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amongst themselves concerning the question of the reorganization of the Imperial Cabinet, and no definite course could be decided upon with regard to Corea until December, when Lieutenant-General Kuroda was appointed High Commissioner Extraordinary, and ex-Minister of Finance Inouye Associate High Commissioner Extraordinary, to be sent to Corea. Two men-of-war and several thousand soldiers in four transports were to convoy the mission, but its object was a peaceful one, because the High Commissioners were instructed to utilize the occasion for signing a treaty of peace and amity with Corea, and in case of her refusal to wait for the decision of the home Government once more before having recourse to arms.

The mission left Japan on the 6th of January, 1876, and at the same time Yurei Mori, who had been Minister in Washington, was sent to China as Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary in order to negotiate with the Chinese Government concerning the Corean affair. Li-Hung-Chang was then already at the head of Foreign Affairs in the North of China, and though he claimed Corea to be a tributary of China, he declined any responsibility regarding her action towards Japan. Li-Hung-Chang disapproved of the idea of Japan’s going to chastise Corea for having opened fire on the Japanese man-of-war, which he held had no right to survey within the territorial water of Corea. To this Mori replied that Japan was not sending an expeditionary force against Corea, but simply intended to force Corea to open the country to foreign intercourse and enter into treaty relations with Japan. As to the surveying, its necessity was evident, according to Minister Mori, because the Corean coasts were particularly dangerous to the world’s navigation, and Corea could not make any surveys herself. It was at least certain that no objection was to be feared from the side of the Chinese as long as Japan had no intention of annexing Corea, and kept herself within the bounds of forcing Corea to throw off the policy of absolute seclusion.

The part now played by the Japanese Commissioners in Corea was exactly the same as that played by Commodore Perry when he first came to Japan in 1853. The first interview with the Corean officials at Kokwa took place on the 10th of February, 1876, and, according to the Corean chroniclers, a most unprecedented scene of division and contest reigned in the Corean Court from the very next day. Tai-in-kun was decidedly opposed to any idea of entering into treaty relations with Japan, and offered to the Cabinet to take upon himself the task of defending the country should war ensue from the refusal. Most of the Ministers and Councillors