Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/186

 At about the time when the Queen was being killed, the Taiwunkun came into the presence of the King, and took the direction of affairs at the court. As might be supposed, both the King and the Crown Prince were in anything but an enviable frame of mind. They had been pushed about and insulted by low Japanese, and felt that their lives were momentarily in danger. Colonel Yi Kyung-jik, the Minister of the Household Department, had taken his stand at the door of the Queen's apartments, and had there been cut down by the Japanese or Koreans, but succeeded in making his way, desperately wounded, into the presence of the King. He was there stabbed to death by the Japanese before the eyes of his Majesty. This did not tend to reassure the King and the Crown Prince, but the coming of the Taiwunkun tended to quiet them somewhat. Of course they had no idea as yet that the Queen had been despatched.

Before dawn began to break the King learned that Japanese troops were pouring into the barracks in front of the palace, and, as some semblance of order had been restored in the immediate presence of his Majesty, a note was sent in haste to the Japanese minister, asking what all this meant. The messenger found Miura and Sugimura already up and dressed, and sedan chairs at the door. Miura told the messenger that he had heard that troops had been marched to the barracks, but did not know why. The minister and his secretary thereupon proceeded rapidly to the palace. Immediately upon their arrival all the disturbance suddenly quieted down, and the soshi dispersed and left the palace grounds. The Japanese minister and secretary immediately sought an audience with his Majesty, accompanied only by an interpreter and another Japanese who had led the soshi. The ex-regent was also present.

Three documents were prepared by those present and placed before his Majesty for signature, one of them guaranteeing that the Cabinet should thereafter manage the affairs of the country, the second appointing Yi Cha-myun, the King's brother, as Minister of the Household in place of Yi Kyung-jik, who had just