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

by Lillias H. Underwood

“For twenty-five years American representatives and residents had been reiterating that we stood for right against mere brute force, and Korea had a right to regard our government as the one above all others to demur at any encroachment on her independence. But when the time of difficulty approached we deserted her with such celerity, such cold-heartedness and such refinement of contempt, that the blood of every decent American citizen boiled with indignation. While the most loyal, patriotic, cultured of Korean nobility were committing suicide one after another, because they would not survive the death of their country, the American Minister (Mr. Morgan) was toasting the perpetrators in bumpers of champagne, utterly indifferent to the death throes of an empire which had treated American citizens with a courtesy and consideration they had enjoyed in no other Oriental country.”[9]

[9] Hulbert’s “Passing of Korea.”

News of this action was carried that night to the editors of one of the Korean dailies. They worked all night, well knowing that the result of their action would be confiscation of their presses and imprisonment at least, but thousands of copies of the paper containing a detailed report of all that had happened were in the hands of the people scattered broadcast beyond possibility of recall before the Japanese were aware. Every effort was made to destroy this publication and to prevent the spread of this story to other countries but it was too late. Members of the Cabinet and Court told the story to Americans, and though there existed a rigid censorship of telegraph lines and mails, it was carried by foreigners to China, so that even in the minds of those who lend the most willing ear to the story told by the Japanese, there must always remain at least a moiety of doubt.

When, as soon as the fact of the protectorate was announced, the American Legation was so suddenly removed, there went up as it were a great cry from the heart of the people, “Et tu, Brute.” It seemed the seal of their misfortunes, the certainty that their best friend remorselessly and with hopeless finality had deserted them.

Strong men were sobbing, moaning, crying like women or little children. Many committed suicide. Shops were closed with emblems of mourning. A nation was in sackcloth and ashes, on its face in the dust. It was a bitter hour for Korea and for the humiliated Americans who for once were not proud of their government so far as its policy in Korea was concerned. Well was it for the cowards who had signed the agreement that when they ventured through the streets it was with a strong guard of Japanese, for the people would have torn them to pieces, and as it was, numerous attempts were made on their lives. One of them attempted or pretended to attempt suicide, and to this step they were all advised by their compatriots. Japanese troops and artillery were paraded through the capital, with great show of power. Heavy guards were stationed at various points, though no attempt at resistance was made by the unarmed, unorganized, uncaptained mass of the citizens, against the victorious conquerors of Russia. Pro-Japanese societies and clubs suddenly collapsed. The party that had believed all along that Japan would keep her treaty and help Korea maintain her independence, was now disillusioned, horror-struck and indignant. The missionaries unanimously did all in their power to quiet the unhappy people, to prevent useless uprisings and bloodshed, and to comfort them in their sore distress. Some of them were inclined to resent these efforts to prevent revolt and to think and say that these missionaries were false friends who did not care for the welfare of the nation. Who could blame them for casting such a reproach upon us, when our own government had deserted them without even a word of commiseration or regret?

To add to the distress an epidemic of malarial fevers with typhus and typhoid, took place, on account of the way in which the city drains had been closed. The city had always been drained by open ditches which empty into a large drain flowing out under the walls. These small ditches were, in addition, periodically cleaned out by men who gather fertilizers; and, purified by sun and air, and washed out by the rains, they were not so great a source of evil as they looked. But the new-comers, by way of reform, and with the inevitable eye to appearances, ordered all these ditches covered. A protest, private and public, went up from every physician in Seoul. Appeals were made, but in vain. The ditches were covered with boards and sod and left to ferment and breed countless colonies of germs, with the result just mentioned.

Japanese colonists were still pouring into the country by thousands[10] and the class who came, and came as conquerors, was such (as has been noted) as to entail inevitable hardships on the natives. There is an impression abroad that all Japanese are now civilized. This is a great mistake. While in the cities there are large schools and universities of Western learning, it must be remembered there are forty million of people, most of whom live in the country and are very poor, who have never been touched by the wave of civilization that has swept over Tokio, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagasaki and the great cities. They are little if any different from their grandfathers as Commodore Perry found them, and their customs of dress, their ideas as to the seclusion of women, their morals, their habits of thought, their animus is in every way diametrically opposite to that of the Koreans. Easier would it be to mix oil and water than these peoples.

[10] There are now over 100,000 Japanese in Korea and they are coming at the rate of 50 to 100 a day (1908).

Some Japanese schools were started by the protectors but the Koreans were hardly prepared to profit by these, as the teaching was in Japanese, a language they could not understand, and yet it has been said that the Koreans did not care for education and were not willing or fit to make use of the advantages offered them.

But every little village has its schools, and among the Christians nearly every little group has its self-supporting parochial school, where the elements of Western learning are taught and the people are eagerly begging American missionaries for colleges and high schools which, as fast as provided, are thronged with students and could be easily thronged were the capacity doubled. The attitude of the people toward Christianity is stated in another chapter. Let it suffice to say that now is the accepted time to push forward with the standard of the Cross in Korea.