
 board the ill-fated General Sherman in 1866, and was 
 killed with the rest of the crew. Dr. Ross, the 
 Scottish Presbyterian missionary of Moukden, 
 Manchuria, became interested in the Koreans, 
 studied their language, talked with every Korean 
 he could find, and built up a grammar of the lan- 
 guage, publishing an English-Korean primer in 
 1876. He and a colleague, Mr. Mclntyre, pub- 
 
 204 
 
b THE MISSION AEIES 205 
 
 lished Gospels in the language, and opened up a 
 work among the Koreans on the north side of the 
 Yalu. Those who can recall the state of that dis- 
 trict in the days before railways were opened and 
 order established, can best appreciate the nerve 
 and daring needed for the task. They made con- 
 verts, and one of these converts took some newly 
 printed Christian books and set back home, reach- 
 ing Seoul itself, spreading the new religion among 
 his friends. 
 
 It was two years after the opening of Korea to 
 the West before the first missionary arrived. In 
 18.8-i Dr. Allen, a Presbyterian physician (after- 
 wards United States Minister to Korea), arrived at 
 Seoul. It was very doubtful at this time how mis- 
 sionaries would be received, or how their converts 
 would be treated. The law enacting death against 
 any man who became a Christian was still unre- 
 pealed, but it was not enforced. Officialism might, 
 however, revive it at any time. It was thought 
 advisable, when the first converts were baptized in 
 1887, to perform the ceremony behind closed doors, 
 with an earnest and athletic young American edu- 
 cationalist, Homer B. Hulbert, acting as guard. 
 
 Dr. Allen was soon followed by others. Dr. 
 Underwood, brother of the famous manufacturer of 
 typewriting 'machines, was the first non-medical 
 missionary. The American and Canadian Presby- 
 terians and Methodists undertook the main work, 
 and the Church of England set up a bishopric. 
 Women missionary doctors came, and at once won 
 
206 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 7 a place for themselves. Names like Appenzeller, 
 Scranton, Bunker and Gale — to name a few of the 
 pioneers — have won a permanent place in the his- 
 tory of missions. 
 
 The missionaries found a land almost without 
 religion, with few temples and few monks or 
 priests. Buddhism had been discredited by the 
 treachery of some Japanese- Buddhists during the 
 great Japanese invasion by Hideyoshi in 1592, and 
 no Buddhist priest was allowed inside the city of 
 Seoul. Young men of official rank studied their 
 Confucius diligently, but to them Confucianism was 
 more a theory for the conduct of life and a road to 
 high office than a religion. The main religion of 
 the people was Shamanism, the fear of evil spirits. 
 It darkened their souls, as the tales of a foolish 
 nurse about goblins darken the mind of a sensitive 
 and imaginative child. The spirits of Shamanism 
 were evil, not good, a curse, not a blessing, bring- 
 ing terror, not hope. 
 
 Christianity was very fortunate in its representa- 
 tives. I have seen much of the missionaries of 
 Manchuria and Korea. A finer, straighter lot of 
 men I never want to meet. The magnificent cli- 
 mate enables them to keep at the top of form. 
 They have initiative, daring and common sense. 
 Those I have known are born leaders, who would 
 have made their mark anywhere, in business or 
 politics. 
 
 In the early days they had to be ready to set 
 their hands to anything, to plan and build houses 
 
THE MISSIONAEIES 207 
 
 and churches, to open schools, to run a boat down 
 dangerous rapids or face a dangerous mob, to over- 
 awe a haughty yang-ban or break in a dangerous 
 horse. They were the pioneers of civilization as 
 well as of Christianity. 
 
 Religion had to be commended by the courage of 
 its adherents. When there came a dangerous up- 
 rising, and every one else fled, the missionary had 
 to stay at his post. When an epidemic of cholera 
 or yellow fever swept over a district, the mission- 
 ary had to act as doctor or nurse. Sometimes the 
 missionary died, as Dr. Heron died at Seoul and 
 McKenzie at Sorai. Their deaths were even more 
 effective than their lives in winning people. 
 
 Dr. Allen gained a foothold soon after his arrival 
 by sticking to his post in Seoul during the uprising 
 against foreigners that followed the attack by the 
 Japanese and the reformers on the Cabinet and 
 their seizure of the King and Queen. When Min 
 Yung-ik, the Queen's nephew, was badly wounded, 
 Dr. Allen attended to him and saved his life. 
 Henceforth the King was the missionaries' friend. 
 He built a hospital and placed Dr. Allen in charge. 
 Women missionary doctors were appointed Court 
 physicians to the Queen. 
 
 There were years of waiting, when the converts 
 were few, and when it seemed that the barriers of 
 four thousand years never would be broken down. 
 Then came the Chino-Japanese War. Koreans 
 were forced to see that this Western civilization, 
 which had enabled little Japan to beat the Chinese 
 
208 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 giant, must mean something. A young man from 
 Indiana, Samuel Moffett, with a companion, Gra- 
 ham Lee, had gone some time before to Pyeng- 
 yang, reputedly the worst city in Korea. Here 
 they had been stoned and abused. When the Chi- 
 nese Army came to Pyeng-yang, and the country 
 was devastated in the great and decisive battle be- 
 tween the Chinese and Japanese, these two men 
 stayed by the Koreans in their darkest and most 
 perilous hours. Koreans still tell how " Moksa " 
 Moffett put on the dress of a Korean mourner and 
 went freely around despite the Chinese, who would 
 have almost certainly devised a specially lingering 
 death for him, had they discovered his presence. 
 
 " There must be something in this religion/' said 
 the Koreans. Sturdy old John Newton's belief 
 that the worst sinner makes the finest saint was 
 borne out in the case of Pyeng-yang. It became in 
 a few years one of the greatest scenes of missionary 
 triumph in Asia. The harvest was ripening now. 
 In Seoul men flung into jail for political offences 
 turned to prayer in the darkness and despair of 
 their torture chambers, and went to death praising 
 God. The Secretary to the King's Cabinet 
 preached salvation to his fellow Cabinet Ministers. 
 
 The tens of converts grew to tens of thousands. 
 From the first, the Koreans showed themselves to 
 be Christians of a very unusual type. They started 
 by reforming their homes, giving their wives lib- 
 erty and demanding education for their children. 
 They took the promises and commands of the Bible 
 
THE MISSIONARIES^ 209 
 
 literally and established a standard of conduct for 
 church members which, if it were enforced in some 
 older Christian communities, would cause a serious 
 contraction of the church rolls. The first convert 
 set out to preach to his friends. Latter converts 
 imitated his example. From Pyeng-yang the 
 movement spread to Sun-chon, which in a few 
 years rivalled Pyeng-yang as a Christian centre. 
 From here Christianity spread to the Yalu and up 
 the Tumen River. 
 
 The Koreans themselves established Christianity 
 in distant communities where no white man had 
 ever been. Soon many of the missionaries were 
 kept busy for several months each year travelling 
 with pack-pony and mafoo, from station to station 
 in the most remote parts of the country, fording and 
 swimming unbridged rivers, climbing mountain 
 passes, inspecting and examining and instructing 
 the converts, admitting them to church member- 
 ship and organizing them for still more effective 
 work. 
 
 When I hear the cheap sneers of the obtuse stay- 
 at-home or globe-trotter critics against mission- 
 aries and their converts, I am amused. It gives me 
 the measure of the men, particularly of the globe- 
 trotters. When the British and American Churches 
 seek to send out missionaries, the British and 
 American people will have registered the sure sign 
 of their decadence. For the Churches and nations 
 will then cease to be alive. In travelling through 
 the north country I employed a number of the 
 
210 [KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 Christian converts. I found them clean and hon- 
 est, good, hard workers, men who showed their 
 religion not by talk, but by good, straight action. 
 It is a grief to me to know that some of these 
 " boys " have since, because of their prominence 
 as Christian workers, been the victims of official 
 persecution. 
 
 Under the influence of the missionaries many 
 schools were opened; hospitals and dispensaries 
 were maintained, and a considerable literature, 
 educational as well as religious, was circulated. 
 
 When the Japanese landed in Korea in 1904, the 
 missionaries welcomed them. They knew the tyr- 
 anny and abuses of the old Government, and be- 
 lieved that the Japanese would help to better 
 things. The ill-treatment of helpless Koreans by 
 Japanese soldiers and coolies caused a considerable 
 reaction of feeling. When, however, Prince Ito 
 became Resident-General the prevailing sentiment 
 was that it would be better for the people to submit 
 and to make the best of existing conditions, in the 
 hope that the harshness and injustice of Japanese 
 rule would pass. 
 
 Most of the Europeans and Americans in Korea 
 at the time adopted this line. I travelled largely 
 in the interior of Korea in 1906 and 1907. Groups 
 of influential Koreans came to me telling their 
 grievances and asking what to do. Sometimes big 
 assemblies of men asked me to address them. 
 They believed me to be their friend, and were will- 
 ing to trust me. My advice was always the same. 
 
THE MISSIONARIES 211 
 
 " Submit and make yourselves better men. You 
 can do nothing now by taking up arms. Educate 
 your children, improve your homes, better your 
 lives. Show the Japanese by your conduct and 
 your self-control that you are as good as they are, 
 and fight the corruption and apathy that helped to 
 bring your nation to its present position." Let me 
 add that I did what I could in England, at the same 
 time, to call attention to their grievances. 
 
 Prince Ito was openly sympathetic to the mis- 
 sionaries and to their medical and educational 
 work. He once explained why, in a public gather- 
 ing at Seoul. " In the early years of Japan's refor- 
 mation, the senior statesmen were opposed to re- 
 ligious toleration, especially because of distrust of 
 Christianity. But I fought vehemently for free- 
 dom of belief and religious propaganda, and finally 
 triumphed. My reasoning was this: Civilization 
 depends on morality and the highest morality upon 
 religion. Therefore religion must be tolerated and 
 encouraged." 
 
 Ito passed off the scene, Korea was formally an- 
 nexed to Japan, and Count Terauchi became Gov- 
 ernor-General. Terauchi was unsympathetic to 
 Christianity and a new order of affairs began. One 
 of the difficulties of the Christians was over the 
 direction that children in schools and others should 
 bow before the picture of the Japanese Emperor on 
 feast days. The Japanese tried to maintain to the 
 missionaries that this was only a token of respect; 
 the Christians declared that it was an act of adora- 
 
212 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 tion. To the Japanese his Emperor is a divine 
 being, the descendant of the gods. 
 
 Christians who refused to bow were carefully 
 noted as malignants. In the famous Conspiracy 
 Case, the official Assistant Procurator, in urging 
 the conviction of one of the men, said : " He was 
 head teacher of the Sin-an School, Chong-ju, and 
 was a notorious man of anti-Japanese sentiments. 
 He was the very obstinate member of the Society 
 who, at a meeting on the first anniversary of the 
 birthday of the Emperor of Japan after the annexa- 
 tion of Korea, refused to bow before the Imperial 
 picture on the ground that such an act was wor- 
 shipping an image." This one item was the only 
 fact that the Assistant Procurator produced to 
 prove the head teacher's guilt. He was convicted, 
 and awarded seven years' penal servitude. 
 
 A strong effort was made to Japanize the Korean 
 Churches, to make them branches of the Japanese 
 Churches, and to make them instruments in the 
 Japanese campaign of assimilation. The mission- 
 aries resisted this to the utmost. They declared 
 that they would be neutral in political matters, as 
 they were directed by their Governments to be. 
 Having failed to win them over to their side, the 
 Japanese authorities entered into a campaign for 
 the breaking down of the Churches, particularly 
 the Presbyterian Churches of the north. I am well 
 aware that they deny this, but here is a case where 
 actions and speeches cannot be reconciled. 
 
 Attempts were pushed to create churches of 
 
THE MISSIONARIES 213 
 
 Koreans under Japanese. Son Pyung-hi, who 
 had proved a good friend of Japan during the 
 Chinese War, had been encouraged by the Japa- 
 nese some time before to start a religious sect, the 
 Chon-do Kyo, which it was hoped would replace 
 Christianity, and prove a useful weapon for Japan. 
 Here a blunder was made, for later on Son Pyung- 
 hi flung all his influence against Japan and 
 worked with the native Christian leaders to start 
 the Independence movement. More important 
 than either of these two things, however, direct 
 persecution was begun. Several hundred Korean 
 Christian leaders in the north were arrested, and 
 out of them 144 were taken to Seoul, tortured, and 
 charged with a conspiracy to murder the Governor- 
 General. Various missionaries were named as 
 their partners in crime. The tale of the conspiracy 
 was a complete fabrication manufactured by the 
 police. I describe it fully in the next chapter. 
 
 Following this came regulations aimed at the 
 missionary schools and institutions. At the time 
 of annexation, almost the whole of the real modern 
 education of Korea was undertaken by the mission- 
 aries, who were maintaining 778 schools. A series 
 of Educational Ordinances was promulgated in 
 March, 1915, directing that no religious teaching is 
 to be permitted in private schools, and no religious 
 ceremonies allowed to be performed. The Japa- 
 nese authorities made no secret of their intention 
 of eventually closing all missionary schools, on the 
 ground that even when religious teaching was ex- 
 
 \s 
 
214 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 eluded, pupils were influenced by their teachers, 
 and the influence of the foreign teachers was 
 against the Japanization of the Koreans. Mr. Ko- 
 matsu, Director of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, 
 put this point without any attempt at concealment, 
 in a public statement. " Our object of education 
 is not only to develop the intellect and morality of 
 our people, but also to foster in their minds such 
 national spirit as will contribute to the existence 
 and welfare of our Empire. ... I sincerely 
 hope that you will appreciate this change of the 
 time and understand that missions should leave all 
 affairs relating entirely to education entirely in the 
 hands of the Government, by transferring the 
 money and labour they have hitherto been expend- 
 ing on education to their proper sphere of religious 
 propagation. . . . Whatever the curriculum of 
 a school may be, it is natural that the students of 
 that school should be influenced by the ideas and 
 personal character of its principal and teachers. 
 Education must be decidedly nationalistic and must 
 not be mixed up with religion that is universal." 
 This is a much harsher regulation against missions 
 than prevails in Japan, where mission schools are 
 allowed to continue their work, with freedom to 
 carry on their religious teaching. 
 
 The Government-General agreed to allow mis- 
 sion schools that had already obtained Govern- 
 ment permits to continue for ten years without 
 having the regulations enforced. Schools that had 
 applied for the permit but had not obtained it, 
 
THE MISSIONARIES 215 
 
 owing to formal official delays, were ordered to 
 obey or close, and police were sent to see that they 
 closed. 
 
 The Government commanded the mission schools 
 to cease using their own text-books and to use the 
 officially prepared text-books. These are carefully 
 prepared to eliminate " dangerous thoughts," i. e., 
 anything that will promote a desire for freedom. 
 They directly teach ancestral worship. The mis- 
 sionaries have protested in every way they can. 
 The Government-General is adamant. 
 
 Before the start of the Independence movement 
 the mission schools were being carefully watched. 
 Dr. Arthur J. Brown gives one example of their 
 experiences, 1 in connection with the graduating ex- 
 ercises at the Pyeng-yang Junior College last year. 
 
 " Four students made addresses. The foreigners pres- 
 ent deemed them void of offence, but the police declared 
 that all the speakers had said things subversive of the 
 public good. The students were arrested, interrogated 
 and then released, as their previous records had been 
 good. The provincial chief of gendarmes, however, sum- 
 moned the students before him and again investigated 
 the case. The president of the college was called to the 
 office, and strictly charged to exercise greater care in 
 the future. The matter was then reported to the Gov- 
 ernor of the Province, and then to the Governor-General. 
 The latter wrote to the president of the college that the 
 indiscretion of the students was so serious that the Gov- 
 ernment was contemplating closing the school. A similar 
 communicaton was sent by the Governor-General to the 
 provincial Governor, who thereupon called the president 
 
 1 " The Mastery of the Far East," by Arthur Judson Brown. 
 
216 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 to his office, and said that unless he was prepared to make 
 certain changes the school would have to close. These 
 changes were enumerated as follows: (i) Appointment 
 of a Japanese head master; (2) dismissal of three of 
 the boys who had spoken; relief of the fourth from cer- 
 tain assignments of teaching which he was doing in the 
 academy, and promise not to repeat the oratorical pro- 
 gram in the future; (3) secure more Japanese teach- 
 ers, especially those who could understand Korean; (4) 
 do all teaching, except the Chinese classics, Korean lan- 
 guage and English, through the medium of the Japanese 
 language; prepare syllabi of the subjects of instruction, 
 so as to limit it to specified points, teachers not to de- 
 viate from them nor to speak on forbidden subjects; (6) 
 conform to the new regulations. (That is, eliminate all 
 Christian instruction.) When the president replied that 
 he would do all that he could to make the first five 
 changes desired, but that as to the sixth change, the 
 mission preferred to continue for the present under the 
 old permit which entitled the college to the ten year period 
 of grace, the official was plainly disappointed, and he 
 intimated that number six was the most important of all. " 
 
 The Independence movement in 1919 enor- 
 mously increased the difficulties of the missionaries, 
 although they refrained from any direct or indirect 
 participation in it, and the Koreans carefully 
 avoided letting them know anything ahead about 
 it. The difficulties of the missionaries, and the 
 direct action of the authorities against Christianity 
 at that time is told later, in the chapters dealing 
 with the movement. 
 
 The Japanese authorities will probably do two 
 things. They will order the closing of schools 
 under various pretexts where Christian teaching is 
 still maintained. They will endeavour to secure 
 
THE MISSIONAKIES 217 
 
 the elimination of those missionaries who have 
 shown a marked sympathy with the Korean people. 
 They have ample powers to prosecute any mission- 
 ary who is guilty of doing anything to aid disaffec- 
 tion. They have repeatedly searched missionary 
 homes and missionaries themselves to find evidence 
 of this. Save in the case of Mr. Mowry, who was 
 convicted of sheltering some students wanted by 
 the police, they have failed. Even in that case the 
 original conviction has been quashed on appeal. 
 Such evidence does not exist, because the mission- 
 aries have been really neutral. Neutrality does 
 not satisfy Japan; she wants them to come out on 
 her side. Unfortunately her action this year has 
 turned many away from her who tried hard up to 
 then to be her friends. 
 
XIII 
 
 TORTURE A LA MODE 
 
 "t | AHE main thing, when you are tortured, is 
 to remain calm." 
 -*• The Korean spoke quietly and in a 
 
 matter-of-fact way. He himself had suffered tor- 
 ture in its most severe form. Possibly he thought 
 there was a chance that I, too, might have a per- 
 sonal experience. 
 
 H Do not struggle. Do not fight," he continued. 
 " For instance, if you are strung up by the thumbs 
 and you struggle and kick desperately, you may die 
 on the spot. Keep absolutely still; it is easier to 
 endure it in this way. Compel your mind to think 
 of other things." 
 
 Torture! Who talks of torture in these en- 
 lightened days? 
 
 Let me tell you the tale of the Conspiracy Case, 
 as revealed in the evidence given in open court, 
 and then judge for yourself. 
 
 When the heads of the Terauchi administration 
 had made up their minds that the northern Chris- 
 tians were inimical to the progress of the Japanese 
 scheme of assimilation, they set their spies to work. 
 Now the rank and file of spies are very much alike 
 
 218 
 
TOETUEE A LA MODE 219 
 
 in all parts of the world. They are ignorant and 
 often misunderstand things. When they cannot 
 find the evidence they require, they will manufac- 
 ture it. 
 
 The Japanese spies were exceptionally igno- 
 rant. First they made up their minds that the 
 northern Christians were plotting against Japan, 
 and then they searched for evidence. They at- 
 tended church services. Here they heard many 
 gravely suspicious things. There were hymns of 
 war, like " Onward, Christian Soldiers " and " Sol- 
 diers of Christ Arise." What could these mean 
 but that Christians were urged to become an army 
 and attack the Japanese? Dangerous doctrines 
 were openly taught in the churches and mission 
 schools. They learned that Mr. McCune, the Sun- 
 chon missionary, took the story of David and Go- 
 liath as the subject for a lesson, pointing out that 
 a weak man armed with righteousness was more 
 powerful than a mighty enemy. To the spies, this 
 was nothing but a direct incitement to the weak 
 Koreans to fight strong Japan. Mission premises 
 were searched. Still more dangerous material was 
 found there, including school essays, written by the 
 students, on men who had rebelled against their 
 Governments or had fought, such as George Wash- 
 ington and Napoleon. A native pastor had 
 preached about the Kingdom of Heaven ; this was 
 rank treason. He was arrested and warned that 
 " there is only one kingdom out here, and that is 
 the kingdom of Japan." 
 
