A great Crisis.... condition of affairs in Seoul.... flight of Chinese.... Ta-wun-kun summoned to palace.... new Cabinet.... tribulations of Min Yong-jun.... Commission on Reforms appointed.... names of Government offices changed.... list of proposed reforms.... the currency.... new coinage.... revenue reforms.... a national bank.... standardization of weights and measures.... past abuses rectified.... foreign advisers.

The year 1894 marked the greatest crisis in Korean history since the seventh century, when the kingdom of Silla gained control of the whole peninsula. Considering the fact that so many of the old abuses survived after the year 1894, the above statement may seem extreme but the facts of the case warrant it. From the early years of the Christian era Korea had been moulded by Chinese ideas and had been dominated by her influence. There was no time from the very first when Korea did not consider China her suzerain. In a sense this was natural and right. Korea had received from China an immense number of the products of civilization. Literature, art, science, government, religion—they had all been practically borrowed from China. It is a thing to be marvelled at that Korea through all these centuries has preserved any semblance of individualism. She never would have done so if there had not been a radical and ineffacableineffacable difference between the Chinese and the Korean which no amount of moulding could remove.

Never once during all those centuries did Korea attempt or desire to throw off the garment of her vassalage. And even in this crisis of 1894 it was not thrown off through any wish of the Korean government or people but only through hard necessity. There had been no radical change in the mental attitude of the great mass of Koreans which demanded the severing of the tie which bound them to China and even at this year of grace 1904, there is every reason to believe that a great majority of Koreans would elect to go back under the mild and almost nominal control of China. The change is not one of attitude on the part of the Korean but it is the fact that the war proved to the world the supineness of China and made it forever impossible to revive her claim to suzerainty over Korea or even, it is to be feared, to hold together her own unwieldy bulk. The outward influence of China upon Korea has ceased and other influences have been at work which are slowly drawing her away from her servile obedience to Chinese ideals. This was the first necessary step to the final emancipation of Korea and her national regeneration. It should be carefully noted that from the earliest centuries the Chinese implanted in the Korean no genuine seed of civilization and progress but simply unloaded upon her some finished products of her civilization. These the Koreans swallowed whole without question, unmindful of the fact that by far the greater part of them were wholly unsuited to the Korean temperament. The result was that as time went on these Chinese impositions were overlaid with a pure Korean product just as the little leaden Buddhas that are thrust into the shell of the pearl oyster become coated over with mother-o’pearl. Buddhism came from China but Korea has so mingled with it her native fetichism and animism that it is something radically different from the original stock.

Now this intrinsic freedom of the Korean from Chinese ideals argued strongly in favor of the belief that from the year 1894 Korea would gradually cast off even the mental vassalage and would begin to work along individual lines. This could happen only in case the individualism of the Korean had outlasted the deadening effects of Chinese predominance. There are many evidences that this individualism has survived but it must be confessed that it is in a crippled condition and all but unable to walk alone. It is to the process and method of this great transformation in Korean conditions that we must now turn.

Up to the time when the Japanese began active operations in Seoul by the seizure of the palace, Korea considered herself safe under the aegis of China. Had she not secured the murder of Kim Ok-kyun and the return of his body on a Chinese vessel for the purpose of wreaking upon it the old time vengeance? Had she not invited Chinese troops into the country in direct contravention of the agreement between China and Japan? In every way and by every means Korea had expressed her contempt of Japanese power and of Japanese interests. Under the hideously corrupt regime of such men as Min Yong-jun the country had been going from bad to worse until the people found it utterly impossible to endure the oppression any longer. The provinces were in a state of anarchy and Yuan Shih-kei, the unscrupulous Chinese “Resident” in Seoul, stood smilingly by and watched the tragedy without suggesting any remedy for the disease that was destroying the country, but ready to increase the prestige of China in the peninsula by offering troops with which to crush the starving malcontents in the provinces. The condition of things was about as bad as it could be, and it was at this psychological moment that Japan lifted her hand and at a single blow tumbled the Chinese house of cards about their heads.

By the twenty-first of July the situation in Seoul had become unbearable for the Chinese. There was a small Chinese force at Asan but Seoul was occupied by a strong Japanese force and every day the outbreak of hostilities had become more imminent. On the early morning of the 20th Yuan Shih-kei, in a mean little sedan chair, and entirely without escort, made his escape from the city and hastened to Chemulpo, leaving all his nationals to shift for themselves. His flight became known almost immediately and there was a general scramble on the part of the Chinese merchants and other Chinese to escape from the town. When the Chinese Minister left Seoul their interests were put in the hands of the British representative.

On the morning of the 25th the palace was taken and the city walls manned by the Japanese. Min Yong-jun, who was largely responsible for the parlous condition of the government, fled that night to the country, and found refuge in the town of Ch’un-ch’un about sixty miles east of Seoul.

