The Manchu tablet.... the inscription.... the Manchu claim to suzerainty valid.... Japanese proposition.... a contumacious Korean.... other victims.... spirits of the dead.... Chinese Emperor commiserates with the king.... introduction of tobacco.... Korean contingent for the Manchu army.... Koreans secretly aid the Chinese.... Koreans sent home.... reconstruction.... a Manchu court of inquiry.... Japanese ask for the enlargement of settlement at Fusan.... Prince Kwang-ha dies.... a plotter punished.... Japanese ancestral temple.... a Korean betrays to the Manchus the king’s dealings with China.... the Manchus take revenge.... The Ming dynasty falls.... a Korean adventurer.... royal hostages return.... quarrel over the succession.... a curious custom.... palace intrigue.... the new king.... Korea accused of disloyalty.... the death fetich.... wise legislation.... Westerners in China.... Hendrik Hamel.... preparations for war.... dress reform

It was during the year 1637 that the stone tablet was set up beside the road to Nam-han, commemorating the Manchu victory. It had been sent thither by the Emperor, but was not immediately set up. A Manchu envoy came to superintend its erection. It is said that there were two stones, one of which was set up; the other, remaining on the bank of the river, was finally washed into the stream. The envoy announced that he had come to erect the monument at the point where the surrender had taken place. A solid foundation was built, with an ascent of several steps. The stone was put in place and over it a pavilion was built to protect it from the weather. On one side the inscription was in Chinese and on the other side in Manchu. The inscription is as follows:

“The Emperor Ch‘ung TÉ’ of the Great Ch‘ing Empire, in the twelfth year of his reign, learned that we had broken our treaty with him and he was angry. He gathered his forces and entered our territory. He marched through it, for there was none to say him nay. We, a weak and insignificant king, fled perforce to Nam-han. Our fear was like that of one who walks on ice in spring-time. We sojourned there fifty days. Our soldiers from the east and south fled before the Emperor’s troops. Those of the north and west hid among their mountains and could lift neither hand not foot. Famine stared us in the face. If the Emperor had stormed our fortress then we would have been like the leaves in autumn, or like hair in flames. But the Emperor did not wish to destroy us. He said ‘Come out and I will be your helper. If not I will destroy you.’ GeneralsGenerals Yonggolda and Mabuda and other great men were in constant communication with us. Our councillors, civil and military, assembled, and we said to them ‘For ten years have we been at peace, and now we have been blind and foolish to bring all this upon ourselves. Our people have become like meat or fish beneath the chopping-knife. We alone are to blame for it all’. The Emperor was patient and did not destroy us utterly but told us to surrender. How could we refuse, for by so doing we saved our people. All the courtiers were agreed. With a score of horsemen we went forth from the fortress to the Emperor’s camp and there confessed our faults. He treated us with kindness and by his goodness calmed our agitated minds. When we beheld him our heart went out to him. The Emperor’s goodness extended even to our courtiers. He then sent us back to the capital and recalled the Manchu cavalry who were scouring the south. Our people, who had been scattered like pheasants, now returned. All things became as they had been. Snow and frost were gone and spring smiled forth again. After the drought showers fell. All that had been destroyed revived again. Things that had been broken grew together. Here beside the Han at San-jun-do where the great Emperor rested, here is the altar and the enclosure. Here we, a weak king, through our Minister of Public Works, have made the altar higher and broader than before and have placed this monument to keep alive in the minds of generations yet unborn the memory of these events, to show that the goodness of the Emperor is as high as heaven itself. Not that we alone have seen it, for all Manchuria as well was witness to it. Throughout the world that gracious voice cannot be resisted. Though we write with characters as broad as the very earth and as clear as the sun and moon we could never describe his greatness and his glory. For such cause is it written here. Frost and dew are both from heaven. One kills the other vivifies. Thus it is that the Emperor shows goodness in the midst of terror. The Emperor came with over 100,000 soldiers. Many of them were like the tiger and the dragon. Before them, brandishing their spears, went the savages from the far north and the distant west. Fearsome men! But the Emperor’s gracious words came down in a letter in ten lines clear and beautiful, whereby our blinded minds were enlightened. The Emperor’s words are luminous and precise, and we, a small king, confessed and surrendered; not so much because we feared his terror as because we delighted in his graciousness. He treated us kindly, paying all attention to the ceremonies and the rites. Then we were glad and laughed, and every weapon sought its sheath. Then we donned the garment of peace. The people of Seoul, both men and women, burst into singing and said that the Emperor had given us back to our palace. The Emperor pitied the distress of the people and encouraged them to till the fields again. To the dead roots of the tree was brought back spring-time. This stone is lofty and it stands here at the head of the river to show forth the Emperor’s goodness to the Sam-han.”

