Korea & Her Neighbours/Chapter XXII

During January, 1895, Seoul was in a curious condition. The "old order" was changing, but the new had not taken its place. The Japanese, victorious by land and sea, were in a position to enforce the reforms in which before the war they had asked China to cooperate. The King, since the capture of the Palace by the Japanese in July, 1894, had become little more than a "salaried automaton," and the once powerful members of the Min clan had been expelled from their offices. The Japanese were prepared to accept the responsibility of the supervision of all departments, and to enforce honesty on a corrupt executive. The victory over the Chinese at Phyong-yang on 17th September, 1894, had set them free to carry out their purposes. Count Inouye, one of the foremost of the statesmen who created the new Japan, arrived as "Resident" on October 20, 1894, and practically administered the Government in the King's name. There were Japanese controllers in all the departments, the army was drilled by Japanese drill instructors, a police force was organized and clothed in badly fitting Japanese uniforms, a Council of Koreans was appointed to draft a scheme of re- form, and form the nucleus of a possible Korean Parliament, and Count Inouye as Japanese adviser had the right of con- tinual access to the King, and with an interpreter and sten- ographer sat at the meetings of the Cabinet. Every day Japanese ascendency was apparent in new appointments, regulations, abolitions, and reforms. The Japanese claimed that their purpose was to reform the administration of Korea as we had done that of Egypt, and I believe they would have done it had they been allowed a free hand. It was apparent, however, that Count Inouye found the task of reformation a far harder one than he expected, and that the difficulties in his way were nearly insurmountable. He said himself that there were *' no tools to work with," and in the hope of manufacturing them a large number of youths of the upper class were sent for two years to Japan, one year to be spent in education and another in learning accuracy and "the first principles of honor" in certain Government departments.

Sundry Japanese demands, though conceded at the time by the King, had been allowed to drop, and it was not till December, 1894, that Count Inouye obtained a formal covenant that five of them should be at once carried out. (i) A full pardon for all the conspirators of 1884 ; (2) That the Tai-Won-Kun and the Queen should interfere no more in public affairs; (3) That no relatives of the Royal Family should be employed in any official capacity ; (4) That the number of eunuchs and "Palace ladies" should at once be reduced to a minimum; (5) That caste distinctions — patrician and plebeian — should no longer be recognized.

Edicts on some of the foregoing subjects appeared in the Gazette, and large numbers of the eunuchs packed up their clothes and left the Palace quietly in the night, along with the "Palace ladies"; but the King in his vast dwelling was so lonely without them that the next morning he sent an order commanding their immediate return under serious penalties, and it was obeyed at once!

The attitude of the Korean official class, with the exception of a small number who were personally interested in the success of Japan, was altogether unfavorable to the new regime, and every change was regarded with indignation. Though destitute of true patriotism, the common people looked upon the King as a sacred person, and they were furious at the indignities to which he had been subjected. The official class saw that reform meant the end of " squeezing" and ill-gotten gains, and 'they, with the whole army of parasites and hangers-on of yame?is, were all pledged by the strongest personal interest to oppose it by active opposition or passive resistance. Though corruption has its stronghold in Seoul, every provincial government repeats on a smaller scale the iniquities of the capital, and has its own army of dishonest and lazy officials fattening on the earnings of the industrious classes.

The cleansing of the Augean stable of the Korean official system, which the Japanese had undertaken, was indeed an Herculean labor. Traditions of honor and honesty, if they ever existed, had been forgotten for centuries. Standards of official rectitude were unknown. In Korea when the Japanese undertook the work of reform there were but two classes, the robbers and the robbed, and the robbers included the vast army which constituted officialdom. " Squeezing " and pecu- lation were the rule from the highest to the lowest, and every position was bought and sold.

