on the promise of a fair trial, they were trapped and murdered. The reactionists looked upon this as a signal victory, and indeed it was such, for it indicated clearly that a man was not safe even when he had the guarantee of the Japanese authorities. Nor would it be difficult to indicate the source from which the government obtained the courage thus to flout the Japanese.
As the summer came on, all interest in things Korean was held in suspension, while the great uprising in China swelled to such monstrous proportions, and the investment of Peking and the siege of the foreign legations there left the world no time to care for or think of other things. There were fears that the Boxer movement would be contagious and that it would spread to Korea. Indeed it was reported in the middle of July that the infection had reached northern Korea; but fortunately this proved false.
In spite of the reactionary policy of the government, progress continued to be made on certain lines, just as the momentum of a railway train cannot be checked the moment the brakes are applied. A distinguished French legalist was employed as Adviser to the Law Department; mining concessions were granted to British, French and Japanese syndicates; the Government Middle School was established; the Seoul-Chemulpo Railway was formally opened; a French teacher was engaged to open a School of Mines; a representative was sent to the great Paris Exposition.
This year, 1900, was the heydey of another parvenu in the person of Kim Yung-jun. He was a man without any backing except his own colossal effrontery. He had acquired influence by his ability to get together considerable sums of money irrespective of the methods employed. Scores of wealthy men were haled to prison on one pretext or another, and were released only upon the payment of a heavy sum. He was a man of considerable force of character, but, like so many adventurers in Korea, was lured by his successes into a false feeling of security. He forgot that the history of this country is full