Such was the statement that the Manchus put into the mouth of Korea and until recent years they have claimed Korea as their vassal state. The claim originally was perfectly good. Never did a country make herself more abject in her acceptance of a vassal’s position. And the only line of argument that can be used to prove that that condition did not hold till the treaty of Shimonoseki was signed in 1895, is in China’s occasional disavowal of it, to shield herself from responsibility for Korea’s acts.

The Japanese had been keeping watch of events that were transpiring during these troublesome times, and at this juncture an envoy came from the island empire announcing, as between friends, the name of the new Japanese year. This letter was not received by the king, who asked what use it would be to him. The Japanese replied, “You have given up China and are now a masterless dog. Why is our name not good as any?” It shows how pride had been crushed out of the Koreans to find that Ch‘oÉ Myung-gil himself said, “We have done wrong to surrender to the Manchus. Now let us make friendly advances toward Japan.” From that time on it was customary to receive politely the annual message from Japan, but there seems to have been no more rapport between the two countries than this.

As the Manchu emperor passed north through P‘yung-an province he gave orders to the prefect of Cheung-san to seize and deliver up to him the person of Hong Ik-han who had been especially virulent in his opposition to the Manchus. It was done, and the man was carried captive to the Manchu capital at Sim-yang (Mukden). There he was decently lodged in a house of detention called the Pyul-gwan, until a certain day when he was called before the emperor, who sat in state surrounded by soldiery. Being asked why he had opposed the Manchu influence he replied in writing. “All men within the four seas are brothers but there can be but one father. From the first the king of Korea acted uprightly and mannerly. In Korea we have censors who chide and correct him. Last year, being censor, I heard that you, who held to us the relation of elder brother, had styled yourself emperor and by so doing had ruptured the actual relations subsisting between us. From the earliest times we have owed allegience to China and how could we then advise the king to hold to a false relation? This is the reason I advised the king to stand out against you. This war and all its attendant miseries are my work alone and I would that you might decapitate me ten thousand times.” The emperor, who seems to have cherished the idea that he had overawed the man, was thrown into a great rage by this brave avowal and instantly threw the man into a dismal dungeon where he doubtless starved to death, for nothing more is heard of him.

The two men who had been delivered up by the king in Nam-han were also carried north. They were also arraigned before the dreaded chieftain Yonggolda who attempted to flatter them into making a complete surrender to the Manchus and taking up their abode permanently in Manchuria; but they utterly refused and asked to be killed at once. The Manchu chief argued, urged and threatened, but the men were not to be moved. Being ordered to execution they looked the chieftain in the face and cursed him. ChÖng No-gyung, an attendant of the Crown Prince, begged for their bodies that he might carry them back and bury them on Korean soil, but the favor was not granted.

That summer the people of Seoul and of the country immediately to the south, were thrown into a panic by the antics of what they call ch‘ak-ch‘ak, a species of imp or demon which appeared nightly in various places and terrified the people. The Koreans are peculiarly subject to such hallucinations. They said they were the spirits of those who had died at the hands of the Manchus and the popular fears were not alleviated until the king had ordered a monstrous sacrifice in their behalf at two places near Nam-han, called Ma-heui-ch‘un and Sang-nyung.

