Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/148

. The reason for this was the fear of foreign influence. It was not primarily because the government cared what religion the people believed. The Japanese and Manchu invasions, which came so close together, made the government feel that there was no safety except in keeping as far as possible from all outside influences. It is for this reason that the year 1801 saw such a sanguinary persecution. About thirty people lost their lives, among whom were two princesses and the priest Tsiou.

The two decades beginning with 1810 were full of disaster for Korea. Floods, pestilences and famines followed thick upon each other, and to this unhappy epoch is due the comparatively poverty-stricken condition of the country to-day. In 1832 an English vessel appeared off Hong-ju, and its captain, Basil Hall, sent the King a letter saying that he had come to trade. Permission was refused. As the ship bore the device " Religion of Jesus Christ," some of the Catholic natives boarded her; but when they found that the people on board were Protestants, they beat a hasty retreat. Some boxes of books were sent to the King, but he returned them. Two of the people on this ship were Lindsay and Gutzlaff, who were attempting to enter the country as missionaries, but were unsuccessful. Meanwhile M. Bruguiere, who had been made Bishop of Korea by Pope Gregory XVI, was trying to get into Korea across the northern border. In this he was thwarted by the Chinese priest Yu, who had succeeded in getting in, and was anxious to keep Bruguiere out, hoping himself to obtain supreme power in the Korean church. The bishop died while waiting on the border, but Maubant, who was appointed in his place, succeeded in entering the country in 1835. By 1837 two other French priests had entered, one of them being Bishop Imbert. At this time there were some nine thousand converts, according to their own reckoning. This was the signal for the beginning of a most sanguinary persecution. A house to house search was made. The three French priests were caught, and when they refused to leave the country