The Tonghak (or "Learning of the East") party was a secret organization, whose doctrines were embodied in a collection of tenets based upon Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Both the practical aims and the real strength of the party were then little known. Its conduct in 1894, however, led to an international crisis of which it could not have had the slightest expectation. In May the society rose in insurrection against the universal corruption and oppression of the Korean officials, who were then under the powerful control of the family of the queen, the Min. The Min, whose safety was thus threatened, despite an opposition in the court against the proceeding, appealed, on their initiative, to the assistance of China through the minister at Seul, who had really suggested the move. Here was a long-awaited opportunity for China to recover her lost ground in Korea and once more assert her suzerain rights over the peninsula. The Peking government at once dispatched forces toward Korea, at the same time notifying Japan, in accordance with the Tientsin Convention, that China had been requested by Korea to send troops to suppress the Tonghak rebellion, and that she had consented to "protect the tributary state." On the same day, June 7, Japan replied in two messages, one acknowledging the receipt of China's notice, but declining to admit that Korea was tributary to her, and the other announcing that Japan also would send soldiers to Korea. To this China retorted, saying that as Japan had not been requested by Korea to dispatch forces, the object of her expedition must be to protect Japanese subjects in the peninsula, which circumstances made it unnecessary for Japan to send too large forces or to allow them to go too far into the interior. Japan's answer was that the sending of the troops was in accordance with the Korean-Japanese convention of 1882, and that she had the right to determine the number and disposition of her own forces. The first detachment of the Japanese soldiers escorting Minister Ōtori reached Seul on June 10, and the Chinese troops landed at Asan the next day. If the order had been reversed, China might have regained, temporarily at least, her control over the Korean kingdom, and Japan's ardent wish to reform and strengthen Korea as an independent state might have remained unfulfilled. From her vantage ground, however, Japan made a move which in fact created the critical point of the affair, for, on June 17, her foreign minister, Mutsu, proposed to China to suppress the Tonghak insurrection by joint forces, and then reform the Korean internal government also by joint action, so as to insure stability and peace in the kingdom. It now rested with China to avoid all danger by joining hands with Japan in eradicating evils in the Korean administration, but she would hardly impede a reform upon Korea which she would not tolerate at home. On the contrary, the more corrupt and feeble Korea was, the more dependent upon China she would be. It is little wonder, therefore, that the Peking government replied that a joint suppression of the insurrection was unnecessary, as the latter had already subsided, while a joint reform would be incompatible with the sovereign right of Korea over her own affairs, and that what remained for China and Japan to do was to withdraw their forces from the peninsula.
This reply by the Chinese government may be said to have decided the situation, for henceforth Japan felt obliged to take an independent course of action in Korea. Thus she wrote to China, on June 22, that Korea was constantly troubled by party strifes and disorders and was unable to fulfill obligations as an independent state; that this state of things seriously affected the interests of Japan, for she was near and had important economic relations with Korea; that to discard the matter would be not only against Japan's friendly attitude toward Korea, but also against her own self-preservation; and that, therefore, a reform could not be stopped, and evacuation would not be made "without some understanding which would guarantee the future peace, order, and good government of Korea."
The coöperation with China having miscarried, Japan proceeded to act alone in Korea in the interest of the reform and good administration of the latter. The Japanese minister at Seul, Ōtori, opened the arduous execution of his policy by putting a direct question to the Korean government, on June 28, whether or not it considered the kingdom as independent. This pointed query seemed to have deeply disturbed the politicians at Seul, for they at once found themselves divided between three opinions: namely, first, that Korea was of course an independent nation, and Japan was the first power to declare the fact before the world; second, that she was an historic dependency of China; and, third, that the displeasure of both Japan and China might be averted by not giving a definite answer, but by merely referring them to the treaties. Nothing reveals more clearly the fundamental weakness of the political consciousness of the Korean people than their conduct at this critical stage of their existence. A message was sent to Li Hung Chang in China asking his instruction as to what answer should be given the Japanese minister. The telegraph line toward Wiju was interrupted, and Li's reply—recommending again the ambiguous definition that Korea was at once dependent and independent—had not been received before Korea had at length to reply after three days' deliberation that she was independent.
