In Korea with Marquis Ito

by George Trumbull Ladd

Meantime, however, other invitations to speak in the capital city of Korea had been received and were waiting for their turn. Soon after our arrival, one of the Japanese pastors called to say that it had been arranged for me, by one of the teachers, to address the patronesses of a school for Korean girls bearing the name, and profiting by the favors, of Lady Om. Although other plans had previously been made, in order to save her reputation with the “leading lady” of Korea, a rebuke was sent to this teacher for engaging her speaker without first consulting him; but the invitation was accepted. [In justice to the Koreans, it should be said that the person guilty of this indiscretion was a Japanese. Indeed, to pledge the speaker, and even to select his time and topic for him, is a sort of morally doubtful enterprise, out of which even the New Japan has not as yet wholly emerged]. The talk at Lady Om’s School was in no respect a success. Although both substance and style were made as simple as possible, the Korean girl who had studied abroad and was, therefore, thought competent to interpret, completely failed in this office. And when the Japanese pastor, who had mediated the invitation, followed with an address in his native language which was to convey the substance of the same thought to the Japanese teachers and patronesses of the school, he delivered so prolonged and brilliant an oration that the speaker whose few simple words served as a text for it all, was obliged to commit a breach of etiquette by leaving before the customary sequence of cakes.

In addressing Japanese audiences in Seoul, as elsewhere in Korea and all over Japan, I felt entirely at home. It was characteristic of them in this foreign land, as it was in the home country at the same time, that they were, above all, desirous to hear the subjects discussed about which I most desired to speak. The day when the nation had expected a full salvation from “science” and military prowess, without morals, has happily gone by. Its leaders, whether in educational circles or in the army and navy, in civil service, and largely, too, in business, are becoming convinced that the “spirit” of Japan must be revived, retained, made more comprehensive, purified, elevated; if the triumphs of war are to be followed by the wished-for successes in the ensuing peace. Thus in Korea, as everywhere from Nagasaki to Sapporo, in primary schools, commercial schools, and in the university, I found the interest of the Japanese in ethical subjects supreme.

When, then, an invitation was received to be present at a banquet given by the “Economics Club,” of which Mr. Ichihara (manager of the Dai-Ichi Ginko or branches of the First Bank of Japan in Seoul) is president, and to speak there, I was glad of the opportunity—not only to meet friends, but also to express certain cherished thoughts on the relations of ethics and economics. The Marquis Ito was present at this meeting of the club for the first time. In a lengthy address, spoken with his usual careful “picking of words,” the Marquis emphasized the need that the Japanese should set before the Koreans an example of honesty and fairness in their economic relations. He dwelt upon the thought that the one hundred and seventy who were present, and who represented the principal Japanese business interests in Korea, should show how the Japanese national policy is based upon the principle of unselfishness; and how Japan has declared for, and means to stand for, “the open door.” In welcoming me he repeated, on this public occasion, what he had said in the privacy of the interview at Kyoto, with the following words: “Taking advantage of his visit to Japan, I have invited Professor Ladd, whom I have the honor and the pleasure of considering as a friend of several years standing, to come over here and favor me with his frank and independent views on the situation. What I want is independent views. I trust he knows this very well. I trust his observations will be of great help to me.”

In replying to the address of His Excellency, after apologizing to President Ichihara for criticising the school of economics in which he had been trained (Mr. Ichihara studied this subject in the United States), for failure to emphasize the important and unalterable relations which exist between moral principles and economical policy, I expressed my gratification at the triumph of the newer school which builds on history, psychology, and ethics. I then spoke of the importance of regarding moral principles as fundamental in all practical ways, for the most successful handling of the delicate political and economical, as well as social interests, of both Japan and Korea. The observations of both speakers to the same effect were seriously listened to and heartily commended by this influential group of Japanese financiers in Korea. Between these gentlemen and the unscrupulous and mischievous rabble of their countrymen, who poured into Korea at the close of the war with Russia, a grave distinction must constantly be made by those who would understand the situation there.

The Japanese ladies in Seoul have formed themselves into several flourishing societies, the most important of which, perhaps, is the “Ladies’ Patriotic Association.” This Association is not only useful as an organ for benevolent work among the widows and orphans of the Japanese soldiers, and among the soldiers now on service in Korea, but it has already done much to break down the barriers which exclude Korean women of the upper classes from similar offices, as well as those which separate the women of the two nationalities. It is, therefore, admirably adapted to further indirectly the purposes of the Resident-General in maintaining the honor and welfare of Japan by promoting the good of Korea. On Wednesday of the week following the address before the Economics Club, I spoke to some sixty Japanese ladies, and about the same number of gentlemen, under the auspices of this Association. The theme was the importance and value of relations of friendship between the two countries, as an appeal to the patriotism of those who must be relied upon to bring about these relations. A few Korean ladies also were present at this gathering. And when, at a collation which followed in the Japanese Club-House of Seoul, Mrs. Ladd made a short address to the ladies, a response in few words was made in Japanese by Mrs. Megata, the wife of the Financial Adviser to the Korean Government, and a yet longer one, in the same language, by Mrs. Yi Chi-yung, the wife of the then acting Korean Minister for Home Affairs. Such incidents as these may seem trivial, but they are really noteworthy as the beginnings of what may well grow into a satisfactory practical solution of the difficult problem of establishing a Japanese Protectorate over Korea in a way to secure the honor and welfare of both nations.

