Fifteen Years Among the Top-Knots; Or, Life in Korea

by Lillias H. Underwood

The cabinet approved the request, the king added six more new rules for reform, and Yun Chee Ho was made vice-president of the Privy Council. At once another general meeting of the public was held, and a committee appointed by them printed tens of thousands of copies of the new laws, and distributed them everywhere. Among the thirteen new rules, it was suggested and consented to that there should be established a sort of popular congress, a law-making body, with powers advisory (certainly very limited), composed of one hundred people, fifty of whom were to be elected by the popular vote, and fifty to be appointed by the king. But now the government began to take the alarm and to realize that they had opened the sluice gates of a flood which threatened to overwhelm them.

The night before the first election to this body was to have taken place at Independence Hall, seventeen leading members of the club were arrested. It was the intention of the minister of law to put these people to death, but the populace rose en masse, crowded and excited meetings were held everywhere, and so much feeling shown, that the decision was changed, and they were sentenced to banishment instead. But the populace continued to rage. Large masses of people, who, while they did not arm themselves or resort to violence, were angry and threatening, gathered in front of the government offices in all public places, demanding the release of the seventeen or that they themselves should be arrested. At length, after five days’ of threatening demonstrations and angry mobs, the seventeen were released. Now, indeed, the Independents felt they had gained a victory, the government had been defeated, and the people henceforth could accomplish anything.

The demand for the fulfilment of the king’s still unfulfilled promises of thirteen reforms was again renewed. On this the officials in person presented themselves before the crowds, commanding them to disperse and promising everything that was asked if they would do so, as a result of which the people quietly dispersed.

After long and patient waiting, without result, no promises kept or reforms instituted, and on the contrary, the bad officials who had been put out of office again reinstated, the people assembled again one month later at Chong No (the great thoroughfare) to renew their demands. The police were then called up by their chief and told to go to Chong No, and regardless of consequences draw their swords and put to death all of the unarmed multitude who would not disperse. Almost to a man, the police began throwing off their official badges, saying they were one with the people, and absolutely refusing to obey such orders.

The soldiers were then called out, large bodies of troops stationed in the main thoroughfares, and the crowds dispersed at the point of the bayonet.

The Independents then asserted it must be bad officials, and not the king, who were thus oppressing them, and that their petitions could never have reached his majesty. They, therefore, according to long-established custom with petitions for royal favors, all convened in front of the palace. Thousands of men sat there quietly, night and day, for fourteen days waiting to be heard.

It was a thrilling and impressive sight. There was nothing laughable about those rows of silent, patient, determined citizens. Many had their food brought to them, some had little booths or tents where they prepared meals or slept, while others watched and waited, a few went away to take food, only to return as speedily as possible. The people had come to the palace to stay, until an answer could be had from the king.

After the Independents had been camped for some days thus in front of the palace, the “Pusaings,” or “Peddlers Guild,” gathered and camped in another part of the city, with the avowed intention of attacking them.

The “Pusaings” are, as their name indicates, a guild of peddlers, bound together as a secret society for mutual benefit and protection. They have connections and branches all over the country, and are sworn to render each other assistance whenever needed. Like the Masons, they have secret passwords and signs, by which they make themselves known to each other, and any member of this great guild meeting another, even for the first time, is bound to help him to the full extent of his ability. In this way they soon become extremely powerful, and feared by high and low, rich and poor. They could assemble a formidable army at short notice, and their reputation as a ruffianly body of men has long been established. During the reign of the Tai Won Kun, that crafty and astute old politician decided to make friends of this dangerous guild, rather than antagonize them, and accordingly granted them a number of special privileges, one of which was the right to collect taxes of certain kinds of merchandise, in return for which they were to be regularly organized by the government and to place themselves under the control of governors of provinces and other officials, holding themselves ready for service at any time. They wear a peculiar straw hat and a somewhat different dress from other Koreans, so that they are easily recognized where ever seen.

On the appearance of this large body of “Pusaings” the king sent word to the people, in order to calm their suspicions, that they need have no fear of the Peddlers, as the police should be ordered to keep them back, and a cordon of police was therefore drawn around the petitioners. At length, however, the “Pusaings” made an attack one day at an early hour in the morning, when some of the Independents, who had retired during the night or had gone to their breakfast, were away, and the number considerably reduced. The police were immediately withdrawn, and the whole assemblage of Independents were driven away, and many of them seriously injured. When they attempted to return the way was barricaded by soldiers, and their enemies, the “Pusaings” were being feasted with food sent out from the palace. The populace then assembled in large numbers, with the determination to drive away the Peddlers, which they did, wounding and killing a few. Shortly after, however, a second battle was fought, in which the people were forced to retreat and one of the Independents was killed.