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The Korean Repository: Local Edition Vol.
1 No. V Thursday March 9, 1899 Published
Every Thursday H.
G. Appenzeller Geo.
Heber
Jones Editors George
C. Core Business
Manager
CHANGES
IN THE CABINET The
past week witnessed the first steps looking towards
the long expected
change in the Cabinet. Cho Pyeng-sik is once more on
the way to power and Min Chong-mouk
is to be Minister of Foreign Affairs; Sin Ki-sun while
retailing the portfolio
of Education was also made Acting Minister of Law vice
Yu Kui-whan who was
excused on account of serious illness in his family.
Min Yung-kui was
transferred from the Finance to the War Department
while Sim Sang-hun takes up
his old position as Minister of Finance. The
reorganization of the Peddlers guild
we understand has been effected. As a prelude or as a
consequence to these
changes or whether entirely apart from them, the
Russian Charge d’Affairs, Mr.
Pavlov, had a private audience with the Emperor last
Saturday afternoon the 4th
inst. lasting, so it is said, from two o’clock to half
past four. CAN
THIS BE SO? A
strange story comes from the north. We give the facts
as currently
reported. Outside the “new” Gate, (i. e. West Gate) of
Seoul live a number of mutangs
or female exorcists. Last year five of these women
with their “consorts,” children
and goods, went north into the provinces on a tramp.
After two months working
thro Whanghai they passed into Ham-kyeng, living on
what the women made in the
villages and hamlets. The trade proved flourishing and
the men taking charge of
the money accumulated over $200 each. This money the
men took into the
Magistracy of Ko-won and tried to purchase orders on
Seoul. The thing became
known to the local police and they seized the men and
the servants with them,
ten in all, charging them with being robbers. Probably
this was the first time
private people had ever ventured into Ko-won and
exhibited such a sum of money.
The men however refuted the charge of being robbers,
but the entire ten were subjected
to such torture by the constables that one of them
died the next day, and
another one the following day. The
local prefect being absent and a neighboring official
having
jurisdiction the women appealed to him for help, who
ordered the eight men living
to be removed to his town. He saw they were in a
hopeless case and fearing to become
involved in the unpleasantness he refused to do
anything and sent the
unfortunates back to Ko-won. Here they were set upon
again by their captors and
so beaten that they became badly crippled. Their money
was by this time all
gone and when the new magistrate came to Ko-won the
matter was so represented to
him that of the remaining men seven were executed on
the 21st of the seventh
Moon, and a blind man left as the only survivor of the
ten. About this time the
women came back with their earnings hoping to release
the men. Of this they
were also robbed and badly abused. They escaped
however and came to Seoul.
Recently one of the runners from Ko-won was identified
in the streets of Seoul
by one of the women and placed Tinder arrest. He
acknowledges the killing but
throws the blame on the constables. MANILA
IN FLAMES. The
Hiogo News
of the 25th ult.
states that Manila has been fired. Fifteen hundred
houses have been destroyed
by the native rising. CITY
AND COUNTRY. There
is a project on foot to establish a brewery at
Yongsan. A
son was born to the Rev. W. A. and Mrs. Noble of
Pyeng-yang on the 1st
inst. A
son was born to Dr. and Mrs. C. C. Vinton on the 6th
inst. It
is said that between 400 and 500 lives were lost on
the southern
coast during the recent storms. Sixty-five
beggars are reported as having been received in the
three
government shelters at Seoul. Herr
Carl Wolter and family left Chemulpo per steamer
Chonchowfu for
Shanghai on Monday, the 6th. Mr.
Leigh Hunt, of the Oriental Consolidated Mining Co.,
is expected to arrive
at Chemulpo on the 16th. On
Feb. 29th the Red Arrow Gate in front of the Temple of
Imperial Portraits
was blown down by the wind. The
government for some time past had a plan in
consideration to
establish both girl’s and industrial schools. Owing to
the opposition of the
present Minister of Education Sin Ki-son the
appropriation to both these
objects has been removed from the Budget. Dr.
