The extraneous evidence of the power of the Japanese irritates the Koreans, increasing the unconquerable aversion which has inspired them against the Japanese through centuries, until, of the various races of foreigners in Korea at the present, none are so deservedly detested as those hailing from the Island Empire of the Mikado. Nor is this prejudice remarkable, when it is considered that it is the scum of the Japanese nation that has settled down upon Korea. It is, perhaps, surprising that the animus of the Koreans against the Japanese has not died out with time; but the fault lies entirely with the Japanese themselves. Within recent years so much has occurred to alter the position of Japan and to flatter the vanity of these island people that they have lost their sense of perspective. Puffed up with conceit, they now permit themselves to commit social and administrative excesses of the most detestable character. Their extravagant arrogance blinds them to the absurdities and follies of their actions, making manifest the fact that their gloss of civilisation is the merest veneer. Their conduct in Korea shows them to be destitute of moral and intellectual fibre. They are debauched in business, and the prevalence of dishonourable practices in public life makes them indifferent to private virtue. Their interpretation of the laws of their settlements, as of their own country, is corrupt. Might is right; the sense of power is tempered neither by reason, justice nor generosity. Their existence from day to day, their habits and their manners, their commercial and social degradation, complete an abominable travesty of the civilisation which they profess to have studied. It is intolerable that a Government aspiring to the dignity of a first-class Power should allow its settlements in a friendly and foreign country to be a blot upon its own prestige, and a disgrace to the land that harbours them.
There are some twenty-five thousand Japanese in Korea, and the Japanese settlement is the curse of every treaty port in Korea. It is at once the centre of business, and the scene of uproar, riot, and confusion. In the comparative nakedness of the women, in the noise and violence of the shopkeepers, in the litter of the streets, there is nothing to suggest the delicate culture of Japan. The modesty, cleanliness, and politeness, so characteristic of the Japanese, are conspicuously absent in their settlements in this country. Transformation has taken place with transmigration. The merchant has become a rowdy; the coolie is impudent, violent, and, in general, an outcast more prone to steal than to work. Master and man alike terrorise the Koreans, who go in fear of their lives whenever they have transactions with the Japanese. Before the Chino-Japanese war this spirit had not displayed itself to any great extent in the capital of the Hermit Kingdom. With the successful conclusion of that campaign, however, the Japanese became so aggressive in their treatment of the people that, had the choice of two evils been possible in view of these events, the Koreans would have preferred the Chinese and a state of dependence to the conditions which were then introduced. The universal admiration aroused by the conduct of the Japanese troops in the North-China campaign of 1900-1901 has added sensibly to the vanity and egoism of these Korean-Japanese. Convinced of their innate superiority, their violence towards the Koreans goes on unchecked. It threatens now to assume unparalleled dimensions. If the relations between the Powers are to continue upon a satisfactory footing in Korea, it will be necessary for the Japanese Government to redress those abuses which foreigners, Japanese, and Koreans alike have combined to denounce.
H.M.S. ASTREA
CHAPTER XII
The commercial prospects of Korea—Openings to trade—Requirements of markets—Lack of British enterprise
The trade returns for 1900 exceeded every previous year. During the period covered by the Boxer disturbances, however, the Korean exports to China decreased, and the importation of foreign goods likewise fell off. The stimulus given to the cereal trade, by the interruption of the Manchurian export bean trade from Newchang, and by the demand for food-supplies for the troops in China, more than counterbalanced this temporary decline in direct native exports and direct foreign imports. Cotton goods, however, show an increase of £14,297 over the figures of previous years; but there is a specific falling off in imports of British manufacture and origin, and a specific advance in the more important lines of Japanese goods. I append a small table revealing the comparative prosperity of British and Japanese trade at this date:
| English, decrease in: | Japanese, increase in: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Shirtings | £59,069 | Shirtings | £1,731 |
| Indian Yarn | £3,056 | Yarn | £11,329 |
| Sheetings and other pieces | Small decrease | Sheetings | £40,422 |
| Other piece goods | £25,676 | ||
In time, the markets of Japan will produce everything which at present comes from America in the shape of canned goods, and from Europe, in the form of textiles or food-stuffs. Japanese woven fabrics, and canned foods of inferior quality are driving the wholesale manufacturing houses of England and America from the markets. At present, therefore, the trade of Korea is limited as much by the capacity of the Japanese markets as by the wants of the Korean. In face of the opposition of the Japanese, their determination to retain the Korean markets for themselves, and the absence of effective attempts by Western houses to beat up such trade as may exist, it is difficult to believe that the future will show any material expansion in the capacity of the foreign trade.