Material reforms.... growth of conservative feeling.... Russian influence.... Mr. de Speyer.... his activity.... attack on Dr. Brown.... England interposes.... establishment of the Empire.... the Queen’s funeral.... opening of 1898.... Russians over-reach themselves.... the death of Prince Ta-wun.... a paradox.... withdrawal of the Russian employees.... Independence Club beyond control.... abdication conspiracy.... Yun Chi-ho before the Emperor.... fall of Kim Hong-nyuk.... attempted regicide.... foreign body-guard.... Independent program.... popular meetings.... peddlars’ guild.... Independents ask to be arrested.... more government concessions.... Independents arrested.... final overthrow of the Independence party.

The first half of 1897 was characterized by three special features in Korea. The first was a continuance of so-called reforms, all of which were of a utilitarian character. A gold mine 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 reestablish 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 was received with satisfaction by the friends of progress. This commission contained the names of many prominent men such as Kim Pyung-si, Pak ChÖng-yang and Yi Wan-yong as well as the names of Dr. Brown, General Greathouse, Mr. Legendre and Dr. Jaisohn.” But by the twelfth of April the whole thing was dropped and the strong hopes of the friends of Korea were again dashed to the ground. The third feature of this period is the growing importance of Russian influence in Seoul. The training of the Korean army had already been taken out of Japanese hands and given to Russians and in August thirteen more Russian military instructors were imported. It was plain that Russia meant to carry out an active policy in Korea. Russian admirals, includingincluding Admiral Alexeieff, made frequent visits to Seoul, and at last Russia made public avowal of her purposes, when she removed Mr. Waeber, who had served her so long and faithfully here and sent Mr. A. de Speyer to take his place. There was an immediate and ominous change in the tone which Russia assumed. From the very first de Speyer showed plainly that he was sent here to impart a new vigor to Russo-Korean relations; that things had been going too slow. It is probable that complaints had been made because in spite of Russia’s predominating influence at the Korean Court concessions were being given to Americans, Germans and others outside. De Speyer soon showed the color of his instructions and began a course of brow-beating, the futility of which must have surprised him. It was on September 7th that he arrived, and within a month he had begun operations so actively that he attracted the attention of the world. In the first place he demanded a coaling station at Fusan on Deer Island which commands the entrance to the harbor. This was a blow aimed directly at Japan and sure to be resented. It came to nothing. Then Mr. Kir Alexeieff arrived from Russia, an agent of the Finance Department in St. Petersburg. In the face of the fact that Dr. Brown was Chief Commissioner of Custom and Adviser to the Finance Department, Mr. Alexeieff was appointed by the Foreign Office as 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 October 17th that the King went to the Imperial Altar and there was crowned Emperor of Tai-han. 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 recognized by the treaty powers within a short period and so Korea took her place on an equality with China and Japan.

On November 21st 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 there 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 much of their influence in Seoul. The Emperor, being now in his own palace but with easy access to the Russian Legation, seems to have lent his voice to the checking of the reform propaganda and in this he was heartily seconded by his leading officials. The most promising aspect of the situation was the determined attitude of the British government relative to the enforced retirement of Dr. Brown. When it became evident that a scarcely concealed plan was on foot to oust British and other foreigners in Korea, Great Britain by a single word and by a concentration of war vessels at Chemulpo changed the whole program of the Russians; but as it appeared later the Russian plans were only changed, not abandoned. So the year opened with things political in a very unsettled state. Everything was in transition. The Independents and the Russians had some idea of what they wanted but seemed to be at sea as to the means for accomplishing it. The conservatives alone sat still and held on, sure that in the long run they would triumph even if they could not stop the march of material progress in the cleaning of the streets and the building of railways.

