Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/200

 by Dr. Philip Jaisohn. It was called " The Independent," and was partly in the native character. From the first it exerted a powerful influence among the Koreans, and was one of the main factors which led to the formation of the Independence Club.

Both Japan and Russia were desirous of coming to an understanding as to Korea, and on the I4th of May there was published the Waeber-Komura Agreement, which was modified and ratified later under the name of the Lobanoff-Yamagata Agreement. According to the terms of this convention, both powers guaranteed to respect the independence of Korea, and not to send soldiers into the country except by common consent.

The summer of 1896 saw great material improvements in Seoul. The work of clearing out and widening the streets was vigorously pushed, and, although much of the work was done superficially, some permanent improvement was effected, and the " squatters " along the main streets were cleaned out, it is hoped for all time. In July the concession for building a railway between Seoul and Wiju was given to a French syndicate. From subsequent events it appears that there was no fixed determination on the part of the French to push this great engineering work to a finish, but merely to preempt the ground and prevent others from doing it. Russian influence doubtless accomplished this, and from that time there began to spring up the idea that Korea would be divided into two spheres of influence, the Japanese predominant in the south and the Russians in the north.

In spite of the favourable signs that appeared during the early months of 1896, and the hopes which were entertained that an era of genuine reform had been entered upon, the coming of summer began to reveal the hollowness of such hopes. The King himself was strongly conservative, and never looked with favour upon administrative changes, which tended to weaken his personal hold upon the finances of the country, and he chafed under the new order of things. In this he was encouraged by many of the leading officials, who saw in the establishment of