Korea & Her Neighbours/Chapter XXIII
In May, 1895, a treaty of peace between China and Japan _ was signed at Shimonoseki, a heavy indemnity, the island of Formosa, and a great accession of prestige, being the gains of Japan. From thenceforward no power having interests in the Far East could afford to regard her as a quantite negligeable.
After travelling for some months in South and Mid China, and spending the summer in Japan, I arrived in Nagasaki in October, 1895, to hear a rumor of the assassination of the Korean Queen, afterwards confirmed on board the Suruga Maru by Mr. Sill, the American Minister, who was hurrying back to his post in Seoul in consequence of the disturbed state of affairs. I went up immediately from Chemulpo to the capital, where I was Mr. Hillier's guest at the English Lega- tion for two exciting months.
The native and foreign communities were naturally much excited by the tragedy at the Palace, and the treatment which the King was receiving. Count Inouye, whose presence in Seoul always produced confidence, had left a month before, and had been succeeded by General Viscount Miura, a capable soldier, without diplomatic experience.
In an interview which Count Inouye had with the Queen shortly before his departure, speaking of the ascendency of the Tai-Won-Kun, after the capture of the Palace by Mr. Otori in the previous July, Her Majesty said, " It is a matter of regret to me that the overtures made by me towards Japan were rejected. The Tai-Won-Kun, on the other hand, who showed his unfriendliness towards Japan, was assisted by the Japanese Minister to rise in power."
In the despatch in which Count Inouye reported this interview to his Government he wrote: —
I gave as far as I could an explanation of these things to the Queen, and after so allaying her suspicions, 1 further explained that it was the true and sincere desire of the Emperor and Government of Japan to place the independence of Korea on a firm basis, and in the meantime to strengthen the Royal House of Korea. /;/ the event of any member of the Royal Family, or indeed any Korean, therefore attempting treason against the Royal House, I gave the assurance that the Japanese Government would not fail to protect the Royal House even by force of arms, and so secure the safety of the kingdom. These remarks of mine seemed to have moved the King and Queen, and their anxiety for the future appeared to be much relieved.
The Korean sovereigns would naturally think themselves justified in relying on the promise so frankly given by one of the most distinguished of Japanese statesmen, whom they had learned to regard with confidence and respect, and it is clear to myself that when the fateful night came, a month later, their reliance on this assurance led them to omit certain possible precautions, and caused the Queen to neglect to make her escape at the first hint of danger.
When the well-known arrangement between Viscount Miura and the Tai-Won-Kun was ripe for execution, the Japanese Minister directed the Commandant of the Japanese battalion quartered in the barracks just outside the Palace gate to facilitate the Tai-Won-Kun's entry into the Palace by arranging the disposition of the Kim-ren-tai (Korean troops drilled by Japanese), and by calling out the Imperial force to support them. Miura also called upon two Japanese to collect their friends, go to Riong San on the Han, where the intriguing Prince was then living, and act as his bodyguard on his journey to the Palace. The Minister told them that on the success of the enterprise depended the eradication of the evils which had afflicted the kingdom for twenty years, and INSTIGATED THEM TO DISPATCH THE QUEEN WHEN THEY ENTERED THE PALACE. One of Miura's agents then ordered the Japanese policemen who were off duty to put on civilian dress, provide themselves with swords, and accompany the conspirators to the Tai-Won-Kun's house.
At 3 A.M. on the morning of the 8th of October they left Riong San, escorting the Prince's palanquin, Mr. Okamoto, to whom much had been entrusted, assembling the whole party when on the point of departure, and declaring to them that on entering the Palace the "Fox" should be dealt with according "as exigency might require." Then this procession, including ten Japanese who had dressed themselves in uniforms taken from ten captured Korean police, started for Seoul, more than three miles distant. Outside the "Gate of Staunch Loyalty" they were met by the Kun-ren-tai, and then waited for the arrival of the Japanese troops, after which they proceeded at a rapid pace to the Palace, entering it by the front gate, and after killing some of the Palace Guard, proceeded a quarter of a mile to the buildings occupied by the King and Queen, which have a narrow courtyard in front.
So far I have followed the Hiroshima judgment in its statement of the facts of that morning, but when it has conducted the combined force to "the inner chambers" it concludes abruptly with a " not proven " in the case of all the accused ! For the rest of the story, so far as it may interest my readers, I follow the statements of General Dye and Mr. Sabatin of the King's Guard, and of certain official documents.