220 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 In the autumn of 1911 wholesale arrests were 
 made of Christian preachers, teachers, students and 
 prominent church members, particularly in the 
 provinces of Sun-chon and Pyeng-yang. In the 
 Hugh O'Neill, Jr., Industrial Academy, in Sun- 
 chon, one of the most famous educational establish- 
 ments in Korea — where the principal had made the 
 unfortunate choice of David and Goliath for one of 
 his addresses — so many pupils and teachers were 
 seized by the police that the school had to close. 
 The men were hurried to jail. They were not 
 allowed to communicate with their friends, nor to 
 obtain the advice of counsel. They and their 
 friends were not informed of the charge against 
 them. This is in accordance with Japanese crimi- 
 nal law. Eventually 149 persons were sent to 
 Seoul to be placed on trial. Three were reported 
 to have died under torture or as the result of im- 
 prisonment, twenty-three were exiled without trial 
 or released, and 123 were arraigned at the Local 
 Court in Seoul on June 28, 1912, on a charge of 
 conspiracy to assassinate Count Terauchi, Gov- 
 ernor-General of Korea. 
 
 " The character of the accused men is signifi- 
 cant," wrote Dr. Arthur Judson Brown, an author- 
 ity who can scarcely be accused by his bitterest 
 critics of unfriendliness to Japan. " Here were no 
 criminal types, no baser elements of the popula- 
 tion, but men of the highest standing, long and inti- 
 mately known to the missionaries as Koreans of 
 faith and purity of life, and conspicuous for their 
 
TOETUEE A LA MODE 221 
 
 good influence over the people. Two were Con- 
 gregationalists, six Methodists and eighty-nine 
 Presbyterians. Of the Presbyterians, five were 
 pastors of churches, eight were elders, eight dea- 
 cons, ten leaders of village groups of Christians, 
 forty-two baptized church members, and thirteen 
 catechumens. . . . It is about as difficult for 
 those who know them to believe that any such 
 number of Christian ministers, elders and teachers 
 had committed crime as it would be for the people 
 of New Jersey to believe that the faculty, students 
 and local clergy of Princeton were conspirators and 
 assassins." 
 
 Baron Yun Chi-ho, the most conspicuous of the 
 prisoners, had formerly been Vice Foreign Minister 
 under the old Korean Government, and was reck- 
 oned by all who knew him as one of the most pro- 
 gressive and sane men in the country. He was a 
 prominent Christian, wealthy, of high family, a 
 keen educationalist, vice-president of the Korean 
 Y. M. C. A., had travelled largely, spoke English 
 fluently, and had won the confidence and good will 
 of every European or American in Korea with 
 whom he came in contact. Yang Ki-tak, formerly 
 Mr. Bethell's newspaper associate, had on this ac- 
 count been a marked man by the Japanese police. 
 He had been previously arrested under the Peace 
 Preservation Act, sentenced to two years' impris- 
 onment and pardoned under an amnesty. He had? 
 also previously been examined twice in connection 
 with the charge against the assassin of Prince Ito, 
 
222 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FEEEDOM 
 
 and twice on account of the attack made on Yi, the 
 traitor Premier, but had each time been acquitted. 
 " I am not very much concerned as to what hap- 
 pens to me now," he said, " but I do protest against 
 being punished on a charge of which I am inno- 
 cent." 
 
 The case for the prosecution was based on the 
 confessions of the prisoners themselves. Accord- 
 ing to these confessions, a body of Koreans, in as- 
 sociation with the New People's Society, headed by 
 [Baron Yun Chi-ho, plotted to murder General Ter- 
 auchi, and assembled at various railway stations for 
 that purpose, when the Governor-General was 
 travelling northwards, more particularly at Sun- 
 chon, on December 28, 1910. They were armed 
 with ready revolvers, short swords or daggers, and 
 were only prevented from carrying out their pur- 
 pose by the vigilance of the gendarmerie. 
 
 A number of missionaries were named as their 
 associates or sympathizers. Chief of these was 
 Mr. McCune, who, according to the confessions, 
 distributed revolvers among the conspirators and 
 told them at Sun-chon that he would point out the 
 right man by shaking hands with him. Dr. Mof- 
 fett of Pyeng-yang, Dr. Underwood of Seoul, 
 Bishop Harris, the Methodist Bishop for Japan and 
 Korea who had long been conspicuous as a de- 
 fender of the Japanese Administration, and a num- 
 ber of other prominent missionaries were impli- 
 cated. 
 
 When the prisoners were faced by these con- 
 
TOKTUKE A LA MODE 223 
 
 fessions in the open court they arose, one after 
 another, almost without exception, and declared 
 either that they had been forced from them by sus- 
 tained and intolerable torture, or that they had been 
 reduced by torture to insensibility and then on re- 
 covery had been told by the Japanese police that 
 they had made the confessions. Those who had 
 assented under torture had in nearly every case 
 said " Yes " to the statements put to them by the 
 police. Now that they could speak, they stoutly 
 denied the charges. They knew nothing of any 
 conspiracy. The only man who admitted a mur- 
 der plot in court was clearly demented. 
 
 The trial was held in a fashion which aroused 
 immediate and wide-spread indignation. It was 
 held, of course, in Japanese, and the official trans- 
 lator was openly charged in court with minimizing 
 and altering the statements made by the prisoners. 
 The judges acted in a way that brought disgrace 
 on the court, bullying, mocking and browbeating 
 the prisoners. The high Japanese officials who at- 
 tended heartily backed the sallies of the bench. 
 
 The missionaries who, according to the confes- 
 sions, had encouraged the conspirators were not 
 placed on trial. The prisoners urged that they 
 should be allowed to call them and others as wit- 
 nesses, and they were eager to come. The request 
 was refused. Under Japanese law, the judges have 
 an absolute right to decide what witnesses shall, or 
 shall not be called. The prosecuting counsel de- 
 nied the charge of torture, and declared that all of 
 
224 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 the men had been physically examined and not one 
 of them had even a sign of having been subjected 
 to such ill-treatment. Thereupon prisoners rose 
 up and asked to be allowed to show the marks still 
 on them. " I was bound up for about a month and 
 subjected to torture," said one. " I have still 
 marks of it upon my body." But when he asked 
 permission to display the marks to the Court, " the 
 Court," according to the newspaper reports, 
 " sternly refused to allow this to be done." 
 
 The trial closed on August 30th, and judgment 
 was delivered on September 21st. Six prisoners, 
 including Yun Chi-ho and Yang Ki-tak, were sen- 
 tenced to ten years' penal servitude; eighteen to 
 seven years' penal servitude; forty to six years; 
 forty-two to five years; and seventeen discharged. 
 
 The trial was widely reported, and there was a 
 wave of indignation, particularly in America. The 
 case was brought before the Court of Appeal, and 
 Judge Suzuki, who heard the appeal, was given 
 orders by the Government-General that he was to 
 act in conciliatory fashion. The whole atmosphere 
 of the Court of Appeal was different. There was 
 no bullying, no browbeating. The prisoners were 
 listened to indulgently, and were allowed consider- 
 able latitude in developing their defence. Let me 
 add that both in the first and in subsequent trials, 
 prominent Japanese counsel appeared for the pris- 
 oners, and defended them in a manner in accord- 
 ance with the best traditions of the law. 
 
 The prisoners were now permitted in the Appeal 
 
TOETURE A LA MODE 225 
 
 Court to relate in detail how their " confessions " 
 had been extracted from them by torture. Here 
 are some typical passages from the evidence. 
 
 Chi Sang-chu was a Presbyterian, and a clerk by 
 calling. He denied that he was guilty. 
 
 All my confession was made under torture. I 
 did not make these statements of my own accord. 
 The police said they must know what information 
 they wanted. They stripped me naked, tied my 
 hands behind my back, and hung me up in a door- 
 way, removing the bench on which I stood. They 
 swung me, making me bump against a door, like a 
 crane dancing. When I lost consciousness, I was 
 taken down and given water, and tortured again 
 when I came to. 
 
 " A policeman covered my mouth with my hand, 
 and poured water into my nose. Again my thumbs 
 were tied behind my back, one arm over and one 
 under, and I was hung up by the cord tying them. 
 A lighted cigarette was pressed against my body, 
 and I was struck in my private parts. Thus I was 
 tortured for three or four days. One evening, just 
 after the meal, I was hung up again, and was told 
 that I would be released if I confessed, but if not I 
 would be tortured till I died. They were deter- 
 mined to make me say whatever they wanted. 
 Leaving me hanging, the policemen went to sleep, 
 and I fainted from the torture of hanging there. 
 
 " When I came to, I found myself lying on the 
 floor, the police giving me water. They showed 
 me a paper, which they said was the order of re- 
 
226 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 lease for Yi Keun-tak and O Hak-su, who had con- 
 fessed. If I wanted to be set at liberty I must do 
 the same. Then they beat me again. I saw the 
 paper and managed with difficulty to read it. It 
 was to the effect that they did confess and promised 
 never to do such things again. 
 
 " I was then introduced to Yi Keun-tak, who, 
 they said, had confessed and been acquitted, and 
 they urged me to follow Yi's example. I urged 
 them to treat me as they had treated Yi. They 
 told me what to confess, but as I had never heard 
 of such things I refused, and they said they had 
 better kill me. 
 
 " They resumed their tortures, and after two or 
 three months, being unable to bear it any longer, I 
 confessed all that is required." 
 
 Paik Yong-sok, a milk seller and a Presbyterian, 
 with eleven in his family, said he had been a Chris- 
 tian for fifteen years and had determined only to 
 follow the teachings of the Bible; he had never 
 thought of assassination or considered establishing 
 the independence of the country. Having to sup- 
 port a family of eleven, he had no time for such 
 things. 
 
 He had made the confession recited by the 
 Court, but it was under compulsion and false. 
 " For a number of days I was tortured twice by day 
 and twice by night. I was blindfolded, hung up, 
 beaten. Often I fainted, being unable to breathe. 
 I thought I was dying and asked the police to shoot 
 me, so intolerable were my tortures. Driven be- 
 
TORTURE A LA MODE 227 
 
 yond the bounds of endurance by hunger, thirst and 
 pain, I said I would say whatever they wanted. 
 
 " The police told me that I was of no account 
 among the twenty million Koreans, and they could 
 kill or acquit me as they pleased. . . . Mean- 
 while five or six police dropped in and said, ' Have 
 you repented? Did you take part in the assassina- 
 tion plots? ' It was too much for me to say ' Yes ' 
 to this question, so I replied ' No/ Immediately 
 they slapped my cheeks, stripped me, struck, beat 
 and tormented me. It is quite beyond my power 
 to describe the difficulty of enduring such pain." 
 
 The man paused and pointed to a Japanese, 
 Watanabe by name, sitting behind the judges. 
 " That interpreter knows all about it," he said. 
 " He was one of the men who struck me." Wata- 
 nabe was pointed out by other prisoners as a man 
 who had been prominent in tormenting them. 
 
 Im Do-myong, a barber and a Presbyterian, also 
 fell into the hands of experts at the game. 
 
 " At the police headquarters, I was hung up, 
 beaten with an iron rod and tortured twice a day. 
 Then I was taken into the presence of superiors, 
 the interpreter (pointing out Watanabe, who was 
 sitting behind the judges) being present, and tor- 
 tured again. 
 
 " My thumbs were tied together at my back, the 
 right arm being put back over the shoulder and the 
 left arm turned up from underneath. Then I was 
 hung up by the cord that bound my thumbs. The 
 agony was unendurable. I fainted, was taken 
 
228 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOB FEEEDOM 
 
 down, was given torture, and when I came to was 
 tortured again." 
 
 By the Court: " It would be impossible to hang 
 you by your thumbs." 
 
 Prisoner : " My great toes scarcely touched the 
 ground. Under such circumstances I was told to 
 say the same thing at the Public Procurator's Of- 
 fice, and as I feared that I should be tortured there, 
 too, I said * Yes ' to all questions." 
 
 Some variety was introduced into the treatment 
 of Cho Tok-chan, a Presbyterian pastor, at 
 Chong-ju. 
 
 " The police asked me how many men took part 
 in the attempt at Sun-chon, saying that as I was a 
 pastor I must know all about it. They hung, beat 
 and struck me, saying that I had taken part in the 
 plot and was a member of the New People's Soci- 
 ety. At last I fainted, and afterwards was unable 
 to eat for a number of days. 
 
 " A policeman in uniform, with one stripe, 
 twisted my fingers with a wire, so that they were 
 badly swollen for a long time after. Then a man 
 with two white stripes tortured me, declaring that 
 I had taken part in the Sun-chon affair. I said that 
 I was too busy with Christmas preparations to go 
 anywhere, on which the policeman severely twisted 
 my fingers with an iron rod." 
 
 Again came one of the dramatic pauses, while the 
 prisoner pointed out a Japanese official sitting be- 
 hind the judges, Tanaka by name. " The man 
 who interpreted at that time is sitting behind you," 
 he declared. " He knows it very well." 
 
TORTURE A LA MODE 229 
 
 They extracted his confession. But it was some 
 time before he had been able to sign it; his fingers 
 were hurt too severely. 
 
 It was necessary, after the police examination, 
 for prisoners to repeat their stories or confirm 
 them before the procurator. This might originally 
 have been intended as a protection for the pris- 
 oners. In Korea police and procurators worked 
 together. However, steps were taken to prevent 
 any retraction at that point. 
 
 " When I was taken to the Public Procurator's 
 Office," continued the Presbyterian pastor, " I did 
 not know the nature of the place, and being put in 
 a separate room, I feared that it might be an even 
 more dreadful place than the police headquarters. 
 Generally, when examined at the police headquar- 
 ters, my hands were free, but here I was brought 
 up for cross-examination with my hands and arms 
 pinioned very firmly, so I thought it must be a 
 harder place. Moreover, an official pulled me very 
 hard by the cords which bound my hands, which 
 gave me excruciating pain, seeing how they had 
 already been treated by the police." 
 
 The next prisoner, Yi Mong-yong, a Presbyte- 
 rian money lender, also pointed out the proud 
 Tanaka. He had been describing how the police 
 kicked and struck him to make him say what they 
 wanted. " One of them is behind you now," said 
 he to the judges, pointing to Tanaka. 
 
 Some of the prisoners broke down while giving 
 their evidence. Unimas described how he had 
 been hung, beaten, stripped and tortured by the 
 
230 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 police, and again tortured in the office of the Public 
 Procurator. " Having got so far," the reports con- 
 tinue, " the prisoner began to weep and make a loud 
 outcry, saying that he had a mother who was eighty 
 years old at home. With this pitiful scene, the 
 hearing ended for the day." 
 
 Yi Tai-kyong was a teacher. The police re- 
 minded him that the murderer of Prince Ito was a 
 Christian ; he was a Christian, therefore — 
 
 " They hung, beat and otherwise tormented me, 
 until I was compelled to acknowledge all the false 
 fabrication about the plot. The following day I 
 was again taken into Mr. Yamana's room and again 
 tortured with an iron rod from the stove and other 
 things, until I had acknowledged all the false state- 
 ments. 
 
 " When asked what was the party's signal, I re- 
 mained silent, as I knew nothing about it. But I 
 was tortured again, and said, ' the church bell,' that 
 being the only thing I could think of at the time." 
 
 " I confessed to the whole prosecution story, but 
 only as the result of torture, to which I was sub- 
 mitted nine times, fainting on two occasions, and 
 being tortured again on revival," said Pak Chou- 
 hyong. " I made my false confession under a 
 threat that I and my whole family would be killed. 
 I reiterated it at the Public Procurator's Office, 
 where I was conducted by two policemen, one of 
 them a man with a gold tooth, who boxed my ears 
 so hard that I still feel the pain, and who told me 
 not to vary my story. 
 
 " Fearing that my whole family would be tor- 
 
TORTURE A LA MODE 231 
 
 tured, I agreed. But when I arrived before the 
 Public Procurator, I forgot what I had been taught 
 to say, and wept, asking the officials to read what 
 I had to confess. This they did, and I said, * Yes, 
 yes/ " 
 
 Choi Che-kiu, a petty trader, repudiated his con- 
 fession of having gone with a party to Sun-chon. 
 
 " Had such a large party attempted to go to the 
 station," he said, " they must infallibly have been 
 arrested on the first day. Were I guilty I would 
 be ready to die at once. The whole story was in- 
 vented by officials, and I was obliged to acquiesce 
 in it by severe torture. One night I was taken to 
 Nanzan hill by two policemen, suspended from a 
 pine tree and a sharp sword put to my throat. 
 Thinking I was going to be killed, I consented to 
 say * Yes ' to any question put to me." 
 
 " No force can make you tell such a story as this, 
 unless you consent voluntarily," interposed the 
 Court. 
 
 " You may well say that," replied the prisoner, 
 grimly. " But with the blade of a sword in my face 
 and a lighted cigarette pressed against my body, I 
 preferred acquiescence in a story, which they told 
 me that Kim Syong had already confessed, to 
 death." 
 
 The prisoner paused, and the Judge looked at 
 him with his head on one side. Suddenly the 
 prisoner burst into a passion of weeping, with loud, 
 incoherent cries. -. 
 
 In the previous trial one of the prisoners, Kim 
 Ik-kyo, was asked why he admitted all the facts at 
 
232 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 his preliminary examination. " If the police were 
 to go down Chong-no (one of the busiest streets in 
 Seoul)," he replied, " and indiscriminately arrest a 
 number of passers-by, and then examine them by 
 putting them to torture, I am sure they would soon 
 confess to having taken part in a plot." 
 
 The same thing was put in another way by a 
 prisoner, Kim Eung-pong. He related a long story 
 of torture by binding, hanging, beating and burn- 
 ing, continued for fifteen days, during which he was 
 often threatened with death. Then he was taken 
 to the " supreme enquiry " office of the police head- 
 quarters, where he was stripped naked and beaten 
 with an iron bar from the stove. This office, he 
 understood, had control and power of life or death 
 over the whole peninsula, so he was compelled to 
 confess all that they wanted. " I even would have 
 said that I killed my father, if they put it to me," 
 he added. 
 
 Hear the tale of An Sei-whan. As An was called 
 up in the Appeal Court, a wave of pity passed over 
 the white men there, for An was a miserable object, 
 pale and emaciated. He was a consumptive and 
 afflicted with other ills. He had been in the Chris- 
 tian Hospital at Pyeng-yang most of the winter, 
 and had nearly died there. He had been walking a 
 little for a few days, when he was arrested at the 
 hospital in April. He had been vomiting blood. 
 
 " In this condition I was taken to the police head- 
 quarters and tortured. My thumbs were hung to- 
 gether and I was hung up, with my toes barely 
 touching the ground. I was taken down nearly 
 
TOETUEE A LA MODE 233 
 
 dead, and made to stand for hours under a chest 
 nearly as high as my chest. Next day, when I was 
 put under the shelf again my hair was fastened to 
 the board, and my left leg doubled at the knee and 
 tied. Blood came up from my lung, but fearful of 
 the police I swallowed it. Now, I think it would 
 have been better if I had vomited it. Then they 
 might have had pity on me; but I did not think so 
 then. 
 
 "Ag«iin I was hung up by the thumbs, clear of 
 the floor this time. At the end of five minutes I 
 was nearly dead. I asked if it would do to assent 
 to their questions, and they took me down and 
 took me before some superiors. When I said any- 
 thing unsatisfactory I was beaten, and in this way 
 learned what was wanted. I had no wish to deny 
 or admit anything, only to escape further pain." 
 
 He asked that some of the missionaries who knew 
 him might be called, to show that he was too ill 
 to take part in any conspiracy. 
 
 One old man, Yi Chang-sik, a Presbyterian for 
 sixteen years, had refused even under the torture 
 to confess, and had tried to escape by suicide. " I 
 thought that I had better commit suicide than be 
 killed by their cruel tortures," he said. "They 
 asked me if I had joined the conspiracy at the sug- 
 gestion of Mr. McCune. I would not consent to 
 this, so they tortured me harder. I was nearly 
 naked, and so cold water was poured upon me. I 
 was also beaten. Sometimes I would be tortured 
 till the early hours of the morning. 
 
 " I longed for death to deliver me. Thanks to 
 
234 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 heaven, I found a knife one night in my room. The 
 warder was not very careful with me. I took it 
 secretly, intending to cut my throat — but my hand 
 had become too weak. So I stuck it erect in the 
 floor, and tried to cut my throat that way. Alas! 
 At this moment the warder surprised me. When 
 I had endured torture for over forty days, I asked 
 them to make me guilty or innocent as quickly as 
 possible. When I was taken to the Public Proc- 
 urator's, I had pains in my ears, body and limbs. 
 I could not stand the torture and wanted to die." 
 
 " Having got so far," wrote a spectator, " the old 
 man broke down and began to weep, crying louder 
 and louder. He said something as he wept, but the 
 interpreter could not make out what it was. The 
 Court evidently pitied him and told him to stand 
 down. He withdrew, sobbing." 
 
