(14) Men shall be employed irrespective of their origin. Ability alone shall determine a man’s eligibility whether in Seoul or in the country.
Chapter XX.
The ex-Regent’s influence.... The queen’s influence.... continued reforms.... King adopts new title.... cruel punishments abolished.... Arch demolished.... Yun Chi-ho.... Korea astonished at Japanese victory over Chinese.... Buddhist monks allowed in Seoul.... Yi Chun-yong banished.... Independence Day.... Pak Yong-hyo.... again banished.... American Mining concession.... Count Inouye retires.... cholera.... official change.... Educational reform.... arrival of Viscount Miura.... Japanese policy.... Miura directly implicated in murder of queen.... Inouye not concerned.... Japanese Government ignorant of Miura’s plot.
The year 1895 was big with history. Its events created a strong and lasting impression upon the whole Korean people and it is in the light of these events that the whole subsequent history of the country must be interpreted. The year opened in apparent prosperity. The king had taken oath to govern according to enlightened principles and had exhorted his officials to adhere strictly to the reform program, protesting that if he himself failed to do so it would be an offence against Heaven. The Tă-wŭn-gun had retired from public life but as his son, the brother of the king, was Minister of the Household and his grandson Yi Chun-yong held a position near the king, there can be no doubt that in a private way the Tă-wŭn-gun exercised fully as much influence as he had done while in active office. It is necessary to bear in mind that the enmity of the queen against the ex-Regent extended to the sons of the latter and in spite of the terms of the king’s oath constant pressure was brought to bear upon the king from that direction. Whatever be the reason, we find that in January Yi Chun-yong was sent to Japan as Korean Minister, an act that was really in favor of the anti-Regent faction since it temporarily removed one of the chief actors from the immediate stage.
As the king had sworn to pay personal attention to the details of government it was deemed advisable to remove the cabinet meeting place to the palace itself. Whether this was in accord with the spirit of the reforms may be doubted, for it worked directly for the complete centralization of power which later caused a reversal of the whole governmental policy.
The progress of the so-called reforms went on apace. The outside, the integuments, were changed, whatever may or may not have happened in the inner mind. The long baggy sleeves which had distinguished the true yang-ban were done away and the side-openings of the long coats were sewed up. The width of the hat brims was curtailed and other minor changes were effected. A salutary change was made by putting power into the hands of the ministers of state to carry out the work of their respective offices according to law without referring every thing to the central government, excepting in very important cases where it affected other departments. The immemorial customs regarding the salutations of inferiors to superiors and vice versa were largely done away and more democratic rules formulated. The Home Minister undertook to correct many abuses in the country, to ferret out cases where cultivated land returned no revenue, because of the indirection of the ajŭns, and by this means the revenue of the government was very largely augmented.
At the advice of the leading members of the Cabinet His Majesty adopted the title of Ta-gun-ju Pye-ha (
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