The king despatched an envoy to China in the ninth moon to inform the Chinese emperor that he had been forced to surrender, but he assured his former suzerain that the act was by no means voluntary. To this the emperor replied in a tone of commiseration, attaching no blame to the king’s enforced allegiance to the Manchus. He himself was destined ere long to feel the full weight of the Manchu arm.

We have at this point an account of the first general use of tobacco in Korea. It is stated that tobacco was first brought to Japan by the Nam-man or “southern barbarians” and from there was brought to Korea, thirty years before the date of which we are now writing. It was first used by a man named Chang Yu who was closely connected with the royal family, being the father of a Crown Princess. It was called tam-p‘agwe which is the Korean pronunciation of certain Chinese characters which were used to translate into Chinese the Japanese words for tobacco, which is ta-ba-ko. It is commonly supposed that the Japanese took their word from the occidentals, but we here have the word embedded in Korean history back in the very first years of the seventeenth century before it had even yet firmly established itself in European countries. It seems almost incredible that the spread of its use should have been so rapid as to have arrived in Korea within ten years of the beginning of its common use in Europe, but it may have been so. Portugese traders came in large numbers to Japan and the fragrant weed was probably brought by them. At the time of which we are writing, namely the end of the Manchu invasion, its use had become common. It was supposed to possess valuable peptic qualities and was recommended especially to those who ate much meat. The Manchus had become much addicted to the habit, but so many conflagrations were the result that the Manchu emperor attempted to interdictinterdict its use. It is needless to say that he failed. When first introduced, it cost ten thousand cash for half a pound but merchants obtained seed and it soon became common.

In accordance with the demands of the Manchus, the king sent 5,000 troops to accompany them in their invasion of China, but as they arrived a month later than the set time they were sent back home by the angry Manchus. Early in the following year, however, Generals Yi Wan and Im KyÖng-up started with 5,000 troops and joined the Manchu army. The plan was to attack Teung-na on the Shantung promontory; whether by land or sea is not clear, but probably by land. This being known to the Koreans, three boats were secretly despatched to the threatened place, giving warning of the attack, and stating that the Koreans joined in the attack with the Manchus because forced to do so. It was suggested that whenever feasibly the Chinese and Korean forces should use only blank charges against each other. This was gladly agreed to and in a battle at Puk-sin-gu, which followed, not one man was killed among the Chinese forces that were brought in contact with the Korean contingent, and the latter suffered as little. The Chinese general managed to get a letter to the Koreans saying “The emperor reminds you of the vital aid he gave Korea at the time of the Japanese invasion and he now offers the half of his kingdom to anyone who will seize and deliver to him the Manchu general in command.” This reveals in a striking manner the desperate straits to which the Chinese had been brought by the Manchus. The Korean generals did not see their way to accede to this but they kept the Chinese informed of every movement of the Manchus, where they were weak and where they were strong, where they were likely to attack and where they might be successfully attacked. In this way the Manchus were continually thwarted and the Chinese encouraged.

It was proposed that there be a combined Manchu and Korean attack upon Kon-ju-wi near the point of the Shantung promontory, the Manchus to attack by land and the Koreans by sea; but the latter said they had no provisions and their boats were in very bad order. The Manchus replied “Then you had better go home,” an injunction that they were by no means loath to obey.

Meanwhile the king had been doing what he could to mitigatemitigate the sufferings consequent upon the invasion. He ordered all the eight provinces to give rice to help the poor, the widows and the orphans, and to provide proper burial for those who had no near relatives who could afford the expense. He likewise gave strong encouragement to the Confucian School in the capital. He sent spies throughout the land to discover whether the prefects were attending to their duties well. Fearing that the guard along the Tu-man River might be suffering, he made them a grant of 4,000 pieces of cotton. He likewise gave money to repair the ancient altar on the top of Ma-ri-san (Mountain) on the island of Kang-wha. This altar is said to have been used by the Tan-gun two thousand years before Christ, and may well be believed it to be the oldest monument in Korea.

