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 THE IMPERIAL LIBRARY, SEOUL

CHAPTER VIII

Foreign action in Korea—Exhausted Exchequer—Taxes—Budgets—Debased currency—The Dai Ichi ginko—Dishonest officials

events, which have led up to the present complex condition of Korean politics, originated in the attempt of the Russians to secure control of the Customs and Finance of the Empire in the autumn of 1897. As the effort of the Russian Minister of that time, M. de Speyer, was only in part successful, his immediate successor, M. Matunine, the present representative, M. Pavloff, and his confrère of the French Legation, M. Colin de Plancy, have in the interval consistently directed their diplomacy to the completion of the task. Their inability to force compliance with their demands upon the Korean Government has embittered their action