 A Presbyterian student from Sun-chon, Cha 
 Heui-syon, was arrested and kept for four months 
 in the gendarmes office, becoming very weak. 
 Then he was taken to the police headquarters. 
 
 " First I was hung up by my thumbs, then my 
 hands and legs were tied, and I was made to crouch 
 under a shelf about as high as my chest, which was 
 intensely painful, as I could neither sit nor stand. 
 Something was put in my mouth. I vomited blood, 
 yet I was beaten. I was stood up on a bench and 
 tied up so that when it was removed, I was left 
 hanging. The interpreter who has often been in 
 this court (Watanabe) tortured me. My arms 
 stiffened so that I could not stretch them. As I 
 hung I was beaten with bamboos three or four feet 
 
TORTURE A LA MODE 235 
 
 long and with an iron rod, which on one occasion 
 made the hand of the official who was wielding it 
 bleed." 
 
 At last he gave in. He was too weak to speak. 
 They took him down and massaged his arms, which 
 were useless. He could only nod now to the state- 
 ments that they put to him. Later on they took 
 him to the Public Procurator. Here he attempted 
 to deny his confession. " The Public Procurator 
 was very angry," he said. " He struck the table, 
 getting up and sitting down again. He jerked the 
 cord by which my hands were tied, hurting me very 
 severely." 
 
 The case of Baron Yun Chi-ho excited special 
 interest. The Baron being a noble of high family, 
 the police used more care in extracting his con- 
 fession. He was examined day after day for ten 
 days, the same questions being asked and denied 
 day after day. One day when his nerves were in 
 shreds, they tortured another prisoner in front of 
 his eyes, and the examiner told him that if he would 
 not confess, he was likely to share the same fate. 
 They told him that the others had confessed and 
 been punished; a hundred men had admitted the 
 facts. He did not know then that the charge 
 against him was conspiracy to murder. He de- 
 termined to make a false confession, to escape 
 torture. He was worn out with the ceaseless ques- 
 tioning, and he was afraid. 
 
 The rehearing in the Court of Appeal lasted 
 fifty-one days. In the last days many of the pris- 
 oners were allowed to speak for themselves. They 
 
236 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 made a very favourable impression. Judgment 
 was delivered on March 20th. The original judg- 
 ment was quashed in every case, and the cases re- 
 considered. Ninety-nine of the prisoners were 
 found not guilty. Baron Yun Chi-ho, Yang Ki- 
 tak and four others were convicted. Eive of them 
 were sentenced to six years' penal servitude, and 
 one to five years. Two other appeals were made, 
 but the only result was to increase the sentence of 
 the sixth man to six years. Three of the men finally 
 convicted had been members of the staff of the Dai 
 Han Mai II Shinpo. The Japanese do not forget or 
 forgive readily. They had an old score to pay 
 against the staff of that paper. 
 
 I have never yet met a man, English, American 
 or Japanese, acquainted with the case, or who fol- 
 lowed the circumstances, who believed that there 
 had been any plot at all. The whole thing, from 
 first to last, was entirely a police-created charge. 
 The Japanese authorities showed later that they 
 themselves did not believe it. On the coronation 
 of the Japanese Emperor, in February, 1915, the 
 six prisoners were released as a sign of " Imperial 
 clemency." Baron Yun Chi-ho was appointed 
 Secretary of the Y. M. C. A. at Seoul on his release, 
 and Count Terauchi (whom he was supposed to 
 have plotted to murder) thereupon gave a liberal 
 subscription to the Y. funds. 
 
 There was one sequel to the case. The Secre- 
 tary of the Korean Y. M. C. A., Mr. Gillett, having 
 satisfied himself of the innocence of Baron Yun and 
 his associates, while the trial was pending, sent a 
 
TORTURE A LA MODE 237 
 
 letter to prominent people abroad, telling the facts. 
 The letter, by the indiscretion of one man who re- 
 ceived it, was published in newspapers. The Japa- 
 nese authorities, in consequence, succeeded in driv- 
 ing Mr. Gillett out of Korea. Before driving him 
 out, they tried to get him to come over on their 
 side. Mr. Komatsu, Director of the Bureau for 
 Foreign Affairs, asked him and Mr. Gerdine, the 
 President, to call on him. " The Government has 
 met the demands of the missionary body and re- 
 leased ninety-nine out of the hundred and five pris- 
 oners who stood trial at the Appeal Court," said 
 Mr. Komatsu. " It is to be expected that the mis- 
 sionary body will in return do something to put the 
 Government in a strong and favourable light before 
 the people of Japan." Mr. Komatsu added that 
 Judge Suzuki's action was in reality the action of 
 the Government-General, a quaint illustration of 
 the independence of the judiciary in Korea. 
 
 The Administration made a feeble attempt to 
 deny the tortures. Its argument was that since 
 torture was forbidden by law, it could not take 
 place. Let we quote the official statement: 
 
 "A word should be added in reference to the ab- 
 surd rumours spread abroad concerning it (the 
 conspiracy case) such as that the measures taken 
 by the authorities aimed at ' wiping out the Chris- 
 tian movement in Korea/ since the majority of the 
 accused were Christian converts, and that most of 
 the accused made ' false confessions against their 
 will/ as they were subject to l unendurable ill- 
 treatment or torture.' As if such imputations 
 
238 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 could be sustained for one minute, when the mod- 
 ern regime ruling Japan is considered! ... As 
 to torture, several provisions of the Korean crim- 
 inal code indirectly recognized it, but the law was 
 revised and those provisions were rescinded when 
 the former Korean law courts were reformed, by- 
 appointing to them Japanese judicial staffs, in 
 August, 1908. . . . According to the new crim- 
 inal law (judges, procurators or police) officials 
 are liable, if they treat accused prisoners with vio- 
 lence or torture, to penal servitude or to imprison- 
 ment for a period not exceeding three years. In 
 reply to the memorial presented to the Governor- 
 General by certain missionaries in Korea, in Jan- 
 uary, 1912, he said, ■ I assure you that the entire 
 examination of the suspected persons or witnesses 
 is being conducted in strict compliance with the 
 provisions of the law, and the slightest divergence 
 from the lawful process will under no circum- 
 stances be permitted/ How then could any one 
 imagine that it was possible for officials under him 
 to act under any other way than in accordance 
 with the provisions of the law." 
 
 Unfortunately for the noble indignation of the 
 writer, the torture left its marks, and many men 
 are living as I write still bearing them. Others 
 only escaped from the hell of the Japanese prison in 
 Seoul to die. They were so broken that they never 
 recovered. 
 
XIV 
 THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT 
 
 THE people of Korea never assented to the 
 annexation of their country. The Japa- 
 nese control of means of communication 
 prevented their protests from being fully known by 
 the outside world. 
 
 It was explained that the movement against the 
 Japanese was due to the work of Koreans living 
 outside of the land and to foreign agitators. The 
 Japanese blamed the missionaries. They blamed 
 foreign publicists. I understand that I was and am 
 esteemed a special malignant. They never thought 
 to blame themselves. As a matter of fact, mis- 
 sionaries and the rest of us had nothing to do with 
 it. The real origin of the movement was among 
 the people themselves, and it was fostered, not by 
 outsiders, but by the iron and unjust rule of Japan. 
 
 At the same time, the Koreans living in freedom 
 were naturally concerned over conditions at home. 
 The large Korean communities in Manchuria and 
 Siberia, estimated to number in all two millions, the 
 flourishing colony in the United States and Hawaii, 
 
 239 
 
240 KOKEA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 the Koreans in Mexico and China heard with indig- 
 nation of what was happening. Young students 
 and political prisoners released after torture, who 
 escaped to America, fanned the flame to white heat. 
 The Koreans living outside Korea formed a Na- 
 tional Association, with headquarters in San Fran- 
 cisco, under the Presidency of Dr. David Lee, 
 which in 1919 claimed a million and a half ad- 
 herents. 
 
 The steps taken by the Japanese to suppress and 
 prevent discontent often created and fostered it. 
 This was specially illustrated in the schools. The 
 new educational system, with its constant inculca- 
 tion of loyalty to the Mikado, made even the little 
 girls violently Nationalist. School children were 
 spied upon for incipient treason as though the lisp- 
 ing of childish lips might overthrow the throne. 
 The speeches of boys and girls in junior schools, at 
 their school exercises, were carefully noted, and the 
 child who said anything that might be construed by 
 the Censor as " dangerous thought " would be 
 arrested, examined and punished. 
 
 The effect of this was what might have been ex- 
 pected. " They compel us to learn Japanese," said 
 one little miss, sagely. "That does not matter. 
 We are now able to understand what they say. 
 They cannot understand what we say. All the 
 better for us when the hour comes." On Inde- 
 pendence Day the children, particularly in the Gov- 
 ernment schools, were found to be banded together 
 and organized against Japan. They had no fear in 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT 241 
 
 expressing their views and sought martyrdom. 
 Some of them won it. 
 
 The Japanese hoped much from the Chon-do 
 Kyo, a powerful movement encouraged by the 
 authorities because they thought that it would be 
 a valuable counteractive to Christianity. Its leader 
 was Son Pyung-hi, an old Korean friend of Japan. 
 As far back as 1894, when the Japanese arranged 
 the Tong-hak Rebellion in Korea, to give them an 
 excuse for provoking war with China, Son was one 
 of their leading agents. He believed that Western 
 influence and in particular Western religion was * 
 inimical to his country, and he hoped by the Tong- 
 haks to drive them out. 
 
 As a result of his activities, he had to flee from 
 Korea, and he did not return until 1903. He be- 
 came leader of the Chon-do Kyo, the Heavenly 
 Way Society, a body that tried to include the best 
 of many religions and give the benefits of Christian 
 organization and fellowship without Christianity. 
 He had learned many things while in exile, and was 
 now keen on reform and education. Many of his 
 old Tong-hak friends rallied around him, and the 
 Chon-do Kyo soon numbered considerably over a 
 million members. 
 
 Son realized after a time that the Japanese were 
 not the friends but the enemies of his people. He 
 made no violent protestations. He still maintained 
 seemingly good relations with them. But his or- 
 ganization was put to work. His agents went over 
 the country. Each adherent was called on to give 
 
\J 
 
 242 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 three spoonfuls of rice a day. Close on a million 
 dollars was accumulated. Most of this was after- 
 wards seized by the Japanese. 
 
 The Chon-do Kyo and the native Christian lead- 
 ers came together. The Christian pastors had up 
 to now kept their people in check. But the burden 
 was becoming intolerable. They gave the mis- 
 sionaries no inkling of what was brewing. They 
 did not wish to get them in trouble. Their real 
 grief was that their action would, they knew, make 
 it harder for the Churches. 
 
 Two remarkable characters took the lead among 
 the Christians, Pastor Kil and Yi Sang-jai. Pastor 
 Kil of Pyeng-yang was one of the oldest and most 
 famous Christians in Korea. He had become a 
 leader in the early days, facing death for his faith. 
 A man of powerful brain, of fine character and with 
 the qualities of real leadership, he was looked up to 
 by the people as British Nonconformists a genera- 
 tion ago regarded Charles Spurgeon. In recent 
 years Kil had become almost blind, but continued 
 his work. 
 
 I have already described in an earlier chapter 
 how Yi Sang-jai, once Secretary to the Legation 
 at Washington, became a Christian while thrown 
 into prison for his political views. He was now a 
 Y. M. C. A. leader, but he was held in universal 
 veneration by all men — Christian and non-Chris- 
 tian alike — as a saint, as a man who walked with 
 God and communed with Him. 
 
 When things seemed rapidly ripening, President 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT 243 
 
 Wilson made his famous declaration of the rights 
 of weaker nations. One sentence went round 
 among the Koreans, and its effect was electrical. 
 
 " What is the task that this League of Nations 
 is to do? 
 
 "It is to Provide for the Freedom of Small Na- 
 tions, to Prevent the Domination of Small Nations 
 by Big Ones." 
 
 Here was the clarion call to Korea. Here was 
 hope ! Here was the promise of freedom, given by 
 the head of the nation they had all learned to love. 
 If any outsider was responsible for the uprising of 
 the Korean people, that outsider was Woodrow 
 Wilson, President of the United States of America. 
 
 " Now is the time to act," said the people. For 
 a start, they resolved to send delegates to present 
 their case to the Paris Conference. Three leaders 
 in America were chosen but were refused passports. 
 Finally another young leader, Mr. Kiusic Kimm, 
 succeeded in landing in France. Perhaps it would 
 not be wise to say, at this time, how he managed to 
 get there. He soon found that his mission was in 
 vain. The Paris Conference would not receive 
 him. President Wilson's declaration was not to be 
 put into full effect. 
 
 The people resolved, by open and orderly demon- 
 stration, to support their delegate in France. There 
 were some who would have started a violent revo- 
 lution. The Christians would have none of it. 
 " Let us have no violence," said they. " Let us 
 appeal to the conscience of Japan and of the world." 
 
 • 
 
244 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 There were no constitutional means for them to 
 employ to make their case heard. But if ever there 
 was an effort at peaceful constitutional change, this 
 was it. Instructions were sent out, surely the most 
 extraordinary instructions ever issued under simi- 
 lar circumstances : — 
 
 " Whatever you do 
 
 Do Not Insult the Japanese 
 
 Do Not Throw Stones 
 
 Do Not Hit With Your Fists. 
 
 For these are the acts of barbarians." 
 
 It was unnecessary to tell the people not to shoot, 
 for the Japanese had long since taken all their 
 weapons away, even their ancient sporting blunder- 
 busses. 
 
 A favourable moment was approaching. The 
 old Korean Emperor lay dead. One rumour was 
 that he had committed suicide to avoid signing a 
 document drawn up by the Japanese for presenta- 
 tion to the Peace Conference, saying that he was 
 well satisfied with the present Government of his 
 country. Another report, still more generally be- 
 lieved, was that he had committed suicide to pre- 
 vent the marriage of his son, Prince Kon, to the 
 Japanese Princess Nashinoto. The engagement of 
 this young Prince to a Korean girl had been broken 
 off when the Japanese acquired control of the Im- 
 perial House. Royal romances always appeal to 
 the crowd. The heart of the people turned to the 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT 245 
 
 old Emperor again. Men, women and children put 
 on straw shoes, signs of national mourning, and a 
 hundred thousand people flocked to Seoul to wit- 
 ness the funeral ceremonies. 
 
 The funeral was to take place on March 4th. By 
 now the Japanese suspected something to be afoot. 
 The astonishing thing is that the Koreans had been 
 able to keep it from them so long. A network of 
 organizations had been created all over the coun- 
 try. The Japanese hurried their preparations to 
 prevent popular demonstrations on the day of the 
 funeral. The leaders learned of this, and outwitted 
 the police by a simple device. They resolved to 
 make their demonstration not on Tuesday, March 
 4th, but on the previous Saturday. 
 
 Gatherings were arranged for all over the coun- 
 try. A Declaration of Independence was drawn up 
 in advance and delivered to the different centres.. 
 Here it was mimeographed, and girls and boys 
 organized themselves to ensure its distribution. 
 Meetings, processions and demonstrations in all the 
 big cities were planned. 
 
 Thirty-three men chose martyrdom. They were 
 to be the original signers of the Declaration of In- 
 dependence. They knew that at the best this must 
 mean heavy punishment for them, and at the worst 
 might well mean death. They had- no delusions. 
 Pastor KiPs son had died from the effects of Japa- 
 nese torture. Yang Chun-paik and Yi Seung-hun, 
 two of the signers, had been victims in the Con- 
 spiracy case. The first two names on the list of 
 
246 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 signers were Son Pyung-hi, leader of the Chon-do 
 Kyo, and Pastor Kil. 
 
 On the morning of March 1st the group of thirty- 
 two met at the Pagoda Restaurant at Seoul. Pas- 
 tor Kil was the only absentee; he had been tempo- 
 rarily delayed on his journey from Pyeng-yang. 
 
 Some prominent Japanese had been invited to 
 eat with the Koreans. After the meal, the Declara- 
 tion was produced before their guests and read. 
 It was despatched to the Governor-General. Then 
 the signers rang up the Central Police Station, in- 
 formed the shocked officials of what they had done, 
 and added that they would wait in the restaurant 
 until the police van came to arrest them. 
 
 The automobile prison van, with them inside, 
 had to make its way to the police station through 
 dense crowds, cheering and shouting, "Mansei! 
 Mansei ! Mansei ! " It was the old national battle 
 cry, " May Korea live ten thousand years." Old 
 flags had been brought out, old Korean flags, with 
 the red and blue germ on the white ground, and 
 were being widely waved. " Mansei! " Not only 
 Seoul but the whole country had in a few minutes 
 broken out in open demonstration. A new kind of 
 revolt had begun. 
 
 Pastor Kil, arriving late, hurried to the police 
 station to take his place with his comrades. 
 
 The Declaration of Independence is a document 
 impossible to summarize, if one is to do full justice 
 to it. It is written in the lofty tone of the ancient 
 prophets. It was something more than the aspira- 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT 247 
 
 tion of the Korean people. It was the cry of the 
 New Asia, struggling to find its way out of oppres- 
 sion and mediaeval militarism into the promised 
 land of liberty and peace. 
 
 THE PROCLAMATION OF KOREAN 
 INDEPENDENCE 
 
 " We herewith proclaim the independence of Korea and 
 the liberty of the Korean people. We tell it to the world 
 in witness of the equality of all nations and we pass it on 
 to our posterity as their inherent right. 
 
 " We make this proclamation, having back of us 5,000 
 years of history, and 20,000,000 of a united loyal people. 
 We take this step to insure to our children for all time 
 to come, personal liberty in accord with the awakening 
 consciousness of this new era. This is the clear leading 
 of God, the moving principle of the present age, the whole 
 human race's just claim. It is something that cannot be 
 stamped out, or stifled, or gagged, or suppressed by any 
 means. 
 
 " Victims of an older age, when brute force and the 
 spirit of plunder ruled, we have come after these long 
 thousands of years to experience the agony of ten years 
 of foreign oppression, with every loss to the right to live, 
 every restriction of the freedom of thought, every dam- 
 age done to the dignity of life, every opportunity lost for 
 a share in the intelligent advance of the age in which 
 we live. 
 
 " Assuredly, if the defects of the past are to be recti- 
 fied, if the agony of the present is to be unloosed, if the 
 future oppression is to be avoided, if thought is to be set 
 free, if right of action is to be given a place, if we are to 
 attain to any way of progress, if we are to deliver our 
 children from the painful, shameful heritage, if we are 
 to leave blessing and happiness intact for those who 
 succeed us, the first of all necessary things is the clear- 
 cut independence of our people. What cannot our twenty 
 millions do, every man with sword in heart, in this day 
 
248 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 when human nature and conscience are making a stand 
 for truth and right? What barrier can we not break, 
 what purpose can we not accomplish ? 
 
 " We have no desire to accuse Japan of breaking many 
 solemn treaties since 1636, nor to single out specially the 
 teachers in the schools or government officials who treat 
 the heritage of our ancestors as a colony of their own, 
 and our people and their civilization as a nation of sav- 
 ages, finding delight only in beating us down and bring- 
 ing us under their heel. 
 
 " We have no wish to find special fault with Japan's 
 lack of fairness or her contempt of our civilization and 
 the principles on which her state rests; we, who have 
 greater cause to reprimand ourselves, need not spend 
 precious time in finding fault with others; neither need 
 we, who require so urgently to build for the future, 
 spend useless hours over what is past and gone. Our 
 urgent need to-day is the setting up of this house of ours 
 and not a discussion of who has broken it down, or what 
 has caused its ruin. Our work is to clear the future of 
 defects in accord with the earnest dictates of conscience. 
 Let us not be filled with bitterness or resentment over 
 past agonies or past occasions for anger. 
 
 " Our part is to influence the Japanese government, 
 dominated as it is by the old idea of brute force which 
 thinks to run counter to reason and universal law, so 
 that it will change, act honestly and in accord with the 
 principles of right and truth. 
 
 " The result of annexation, brought about without any 
 conference with the Korean people, is that the Japanese, 
 indifferent to us, use every kind of partiality for their 
 own, and by a false set of figures show a profit and loss 
 account between us two peoples most untrue, digging a 
 trench of everlasting resentment deeper and deeper the 
 farther they go. 
 
 " Ought not the way of enlightened courage to be to 
 correct the evils of the past by ways that are sincere, 
 and by true sympathy and friendly feeling make a new 
 world in which the two peoples will be equally blessed? 
 
 " To bind by force twenty millions of resentful Ko- 
 
THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT 249 
 
 reans will mean not only loss of peace forever for this 
 part of the Far East, but also will increase the ever- 
 growing suspicion of four hundred millions of Chinese — 
 upon whom depends the danger or safety of the Far East 
 — besides strengthening the hatred of Japan. From this 
 all the rest of the East will suffer. To-day Korean in- 
 dependence will mean not only daily life and happiness 
 for us, but also it would mean Japan's departure from 
 an evil way and exaltation to the place of true protector 
 of the East, so that China, too, even in her dreams, 
 would put all fear of Japan aside. This thought comes 
 from no minor resentment, but from a large hope for 
 the future welfare and blessing of mankind. 
 