W. A. Carden, the physician of the Anglican Mission at
Chemulpo, is
ill at the English hospital in Nak Tong. A.
A. Deshler, of the firm of Townsend et Co., of
Chemulpo, has arrived
at Yokohama, on his way back to Korea. Westminister
150° test oil for lamps; Mineral Colza 300° test oil
for
oil stoves. 2-4t TOWNSEND CO., Agents. The
river steamers began running between Chemulpn and
Yong-san about the
first of this month. Now for the trains! Rev.
F. S. Miller and family of the Northern Presbyterian
Mission left Seoul
on the 3rd inst. on furlo, to the United States. The
last of the series of winter entertainments of the
Seoul Union took place
last Friday. afternoon and was a very great success. Over
$20,000 has been subscribed by Koreans and Chinese for
the
rebuilding of the Temple to the god of war outside the
South Gate. A
great fire has devastated five hamlets in Mu-chu,
North Chulla. in
which several lives were lost and sixty-two houses
were destroyed. It
has been ordered that the sum of thirty dollars a
month be devoted
from the tax receipts in each prefecture for the
support of schools. The
machinery for the house of the street railroad is
being brought up
to Seoul this week and Mr. Colburn is expected shortly
to superintend its
installation. The
students in Japan are in bad straits. Previously the
kindly disposed
in Japan aided them until news came of the collection
taken by the People’s Meeting,
and the appropriation made for them in the government
Budget. They have used up
the collection, the Educational Department ignores
them, and the Japanese
friends still labor under the impression that only
fortune shines on them The
Seoul prison contains 240 prisoners at present as
follows:
Department of Justice, prisoners 3: Supreme Court
prisoners 30; Seoul Municipal
Court prisoners 67; chain gang criminals 140. Among
the primary schools opened in Seoul recently was one
for girls
under the auspices of the Korean Ladies Club. It
starts with an enrollment of
over 20 students and hopes for government recognition. In
response to a demand of the Chinese Minister the
Korean houses in the
new Chinese concession at ChemuIpo are to be removed.
The new concession lies
between the Catholic and Methodist churches of the
port and 121 houses are
involved in the order of removal. The
Korean papers report that the Japanese capitalists
interested in the
Seoul Fusan railroad are to make a survey of the route
and that the road will
cost about 15,000,000 yen. They also note the
departure from Seoul of the
French surveying party, on the Seoul-wei-ju line. The
recent rains are greeted as an auspicious omen. After
the drought of
the summer and winter which resulted in a poor crop of
winter vegetables and a
general drying up of wells, the continuous rain and
the early breaking up of
the frost are regarded as promises of a year of health
and plenty. We shall
see. The
oversight of gold mines which was taken from the
Imperial Household
Department and placed under the Department of
Agriculture, Commerce and Public
works last year has once more been placed with the
Imperial Household. Mr. Yi
Yong-ik has been gazetted as the Imperial
superintendent again, the position he
held when he was impeached by the People’s Party last
autumn. One of his first
acts was to vacate a concession made to a Korean of
mines in the Whang Hai
province. The angry concessionaire immediately sought
him and started in on a
philippic when Mr. Yi interrupted him with the remark
that he should go and
deliver his speech to the Independence Club. Stone
fights still occupy the attention of the Koreans. The
warriors of
the river suburbs of Seoul had a collision recently
and one man was killed. The
police authorities got after those who caused his
death and trouble is in store
for some one. The government is making a serious
effort apparently to suppress
this dangerous recreation. The
destruction of the Temple of the god of war continues
to occupy the
attention of the papers. One story in connection with
it tells of a woman who
was found in the streets with lighted incence sticks
in her hands she explained
saying that she was in search of the sword of the god.