It is necessary here to go back upon various events which preceded the murder of Her Majesty. Trouble arose in Oc- tober between the Ktm-ren-tai and the Seoul police, resulting in the total defeat of the latter. The Kim-ren-tai, numbering 1,000, were commanded by Colonel Hong, who in 1882 had rescued the Queen from imminent danger, and was trusted by the Royal Family. The Palace was in the hands of the Old Guard under Colonel Hyon, who bad saved Her Majesty's life in 1884. In the first week of October the strength of this Guard was greatly reduced, useful weapons were quietly with- drawn, and the ammunition was removed.
On the night of the 7th the Kiui-7'en-tai, with their Japanese instructors, marched and countermarched till they were found on all sides of the Palace, causing some uneasiness within. The alarm was given to General Dye and Mr. Sabatin early on the morning of the 8th.1 These officers, looking through a chink of the gate, saw a number of Japanese soldiers with fixed bayonets standing there, who, on being asked what they were doing, filed right and left out of the moonlight under the shadow of the wall. Skulking under another part of the wall were over 200 of the Kun-ren-tai. The two foreigners were consulting as to the steps to be taken when heavy sounds of battering came from the grand entrance gate, followed by firing.
General Dye attempted to rally the Guard, but after five or six volleys from the assailants they broke with such a rush as to sweep the two foreigners past the King's house to the gateway of the Queen's, No clear account has ever been given of the events which followed. Colonel Hong, the commander of the Kun-ren-tai, was cut down by a Japanese officer at the great gate, and was afterwards mortally wounded by eight bullets. The Kun-7'en-tai swarmed into the Palace from all directions, along with Japanese civilians armed with swords, who frantically demanded the whereabouts of the Queen, hauling the Palace ladies about by the hair to compel them to point out Her Majesty, rushing in and out of windows, throwing the ladies-in-waiting from the 7 feet high veranda into the compound, cutting and kicking them, and brutally murdering four in the hope that they had thus secured their victim.
Japanese troops also entered the Palace, and formed in military order under the command of their officers round the small courtyard of the King's house and at its gate, protecting the assassins in their murderous work. Before this force of Japanese regulars arrived there was a flying rout of servants, run- ners, and Palace Guards rushing from every point of the vast enclosure in mad haste to get out of the gates. As the Japanese entered the building, the unfortunate King, hoping to divert their attention and give the Queen time to escape, came into a front room where he could be distinctly seen. Some of the Japanese assassins rushed in brandishing their swords, pulled His Majesty about, and beat and dragged about some of the Palace ladies by the hair in his presence. The Crown Prince, who was in an inner room, was seized, his hat torn off and broken, and he was pulled about by the hair and threatened with swords to make him show the way to the Queen, but he managed to reach the King, and they have never been separated since.
The whole affair did not occupy much more than an hour. The Crown Prince saw his mother rush down a passage followed by a Japanese with a sword, and there was a general rush of assassins for her sleeping apartments. In the upper story the Crown Princess was found with several ladies, and she was dragged by the hair, cut with a sword, beaten, and thrown downstairs. Yi Kyong-jik, Minister of the Royal Household, seems to have given the alarm, for the Queen was dressed and was preparing to run and hide herself. When the murderers rushed in, he stood with outstretched arms in front of Her Majesty, trying to protect her, furnishing them with the clue they wanted. They slashed off both his hands and inflicted other wounds, but he contrived to drag himself along the veranda into the King's presence, where he bled to death.
The Queen, flying from the assassins, was overtaken and stabbed, falling down as if dead, but one account says that, recovering a little, she asked if the Crown Prince, her idol, was safe, on which a Japanese jumped on her breast and stabbed her through and through with his sword. Even then, though the nurse whom I formerly saw in attendance on her covered her face, it is not certain that she was dead, but the Japanese laid her on a plank, wrapped a silk quilt round her, and she was carried to a grove of pines in the adjacent deer park, where kerosene oil was poured over the body, which was surrounded by faggots and burned, only a few small bones escaping destruction.
Thus perished, at the age of forty-four, by the hands of foreign assassins, instigated to their bloody work by the Minister of a friendly power, the clever, ambitious, intriguing, fascinating, and in many respects lovable Queen of Korea. In her lifetime Count Inouye, whose verdict for many reasons may be accepted, said, "Her Majesty has few equals among her countrymen for shrewdness and sagacity. In the art of conciliating her enemies and winning the confidence of her servants she has no equals."
A short time after daylight the Tai-Won-Kun issued two proclamations, of which the following sentences are specimens : —
1st, " The hearts of the people dissolve through the presence in the Palace of a crowd of base fellows. So the National Grand Duke is returned to power to inaugurate changes, expel the base fellows, restore former laws, and vindicate the dignity of His Majesty."