 " A new era wakes before our eyes, the old world of 
 force is gone, and the new world of righteousness and 
 truth is here. Out of the experience and travail of the 
 old world arises this light on life's affairs. The insects 
 stifled by the foe and snow of winter awake at this same 
 time with the breezes of spring and the soft light of 
 the sun upon them. 
 
 " It is the day of the restoration of all things on the 
 full tide of which we set forth, without delay or fear. 
 We desire a full measure of satisfaction in the way of 
 liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and an opportunity 
 to develop what is in us for the glory of our people. 
 
 " We awake now from the old world with its darkened 
 conditions in full determination and one heart and one 
 mind, with right on our side, along with the forces of 
 nature, to a new life. May all the ancestors to the 
 thousands and ten thousand generations aid us from 
 within and all the force of the world aid us from without, 
 and let the day we take hold be the day of our attain- 
 ment. In this hope we go forward. 
 
 Three Items of Agreement 
 
 " i. This work of ours is in behalf of trutH, religion 
 and life, undertaken at the request of our people, in 
 order to make known their desire for liberty. Let no 
 violence be done to any one. 
 
250 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 " 2. Let those who follow us, every man, all the time, 
 every hour, show forth with gladness this same mind. 
 
 " 3. Let all things be done decently and in order, so 
 that our behaviour to the very end may be honourable 
 and upright." 
 
 The 4252nd year of the Kingdom of Korea 3d Month 
 
 Representatives of the people. 
 The signatures attached to the document are : 
 Son Pyung-hi, Kil Sun Chu, Yi Pil Chu, Paik Yong 
 Sung, Kim Won Kyu, Kim Pyung Cho, Kim Chang 
 Choon, Kwon Dong Chin, Kwon Byung Duk, Na Yong 
 Whan, Na In Hup, Yang Chun Paik, Yang Han Mook, 
 Lew Yer Dai, Yi Kop Sung, Yi Mung Yong, Yi Seung 
 Hoon, Yi Chong Hoon, Yi Chong II, Lim Yei Whan, 
 Pak Choon Seung, Pak Hi Do, Pak Tong Wan, Sin 
 Hong Sik, Sin Suk Ku, Oh Sei Chang, Oh Wha Young, 
 Chung Choon Su, Choi Sung Mo, Choi In, Han Yong 
 Woon, Hong Byung Ki, Hong Ki Cho. 
 
XV 
 
 THE PEOPLE SPEAK— THE TYRANTS 
 ANSWER 
 
 ON Saturday, March 1st, at two in the after- 
 noon, in a large number of centres of 
 population throughout the country, the 
 Declaration of Korean Independence was solemnly 
 read, usually to large assemblies, by representative 
 citizens. In some places, the leaders of the Chris- 
 tians and the leaders of the non-Christian bodies 
 acted in common. In other places, by mutual 
 agreement, two gatherings were held at the same 
 time, the one for Christians and the other for non- 
 Christians. Then the two met in the streets, and 
 sometimes headed by a band they marched down 
 the street shouting " Mansei " until they were dis- 
 persed. Every detail had been thought out. Large 
 numbers of copies of declarations of independence 
 were ready. These were circulated, usually by 
 boys and schoolgirls, sometimes by women, each 
 city being mapped out in districts. 
 
 It was soon seen that every class of the com- 
 munity was united. Men who had been ennobled 
 by the Japanese stood with the coolies; shop- 
 keepers closed their stores, policemen who had 
 worked under the Japanese took off their uniforms 
 
 r 
 
252 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 and joined the crowds, porters and labourers, 
 scholars and preachers, men and women all came 
 together. 
 
 In every other Korean demonstration, for untold 
 centuries, only part of the nation had been included. 
 When the yang-bans started a political revolt, in the 
 old days, they did not recognize that such a thing 
 as popular opinion existed and did not trouble to 
 consult it. Korea had long known demonstrations 
 of great family against great family, of Yis against 
 Mins; of section against section, as when the Con- 
 servatives fought the Progressives; and of Inde- 
 pendents against the old Court Gang. But now all 
 were one. And with the men were the women, 
 and even the children. Boys of six told their fathers 
 to be firm and never to yield, as they were carried 
 off to prison ; girls of ten and twelve prepared them- 
 selves to go to jail. 
 
 The movement was a demonstration, not a riot. 
 On the opening day and afterwards — until the 
 Japanese drove some of the people to fury — there 
 was no violence. The Japanese, scattered all over 
 the country, were uninjured; the Japanese shops 
 were left alone; when the police attacked, elders 
 ordered the people to submit and to offer no re- 
 sistance. The weak things had set themselves up 
 to confound the strong. 
 
 At first, the Japanese authorities were so com- 
 pletely taken by surprise that they did not know 
 what to do. Then the word was passed round that 
 the movement was to be suppressed by relentless 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK— TYEANTS ANSWEE 253 
 
 severity. And so Japan lost her last chance of 
 winning the people of Korea and of wiping out the 
 accentuated ill-will of centuries. 
 
 The first plan of the Japanese was to attack every 
 gathering of people and disperse it, and to arrest 
 every person who took part in the demonstrations 
 or was supposed to have a hand in them. Japanese 
 civilians were armed with clubs and swords and 
 given carte blanche to attack any Korean they sus- 
 pected of being a demonstrator. They interpreted 
 these instructions freely. Firemen were sent out 
 with poles with the big firemen's hooks at the end. 
 A single pull with one of these hooks meant death 
 or horrible mutilation for any person they struck. 
 
 The police used their swords freely. What I 
 mean by " freely " can best be shown by one inci- 
 dent. A little gathering of men started shouting 
 " Mansei " in a street in Seoul. The police came 
 after them, and they vanished. One man — it is not 
 clear whether he called " Mansei " or was an acci- 
 dental spectator — was pushed in the deep gutter by 
 the roadside as the demonstrators rushed away. 
 As he struggled out the police came up. There 
 was no question of the man resisting or not resist- 
 ing. He was unarmed and alone. They cut off 
 his ears, cut them off level with his cheek, they slit 
 up his fingers, they hacked his body, and then they 
 left him for dead. He was carried off by some 
 horrified spectators, and died a few hours later. A 
 photograph of his body lies before me as I write. 
 I showed the photograph one evening to two or 
 
254 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 three men in New York City. Next day I met the 
 men again. " We had nightmare all night long, 
 because of that picture," they told me. 
 
 In Seoul, when the thirty-three leaders were ar- 
 rested, a demonstration was held in the Park and 
 the Declaration read there. Then the crowd made 
 an orderly demonstration in the streets, waving 
 flags and hats, shouting " Mansei," parading in 
 front of the Consulates and public buildings, and 
 sending letters to the Consuls informing them of 
 '< what they had done. There was no violence. The 
 police, mounted and foot, tried to disperse the 
 crowds and made numerous arrests, but the throngs 
 were so dense that they could not scatter them. 
 
 Next day was Sunday. Here the strong Chris- 
 tian influences stopped demonstrations, for the 
 Korean Christians observe the Sunday strictly. 
 This gave the Japanese authorities time to gather 
 their forces. Numerous arrests were made that 
 day, not only in Seoul but all over the country. On 
 Monday there was the funeral of the ex-Emperor. 
 The people were quiet then. It was noticed that 
 the school children were entirely absent from their 
 places along the line of march. They had struck. 
 
 On Wednesday life was supposed to resume its 
 normal aspects again. The schools reopened, but 
 there were no pupils. The shops remained closed. 
 The coolies in official employ did not come to work. 
 The authorities sent police to order the shop- 
 keepers to open. They opened while the police 
 were by, and closed immediately they were out of 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK— TYRANTS ANSWER 255 
 
 sight. Finally troops were placed outside the shops 
 to see that they remained open. The shopkeepers 
 sat passive, and informed any chance enquirer that 
 they did not have what he wanted. This continued 
 for some weeks. 
 
 The authorities were specially disturbed by the 
 refusal of the children to come to school. In one 
 large junior school, the boys were implored to come 
 for their Commencement exercises, and to receive 
 their certificates. Let me tell the scene that fol- 
 lowed, as described to me by people in the city. 
 The boys apparently yielded, and the Commence- 
 ment ceremonies were begun, in the presence of a 
 number of official and other distinguished Japanese 
 guests. The precious certificates were handed out 
 to each lad. Then the head boy, a little fellow of 
 about twelve or thirteen, came to the front to make 
 the school speech of thanks to his teachers and to 
 the authorities. He was the impersonation of 
 courtesy. Every bow was given to the full; he 
 lingered over the honorifics, as though he loved the 
 sound of them. The distinguished guests were de- 
 lighted. Then came the end. " I have only this 
 now to say," the lad concluded. A change came 
 over his voice. He straightened himself up, and 
 there was a look of resolution in his eyes. He 
 knew that the cry he was about to utter had 
 brought death to many during the past few days. 
 " We beg one thing more of you." He plunged 
 one hand in his garment, pulled out the Korean 
 flag, the possession of which is a crime. Waving 
 
256 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 the flag, he cried out, " Give us back our country. 
 May Korea live forever. Mansei!" 
 
 All the boys jumped up from their seats, 
 each one pulling out a flag from under his coat and 
 waved it, calling, " Mansei ! Mansei ! Mansei ! " 
 They tore up their precious certificates, in front of 
 the now horrified guests, threw them on the 
 ground, and trooped out. 
 
 At nine o'clock that Wednesday morning there 
 was a great demonstration of students and high 
 school girls around the palace. The girls had 
 planned out their part ahead. A big crowd gath- 
 ered around. Then a large force of police rushed 
 on them, with drawn swords, knocking down, beat- 
 ing and arresting, lads and girls alike. The girls 
 were treated as roughly as the men. Over four 
 hundred, including one hundred girl students, were 
 taken to the police station that morning. What 
 happened to the girls there, I tell in a later chapter. 
 Fifteen nurse-probationers of the Severance Hos- 
 pital, one of the most famous missionary hospitals 
 in the Far East, hurried out with bandages to bind 
 up the wounded. The police took them in custody 
 also. They were severely examined, to find if the 
 foreigners had instigated them to take part in the 
 demonstrations, but were released the same after- 
 noon. 
 
 As Prince Yi was returning from the ex-Em- 
 peror's funeral that afternoon, a group of twenty 
 literati approached his carriage and attempted to 
 present a petition. They were stopped by the 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK— TYKANTS ANSWEB 257 
 
 police. A petition was sent by the literati to the 
 Governor-General; the delegates were told to take 
 it to the police office. Here they were arrested. 
 
 Two of the most famous nobles in the land, Vis- 
 count Kim and Viscount Li, sent a dignified peti- 
 tion to the Governor-General, begging him to listen 
 to the people, and deploring the severe measures 
 taken to suppress the demonstrations. Viscount 
 Kim was senior peer, head of the Confucian Col- 
 lege, and had ever been a friend of Japan. As far 
 back as 1866, he had run the risk of death by urging 
 the King to open the country to outside nations and 
 to conclude a treaty with Japan. The Japanese had 
 made him one of their new Korean peerage. He 
 was now eighty-five, feeble and bedridden. The 
 protest of himself and his fellow senior was meas- 
 ured, polished, moved with a deep sympathy for 
 the people, but with nothing in it to which the Gov- 
 ernor-General should have taken offence. 
 
 The Japanese treatment of these two nobles was 
 crowning proof of their incapacity to rule another 
 people. The two were at once arrested, and with 
 them various male members of their families. 
 Kim was so ill that he could not be immediately 
 moved, so a guard was placed over his house. All 
 were brought to trial at Seoul in July. With Vis- 
 count Kim were Kim Ki-ju, his grandson, and Kim 
 Yu-mon. With Viscount Li was his relative Li 
 Ken-tai. The charge against them was of violat- 
 ing the Peace Preservation Act. Ki-ju aggravated 
 his position by trying to defend himself. The Japa- 
 
258 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 nese press reported that he was reported to " have 
 assumed a very hostile attitude to the bench 
 enunciating this theory and that in defence of his 
 cause." This statement is the best condemnation 
 of the trial. Where a prisoner is deemed to add to 
 his guilt by attempting to defend himself, justice 
 has disappeared. 
 
 Viscount Kim was sentenced to two years' penal 
 servitude, and Viscount Li to eighteen months, 
 both sentences being stayed for three years. Kim 
 Ki-ju, Kim Yu-mon and Li Ken-tai were sentenced 
 to hard labour for eighteen months, twelve months 
 and six months respectively. The sentence re- 
 flected disgrace on the Government that instituted 
 the prosecution and decreed the punishment. 
 
 The white people of Seoul were horrified by the 
 Japanese treatment of badly wounded men who 
 flocked to the Severance Hospital for aid. Some of 
 these, almost fatally wounded, were put to bed. 
 The Japanese police came and demanded that they 
 should be delivered up to them. The doctors 
 pointed out that it probably would be fatal to move 
 them. The police persisted, and finally carried off 
 three men. It was reported that one man they 
 took off in this fashion was flogged to death. 
 
 Reports were beginning to come in from other 
 parts. There had been demonstrations through- 
 out the north, right up to Wiju, on the Manchurian 
 border. At Song-chon, it was reported, thirty had 
 been killed, a number wounded, and three hundred 
 arrested. Pyeng-yang had been the centre of a 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK— TYRANTS ANSWER 259 
 
 particularly impressive movement, which had been 
 sternly repressed. From the east coast, away at 
 Hameung, there came similar tidings. The Japa- 
 nese stated that things were quiet in the south until 
 Wednesday, when there was an outbreak at Kun- 
 san, led by the pupils of a Christian school. The 
 Japanese at once seized on the participation of the 
 Christians, the press declaring that the American 
 missionaries were at the bottom of it. A deliberate 
 attempt was made to stir up the Japanese popula- 
 tion ^gainst the Americans. Numbers of houses of 
 American missionaries and leaders of philanthropic 
 work were searched. Several of them were called 
 to the police offices and examined; some were 
 stopped in the streets and searched. Unable to 
 find any evidence against the missionaries, the 
 Japanese turned on the Korean Christians. Soon 
 nearly every Korean Christian pastor in Seoul was 
 in jail; and news came from many parts of the 
 burning of churches, the arrest of leading Chris- 
 tians, and the flogging of their congregations. The 
 Japanese authorities, on pressure from the Amer- 
 ican consular officials, issued statements that the 
 missionaries had nothing to do with the uprising, 
 but in practice they acted as though the rising were 
 essentially a Christian movement. 
 
 In the country people were stopped by soldiers 
 when walking along the roads, and asked, "Are you 
 Christians? " If they answered, " Yes," they were 
 beaten ; if " No," they were allowed to go. The 
 local gendarmes told the people in many villages 
 
260 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 that Christianity was to be wiped out and all Chris- 
 tians shot. " Christians are being arrested whole- 
 sale and beaten simply because they are Christians/' 
 came the reports from many parts. 
 
 Soon dreadful stories came from the prisons, not 
 only in Seoul, but in many other parts. Men who 
 had been released after investigation, as innocent, 
 told of the tortures inflicted on them in the police 
 offices, and showed their jellied and blackened flesh 
 in proof. Some were even inconsiderate enough to 
 die a few days after release, and on examination 
 their bodies and heads were found horribly dam- 
 aged. The treatment may be summed up in a 
 paragraph from a statement by the Rev. A. E. 
 Armstrong, of the Board of Foreign Missions of 
 the Presbyterian Church of Canada, who was on a 
 visit to Korea at the time : 
 
 " The tortures which the Koreans suffer at the hands 
 of the police and gendarmes are identical with those 
 employed in the famous conspiracy trials. I read affi- 
 davits, now on their way to the United States and British 
 Governments, which made one's blood boil, so frightful 
 were the means used in trying to extort confessions from 
 prisoners. And many of these had no part in the demon- 
 strations, but were simply onlookers." 
 
 Within a fortnight, the arrests numbered thou- 
 sands in Seoul alone. Every man, particularly 
 every student, suspected of participation was 
 jailed. But it was evident that the authorities had 
 not secured the leaders, or else that the leaders had 
 arranged a system by which there were men always 
 ready to step into the place of those who were 
 taken. The official organ, the Seoul Press, would 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK— TYRANTS ANSWER 261 
 
 come out with an announcement that the agitation 
 had now died down; two or three days later there 
 would be another great demonstration in the 
 streets. The hundred thousand visitors who had 
 come to Seoul for the funeral returned home to 
 start agitations in their own districts. The au- 
 thorities were particularly annoyed at their inability 
 to discover the editors and publishers of the secret 
 paper of the protest, the Independence News, which 
 appeared in mimeographed form. To prevent its 
 publication the authorities took control of mimeo- 
 graph paper, and seized every mimeograph ma- 
 chine they could find. Time after time it was 
 stated that the editors of the paper had been 
 secured; the announcement was barely published 
 before fresh editions would mysteriously appear in 
 Seoul and in the provinces. 
 
 Despite every effort to minimize it, news of the 
 happenings gradually crept out and were published 
 abroad. Mr. I. Yamagata, the Director-General of 
 Administration, was called to Tokyo for a confer- 
 ence with the Government. Much was hoped by 
 many friends of Japan in America from this. It 
 Was believed that the Liberal Premier of Japan, the 
 Hon. T. Hara, would promptly declare himself 
 against the cruelties that had been employed. Un- 
 fortunately these hopes were disappointed. While 
 speaking reassuringly to foreign enquirers, Mr. 
 Hara and his Government officially determined on 
 still harsher measures. 
 
 Mr. Yamagata's own statement, issued on his 
 return, announced that after conference with the 
 
262 KOKEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 Premier, an audience with the Emperor and con- 
 ferences with the Cabinet " decision was reached 
 in favour of taking drastic measures by despatching 
 more troops to the peninsula." 
 
 "In the first stage of the trouble, the Government- 
 General was in favour of mild measures ( !), and it was 
 hoped to quell the agitation by peaceful methods," Mr. 
 Yamagata continued. " It is to be regretted, however, 
 that the agitation has gradually spread to all parts of the 
 peninsula, while the nature of the disturbance has become 
 malignant, and it was to cope with this situation that the 
 Government was obliged to resort to force. In spite of 
 this, the trouble has not only continued, but has become 
 so uncontrollable and wide-spread that the police and 
 military force hitherto in use has been found insufficient, 
 necessitating the despatch of more troops and gendarmes 
 from the mother country. . . . Should they (the 
 agitators) continue the present trouble, it would be neces- 
 sary to show them the full power of the military force. 
 It is earnestly to be hoped that the trouble will be settled 
 peacefully, before the troops are obliged to use their 
 bayonets." 
 
 Count Hasegawa, the Governor-General, had al- 
 ready issued various proclamations, telling the 
 people of the Imperial benevolence of Japan, warn- 
 ing them that the watchword " self-determination 
 of races " was utterly irrevelant to Japan, and 
 warning them of the relentless punishment that 
 would fall on those who committed offences against 
 the peace. Here is one of the proclamations. It 
 may be taken as typical of all : 
 
 " When the State funeral of the late Prince*Yi was on 
 the point of being held, I issued an instruction that the 
 people should help one another to mourn his loss in a 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK—TYRANTS ANSWER 263 
 
 quiet and respectful manner and avoid any rash act or 
 disorder. Alas! I was deeply chagrined to see that, 
 instigated by certain refractory men, people started a riot 
 in Seoul and other places. Rumour was recently cir- 
 culated that at the recent Peace Conference in Paris and 
 other places, the independence of Chosen was recognized 
 by foreign Powers, but the rumour is absolutely ground- 
 less. It need hardly be stated that the sovereignty of the 
 Japanese Empire is irrevocably established in the past, 
 and will never be broken in the future. During the ten 
 years since annexation, the Imperial benevolence has 
 gradually reached all parts of the country, and it is now 
 recognized throughout the world that the country has 
 made a marked advancement in the securing of safety to 
 life, and property, and the development of education and 
 industry. Those who are trying to mislead the people 
 by disseminating such a rumour as cited know their own 
 purpose, but it is certain that the day of repentance will 
 come to all who, discarding their studies or vocations, 
 take part in the mad movement. Immediate awakening 
 is urgently required. 
 
