About the same time the Independence Club came into direct opposition to the Government in its strong protest against the appointment of the conservative Cho Pyŭng-sik to the vice-presidency of the Council of State. The commotion, engendered by this, resulted in Mr. Yun Chi-ho being called before the Emperor, where he made a strong appeal in favor of the Independence Club and asserted the continued loyalty of the club toward His Majesty. Unfortunately he asserted that the Emperor having sanctioned the founding of the club could disband it merely by Imperial decree. For the time, this appeal sufficed and the immediate object of the society was secured, but the Emperor did not forget that he had it in his power to dissolve the club by a single word. As a fact, the mere sanction of the founding of the Club gave no more power to dissolve it than the wedding ceremony which a clergyman performs gives the right in future to dissolve that union. There can be no doubt that from this time on the Emperor was determined to eliminate this disturbing element at the first opportunity. He had no sympathy with its platform, one plank of which was the curtailment of the Imperial prerogative.
August saw the fall of Kim Hong-nyuk, the former Russian interpreter, who ruffled it so proudly at Court on account of his connection with the Russian Legation. For a year he had a good time of it and amassed great wealth, but when the Russians withdrew their influence in March of this year Kim lost all his backing and thenceforward his doom was as sure as fate itself. The genuine noblemen whose honors he had filched were on his track and in August he was accused, deposed and banished. This did not satisfy his enemies however, but an opportunity came when on September tenth an attempt was made to poison[poison] the Emperor and the Crown Prince. The attempt came near succeeding and in the investigation which followed one of the scullions deposed that he had been instructed by a friend of Kim Hong-nyuk to put something into the coffee. How Kim, away in banishment, could have had anything to do with it would be hard to tell. He may have conceived the plan but the verdict of a calm and dispassionate mind must be that he probably knew nothing about it at all. However, in such a case, someone must suffer. The criminal must be found; and it is more than probable that those who hated Kim Hong-nyuk thought he would make an excellent scape-goat. He was tried, condemned and executed.
About the same time the Emperor came to the conclusion that he would like to have a foreign body-guard. C. R. Greathouse was sent to Shanghai to find the material for this guard. Thirty men were picked up, of various nationalities, and they arrived in Seoul on September fifteenth. This move caused intense excitement and opposition. The Independence Club was in the fore-front of the protest that was made. A dozen good arguments were adduced showing why this should not be[be] done, and so unanimous[unanimous] was the sentiment that the Emperor yielded to popular clamor and dismissed the men, but this, again, cannot but have set the Emperor against the Independence Club, inasmuch as they had been principally instrumental in thwarting a pet scheme of his own.
The month of September witnessed better things than these, however. The Japanese obtained their concession for the Seoul-Fusan Railway, an event of great importance in[in] every way and one that will mean much to Korea.
In September the Independence Club determined that it would be well to put forward a program of work in place of the merely destructive criticism which had for some time characterized its policy. An appeal was made to the general public to assemble, in order to suggest reforms. Whether this was wise or not is a question. A popular assembly in Korea is hardly capable of coming to wise conclusions or to participate in plans for constructive statesmanship. In addition to this an appeal to the people was inevitably construed by the conservatives as a desperate measure which invited revolution. In a sense they were justified[justified] in so thinking, for the general populace of Korea never has risen in protest unless the evils under which they are suffering have driven them to the last court of appeal, mob law. The move was in the direction of democracy and no one can judge that the people of Korea are ready for any such thing.
However this may be, a mass meeting was held at Chong-no, to which representatives of all classes were called. The following articles were formulated and presented to the cabinet for imperial sanction.
(1) Neither officials nor people shall depend upon foreign aid, but shall do their best to strengthen and uphold the Imperial power.
(2) All documents pertaining to foreign loans, the hiring of foreign soldiers, the granting of concessions, &c., in fact every document drawn up between the Korean government and a foreign party or firm, shall be signed and sealed by all the Ministers of State and the President of the Privy Council.
(3) Important offenders shall be punished only after they have been given a public trial and ample opportunity to defend themselves.
(4) To His Majesty shall belong the power to appoint Ministers, but in case a majority of the cabinet disapproves of the Emperor’s nominee he shall not be appointed.