The year 1899 opened with political matters in a more quiet state than for some years past, owing to the violent repression of the Independence Club and the liberal movement. The judgment of the future will be that at this point Japan made a serious mistake of omission. The aims and purposes of the Independence party were directly in line with Japanese interests here and if that powerful government had actively interested itself in the success of the movement and had taken it for granted that the plan was to be definitely carried out the succeeding years would have made very different history than they did. But during all this time Japan seems to have retired into comparative quietude, perhaps because she saw the coming of her inevitable struggle with Russia and was not willing to hasten matters by coming into premature conflict with the northern power in Korea, pending the completion of her preparations for the supreme struggle.
Through all this period Russian influence was quietly at work securing its hold upon the Korean Court and upon such members of the government as it could win over. The general populace was always suspicious of her, however, and always preferred the rougher hand of Japan to the soft but heavy hand of Russia. The progress of the Russian plans was illustrated when in January of 1899 a mission of the Greek Church was established in Seoul. This suggests some remarks upon the general subject of mission work in Korea. The Presbyterian Church of America had established work here in 1884: the Methodist Episcopal Church of America began work in 1885; the Australian Presbyterian Church in 1889; The English Church Mission in 1890; the Southern Presbyterian Church of America in 1892; the Southern Methodist Church of America in 1896; the Canadian Presbyterian Mission in 1898. Besides these there was independent work under some smaller bodies including one Baptist organization and one college mission. When the last year of the 19th century opened these missions had all become firmly established, and important centres of mission work were found all over the country, especially in Seoul, Chemulpo, Pyeng-yang, Fusan, Wonsan, Chun-ju, Kunsan, Mokpo, Tă-gu and Song-do. From the very first the Protestant Missions adopted the principle of non-interferance with political affairs and with the ordinary course of justice in Korean courts. It has not always been possible to follow this principle implicitly but the people have come to learn that connection with a Protestant Christian Church will not absolve them from their duties and obligations toward their own government nor shield them from the results of misconduct. It has been found that the Korean temperament makes him easily accessible to the rational idealism of Christianity. From the very first the form of Christianity presented by the Protestant missionaries took hold of the Koreans with great power and by the end of the first fifteen years of work the various missions had some twenty thousand adherents. The northern station of the Presbyterian Mission in Korea attained world-wide notice as being, so far as human estimate can go, the most successful mission station in the world; and this not merely because of the number of people received into Church connection but because of the striking results obtained along the line of self support and independent Christian work. Hospitals were established in Seoul, Fusan, Wonsan, Pyeng-yang, Tă-gu and Chemulpo, and schools of various grades both for boys and girls were established in almost every mission station. The work of Bible translation was carried on steadily until by the end of 1899 the whole of the New Testament was put in the hands of the people at least in tentative form. The Korean Religious Tract Society, established early in the last decade of the century, did heroic work in putting forth Christian literature of all kinds. Literary work was represented in various grammars and manuals of Korean, several hymnals, an unabridged dictionary and the publication of a monthly magazine in English called The Korean Repository.
Before going forward into the new century we should note some of the more important material advances that Korea had made. Railway concessions for some 600 miles of track had been granted, half to Japanese and half to a French syndicate; several new and important ports had been opened, bringing the total number up to ten, inclusive of Seoul and Pyeng-yang; mining concessions had been given to Americans, English, Germans, French and Japanese, two of which had proved at least reasonably successful; timber and whaling concessions had been given to Russians on the east side of the peninsula and important fishing rights had been given to the Japanese; an attempt at a general system of education had been made throughout the country and the work of publishing text books was being pushed; students were sent abroad to acquire a finished education and legations at all the most important political centers were established; an attempt at a better currency had been made, though it was vitiated by official corruption and the operations of counterfeiters; trade had steadily increased and the imports and exports of Korea passed beyond the negligeable[negligeable] stage; an excellent postal system had been inaugurated under foreign supervision, and Korea had entered the Postal Union.
Thus it will be seen that in spite of all domestic political complications and discouragements the country was making definite advance along some lines. The leaven had begun to work and no conservatism on the part of the public leaders could stop the ferment.
The necrology of the closing year of the century contains the names of Mr. Legendre[Legendre] and Mr. Greathouse, the latter of whom, as legal adviser to the government, did excellent work in his department and was recognized by his employers as an able and efficient man in his official capacity.
Chapter XXIV.
Russian tactics.... murder of An Kyŭng-su.... the Boxer troubles.... evidences of advancement.... the career of Kim Yŭng-jin.... the rise of Yi Yong-ik.... his methods of collecting money.... sale of Roze Island to Japanese.... attempt to remove J. McLeavy Brown.... establishment of Greek Church Mission.... French interests in Korea growing.... the French Loan.... Yi Yong-ik makes a nickel currency.... the famine of 1901.... the import of Annam rice.... tension between Russia and Japan increasing.... material advances of 1901.... deterioration.... Buddhism on the increase.... the centralization of all power.... the use of special tax commissioners.... the Russo-Korean agreement about Masanpo.... useless employees.
The return to Seoul of M. Pavlow on Jan. 15, 1900, marked the definite beginning of that train of events which led up to the declaration of war by the Japanese in 1904. The Russians had been induced, two years previously, to remove the heavy pressure which they had brought to bear upon the government, but it was only a change of method. They were now to adopt a policy of pure intrigue and by holding in power Koreans who were hostile to the Japanese to harrass[harrass] and injure Japanese interests in every way possible.
At this same time we see a clear indication of the trend of events in the return to Korea of An Kyŭng-su and Kwan Yŭng-jin, two of the best men that late years had developed in Korea. They had been charged with connection with the plot to compass the abdication of His Majesty, and had taken refuge in Japan. Now on the promise of the government that they should have a perfectly fair trial and on the guarantee of protection by the Japanese they returned boldly to Korea and presented themselves for trial. They were strong men and they had to be reckoned with. They strongly favored Japanese influence and the reforms that that influence was supposed to embody. In fact they were thoroughly in sympathy with the best motives of the defunct Independence Club. An Kyŭng-su returned on January fifteenth and was held in detention until May sixteenth when Kwan Yŭng-jin returned. They were to stand a fair trial, but on the night of the twenty-seventh of May they were both strangled secretly in the prison. No more dastardly crime ever stained the annals of this or any other government. Induced to return on the promise of a fair trial they were trapped and murdered. The reactionists looked upon this as a signal victory, and indeed it was such, for it indicated clearly that a man was not safe even when he had the guarantee of the Japanese authorities. Nor would it be difficult to indicate the source from which the government obtained the courage thus to flout the Japanese.
As the summer came on, all interest in things Korean was held in suspension while the great uprising in China swelled to such monstrous proportions and the investment of Peking and the siege of the foreign legations there left the world no time to care for or think of other things. There were fears that the boxer movement would be contagious and that it would spread to Korea. Indeed it was reported in the middle of July that the infection had reached northern Korea; but fortunately this proved false.