When asked what caused
the fire she said that Kwan-wang the god had
determined to join the reform side
of the political fence so he had set fire to his
temple and come forth among
the people. “The
rights in the Seoul-Chemulpo Railway having been
transferred to a Japanese
syndicate, preparations for delivery are being made.
Mr. Yoshikawa, an
engineer, who proceeded to Korea to investigate the
work of construction,
returned recently and reported on its progress. Mr.
Adachi, who has been
appointed General Manager of the Company, will proceed
to Korea shortly. It is
expected the line will be opened about November
next.”—Kobe Weekly Chronicle,
Feb. 22nd The chief engineer arrived in Seoul on the
5th inst. and work will be
resumed shortly. The
agitation to begin work at once on the Seoul-Fusan
Railway is going
on in Japan. Official
Circular. The
Imperial Post Office of Korea has the honour to inform
the Public,
that a night-mail-service has been established, from
the 1st instant, between
Seoul and Chemulpo as follows: Departure
from Seoul 7 P.
M. daily Arrival
at Chemulpo
6 A. M. daily Departure
from Chemulpo 7 P. M. daily Arrival
at Seoul
6 A. M.
daily Letters
for Chemulpo to be sent by this courier will be
accepted at
Seoul. 1°
In the boxes of this city until 6 P. M. 2°
at the General Post Office Registered
articles until 6 P. M. Other
correspondences until 6.45 P. M. Mail
matters arriving from Chemulpo by the new
night-courier will be
delivered at Seoul, after 7.30 A. M. The
daily mail-service between Seoul and Chemulpo will
remain unaltered
(Departure from Seoul at 9.30 A. M.—Arrival at Seoul
at 4 30 P. M.) SEOUL,
1 March, 1899 IN
SEARCH’ OF TRUTH.
The
missionary comes in contact with intellects of every
grade in Korea.
Sometimes they are as devoid of an idea as a freshly
whitewashed wall is of
marks; or they may be scribbled all over with strange
conceits picked up by
miscellaneous reading and companionship. Some are as
interesting to talk with as
an automaton which can wheeze “yea, yea—ani olseita,
ani olseita.” Sometimes
they have definite ideas or are in search of
information upon which an honest
doubt has risen in their hearts. I had a call recently
from a young man of the
latter class who came to talk with me about
Christianity. He began by lamenting
the powerlessness of Confucianism to influence the
human heart and its motives
as compared with the influence of Christianity in
men’s lives. I asked him to
explain this and his striking answer was “I don’t
know, but it. seems to me
that Confucianism confines itself to decorating man’s
exterior and making him
to look good, while Christianity decorates the
interior of man and makes his
heart genuinely good.” With this as an introduction he
began to question me
concerning the meaning and necessity of Christ’s death
on the cross; of his
claims to be God’s son; of the way to become a sincere
Christian; of the
conflicting claims of Roman and Protestant
Christianity; the resurrection;
heaven and hell, their locality; of the purpose of
suffering; of death and the
hereafter. We talked for over an hour and then he bade
me an abrupt farewell
and promising to come again soon, left the room in
deep thought. It is from
among such men as this young man represents that the
leadership of the church
in Korea will arise. Honestly loyal to the cult and
traditions of the ancients,
they neither flop over nor fall over into
Christianity, but wait until
enlightened and then take the step as final and
irrevocable. GAIETY
AT THE PORT. The
end of the Chinese new year was celebrated in a very
enjoyable
manner by Mr. and Mrs. Tong at the Chinese Consulate
in Chemulpo on the 25th,
ult. A
soiree was given to the foreign community of the port
and a very large
number was in attendance. The exhibition of beautiful
fireworks was witnessed
by the guests and about 800 uninvited from among the
local inhabitants:
Refreshments were served in the Consulate parlors and
a dinner to the Chinese
residents in the Consulate Hall. A band of jugglers
with a large bear furnished
entertainment. All united in voting it a very
enjoyable function. |