The remaining two addresses to Japanese audiences in Seoul were not particularly significant as bearing upon the interests I was trying to serve. They were, however, suggestive as to certain changes going on in Korea which are destined to assist in the redemption of the country. These were an address on an educational topic to about sixty teachers who met in the fine, large brick school-building which marks conspicuously the Japanese ideal in this matter; and a talk on the relation of religion to social reform, given in one of the Japanese churches to an audience of a union character, representing the Christian work among their own countrymen by pastors imported from Japan. An address at the annual meeting of the Bible Society, an address at a meeting of the Asiatic Society, and one or two other talks, completed my work of this character, so far as the city of Seoul was concerned.

It will be remembered that the more important work in which the Japanese Resident-General in Korea hoped I might be of some assistance could not be done merely by making public addresses, however well received by the Koreans themselves. It was evident that his plans for uplifting by pacific measures the economical and educational condition of the Korean people were being misunderstood and hindered, not only by those foreigners who had selfish interests to promote, but also by some who ought to co-operate in every unselfish way. These “anti-Japanese” foreigners were of several nationalities (so far as the diplomats and business men were concerned); but the missionaries were, for the most part, my own countrymen. In the complaint of Marquis Ito, there was never at any time the least trace of bitterness, although the fact was obvious that he felt the credit of his nation, as well as of his own administration, to be deeply concerned. But surely, if both Marquis Ito and the missionaries were striving to promote what was best for the cause of the Korean nation and of humanity in the Far East, the disclosure of this fact ought to make more easy the adjustment of the delicate relations involved in the different kinds and methods of their benevolent work. I knew that the Marquis desired this friendly understanding and cordial co-operation. I thought it right that foreign missionaries should be not less moved than was the Resident-General by the same desire. Union and sympathy, rather than opposition or indifference, ought to prevail between the industrial and educational interests and the more definitively moral and religious.

The larger aspects of the missionary problem in Korea will be briefly treated in another connection. At present it is enough to describe the conclusions on this subject at which I was forced to arrive, and to tell something of my personal experiences. There had, doubtless, been much provocation to form a poor opinion of the character and intentions of the Japanese populace which had crowded into the cities of Seoul and Pyeng-yang during and after the war with Russia. They had cheated and maltreated the Koreans and had brought suspicion and, in some instances, disgrace upon the fair fame of Japan. None of the other foreigners were readier to make accusation of this than were the reputable Japanese to confess and deplore the same thing. But all the robbery and oppression by these unfriendly foreigners was as nothing compared with what the Koreans had suffered from their own countrymen through hundreds of years. Moreover, at this very time, almost without exception, a Korean was to be found back of, or associated with, a Japanese in each scheme for swindling and in each act of injustice or oppression.

On the other hand, the conduct of some of the missionaries had not been altogether judicious or even fair and just. As a body they seemed inclined to be over-credulous and easy to deceive by the falsehoods and exaggerations of their own converts. Not unnaturally, but it would seem unwisely, they had been somewhat too extravagant in praise of the negative virtues of the Koreans, and somewhat too sparing in demanding the more manly moral qualities of sincerity, courage, veracity, and sturdy loyalty to justice and to truth. And—to quote expressions heard from the lips of some of the ladies—there had been too much talk with foreigners and before the natives, about the “dear Koreans”; and “We do not love the Japanese.” That certain letters home—in part private and not designed for publication by the writer, and in part written by missionaries themselves for the press, or by chance visitors or newspaper correspondents to make public stories told to them by the missionaries—had created strong impressions unfavorable to the success of the Japanese Protectorate, was not a matter of merely private information. Moreover, the connection, both implicit and obvious, between these workers in the moral and religious interests of Korea and the enterprises of Mr. Homer B. Hulbert and his colleagues in the alleged political interests of the Korean Court, could not fail to be interpreted by both foreigners and Koreans as hostile to the policy of the Japanese Government. Even as late as August, 1907, an open letter—than which anything more insulting or abusive of the Japanese nation has seldom been published—was written by a Church of England missionary.

Dr. Jones and I had talked over the situation and the policy of the missionary body, as touching the real and lasting advance of morals and religion in Korea, many times before the hour when the point of turning was reached. I had found him always frank, fair, and sympathetic with the difficult and complicated interests of both peoples. He had assured me that, personally, Marquis Ito was steadily gaining in the confidence of all the foreigners, including the missionaries, and even of the Koreans themselves. But the prejudice and bitterness of feeling toward the Japanese generally remained unchanged; and every one seemed to be doubting whether the policy of the Resident-General could win its way. I had steadily maintained the position that, whatever might have been true in the past, the welfare of Korea and the success of missions there, depended upon a positive and hearty co-operation of all the factors common to both forms of good influence. I had previously told Marquis Ito that, in my judgment, the Christian movement now in progress would be the most important help toward the success of his policy in uplifting the Korean people. His Excellency, I had said to Dr. Jones, had held out the hand to the missionaries; for them, through fear of losing influence among the Koreans, or especially at the Korean Court, to refuse to take this hand, seemed to me not only unwise but in a measure un-Christian. Without the success of the powerful influence wielded by the Resident-General for the economical and educational improvement of Korea—for developing its industries, founding schools and hospitals, making the conditions of life more comfortable and sanitary, purging the corrupt court, and securing law, order, and the administration of justice in the country magistracies—preaching, Bible-teaching, and colporteurage, must remain forever relatively unavailing. Moreover, I was becoming convinced that a large proportion of the present interest of the Koreans in the missionary movement had, either in pure or mixed form, political motives behind it.