Koreans. He urged that Japan would be doing herself an injury, in breaking her promise to preserve the independence of Korea, for it would make other powers rightly suspicious of Japan's good faith elsewhere in the Far East. In conclusion, he asked the President to bring to bear upon this question the same breadth of view and the same sympathy which had characterised his distinguished career in other fields; and if, after a careful investigation, the facts above enumerated and others that would come to light should seem to warrant him in so doing, he should use his friendly offices to prevent the disaster to Korea which seemed imminent. It will be noted that the Emperor asked that the President's action be based upon a careful examination of all the facts, and not upon mere hearsay. Whether Korea's side of the question was ever presented in detail to the American Executive may never be known, but the method of procedure adopted by the United States government does not warrant such a conclusion.
When future historians, looking back across the years, shall view with dispassionate eyes the contemptuous attitude and the precipitate action of the American government in this case which involves the very life of the Korean nation, they will scarcely be able to so word the facts as to bring added glory to the annals of the American people.
Min Yong-whan, the most cultured and public-spirited Oriental in the range of my acquaintance, after desperate efforts to secure a reversal of the forced action depriving Korea of her independence, committed suicide. His monument, and that of other patriots who followed his example, will ever stand before the Korean people as irrefragable proof that, whatever interested calumniators may say, it is as true in Korea as elsewhere that dulcit pro patria mori.
