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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 27, 1904)
Corcan's Opinion of Russian and Jap By Archer Hntlcr Hulbert, Formerly Editor of the Corean Independent :i': 4 f '-- WtstiVAnamcri ' Z 1 "'r"'"'" ' - V '' '- --J v sjt-.. - i r -., .- lj&ui. a i u A CDHKAS NOI'.UOMAN'S SADDLE IIORSH AND'ATfENDANTi T1!R CORF.AN ARMY. WllinT TS MAPR AND IS SAiD TO HIDE WITH JAl'AN. (Copyright. 1!0I, l.y A. U. Hulbert.) i (lit I'KX'IT RIF.S Corea huN been I ovciruu by Hit; contending armies I of J:min and China: nml whilo (he national dies in L'ori'.i Is I'lire wlilt.-, only (lie chililrcli Wi arlnK of.lorf, ufirorilliiK to Atni'iican I .inliirilH, It hIiiiuIiI tx' nioui tiliiK tilac k. Nor have the pnrmlrn o: futea lived only i. Km eiint ami went mUIw; the Manehu iqueroiH, who i'rind iutl mid eaxt to co.niuer China hi d Kinsia, overran I'urea uni Pturved one of lis old-tlnie klniis out Of hlB fortllled eapllal, Nnm-liou. oreii ts onre tialu In the Irmk of rou te. iiliiiK imnlifi; once aualn It" rlc-e hclds are to he ravaged, nH ltl. di'Milid and llH M'ople drlv.n to the MtterfKt of ex treuiitliH. I.lttle do the ivintrndl-iB iirniles care what the Core, ins think; hut the world naturally akH, Whom do the Cure'.ins fear, bin) what do they desire? In the tlrxt plaee. lh iK-c.i.le, an u people, don't know itny more ubout the burning qumllon of far enxtern politiiH limn thd dray hore In New York know whether Tammany hall, or their political opK lientH, rulo (he elty. Ho far uh their prac tical knowledge of the. Kltuation goH, they are without coiimcIouhiickh; und, once Kiven their choice between HummIuii rulo und Japancxe domination lUid total annihilation, the nation, iin it nation, would choiwe an tilhllution Hlmply iH-cause they did not know what It meant; wherean, they hnve luid everul tiiHtrH nf Japanese rule, und 0:10 good htronK done of ItuHtiian domination, ami ure nure (hut they never want either of thiHH iiKuln. Jupunexe Bovercltnty In Corea has been ptuuiiodlcuUly exerclHi! throuflKut (lie Centuries of the Chrlxdan fra; for many years a long, bloody rontlict went on be tween Japan and China, and Corea was the mutual buttlegrouud; jut us in eurly American history, Kentucky was the bat tle around between the IrlipioUi Indian na tions of the north und the Cherokee und Creeks of the south. And, us Kentucky was known as the "llloody Ground," even before tho white man's day, so Corea has lieen the "ISloody Ground" of Asia for five centuries. China claimed Corea. and hu been, for the greater part of the time, its nominal niuxler. From China Corea has received Its literature und oillil.il hmKuiiKe, most of its rustonm, lis court and otllclal mcth (hIs, much of Its an hllccture. its niilitary Ptundards und a tlious.ind odd customs which will hound it tor us many ears to eonie. Yet the Corea lis are not in any licnse Chinese, any more than (hey ire Japanese. The difference between the Corea ilk and lis two iicIkI 'i.'rn is -m i;re:it that it may In' staled with certainty that the people came orlKu illy from the Malay peninsula, hy way of the islands u'oiitc I'hiuese coast, until lin y 11 1 . n J the penin sula on which they are today. This is to he rcnicmhcrt d us a point In the t'lin', that the Corcans lainiwt and do not favor one of these nations hi'cause of It 11 y rut ial counet tion ; there is iiom-. Nor Is there any racial connection or sympathy iMlwetn the Coreans a'ul the peoples (,i tlie north, the Manchtis, with whom H issl in Statists have Ion;; altlrini d that .Itusia will assimllati'. Iiecaiise I lie ancient .Manch'.ii -lans under (IheiiRts Khan o'..mivd l'.uii eun liussin. The Manchus ate distinct from even Ihe C'lnli'S. proM-r; they are a astorul people und seak an aKKlutinativo lanKuaue (containliiK declensions and eo'i JilKutionsi which far removes them, mi far as basic trails can di so, from Ihe 1v.1l Chinese. The Corea ns arc not of Mam liu stock and have no i'lniiattun with it. In fuel, (IhenKis Khan, who broke down the grtit wail and stretched his conquests to 111 mil imi iiilii IUSJ..IHMI !" mw.m 1 11 us iiiisinii ii k , i,i i n 1 1 it, aaniJi mmm, im" i -- - T" , M j" jiir 'iky '.i Z'. I " ' ' " -"I u 1 ' ' m.-i ,:. '.km-:-: ..-.'-, .'-'.,-; '. - -z- RtTl'ItUfKNTATl VK CORKAN NOItraM F.H. WHO II ATT JAPAN BI5CA11SB FTIB 1NTKKKEKED WITH THB1H OKAf T MliTHODB. the Atlantic, never subdued central and southern Corea, Thus, the Corean people are as Strang, concurred Mstorically, us is their position politically. They have fought Chinese. Japanese rind Manehu ns far back as their hoary records go. And now, p::ssinfr down Into modern il iy?, there has bei n no as similation und no change in the depth of their hatred und dhtriiot of the people who Mi.Touiul them. Japan, ulvus Jealous of China's claim as suzerain over Corel, Jumped at the chance in lVA to free Corel. Internal trouhle in Con a nave her an op portunity to throw hi-r troops Into that lan l. i recipltathis war with Chiu;;. Corea did not resent Chines- suzerainty, for it was only nominal, und hdie did not ask or want Japan to free leT from China. And this is a reinarkahh' fact (hit cmnot be fergotteu today throughout tin- Japan China war. in which Japan freed Corea f r n China the sympathy of the entire Hiiti.-'i populace of the far im was with the Clrucuo and not with the Japanese. In that war J.iium's . rmits swept up the Coicu) peninsula to Ihe Yahl und drove the weak Chlni se hoitli s Imck to the l.lao tung penln. ula; theie. en ihe tip of the Tiger's Tail, they captured I'ort Arthur, the Gibraltar of Ihe Yellow Sea and not th em China. The cry then was "On to IVkli'gV At this point Hnssla and Ger many step el in und h ide Japan pause. Not only that; they demanded that Japan .ive up every foot of soil that her armies hnd omiucrcd Manchuria und Corea. Th reason was that the possession of theas regions would ever be a menace to the Integrity or China. Jupuu ueceded und received an In demnity ntij the Island of Formosa and the "fredoiii" of Coreu. The Corcans ha'.ad their liberator:'--from a yoke they never really felt- with a perfect hatre.l. Rvery Ihirig Japan died honestly but shcrt vlghtedly to do for Corel made (he Corcans hate her worse. It instituted a refoim cabinet ubout the ("or e in c.npeior; these ami arious other well meant efT irts ut reformation were not well received by the wholly toriupl band of phiaderlug Corean statesmen -or official hl iodsucV ers, to rIu1 lliem a more luting name--ani what happened'.' The Kmpress Min was roon susp-cted of neutralizing all the Japuniso e-irpet-haggiiiK plan of recon struction in Corea; a band of Infit'latcd Japanese iicspi adoes broke Into tho palace on the night of October j. Ik91, and inuri'eieU the ffeiisive euipri-ss. Tho net reii i. ed .; ' s"ii it i otnienmation olllci.iliy and ru'ill. I in Japan a-- in the oiUilde world, hut from thai morning Jjpine.o Ir.i'uenee va. i.il !n Covi-.i. and the cm 1 1 n r 'f Corel Hi d from lis pil.ii.. o (!n !t'.!slaT lega'i)U. ily Itb in.:ldiei!s policy of flattery Rus tdud l.aJ. at t'i Hilly day, m.n'.e giM.d fi lends with the Corea ns in northern Corea. In coming uc-russ Asia It had had a good deal of practice In ingi atL.tiug ilseif with new pioplea; f ,r Instance, It published Korans at its own expensa for clr.