An unsuccessful attempt at rebellion was made by the notorious Kim Cha-jŭm and Kim Sik, son-in-law to the late king. They persuaded the latter’s wife to place a fetich under the floor of the king’s sleeping apartment. This is supposed to bring about the speedy death of the person so cursed, but someone found it out and divulged the plan. The three leaders were beheaded, the woman poisoned and her brothers banished. Some wanted the king to move because the palace had been defiled by the fetich, which consisted of a dead rat with the king’s name written on its belly, but it was voted down because it would tend to confirm the people in their belief in this foolish superstition.
This king inherited much of his father’s hatred of the Manchu power and we find him building a palace at Kang-wha and storing provisions there in case of a break in the peaceful relations then existing. He instituted some useful reforms also, forbidding the cruel practice of beating criminals to death. He likewise legislated in the interests of the people when he forbade the exacting of rent for water drawn from the government reservoirs for their rice fields.
Twenty-two years before this, Kim Hyŭk, one of the envoys to China, had there met a Westerner who is known in Korean history as Tang-yak-măng. This was one of the Jesuit priests. He came first to Canton as a missionary but his great talents were recognized in Nanking and the emperor called him to the capital and questioned him about his religion, and employed him as court astronomer. There the Koreans saw the calendar called Si-hön-yŭk. When the Ming dynasty fell the Manchus urged the Westerner to remain and they allowed him a regular salary. Kim Hyŭk brought back a book from Peking which is probably a copy or abstract of the celebrated book above mentioned. For these twenty-two years a scholar, Kim Sang-bŭm, had been studying this book, and at last having mastered its secrets, he came out with a calendar of his own. It is stated that the Westerners Yi Ma-du and Sa Su-sin had already been many years in China when Kim Hyŭk visited Nanking. (These are Ricci and Schaal).
It was discovered that the country people were evading the revenue laws by cultivating the hill sides above the margin of cultivation set by law. Commissioners were sent out to remeasure the taxable land and to set limits to hillside cultivation, for it was feared that the cultivation of the hillsides would diminish the fuel supply too much. It was in this same year that the ill-fated sailing vessel Sparwehr sailed from Holland with Hendrik Hamel as super-cargo. There seem to have been sixty-four men on board, and when she went to pieces on the island of Quelpart only thirty-six of them reached shore in safety. They were taken to Seoul by the authorities and for fourteen years lived, now on the royal bounty, now by the work of their own hands, and at times they were even compelled to beg for food. At last however the remnant of them made good their escape by night and finally reached Nagasaki. Hamel afterwards wrote an account of his captivity[captivity] in Korea.
In the year 1654 the hostility of the king toward his suzerain took more definite shape. He appointed Yi Wan, a brilliant young general, to have charge of all military matters, and he sent military instructors all through the south where the great mass of the population lived, to drill the people in the science of war. He likewise built fortresses at Sŭng-jin in Ham-gyŭng Province and at Yi-bam-keum-sŭng and at Kyŭk-p‘o in the south. He appointed four generals to be stationed about Seoul to guard its approaches, and he collected great quantities of grain, much of which he massed at Wha-ryang near Chemulpo to be in readiness to ship to Tientsin when he should invade China. He provisioned Kang-wha thoroughly and built a monster store-house at Chang-san in Whang-hă Province, because of the difficulty experienced by the boats in rounding the exposed point of that province; he founded a school for the training of military officers and twenty of the best men were detailed for study there. Any sign of indolence insured a prompt dismissal.
This sovereign was an ardent advocate of dress reform. At first he made the soldiers wear shorter sleeves and skirts and for the sake of lightness they were often made of silk. From that he made a more general application of his ideas. He found the hats too broad of brim and the flowing sleeves very inconvenient in the breeze. These points were ordered to be changed and the palace hat as seen today was introduced. It was first invented by the celebrated Chöng Mong-ju whose blood still marks the stone bridge at Song-do. It was he too that introduced the hyŭng-p‘ă or embroidered storks to be worn on the breasts of civil officers, and the tigers to be worn by military officers.
Chapter X.
The king dies.... seeds of discord sown.... the new king.... extensive reforms.... party changes.... strife.... a great reformer.... the ajuns checked.... abuses remedied.... a convent broken up.... various reforms.... revenue.... forestry.... memorialists rebuked.... honest examinations.... the people cared for.... the census.... numerous reforms.... qualities of a good prefect.... the king dies.... a noble record.... the new king.... a bad outlook.... party strife.... census.... Japanese settlement at Fusan.... ceaseless quarrels.... a minister falls.... wholesale execution.... plot and counter-plot.... reforms in the navy.... calamities.... reign of terror.... Roman Catholics.... trouble brewing.... change of party.... unutterable cruelty.... the queen deposed.... concubine made queen.... a great statesman dies of poison.
In the tenth year of his reign, 1659, having exposed himself to the sun and rain while sacrificing to heaven to secure the cessation of a great famine that was on the land, the king was taken ill, an abscess[abscess] broke out on his temple and after a short illness he expired. In connection with his death arose a contention that was destined to cause the death of many men. The mother of the dead king was still living. She had worn mourning for three years after the death of her elder son, and now the question was whether she should assume it for an equal length of time for this her second son. Song Si-ryŭl and Song Chun-gil argued that one year only was sufficient. The other side was taken by Yun Hyu and the debate was fierce and long. The classics were ransacked for proof texts in support of either contention. The Prime Minister decided in favor of the shorter term and the Queen Mother wore mourning for but a year. Song Si-ryŭl also laid up wrath against himself by neglecting to have the king’s body wrapped tightly in bandages, until it had swollen so that it required two planks joined together to form the bottom of his coffin. This was considered a great misfortune and ere a year had passed Song was obliged to retire precipitately to the country to avoid being[being] mobbed for the offense.
The new king entered upon the duties of his exalted position as a mere lad, in 1660. His posthumous title is Hyon-jong Tă-wang. His first duty was to give his father burial. The geomancers said he ought to be buried on a site near the town of Su-wŭn, but the courtiers thought that was too near the main road, so a place was selected outside the East Gate. This first year was one of reform. The penalties for murder were too small. If a high class man committed murder he could get off with a hundred blows and ineligibility for office for a short time, but now the king, with the advice of the court, made all high class murderers permanently ineligible for office. It must be borne in mind that the demarcation between the upper and lower classes was much more distinct in those days than it is at present.