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scholar of some repute, Minister in Corea, to support the reformers.

But the Queen’s party was well on guard, and did not suffer the Japanese party to grow stronger than they could control. The Chief Commissioner to Japan, Boku-yei-ko, received no higher appointment than the Governorship of Seoul, and Kin-giok-kin and Jio-ko-han were only appointed Councillors to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, so that their influence was too small to effect any reform.

On the contrary, the influence of China, having the Queen’s party on their side, was very strong, and the Chinese army still garrisoned in Seoul now numbered 3,000 men, while the Japanese troops guarding the Legation only amounted to 130 men. China supplied Corea with arms, and the Chinese officers, Go-cho-kei, Go-chio-yu, and Yen-sei-gai, virtually dictated measures to the Corean Government under instructions from Li-Hung-Chang, who also advanced to Corea 200,000 rio out of the treasury of the Chinese Navigation Company, and sent the German Mollendorff, and other foreigners, as instructors and advisers to Corea. China obtained from Corea the right of allowing Chinese merchants to establish branches in Seoul, and the 2,000 subjects of the Celestial Empire, crowding into the Corean capital, far outwitted the ingenuity of the handful of Japanese editors and political adventurers. Hence the latter returned disappointed to Japan one after the other, and the cause of Japan in Corea seemed to be lost for a time.

But in 1884 France began an armed conflict with China, and the decrepit old empire seemed to be no match for the vigorous republic of the West. The Japanese party in Corea now saw a good opportunity of striking a decisive blow against the Chinese party, and it is likely that some of the politicians in Japan more or less countenanced this attempt.

The Japanese Minister Takezoyé, who had been in Tokyo for some months, returned to Seoul in October of 1884, and began active intercourse with the persons whom he supposed to belong to the Japanese party. He now freely spoke of the approaching destruction of China and of the opportunity for Corea of declaring her absolute independence. On the 2nd of November the Minister was received in audience by the King of Corea, and, after the usual ceremony was over, in the tête-à-tête conversation with the monarch, he made the formal announcement that his august master, the Emperor of Japan, had decided to present to Corea the 400,000 yen, still remaining to be paid out of the indemnity of 1882, on condition that the King should use it for military reforms. He also explained to the King the state of affairs in the East,