This first question had been asked by Japan in order to clear the ground for all subsequent steps in her diplomacy in the peninsula. Korea had technically renounced the suzerainty of China, and Ōtori now suggested, on July 3, a thorough reform in the official organization and the financial, judicial, and military institutions. The king and the government not only concurred with the Japanese minister, but also issued edicts calling for a reform. Suddenly a change came, on the 18th, when the Seul government declared that the presence of the Japanese troops would hinder the execution of the necessary reform. It was of course plain that, as soon as these troops left, all hopes of reform would be lost. The change had apparently been caused by the arrival of Li Hung Chang's telegram that an overwhelmingly large army was coming from China to crush the Japanese forces in Seul. Ōtori at once repaired to the Korean foreign office, where he expressed his surprise at the sudden breach of faith on the part of Korea, and urged her answers within three days to the following two demands: an order for the evacuation of the Chinese troops from Asan, whose presence had become unnecessary since the Tonghak insurrection died away; and a declaration that the existing treaty between Korea and China which contained clauses intimating the former's dependence upon the latter was henceforth null and void. The three-day limit expired without eliciting any answer from the government. By this time—July 22—the city of Seul was in a state of intense excitement. Ōtori resolved to see the king in person, and, early in the morning of the 23d, started toward the palace in a palanquin under the escort of his guard. Korean soldiers fired at him, the Japanese troops responded, and within fifteen minutes the Korean guards were dispersed and the city gates were taken, followed in the afternoon by a complete control of the entire capital by Japanese forces. This was the first bloodshed, and unfortunately it was Korean blood that was shed. It is necessary, however, to note that the Korean resistance was a result of the extremely unstable politics at Seul which had enabled the pro-Chinese, corruptionist family of the Min temporarily to control the situation. With their fall Korea naturally turned about and allied herself with Japan against China. The old patriot Tai-wen-kun, father of the king, who again assumed the grand councilorship, with his unabated rigor ordered punishment of the Min, commenced a radical official reorganization, nullified the Chinese treaty, and, what was more, requested the Japanese troops to drive away Chinese soldiers from Asan. This last request at once placed the forces of the two empires in certain hostilities with one another. It was carried out on July 29, but before that, on the 25th, the first act of war took place unexpectedly on sea.
Before relating this sea fight it is important to observe that China evidently expected a war with Japan as early as July 16. It appears that she was determined, though at first reluctantly, to resist by force of arms Japan's efforts to realize the independence and reform of Korea, for in no other light can be interpreted her dispatch by land and by sea of large forces destined for Korea. China was resolved to make good her suzerainty over the Korean peninsula by staking a conflict with Japan, which she had hoped to overwhelm by superior numbers. It was generally believed in Japan at the time that the Chinese statesmen had been led to this miscalculation of Japan's capacity by the continuous feud which had seemed to characterize the relation between the government and the national diet. Li Hung Chang and others were thought to have imagined that Japan's hands were too closely tied by this internal discord to embark upon an undertaking which would require an intense concentration of national resources. They could not have foreseen that all the superficial differences would be, as they were, sunk before the national cause, and that a profound patriotism would unconsciously and without premeditation compel the entire nation—the government, parties, and all—to stand like one man.
Between July 21 and 23 ten transports conveying Chinese troops left Taku for Korea. Three Japanese cruisers, the Yoshino, Naniwa, and Akitsushima, which had since the 23d been cruising in the Korean waters, met at 7 A. M., the 25th, near the Phung-do Island, not far from Asan, the Chinese cruiser Tsi-yuen and gunboat Kwang-yi. These vessels had steamed out of Asan in order to meet another Chinese gunboat, the Tsao-kiang, which was convoying a transport toward Asan. The two Chinese vessels did not return the salute of the Japanese ships, and when the latter turned to the southwest they were fired upon by the former. After a brisk exchange of fire for over an hour the Tsi-yuen effected an escape, and the Kwang-yi was stranded south of Caroline Bay, where its powder-magazine exploded. In the meantime the Tsao-kiang and a transport, the Kow-shing, flying a British flag and conveying 1100 Chinese troops and stores, appeared on the scene. The Tsao-kiang was captured. The Kow-shing was ordered to follow the Japanese cruiser Naniwa to the main squadron, but the Chinese soldiers on board desired to return to Taku, and threatened to kill the English captain, Galsworthy, who advised them to surrender and himself wished to leave the vessel on a boat which the Japanese would send to him. After the attempt of the Naniwa to save the English mates had failed, it hoisted a red flag at 1 P. M., or nearly four hours after it had stopped the Kow-shing. Thereupon, the captain and the crew jumped overboard, and the Chinese soldiers fired at them, killing all but the captain and two others, who were rescued by the Naniwa's boats. The Kow-shing was then sunk. Only a few of those on board her, including a German, Major von Hanneken, escaped by swimming ashore.
On the very day when the naval victory near Phung-do was won mixed Japanese brigades numbering about 4000 men, under command of Major General Ōshima, started from Seul on their march toward Asan, in order to carry out the commission of the Korean government to drive away the Chinese forces stationed there. The large reinforcements which they had expected from China not having arrived, the Chinese troops, 3500 in number, met the enemy at the strategic point Song-hwan, east of Asan. During a sharp engagement lasting from 3 till 7.30 A. M., July 29, the Chinese gradually lost their ground, until they fled toward Ping-yang, leaving behind 500 killed and wounded. The Japanese losses amounted to 88 killed and wounded. Asan itself had been completely evacuated by the Chinese. The victorious army returned to Seul early in the morning of August 5, where a warm reception by the Korean authorities and Japanese residents awaited its triumphant arrival.
These hostile acts were followed by the formal declarations of war of the emperors of China and Japan. The Japanese proclamation may be translated as follows:
"We, by the grace of Heaven, Emperor of Japan, seated on a throne occupied by the same dynasty from time immemorial, do hereby make proclamation to all our loyal and brave subjects, as follows: