THE ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

Seoul has an electric railway. Last year a Korean company was organized with the Hon. Yi Cha Yun as President to build an electric railroad from the residence of the Governor of Seoul outside the new West Gate thro the heart of the city, out the East Gate to the new tomb of Empress Min. The contract was awarded to Messrs. Colbran and Bostwick, original contractors of the Seoul-Chemulpo Railroad. Work was commenced at once, the track was laid last fall, and the power-house was built. As soon as the machinery and cars arrived there was much curiosity in the company as well as among the people to see the cars running. The 1st inst. was set as opening day, but a slight accident in the machinery necessitated postponement.  A week or so later without any formal opening cars were run. The greatest care was exercised by the company to prevent accidents. Motor men from Japan were employed and Koreans, who had been in the service of the company, and, therefore, to some extent tried men, were the conductors. For several days the cars ran with more or less regularity and large crowds availed themselves of the opportunity to ride on the cars. The ears ran only on a part of the road, from the East Gate to the old Mulberry palace. The receipts for a few days amounted to a hundred dollars. This no doubt is in excess of what the average will be when once the novelty has worn off.

On the 26th the President of the Company with a few invited guests, both Korean and foreign, proposed to run a car to the Imperial tomb and thus in a formal way open the whole road to the public.

On that morning an accident occured. A car was running along at the usual slow rate of speed. A child, between probably eight and ten years of age, ran across the track some distance ahead of the car. He got safely over and the car continued to move on. The father on the other side of the track called the child to come back to him. The child became frightened, ran into the car, was caught under the wheels and killed almost instantly. This was the first serious accident the company had and cannot in any way be attributed to lack of carefulness, for had the father not called the child, he would not have ventured to cross and the accident would not have happened.

The populace of Seoul, laboring under the usual spring excitement, primarily caused by the absence of rain, has for the past few weeks or more been indulging in wild and reckless speculations as to the cause of the drought. The electric wires, some say cut off the influence of heaven; others affirm that as the power-house is built on the baick of the dragon, there can be no rain until the obstruction is removed. When the lifeless form of the child was taken up from under the car, the people could restrain themselves no longer. They lost their self control, and when the car reached Chongno, stones were thrown at the motor-man and the conductor, who having no means of resistance, fled for safety. The car thus left in the hands of the mob, was battered to pieces and then set on fire.

Another car likewise was attacked and wrecked. Then the cry was raised to demolish the power-house, but the ardor of the mob cooled before the East gate was reached and by the exercise of a little care on the part of the authorities, damage to the building and machinery was prevented.

The motor-men, being Japanese, are afraid to return to their work unless protected by Japanese police. This the Korean company refuses to allow. Since the 27th, therefore, the cars have not been running. The matter, we understand, is in the hands of the Japanese Consul, and we hope he will persuade his nationals to return to the work for which they came to Korea and that the cars will soon he running again.

Some surprise is heard among foreigners that cars should be run without the gong and fender. It is due to Messrs. Colbran and Bostwick to say that the company was persistent in having the cars run even tho these necessary appliances were unattached. The company, therefore, must assume the responsibility, tho our own opinion is that every precaution was taken to avoid accidents.

CITY AND COUNTRY.

Wedding Bells.

JEANIE PERRY.

Ring, ye bells, all merrily pealing,

Ring the joy of the new wedded pair,

Sing, ye birds, and carol your roundelay,

Let each heart of joy tell its share.

Chorus:

I love the merry peal of bells,

What hope and joy its music tells,

When travelling home right merrily,

They greet us cheerily. And hark!

Tis the bells on this happy day

How pleasantly they strike on the ear

How merrily they ring!

Ring, ye bells, and tell of this festive day,

Waft, ye winds the sound, glad and free,

Tell it and let the hill echo it

Echo it far o’er land and o’er sea.

I love the merry peal of bells, etc

Ring, ring out, and cease not your chimes again,

Sound them on through all coming time,

Life, and health, and peace and prosperity,

Crowned above with blessing Divine.

I love the merry peal of bells, etc

The rain of yesterday ended the long drought and was very gratefully received. It will go far towards allaying excitement among the people.

There is quite an influx of visitors into the port and city this week. We suppose the wedding ceremony which comes off today has something to do with it. In addition to the bride and bridegroom we notice Messrs. Lee and Whittemore, and Miss Best, of Pyeng Yang, Messrs. Bell and Owen of Mokpo, Mr. Tate, and Mr. Harrison of Chun Ju, Mr. and Mrs. Hardie and Mr. and Mrs. Collyer of Song do. Mr. Noble has returned to the city from the port with Mr. Jones. Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Harrison, we hear, prefer the breezes of Chemulpo just now to the sights and sounds of Seoul.

The regular meeting of the Permanent Executive Bible Committee was held Tuesday evening at the office of the British and Foreign Bible Society. There was so much business that the committee was obliged to hold an adjourned session yesterday afternoon.

While the many visitors have been in Seoul for various reasons a question of much importance has been discussed, viz., the education of the blind in the Korean language. Mrs. Dr. Hall of Pyeng-yang has nearly perfected a system based on the New York point system which was endorsed at a meeting of the missionary community yesterday afternoon. Mr. Emberl y and Mrs. Hall are both very much interested in the work for the blind and it is hoped that through their efforts much good may be accomplished for these “darkened” people.

SHIPPING NEWS.

ARRIVALS

May 21— Genkai from Chefoo; May 2— Kisogawa from Osaka via ports; May 24— Tamagawa from Osaka v:a ports; Higo from Kobe via ports; Sagami from Chefoo; May 25—Kyengchae from Pyeng-yang ; May 26—Meiyo from Kunsan; May 27— Kisogawa from Chingnampo.

DEPARTURES.

May 22—Genkai for Kobe via ports; May 23—Kisogawa for Chingnampo; May 25—Tamagawa for Osaka via ports; Higo for Chefoo; May 26—Sagami for Vladivostock via Nagasaki ; Kyengchae for Peng-yang ; May 28—Kisogawa for Osaka via ports ; May 29—Meiyo for Kunsain.

Back Numbers of THE KOREAN REPOSITORY For 1896, 1897, and 1898 are still on hand and can be furnished to those applying for them. The price is three dollars a set, postage not concluded.

Apply to H. G. Appenzeller.

PROGRESS !!

The present government, as everybody knows, is strongly conservative. Of late it has given attention to the re-examination of the laws of the country, both the old laws and those of more recent enactment. Changes are suggested. According to one of the daily papers the latest movement is embodied in a petition asking for modification of the laws in seven particulars.

The change of the names of the Supreme Court; the payment of salaries of the men who recently examined the statute books for whose services no provisions was made in the budget; the publication of the laws revised; some changes in the laws and regulations applying to the army; the  advancement of education for women; the placing of doctors in each of the thirteen provinces to vaccinate the people; and lastly the re-enactment of the ancient law of decapitation and the mutilation of the bodies of criminals. The last recommendation is somewhat amplified. Complaint is made that the laws recently enacted do not discriminate sufficiently between greater and lesser crimes, between the leaders and their accomplices. The ancient law should therefore be revived, the criminals (by which we presume traitors are meant) should be decapitated, their parents, family and children then killed or sold into slavery, and their property confiscated.

The Privy Council was changed during the week so that the government, in order to expedite consideration of important matters, is no longer compelled to refer them to the Council. The Council consists, as at the beginning, of fifty members, and while relieved of arduous duties their salaries, which range from yen 25 to yen 40 per month, continue.

A week or so ago, according to the Kanjo Shimpo, a petitition bearing the names of some twenty men, Peddlers, was presented to the Throne rehearsing the evil, wrought by the People’s Meeting and by Messrs. Yun Chiho and Pang Handuk in particular, as the leaders. The petition farther states that the men are now in comfortable and important magisterial positions, the former at Wonsan and the latter at Weju, a condition inconsistent, in the mind of the memorialists, with the eternal fitness of things in Korea.

FINIS.

With this issue the WEEKLY REPOSITORY will cease to appear. Next week the Independent, under the editorship of Mr. W. B. Emberley, will re-appear. We welcome our old friend and gladly give way to him. Seoul needs an English newspaper. We tried to supply the want and now that there is no longer any necessity we withdraw.

As to the business of the WEEKLY REPOSITORY it will be turned over to the Independent. The names of all our subscribers will be handed over to that paper. Those in arrears with their subscription will receive bills which they will please send at once to Mr. W H. Emberly, so that the REPOSITORY accounts can be closed as soon as possible. Unexpired subscriptions will be filled by the Independent. Advertisments will be also given to the Independent and if our patrons wish then discontinued they should send notice at once. We wish to thank our patrons for their kindly interest and only trust that they will extend like interest to the new management of the Independent.

MORE CONCESSIONS ASKED.

The Japan Times of the 14th inst has the this paragraph:

Following the example set by the Russian Whaling Company, which lately obtained a lease of fishing grounds from the Korean Government, our authorities are reported to have likewise entered into negotiations on the same subject in the interest of our fishermen. It is said the the Korean authorities are inclined to regard our proposals favorably.

According to a despatch from New York, telegrams from New Orleans report that the crews of vessels arriving there from the south describe the recent episode in Nicaragua, in which the United States warship Marietta and her Majesty’s ship Intrepid figured as “a big international love-feast.” On the collapse of the insurgent movement under General Reyes, equal parties of Marines were landed at Bluefields from the British and American ships. Two watches, each composed of British and American Marines mixed, were arranged, the command being given alternately to an American and a British lieutenant. It is said to have been the first instance on record of an American officer commanding mixed British and American troops. The men declared blood brothership, and interchanged the buttons of their uniforms. At the Consulate the United States and British flag were displayed crossed, and the men cheered them every time they passed on patrol ditty

“THE ISSACHAR OF THE EAST.”

