Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/205

 Director of the Finance Department. But the policy of bluff which De Speyer had inaugurated was not a success; he carried it so far that he aroused the strong opposition of other powers, notably England, and before the end of the year, after only three months of incumbency, De Speyer was called away from Seoul. As we shall see, the whole of his work was overthrown in the following spring.

But we must retrace our steps a little and record some other interesting events that happened during the closing months of 1897. It was on the 17th of October that the King went to the Imperial Altar and there was crowned Emperor of Taihan. This had been some time in contemplation, and as Korea was free from foreign suzerainty she hastened, while it was time, to declare herself an empire. This step was recognised by the treaty powers within a short period, and so Korea took her place on an equality with China and Japan.

On the 21st of November the funeral ceremony of the late Queen was held. It was a most imposing pageant. The funeral procession passed at night out of the city to the tomb, where elaborate preparations had been made, and a large number of foreigners assembled to witness the obsequies.

The situation in Korea as the year 1898 opened was something as follows. The Conservatives had things well in hand, and the Independence Club was passing on to its final effort and its final defeat. The work of such men as Dr. Jaisohn was still tolerated; but the King and the most influential officials chafed under the wholesome advice that they received, and it was evident that the first pretext would be eagerly seized for terminating a situation that was getting very awkward for both sides. The reaction was illustrated in an attack on the "Independent," by which the Korean postal department refused to carry it in the mails. The Russians had taken the bull by the horns, and were finding that they had undertaken more than they could carry through without danger of serious complications. The Russian government saw this, and recalled De Speyer in time to preserve