thing happened; an ex-American general, I believe, tendered at a lower rate, which the fickle Emperor accepted, and the commander of the Palace Guard was known no more. After this a Russo-Korean Bank was suddenly established, a Russian financial adviser appointed in Mr. McLeavy Brown's place, and for a moment it looked as if Russian financial interests would adequately protect them. Once again something happened on the backstairs of the Palace; the Bank suddenly closed its doors; the financial adviser retired to the questionable security of his own country, and Russian interest in Korean finance became as feeble as in military affairs.

Russian interests were in such danger of being totally extinguished that an Orthodox Church mission, arriving in Seoul in January, 1899, came in the nick of time and saved the situation; but as this was not deemed sufficient to substantiate a Czar's claim to the Peninsula, smooth Monsieur Pavlow, a veritable stormy petrel for any Eastern capital to welcome, quietly took his place at the Russian Legation amidst noticeable Japanese concern. Under the new Minister's magic hand commercial and industrial interests grew almost with a spontaneous growth all over Korea. Whenever the Japanese frowned so forbiddingly as to make open attempts impossible or unwise, the Russian Minister threw all his weight on the side of the French Minister, and new French interests helped to solidify the Russian position.

Undismayed by the fact that finance was evidently not a field which invited Russian exploitation, the Russian Legation filled in many of its odd moments (when it was not too busy about the coaling-port in Southern Korea or the Yalu lumber concession) by demanding the establishment of a mint with all the necessary machinery and men purchased by Russian money. Then under the ægis of the Russian Legation all sorts of queer little enterprises, such as a glass factory, a cotton mill, and a porcelain factory, were either established or planned (it really did not matter very much which), whilst a host of advisers drawn from half the countries of Europe thronged Seoul and became the willing servants of the Russian Legation. Nor did Russian energy confine itself alone to enlisting the services of Europeans. Lady Om, a fleshy Korean lady of doubtful antecedents, who is the original of the Emily Brown stated by the irresponsible Press of the world to be an American missionary's daughter, aided and abetted all Russian schemes; and we must assume that the impressive announcement made on the 23rd of September, 1901 (vide Chronicle of Korean Events), that she was raised to the high rank of Pee, was due to her pro-Russian tendencies and the fact that the SlavConservative party was in the ascendant. content with this honour, in November of 1902 a petition succeeded in obtaining for her the very exceptional title of Wi Pee. Russian diplomacy at this date was indeed succeeding beyond all expecta

Not

tions. Hand in glove with such high friends at Court were influential men, such as the infamous but talented Yi-Yong-Yik; and these people, working together, succeeded in maintaining the Russian position and the Russian interests which had been created solely by intrigue.

The battle royal which raged round the question of the coaling-port demanded by Russia in Southern Korea only ended to be followed by the Yalu battle over the lumber concession. All the minor Russian enterprises started in Seoul were soon forgotten in the heat of the tremendous contest brought about by the Russian demand on the Yalu, to which full reference is made elsewhere, demands which contributed more than their due quota towards bringing on the war. It will suffice to say that when war finally broke out Russian interests in Korea were confined to some factories with their machinery but half-unpacked, certain shipping agencies for the empty steamers of the Volunteer and Chinese Eastern Railway fleets at the Korean ports, some lumberstations on the Yalu, certain whale-fishing rights on the east coast of Korea, a crowd of half-paid advisers affiliated to the Russian Legation, and nothing else. It will be clear that even brilliant intriguing cannot create something out of nothing, and that of real interests Russia had as little at the time of the last phase of her remarkable career in Korea as she had during the first, which was very many years ago.

French interests in the much desired Peninsula

were undoubtedly superior to superior to Russian interests. For although the French concession for the important Yalu-Seoul Railway had been allowed to lapse, the energy of the French and Russian representatives had succeeded in securing for French capital and French engineers the right to build this line for the Korean Government as a Korean Government enterprise, and a French-managed Railway Bureau was nominally functioning at Seoul at the time of the declaration of war. What has happened to this Bureau since no one exactly knows, as the Japanese army engineers have by now almost completed the concession without asking for permission. A Frenchman was also at the head of the Korean Post Office, an institution belonging to the International Postal Union, but sadly hampered by the competition of the Japanese Post Office. This French official is stated by everyone to have been a most conscientious and hardworking official, quite above petty intriguing, but his task has become an impossible one on account of his nationality and he is doomed. The French had also established a Government School of Mines and had some mining concessions-on paper. And then there were the French missionaries and their converts, perhaps forty or fifty priests and a few thousand Korean converts. The history of French Roman Catholicism in Korea is a long and tragic one, for attempts have been repeatedly made by the Koreans to drive the priests out of the country, but in spite of every difficulty they have always managed

ultimately to increase their power, and even to-day possess much wealth and influence. Finally there were also a certain number of French official and unofficial advisers. Sometimes the number was a respectable one, sometimes it fell to practically nothing, all depending very much on the state of the political barometer. On the Hankow-Peking Railway I had the pleasure of meeting an ex-commander of the Seoul Palace Guard in the person of an enormously fat ancien sous officier of the Tonkin infanterie Coloniale. He had been in office exactly three hours, he was wont to state to everybody's amusement, and then a Turk or somebody of that sort had displaced him.

Of German interests in Korea it is somewhat

hard to speak. Doubtless in pursuance of the candid German open-door policy, Germany meddled in Korea simply to keep her mailed hand in training. The German open-door policy, as exemplified in the Far East, may be briefly explained as consisting in obtaining equal rights in countries or provinces under the influence of rival Powers, whilst shut-door tactics are applied wherever Germany has succeeded in convincing others that she possesses rights of pre-emption. It is a noble policy worthy of a United Germany, and fully calculated to gather the maximum number of rebuffs which it is possible for a first-class Power to receive in a minimum amount of time.

In Korea, therefore, these German interests consisted mainly in demanding equal rights.