February of 1898 saw the taking off of the most commanding figure in Korean public life during the nineteenth century, in the person of Prince Ta-wun the father of the EmperorEmperor, formerly Regent. For almost forty years he had been more or less intimately connected with the stirringstirring events which have marked the present reign. The things which specially marked his career are (1) the Roman Catholic persecution of 1866, (2) the determined opposition to the opening of the country to foreign intercourse, (3) the building of the KyÖng-bok Palace, (4) the debasing of Korean currency, (5) the feud with the Queen’s party, (6) the temporary exile in China, (7) the assassination of the Queen. Whatever may be said for or against the Prince because of his policy he remains in the minds of the people a strong, independent character, and they cannot fail to admire the man even though they have to condemn his policy. His adherents stood by him with splendid loyalty even in the hours of his disgrace, because he was in some sense really great.

This time was characterized by curious inconsistencies. At the same time that an edict was promulgated stating that no more concessions would be granted to foreigners the Seoul Electric Company was organized to construct a tramway and a lighting plant in Seoul. Material improvements continued parallel with, but in the opposite direction from, the policy of the Government. An agreement was even entered into with an American firm for the construction of a system of water works for Seoul at a cost of some seven million yen.

The failing hopes of the Independence Club drove it to its final place, that of protest. Memorials began to pour in protesting against this and that. In February it complained of foreign control in Korea, directing the attack apparently upon the Russian pretentions: but if so it was unnecessary, for by the first of March the Russians decided that their position was untenable or that a temporary withdrawal of pressure from Seoul would facilitate operations in other directions, and so, under cover of a complaint as to the vacillating policy of the Korean Government they proposed to remove Mr. Alexeieff from his uncomfortable position vis-a-vis Dr. Brown and also take away all the military instructors. Perhaps they were under the impression that this startling proposal would frighten the Government into making protestations that would increase Russian influence here, but if so they were disappointed for the Government promptly accepted their proposition and dispensed with the services of these men. No doubt the Government had come to look with some anxiety upon the growing influence of Russia here and with the same oscillatory motion as of yore made a strong move in the opposite direction when the opportunity came. The Korean Government has been nearly as astute as Turkey in playing off her “friends” against each other.

Just one month later April 12th N. Matunine relieved Mr. de Speyer, the Russo-Korean bank closed its doors, the Russian military and other officers took their departure and a very strained situation was relieved for the time being. At about the same time Dr. Jaisohn was paid off and left the country, the management of the Independent falling into other hands. This event was important as strowing the hopeless state into which the Independence Club and all other friends of progress had fallen. From this time on the tone of the club grew steadily more petulant. The older men in it who saw that the time was not ripe for reform withdrew and left the management of the club and the determination of its policy in the hands of younger men who had not the experience necessary for the handling of such affairs; and although in Yun-Chi-ho, the president of the Club, it had a clear-headed and devoted man he was not able to control the young blood that had begun to run with something too feverish a course in the veins of the society. The excited state of the public mind is proved by the fact that several other daily and weekly periodicals sprang up, debating societies flourished and people began to talk about things. The conservations laid all these things up against the Independence Club and awaited their time.

The summer of this year furnished Seoul with some excitement in the shape of a discovered conspiracy to force the King to abdicate, place the Crown Prince on the throne and institute a new era in Korean history. The plot, if such it may be called, was badly planned and deservedly fell through. It was one of the foolish moves called out by the excitement engendered in the Independence movement. An Kyung su, ex-president of the Independence Club, was the party mainly implicated and he saved himself only by promptly decamping and putting himself into the hands of the Japanese.

About the same time the Independence Club came into direct opposition to the Government in its strong protest against the appointment of the conservative Cho Pyung-sik to the vice-presidency of the Council of State. The commotion, engendered by this, resulted in Mr. Yun Chi-ho being called before the Emperor, where he made a strong appeal in favor of the Independence Club and asserted the continued loyalty of the club toward His Majesty. Unfortunately he asserted that the Emperor having sanctioned the founding of the club could disband it merely by Imperial decree. For the time, this appeal sufficed and the immediate object of the society was secured, but the Emperor did not forget that he had it in his power to dissolve the club by a single word. As a fact, the mere sanction of the founding of the Club gave no more power to dissolve it than the wedding ceremony which a clergyman performs gives the right in future to dissolve that union. There can be no doubt that from this time on the Emperor was determined to eliminate this disturbing element at the first opportunity. He had no sympathy with its platform, one plank of which was the curtailment of the Imperial prerogative.