 " The mother country and Chosen, now merging in one 
 body, makes a State. Its population and strength were 
 found adequate enough to enter upon a League with the 
 Powers and conduct to the promotion of world peace and 
 enlightenment, while at the same time the Empire is going 
 faithfully to discharge its duty as an Ally by saving its 
 neighbour from difficulty. This is the moment of time 
 when the bonds of unity between the Japanese and 
 Koreans are to be more firmly tightened and nothing will 
 be left undone to fulfill the mission of the Empire and to 
 establish its prestige on the globe. It is evident that the 
 two peoples, which have ever been in inseparably close 
 relations from of old, have lately been even more closely 
 connected. The recent episodes are by no means due to 
 any antipathy between the two peoples. It will be most 
 unwise credulously to swallow the utterances of those 
 refractory people who, resident always abroad, are not 
 well informed upon the real conditions in the peninsula, 
 but, nevertheless, are attempting to mislead their brethren 
 
264 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 by spreading wild fictions and thus disturbing the peace of 
 the Empire, only to bring on themselves the derision of 
 the Powers for their indulgence in unbridled imagination 
 in seizing upon the watchword * self-determination of 
 races ' which is utterly irrelevant to Chosen, and in com- 
 mitting themselves to thoughtless act and language. The 
 Government are now doing their utmost to put an end to 
 such unruly behaviour and will relentlessly punish any- 
 body daring to commit offences against the peace. The 
 present excitement will soon cease to exist, but it is to be 
 hoped that the people on their part will do their share in 
 restoring quiet by rightly guarding their wards and neigh- 
 bours so as to save them from any offence committing a 
 severe penalty." ' 
 
 The new era of relentless severity began by the 
 enactment of various fresh laws. The regulations 
 for Koreans going from or coming into their coun- 
 try were made more rigid. The Regulations Con- 
 cerning Visitors and Residents had already been 
 revised in mid-March. Under these, any person 
 who, even as a non-commercial act, allowed a for- 
 eigner to stay in his or her house for a night or 
 more must hereafter at once report the fact to the 
 police or gendarmes. A fresh ordinance against 
 agitators was published in the Official Gazette. It 
 provided that anybody interfering or attempting 
 to interfere in the preservation of peace and order 
 with a view to bringing about political change 
 would be punished by penal servitude or imprison- 
 ment for a period not exceeding ten years. The 
 ordinance would apply to offences committed by 
 subjects of the Empire committed outside its do- 
 mains, and it was specially emphasized in the ex- 
 1 Quoted from the Seoul Press. 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK— TYKANTS ANSWEB 265 
 
 planations of the new law given out that it would 
 apply to foreigners as well as Japanese or Koreans. 
 
 The Government-General introduced a new prin- 
 ciple, generally regarded by jurists of all lands as 
 unjust and indefensible. They made the law retro- 
 active. People who were found guilty of this of- 
 fence, their acts being committed before the new 
 law came into force, were to be sentenced under it, 
 and not under the much milder old law. This was 
 done. 
 
 The Koreans were quickly to learn what the new 
 military regime meant. One of the first examples 
 was at Cheamni, a village some miles from Suigen, 
 on the Seoul-Fusan Railway. Various rumours 
 reached Seoul that this place had been destroyed, 
 and a party of Americans, including Mr. Curtice of 
 the Consulate, Mr. Underwood, son of the famous 
 missionary pioneer, and himself a missionary and a 
 correspondent of the Japan Advertiser, went to 
 investigate. After considerable enquiry they 
 reached a place which had been a village of forty 
 houses. They found only four or five standing. 
 All the rest were smoking ruins. 
 
 " We passed along the path," wrote the corre- 
 spondent of the Japan Advertiser, " which ran along 
 the front of the village lengthwise, and in about the 
 middle we came on a compound surrounded by 
 burnt poplars, which was filled with glowing ashes. 
 It was here that we found a body frightfully burned 
 and twisted, either of a young man or a woman. 
 This place we found later was the Christian church, 
 and on coming down from another direction on our 
 
266 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 return I found a second body, evidently that of a 
 man, also badly burned, lying just outside the 
 church compound. The odour of burned flesh in 
 the vicinity of the church was sickening. 
 
 " We proceeded to the end of the village and 
 climbed the hill, where we found several groups of 
 people huddled under little straw shelters, with a 
 few of their pitiful belongings about them. They 
 were mostly women, some old, others young 
 mothers with babes at breast, but all sunk in the 
 dull apathy of abject misery and despair. 
 
 " Talking to them in their own language and 
 with sympathy, Mr. Underwood soon won the con- 
 fidence of several and got the story of what hap- 
 pened from different groups, and in every case 
 these stories tallied in the essential facts. The day 
 before we arrived, soldiers came to the village, 
 some time in the early afternoon, and ordered all 
 the male Christians to gather in the church. When 
 they had so gathered, to a number estimated to be 
 thirty by our informers, the soldiers opened fire on 
 them with rifles and then proceeded into the church 
 and finished them off with sword and bayonets. 
 After this they set fire to the church, but as the 
 direction of the wind and the central position of the 
 church prevented the upper houses catching, sol- 
 diers fired these houses individually, and after a 
 time left. 
 
 " As we passed down the ruined village, return- 
 ing to our rikishas, we came on the last house of the 
 village, which was standing intact, and entered in 
 conversation with the owner, a very old man. He 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK—TYRANTS ANSWER 267 
 
 attributed the safety of his house to its being 
 slightly removed, and to a vagary of the wind. He 
 was alive because he was not a Christian and had 
 not been called into the church. The details of his 
 story of the occurrence tallied exactly with the 
 others, as to what had happened." 
 
 One example will serve to show what was going 
 on now all over the country. The following letter 
 was written by a cultured American holding a re- 
 sponsible position in Korea : 
 
 " Had the authorities handled this matter in a different 
 way, this letter would never have been written. We are 
 not out here to mix in politics, and so long as it remained 
 a purely political problem, we had no desire to say any- 
 thing on one side or the other. But the appeal of the 
 Koreans has been met in such a way that it has been 
 taken out of the realm of mere politics and has become a 
 question of humanity. When it comes to weakness and 
 helplessness being pitted against inhumanity, there can be 
 no such thing as neutrality. 
 
 " I have seen personal friends of mine among the 
 Koreans, educated men, middle-aged men, who up to that 
 time had no part in the demonstrations, parts of whose 
 bodies had been beaten to a pulp under police orders. 
 
 " A few hundred yards from where I am writing, the 
 beating goes on, day after day. The victims are tied 
 down on a frame and beaten on the naked body with rods 
 till they become unconscious. Then cold water is poured 
 on them until they revive, when the process is repeated. 
 It is sometimes repeated many times. Reliable informa- 
 tion comes to me that in some cases arms and legs have 
 been broken. 
 
 " Men, women and children are shot down or bayo- 
 netted. The Christian church is specially chosen as an 
 object of fury, and to the Christians is meted out special 
 severity. . . . 
 
268 KOBE A' S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 " A few miles from here, a band of soldiers entered a 
 village and ordered the men to leave, the women to 
 remain behind. But the men were afraid to leave their 
 women, and sent the women away first. For this the men 
 were beaten. 
 
 " A short distance from this village, this band is re- 
 ported to have met a Korean woman riding in a rickshaw. 
 She was violated by four of the soldiers and left uncon- 
 scious. A Korean reported the doings of this band of 
 soldiers to the military commander of the district in 
 which it occurred and the commander ordered him to be 
 beaten for reporting it. 
 
 " Word comes to me to-day from another province of 
 a woman who was stripped and strung up by the thumbs 
 for six hours in an effort to get her to tell the where- 
 abouts of her husband. She probably did not know. 
 
 " The woes of Belgium under German domination have 
 filled our ears for the past four years, and rightly so. 
 The Belgian Government has recently announced that 
 during the more than four years that the Germans held 
 the country, six thousand civilians were put to death by 
 the Germans. Here in this land it is probably safe to 
 say that two thousand men, women and children, empty 
 handed and helpless, have been put to death in seven 
 weeks. You may draw your own conclusions ! 
 
 " As for the Koreans, they are a marvel to us all. 
 Even those of us who have known them for many years, 
 and have believed them to be capable of great things, 
 were surprised. Their self-restraint, their fortitude, their 
 endurance and their heroism have seldom been surpassed. 
 As an American I have been accustomed to hear, as a boy, 
 of the ' spirit of 76/ but I have seen it out here, and it 
 was under a yellow skin. More than one foreigner is 
 saying, these days, ' I am proud of the Koreans/ " 
 
 There were exciting scenes in Sun-chon. This 
 city is one of the great centres of Christianity in 
 Korea, and its people, hardy and independent 
 northerners, have for long been suspected by the 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK— TYEANTS ANSWER 269 
 
 Japanese. Large numbers of leaders of the church 
 and students at the missionary academy had been 
 arrested, confined for a very long period and ill- 
 treated at the time of the Conspiracy trial. They 
 were all found to be innocent later, on the retrial 
 at the Appeal Court. This had not tended to pro- 
 mote harmonious relations between the two 
 peoples. 
 
 Various notices and appeals were circulated 
 among the people. Many of them, issued by the 
 leaders, strongly urged the people to avoid insult- 
 ing behaviour, insulting language or violence to- 
 wards the Japanese. 
 
 " Pray morning, noon and night, and fast on 
 Sundays " was the notice to the Christians. Other 
 appeals ran: 
 
 " Think, dear Korean brothers ! 
 
 " What place have we or our children ? Where can we 
 speak? What has become of our land? 
 
 " Fellow countrymen, we are of one blood. Can we be 
 indifferent? At this time, how can you Japanese show 
 such ill feeling and such treachery? How can you injure 
 us with guns and swords ? How can your violence be so 
 deep? 
 
 " Koreans, if in the past for small things we have suf- 
 fered injuries, how much more shall we suffer to-day? 
 Even though your flesh be torn from you, little by little, 
 you can stand it! Think of the past. Think of the 
 future ! We stand together for those who are dying for 
 Korea. 
 
 " We have been held in bondage. If we do not become 
 free at this time, we shall never be able to gain freedom. 
 Brethren, it can be done! It is possible! Do not be 
 discouraged ! Give up your business for the moment and 
 
270 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 shout for Korea. Injury to life and property are of con- 
 sequence, but right and liberty are far more important. 
 Until the news of the Peace Conference is received, do 
 not cease. We are not wood and stones, but flesh and 
 blood. Can we not speak out ? Why go back and become 
 discouraged ? Do not fear death ! Even though I die, 
 my children and grandchildren shall enjoy the blessings 
 of liberty. Mansei ! Mansei ! Mansei ! " 
 
 Mr. D. V. Hudson, of the Southern Presbyterian 
 University at Shanghai, brought the records of 
 many outrages back with him on his return to 
 America. From them I take the following: 
 
 " At Maingsang, South Pyeng-yang Province, the fol- 
 lowing incident took place on March 3rd. When the 
 uprising first broke out there were no Japanese gendarmes 
 in the village, but Koreans only. The people there were 
 mostly Chun-do Kyo followers, so no Christians were 
 involved in the trouble. These Chun-do Kyo people 
 gathered on the appointed day for the Korean Independ- 
 ence celebration, and held the usual speeches and shout- 
 ing of ' Mansei/ The Korean gendarmes did not want to 
 or dared not interfere, so that day was spent by the people 
 as they pleased. 
 
 " A few days later Japanese soldiers arrived to investi- 
 gate and to put down the uprising. They found the peo- 
 ple meeting again, ostensibly to honour one of their 
 teachers. The soldiers immediately interfered, seized the 
 leader of the meeting and led him away to the gendarme 
 station. He was badly treated in the affray and the 
 people were badly incensed. So they followed the sol- 
 diers to the station, hoping to effect the release of their 
 leader. The soldiers tried to drive them away. Some 
 left but others remained. 
 
 " The police station was surrounded by a stone wall, 
 with but one gate to the enclosure. The soldiers per- 
 mitted those who insisted on following to enter, and, when 
 they had entered, closed the door; then the soldiers 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK— TYRANTS ANSWER 271 
 
 deliberately set to work, shooting them down in cold 
 blood. Only three of the fifty-six escaped death.' ' 
 
 Let me give one other statement by a newspaper 
 man. I might go on with tale after tale of bru- 
 tality and fill another volume. Mr. William R. 
 Giles is a Far Eastern correspondent well known 
 for the sanity of his views and his careful state- 
 ments of facts. He represents the Chicago Daily 
 News at Peking. He visited Korea shortly after 
 the uprising, specially to learn the truth. He re- 
 mained there many weeks. Here is his deliberate 
 verdict: 
 
 " Pekin, June 14th. — After nearly three months of 
 travelling in Korea, in which time I journeyed from the 
 north to the extreme south, I find that the charges of 
 misgovernment, torture and useless slaughter by the Jap- 
 anese to be substantially correct. 
 
 " In the country districts I heard stories of useless 
 murder and crimes against women. A number of the 
 latter cases were brought to my notice. One of the 
 victims was a patient in a missionary hospital. 
 
 " In a valley about fifty miles from Fusan, the Jap- 
 anese soldiery closed up a horseshoe-shaped valley sur- 
 rounded by high hills, and then shot down the villagers 
 who attempted to escape by climbing the steep slopes. I 
 was informed that more than 100 persons were killed in 
 this affray. 
 
 " In Taku, a large city midway between Seoul and 
 Fusan, hundreds of cases of torture occurred, and many 
 of the victims of ill-treatment were in the hospitals. In 
 Seoul, the capital, strings of prisoners were seen daily 
 being taken to jails which were already crowded. 
 
 " While I was in this city I spent some time in the 
 Severance Hospital as a patient, and saw wounded men 
 taken out by the police, one of them having been beaten 
 to death. Two days later the hospital repeatedly was 
 
272 KOREA'S FIGHT FOE FREEDOM 
 
 entered and the patients catechized, those in charge being 
 unable to prevent it. Detectives even attempted in the 
 night time secretly to enter my room while I was critically 
 ill. 
 
 " In Seoul, Koreans were not allowed to be on the 
 streets after dark and were not allowed to gather in 
 groups larger than three. All the prisoners were brutally 
 and disgustingly treated. Innocent persons were being 
 continually arrested, kept in overcrowded prisons a month 
 or more, and then, after being flogged, released without 
 trial. 
 
 " Northern Korea suffered the most from the Japanese 
 brutalities. In the Pyeng-yang and Sensan districts 
 whole villages were destroyed and churches burned, many 
 of which I saw and photographed. 
 
 " In Pyeng-yang I interviewed the Governor and easily 
 saw that he was powerless, everything being in the hands 
 of the chief of the gendarmerie. At first I was not al- 
 lowed to visit the prison, but the Governor-General of 
 Korea telegraphed his permission. I found it clean and 
 the prisoners were well fed, but the overcrowded condi- 
 tion of the cells caused untold suffering. 
 
 " In one room, ten feet by six, were more than thirty 
 prisoners. The prison governor admitted that the total 
 normal capacity of the building was 800, but the occu- 
 pants then numbered 2,100. He said he had requested 
 the Government to enlarge the prison immediately, as 
 otherwise epidemics would break out as soon as hot 
 weather came. 
 
 " I visited an interior village to learn the truth in a 
 report that the Christians had been driven from their 
 homes. The local head official, not a Christian, admitted 
 to me that the non-Christian villagers had driven the 
 Christians into the mountains because the local military 
 officials had warned him that their presence would result 
 in the village being shot up. He said he had the most 
 friendly feeling for the Christians but drove them out in 
 self -protection. 
 
 " In other villages which I visited the building had been 
 entirely destroyed and the places were destroyed. In 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK— TYRANTS ANSWER 273 
 
 some of the places I found only terrorized and tearful 
 women who did not dare to speak to a foreigner because 
 the local gendarmes would beat and torture them if 
 they did so. 
 
 " The majority of the schools throughout the country 
 are closed. In most places the missionaries are not al- 
 lowed to hold services. Though innocent of any wrong- 
 doing, they are under continual suspicion. It was im- 
 possible for them or others to use the telegraph and post- 
 offices, the strictest censorship prevailing. Undoubtedly 
 an attempt is being made to undermine Christianity and 
 make the position of missionaries so difficult that it will 
 be impossible for them to carry on their work. 
 
 " In the course of my investigation I was deeply im- 
 pressed with the pitiful condition of the Korean people. 
 They are allowed only a limited education and attempts 
 are being made to cause them to forget their national 
 history and their language. 
 
 " There is no freedom of the press or of public meet- 
 ing. The people are subject to the harshest regulations 
 and punishments without any court of appeal. They are 
 like sheep driven to a slaughter house. Only an inde- 
 pendent investigation can make the world understand 
 Korea's true position. At present the groanings and suf- 
 ferings of 20,000,000 people are apparently falling on 
 deaf ear." 
 
 As these tales, and many more like them, were 
 spread abroad, the Japanese outside of Korea tried 
 to find some excuse for their nationals. One of the 
 most extraordinary of these excuses was a series 
 of instructions, said to have been issued by General 
 Utsonomiya, commander of the military forces in 
 Korea, to the officers and men under him. Copies 
 of these were privately circulated by certain pro- 
 Japanese in America among their friends, as proof 
 of the falsity of the charges of ill-treatment. Some 
 extracts from them were published by Bishop Her- 
 
274 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 bert Welsh, of the Methodist Church, in the Chris- 
 tian Advocate. 
 
 " Warm sympathy should be shown to the erring 
 Koreans, who, in spite of their offence, should be treated 
 as unfortunate fellow countrymen, needing love and 
 guidance. 
 
 " Use of weapons should be abstained from till the last 
 moment of absolute necessity. Where, for instance, the 
 demonstration is confined merely to processions and the 
 shouting of banzai and no violence is done, efforts should 
 be confined to the dispersal of crowds by peaceful per- 
 suasion. 
 
 " Even in case force is employed as the last resource, 
 endeavour should be made to limit its use to the minimum 
 extent. 
 
 " The moment the necessity therefor ceases the use of 
 force should at once be stopped. . . . 
 
 " Special care should be taken not to harm anybody not 
 participating in disturbances, especially aged people, chil- 
 dren and women. With regard to the missionaries and 
 other foreigners, except in case of the plainest evidence, 
 as, for instance, where they are caught in the act, all for- 
 bearance and circumspection should be used. 
 
 " You are expected to see to it that the officers and men 
 under you (especially those detailed in small parties) will 
 lead a clean and decent life and be modest and polite, 
 without abating their loyalty and courage, thus exem- 
 plifying in their conduct the noble traditions of our 
 historic Bushido." . . . 
 
 If a final touch were wanted to the disgrace of 
 the Japanese administration, here it was. Brutal- 
 ity, especially brutality against the unarmed and 
 against women and children, is bad enough; but 
 when to brutality we add nauseating hypocrisy, 
 God help us! 
 
 One of the Japanese majors who returned from 
 
PEOPLE SPEAK— TYRANTS ANSWER 275 
 
 Korea to Tokyo to lecture was more straightfor- 
 ward. " We must beat and kill the Koreans," he 
 said. And they did. 
 
 After a time the Japanese papers began to report 
 the punishments inflicted on the arrested Koreans. 
 Many were released after examination and beat- 
 ings. It was mentioned that up to April 13th, 
 2,400 of those arrested in Seoul alone had been 
 released, " after severe admonition." The usual 
 sentences were between six months' and four years' 
 imprisonment. 
 
 Soon there came reports that prisoners were at- 
 tempting to commit suicide in jail. Then came 
 word that two of the original signers of the Decla- 
 ration of Independence were dead in prison. 
 Koreans everywhere mourned. For they could 
 imagine how they had died. 
 
 During the summer the authorities published 
 figures relating to the number of prisoners brought 
 under the examination of Public Procurators be- 
 tween March 1st and June 18th, on account of the 
 agitation. These figures do not include the large 
 numbers released by the police after arrest, and 
 after possibly summary punishment. Sixteen thou- 
 sand one hundred and eighty-three men were 
 brought up for examination. Of these, 8,351 were 
 prosecuted and 5,858 set free after the Procurators' 
 examination. One thousand seven hundred and 
 seventy-eight were transferred from one law court 
 to another for the purpose of thorough examina- 
 tion, while 178 had not yet been tried. 
 
XVI 
 
 THE REIGN OF TERROR IN PYENG-YANG 
 
 PYENG-YANG, the famous missionary 
 centre in Northern Korea, has been de- 
 scribed in previous chapters. The people 
 here, Christians and non-Christians alike, took a 
 prominent part in the movement. It was an- 
 nounced that three memorial services would be 
 held on March 1st, in memory of the late Emperor, 
 one in the compound of the Christian Boys' School, 
 one in the compound of the Methodist church and 
 the third at the headquarers of the Chun-do Kyo. 
 
 The meeting at the boys' school was typical of 
 all. Several of the native pastors and elders of the 
 Presbyterian churches of the city, including the 
 Moderator of the General Assembly, were present, 
 and the compound was crowded with fully three 
 thousand people. After the memorial service was 
 finished, a prominent Korean minister asked the 
 people to keep their seats, as there was more to 
 follow. 
 
 Then, with an air of great solemnity, the Mod- 
 erator of the General Assembly read two passages 
 from the Bible, 1 Peter 3 : 13-17 and Romans 9 : 3. 
 
