tion of the King was rendered more difficult. It was necessary to play off Russian against Japanese in order to steer clear of the clutches of both. The Emperor had been brought by hard experience to believe that all talk of reform was but an arrow aimed at him personally, and he was intensely suspicious of any curtailment of his own prerogatives. He was and is a man of kindly nature, and he hates suffering and pain in every form, whether for himself or his people. There is no doubt that under the selfish advice of interested ministers he has allowed the extortion of money from the people, but no one who knows him can believe that he has ever wantonly and knowingly inflicted suffering upon his subjects. There have been countless cases in which he has proved the contrary. One little incident will illustrate. Near the Altar to Heaven, where he went to assume the title of Emperor, a foreigner was building a house. The rafters had been put on, but the roof was not covered. A host of Koreans swarmed into the yard and climbed to the roof to look down upon the ceremony in the adjoining compound. The American was extremely uneasy, for this was far outside the limits of ordinary courtesy, and he hastened to force the Koreans down; but the Emperor, noticing the commotion and divining the cause, sent a special messenger in haste to say that the Koreans need not be disturbed. This is only a trivial case, but there are others. Nothing could exceed the solicitude of the Emperor when, last year, the ludicrous attempts at monetary reform had driven the merchants to desperation. He tried to help them by lending several hundred thousand yen to them to tide them over the crisis, and the fact that the Japanese would not allow him to do it cannot detract from the credit that is due him.
Much has been said of his superstitiousness. This is based largely upon the fact that the women of the palace, who share with other Korean women the unhappy legacy of illiteracy, have often called in various kinds of sorceresses and mountebanks for their own delectation. The King has indulged them