Under this caption Mr. C. S. Addis after traversing the political history of Korea since the opining of the country, closes a thoughtful article with the following observations which tho written two years ago are not without force to-day:

“The future of Korea is a pleasing subject of speculation, which, however, does not tend to edification Nevertheless, there are one or two broad principles to be deduced from the events we have been considering which may usefully serve as finger-posts to indicate the general trend of future political relations, or at least, as beacons to warn us off conclusions based upon false or insufficient premises. One thing seems clear,— Korea must remain an Issachar still. Not all her vicissitudes of fortune appear to have braced or strengthened in the slightest degree the national genius for depending upon others. The burden beneath which she couches has been changed, that is all. Good government can only be made effective by a certain responsive and reciprocal attitude on the part of the governed. It is not the least of the evils of misrule that it breaks a nation’s faith and saps in its members the very capacity for being ruled. That is a question of character, and not all the political nostrums in the world can avail to change it. It it not in the shuffling of cabinets and councils that the best hope of Korea lies. That has its source in agencies more silent, more potent, more permanent than the mere shifting of the political kaleidoscope. It will be found in the truly wonderful renaiscence of educational and missionary activity at work in Korea today.

 “God’s passionless reformers, influences

That purify, and heal. and are not seen.”

This may be trusted to do their good work in time. There lies the best, the only hope for Korea. It is vain to expect its speedy realization. Cabinets can be made in a day, but a generation is all too short for the formation of character. Independence is but the first step, and it must needs be long before even that is reached and a people bowed by centuries of oppression and misrule, have learned to hold their heads erect among their fellow-men.

NOTICE. From June 1st the contract formerly existing between Philip Jaisohn and the Trilingual Press is abrogated, and from this time on the Trilingual Press has no connection whatever with the Independent Printing Office. George C. Cobb, Manager

MAIL SCHEDULE,

KOREAN MAIL Mail leaves Soul for all points except Chemulpo at 9 a. m daily, and for Chemulpo at 9:30 a. m. and 7 p. m. daily

Mail is collected from boxes at 7 and 10 a. m. and 1, 4. and 6 p. m.

Mails arrive from Chemulpo at 6 a. m. and 4:30 p. rn.; from Song do, Haiju and Pyeng Yang at 2:3o p. m.; from Wonsan at 2 p. m.: from Konju, Suwon, Chun-ju, Taiku, and Tongnai at 3 p m. Mails are delivered by carriers at 7:30 and 9 a. rn., 12 m., and 3 and 6 p. m.

JAPANESE MAIL.

Mails leave for Chemulpo and all foreign ports at 7 a. m. and 7 p. m. daily.

Mails arrive from Chemulpo at 5 o’clock morning and evening.

THE CHINA BURDEN.

(With apologies to Rudyard Kipling.)

“Shanghai” in the L. & C Express takes up the burden in the following strain :

Take up the China burden,

It comes from days, of old

Where English men in exile

There toiled for hard won gold;

Where by Pearl River flowing

Our ancient merchants stayed,

Remote, apart, unfriended,

Contemned—yet not afraid.

Take up the China burden,

Remember Hongkong’s gain,

The barren rock reclaimed.

The crooked street made plain.

The pirate haunts uprooted,

The robbers swept away,

The rule of Pax Britannica

Replacing Chinese sway.

Take up the China Burden,

Who feeds the China trade?

Who has with years of patience

Commercial union made?

Who from Hongkong’s great vantage

The object-lesson taught,

That justice, peace and safety

Are by her presence brought?

Take up the China burden,

Think well of far Shanghai,

Mud-flats become a city

Where English interests lie.

Who but the Anglo-Saxon

Brought on that wondrous change,

From crass neglect and torpor

To life of widest range?

Take up the China burden,

Stop tricks of Mandarin,

The thrice illegal imposts,

The Squeeze of go-between.

The treaties that we fought for  

In the brave days of old, T

The freedom so long sought for,

Bring back through struggle bold!

Take up the China burden,

See how a Hart’s firm hand

Has eased financial burdens

In that most venal land.

Were his powers but extended

Throughout far-spread Cathay,

Official squeezing ended

Would bring a brighter day.

Take up the China burden,

Remember Taku’s shore,

The Peiho-sack .of Yuen- Ming Yuen,

And all that went before;

Bowlby—De Norman—Anderson,

Their memories surely plead

That martyr’s blood thus scattered

Of progress should be seed.

Take up the China burden,

Dread none of other race,

Remember past traditions, T

Take still the foremost place,

Let treaties be respected

Der bought in bygone days,

For with the mind Celestial

T’is force majeure that pays.

Take up the China burden,

No merely iron rule,

But friendly light and leading

Of old world child to school.

From centuries of bondage

The Chinese nation free,

Till out of heathen darkness

A glorious light we see!