2nd, "I have now entered the Palace to aid His Majesty, expel the low fellows, perfect that which will be a benefit, save the country, and introduce peace."
The Palace gates were guarded by the mutinous Kun-ren-tai with fixed bayonets, who allowed a constant stream of Koreans to pass out, the remnants of the Old Palace Guard, who had thrown off their uniforms and hidden their arms, each man being seized and searched before his exit was permitted. Near the gate was a crimson pool marking the spot where Colonel Hong fell. Three of the Ministers were at once dismissed from their posts, some escaped, and many of the high officials sought safety in flight. Nearly every one who was trusted by the King was removed, and several of the chief offices of State were filled by the nominees of the officers of the Ktin-re?i-tai, who, later, when they did not find the Cabinet, which was chiefly of their own creation, sufficiently subservient, used to threaten it with drawn swords.
Viscount Miura arrived at the Palace at daylight, with Mr. Sugimura, Secretary of the Japanese Legation (who had arranged the details of the plot), and a certain Japanese who had been seen by the King apparently leading the assassins, and actively participating in the bloody work, and had an audience of His Majesty, who was profoundly agitated. He signed three documents at their bidding, after which the Japanese troops were withdrawn from the Palace, and the armed forces, and even the King's personal attendants, were placed under the orders of those who had been concerned in attack. The Tai-Won-Kun was present at this audience.
During the day all the Foreign Representatives had audiences of the King, who was much agitated, sobbed at intervals, and, believing the Queen to have escaped, was very solicitous about his own safety, as he was environed by assassins, the most unscrupulous of all being his own father. In violation of custom, he grasped the hands of the Representatives, and asked them to use their friendly offices to prevent further outrage and violence. He was anxious that the Kun-ren-tai should be replaced by Japanese troops. On the same afternoon the Foreign Representatives met at the Japanese Legation to hear Viscount Miura's explanation of circumstances in which his countrymen were so seriously implicated.
Three days after the events in the Palace, and while the King and the general public believed the Queen to be alive, a so-called Royal Edict, a more infamous outrage on the Queen even than her brutal assassination, was published in the Official Gazette. The King on being asked to sign it refused, and said he would have his hands cut off rather, but it appeared as his decree, and bore the signatures of the Minister of the Household, the Prime Minister, and six other members of the Cabinet.
ROYAL EDICT
It is now thirty-two years since We ascended the throne, but Our ruling influence has not extended wide. The Queen Min introduced her relatives to the Court and placed them about Our person, whereby she made dull Our senses, exposed the people to extortion, put Our Government in disorder, selling offices and titles. Hence tyranny prevailed all over the country and robbers arose in all quarters. Under these circumstances the foundation of Our dynasty was in imminent peril. We knew the extreme of her wickedness, but could not dismiss and punish her because of helplessness and fear of her party.
We desire to stop and suppress her influence. In the twelfth moon of last year we took an oath at Our Ancestral Shrine that the Queen and her relatives and Ours should never again be allowed to interfere in State affairs. We hoped this would lead the Min faction to mend their ways. But the Queen did not give up her Muckedness, but with her party aided a crowd of low fellows to rise up about Us and so managed as to prevent the Ministers of State from consulting Us. Moreover, they have forged Our signature to a decree to disband Our loyal soldiers, thereby instigating and raising a disturbance, and when it occurred she escaped as in the Im O year. We have endeavored to discover her whereabouts, but as she does not come forth and appear We are convinced that she is not only unfitted and unworthy of the Queen's rank, but also that her guilt is excessive and brimful. Therefore with her We may not succeed to the glory of the Royal Ancestry. So We hereby depose her from the rank of Queen and reduce her to the level of the lowest class.
Signed by
Yi Chai-myon, Minister of the Royal Household.
Kim Hong-chip, Prime Minister.
Kim Yun-sik, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Pak Chong-yang, Minister of Home Affairs.
Shim Sang-hun, Minister of Finance.
Cho Heui-yon, Minister of War.
So Kwang-pom, Minister of Justice.
So KwANG-POM, Minister of Education.
Chong Pyong-ha, Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Commerce.
On the day following the issue of this fraudulent and infamous edict, another appeared in which Her Majesty, out of pity for the Crown Prince and as a reward for his deep devotion to his father, was "raised" by the King to the rank of "Concubine of the First Order"!