As soon as the Japanese had secured the palace Minister Otori sought the presence of the king and assured him of his personal safety and that of the Royal family. At the desire of His Majesty the ex-Regent, the Ta-wun-kun was invited to the palace to participate in the discussion of plans for the future, and to allay by his presence the natural fear of the king. It was understood by common consent that the former officials had all resigned and it was necessary to form a new government. Kim Hong jip was summoned to act as Prime Minister. He was a man of strong personality and of progressive tendencies, altogether a valuable man for the emergency since he had the entire confidence of the Japanese and was a man of the highest standing in Korea. Other leading men of progressive tendencies were called in and a government was formed for temporary purposes until matters could he put on a firmer footing. Min Yongijun, Min Eung-sik, Min Hyungisik, Min Ch’i-hÖn, and Kim Se-geui were declared banished to distant points. No attempt was made to send and arrest Min Yong-jun but the members of the “RighteousRighteous Army” in the country seized him and charged him with being the main author of the disturbances, and beat him nearly to death. An enormous amount of money that he had carried off with him was divided up and made away with by his followers. He barely escaped with his life and fled to China where be gave the Chinese advice as to the method of reasserting their authority in the peninsula.

At this same time the government recalled Yi To-ja, Sin Keui-sun, Yun Ung-yul and others who had been in banishment for ten years because of their espousal of the liberal cause in 1884. The prison doors were opened and innocent and guilty alike received amnesty.

The government was not yet ready to publish its full list of reforms, based upon the demands already made by the Japanese Minister, but the king immediately declared that as it was necessary to secure good men to administer the Government in Seoul and in the provinces, the demarcation between the upper and lower classes was a thing of the past and all men of all grades were eligible to office, and at the same time he declared the abolition of the great political parties and forbade the apportionment of government offices along party lines. The different leading offices under the government were put in the hands of the best men that were available and it is probable that these men formed the best government that Korea was capable of at the time. Some of the names were as follows: Kim Hong-jip, Pak ChÖng-yang, Kim Yun-sik, Kim Chong-han, Cho Heui-yun, Yi Yun-yong, Kim Ka-jin, An Kyung-su, ChÖng KyÖng-wun, Pak Chun-yang, Yi Wun-gÖng Kim Ha-gu, Kwun Yung-jin. Yu Kil-jun, Kim Ha-yung, Yi Eung-ik, SÖ Sang jip. Among these names many will be recognized as among the best that Korea has produced in recent times.

On the very next day after the Japanese took the palace and gave a new direction to governmental affairs a special High Commission was called together by the king to consider the matter of reconstructing the government along the new lines. It was composed partly of the the members the Cabinet and partly of other distinguisheddistinguished men. It was well understood that these men were to carry out the ideas of the Japanese authorities. Their deliberations continued for a period of forty-one days during which time they completed a scheme for a new government, along the following lines.

Before this time there had been seven great governmental departments, namely the Eui-jung-bu or State Department, Yi-jo or Home Department, Ho-jo or Finance Department, Yi-joYi-jo or Ceremonial Department, Pyung-jo or War Department, Hyung-jo or Law Department, Kong-jo or Department of Public Works. Besides these there were the two Po-ch‘ung or Police offices, the Eui-gom-bu or Supreme Court and other lesser offices. In the new regime the seven Departments above named were all retained excepting the Ceremonial Department and in place of this they founded for the first time in Korean history a genuine Educational Department coÖrdinate in dignity with any other of the great Departments. Besides this the Department of Public Works was broadened to include Agriculture and Commerce. A Police Bureau was formed to take the place of the former two Poch’ungs.

They also prepared a list of needed reforms in the government.

(1) From this time all Korean documents shall be dated from the year of the present Dynasty. (This was the 503rd year, as the Dynasty was founded in 1392).

(2) Korean treaties with China shall be revised and ministers shall be sent to the various treaty powers.

(3) Class distinctions in Korea shall be wiped out and men shall be judged solely on their merits in the matter of government office.

(4) The distinction between civil and military rank, in favor of the former, shall be done away and they shall stand on an equality.

(5) The family and relatives of a criminal shall not be liable to arrest or punishment for his crime.

(6) The son by a concubine shall be eligible for the succession.

(7) Men shall attain the age of twenty and women the age of sixteen before marriage.

(8) Widows shall be allowed to remarry without loss of social standing.

(9) All slaves are declared free and the sale or purchase of human beings is abolished.

(10) The privilege of memorial is extended to the general public. Anyone shall be at liberty to address the thronethrone through a memorial.

(11) The long sleeves on coats, whether court dress or common are abolished. But officials shall be authorized to wear the sleeveless coat over the ordinary one. Soldiers’ uniforms shall continue as at present for a time but may be changed gradually to the foreign style.

