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 only by throwing Japan and China at each other's throats. The play was decided not to be worth the candle, and so the Japanese, in company with the radical leaders, forced their way out of the city to Chemulpo, and made their way to Japan.

This was the first great reverse that Japan suffered at the hands of the Chinese, and the .question was definitely settled as to the attitude that Korea should take. She was henceforth completely in China's hands, and was destined to remain there until Japan reversed the verdict in 1894, just ten years later.

These ten years may be passed over without much comment. They witnessed a continual encroachment by China upon Korea's independence, and a hopeless acquiescence on the part of the latter, which came near to alienating the good-will of her best friends. The most important work of this decade was the introduction of Protestant Christianity in the peninsula. Several American societies began work here almost simultaneously, and in each case with marked success. The Korean temperament is such that it seems specially open to approach by Christianity. This peculiar susceptibility lies in the fact that Christianity, the most rational and at the same time the most mystical of all religions, finds in the Korean a like combination of rationality and idealism. Whether this theory be correct or not, the fact remains that Christian teaching at the hands of Protestant missionaries was readily accepted by the Koreans, and within the decade large portions of the country were dotted with Christian chapels and schools, the Scriptures were partly printed and disseminated, a large Christian literature was published, and, in every activity of Christian life, whether of an evangelistic or philanthropic nature, the foundations were laid for a work that should not stop short of the Christianising of the entire nation. It had been the fashion in certain circles to speak slightingly of Christian missions, but this is done only by those who are either unconvinced of the paramount claims of Christianity, or by those who, uninformed themselves, are willing to ape opinions that are fashionable. The extreme rancour of those who assail an