This period of rest and recuperation was broken in upon by the appearance, on the northern border, of Manchu troops under Yonggolda and Omokdo. Rumors had again reached Manchuria that certain Korean officials had been advising against the Manchu power. As a result of this, four prominent officials were sent captive to the north. Early the following year King Chilga, the emperor’s brother, came to try these menmen, and held a proper court at which the Korean Crown Prince was present. Each of the accused men was brought in turn and questioned, and each had some plausible excuse to give. The result was sure from the beginning. They were all condemned and were thrown into a dungeon with a door in the top, a sort of Black Hole of Calcutta, where they all languished with cold, hunger and disease. They even excited the pity of their jailors, and when the Crown Prince pleadplead for them before the emperor, they were ordered sent to Eui-ju, but heavily guarded.

In 1640 the Japanese who had settled at Fusan complained that the harbor was too small, for it did not include the whole bay, but only that part directly in front of the settlement, which was about half way between the present Japanese town and the Korean town of Pu-san. The harbor was called Tu-mo Harbor. Consent to the enlargement of the harbor was refused.

In 1641 Prince Kwang-ha, the deposed and banished wretch, died on the island of Quelpart. So great is the respect for royalty in the abstract, in Korea, that the king fasted four days, had the body brought up to Yang-ju and buried it with royal honors. To the one surviving daughter the king gave a comfortable house and an annuity.

The next year a seditious movement was made by Ch‘oÉ Hyo-il of P‘yung-an Province, and two accomplices. They took boat for China, being provided with funds by the prefect of Eui-ju. Arriving at Teung-na they joined the Chinese forces, received commissions in the Chinese army and despatched a letter to the prefect of Eui-ju asking him to gather a force and with them make a combined attack upon the Manchus. As fate would have it the Manchu Yonggolda was at Eui-ju when this letter arrived, and it fell into his hands. He immediately sent to the king demanding the seizure and execution of all the men implicated in the plot. In spite of the expostulations of the Prime Minister, who wished to see only the prime movers punished, eleven men in Eui-ju and elsewhereelsewhere were seized and met their fate before the palace gate in Seoul.

That Japan and Korea had not forgotten each other is evinced by the fact that the Japanese emperor sent to the king asking him to suggest a name for an ancestral temple that he was erecting. The king declined but allowed his uncle to do it. The name suggested was “The Illustrious Place at Il-gwang Mountain.”

One more sacrifice was necessary before the last remnant of opposition to the Manchus should be extinguished. It was now six years since the surrender. Soon after that surrender the king had sent to China explaining that it was a hard fate and not his own inclination which had forced the surrender from him. Not knowing whether the letter had ever reached the Chinese capital he sent another letter two years later by a monk, Tok-po, who had come from China to ascertain whether Korea had really surrendered or not. Arriving at P’yung-yang he had been received by Gen. Im Kyung-up who sent him on to Ch‘oÉCh‘oÉ Myung-gil the Prime Minister. He was handsomely treated and was provided with a new vessel and a complete outfit of clothes and provisions for the return journey. He carried a letter from the king stating his excuses as above narrated. Four years passed and at last in the year under review the emperor’s answer was forwarded by way of Chefoo. In it he exhoneratesexhonerates Korea from all blame and mourns the fact that he cannot come to her aid as when the Japanese invaded the peninsula. The bearer of this missive was feasted and treated with the most flattering attentions by the governor of P‘yung-an. This would have amounted to nothing had it not been known to Yi Kyu the prefect of Sun-ch‘un who was carrying on trade with China by junk across the Yellow Sea. He was seized by the Manchus and carried north. Fearing the worst, he offered to tell his captors an important secret as the price of his life. He thereupon unfolded the whole transaction between Seoul and Nanking. The Manchus were furious and sent a demand to the king for the persons of Ch‘oÉCh‘oÉ Myung-gil, Im KyÖng-up, Yi KyÖng-yo and Yi Myung-han, all leading men. There was nothing to do but comply, and as these men went the king wept and gave Ch‘oÉ Myung-gil 500 ounces of silver for traveling expenses. Arriving at Pong-whang Fortress beyond the Yalu they were taken in hand by Generals Yonggolda and Mabuda. Ch‘oÉ asserted strongly that he alone was to blame for the whole transaction. When the emperor had looked over the evidence he sent word that fines should be accepted from the others, but that Ch‘oÉ be sent in a cangue and hand-cuffs to Puk-kwan goalgoal. And there he leaves the stage of history, on which he had played no mean part. The traitor Yi Kyu plumed himself on his newly acquired Manchu citizenship and presumed on his services to write the emperor a memorial under twelve heads; but the emperor in fine contempt exclaimed that a man who was not true to his own king must be a rascal at heart and ordered him bound and sent back to Korea where we may well believe the axe did its work without delay.

