Korea and her neighbors / A narrative of travel, with an account of the recent vicissitudes and present position of the country

by Isabella L. Bird

Korea was divided into eight Provinces, each under the control of a Governor, aided by a Civil and Military Secretary. Magistrates of different grades according to the size of the magistracies were appointed under him, five fortress cities, however, being independent of provincial jurisdiction. The principal tax, the land-tax, was paid in kind, and the local governments had very considerable control over the local revenues. There were provincial military and naval forces with large staffs of officers, and Boards, Offices, and Departments innumeral under Government, each with its legion of supernumeraries.

The country was eaten up by officialism. It is not only that abuses without number prevailed, but the whole system of Government was an abuse, a sea of corruption without a bottom or a shore, an engine of robbery, crushing the life out of all industry. Offices and justice were bought and sold like other commodities, and Government was fast decaying, the one principle which survived being its right to prey on the governed.

The new order of things, called by the Japanese the “Reformation,” dates from the forcible occupation of the Kyeng-pok Palace by Japanese troops on the 23rd of July, 1894. The constitutional changes which have subsequently been promulgated (though not always carried out) were initiated by the Japanese Minister in Seoul, and reduced to detail by the Japanese “advisers” who shortly arrived; and Japan is entitled to the credit of having attempted to cope with and remedy the manifold abuses of the Korean system, and of having bequeathed to the country the lines on which reforms are now being carried out. It was natural, and is certainly not blameworthy, that the Japanese had in view the assimilation of Korean polity to that of Japan.

To bring about the desired reorganization, Mr. Otori, at that time the Japanese Minister, induced the King to create an Assembly, which, whatever its ultimate destiny, was to form meanwhile a Department for “the discussion of all matters grave and trivial within the realm.” The Prime Minister was its President, and the number of its members was limited to twenty Councillors. A noteworthy feature in connection with it was that it invited suggestions from outsiders in the form of written memoranda.

It met for the first time on the 30th of July, 1894, and for the last on the 29th of October of the same year. It was found impossible, either by payment or Royal orders, to secure a quorum; and after the Vice-Minister of Justice, one of the few Councillors who took an active part in the proceedings, was murdered two days after the last meeting, as was believed, by an agent of the reactionary party, it practically expired, and was dissolved by Royal Decree on the 17th of December, 1894, and a reconstituted Privy Council took its place. Those of its Resolutions, however, which had received the Royal assent became law, and unless repealed or superseded are still binding.

These Resolutions appeared in the Government Gazette, an institution of very old standing, imitated, like most things else, from China. This was prepared by the Court of Transmission, a Palace Department, the senior members of which formed the channel of communication between the King and the official body at large, and who, while other high officials could only reach the throne by means of personal memorials or written memoranda, were privileged to address the King viva voce, and through whom as a rule his commands were issued. Each day this Department collected the various memoranda and memorials, the Royal replies and the lists of appointments, copies of which when edited by it formed the Gazette, which was furnished in MS. to officials throughout the kingdom. The Royal Edicts when published in this paper became law in Korea.

In July, 1894, Mr. Otori made the useful innovation of publishing the Gazette in clear type, and in the following January it appeared in a mixture of Chinese hieroglyphs and En-mun, the “vulgar script” of Korea, and became intelligible to the common people. No special change was made at that time, except that the Resolutions of the Deliberative Assembly were included in it. Later changes have assimilated it farther to the Government Gazette of Japan, and it has gained rather than lost in importance. Gradually a diminution of the power of the Court of Transmission began to show itself. Its name was changed to the Receiving Office, and members of the Cabinet and the Correctional Tribunal began to enjoy direct access to the King. In April, 1895, a farther change in a Japanese direction, and one of great significance in Korean estimation, was made, the date of the Gazette being given thus:—

“No. 1.—504th year of the Dynasty, 4th moon, 1st day, Wood-day.”[44]

Two months later farther changes in the official Gazette were announced, and the programme then put forward has been adhered to, paving the way for many of the changes which have followed. It is difficult to make the importance of the Gazette intelligible, except to foreigners who have resided in China and Korea. The reason for dwelling so long upon it is, that for several centuries the publication in it of Royal Edicts has given them the force of law and the currency of Acts of Parliament.

In the pages which follow a brief summary is given of the outlines of the scheme for the reorganization of the Korean Government, which was prepared for the most part by the Japanese advisers, honorary and salaried, who have been engaged on the task since 1894, and which has been accepted by the King.