Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/300

 276 COBEA. t against the Japanese. These are most important natora defence& ^ " Their (walled) cities are few^ and they are ignorant of the proper style of etiquette for their king and great men, as also of the art of defence in war. Their soldiers mostly wear long garments of fine linen, and are not properly drilled. Office and honour are hereditary, and they have their hereditary servants (or serfs). The common people always remain the common people ; for no amount of ability will entitle a man bom outside the official class to become a magistrate.* " On the east of Corea is Japan, and on its west Liao, so that it is encompassed by difficulty and danger, and is the refuge for the fugitives of botL '^PingyiEmg stands between the Yaloo on the west, and the Jinkaug on the north, both which run into Bohai on the south. When therefore the Japanese barbarians fought in Corea, they took Pingyang, and cut off all succour from the south-west " If a kingdom is able to take care of itself by its own strength, well ; the next best thing is to have a sure ally. The Coreans have therefore, under the Ming and Tsing dynasties, looked to China for assistance, which was sure to be given ; for the reputa- tion and skill of China were at their disposal The helmet and coat of mail of Corea is faithfulness ; propriety and rectitude are its surest defence.'' Corea has been more or less under Chinese influence and control ever since the first emperor of the Tang dynasty drove the Coreans eastwards out of Manchuria or Liaotung, and across the Yaloo river, which he made the boundaty of Corea proper. The first contact of Coreans with the Manchus was in 1619, at the great battles of Hingking, where twenty thousand of the former, majching westwards to Kwandien, joined that division of the Chinese army which threatened Hingking from the south. The Coreans were defeated with the Chinese, and their leader with five thousand men deserted.*)* t See " History of Manchus."
 * This is not absolutely the case now. (See Literature, below),