“In addition, at their churches and meeting places they establish courts of justice.
“Still further, without order, in companies they rush into the presence of magistrates to terrify them.
“Still again, of their own accord they arrest, beat and imprison the people.
“Again, calling it money for the building of churches, they extort contributions by force from the people.
“Furthermore, at their own desire they cut down trees used for Korean spirit worship, they organize bands to forcibly bury the dead and move graves; and still further, they force people, who have no desire to do so, to enter their church.”
Father Wilhelm replied: “I will with great care stop these eight offences and will not allow them to do as before; have no fear.”
Thus ends the report of this unique interview between the governor of one of the most populous provinces of Korea and the French missionary. It is to be regretted, however, that his ready promise in regard to nearly all the eight offenses was repeatedly broken within a very short time after it was made. I will add one or two other transcriptions from the official documents, which came directly from the commissioner’s office to our hands, and which translations appeared in the Korea Review, March, 1903. The first report of the imperial inspector to the government:
“I have looked carefully into the disturbances among the people in the different counties, and the various crimes up to this date noted in the public records are only one or two in hundreds. Outside of two or three counties, all the magistrates have been under this oppression, and with folded hands, are unable to stir. The poor helpless people sit waiting for doom to overtake them. Receiving imperial orders to look into the matter, I have undertaken the task, and daily crowds with petitions fill the court. There are no words to express the sights one sees, the stories one hears. Depending on the influence of foreigners (French), the Catholics’ issuing of orders to arrest is of daily occurrence; their runners are fiercer than leopards, and the torture they inflict is that reserved for only thieves and robbers; life is ground out of the people, goods and livelihood are gone. Unless this kind of thing is put down with strong hand, thousands of lives will be lost in the end.
“A French priest by the name of Wilhelm, living in Chang-ke-dong in Sin-ch-un, a retired spot among the hills, has gathered about him a mob of lawless people. Their houses number several hundred. Many of them carry foreign guns, so that country people are afraid, and dare not take action. A number of those already arrested have been set free by this priest. Most of those who have slipped the net have escaped there, and now form a band of robbers. There is no knowing where trouble will next arise, and it is a time of special anxiety. Those who assemble there at the ‘call of the whistle’ (bandit) are outlaws, and must be arrested. They may, however, make use of dangerous weapons, so we cannot do otherwise than be prepared for them. This is my report. Look carefully into it. Send word to the office of generals. Wire me permission to use soldiers, and as occasion offers lend me a helping hand.”
While this painful business was on, and my husband was daily attending the trials and listening to the harrowing tales of the poor, tortured and robbed people, and seeing heartrending evidences of the cruelties inflicted upon them, I was holding meetings with the Christian women who came every morning to study the Bible. One visit only was made to a small village a short distance outside the city, where there were quite a number of Christian families.