(12) The people shall be given one month in which to prepare for these changes.

(13) The Police Bureau shall be an adjunct of the Home Department.

(14) Officials shall not ride on the streets in the high one-wheeled chair nor shall they be accompanied by a large retinue, nor shall the attendants call out for people to clear the way.

(15) No one shall be obliged to dismount when passing an official nor to show any other sign of servility.

(16) The Prime Minister shall have only four attendants, the Vice Prime Minister and all the other ministers of state shall have three, the vice-ministers shall have two and the secretaries one.

(17) Even eunuchseunuchs, if they are men of ability, shall be eligible for office.

(18) The law that relatives may not sue each other at law shall be abrogated except for very near relatives, and feuds between families shall be given up.

(19) All debts of long standing shall be cancelled (such as debts contracted by a father who is now dead or by relatives).

(20) There shall be but eleven official grades (in place of the eighteen which there had been formerly).

(21) There shall be no longer any outcast class in Korea but butchers, contortionists, acrobats, dancing girls, sorceresses and exorcists shall all be considered equal to others before the law.

(22) Even after holding high office a man may engage in business or other occupation, at his pleasure.

(23) The matter of the national examination shall be reserved for fuller discussion.

It is not necessary to go into an analysis of these proposed reforms. They speak for themselves; some of them were necessary and others were the reverse. But they form a striking commentary on the condition of affairs in Korea at the time. Whatever may have been the defects of this plan it was an honest and strenuous attempt on the part of the best statesmen Korea could produce and it promised much. If its terms could have been carried out it would have proved an inestimable blessing to the people of the peninsula, but one can easily see that some of the proposals struck at the very fabric of Korean society. For instance the attempt to make acrobats, dancing-girls and mudang the social equals of reputable people was of course absurd. The submerged classes cannot be enfranchised by a stroke of the pen. What Korea needed then and needs still is education. This alone will make fundamental reforms possible.

Early in August the currency of the country received serious attention. Foreign money was in use in the open ports but the general currency of the country consisted of two kinds of perforated “cash,” one called yup, each piece of which was called one cash, and the other called tang-o or the “five fitter.” These represented five cash each. The yup was the old, genuine and universally recognized money of the country. It was only in Seoul, the open ports and on the great thoroughfares near Seoul that the tang-o circulated. This tang-o was a debased coin made in 1883 and several succeeding years. At first each of the tang-o exchanged for five of the yup but within a few months the tang-o fell to an inevitable discount which increased year by year from 1883 until 1894, when it was found that they were practically the same. Successive issues of the yup had deteriorated the quality and size of the coin until it was worth only a fifth of its face value. For this reason the Government declared in August that the yup and the tang-o were on a par and that no distinction should be made between them. The fair thing would have been for the Government to redeem the debased tang-o at its face value but of course no one could expect this under the circumstances. It had proved an indirect tax upon the people equal to four fifths its face value.

At the same time the national financiers determined to place in the hands of the people a foreign style coinage, and soon a one cent copper piece, a nickel five cent piece and silver coins of twenty cent and one dollar denominations, which had been in process of manufacture since 1901, were issued. A few of them had been issued a year or two before but had not been well received. Now they passed current and were used, but it was soon found that the silver coins were being bought up and hoarded by wealthy people who placed no faith in banks, and soon not a single native silver piece could be found anywhere.

It was the intention of the Commission to withdraw from circulation all the old cash and replace it with the foreign style money. How absurdabsurd this was will be seen at a glance. There is nothing else that people are so timid about as their money and the bare idea of making such a sweeping change was preposterous, but the Japanese were behind all these reforms and, while their intentions were of the best, they made the serious mistake in this as in other attempted reforms of hurrying things too fast.

Another important problem attacked by the Reform Commission was that of the revenue. It had always been customary to pay taxes in rice, linen, beans, cotton and a hundred other commoditiescommodities, but it was decided now to change all this and have the revenue turned into cash in the country and sent up to the capital. In order to do this it was necessary to have banking facilities in the provinces and it was planned to establish a great national bank with branches all over the country.

An attempt was also made to effect an inspection and standardization of all the weights and measures in the country.

It was ordered that every house in the land should have its owner’s name and occupation and the number of his family posted in a conspicuous place on his front gate. This was to facilitate the work of postal, police and census officials and agents.

One of the reforms that was carried out was the sending of students abroad to acquire an education.

It was decreed that all land or houses that had been illegally seized by unscrupulous people in power during the past ten years should be restored to their rightful owners. Many officials in Seoul, well known in foreign circles, lost large fractions of their wealth because of this decree.

The policy was adopted of engaging foreign advisers for the various great Departments of State and as a result of this a number of foreigners were employed. Some of them had already been some time in the service of the government.