August saw the fall of Kim Hong-nyuk, the former Russian interpreter, who ruffled it so proudly at Court on account of his connection with the Russian Legation. For a year he had a good time of it and amassed great wealth, but when the Russians withdrew their influence in March of this year Kim lost all his backing and thenceforward his doom was as sure as fate itself. The genuine noblemen whose honors he had filched were on his track and in August he was accused, deposed and banished. This did not satisfy his enemies however, but an opportunity came when on September tenth an attempt was made to poisonpoison the Emperor and the Crown Prince. The attempt came near succeeding and in the investigation which followed one of the scullions deposed that he had been instructed by a friend of Kim Hong-nyuk to put something into the coffee. How Kim, away in banishment, could have had anything to do with it would be hard to tell. He may have conceived the plan but the verdict of a calm and dispassionate mind must be that he probably knew nothing about it at all. However, in such a case, someone must suffer. The criminal must be found; and it is more than probable that those who hated Kim Hong-nyuk thought he would make an excellent scape-goat. He was tried, condemned and executed.

About the same time the Emperor came to the conclusion that he would like to have a foreign body-guard. C. R. Greathouse was sent to Shanghai to find the material for this guard. Thirty men were picked up, of various nationalities, and they arrived in Seoul on September fifteenth. This move caused intense excitement and opposition. The Independence Club was in the fore-front of the protest that was made. A dozen good arguments were adduced showing why this should not bebe done, and so unanimousunanimous was the sentiment that the Emperor yielded to popular clamor and dismissed the men, but this, again, cannot but have set the Emperor against the Independence Club, inasmuch as they had been principally instrumental in thwarting a pet scheme of his own.

The month of September witnessed better things than these, however. The Japanese obtained their concession for the Seoul-Fusan Railway, an event of great importance inin every way and one that will mean much to Korea.

In September the Independence Club determined that it would be well to put forward a program of work in place of the merely destructive criticism which had for some time characterized its policy. An appeal was made to the general public to assemble, in order to suggest reforms. Whether this was wise or not is a question. A popular assembly in Korea is hardly capable of coming to wise conclusions or to participate in plans for constructive statesmanship. In addition to this an appeal to the people was inevitably construed by the conservatives as a desperate measure which invited revolution. In a sense they were justifiedjustified in so thinking, for the general populace of Korea never has risen in protest unless the evils under which they are suffering have driven them to the last court of appeal, mob law. The move was in the direction of democracy and no one can judge that the people of Korea are ready for any such thing.

However this may be, a mass meeting was held at Chong-no, to which representatives of all classes were called. The following articles were formulated and presented to the cabinet for imperial sanction.

(1) Neither officials nor people shall depend upon foreign aid, but shall do their best to strengthen and uphold the Imperial power.

(2) All documents pertaining to foreign loans, the hiring of foreign soldiers, the granting of concessions, &c., in fact every document drawn up between the Korean government and a foreign party or firm, shall be signed and sealed by all the Ministers of State and the President of the Privy Council.

(3) Important offenders shall be punished only after they have been given a public trial and ample opportunity to defend themselves.

(4) To His Majesty shall belong the power to appoint Ministers, but in case a majority of the cabinet disapproves of the Emperor’s nominee he shall not be appointed.

(5) All sources of revenue and methods of raising taxes shall be placed under the control of the Finance Department, no other department or officer or corporation being allowed to interfere therewith; and the annual estimates and balances shall be made public.

(6) The existing laws and regulations shall be enforced without fear or favor.

