ask for another audience in a few days. His Majesty consented, adding that in the meantime he desired carefully to study the letter from the Emperor of Japan.[1]
On the 15th of November, Marquis Ito had a private audience which lasted about four hours, and in which he frankly explained the object of his mission. . . . The Emperor began the interview by complaining of certain injuries done by the Japanese civil and military authorities during the war. He dwelt at length upon past events, saying, among other things, that he had not wished to go to the Russian Legation in 1895, but had been over-persuaded by those about his person.
Marquis Ito replied that as he would remain in Korea for some time, there would be ample opportunity for a full exchange of views regarding the matters to which His Majesty referred. At the present moment he felt it to be his imperative duty to beg His Majesty to hear the particulars of the mission with which he had been charged by his Imperial Master. From 1885 onward, he went on to say, Japan had earnestly endeavored to maintain the independence of Korea. Unfortunately, Korea herself had rendered but little aid in the struggle which Japan had maintained in her behalf. Nevertheless, these efforts had preserved His Majesty's Empire, and, although there might have been causes of complaint, such as those to which His Majesty had just referred, in justice to Japan it should not be forgotten that in the midst of the great struggle in which she had been engaged, it was unhappily not possible wholly to avoid such
- ↑ In order to understand the following negotiations and all similar transactions conducted in characteristic Korean style, it should be remembered that delay, however reasonable it may seem or really be, is in fact utilized for purposes not of reflection and judicious planning for future emergencies, but the rather for arranging intrigues, securing apparent chances of escape from the really inevitable, with the result of an increasing unsettlement of the Imperial mind.