The next few years of the reign witnessed the return of many captives taken by the Japanese during the years of the invasion; they beheld the promulgation of the law that no one could marry during the three years of mourning for a parent; also a scourge of cholera so terrible as to cause the king to send and sacrifice upon the eight high mountains of Korea. A powerful conspiracy, led by the prime minister, Sim Keui-wun, came near overthrowing the dynasty, but the alarm was given in the very nick of time and he and his fellow conspirators were seized and executed.

The twenty-first year of the reign, 1643, beheld the fall of the Ming dynasty in China. The pretext given by the Manchus for marching on Nanking was the revolt of Yi Cha-sung who burned Nanking and drove the emperor to suicide. Then, terrified at his own deeddeed, he fled and the Manchus stepped in. When Nanking fell, a letter was despatched to Korea sayingsaying “I am the greatest of rulers. You have long been my vassal and I will now show you a favor by returning your hostage, the Crown Prince.”

A word is necessary as to the fate of Im KyÖng-up, one of the men who had been sent to Manchuria with Ch‘oÉ Myung-gil. He succeeded in making his escape before the party reached the Yalu and in the disguise of a monk made his way in a merchant boat to Teung-na where he attached himself to Gen. Whang Chong-ye and made himself very useful. It is said that he made himself famous by capturing a notorious pirate. He sailed straight for the island on which the pirate had his headquarters and having gotten the pirate and his crew drunk with wine he bound and brought them safely to the Chinese camp. Later he fell into the hands of the Manchus through treachery but was so steadfast in his refusal to do obeisance to them that he excited their unbounded admiration, and they let him go back to Korea. This was an unfortunate move for him, for in the meantime Kim Cha-jum had been recalled from banishment and had become court favorite. As these men were deadly enemies the returning general was immediately seized and put to death. This same year saw the publication of the historical work named the Tong-sa Po-byun.

In the following year the Crown Prince and his brother returned from China but the Crown Prince soon after sickened and died. It had been customary heretofore for the king and queen to assume mourning for three years for a Crown Prince but now an innovation was made and thirteen months was the limit set. Of course the succession fell to the infant son of the dead prince, but, the wife of prince Pong-im, the second son of the king, was extremely ambitious to become queen, and so she went about to gain the desired end. By every means in her power she brought pressure to bear upon the king to induce him to set aside the infant prince and nominate her husband as heir to the throne. She was partially successful and the following year the king called his courtiers together and consulted as to the advisability of the plan. He urged that the real heir was but a babe in arms and that he himself was old and about to go the way of all the earth. It was evident that he desired to put Prince Pong-im on the throne, and a very animated discussion followed. Most of the leading ministers and officials argued against the plan saying that it was contrary to the best traditions of the land and that the people all looked to the young prince as their future ruler. To all these arguments the king opposed counter arguments which revealed plainly that he had already made up his mind as to his course, and that he was merely seeking for confirmation of his views. Kim Nyu then said, “If the king has already made up his mind let him speak out and put an end to this useless discussion.” The king then announced that Prince Pong-im was to be his successor.