The transition stage, down to 12th February, 1895, when I left Korea, was a remarkable one. The Official Gazette curiously reflected that singular period. One day a decree abolished the 3 feet long tobacco pipes which were the delight of the Koreans of the capital ; another, there was an enlightened statute ordering the planting of pines to remedy the denudation of the hills around Seoul, the same Gazette directing that duly appointed geomancers should find "an auspicious day " on which the King might worship at the ancestral tablets ! One day barbarous and brutalizing punishments were wisely abolished ; another, there appeared a string, of vexatious and petty regulations calculated to harass the Chinese out of the kingdom, and appointing as a punishment for the breach of them a fine of 100 dollars or 100 blows!

Failure in tact was one great fault of the Japanese. The seizure of the Palace and the King's person in July, 1894, even if a dubious political necessity, did not excuse the indignities to which the sovereign was exposed. The forcing of former conspirators into high office was a grave error, and tactless proceedings, such as the abolition of long pipes, alterations in Court and other dress, many interferences with social customs, and petty and harassing restrictions and regulations, embittered the people against the new regime.

The Tong-haks, who had respectfully thrown off allegiance to the King on the ground that he was in the hands of for- eigners, and had appointed another sovereign, had been van- quished early in January, and their king's head had been sent to Seoul by a loyal governor. There I saw it in the busiest part of the Peking Road, a bustling market outside the *' little West Gate," hanging from a rude arrangement of three sticks like a camp-kettle stand, with another head below it. Both faces wore a calm, almost dignified, expression. Not far off two more heads had been exposed in a similar frame, but it had given way, and they lay in the dust of the roadway, much gnawed by dogs at the back. The last agony was stiffened on their features. A turnip lay beside them, and some small children cut pieces from it and presented them mockingly to the blackened mouths. This brutalizing spectacle had existed for a week.

Three days later, in the stillness of the Korean New Year's Day, I rode with a friend along a lonely road passing through a fair agricultural valley among pine-clothed knolls outside the South and East Gates of Seoul. Snow lay on the ground and the grim sky threatened a further storm. It was cold, and we observed with surprise three coolies in summer cotton clothing lying by the roadside asleep; but it was the last sleep, for on approaching them we found that, though their attitudes were those of easy repose, the bodies were without heads, nor had the headsman's axe been merciful or sharp. In the middle of the road were great, frozen, crimson splashes where the Tong-hak leaders had expiated their treason, criminals in Korea, as in old Jerusalem, suffering "without the gate."

A few days later an order appeared in the Gazette abolishing beheading and "slicing to death," and substituting death by strangulation for civil, and by sliooting for military capital crimes. This order practically made an end of the prerogative of life and death heretofore possessed by the Korean sovereigns.

So the "old order " was daily changing under the pressure of the Japanese advisers, and on the whole changing most de- cidedly for the better, though, owing to the number of reforms decreed and in contemplation, everything was in a tentative and chaotic state. Korea was " swithering " between China and Japan, afraid to go in heartily for the reforms initiated by Japan lest China should regain position and be "down" upon her, and afraid to oppose them actively lest Japan should be permanently successful.

On that same New Year's Day there was more to be seen than headless trunks. Through the length of Seoul, towards twilight, an odor of burning hair overpowered the aromatic scent of the pine brush, and all down every street, outside every door, there were red glimmers of light. It is the custom in every family on that day to carry out the carefully preserved clippings and combings of the family hair and burn them in potsherds, a practice which it is hoped will prevent the entrance of certain daemons into the house during the year. Rude straw dolls stuffed with a few cash were also thrown into the street. This effigy is believed to take away troubles and foist them on whoever picks it up. To prevent such a vicarious calamity, more than one mother on that evening pounced upon a child who childlike had picked up the doll and threw it far from him.

On that night round pieces of red or white paper placed in cleft sticks are put upon the roofs of houses, and those persons who have been warned by the sorcerers of troubles to cdtne, pray (?) to the moon to remove them.

A common Korean custom on the same day is for people to paint images on paper, and to write against them their troubles of body or mind, afterwards giving the paper to a boy who burns it.

