[1] “Some priests proposed to the late Queen of Portugal to send an embassy hither [to Corea] with some gentlemen versed in mathematics, that they might benefit the country both in a religious and scientific way.… This plan never succeeded.” Gutzlaff, 1834. Voyages to China, page 261. [↑]
[2] Captain Broughton was impressed with “the gorgeous Corean dresses,” and the umbrella-hats, a yard in diameter. He asked for beef, but they gave him only wood, and he was tantalized with the sight of fat cattle grazing near by, which he was unable to get or purchase. He cruised in the Sea of Japan and the Gulf of Tartary, naming several places on the Corean coast. See p. 203. [↑]
[4] Or, as the natives say, “she proceeded to pull down the blinds.” This phrase, which is highly suggestive of American street slang, refers to the curtain of bamboo which veils the sovereign of Chō-sen; as in Old Japan the mikado was thus screened from the vulgar, and even noble, gaze during state councils. Whoever, therefore, is “behind the curtain,” is on the throne. [↑]
[5] This highly logical conclusion was reached by pondering upon the doctrine of Romanism that celibacy is a more perfect state than marriage; and that “the world,” which, with the flesh and the devil, was to be regarded as one of the true believers’ enemies, could mean only the king and country of Chō-sen. To this day, most of the pagans accept the magistrates’ decision as a complete epitome of the gospel of Christ. [↑]
[6] Dallet, vol. i., p. 205. [↑]
[7] Timkowski’s Travels of the Russian Mission through Mongolia to China, and Residence in Peking, London, 1827. [↑]
[8] In 1793, the first British and the first European vessel entered the Yellow Sea. It was the ship of the line Lion, on board of which was Lord Macartney, the ambassador of King George III. to Peking, the first English envoy to China. The ship did not visit or approach Corean shores. [↑]
[9] This date is that given by Dallet, who perhaps refers to the uprising in 1829 at Ozaka, of suspected believers in the “Jesus doctrine,” when six men and one old woman were crucified by the Japanese authorities. The leader of the so-called conspiracy fled to sea with his companions. [↑]