27th June, Marquis Ito has returned to Seoul, and, except among those interested in keeping Corea in n state of ferment, there is general satisfaction, emphasised by his very explicit denial of the recent rumours thatheis contemplating retirement from the position of Resident-General. A great deal has been made of the recent riots and other ebullitions of popular discontent, but the complete failure to work terious on against revealed by the venom of the the Japanese administration disappointed outsiders who have encouraging the Corean Emperor and his Court. satellites in their foolishness, That the country should be restless is no! new condition, To vary the latest utterance of Mr. Winston Chnrchill, who does not hesitate to express himself bluntly whea the occasion demands it, "none but a
Japan would sob Corea right in fool or an opponent expected that the few months she has been in office there." The task indeed, will be long and difficult, for the Coreans have a long-standing dislike of the Japanese as a race, and ill longer-strinding dis any attempt the exploitation of their country. jot their fault that theirs is nob still the Hermit Kingdom.
The fates having-decreed, however, that Corea must come out of her isolation, have made necessary a government which shall be at once stable and free from corruption. No-one pretends that the Coreans were able to give themselves such a government, and in the days before the war, or more accurately between the wars, the Empero- and his advisers were concerned merely in turning to their own advantage as faras ible the rival ambitions of the Powers, while the unhappy country suffered, no mater which party had the temporary ascend. croy at Cour'. Corea herself then has directly benefited by the war, which definitely decided that jar-amount cal, military, and economical interests therein are possessed by her neighbour Japan: and which provides measures for her guidance, _proeetion, and control. The Powers by the unanimous withdrawal of their Legations have acquiesced in thi admission by Japan's p nicipal rival at the' Seoul Court, and are now chiefly concerned in she speedy success of the administration of Marquis Ito in bringing some order out of the chaos of Corexn affairs, Hitherto the Japinese admit stration has nov thought it nec say to pay much heed to the clumsy calumny which has been persistently l.velled against it, while of genuine criticism there has been almost one. More serious than the propagation of inventions as palpable as that which declared Marquis Ito to be plotting vague in mischief Manchuria at a time were public property, fas been the when his daily doings in Tokio unwillingness of the Emperor and Ministers to forego their old pastime of intrigue. It seems to be clearly established, as our Tokio correspondent explained in detail in our yesterday's issue, that advantage was taken of the absence pel of the Emperor pt to of Marquis Ito to work on this pro-
obtain his tacit, if not his open, support for the disturbances which have occurred. The p'ot was, like the stone-throwing at the railway carriage conveying the returning Resident-General, more annoying than dangerous, since it wus doomed to failure from the beginning: Already our telegrams inform us to-day, the return of Marquis Ito has had the salutary effect of bringing the Emperor and his Ministers to their senses, and it may be hoped that it will not be necessary, as the " Japan Mail" lately feared, to take more drastic measures than those the Resident-General has yeh employ " Obviously," says our ohio contemporary "the farce of pretending to believe his (the Emperor's) expressions of good will and of acquiescence in the new regime cannot be perpetual maintained. The Japanese will become ridiculous in the eyes of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.