One of the reforms that was carried out was the sending of students abroad to acquire an education.
It was decreed that all land or houses that had been illegally seized by unscrupulous people in power during the past ten years should be restored to their rightful owners. Many officials in Seoul, well known in foreign circles, lost large fractions of their wealth because of this decree.
The policy was adopted of engaging foreign advisers for the various great Departments of State and as a result of this a number of foreigners were employed. Some of them had already been some time in the service of the government.
Chapter XIX.
The Ex-Regent.... The new Cabinet.... the Tong-hak pacified.... The Tă-wŭn-kun retires.... Japan declares war.... Korea abrogates all treaties with China.... Pak Yong-hyo returns.... his memorial.... he is pardoned.... Chinese excesses in the north.... new Korean-Japanese treaty.... Marquis Saionji visits Seoul....Tong-hak in arms again.... Prince Eui-wha goes to Japan.... Count Inouye comes.... amnesty to offenders of 1884.... Dr. Jaisohn comes.... Army reform.... the privy Council.... the King’s Oath.
The Tă-wŭn-kun, the former Regent, was now a prominent factor in the government and the well known strength of his personality did much to give stability to the new regime. The Queen necessarily retired from active participation in politics for the time being and there was apparent promise of better days to come. The new cabinet chosen at this time was a curious mixture of progressive and conservative men. It was composed of Kim Hong-jip, Kim Yun-sik, O Yun-jung, Pak Chöng-yang and An Kyöng-su representing the progressive wing and Min Yong-dal, Sŭ Chŭng-sun, Yi Kyu-wŭn, Yun Yong-gu and Um Se-yŭng representing the conservative wing. Among the secondary officials some were progressive and some conservative. This apparent blending of the various factions was a hopeful sign outwardly but it had no real significance. All were appointed by permission of the Japanese and they worked together only because it was useless to oppose. But the same intrinsic hostility remained and only needed opportunity to manifest itself. It was the calm of repression rather than of genuine reconciliation, and it helped to prove that there is no hope for good government in Korea by Koreans until the country has secured the benefit of genuine education.
These reforms that were proposed had the apparent sanction of His Majesty, as is proved by the fact that after their proposal he called all the high officials to the palace and made them a speech in which he referred to this as a splendid opportunity to make a radical and beneficent change in the government, and laid it as a sacred duty upon the officials to carry out the reforms, and he declared that he, too, would become a new king and do his part in bringing about the desired renovation of the land.
In spite of the previous declaration that the tong-hak uprising was at an end there was much unrest especially in the south and the tong-hak were really as ready as ever to take the offensive. For this reason the king sent a high official to Kyüng-sang Province to make an attempt at pacification and told the people that the trouble was because of his own lack of virtue and begged them to be patient a little longer until the reforms could be carried out. The people were pleased, especially with the promise that slavery should be discontinued and that the barriers between the classes should be broken down. The fact that this effort on the part of the king was entirely successful shows that the tong-hak were not anarchists or banditti but were merely desperate citizens who required some assurance that certain changes would be made so that life would be bearable.
A word is necessary as to the attitude of the Tă-wŭn-kun toward these reforms. He had been called to the palace and put in a responsible advisory position by the Japanese but he was not the sort of man to hold an empty honor or to pose as a mere figure-head. Several of the proposed reforms were distasteful to him but when he found that his objections carried no weight he retired to his private house in disgust. It took him only a few weeks to discover that his elevation had been merely a formality.
The month of August was an anxious one in Korea. The battle of Asan had been fought on the 28th and 29th of July and it was known that there would be a decisive battle fought at P‘yŭng Yang in the near future. Foreign opinion was divided as to the probabilities, some people believing that the Japanese would sweep every thing before them and others being equally sure that the Chinese would win.