It will be seen that several of these measures strike directly at powers which have been held for centuries by the King himself and it cannot be supposed that His Majesty would listen willingly to the voice of the common people when they demanded such far-reaching innovations. The whole thing was utterly distasteful to him, but the united voice of the people is a serious matter. In such a country as Korea the clearly announced statement of the common people as to their wishes carries with it the implication that they have come to the point where they are ready to make trouble if their demands are not complied with. The intensity of the popular feeling was shown in the general closing of shops and in the attendance even of women upon the mass meetings. The reactionists were seriously startled by these demonstrations, and it became necessary to temporize. These demands were not such as would involve any immediate changes; they all looked to the future. So it was an easy matter simply to comply with the demands and wait for the public feeling to subside. On the last day of September His Majesty ordered the carrying out of these six propositions.

The trouble was that the conservatives felt that they had not sufficient physical power to oppose a popular uprising. The temporary concession was made with no idea of real compliance, and was immediately followed by measures for securing a counter demonstration. The instrument selected for this purpose was the old-time Peddlar’s Guild. This was a defunct institution, but the name survived, and the conservatives used it to bring together a large number of men who were ready for any sort of work that would mean pay. These were organized into a company whose duty it was to run counter to all popular demonstrations like those which had just been made. No sooner was this hireling band organized than His Majesty, in pursuance of the hint dropped some months before by the President of the Independence Club, ordered the disbanding of the Club. From this time on the Independence Club was no longer recognized by the Government and was an illegal institution, by the very terms of the unfortunate admission of its President that the Emperor could at any time disband it by Imperial decree. Mr. Yun Chi-ho had by this time come to see that the Club was running to dangerous extremes and was likely to cause serious harm; and he and others worked with all their power to curb the excitement and secure rational action on the part of the members of the Club. But the time when such counsels could prevail had already passed. The Club knew that the principles it advocated were correct and it was angry at the stubborn opposition that it met. It was ready to go to any lengths to secure its ends. Passion took the place of judgment and the overthrow of the opposition loomed larger in its view than the accomplishment of its rational ambitions.

Instead of dispersing in compliance with the Imperial order the assembled Independents went in a body to the Police Headquarters and asked to be arrested. This is a peculiarly Korean mode of procedure, the idea being that if put on trial they would be able to shame their adversaries; and incidentally it embarrassed the administrationadministration, for the prisons would not suffice to hold the multitude that clamored for incarceration. The crowd was altogether too large and too determined for the Peddlers to attack and another concession had to be made. The Independents, for it can no longer be called the Independent Club, offered to disperse on condition that they be guaranteed freedom of speech. The demand was immediately complied with; anything to disperse that angry crowd which under proper leadership might at any moment do more than make verbal demands. So on the next day an Imperial decree granted the right of free speech. This concession, likewise, was followed by a hurried muster of all the peddlars and their more complete organization. Backed by official aid and Imperial sanction they were prepared to come to blows with the people who should assemble for the purpose of making further demands upon the Emperor.

Shortly before this the Emperor had consented to the proposition that the Independence Club should choose by ballot from their own number twenty-five men who should sit in the Privy Council. This council had for a time exercised some influence during the earlier months of Dr. Jaisohn’s residence in Seoul but it had lost all power and had become a limbo to which were politely relegated those whom the government did not care to use and yet was unwilling to dismiss. The edict of the Emperor disbanding the Club would be supposed to countermand this order for election, but the Independents themselves did not so view it, and the day set for the election was November 5th. The conservatives now deemed themselves strong enough to try conclusions with the outlawed Club and before daylight of November 5th seventeen of the leading men of the Independence Club were arrested and lodged in jail, Mr. Yun, the president, narrowly escaped arrest. It was afterwards ascertained that the plan of the captors was to kill the president of the Club before he could receive aid from the enraged people.