The diplomats were harassed and anxious, and met constantly to discuss the situation. Of course the state of extreme tension was not caused solely by " happenings " in Korea and their local consequences. For behind this well-executed plot, and the diabolical murder of a defenceless woman, lay a terrible suspicion, which gained in strength every hour during the first few days after the tragedy till it intensified into a certainty, of which people spoke as in cipher, by hints alone, that other brains than Korean planned the plot, that other than Korean hands took the lives that were taken, that the sentries who guarded the King's apartments while the deed of blood was being perpetrated wore other than Korean uniforms, and that other than Korean bayonets gleamed in the shadow of the Palace wall.
People spoke their suspicions cautiously, though the evidence of General Dye and of Mr. Sabatin pointed unmistakably in one direction. So early as the day after the affair, the question which emerged was, Is Viscount General Miura criminally implicated or not?" It is needless to go into particulars on this subject. Ten days after the tragedy at the Palace, the Japanese Government, which was soon proved innocent of any complicity in the affair, recalled and arrested Viscount Miura, Sugimura, and Okamoto, Adviser to the Korean War Department, who, some months later, along with forty-five others, were placed on their trial before the Japanese Court of First Instance at Hiroshima, and were acquitted on the technical ground that there was "no sufficient evidence to prove that any of the accused actually committed the crime originally meditated by them," this crime, according to the judgment, being that two of the accused, at the instigation of MIURA, DECIDED TO MURDER THE QUEEN, and took steps by collecting accomplices . . . more than ten others were di- rected by these two persons to do away with the Queen."
Viscount Miura was replaced by Mr. Komura, an able di- plomatist, and shortly afterwards Count Inouye arrived, bearing the condolences of the Emperor of Japan to the unfortunate Korean King. A heavier blow to Japanese prestige and po- sition as the leader of civilization in the East could not have been struck, and the Government continues to deserve our sympathy on the occasion. For when the disavowal is for- gotten, it will be always remembered that the murderous plot was arranged in the Japanese Legation, and that of the Japa- nese dressed as civilians and armed with swords and pistols, who were directly engaged in the outrages committed in the Palace, some were advisers to the Korean Government and in its pay, and others were Japanese policemen connected with the Japanese Legation — sixty persons in all, including those known as Soshi, and exclusive of the Japanese troops.
The Foreign Representatives with one exception informed the Cabinet that until steps were taken to bring the assassins to justice, till the Kiin-ren-tai Guard was removed from the Palace, and till the recently introduced members of the Cabinet who were responsible for the outrages had been ar- raigned or at least removed from office, they declined to recog- nize any act of the Government, or to accept as authentic any order issued by it in the King's name. The prudence of this course became apparent later.
On 15th October, in an extra issue of the Official Gazette y it was announced "By Royal Command" that, as the po- sition of Queen must not remain vacant for a day, proceed- ings for the choice of a bride were to begin at once ! This was only one among the many insults which were heaped upon the Royal prisoner.
During the remainder of October and November there was no improvement in affairs. The gloom was profound. In- stead of Royal receptions and entertainments, the King, shaken by terror and in hourly dread of poison or assassina- tion, was a close prisoner in a poor part of his own palace, in the hands of a Cabinet chiefly composed of men who were the tools of the mutinous soldiers who were practically his jailers, compelled to put his seal to edicts which he loathed, the tool of men on whose hands the blood of his murdered Queen was hardly dry. Nothing could be more pitiable than the condition of the King and Crown Prince, each dreading that the other would be slain before his eyes, not daring to eat of any food prepared in the Palace, dreading to be separated, even for a few minutes, without an adherent whom they could trust, and with recent memories of infinite horror as food for contemplation.
General Dye, the American military adviser, an old and feeble man, slept near the Palace Library, and the American missionaries in twos took it in turns to watch with him. This was the only protection which the unfortunate sovereign pos- sessed. He was also visited daily by the Foreign Representa- tives in turns, with the double object of ascertaining that he was alive and assuring him of their sympathy and interest. Food was supplied to him in a locked box from the Russian or U. S. Legations, but so closely was he watched, that it was difficult to pass the key into his hand, and a hasty and very occasional whisper was the only communication he could suc- ceed in making to these foreigners, who were his sole reliance. Undoubtedly from the first he hoped to escape either to the English or Russian Legation. At times he sobbed piteously and shook the hands of the foreigners, who made no attempt to conceal the sympathy they felt for the always courteous and kindly sovereign.
Entertainments among the foreigners ceased. The dismay was too profound and the mourning too real to permit even of the mild gaieties of a Seoul winter. Every foreign lady, and specially Mrs. Underwood, Her Majesty's medical attendant, and Mme. Waeber, who had been an intimate friend, felt her death as a personal loss. Her Oriental unscrupulousness in politics was forgotten in the horror excited by the story of her end. Yet then and for some time afterwards people clung to the hope that she had escaped as on a former occasion, and was in hiding. Among Koreans opinion was greatly con- cealed, for there were innumerable arrests, and no one knew when his turn might come, but it was believed that there was an earnest desire to liberate the King. A number of foreign warships lay at Chemulpo, and the British, Russian, and American Legations were guarded by marines.
