446 





January, 1885. the King formally renounced the 

 suiera .-dged tli.- 



plete indsfMod m tin- Shimonoseki 



treatv >!7. the name of the empire 



was changed to . .n.l the King assumed the 



title of Bmpei name Dai Han. or Great 



Han. i- in couirad:- 3 i Han. or 



thrvr jin. of the jH-nmsula. The 



c<,un 'fated by decree ..f s. ptember. 



1806. which declared the absolutism of the K 



mod of a Chancellor, five councilors, six min- 

 ister*, ami a chief * 1'ln'iv are nine mini-- 

 ter the Premier and Mmi-ter of : 



.Home A:' 



urv. ami Kducation. Tin- 1*111: 

 .d into 18 nrovinces, over each of which is a 

 governor, and 800 district*, In each of which 

 is a magistrate. The Korean army consists of ,000 



. in S-oul drilled by Kus-iat^ 

 1,900 in the provinces ami the navy of two small 



Finance. Ti . which, when collected, 



for all rivc.l 



from the customs duties, now managed by able and 

 honest f-r.-i-n officers; a land tax of $' 

 fertile kytl (6$ acres) and $5 " M every tnouniain 

 kytl\ a household tax of 60 cents t<> *M< It i 



in Seoul ; and a duty of f 16 per 

 pounds) on red or manufactured ginseag, T!:.- 

 modern coinage is in silver (20 cent), ni< -1 

 cent), copper (5 cash), and brass (1 cash), of good 



M ; . arai ,-. T',> n. \\ moMf i- -! -a. lily -li-p lacing 



:d perforated "cash n (500 to the dollar). The 

 Japanese silver yen circulates . . In .Inly. 



1896, J. McLeavy Brown, LL. D n Chief CommisaioDer. 



-toms, received by royal decree tin- ab-olute 

 1 of all nayments out of tin- treasury, ami be- 

 gan the regulation of abuses, with the happi. -t 

 results. The financial year to April. 1M)7, closed 

 with every account pai'd and 1.500,000 yen in il..- 

 treasury, out of which Korea paid 1,000,000 yen of 

 the loan of 3,000,000 owing to Japan. The customs 

 revenue, which is steadily increasing, is collected at 

 a cost of only 10 per cent. 



Railways'. Messrs. Collbran and James, who 

 are at the head of the Oriental Construction Com- 

 pany, which is an American firm having its h. -Mil- 

 quarters in I>cn\er and Chattanooga, have charge 

 of the Seoul-Chemulpo Railway. They have con- 

 tracted with the Government for a completely 

 equipped railroad. It will be of -tandard _ 

 25 miles long, following closely the public road be- 

 tween seaport and capital. In Seoul the station 

 building will tx> a handsome frame edifice with 

 brick foundation, outside the city wall, near the 

 little West Gate. In Au-u-t. 1K7. 10 miles of rail 

 and 100 tip cars wen- in u-e. and the roadln-d was 

 graded, sloped, and ditched from Chemulpo to I'u- 

 IVn. The , hjef difficulty is at the river Han. 

 which is to be crossed by an 8-span stecl-tru- 

 bridge built in the t'nitod States. It is !,,*)" 

 long, approachwl at either end by wooden t rest ling, 

 which gives the bridge a total l.-nirth of 

 The northern terminus is the King's ferry.abo.it 

 four miles from tho capital. The Japanese have 

 surveyed the route for a railway between Seoul ami 

 Kusan. The route from S-.ul to \Vi-ju, on the 

 Yalu river, has also been .- _-raph lines 



run frr.m the capital northward overland tin- 

 China, and south west ward I y by land and submarine 

 cable to Japan. In th- Lobonaw-TamagmU treaty 

 of June , 1896. the right of building telegraph 

 lines between Seoul and Siberia was reserv< 

 Russia, whi h lines are to be repurchased by the 

 Korean Government when it i* able. 