When morning came and the arrest became known the city hummed like a bee-hive. A surging crowd was massed in front of the Supreme Court demanding loudly the release of the prisoners who had been accused, so the anonymous placards announced, of conspiring to establish a republic! Again the popular feeling was too strong for the courage of the peddlar thugs and they remained in the back-ground. The agitation continued all that day and the next, and the next, until the authorities were either frightened into submission or, deeming that they had shown the Independents a glimpse of what they might expect, released the arrested men. But the Independents, so far from being cowed, hailed this as a vindication of their policy and attempted to follow up the defeat of the conservatives by demanding the arrest and punishment of the people who had played the trick upon the Club. As these men were very prominent officials and had the ear of the Emperor it was not possible to obtain the redress demanded. So the month of November wore away in a ferment of excitement. Popular meetings were frequent but the crowd had not the determination to come to conclusions with the government. The conservatives saw this and with utmost nicety gauged the resisting power of the malcontents. The offensive tactics of the latter were confined merely to free speech and the conservatives determined to see what they would do when on the defensive. Accordingly on the morning of November 21st a band of ruffians, the so-called peddlars, attacked the people who had gathered as usual to discuss the stirring questions of the times. Weapons were used and a number of people were injured. The Independents had never contemplated the use of force, and this brutal assault aroused the ire of the whole people, most of whom had not as yet taken sides. Serious hand to hand fights occurred in various parts of the city and the peddlars, conscious that even their most murderous attacks would be condoned in high places, attempted to whip the people into something like quietude.

On the 26th of November in the midst of this chaotic state of things the Emperor granted a great general audience outside the great gate of the palace. The Independence Club was there in force, and foreign representatives and a large number of other foreign residents. It was a little Runnymede but with a different ending. Yun Chi-ho was naturally the spokesman of the Independence party. He made a manly and temperate statement of the position of his constituents. He denounced the armed attacks of the peddlars upon people who intended no violence but only desired the fulfillment of solemnly made pledges. He called to account those who imputed to the Independence Club traitorous designs. He urged that the legal existence of the Club should be again established by Imperial decree and that the six measures so definitely and distinctly promised by His Majesty should be carried out. There was no possible argument to oppose to these requests and the Emperor promised to shape the policy of the government in line with these suggestions. Again it was mere promise, made to tide over an actual and present difficulty. The Independence people should have recognized this. The Emperor was surrounded by men inimical to the reform program, they had the police and the army back of them as well as the peddlars. The Independence party had not a single prominent representative in any really responsible and influential government office. They simply had right and the precarious voice of Korean popular feeling behind them. What was necessary was a campaign of education. The program advocated was one that could be carried out only under a government whose personnel was at least approximately up to the standard of that program. This could be claimed of only two or three members of the Independence Club. Having secured this public promise of His Majesty the club should have waited patiently to see what would happen and if the promises were not kept they should have waited and worked for a time when public sentiment among the leading men would compel reform. But as Mr. Yun himself confesses, “The popular meetings had gone beyond the control of the IndependenceIndependence Club and in the face of strong advice to the contrarycontrary they were resumed on December 6th and their language became careless and impudent. On the sixteenth of December the Privy Council recommended the recall of Pak Yong-hyo from Japan. The popular meeting had the imprudence to endorse this action. The more conservative portion of the people revolted against the very mention of the name. Suspicion was excited that the popular agitations had been started in the interests of Pak Yong-hyo and they instantly lost the sympathy of the people.” The enemies of the liberal party had probably used this argument to its fullest extent, and when it was seen that the Independence movement had at last been deprived of its strongest support, the popular voice, its enemies came down upon it with cruel force. In spite of voluble promises to the contrary large numbers of the reform party were arrested and thrown into prison; not, to be sure, on the change of being members of this party, but on trumped-up charges of various kinds, especially, that of being accessory to the plan of bringing back Pak Yong-hyo. And thus came to an end a political party whose aims were of the highest character, whose methods were entirely peaceable but whose principles were so far in advance of the times that from the very first there was no human probability of success. But, as Mr. Yun Chi-ho said, though the party dies the principles which it held will live and eventually succeed.

The year 1899 opened with political matters in a more quiet state than for some years past, owing to the violent repression of the Independence Club and the liberal movement. The judgment of the future will be that at this point Japan made a serious mistake of omission. The aims and purposes of the Independence party were directly in line with Japanese interests here and if that powerful government had actively interested itself in the success of the movement and had taken it for granted that the plan was to be definitely carried out the succeeding years would have made very different history than they did. But during all this time Japan seems to have retired into comparative quietude, perhaps because she saw the coming of her inevitable struggle with Russia and was not willing to hasten matters by coming into premature conflict with the northern power in Korea, pending the completion of her preparations for the supreme struggle.

