Tux Government of Corea has been for an indefinite period ander the practical control of the Min family, of which the Queen of Corea is ut present the tive. The blood of th subject, and retain in subjection, their country to the suzerainty of China,' Men. bers of the family are accorded special privileges by China, and are, to the exclusion of other Corenn noble families, on comparatively social terme with the Court of China, which they visit frequently. The family is very large, and includes the highest number of great nobles, with th greatest Iauded estates, of all the famil of the nobility in Corea. Political differences of the several degrees of h have long existed between this family and that of the King and a large body of the other nobles.
The Queen is a woman of strong' will and considerable ability The great body of the Corean people at large know little or nothing of the politics of their Government, nor do they dare to use any information they may by chance possess on Government affairs. They only know their King, for whom, so far as my own expe-nonce and observation go, they hold unbounded reverence and affection. It is, however, ground deeply into the whole Corean nation, so far as the people are concerned, that their's is the little house" of China, Chinese coming among them are detested for their appearance, conduct, and customs; yet nothing a Chivaman might do in the course of his association with the common people would prompt a blow from any of them, for he is kuk in" oon country. Japanese on the contrary are even admired by the Coreans of ut day for their appearance, custome, and conduct, yet airist them lies a deep current of ditay hatred for their alleged cruelt their ancient invasions of Corea, and the Coreans are always ready for ti when they may vent this feeling in shedding Japanese blood.
Br. Foulk then gi ort account of two Gurean noble fai So and Kim, and proce "Prior to the revolt of th troops in Seoul in 1882, under the 'I'ai-wen Kun, So and Kim, who held nightly discussions of the civilization problem, and were endeavour. ing to induce Min Yang-Ik, and several other young nobles to juin them, were charged by the fanatical Tai-won Kun with endeavouring to introduce Christian into Corea, and both came very near losing their heads, The Tai-wen Kun was the ex-Regent and the father of the King; long aiter his regency hind ceased he held the administrative power of the Government, and directed his great energy with fanatical zeal aguinst the efforte of the Jesuit and Christian Coreans to extend Christinnity in Cores, The Members of the Corean Embassy to the United States have re-pentadly told mo that the number of Coreans executed after torture by him fur prote ing Christianity or being suspected of it can only be reckoned by tens of thou sands; also that his fanatical hatred of the foreign religion was mainly due to the raid grave of one of his ancestors Jew Oppert, obedient to the will and direction of Chia were pre-eminent among Corean nobles in conducting the negotiations for the Americnn treaty of 1882, and this energy gave them the mistaken reputation of being of the progress party, though they only acted in obedience to their hereditary lord, China, without a thought patriotic to Goron, beyond that they in common with all Coreans at the time felt the danger of la seizing a Corean port, Only the en Kun refused to obey the onll of Chi ho saw in "making trouties with western powers the means of introducing broadcast hated Christianity." Conse quently, in July 1882 he took advantage fection among the soldiers in the otod the revolt in the capital and seized the Goyern-Many were killed was to be administered to the Queen, but a maid i in disguise tonk the poi while the Queen escaped, Ming-y Tk shaved his head, and, after 8 three days, walked to he escaped to Japan in the disguise of a Buddhist priest, The Chinese Government then sent troops to and carried off the Tai-wen Kun, power of the Mina for China having been greatly cut off by the revolt." " Chinese troops in Seoul to igthen mained the Ivis suid that the Chinese did not behead the Tai-wen Kun because he was the father of the King, but doing 20 would have embittered the masses againat the Mins and Chi probably led to open rebellion against Chi "At the time of the revolt th: were no Chinese in Corea nor had there been for more than a hundred years, In Seoul, however, resided a Japanese mi with & small guard of Japanese soldier As soon as they heard of the revolt the Japanese prepared a force to send to thy assistance of their Minister at Seoul, "The Chinese Consul at Nagasaki telegraphed that the Japanese were sending force to seize Corea; this at least was the substance of what was told three Coreay
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.