 " And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers 
 of that which is good. 
 
 " But, if ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye, 
 and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. 
 
 276 
 
THE REIGN OF TERROR IN PYENG-YANG 277 
 
 " For I could wish that I were accurst from Christ for 
 my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." 
 
 It was the great appeal to all that was most 
 heroic in their souls. Some of them whispered the 
 words after the Moderator. 
 
 " Sarami doorupkei hanangusul dooru wo mal- 
 myu sodong chi malgo." 
 
 " Be not afraid of their terror." 
 
 These white-robed men knew what was before 
 them. Terror and torture and suffering were no 
 new things to them. Within a quarter of a century 
 conquering and defeated armies had passed through 
 their city time after time. They knew war, and 
 they knew worse than war. Japan had during the 
 past few years planted her terror among them, per- 
 secuting the Church, arresting its most prominent 
 members on false charges, breaking them in prison 
 by scientific torture. Many of the men knew, in 
 that assembly, of the meaning of police flogging, 
 the feel of police burning, the unspeakable agony 
 of being strung up by the thumbs under the police 
 inquisition. 
 
 "Be not afraid of their terror!" Easy to say 
 this to Western peoples, to whom terror is known 
 only in the form of the high explosives and drop- 
 ping bombs of honourable war. But for these 
 men it had another meaning, an inquisition await- 
 ing them compared with which the tortures of Tor- 
 quemada paled. 
 
 "Be not afraid!" 
 
 There was no tremor of fear in the voice of the 
 
278 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 college graduate who rose to his feet and came to 
 the front. " This is the proudest and happiest day 
 of my life," he said. " Though I die to-morrow, I 
 cannot help but read." He had a paper in his 
 hand. As the vast audience saw it, they gave a 
 great cheer. Then he read the Declaration of In- 
 dependence of the Korean people. 
 
 When he had finished, another man took the plat- 
 form. " Nothing of an unlawful nature is to be 
 permitted," he said. " You are all to obey orders, 
 and make no resistance to the authorities, nor to 
 attack the Japanese officials or people." A speech 
 on Korean independence followed. Then some 
 men came out of the building bearing armfuls of 
 Korean flags, which they distributed among the 
 people. A large Korean flag was raised on the 
 wall behind, and the crowd rose to its feet cheering, 
 waving flags, calling " Mansei." 
 
 There was to be a parade through the streets. 
 But spies had already hurried off to the police sta- 
 tion, and before the people could leave, a company 
 of policemen arrived. " Remain quiet," the word 
 went round. The police gathered up the flags. 
 
 In the evening a large crowd gathered in front of 
 the police station shouting " Mansei." The police 
 ordered the hose to be turned on them. The 
 Korean policemen refused to obey their Japanese 
 superiors, threw off their uniforms and joined the 
 mob. The hose at last got to work. The mob re- 
 sponded by throwing stones, breaking the windows 
 of the police station. This was the only violence. 
 On the following day, Sunday, the churches were 
 
THE REIGN OF TERROR IN PYENG-YANG 279 
 
 closed. At midnight, the police had summoned 
 Dr. Moffett to their office and told him that no 
 services could be allowed. Early in the morning, 
 the leaders of the Saturday meetings were arrested, 
 and were now in jail. " Be not afraid ! " 
 
 At nine o'clock on Monday morning a company 
 of Japanese soldiers was drilling on the campus. 
 A number of students from the college and acad- 
 emy were on the top of a bank, looking on at the 
 drill. Suddenly the soldiers, in obedience to a 
 word of command, rushed at the students. The 
 latter took to their heels and fled, save two or three 
 who stood their ground. The students who had 
 escaped cheered; and one of the men who stood his 
 ground called " Mansei." The soldiers struck him 
 with the butts and barrels of their rifles. Then one 
 poked him with his rifle in his face. He was bleed- 
 ing badly. Two soldiers led him off, a prisoner. 
 The rest were dispersed with kicks and blows. 
 
 Now the Japanese started their innings. One 
 man in plain clothes confronted a Korean who was 
 walking quietly, slapped his face and knocked him 
 down. A soldier joined in the sport, and after 
 many blows with the rifle and kicks, they rolled 
 him down an embankment into a ditch. They then 
 ran down, pulled him out of the ditch, kicked him 
 some more, and hauled him off to prison. 
 
 The streets were full of people now, and parties 
 of troops were going about everywhere dispersing 
 them. The crowds formed, shouting "Mansei"; 
 the soldiers chased them, beating up all they could 
 catch. There were rumours that most of the Ko- 
 
280 KOBE A' S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 rean policemen had deserted; they had joined the 
 crowds; the Japanese were searching for them and 
 arresting them; and, men whispered, they would be 
 executed. By midday, every one had enough trou- 
 ble, and the city quieted down for the rest of the 
 day. It was not safe to go abroad now. The sol- 
 diers were beating up every one they could find, 
 particularly women. 
 
 By Tuesday the city was full of tales of the do- 
 ings of the soldiers; having tasted blood, the troops 
 were warming to their work. " The soldiers have 
 been chasing people to-day like they were hunters 
 after wild beasts," wrote one foreign spectator. 
 " Outrages have been very numerous." Still, de- 
 spite the troops, the people held two or three patri- 
 otic meetings. 
 
 Let me tell the tale of Tuesday and Wednesday 
 from two statements made by Dr. Moffett. These 
 statements were made at the time to the officials in 
 Pyeng-yang and in Seoul: 
 
 " On Tuesday, March 4th, I, in company with 
 Mr. Yamada, Inspector of Schools, went into the 
 midst of the crowds of Koreans on the college 
 grounds, and thence went through the streets to 
 the city. 
 
 " We saw thousands of Koreans on the streets, 
 the shops all closed, and Japanese soldiers here and 
 there. . . . 
 
 " As we came back and near a police station, sol- 
 diers made a dash at some fifteen or more people 
 in the middle of the street, and three of the soldiers 
 dashed at some five or six men standing quietly at 
 
THE EEIGN OF TEEEOE IN PYENG-YANG 281 
 
 the side, under the eaves of the shops, hitting them 
 with their guns. One tall young man in a very 
 clean white coat dodged the thrust of the gun com- 
 ing about five feet under the eaves when an officer 
 thrust his sword into his back, just under the shoul- 
 der blades. The man was not more than ten feet 
 from us in front. . . . 
 
 " Mr. Yamada was most indignant and said, ' I 
 shall tell Governor Kudo just what I have seen and 
 tell him in detail/ 
 
 " I asked him if he had noticed that the man was 
 quietly standing at the side of the road, and had 
 given no occasion for attack. He said, l Yes.' 
 
 " Just after that we saw thirty-four young girls 
 and women marched along by some six or eight 
 policemen and soldiers, the girls ahead not being 
 more than twelve or thirteen years of age. 
 
 "Just outside the West Gate Mr. Yamada and I 
 separated and I went towards home. As I arrived 
 near my own compound, I saw a number of sol- 
 diers rush into the gate of the Theological Semi- 
 nary professor's cottage, and saw them grab out a 
 man, beat and kick him and lead him off. Others 
 began clubbing a youth behind the gate and then led 
 him out, tied him tightly and beat and kicked him. 
 
 " Then there came out three others, two youths 
 and one man, dragged by soldiers, and then tied 
 with rope, their hands tied behind them. 
 
 " Thinking one was my secretary, who lived in 
 the gate house, where the men had been beaten, I 
 moved to the junction of the road to make sure, but 
 I recognized none of the four. When they came to 
 
282 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 the junction of the road and some of the soldiers 
 were within ten or twelve feet of me, they all 
 stopped, tied the ropes tighter, and then with four 
 men tied and helpless, these twenty or more sol- 
 diers, in charge of an officer, struck the men with 
 their fists in the face and back, hit them on the 
 head and face with a piece of board, kicked them on 
 the legs and back, doing these things repeatedly. 
 The officer in a rage raised his sword over his head 
 as he stood before a boy, and both I and the boy 
 thought that he was to be cleft in two. The cry of 
 terror and anguish he raised was most piercing. 
 Then, kicking and beating these men, they led 
 them off. 
 
 " The above I saw myself and testify to the 
 truthfulness of my statements. In all my contact 
 with the Koreans these five days, and in all my ob- 
 servation of the crowds inside and outside the city, 
 I have witnessed no act of violence on the part of 
 any Korean. 
 
 " The Theological Seminary was due to open on 
 March 5th, Five students from South Korea ar- 
 rived and went into their dormitory on the after- 
 noon of the 4th. They had taken no part in the 
 demonstrations. Later in the afternoon the sol- 
 diers, searching after some people who had run 
 away from them, burst into the seminary. They 
 broke open the door of the dormitory, pulled the 
 five theologues out and hauled them off to the 
 police station. There, despite their protests, they 
 were tied by their arms and legs to large wooden 
 crosses, face downwards, and beaten on the naked 
 
THE REIGN OP TERROR IN PYENG-YANG 283 
 
 buttocks, twenty-nine tremendous blows from a 
 hard cane, each. Then they were dismissed. 
 
 " That same night firemen were let loose on the 
 village where many of the students lived and 
 boarded. They dragged out the young men and 
 beat them. The opening of the seminary had to 
 be postponed. 
 
 " The Japanese were eager to find grounds for 
 convicting the missionaries of participation in the 
 movement. One question was pressed on every 
 prisoner, usually by beating and burning, ' Who 
 instigated you? Was it the foreigners? ' " 
 
 Dr. Moffett was a special object of Japanese 
 hatred. The Osaka Asahi printed a bitter attack 
 on him on March 17th. This is the more notable 
 because the Asahi is a noted organ of Japanese 
 Liberalism. 
 
 The Evil Village Outside the West Gate 
 in Pyeng-yang 
 
 A Clever Crowd 
 
 " Outside the West Gate in Pyeng-yang there are some 
 brick houses and some built after the Korean style, some 
 high and some low. These are the homes of the for- 
 eigners. There are about a hundred of them in all, and. 
 they are Christian missionaries. In the balmy spring, 
 strains of music can be heard from there. Outwardly 
 they manifest love and mercy, but if their minds are fully 
 investigated, they will be found to be filled wirh intrigue 
 and greed. They pretend to be here for preaching, but 
 they are secretly stirring up political disturbances, and 
 foolishly keep passing on the vain talk of the Koreans, 
 and thereby help to foster trouble. These are really the 
 homes of devils. 
 
284 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 " The head of the crowd is Moffett. The Christians 
 of the place obey him as they would Jesus Himself. In 
 the 29th year of Meiji freedom was given to any one to 
 believe in any religion he wished, and at that time Moffett 
 came to teach the Christian religion. He has been in 
 Pyeng-yang for thirty years, and has brought up a great 
 deal of land. He is really the founder of the foreign 
 community. In this community, because of his efforts 
 there have been established schools from the primary 
 grade to a college and a hospital. While they are edu- 
 cating the Korean children and healing their diseases on 
 the one hand, on the other there is concealed a clever 
 shadow, and even the Koreans themselves talk of this. 
 
 " This is the centre of the present uprising. It is not 
 in Seoul but in Pyeng-yang. 
 
 " It is impossible to know whether these statements are 
 true or false, but we feel certain that it is in Pyeng-yang, 
 in the Church schools, — in a certain college and a certain 
 girls' school — in the compound of these foreigners. 
 Really this foreign community is very vile." 1 
 
 A veritable reign of terror was instituted. There 
 were wholesale arrests and the treatment of many 
 of the people in prison was in keeping with the 
 methods employed by the Japanese on the Con- 
 spiracy Trial victims. The case of a little shoe boy 
 aroused special indignation. The Japanese thought 
 that he knew something about the organization of 
 the demonstration — why they thought so, only 
 those who can fathom the Japanese mind would 
 venture to say — so they beat and burned him al- 
 most to death to make him confess. A lady mis- 
 sionary examined his body afterwards. There 
 were four scars, five inches long, where the flesh 
 
 1 Osaka Asahi, quoted in the Peking and Tientsin Times, 
 March 28, 1919. 
 
THE REIGN OF TERROR IN PYENG-YANG 285 
 
 had been seared with a red-hot iron. His hands 
 had swollen to twice their normal size from beating, 
 and the dead skin lay on the welts. He had been 
 kicked and beaten until he fainted. Then they 
 threw water over him and gave him water to drink 
 until he recovered when he was again piled with 
 questions and beaten with a bamboo rod until he 
 collapsed. 
 
 Some of those released from prison after they 
 had satisfied the Japanese of their innocence had 
 dreadful tales to tell. Sixty people were confined 
 in a room fourteen by eight feet, where they had 
 to stand up all the time, not being allowed to sit or 
 lie down. Eating and sleeping they stood leaning 
 against one another. The wants of nature had to 
 be attended to by them as they stood. The secre- 
 tary of one of the mission schools was kept for 
 seven days in this room, as part of sixteen days' 
 confinement, before he was released. 
 
 A student, arrested at his house, was kept at the 
 police station for twenty days. Then they let him 
 go, having found nothing against him. His bruised 
 body when he came out showed what he had suf- 
 fered. He had been bound and a cord around his 
 shoulders and arms pulled tight until the breast- 
 bone was forced forward and breathing almost 
 stopped. Then he was beaten with a bamboo stick 
 on the shoulders and arms until he lost conscious- 
 ness. The bamboo stick was wrapped in paper so 
 as to prevent the skin breaking and bleeding. He 
 saw another man beaten ten times into uncon- 
 sciousness, and ten times brought round; and a boy 
 
286 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 thrown down hard on the floor and stamped on 
 repeatedly until he lost consciousness. Those who 
 came out were few; what happened to those who 
 remained within the prison must be left to the 
 imagination. 
 
 Despite everything, the demonstrations of the 
 people still continued. On March Tth the people 
 of the villages of Po Paik and Kan, twenty miles 
 north of Pyeng-yang, came out practically en masse 
 to shout for independence. Next day four soldiers 
 and one Korean policeman arrived, asking for the 
 pastor of the church. They could not find him, so 
 they seized the school-teacher, slashed his head and 
 body with their swords and thrust a sword twice 
 into his legs. An elder of the church stepped up to 
 protest against such treatment, whereupon a Japa- 
 nese soldier ran a sword through his side. As the 
 soldiers left some young men threw stones at them. 
 The soldiers replied with rifle fire, wounding four 
 men. 
 
 Soldiers and police came again and again to find 
 the pastor and church officers who had gone into 
 hiding. On April 4th they seized the women and 
 demanded where their husbands were, beating 
 them with clubs and guns, the wife of one elder 
 being beaten till great red bruises showed all over 
 her body. 
 
 | The police evidently made up their minds that 
 the Christians were responsible for the demonstra- 
 tion, and they determined to rid the place of them. 
 The services of some liquor sellers were enlisted to 
 induce people to tear down the belfry of the church. 
 
THE EEIGN OF TEEEOE IN PYENG-YANG 287 
 
 On April 18th a Japanese came and addressed the 
 crowd through an interpreter. 
 
 He told them that the Christians had been de- 
 ceived by the " foreign devils," who were an igno- 
 rant, low-down lot of people, and that they should 
 be driven out and go and live with the Americans 
 who had corrupted them. There was nothing in 
 the Bible about independence and " Mansei." 
 Three thousand cavalry and three thousand in- 
 fantry were coming to destroy all the Christians, 
 and if they did not drive them out but continued to 
 live with them, they would be shot and killed. 
 
 A number of half drunken men got together to 
 drive out the Christians. This was done. A re- 
 port was taken to the gendarmes that the Chris- 
 tians had been driven away, whereupon the vil- 
 lagers were praised. In other parts, near by, the 
 same chief of gendarmes was ordering the families 
 of Christians out of their homes, arresting the men 
 and leaving the women and children to seek refuge 
 where they might. 
 
 Word came to some other villages in the Pyeng- 
 yang area that the police would visit them on April 
 27th, to inspect the house-cleaning. The Chris- 
 tians received warning that they must look out for 
 a hard time. Everything was very carefully 
 cleaned, ready for the inspection. The leader of 
 the church sent word to all the people to gather for 
 early worship, so as to be through before the 
 police should come. But the police were there be- 
 fore them, a Japanese in charge, two Korean po- 
 licemen, two secretaries and two dog killers. 
 
288 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 The two leaders ot the church were called up by 
 the Japanese, who stepped down and ran his fingers 
 along the floor. " Look at this dust," he said. 
 Ordering the two men to sit down on the floor, he 
 beat them with a flail, over the shoulders. 
 
 " Do you beat an old man, seventy years old, this 
 way?" called the older man. 
 
 " What is seventy years, you rascal of a Chris- 
 tian? " came the reply. 
 
 The police took the names of the Christians from 
 the church roll, and went round the village, picking 
 them out and beating them all, men, women and 
 children. They killed their dogs. The non-Chris- 
 tians were let alone. 
 
 On the afternoon of April 4th a cordon of police 
 and gendarmes was suddenly picketed all around 
 the missionary quarter in Pyeng-yang, and officials, 
 police and detectives made an elaborate search of 
 the houses. Some copies of an Independence news- 
 paper, a bit of paper with a statement of the num- 
 bers killed at Anju, and a copy of the program of 
 the memorial service were found among the papers 
 of Dr. Moffett's secretary, and two copies of a 
 mimeographed notice in Korean, thin paper rolled 
 up into a thin ball and thrown away, were found in 
 an outhouse. The secretary was arrested, bound, 
 beaten and hauled off. Other Koreans found on 
 the premises were treated in similar fashion. One 
 man was knocked down, beaten and kicked on the 
 head several times. 
 
 Dr. Moffett and the Rev. E. M. Mowry, another 
 American Presbyterian missionary from Mansfield, 
 
THE KEIGN OP TEKROB IK PYENG-YAKG 289 
 
 Ohio, were ordered to the police office that even- 
 ing, and cross-examined. Dr. Moffett convinced 
 the authorities that he knew nothing of the inde- 
 pendence movement and had taken no part in it 
 (he felt bound, as a missionary, not to take part in 
 political affairs), but Mr. Mowry was detained on 
 the charge of sheltering Korean agitators. 
 
 Mr. Mowry had allowed five Korean students 
 wanted by the police to remain in his house for two 
 days early in March. Some of them were his stu- 
 dents and one was his former secretary; Mr. 
 Mowry was a teacher at the Union Christian Col- 
 lege, and principal of both the boys' and girls' 
 grammar schools at Pyeng-yang. Mr. Mowry de- 
 clared that Koreans often slept at his house, and 
 he had no knowledge that the police were trying to 
 arrest these lads. 
 
 The missionary was kept in jail for ten days. 
 His friends were told that he would probably be 
 sent to Seoul for trial. Then he was suddenly 
 brought before the Pyeng-yang court, no time be- 
 ing given for him to obtain counsel, and was sen- 
 tenced to six months' penal servitude. He was led 
 away wearing the prisoners' cap, a wicker basket, 
 placed over the head and face. 
 
 An appeal was at once entered, and eventually 
 the conviction was quashed, and a new trial 
 ordered. 
 
XVII 
 GIRL MARTYRS FOR LIBERTY 
 
 THE most extraordinary feature of the up- 
 rising of the Korean people is the part 
 taken in it by the girls and women. Less 
 than twenty years ago, a man might live in Korea 
 for years and never come in contact with a Korean 
 woman of the better classes, never meet her on the 
 street, never see her in the homes of his Korean 
 friends. I have lived for a week or two at a time, 
 in the old days, in the house of a Korean man of 
 high class, and have never once seen his wife or 
 daughters. In Japan in those days — and with 
 many families the same holds true to-day — when 
 one was invited as a guest, the wife would receive 
 you, bow to the guest and her lord, and then would 
 humbly retire, not sitting to table with the men. 
 
 Christian teaching and modern ways broke down 
 the barrier in Korea. The young Korean women 
 took keenly to the new mode of life. The girls in 
 the schools, particularly in the Government schools, 
 led the way in the demand for the restoration of 
 their national life. There were many quaint and 
 touching incidents. In the missionary schools, the 
 chief fear of the girls was lest they should bring 
 trouble on their American teachers. The head 
 mistress of one of these schools noticed for some 
 
 290 
 
GIEL MAETYES FOR LIBEETY 291 
 
 days that her girls were unusually excited* She 
 heard them asking one another, " Have you en- 
 rolled?" and imagined that some new girlish league 
 was being formed. This was before the great day. 
 One morning the head mistress came down to dis- 
 cover the place empty. On her desk was a paper 
 signed by all the girls, resigning their places in the 
 school. They thought that by this device they 
 would show that their beloved head mistress was 
 not responsible. 
 
 Soon there came a call from the Chief of Police. 
 The mistress was wanted at the police office at 
 once. All the girls from her school were demon- 
 strating and had stirred up the whole town. Would 
 the mistress come and disperse them? 
 
