Page:In Korea with Marquis Ito (1908).djvu/322

288 with the Korean Court had not greatly increased up to the time when Marquis Ito undertook the task of its purification. This fact, in itself, so discouraging to the effort at instituting reforms from above downward on the part of the Koreans themselves, is made obvious in a striking way by the analysis of a brief, confidential description (a sort of official Korean "Who is Who?") of ninety-six persons, prepared by one well acquainted with the men and their history, but favorably disposed toward—even prejudiced in favor of—the side of Korea.