I l n< at ion. Until 1894 the royal examinat 

 which were regarded as stepping stones to official 



ambition. 

 held in Seniil. to wli. and old men. 



I ion was in i: 



from all parts of the kingdom. I'nder tt 

 ideas and routine all education was in archaic Chi- 

 nese. M -hmugh ti ' lie Amer- 



SS. the / r -impi. 



nt natixe alphalN-t. i- n-c.l. not only ! 



mil publication-, bul 



nment proc|amati rnticu- 



lar and n iiooN. th. .ment 



Schools for the >tu<i. .in. Chine>e. and for-] 



languagi'-.. [n the Royal English - 

 mn students m uniform, drilled !> a I'.riti- 1 

 geant of marines. In the Japanese, l-'ivnn 

 RUSM. Is, which are chiefly lim;ui-tic. mili- 



irill is the rule. Prominent and \.r\ ueful 

 is the Pai-Chai C..llege (hall f.r the run 

 ful men), under charge during the na>t 

 years of the Ke\. II. <;. Appen/elh-r. 'I In-. I 

 it> own .1 parlmcnts. cdu< udents appoint- 



ed by the Government, and ha- an in<l 

 lion, which inclmli- a trilingual press and a i 

 binding establishment. In the \arioti> I'mi. 

 and Catholic sclx-ols. as well as in th- Cln 

 .Inpanese schools, the En-mun is used. In 

 there are more than l.(MH) student-. l'nler the re- 

 formecl system of education is the Normal College, 

 placed in' May. ls!7. under the Rev, H. |5. ||,,||H n. 

 for the training of native teacher* for the inter- 

 mediate and primary school*. The text-bool 

 to be in / md the vernacular. All 



there are primary schools with more than 

 pupils. Besides 77 young men stud\inu' in -Japan 

 at Government expense, there are i-ably 



100, in various c.,untries -tudying at \ 



ul the siirht 

 t h rough the -t reel- with bundle- of ne . 



'/// i- no longer r. des the " Inde- 



jM-ndent." edited by l>r. -laisolm. n Korean educated 

 in the I'nited States, there are two \\n-kli-- 

 K'op-an Christian Alvo-ate" and the "Chri-tian 



' The AS." in mixed Jap 



and Korean script is triweekly, and there are news- 

 papers in the Japane-e lai i'n-an and Che- 

 mulpo. The Korean Independence Club publishes 

 a vernacular monthly maga/.ine. giving t he politic-, 

 science, and foiviirn new-, and the ' Uepos- 

 itory," in Kni:li>li. is a monthly of high value. 

 The' list of publications by the mi- 



Ad the Kev. .lame- S. (Jale'- 

 .i!i-Knt:li-h dictionary, n-veral work- of lin- 

 guistic importance, and the ma-niliceiit " Ifildio- 

 graphie Coreene" of Maurice Couraiit. were com- 



i:\enN. T\ } af opened with a con-en 

 Cabinet in oflice." On I-'. i a sojourn of 



one year and nine days in the I; . at ion. 



the King took up hi- H palace of 



Kyejig- Wiin. built in 1MMJ. in the western part of 

 Seoul. u |,, ; t),,. forej-n legation- and 



.some of them very hand-ome and sub- 

 stantial. 



On i !io railway connecting lh- capital 



with the seaport was begun in im-ener of (io\, rnor 

 Ye-Cha-Vun. formerly of Washington, and In. H. 

 N. Allen, now I les mini-ter: Mr. < 



the Ameri'-jin engine, r in charge, and Mr. 'I 



A ith A ni' 



barrows, shovels, and pickaxes, and 11 

 officers filliiiL' each a -nadeful. 



The royal ambassa<ior to the Kun.pean c,urts, 

 Min-Tong- Whan, took hi- departure, and after visit- 

 Ing il. ; ri capital* settled in > . I'. ' '-burg. 

 The treaty between Prince Lobonaw and Marquis 

 Yamagata, signe/1 at Moscow June 9, 1896, was 

 published in February. 



