Page:In Korea with Marquis Ito (1908).djvu/315

Rh  of the Tai Won Kim was Yong-jong, who reigned from 1724 to 1776. This sovereign quarrelled with his own son and had him put to death as insane; but other issue failing, the crown descended through the murdered crown prince, and from him through three lines of monarchs. Until his son was chosen to occupy the throne, the Tai Won Kun, although he had married into the powerful Min family, does not seem to have exercised much influence in politics. But in 1804, on the death of the king, without male issue the Dowager Queen Cho, by what is reported to have been a not altogether legitimate procedure, proclaimed the second son of the Tai Won Kun, then a boy of only twelve years, as the successor to the throne.

Little is exactly known as to the care or education of the boyish king during his earliest years. It is commonly reported that he was fond of outdoor sports, especially of archery, and disinclined to study. Yet he is reputed to be a fine Chinese penman and to be well acquainted with the Chinese classics. His father was a strict disciplinarian and, although he was never legally in control of affairs during his son's minority, his influence was dominant so long as he kept on good terms with the wily Queen Dowager and the Ministers of her selection. The failure of all foreign attempts to enter into friendly relations with the Koreans, and the persecution and slaughter of foreign Christian priests and of thousands of Korean Christians during this period, are customarily attributed to the influence of the Tai Won Kun.

When thirteen years of age, the new king was married to a girl selected for him from the Min family. But until 1873 his position as ruler was only nominal; on the attainment of his majority, however, the deadly struggle between the wife and the father, the Queen and the Prince Parent, began to be revealed. A word as to the character of the woman is