The War in the East: Japan, China, and Corea

by Trumbull White

JAPANESE ARMY AT CHIN-LIEN-CHENG.
Japanese Drawing.

Corea for ages has been the pupil of China, whence nearly everything that makes up civilization has been borrowed. Of patriotism in its highest sense, of pure love of country, of willingness to make sacrifices for native land, there have been little in the kingdom. Such things are new thoughts nourished by a few far-seeing patriots. But leavening the multitude of Confucian fanatics and time-servers of the men in power at Peking, there are also men who have drunk at other fountains of thought, entered new worlds of knowledge, and seen the light of modern science, of Christianity, and of western civilization in other lands. The numbers of enlightened men are increasing who believe in national progress, though to their demands there has ever been the defiance of vigilant conservation. Even within the two broadly defined parties, there are factional and family differences. Against the craft of the Ming clan the other noble families, Ni, So, Kim, Hong, and others, have been able to make headway only by adroit combination.

In 1875 the two noblemen Kim-ok-Kiun and So Kwang Pom secretly left Corea and went to Japan, being the first men of rank in recent times to travel in lands beyond China. On their return they sought the king and boldly told him what they had seen. Other noblemen followed their example, but the brother-in-law of the king, Pak Hong Hio, was the first who at risk of reputation and life openly advocated the adoption of western civilization. In 1882 Kim and So in earnest consideration of the opening of their country to modern ideas, endeavored to persuade Min Yong Ik to join them and also win over his powerful Ming relatives to a liberal policy. When this came to the ears of the Tai-wen Kun the young men were forthwith charged with intent to introduce Christianity, and the two liberals narrowly escaped being put to death by the old regent who had already shed the blood of thousands.

THE COREAN REGENT.

The men of the Ming faction held aloof from treaty negotiations with the United States until China gave the nod. When at last Li Hung Chang advised Corea to treat with Admiral Shufeldt, the Ming nobles obeyed and exhibited so much energy in the matter as to seem to foreigners to be the leaders of the party of progress. The old regent at once felt it his duty to overthrow both the Mings and the treaty. His opportunity came in July, 1882, the year of the treaties. When on account of the short rice crop the soldiers’ rations were cut down by the father of Min Yong Ik, the artful politician directed their revolt against this pro-Chinese family, and after destroying, as he imagined, the queen and the leading men of the Ming clan, he seized the government itself and for a few days enjoyed full power. When the news of the usurpation reached China and Japan there were in Tien-tsin three Corean nobles, Cho Yong Ha, Kim Yun Sik, and O-Yun Chung; and in Tokio Kim-ok-Kiun and So Kwang Pom. The former, notified by telegram from the Chinese consul at Nagasaki of the movements of the Japanese, obtained a Chinese military and naval force, and the ships of these two foreign nations met at Chemulpo. Before either the Chinese or Japanese troops were disembarked, the two groups of Corean noblemen had a conference, and after a long and warm discussion it was agreed to submit the question whether the Chinese should land and proceed to Seoul, to the king himself. Accordingly Kim-ok-Kiun in disguise penetrated to the capital, but only to find the royal person in possession of his old and chief enemy Tai-wen Kun, his friends driven away, and approach to the palace impossible. On learning the failure of Kim’s mission the Chinese force at once landed, marched to Seoul, abducted the regent, built forts to command the river against the Japanese, and established their camp inside the walls. This act of China gave her a new lien on Corea. The father of Min Yong Ik, Min Thai Ho, who had been supposed to have been mortally wounded, recovered and resumed office. Min Yong[Yong] Ik, who after fleeing to the mountains, shaved his head and in the disguise of a priest had fled to Japan, returned smiling after temporary defeat. The queen, for whom a palace maid had suffered vicarious death, re-entered the capital and palace, and the star of the Mings was again in the ascendant.

Two years later, in June, 1884, Min Yong Ik and So Kwang Pom, the first Coreans to go around the world, reached home followed by Kim-ok-Kiun and the Tokio students from Japan. After an enthusiastic reception of the returned envoys and the American officers of the Trenton in Seoul, the public opinion in favor of progress was greatly stimulated. Min Yong Ik was made vice-president of the Foreign Office and the others of the embassy were elevated in rank. The Chinese military instructors were dismissed by the king. A model farm sown with American seeds, and for which California live stock was ordered, Edison electric lights, American rifles and Gatling guns, Japanese artisans to establish potteries and other industries, gave indications of the new path of national progress upon which Corea had entered.

Min Yong Ik while abroad has passed for an enlightened man, susceptible to modern ideas and in favor of opening Corea to commerce. Yet falling under the influence of his clan he had been home but a few weeks when he came to open rupture with Hong Yong Sik. Resigning from the foreign office he assumed command of the palace guard battalion and restored Chinese drill masters, the military students from Japan being left to gain their support as subordinates in the proposed postal department. By autumn the late envoy to the United States had surrounded himself with Chinese and pro-Chinese conservatives, the progressive men had been hampered in their action, and the revenues for the promised enterprises and industries had been diverted to warlike preparations, that looked as if Corea, as a vassal, was to help China against France in the Tonquin complication.

The situation in Seoul became alarming. A state of hostility existed between the leaders of the two political parties, one of which had at their call a rabble of rapacious militia, eager to try their new tools upon their hereditary enemies, the Japanese, while the other knew full well the sterling quality of the little body of Japanese infantry. Fifteen hundred Chinese soldiers were still in the camp under General Yuen. In such a situation, the government being in the hands of their rivals and committed to the pro-Chinese policy, the liberals felt that their heads were likely to remain on their shoulders only so long as it pleased their enemies to bring no charge against them. In nations without representative institutions, revolutions and outbreaks must be expected when a change of policy is decided upon.

Let us see how the Corean liberals attempted, when beset and thwarted, to save their own lives and reverse the policy of the government. On October 25, one of the liberal leaders intimated to an American that “for the sake of Corea” about ten of the prominent conservatives “would have to be killed.” The idea was to remove their rivals by removing the heads of the same, seize the government, inaugurate new schemes of progress, open new ports, and otherwise commit Corea to the same course as that upon which Japan had entered. They supposed that the treaty powers would condone and approve their action, make further favorable treaties, and loan money for national improvement. Further, they claimed to have had the royal sanction. The autumn passed by and the moment seemed ripe for the plot. China, pressed by France, had withdrawn half her troops from Seoul, and Japan, with a view to strengthening her influence in the peninsula, had a few days before remitted $400,000 of the indemnity exacted for the riot of 1882. The time to strike a blow for Corean independence and to break the shackles of China forever seemed to have come.