Nearly a month after the assassination of the Queen, and when all hope of her escape had been abandoned, the condi- tion of things was so serious under the rule of the new Cabinet, that an attempt was made by the Foreign Representatives to terminate it by urging on Count Inouye to disarm the Kun- ren-tai, and occupy the Palace with Japanese troops until the loyal soldiers had been drilled into an efficiency on which the King might rely for his personal safety. It will be seen from this proposal how completely the Japanese Government was exonerated from blame by the diplomatic agents of the Great Powers. This proposal was not received with cordial alacrity by Count Inouye, who felt that the step of an armed reoccu- pation of the Palace by the Japanese, though with the object of securing the King's safety, would be liable to serious mis- construction, and might bring about very grave complications. Such an idea was only to be entertained if Japan received a distinct mandate from the Powers. The telegraph was set to work, a due amount of consent to the arrangement was ob- tained, and when I left Seoul on a northern journey on No- vember 7th, it was in the full belief that on reaching Phyong- yang I should find a telegram announcing that this serious coup d'etat had been successfully accomplished in the presence of the Foreign Representatives. Japan, however, did not un- dertake the task, though urged to do so both by Count Inouye and Mr. Komura, the new Representative, and the Knn-ren- tai remained in power, and the King a prisoner. Had the recommendation of the Foreign Representatives, among whom the Russian Representatives was the most emphatic in urging the interference of Japan, been adopted, it is more than prob- able that the present predominance of Russian influence in Korea would have been avoided. It is only fair to the Russian Government to state that it gave a distinct mandate to the Japanese to disarm the Kim-ren-tai and take charge of the King. The Japanese Government declined, and therefore is alone responsible for Russia's subsequent intervention.
During November the dissatisfaction throughout Korea with the measures which were taken and proposed increased, and the position became so strained, owing to the demand of the Foreign Representatives and of all classes of Koreans that the occurrences of the 8th of October must be investigated, and that the fiction of the Queen being in hiding should be aban- doned, that the Cabinet unwillingly recognized that something must be done. So on 26th November the Foreign Representa- tives were invited by the King to the Palace, and the Prime Minister, in presence of His Majesty, who was profoundly agitated, produced a decree bearing the King's signature, dis- missing the special nominees of the mutineers, the Ministers of War and Police, declaring that the so-called Edict degrad- ing the Queen was set aside and treated as void from the be- ginning, and that she was reinstated in her former honors; that the occurrences of the 8th October were to be investigated by the Department of Justice, and that the guilty persons were to be tried and punished. The death of Her Majesty was an- nounced at the same time.
At the conclusion of this audience, Mr. Sill, the United States Minister, expressed to the King " his profound satisfac- with the announcement." Mr. Hillier followed by "con- gratulating His Majesty on these satisfactory steps, and hoped it would be the beginning of a time of peace and tranquillity, and relieve His Majesty from much anxiety." These good wishes were cordially endorsed by his colleagues.
The measures proposed by the King to reassert his lost authority and punish the conspirators promised very well, but were rendered abortive by a 'Moyal plot," which was formed by the Old Palace Guard and a number of Koreans, some of them by no means insignificant men. It had for its object the liberation of the sovereign and the substitution of loyal troops for the Kun-ren-tai. Though it ended in a fiasco two nights after this hopeful interview, its execution having been frustrated by premature disclosures, its results were disastrous, for it involved a number of prominent men, created grave sus- picions, raised up a feeling of antagonism to foreigners, some of whom (American missionaries) were believed to be cogni- zant of the plot, if not actually accessories, and brought about a general confusion, from which, when I left Korea five weeks later, there was no prospect of escape. The King was a closer prisoner than ever; those surrounding him grew familiar and insolent; he lived in dread of assassination; and he had no more intercourse with foreigners, except with those who had an official right to enter the Palace, which they became increas- ingly unwilling to exercise.
It was with much regret that I left Seoul for a journey in the interior at this most exciting time, when every day brought fresh events and rumors, and a coup d etat of great importance was believed to be impending; but I had very little time at my disposal before proceeding to Western China on a long-planned journey.
1General Dye, late of the U. S. army, was instructor of the Old Guard. Mr. Sabatin, a Russian subject, was temporarily employed as a watchman to see that the sentries were at their posts.