 The mistress hurried off. Sure enough, here 
 were the girls in the street, wearing national 
 badges, waving national flags, calling on the police 
 to come and take them. The men had gathered 
 and were shouting "Mansei!" also. 
 
 The worried Chief of Police, who was a much 
 more decent kind than many of his fellows, begged 
 the mistress to do something. " I cannot arrest 
 them all," he said. " I have only one little cell 
 here. It would only hold a few of them." The 
 mistress went out to talk to the girls. They would 
 not listen, even to her. They cheered her, and 
 when she begged them to go home, shouted " Man- 
 sei ! " all the louder. 
 
 The mistress went back to the Chief. " The 
 only thing for you to do is to arrest me," she said. 
 
 The Chief was horrified at the idea. " I will go 
 
292 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 out and tell the girls that you are going to arrest 
 me if they do not go," she said. "We will see 
 what that will do. But mind you, if they do not 
 disperse, you must arrest me." 
 
 She went out again. " Girls," she called, " the 
 Chief of Police is going to arrest me if you do not 
 go to your homes. I am your teacher, and it must 
 be the fault of my teaching that you will not obey." 
 
 " No, teacher, no," the girls shouted. " It is not 
 your fault. You have nothing to do with it. We 
 are doing this." And some of them rushed up, as 
 though they would rescue her by force of arms. 
 
 In the end, she persuaded the girls to go home, 
 in order to save her. " Well," said the leaders of 
 the girls, " it's all right now. We have done all 
 we wanted. We have stirred up the men. They 
 were sheep and wanted women to make a start. 
 Now they will go on." 
 
 The police and gendarmerie generally were not 
 so merciful as this particular Chief. The rule in 
 many police stations was to strip and beat the girls 
 and young women who took any part in the demon- 
 strations, and to expose them, absolutely naked, to 
 as many Japanese men as possible. The Korean 
 woman is as sensitive as a white woman about the 
 display of her person, and the Japanese, knowing 
 this, delighted to have this means of humiliating 
 them. In some towns, the schoolgirls arranged to 
 go out in sections, so many one day, so many on the 
 other. The girls who had to go out on the later 
 days knew how those who had preceded them had 
 been stripped and beaten. Anticipating that they 
 
GIRL MARTYRS FOR LIBERTY 293 
 
 would be treated in the same way, they sat up the 
 night before sewing special undergarments on 
 themselves, which would not be so easily removed 
 as their ordinary clothes, hoping that they might 
 thus avoid being stripped entirely naked. 
 
 The girls were most active of all in the city of 
 Seoul. I have mentioned in the previous chapter 
 the arrest of many of them. They were treated very 
 badly indeed. Take, for instance, the case of those 
 seized by the police on the morning of Wednes- 
 day, March 5th. They were nearly all of them 
 pupils from the local academies. Some of them 
 were demonstrating on Chong-no, the main street, 
 shouting " Mansei." Others were wearing straw 
 shoes, a sign of mourning, for the dead Emperor. 
 Still others were arrested because the police 
 thought that they might be on the way to demon- 
 strate. A few of these girls were released after a 
 spell in prison. On their release, their statements 
 concerning their treatment were independently re- 
 corded. 
 
 They were first taken to the Chong-no Police Sta- 
 tion, where a body of about twenty Japanese police- 
 men kicked them with their heavy boots, slapped 
 their cheeks or punched their heads. " They flung 
 me against a wall with all their might, so that I was 
 knocked senseless, and remained so for a time," 
 said one. " They struck me such blows across the 
 ears that my cheeks swelled up," said another. 
 " They trampled on my feet with their heavy nailed 
 boots till I felt as though my toes were crushed be- 
 neath them. . . . There was a great crowd of 
 
294 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 students, both girls and boys. They slapped the 
 girls over the ears, kicked them, and tumbled them 
 in the corners. Some of them they took by the 
 hair, jerking both sides of the face. Some of the 
 boy students they fastened down with a rope till 
 they had their heads fastened between their legs. 
 Then they trampled them with their heavy boots, 
 kicking them in their faces till their eyes were 
 swelled and blood flowed." 
 
 Seventy-five persons, forty men and thirty-five 
 girls, were confined in a small room. The door 
 was closed, and the atmosphere soon became dread- 
 ful. In vain they pleaded to have the door open. 
 The girls were left until midnight without food or 
 water. The men were removed at about ten in the 
 evening. 
 
 During the day, the prisoners were taken one by 
 one before police officials to be examined. Here 
 is the narrative of one of the schoolgirls. This 
 girl was dazed and almost unconscious from ill- 
 treatment and the poisoned air, when she was 
 dragged before her inquisitor. 
 
 " I was cross-questioned three times. When I 
 went out to the place of examination they charged 
 me with having straw shoes, and so beat me over 
 the head with a stick. I had no sense left with 
 which to make a reply. They asked: 
 
 " ' Why did you wear straw shoes? ' 
 
 " ' The King had died, and whenever Koreans 
 are in mourning they wear straw shoes.' 
 
 " ' That is a lie,' said the cross-examiner. He 
 then arose and took my mouth in his two hands 
 
GIRL MARTYRS FOR LIBERTY 295 
 
 and pulled it each way so that it bled. I main- 
 tained that I had told the truth and no falsehoods. 
 ■ You Christians are all liars,' he replied, taking my 
 arm and giving it a pull. 
 
 "... The examiner then tore open my 
 jacket and said, sneeringly, ' I congratulate you.' 
 He then slapped my face, struck me with a stick 
 until I was dazed and asked again, ' Who instigated 
 you to do this? Did foreigners? ' 
 
 " My answer was, ' I do not know any foreigners, 
 but only the principal of the school. She knows 
 nothing of this plan of ours ! ' 
 
 " ' Lies, only lies,' said the examiner. 
 
 " Not only I, but others too, suffered every kind 
 of punishment. One kind of torture was to make 
 us hold a board at arm's length and hold it out by 
 the hour. They also had a practice of twisting our 
 legs, while they spat on our faces. When ordered 
 to undress, one person replied, ' I am not guilty of 
 any offence. Why should I take off my clothes 
 before you? ' 
 
 " ' If you really were guilty, you would not be 
 required to undress, but seeing you are sinless, off 
 with your clothes/ " 
 
 He was a humorous fellow, this cross-examiner 
 of the Chong-no Police Station. He had evidently 
 learned something of the story of Adam and Eve 
 in the Garden of Eden. His way was first to 
 charge the girls — schoolgirls of good family, mind 
 you — with being pregnant, making every sort of 
 filthy suggestion to them. When the girls indig- 
 nantly denied, he would order them to strip. 
 
296 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 " Since you maintain you have not sinned in any 
 way, I see the Bible says that if there is no sin in 
 you take off all your clothes and go before all the 
 people naked," he told one girl. " Sinless people 
 live naked." 
 
 Let us tell the rest of the story in the girl's own 
 words. " The officer then came up to where I was 
 standing, and tried to take off my clothes. I cried, 
 and protested, and struggled, saying, ' This is not 
 the way to treat a woman.' He desisted. When 
 he was making these vile statements about us, he 
 did not use the Korean interpreter, but spoke in 
 broken Korean. The Korean interpreter seemed 
 sorrowful while these vile things were being said 
 by the operator. The Korean interpreter was or- 
 dered to beat me. He said he would not beat a 
 woman; he would bite his fingers first. So the 
 officer beat me with his fist on my shoulders, face 
 and legs." 
 
 These examinations were continued for days. 
 Sometimes a girl would be examined several times 
 a day. Sometimes a couple of examiners would 
 rush at her, beating and kicking her; sometimes 
 they would make her hold a chair or heavy board 
 out at full length, beating her if she let it sink in the 
 least. Then when she was worn out they would 
 renew their examination. The questions were all 
 directed towards one end, to discover who inspired 
 them, and more particularly if any foreigners or 
 missionaries had influenced them. During this 
 time they were kept under the worst possible con- 
 ditions. 
 
GIEL MAETYES FOE LIBEETY 297 
 
 " I cannot recount all the vile things that were 
 said to us while in the police quarters in Chong-no," 
 declared one of the girls. " They are too obscene 
 to be spoken, but by the kindness of the Lord I 
 thought of how Paul had suffered in prison, and 
 was greatly comforted. I knew that God would 
 give the needed help, and as I bore it for my coun- 
 try, I did not feel the shame and misery of it" One 
 American woman, to whom some of the girls re- 
 lated their experiences, said to me, " I cannot tell 
 you, a man, all that these girls told us. I will only 
 say this. There have been stories of girls having 
 their arms cut off. If these girls had been daugh- 
 ters of mine I would rather that they had their 
 arms cut off than that they faced what those girls 
 endured in Chong-no." 
 
 There came a day when the girls were bound at 
 the wrists, all fastened together, and driven in a 
 car to the prison outside the West Gate. Some of 
 them were crying. They were not allowed to look 
 up or speak. The driver, a Korean, took advan- 
 tage of a moment when the attention of their guard 
 was attracted to whisper a word of encouragement. 
 " Don't be discouraged and make your bodies 
 weak. You are not yet condemned. This is only 
 to break your spirits." 
 
 The prison outside the West Gate is a model 
 Japanese jail. There were women officials here. 
 It seemed horrible to the girls that they should be 
 made to strip in front of men and be examined by 
 them. Probably the men were prison doctors. 
 But it was evidently intended to shame them as 
 
29S KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 much as possible. Thus one girl relates that, after 
 her examination, " I was told to take my clothes 
 and go into another room. One woman went with 
 me, about a hundred yards or more away. I 
 wanted to put my clothes on before leaving the 
 room, but they hurried me and pushed me. I 
 wrapped my skirt about my body before I went 
 out, and carried the rest of my clothes in my arms. 
 After leaving this room, and before reaching the 
 other, five Korean men prisoners passed us." 
 
 For the first week the girls, many of them in 
 densely crowded cells, were kept in close confine- 
 ment. After this, they were allowed out for fifteen 
 minutes, wearing the prisoners' hat, which comes 
 down over the head, after breakfast. Their food 
 was beans and millet. It was given to the accom- 
 paniment of jeers and insults. " You Koreans eat 
 like dogs and cats," the wardresses told them. 
 
 The routine of life in the prison was very trying. 
 They got up at seven. Most of the day they had 
 to assume a haunched, kneeling position, and re- 
 main absolutely still, hour after hour. The ward- 
 resses in the corridors kept close watch, and woe to 
 the girl who made the slightest move. " They or- 
 dered us not to move a hand or a foot but to remain 
 perfectly still," wrote one girl. " Even the slight- 
 est movement brought down every kind of wrath. 
 We did not dare to move even a toe-nail." 
 
 One unhappy girl, mistaking the call of an offi- 
 cial in the corridor, " I-ri-ma sen " for a command 
 to go to sleep, stretched out her leg to lie down. 
 She was scolded and severely punished. Another 
 
GIRL MARTYRS FOR LIBERTY 299 
 
 closed her eyes in prayer. " You are sleeping," 
 called the wardress. In vain the girl replied that 
 she was praying. " You lie," retorted the polite 
 Japanese lady. More punishment! 
 
 After fifteen days in the prison outside the West 
 Gate, some of the girls were called in the office. 
 " Go, but be very careful not to repeat your of- 
 fence," they were told. " If you are caught again, 
 you will be given a heavier punishment." 
 
 The worst happenings with the women were not 
 in the big towns, where the presence of white peo- 
 ple exercised some restraint, but in villages, where 
 the new troops often behaved in almost incredible 
 fashion, outraging freely. The police in many of 
 these outlying parts rivalled the military in bru- 
 tality. Of the many stories that reached me, the 
 tale of Tong Chun stands out. The account was 
 investigated by experienced white men, who 
 shortly afterwards visited the place and saw for 
 themselves. 
 
 The village of Tong Chun contains about 300 
 houses and is the site of a Christian church. The 
 young men of the place wished to make a demon- 
 stration but the elders of the church dissuaded 
 them for a time. However, on March 29th, mar- 
 ket day, when there were many people in the place, 
 some children started demonstrating, and their 
 elders followed, a crowd of four or five hundred 
 people marching through the streets and shouting 
 "Mansei!" There was no violence of any kind. 
 The police came out and arrested seventeen per- 
 sons, including five women. 
 
300 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 One of these women was a widow of thirty-one. 
 She was taken into the police office and a policeman 
 tore off her clothes, leaving her in her underwear. 
 Then the police began to take off her underclothes. 
 She protested, whereupon they struck her in the 
 face with their hands till she was black and blue. 
 She still clung to her clothes, so they put a wooden 
 paddle down between her legs and tore her clothes 
 away. Then they beat her. The beating took a 
 long time. When it was finished the police stopped 
 to drink tea and eat Japanese cakes, they and their 
 companions — there were a number of men in the 
 room — amusing themselves by making fun of her 
 as she sat there naked among them. She was sub- 
 sequently released. For a week afterwards she 
 had to lie down most of the time and could not 
 walk around. 
 
 Another victim was the wife of a Christian 
 teacher, a very bright, intelligent woman, with one 
 child four months old, and two or three months ad- 
 vanced in her second pregnancy. She had taken a 
 small part in the demonstration and then had gone 
 to the home of the mother of another woman who 
 had been arrested, to comfort her. Police came 
 here, and demanded if she had shouted " Mansei." 
 She admitted that she had. They ordered her to 
 leave the child that she was carrying on her back 
 and took her to the police station. As she entered 
 the station a man kicked her forcibly from behind 
 and she fell forward in the room. As she lay there 
 a policeman put his foot on her neck, then raised 
 her up and struck her again and again. She was 
 
GIRL MARTYRS FOR LIBERTY 301 
 
 ordered to undress. She hesitated, whereupon the 
 policeman kicked her, and took up a paddle 
 and a heavy stick to beat her with. " You are a 
 teacher," he cried. " You have set the minds of 
 the children against Japan. I will beat you to 
 death." 
 
 He tore her underclothes off. Still clinging to 
 them, she tried to cover her nakedness. The 
 clothes were torn out of her hands. She tried to 
 sit down. They forced her up. She tried by turn- 
 ing to the wall to conceal herself from the many 
 men in the room. They forced her to turn round 
 again. When she tried to shelter herself with her 
 hands, one man twisted her arms, held them behind 
 her back, and kept them there while the beating 
 and kicking continued. She was so badly hurt that 
 she would have fallen to the floor, but they held her 
 up to continue the beating. She was then sent into 
 another room. Later she and other women were 
 again brought in the office. " Do you know now 
 how wrong it is to call 'Mansei'?" the police 
 asked. " Will you ever dare to do such a thing 
 again? " 
 
 Gradually news of how the women were being 
 treated spread. A crowd of five hundred people 
 gathered next morning. The hot bloods among 
 them were for attacking the station, to take re- 
 venge for the ill-treatment of their women. The 
 chief Christian kept them back, and finally a depu- 
 tation of two went inside the police office to make a 
 protest. They spoke up against the stripping of 
 the women, declaring it unlawful. The Chief of 
 
302 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FEEEDOM 
 
 Police replied that they were mistaken. It was 
 permitted under Japanese law. They had to strip 
 them to search for unlawful papers. Then the men 
 asked why only the younger women were stripped, 
 and not the older, why they were beaten after be- 
 ing stripped, and why only women and not men 
 were stripped. The Chief did not reply. 
 
 By this time the crowd was getting very ugly. 
 " Put us in prison too, or release the prisoners," the 
 people called. In the end the Chief agreed to re- 
 lease all but four of the prisoners. 
 
 Soon afterwards the prisoners emerged from the 
 station. One woman, a widow of thirty-two who 
 had been arrested on the previous day and very 
 badly kicked by the police, had to be supported on 
 either side. The wife of the Christian teacher had 
 to be carried on a man's back. Let me quote from 
 a description written by those on the spot: 
 
 " As they saw the women being brought out, in 
 this condition, a wave of pity swept over the whole 
 crowd, and with one accord they burst into tears 
 and sobbed. Some of them cried out, ' It is better 
 to die than to live under such savages,' and many 
 urged that they should attack the police office with 
 their naked hands, capture the Chief of Police, strip 
 him and beat him to death. But the Christian 
 elder and other wiser heads prevailed, kept the 
 people from any acts of violence, and finally got 
 them to disperse." 
 
XVIII 
 WORLD REACTIONS 
 
 ON April 23rd, at a time when the persecu- 
 tion was at its height, delegates, duly 
 elected by each of the thirteen provinces 
 of Korea, met, under the eyes of the Japanese po- 
 lice, in Seoul, and adopted a constitution, creating 
 the Republic. 
 
 Dr. Syngman Rhee, the young reformer of 1894, 
 who had suffered long imprisonment for the cause 
 of independence, was elected the first President. 
 Dr. Rhee was now in America, and he promptly es- 
 tablished headquarters in Washington, from which 
 to conduct a campaign in the interests of his people. 
 Diplomatically, of course, the new Republican or- 
 ganization could not be recognized; but there are 
 many ways in which such a body can work. 
 
 The First Ministry included several men who 
 had taken a prominent part in reform work in the 
 past. The list was : 
 
 Prime Minister Tong Hui Yee 
 
 Minister Foreign Affairs Yongman Park 
 
 Minister of Interior Tong Yung Yee 
 
 Minister of War Pak Yin Roe 
 
 Minister of Finance Si Yung Yee 
 
 Minister of Law Kiu Sik Cynn 
 
 3°3 
 
304 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 Minister of Education Kiusic Kimm 
 
 Minister of Communications Chang Bum Moon 
 
 Director Bureau of Labour Chang Ho Ahn 
 
 Chief of Staff Tong Yul Lew- 
 Vice Chief of Staff Sei Yung Lee 
 
 Vice Chief of Staff Nan Soo Hahn 
 
 The Provisional Constitution was essentially 
 democratic and progressive: 
 
 Provisional Constitution 
 
 By the will of God, the people of Korea, both within 
 and without the country, have united in a peaceful dec- 
 laration of their independence, and for over one month 
 have carried on their demonstrations in over 300 districts, 
 and because of their faith in the movement they have by 
 their representatives chosen a Provisional Government 
 to carry on to completion this independence and so to 
 preserve blessings for our children and grandchildren. 
 
 The Provisional Government, in its Council of State, 
 has decided on a Provisional Constitution, which it now 
 proclaims. 
 
 1. The Korean Republic shall follow republican prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 2. All powers of State shall rest with the Provisional 
 Council of State of the Provisional Government. 
 
 3. There shall be no class distinction among the 
 citizens of the Korean Republic, but men and women, 
 noble and common, rich and poor, shall have equality. 
 
 4. The citizens of the Korean Republic shall have re- 
 ligious liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of writing 
 and publication, the right to hold public meetings and 
 form social organizations and the full right to choose 
 their dwellings or change their abode. 
 
 5. The citizens of the Korean Republic shall have the 
 right to vote for all public officials or to be elected to 
 public office. 
 
 6. Citizens will be subject to compulsory education 
 and military service and payment of taxes. 
 
WORLD REACTIONS 305 
 
 7. Since by the will of God the Korean Republic has 
 arisen in the world and has come forward as a tribute 
 to the world peace and civilization, for this reason we 
 wish to become a member of the League of Nations. 
 
 8. The Korean Republic will extend benevolent treat- 
 ment to the former Imperial Family. 
 
 9. The death penalty, corporal punishment and public 
 prostitution will be abolished. 
 
 10. Within one year of the recovery of our land the 
 National Congress will be convened. 
 
 Signed by : 
 
 The Provisional Secretary of State, 
 And the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, 
 Home Affairs, 
 Justice, 
 Finance, 
 War, 
 Communications. 
 
 In the 1st Year of the Korean Republic, 4th Month. 
 The following are six principles of government : 
 
 1. We proclaim the equality of the people and the 
 State. 
 
 2. The lives and property of foreigners shall be re- 
 spected. 
 
 3. All political offenders shall be specially pardoned. 
 
 4. We will observe all treaties that shall be made 
 with foreign powers. 
 
 5. We swear to stand by the independence of Korea. 
 
 6. Those who disregard the orders of the Provisional 
 Government will be regarded as enemies of the State. 
 
 The National Council issued a statement of its 
 aims and purpose: 
 
 April 22, igip. 
 
 We, the people of Korea, represented by thirty-three 
 
 men, including Son Pyeng Heui, have already made the 
 
 Declaration of Independence of Korea, found on the 
 
 principle of righteousness and humanity. With a view; 
 
306 KOBEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 to upholding the authority of the Declaration, solidifying 
 the foundations of the Independence, and meeting the 
 natural needs of humanity, we, by combining the large 
 and small groups and the provincial representatives, have 
 organized the Korean National Council, and hereby pro- 
 claim it to the world. 
 