-ulalion amons the Mohunimedins el coutiui Asia at the same tlioe thai it UP OF TIIH SCIM OF THE COUNTRT was running to the ground and imprison ing the followers of the prophet in Hu ropoan Kuvhi; and one of its tricks with, tile Chinese was to cast coins for gen eral circulation with the Image of th'J Chinese empd'er on one side and that of the czar on the other. With tho Coreiiis it Instituted trade ngulation.l that were of liutlnct advantage to hotii parlies. Its polity with Japan has been of the same nature, and you will llnrt tho mikado has received every liecoratiun mill honor-save the high -st only which Ihe czar of Russia can give. Willi (heir emperor at the Russian lcga (lon the Coreans did not know what to make of the situation; anil slowly but surely Kuesia began to make its possession of his majesty fell in the peninsula. Mac Jjouvy III own, commissioner of customs, was soon lifter asked to step out by the Corean government, and a Russian wus in Ftallid in his place. A Russian was ap pointed military supervisor of the Corean army. A Russo-Coreun bunk wus eslan lished, and Ihe funds of (he government were moved (hither from the native batik. In a short spice of time ufter the doors of (he Russian legation closed upon the em peror of Corea. Rusfia had practical control cf the land. This wus proven by the sudden activity of the Independence club, uji organlzulion of Corean patriots who hud bandtd to gether for the unity and Integrity of Corea. Ity backing u paper operated by Americans tho (.'cl ean lndep ndent, which published boih Knglish and nulive editions tri-weekly, and by various public meetings, an in tense sentiment against the pro-Russian trend of affairs was aroused. This culmi nated in the murder of the Corean interpre ter to the Russian legation, who was be lieved to be an important cog in the Rus sian wheel. At lust, in the. middle of March. 1W8, the Russian minister submitted to the Corean emperor a paper asking whether the Co rean government wished Russia to recede from the position it had taken. To the sur prise of the world the emperor gave an af firmative answer. Then "the mouse began to gnaw the rope and the rope begun to hung the butcher"; the Ruwian commis sioner of customs graciously yielded up his position to Mael.eavy Brown; the Russo Corean bank closed its doors, the funds going bnck to the Corean bank, and the Russian officer in charge of the Corean army went away. As a result of the Corean people's ex perience in those days, Russia had been feared by. them as much as Japan had been hated; and such has been the case ever since. The residents of Seoul know fully the feeling of the Coreans to both Jaanese and Russians. I huve seen Cossacks go galloping down the wide avenues of Heoul and burst suddenly upon a crowd of Co reans without an Instant's warning, anil never look behind to see what Injuries they heedlessly caused. A rlo( In the Japanese section of Seoul Is of common occurrence, "though (he Japanese are very law-abiding; one Corean, half full of aul, ran find all the M?htlng ho wants, and find It quick. In tho Japanese quarter. The Islanders have flocked In large numbers to Seoul and southern Corea. much to the delight of for eigners, who find (hem obliging and effi cient. Japan is building up a large trade with Corea, but the Jealousy is deep-rooted and It will take generations to wipe it out. Hatred of Japan Is one nf the great ob stacles to Corean prosperity; arid as the tramp of armies shake the bare hills of Corea, snd the roar of the guns of battle bhlps echo along her desolate coasts, the haired of Coreans for both the contestants will lnci-fise with every ounce of pewder that is spent