Through all this period Russian influence was quietly at work securing its hold upon the Korean Court and upon such members of the government as it could win over. The general populace was always suspicious of her, however, and always preferred the rougher hand of Japan to the soft but heavy hand of Russia. The progress of the Russian plans was illustrated when in January of 1899 a mission of the Greek Church was established in Seoul. This suggests some remarks upon the general subject of mission work in Korea. The Presbyterian Church of America had established work here in 1884: the Methodist Episcopal Church of America began work in 1885; the Australian Presbyterian Church in 1889; The English Church Mission in 1890; the Southern Presbyterian Church of America in 1892; the Southern Methodist Church of America in 1896; the Canadian Presbyterian Mission in 1898. Besides these there was independent work under some smaller bodies including one Baptist organization and one college mission. When the last year of the 19th century opened these missions had all become firmly established, and important centres of mission work were found all over the country, especially in Seoul, Chemulpo, Pyeng-yang, Fusan, Wonsan, Chun-ju, Kunsan, Mokpo, Ta-gu and Song-do. From the very first the Protestant Missions adopted the principle of non-interferance with political affairs and with the ordinary course of justice in Korean courts. It has not always been possible to follow this principle implicitly but the people have come to learn that connection with a Protestant Christian Church will not absolve them from their duties and obligations toward their own government nor shield them from the results of misconduct. It has been found that the Korean temperament makes him easily accessible to the rational idealism of Christianity. From the very first the form of Christianity presented by the Protestant missionaries took hold of the Koreans with great power and by the end of the first fifteen years of work the various missions had some twenty thousand adherents. The northern station of the Presbyterian Mission in Korea attained world-wide notice as being, so far as human estimate can go, the most successful mission station in the world; and this not merely because of the number of people received into Church connection but because of the striking results obtained along the line of self support and independent Christian work. Hospitals were established in Seoul, Fusan, Wonsan, Pyeng-yang, Ta-gu and Chemulpo, and schools of various grades both for boys and girls were established in almost every mission station. The work of Bible translation was carried on steadily until by the end of 1899 the whole of the New Testament was put in the hands of the people at least in tentative form. The Korean Religious Tract Society, established early in the last decade of the century, did heroic work in putting forth Christian literature of all kinds. Literary work was represented in various grammars and manuals of Korean, several hymnals, an unabridged dictionary and the publication of a monthly magazine in English called The Korean Repository.

Before going forward into the new century we should note some of the more important material advances that Korea had made. Railway concessions for some 600 miles of track had been granted, half to Japanese and half to a French syndicate; several new and important ports had been opened, bringing the total number up to ten, inclusive of Seoul and Pyeng-yang; mining concessions had been given to Americans, English, Germans, French and Japanese, two of which had proved at least reasonably successful; timber and whaling concessions had been given to Russians on the east side of the peninsula and important fishing rights had been given to the Japanese; an attempt at a general system of education had been made throughout the country and the work of publishing text books was being pushed; students were sent abroad to acquire a finished education and legations at all the most important political centers were established; an attempt at a better currency had been made, though it was vitiated by official corruption and the operations of counterfeiters; trade had steadily increased and the imports and exports of Korea passed beyond the negligeablenegligeable stage; an excellent postal system had been inaugurated under foreign supervision, and Korea had entered the Postal Union.

Thus it will be seen that in spite of all domestic political complications and discouragements the country was making definite advance along some lines. The leaven had begun to work and no conservatism on the part of the public leaders could stop the ferment.

The necrology of the closing year of the century contains the names of Mr. LegendreLegendre and Mr. Greathouse, the latter of whom, as legal adviser to the government, did excellent work in his department and was recognized by his employers as an able and efficient man in his official capacity.