About this time a dangerous rebellion broke out in Kong-ju the capital of Ch‘ung-ch‘ung Province, but by the prompt action of the troops from the South it was put down. This is worthy of mention only as it illustrates a curious custom in Korea. On account of this rebellion the name of Kong ju was for many years changed to Kong-san and the province of Ch‘ung-ch‘ung to that of Hong-ch’ung.

The Prince Pong-im, though now by royal edict in full view of the throne, feared that by some turn of fortune’s wheel he might fall short of that goal and so he much desired to have the infant prince and his mother taken from his path. The aged king had entered upon a period of mental semi-decrepitude and was easily managed by the wife of Prince Pong-im. Six palace women were accused of poisoning the king’s food and were summarily put to death. The king then summoned the courtiers and accused the wife of the deceased Crown Prince of having assumed the garments of royalty while in Manchuria, of having used disrespectful language to him on her return and of having instigated the palace women to poison him. He said she must be killed. All agreed that some positive proof of guilt must be produced but the king insisted upon her immediate execution which was accomplished by the use of poison. Her two brothers were likewise beaten to death. Three of the leading men who had advised against the nomination of Prince Pong-im were also banished.

The next year passed quietly, but the official corruption had become so prevalent and the people were ground down by the prefects to such an extent that the king made the law that each prefect must have three bondsmen who would be liable to punishment in case of his malfeasance.

The next year saw the introduction on the field of politics of a noted man, Song Si-ryul, who was destined to be a leading spirit for many a year. He was a celebrated scholar and the king induced him to come to Seoul only after repeated invitation.

The very last year of his life this king cherished a bitter enmity toward the Manchu power and in the twenty-seventh year of his reign, selecting generals and planning to equip an army, he hoped to throw off the hated yoke; but it was not to be, for in the early summer of 1649 the aged monarch breathed his last and the heir assumed the reins of power. He is known in history as Hyo-jung Ta-wang.

The accession of a new king was the signal for the combined attack of all the officials upon Kim Cha-jum who had been so long the practical autocrat. He was deposed, but the king would not have him executed, because of his former services. Song Si-ryul also took offense at the king because of a supposed slight and departed to the country in anger, after publishing three accusations against him.

The reign began with a storm. Kim Cha-jum who had retired to the country in disgrace, took advantage of the fact that the Japanese had made a proposition to the prefect of Tong-na to come over and join the Koreans in an invasion of China, and sent a detailed account of it to China, adding that the Korean government was preparing for war and had discarded the Manchu calendar. This news caused tremendous excitement in China and the veteran generals Yonggolda and Mabuda were sent forward to the Yalu with a powerful force. Six envoys were sent to Seoul one following the other at intervals of only two days. These six arrived at Eui-ju, stopped there and sent forward letters demanding what it all meant. Of course this was like thunder from a clear sky to the court at Seoul, and Minister Yi KyÖng-suk rode in person to Eui-ju and met the envoys. He invited them to Seoul and after a long discussion and a present of a thousand ounces of silver and the promise of a princess to go to China to wed one of the Manchu princes and the banishment of a few of the officials, it was found that no blame was attached to the king. Thus began an eventful reign of ten years. The first years were signalized by severe famines in the north and the government had to bring large quantities of grain from the south to relieve the suffering. Corruption had crept even into the system of examinations and it was found necessary to preserve the incognito of the candidates by having each one write his name on the margin of his examination paper and than have this portion of the paper cut off through the middle of a stamp so that at last when the papers were examined and the successful ones selected, the writers’ names could not be known until they had been matched on, and found to fit.

