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xl impartial study of the condition of the country in the pages of this volume. Since so many and so much abler pens have dealt elsewhere with the position of Manchuria, I have confined myself solely to a review of Korea. For this I trust that I may not be taken to task, while in order to satisfy those who think that some reference to the questions of Manchuria should have been incorporated in my book I have ventured to impart to my preface the appearance of a chapter which deals solely with this problem. And now, at the end of my work, a last, but none the less pleasant, duty awaits me. In addition to my own notes upon Korea I have gathered information from many people—writers, travellers, and students—all interested in the contemporary history of the Hermit Kingdom. These I now hasten to thank, and by naming them I would mark my grateful appreciation of the kindness which they have extended to me. To Mr. MacLeavy Brown, of the Korean Maritime Customs; Mr. Gubbins, formerly of the British Legation, Seoul; to my distinguished and learned friend, Professor Homer B. Hulbert, whose published notes upon Korea have been of exceptional value, I make hearty acknowledgments; to Mrs. Bishop, Colonel Younghusband, the Rev. Mr. Griffis, Major Gould-Adams, Mr. Henry Norman, M. P., authors of interesting and important contributions to any study of Korea, I express the sense of my obligation; to the Rev. C. Collyer, who was good enough to make my spelling of Korean names identical with the standard of Dr. Gale; to Mr. Bolton, of Messrs. Stanford, the map makers, of Long Acre, who laboured so patiently with the many shortcomings of my geographical data, I am, indeed, indebted. To Sir Douglas Straight, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, whose paper it was my delight to represent throughout my long residence in the Far East; to Mr.