Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/203

 Potiata and three other Russian officers were put in charge of the palace guard, while Kim Hong-nyuk, the erstwhile watercarrier, continued to absorb the good things in the gift of his Majesty. And yet the Russians with all their power did not attempt to obstruct the plans of the subjects of other powers in Korea. Mr. Stripling, a British subject, was made Adviser to the Police Department ; a mining concession was granted to a German syndicate; an American was put in charge of a normal school ; Dr. Brown continued to direct the work of the Finance Department, and the work on the Seoul Chemulpo Railway was pushed vigorously by an American syndicate. The Russians held in their hands the power to put a stop to much of this, but they appeared to be satisfied with holding the power without exercising it.

The first half of 1897 was characterised by three special features in Korea. The first was a continuance of so-called reforms, all of which were of a utilitarian character. A goldmine concession was given to a German syndicate, a Chinese Language School and other schools were founded and the difficult work of cleaning out the Peking Pass was completed. It was announced that Chinnampo and Mokpo would be opened to trade in the autumn. The second feature was the steady growth of the conservative element which was eventually to resume complete control of the government. As early as May of this year the editor of the Korean Repository said, with truth : " The collapse is as complete as it is pathetic. After the King came to the Russian legation the rush of the reform movement could not be stayed at once nor even deflected. But soon there came the inevitable reaction. Reforms came to be spoken of less and less frequently. There was a decided movement backwards toward the old, well-beaten paths. But it was impossible to re-establish the old order of things entirely. We come then to the period of the revision of laws. Shortly after the King removed to the new palace an edict was put forth ordering the appointment of a Commission for the revision of the laws. This