 We, the people of Korea, have a history of over forty- 
 two centuries, as a self-governing and separate state, 
 and of special, creative civilization, and are a peace- 
 loving race. We claim a right to be sharers in the 
 world's enlightenment, and contributors in the evolution 
 of mankind. With a distinctive and world-wide glorious 
 past, and with our healthy national spirit, we should 
 never be subjected to inhuman and unnatural oppression, 
 nor assimilation by another race; and still less could we 
 submit to the materialistic subjugation by the Japanese, 
 whose spiritual civilization is 2,000 years behind ours. 
 
 The world knows that Japan has violated the sworn 
 treaties of the past and is robbing us of the right of 
 existence. We, however, are not discussing the wrongs 
 done us. by the Japanese in the past, nor considering 
 their accumulated sins; but, in order to guarantee our 
 rights of existence, extend liberty and equality, safe- 
 guard righteousness and humanity, maintain the peace 
 of the Orient, and respect the equitable welfare of the 
 whole world, do claim the independence of Korea. This 
 is truly the will of God, motivation of truth, just claim, 
 and legitimate action. By this the world's verdict is to 
 be won, and the repentance of Japan hastened. 
 
 At this time, when the militarism which once threat- 
 ened the peace of the world is brought to submission, 
 and when the world is being reconstructed for a lasting 
 peace, will Japan refuse self -reflection and self-awaken- 
 ing? Obstinate clinging to the errors, which have gone 
 contrary to the times and nature, will result in nothing 
 but the diminution of the happiness of the two peoples 
 and endangering of the peace of the world. This council 
 demands with all earnestness that the government of 
 Japan abandon as early as possible the inhuman policy 
 of aggression and firmly safeguard the tripodic relation- 
 
WORLD REACTIONS 307 
 
 ship of the Far East, and further duly warn the people 
 of Japan. 
 
 Can it be that the conscience of mankind will calmly 
 witness the cruel atrocities visited upon us by the bar- 
 barous military power of Japan for our actions in behalf 
 of the rights of life founded upon civilization ? The devo- 
 tion and blood of our 20,000,000 will never cease nor 
 dry under this unrighteous oppression. If Japan does 
 not repent and mend her ways for herself, our race will 
 be obliged to take the final action, to the limit of the 
 last man and the last minute, which will secure the com- 
 plete independence of Korea. What enemy will with- 
 stand when our race marches forward with righteousness 
 and humanity ? With our utmost devotion and best labour 
 we demand before the world our national independence 
 and racial autonomy. 
 
 The Korean National Council 
 Representatives of the thirteen Provinces : 
 
 Yee Man Jik Kim Hyung Sun 
 
 Yee Nai Su Yu Keun 
 
 Pak Han Yung Kang Ji Yung 
 
 Pak Chang Ho Chang Seung 
 
 Yee Yeng Jun Kim Heyen Chun 
 
 Choi Chun Koo Kim Ryu 
 
 Yee Yong Kiu Kim Sig 
 
 YuSikKiu Chulk 
 
 Yu Jang Wuk Hong Seung Wuk 
 
 Song Ji Hun Chang Chun 
 
 Yee Tong Wuk Chung Tarn Kio 
 
 Kim Taik Pak Tak 
 Kang Hoon 
 
 Resolutions 
 
 That a Provisional Government shall be organized. 
 
 That a demand be made of the Government of Japan 
 to withdraw the administrative and military organs from 
 Korea. 
 
 That a delegation shall be appointed to the Paris Peace 
 Conference. 
 
308 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 That the Koreans in the employ of the Japanese Gov- 
 ernment shall withdraw. 
 
 That the people shall refuse to pay taxes to the Japa- 
 nese Government. 
 
 That the people shall not bring petitions or litigations 
 before the Japanese Government. 
 
 It was expected in Korea that there would be an 
 immediate agitation in America to secure redress 
 for the Koreans. There was some disappointment 
 here. There is no reason why the full reasons 
 should not be made public. 
 
 The missionary organizations mainly represented 
 in Korea are also strongly represented in Japan. 
 Their officials at their headquarters are almost 
 forced to adopt what can be politely described as a 
 statesmanlike attitude over matters of controversy 
 between different countries. When Mr. Arm- 
 strong, of the Methodist Board of Missions of Can- 
 ada, arrived in America, burning with indignation 
 over what he had seen, he found among the Ameri- 
 can leaders a spirit of great caution. They did not 
 want to offend Japan, nor to injure Christianity 
 there. And there was a feeling — a quite honest 
 feeling, — that they might accomplish more by ap- 
 pealing to the better side of Japan than by frankly 
 proclaiming the truth. The whole matter was re- 
 ferred, by the Presbyterian and Methodist Boards, 
 to the Commission on Relations with the Orient of 
 the Federal Council of the Churches, a body repre- 
 senting the Churches as a whole. 
 
WOELD REACTIONS 309 
 
 The Secretary of the Federal Council is the Rev. 
 Sydney Gulick, the most active defender of Japa- 
 nese interests of any European or American to-day. 
 Mr. Gulick lived a long time in Japan; he sees 
 things, inevitably, from a Japanese point of view. 
 He at once acted as though he were resolved to 
 keep the matter from the public gaze. This was 
 the course recommended by the Japanese Consul- 
 General Yada at New York. Private pressure was 
 brought on the Japanese authorities, and the prepa- 
 ration of a report was begun in very leisurely 
 fashion. 
 
 Every influence that Mr. Gulick possessed was 
 exercised to prevent premature publicity. The re- 
 port of the Federal Council was not issued until be- 
 tween four and five months after the atrocities be- 
 gan. A Presbyterian organization, The New Era 
 Movement, issued a stinging report on its own ac- 
 count, a few days before. The report of the Fed- 
 erated Council was preceded by a cablegram from 
 Mr. Hara, the Japanese President, declaring that 
 the report of abuses committed by agents of the 
 Japanese Government in Korea had been engaging 
 his most serious attention. " I am fully prepared 
 to look squarely at actual facts." 
 
 The report itself, apart from a brief, strongly 
 pro- Japanese introduction, consisted of a series of 
 statements by missionaries and others in Korea, 
 and was as outspoken and frank as any one could 
 desire. The only regret was that it had not been 
 issued immediately. Here was a situation that 
 
310 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 called for the pressure of world public opinion. In 
 keeping this back as long as possible Mr. Gulick, I 
 am convinced, did the cause of Korean Christianity 
 a grave injury, and helped to prevent earlier re- 
 dress being obtained. 
 
 " No neutrality for brutality " was the motto 
 adopted by many of the missionaries of Korea. It 
 is a good one for the Churches as a whole. There 
 are times when the open expression of a little hon- 
 est indignation is better than all the " ecclesiastical 
 statesmanship " that can be employed. 
 
 In Japan itself, every effort was made by the 
 authorities to keep back details of what was hap- 
 pening. Mr. Hara, the Progressive Premier, is in 
 none too strong a position. The military party, 
 and the forces of reaction typified by Prince Yama- 
 gata, have too much power for him to do as much 
 as he himself perhaps would. He consented to the 
 institution of a scheme of extra severity in April, 
 and while redress was promised in certain particu- 
 lar instances, as in the Suigen outrage, there was 
 no desire displayed to meet the situation fully. 
 Taxed in Parliament, he tried to wriggle out of 
 admissions that anything was wrong. 
 
 The attitude of the people of Japan at first was 
 frankly disappointing to those who hoped that the 
 anti-militarist party there would really act. One 
 American-Japanese paper, the Japan Advertiser, 
 sent a special correspondent to Korea and his re- 
 ports were of the utmost value. The Japan Chron- 
 icle, the English owned paper at Kobe, was equally 
 
WOELD EEACTIONS 311 
 
 outspoken. The Japanese press as a whole had 
 very little to say; it had been officially " requested " 
 not to say anything about Korea. 
 
 The Japanese Constitutional Party sent Mr. 
 Konosuke Morya to investigate the situation on 
 the spot. He issued a report declaring that the 
 disturbances were due to the discriminatory treat- 
 ment of Koreans, complicated and impracticable 
 administrative measures, extreme censorship of 
 public speeches, forcible adoption of the assimila- 
 tion system, and the spread of the spirit of self- 
 determination. Of the assimilation system he said, 
 " It is a great mistake of colonial policy to attempt 
 to enforce upon the Koreans, with a 2,000-year his- 
 tory, the same spiritual and mental training as the 
 Japanese people." 
 
 By this time the Japanese Churches were begin- 
 ning to stir. The Federation of Churches in Japan 
 sent Dr. Ishizaka, Secretary of the Mission Board 
 of the Japan Methodist Church, to enquire. Dr. 
 Ishizaka's findings were published in the Gokyo. 
 I am indebted for a summary of them to an article 
 by Mr. R. S. Spencer, in the Christian Advocate of 
 New York : 
 
 " Dr. Ishizaka first showed, on the authority of officials, 
 missionaries and others, that the missionaries could in 
 no just way be looked upon as the cause of the dis- 
 turbances. Many Koreans and most of the missionaries 
 had looked hopefully to Japanese control as offering a 
 cure for many ills of the old regime, but in the ten years 
 of occupation feeling had undergone a complete revulsion 
 and practically all were against the Japanese governing 
 
312 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 system. The reasons he then sketches as follows: (i) 
 The much-vaunted educational system established by the 
 Governor-General makes it practically impossible for a 
 Korean to go higher than the middle schools (roughly 
 equivalent to an American high school) or a technical 
 school. Even when educated Koreans were universally 
 discriminated against. In the same office, at the same 
 work, Koreans receive less pay than Japanese. (The 
 quotations are from the translation of the Japan Ad- 
 vertiser.) 'A Korean student in Aoyama Gakuin, who 
 stayed at Bishop Honda's home, became the head officer 
 of the Taikyu district office. That was before the an- 
 nexation. . . . That officer is not in Taikyu now. 
 He is serving in some petty office in the country. The 
 Noko Bank, in Keijo (Seoul) is the only place where 
 the Japanese and Koreans are treated equally, but there, 
 also, the equality is only an outward form/ (2) The 
 depredations of the Oriental Improvement Co., the pro- 
 tege of the government, resulted in the eviction of hun- 
 dreds of Korean farmers, who fled to Manchuria and 
 Siberia, many dying miserably. The wonderful roads 
 are mentioned, it being shown that they are built and 
 cared for by forced labour of the Koreans. That most 
 galling and obnoxious of all bureaucratic methods, car- 
 ried to the nth power in Japan — the making out of end- 
 less reports and forms — has created dissatisfaction. Dr. 
 Ishizaka relates how an underling official required a 
 Korean of education to rewrite a notice of change of 
 residence six times because he omitted a dot in one of 
 those atrocious Chinese characters, which are a hobble 
 on the development of Japan. This last opinion is 
 mine, not the doctor's. (3) The gendarmerie, or 
 military police system, is mentioned, 13,000 strong, of 
 whom about 8,000 are renegade Koreans. Admittedly 
 a rough lot, these men are endowed with absolute power 
 of search, personal or domiciliary, detention, arrest (and 
 judging from the reports, I would say torture) without 
 warrant. Bribery is, of course, rampant among them. 
 (4) Associated closely with the police system, indeed 
 controlling it and the civil administration and everything 
 
WORLD REACTIONS 313 
 
 else, is the military government. The Governor-General 
 must be a military officer. Dr. Ishizaka says : ' Milita- 
 rism means tyranny; it never acts in open daylight, but 
 seeks to cover up its intentions. The teachers in pri- 
 mary schools and even in girls' schools, that is, the men 
 teachers, wear swords/ (5) Lastly, Dr. Ishizaka speaks 
 of the method, which we can easily recognize as to 
 source, of trying to ' assimilate ■ the Koreans by pro- 
 hibiting the language, discarding Korean history from 
 the schools, repressing customs, etc. 
 
 " In conclusion Dr. Ishizaka points out that not alone 
 must these errors be righted, but that the only hope lies 
 in the assumption on the part of Japanese, public and 
 private, of an attitude of Christian brotherhood towards 
 the Koreans. He announces a campaign to raise money 
 among Japanese Christians for the benefit of Koreans 
 and their churches." 
 
 The Japanese Government at last came to see 
 that something must be done. Count Hasegawa, 
 the Governor-General and Mr. Yamagata, Direct- 
 or-General of Administration, were recalled and 
 Admiral Baron Saito and Mr. Midzuno were ap- 
 pointed to succeed them. Numerous other changes 
 in personnel were also made. An Imperial Re- 
 script was issued late in August announcing that 
 the Government of Korea was to be reformed, and 
 Mr. Hara in a statement issued at the same time 
 announced that the gendarmerie were to be re- 
 placed by a force of police, under the control of the 
 local governors, except in districts where condi- 
 tions make their immediate elimination advisable, 
 and that " It is the ultimate purpose of the Japa- 
 nese Government in due course to treat Korea as 
 in all respects on the same footing as Japan." Ad- 
 
314 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 miral Saito, in interviews, promised the inaugura- 
 tion of a liberal regime on the Peninsula. 
 
 The change unfortunately does not touch the 
 fundamental needs of the situation. No doubt 
 there will be an attempt to lessen some abuses. 
 This there could not fail to be, if Japan is to hold 
 its place longer among the civilized Powers. But 
 Mr. Hara's explanation of the new program 
 showed that the policy of assimilation is to be main- 
 tained, and with it, the policy of exploitation can 
 hardly fail to be joined. 
 
 These two things spell renewed failure. 
 
XIX 
 
 WHAT CAN WE DO? 
 
 11 \ If 7 hat d° y° u want us to d°? " men as ^ 
 
 %/%/ me. " Do you seriously suggest that 
 ™ * America or Great Britain should risk 
 a breach of good relations or even a war with Japan 
 to help Korea? If not, what is the use of saying 
 anything? You only make the Japanese harden 
 their hearts still more." 
 
 What can we do? Everything! 
 
 I appeal first to the Christian Churches of the 
 United States, Canada and Britain. I have seen 
 what your representatives, more particularly the 
 agents of the American and Canadian Churches, 
 have accomplished in Korea itself. They have 
 built wisely and well, and have launched the most 
 hopeful and flourishing Christian movement in 
 Asia. Their converts have established congrega- 
 tions that are themselves missionary churches, 
 sending out and supporting their own teachers and 
 preachers to China. A great light has been lit in 
 Asia. Shall it be extinguished? For, make no 
 mistake, the work is threatened with destruction. 
 Many of the church buildings have been burned; 
 
 3*5 
 
316 KOBE A' S FIGHT FOR FEEEDOM 
 
 many of the native leaders have been tortured and 
 imprisoned; many of their followers, men, women 
 and children, have been flogged, or clubbed, or 
 shot. 
 
 You, the Christians of the United States and of 
 Canada, are largely responsible for these people. 
 The teachers you sent and supported taught them 
 the faith that led them to hunger for freedom. 
 They taught them the dignity of their bodies and 
 awakened their minds. They brought them a 
 Book whose commands made them object to wor- 
 ship the picture of Emperor — even of Japanese 
 Emperor — made them righteously angry when 
 they were ordered to put part of their Christian 
 homes apart for the diseased outcasts of the Yoshi- 
 wara to conduct their foul business, made them re- 
 sent having the trade of the opium seller or the 
 morphia agent introduced among them. 
 
 Your teaching has brought them floggings, tor- 
 tures unspeakable, death. I do not mourn for 
 them, for they have found something to which the 
 blows of the lashed twin bamboos and the sizzling 
 of the hot iron as it sears their flesh are small in- 
 deed. But I would mourn for you, if you were 
 willing to leave them unhelped, to shut your ears 
 to their calls, to deny them your practical sym- 
 pathy. 
 
 What can we do? you ask. You can exercise the 
 powers that democratic government has given you 
 to translate your indignation into action. You can 
 hold public meetings, towns meetings and church 
 
WHAT CAN WE DO I 317 
 
 meetings, and declare, formally and with all the 
 weight of your communities behind you, where you 
 stand in this matter. You can make your senti- 
 ments known to your own Government and to the 
 Imperial Japanese Government. 
 
 Then you can extend practical support to the 
 victims of this outbreak of cruelty. There could 
 be no more effective rebuke than for the Churches 
 of the English-speaking nations to say to their fel- 
 low Christians of Korea, " We are standing by you. 
 We cannot share your bodily sufferings, but we 
 will try to show our sympathy in other ways. We 
 will rebuild some qf your churches that have been 
 burned down; we will support the widows or or- 
 phans of Christians who have been unjustly slain, 
 or will help to support the families of those now 
 imprisoned for their faith and for freedom. We 
 will show, by deeds, not words, that Christian 
 brotherhood is a reality and not a sham." 
 
 In doing so, you will supply an example that will 
 not be forgotten so long as Asia endures. Men 
 say — and say rightly — that Korea is the key-land 
 of Northeastern Asia, so far as domination of that 
 part of the lands of the Pacific is concerned. Korea 
 is still more the key-land of Asia for Western civ- 
 ilization and Christian ideals. Let Christianity be 
 throttled here, and it will have received a set-back 
 in Asia from which it will take generations to 
 recover. 
 
 " The Koreans are a degenerate people, not fit 
 for self-government," says the man whose mind has 
 
318 KOEEA'S FIGHT FOE FEEEDOM 
 
 been poisoned by subtle Japanese propaganda. 
 Korea has only been a very few years in contact 
 with Western civilization, but it has already indi- 
 cated that this charge is a lie. Its old Government 
 was corrupt, and deserved to fall. But its people, 
 wherever they have had a chance, have demon- 
 strated their capacity. In Manchuria hundreds of 
 thousands of them, mostly fled from Japanese op- 
 pression, are industrious and prosperous farmers. 
 In the Hawaiian Islands, there are five thousand 
 Koreans, mainly labourers, and their families, work- 
 ing on the sugar plantations. They have built 
 twenty-eight schools for their children, and raise 
 among themselves $20 a head a year for the 
 education of their children; they have sixteen 
 churches; they bought $80,000 worth of Liberty 
 bonds during the war, and subscribed liberally to 
 the Red Cross. Some of these Hawaiian Koreans 
 — 210 in all — volunteered to serve in the war. A 
 large number of Manchurian Koreans — their total 
 has been placed as high as thirty thousand — joined 
 the Russian forces, fought under General Lin, and 
 later, in conjunction with the Czecho-Slovak pris- 
 oners, fought the rearmed German prisoners and 
 the Bolsheviks. 
 
 In America the Koreans who were fortunate 
 enough to escape have brought the culture of rice 
 into California, and are a prosperous community 
 there. Young Koreans have won prominent place 
 in American colleges and in American business. 
 One big business in Philadelphia was created and 
 
WHAT CAN WE DO! 319 
 
 is conducted by a Korean. Give these people a 
 chance, and they soon show what they can do. 
 
 A word with the statesmen. 
 
 Japan is a young country, so far as 'Western 
 civilization is concerned. She is the youngest of 
 the Great Powers. She desires the good will of 
 the world, and is willing to do much to win it. Be 
 frank with her. You owe it to her to deal faith- 
 fully with her. 
 
 When you ask me if I would risk a war over 
 Korea, I answer this: Firm action to-day might 
 provoke conflict, but the risk is very small. Act 
 weakly now, however, and you make a great war in 
 the Far East almost certain within a generation. 
 The main burden of the Western nations in such 
 a war will be borne by America. 
 
 To the Japanese themselves, I venture to repeat 
 words that I wrote over eleven years ago. They 
 are even more true now than when they were 
 written : 
 
 " The future of Japan, the future of the East, 
 and, to some extent, the future of the world, lies in 
 the answer to the question whether the militarists 
 or the party of peaceful expansion gain the upper 
 hand in the immediate future (in Japan). If the 
 one, then we shall have harsher rule in Korea, 
 steadily increasing aggression in Manchuria, grow- 
 ing interference with China, and, in the end, a 
 titanic conflict, the end of which none can see. 
 Under the other, Japan will enter into an inherit- 
 ance, wider, more glorious and more assured than 
 
320 KOREA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM 
 
 any Asiatic Power has attained for many centuries. 
 . . . Japan has it in her to be, not the Mistress 
 of the East, reigning, sword in hand, over subject 
 races — for that she can never permanently be — but 
 the bringer of peace to, and the teacher of, the East. 
 Will she choose the nobler end? " 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
TWO HOUR RES, .BOOK 
 
 RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 
 
 TO«» 202 Main Library 
 
 642-3403 
 
 LOAN PERIOD 1 
 HOME USE 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 1 -month loans may be renewed by calling 642-3405 
 
 6-month loans may be recharged by bringing books to Circulation Desl 
 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 ms.m : dec. *7< 
 
 .. : 
 
 ^dti/i/m 
 
 mn 
 
 - 
 
 APR 1 1993 
 
 31 
 
 FORM NO. DD 6, 40m, 676 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 
 BERKELEY, CA 94720 
 
 Diversity of Califofflll 
 Berkeley 
 
w 
 
 yB 297 
 
 U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 CQ07QD^3Mfl 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 
 k