A more singular New Year custom in Seoul is "Walking the Bridges." Up to midnight, men, women, and children cross a bridge or bridges as many times as they are years old. This is believed to prevent pains in the feet and legs during the year.

This day, the "Great Fifteenth Day," concludes the kite- flying and stone fights which enliven Seoul for the previous fortnight, and every Korean insists on keeping it as a holiday. Graves are formally visited, and gathered families spread food before the ancestral tablets. Curious customs prevail at this time. A few days before, the Palace eunuchs chant invoca- tions, swinging burning torches as they do so. This is sup- posed to ensure bountiful crops for the next season. People buy quantities of nuts, which they crack, hold the kernels in the mouth, and then throw them away. This is to prevent summer sores and boils. Also on the Great Fifteenth Day men try to find out the probable rainfall for each month by splitting a small piece of bamboo, and laying twelve beans side by side in one of the halves, after which it is closed, and after being bound tightly with cord, is lowered into a well for the night. Each bean represents a month. In the morning, when they are examined in rotation, they are variously enlarged, and the enlargement indicates the proportion of rain in that special moon. If, on the contrary, one or more are wizened, it causes great alarm, as indicating complete or partial drought in one or more months. Dogs do not get their usual meal on the morning of the " Great Fifteenth," in the belief that the dep- rivation will keep them from being pestered with flies during the long summer.

If a boy has been born during the year, poles bearing paper fish by day and lanterns by night project from the house of the parents. The people at night watch the burning of candles. If they are entirely burned, the life of the child will be long; if only partially burned, it will be proportionately shorter.

I left Seoul very regretfully on 5th February. The Japanese had introduced ji'nn'^s has, but the runners were unskilled, and I met with so severe an accident in going down to Chemulpo that I did not recover for a year. The line of steamers to Japan was totally disorganized by the war, and in the week that I waited for the /ifi^o Mane war was uppermost in people's thoughts. There were some who even then could not bring themselves to believe in the eventual success of the Japanese. The fall of Wei-hai-wei and the capture of the Chinese fleet opened many eyes. I was in the office of the '* N.Y.K." when the news came, and the clerks were too wild with excitement to attend to me, apologizing by saying, "It's another victory ! " Chemulpo was decorated, illuminated, and processioned for victories, Li Hung Chang was burned in effigy, and unlimited sake for all comers was supplied from tubs at the street corners.

There were indications of the cost of victory, however. The great military hospitals were full, the cemetery was filling fast, military funerals with military pomp and Shinto priests passed down the bannered street, and 600 transport coolies tramping from Manchuria arrived in rags and tatters, some clothed in raw hides and raw skins of sheep, their feet, hands, and lips frost-bitten, and with blackened stumps of fingers and toes protruding from filthy bandages. The Japanese schools teach that Japan has a right to demand all that a man has, and that life itself is not too costly a sacrifice for him to lay on the altar of his country. Undoubtedly the teaching bears fruit. Not long before at Osaka I saw the wharves piled high with voluntary contributions for the troops, and the Third Army leave the city amidst an outburst of popular enthusiasm such as I never saw equalled. Most of these coolies, when they received new clothing, volunteered for further service, and dying soldiers on battlefields and in hospitals uttered Dai Nippon Banzai! (Great Japan forever!) with their last faltering breath.

When I left Korea the condition of things may be summarized thus. Japan was thoroughly in earnest as to reforming the Korean administration through Koreans, and very many reforms were decreed or in contemplation, while some evils and abuses were already swept away. The King, deprived of his absolute sovereignty, was practically a salaried registrar of decrees. Count Inouye occupied the position of "Resident," and the Government was administered in the King's name by a Cabinet consisting of the heads of ten departments, in some measure the nominees of the "Resident." ^

1 1 repeat this statement in this form for the benefit of the reader, and ask him to compare it with a summary of Korean affairs early in 1897, given in the 36th chapter of this volume.