The subjects of conversation introduced at three of my audiences not only showed an intelligent desire for such information as might be serviceable, but reflected the reforms which the Japanese were pressing on the King. I was very closely questioned as to what I had seen of China and Siberia, as to the Siberian and Japanese railroads, cost of construction per li, as to the popular feeling in Japan concerning the war, etc. Again I was catechised as to the avenues to official employment in England, the possibility of men “not of the noble class” reaching high positions in the Government, the position of the English nobility with regard to “privileges,” and their attitude to inferiors. On one day the whole attention of the King and Queen was concentrated on the relations between the English Crown and the Cabinet, specially with regard to the Civil List, on which the King’s questions were so numerous and persistent as very nearly to pose me. He was specially anxious to know if the “Finance Minister” (the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I suppose) exercised any control over the personal expenditure of Her Majesty, and if the Queen’s personal accounts were paid by herself or through the Treasury. The affairs under the control of each Secretary of State were the subject of another series of questions.
Many queries were about the duties of the Home Minister, the position of the Premier, and his relations with the other Ministers and the Crown. He was very anxious to know if the Queen could dismiss her Ministers if they failed to carry out her wishes, and it was impossible to explain to him through an interpreter, to whom the ideas were unfamiliar, the constitutional checks on the English Crown, and that the sovereign only nominally possesses the right of choosing her Ministers.
Just before I left Korea, I was summoned to a farewell audience, and asked to take the Legation interpreter with me. I went in an eight-bearer chair, and was received with the usual honors, soldiers presenting arms, etc! There was no crowd of attendants and no delay. As I was being escorted down a closed veranda by several eunuchs and military officers, a sliding window was opened by the King, who beckoned to me to enter, and then closed it. I found myself in the raised alcove in which the Royal Family usually sat, but the sliding panels between it and the audience-chamber were closed, and as it is not more than 6 feet wide, it was impossible to make the customary profound curtseys. Instead of the usual throng of attendants, eunuchs, ladies-in-waiting in silk gowns a yard too long for them, and heavy coils and pillows of artificial hair on their heads, and privileged persons standing behind the King and Queen and crowding the many doorways, there were present only the Queen’s nurse and my interpreter, who stood at a chink between the panels where he could not see the Queen, bent into an attitude of abject reverence, never lifting his eyes from the ground or raising his voice above a whisper. The precautions, however, failed to secure the privacy which the King and Queen desired. I was certain that through the chink I saw the shadow of a man in the audience-room, and the interpreter’s subsequent remark, “It was very hard for me to interpret for His Majesty to-day” was intelligible when I heard that the “shadow” belonged to one of the Ministers of State specially distrusted by the King, and who later had to fly from Korea. It was understood that this person carried the substance of what the King and Queen said to a foreign legation.
I cannot here allude to the matter on which the King spoke, but the audience, which lasted for an hour, was an extremely interesting one. On one point the King expressed himself very strongly, as he has done to many others. He considers that now that Korea is formally independent of China, she is entitled to a Resident Minister accredited solely to the Korean Court. He expressed great regard and esteem for Mr. Hillier, and said that nothing would be more acceptable to him than his appointment as the first Minister to Korea.
The Queen spoke of Queen Victoria, and said, “She has everything that she can wish—greatness, wealth, and power. Her sons and grandsons are kings and emperors, and her daughters empresses. Does she ever in her glory think of poor Korea? She does so much good in the world, her life is a good. We wish her long life and prosperity”; to which the King added, “England is our best friend.” It was really touching to hear the occupants of that ancient but shaky throne speaking in this fashion.
On this occasion the Queen was dressed in a bodice of brocaded amber satin, a mazarine blue brocaded trained skirt, a crimson girdle with five clasps and tassels of coral, and a coral clasp at the throat. Her head was uncovered, and her abundant black hair gathered into a knot at the back. She wore no ornament except a pearl and coral jewel on the top of the head. The King and Queen rose when I took leave, and the Queen shook hands. They both spoke most kindly, and expressed the wish that I should return and see more of Korea. When I did return nine months later, the Queen had been barbarously murdered, and the King was practically a prisoner in his own palace.
Travellers received by the Korean King have often ridiculed the audience, the surroundings, and the Palace. I must say that I saw nothing to ridicule, unless national customs and etiquette varying from our own are necessarily ridiculous. On the contrary, there were a simplicity, dignity, kindliness, courtesy, and propriety which have left a very agreeable impression on me, and my four audiences at Palace were the great feature of my second visit to Korea.
KOREAN GENTLEMAN IN COURT DRESS.
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