The Hermit Nation
I.—ANCIENT AND MEDIÆVAL HISTORY
II.—POLITICAL AND SOCIAL COREA
III.—MODERN AND RECENT HISTORY
BY
WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS
FORMERLY OF THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF TOKIO, JAPAN
AUTHOR OF “THE MIKADO’S EMPIRE”
NINTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1911
Copyright, 1882, 1888, 1897, 1904, 1907, 1911
By CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
TO
ALL COREAN PATRIOTS:
WHO SEEK
BY THE AID OF SCIENCE, TRUTH, AND PURE RELIGION,
TO ENLIGHTEN
THEMSELVES AND THEIR FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN,
TO RID
THEIR LAND OF SUPERSTITION, BIGOTRY, DESPOTISM, AND
PRIESTCRAFT—BOTH NATIVE AND FOREIGN—
AND TO PRESERVE
THE INTEGRITY, INDEPENDENCE, AND HONOR, OF THEIR COUNTRY;
THIS UNWORTHY SKETCH
OF
THEIR PAST HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION
IS DEDICATED. [[v]]