An unsuccessful attempt at rebellion was made by the notorious Kim Cha-jum and Kim Sik, son-in-law to the late king. They persuaded the latter’s wife to place a fetich under the floor of the king’s sleeping apartment. This is supposed to bring about the speedy death of the person so cursed, but someone found it out and divulged the plan. The three leaders were beheaded, the woman poisoned and her brothers banished. Some wanted the king to move because the palace had been defiled by the fetich, which consisted of a dead rat with the king’s name written on its belly, but it was voted down because it would tend to confirm the people in their belief in this foolish superstition.

This king inherited much of his father’s hatred of the Manchu power and we find him building a palace at Kang-wha and storing provisions there in case of a break in the peaceful relations then existing. He instituted some useful reforms also, forbidding the cruel practice of beating criminals to death. He likewise legislated in the interests of the people when he forbade the exacting of rent for water drawn from the government reservoirs for their rice fields.

Twenty-two years before this, Kim Hyuk, one of the envoys to China, had there met a Westerner who is known in Korean history as Tang-yak-mang. This was one of the Jesuit priests. He came first to Canton as a missionary but his great talents were recognized in Nanking and the emperor called him to the capital and questioned him about his religion, and employed him as court astronomer. There the Koreans saw the calendar called Si-hÖn-yuk. When the Ming dynasty fell the Manchus urged the Westerner to remain and they allowed him a regular salary. Kim Hyuk brought back a book from Peking which is probably a copy or abstract of the celebrated book above mentioned. For these twenty-two years a scholar, Kim Sang-bum, had been studying this book, and at last having mastered its secrets, he came out with a calendar of his own. It is stated that the Westerners Yi Ma-du and Sa Su-sin had already been many years in China when Kim Hyuk visited Nanking. (These are Ricci and Schaal).

It was discovered that the country people were evading the revenue laws by cultivating the hill sides above the margin of cultivation set by law. Commissioners were sent out to remeasure the taxable land and to set limits to hillside cultivation, for it was feared that the cultivation of the hillsides would diminish the fuel supply too much. It was in this same year that the ill-fated sailing vessel Sparwehr sailed from Holland with Hendrik Hamel as super-cargo. There seem to have been sixty-four men on board, and when she went to pieces on the island of Quelpart only thirty-six of them reached shore in safety. They were taken to Seoul by the authorities and for fourteen years lived, now on the royal bounty, now by the work of their own hands, and at times they were even compelled to beg for food. At last however the remnant of them made good their escape by night and finally reached Nagasaki. Hamel afterwards wrote an account of his captivitycaptivity in Korea.

In the year 1654 the hostility of the king toward his suzerain took more definite shape. He appointed Yi Wan, a brilliant young general, to have charge of all military matters, and he sent military instructors all through the south where the great mass of the population lived, to drill the people in the science of war. He likewise built fortresses at Sung-jin in Ham-gyung Province and at Yi-bam-keum-sung and at Kyuk-p‘o in the south. He appointed four generals to be stationed about Seoul to guard its approaches, and he collected great quantities of grain, much of which he massed at Wha-ryang near Chemulpo to be in readiness to ship to Tientsin when he should invade China. He provisioned Kang-wha thoroughly and built a monster store-house at Chang-san in Whang-ha Province, because of the difficulty experienced by the boats in rounding the exposed point of that province; he founded a school for the training of military officers and twenty of the best men were detailed for study there. Any sign of indolence insured a prompt dismissal.

This sovereign was an ardent advocate of dress reform. At first he made the soldiers wear shorter sleeves and skirts and for the sake of lightness they were often made of silk. From that he made a more general application of his ideas. He found the hats too broad of brim and the flowing sleeves very inconvenient in the breeze. These points were ordered to be changed and the palace hat as seen today was introduced. It was first invented by the celebrated ChÖng Mong-ju whose blood still marks the stone bridge at Song-do. It was he too that introduced the hyung-p‘a or embroidered storks to be worn on the breasts of civil officers, and the tigers to be worn by military officers.