358 



KOREA. 



Returning to Egypt in 1886, having now the rank 

 of lieutenant colonel, he was made pasha in the 

 Egyptian army and created C. M. G. For the next 

 three vears he was in active military service as 

 .'..vern'or of the Red Sea littoral and commandant 

 of Suakim. then menaced by the Mahdi's lieuten- 

 ant, Osman Digna. At the battle of Handoub 

 (Dec. 21, 1888) he was severely wounded, and he 

 greatly distinguished himself both in this action 

 and in that at Gemaizeh soon afterward, where he 

 commanded the Soudanese troops he had done so 

 much to train. Besides receiving the Egyptian 

 ..nler f the nsmanieh.he was appointed an A. D. C. 

 to the y wen. On Aug. 3. 1889, he took part in the 

 action under Grcnfell at Toski, and, having been 

 specially mentioned in dispatches, was created C. B. 

 When t'he operations in the eastern Soudan were 

 concluded he returned to Egypt proper, where for 

 four years he acted as adjutant general and second 

 in command of the Egyptian army, being also 

 inspector general of police. He attained the rank 

 of colonel in the English army in April, 1888, and 



SIR HORATIO HERBERT KITCHENER. 



received the local rank of brigadier general, when, 

 in 1892, he was appointed to the post of sirdar, or 

 commander of the Egyptian troops. In 1894 he 

 was created K. C. M. G. Two years later he com- 

 manded the expedition by which the province of 

 Dongola was recovered for the Khedive of Egypt. 

 <)n March 21 he left Cairo for Assouan, and during 

 the spring he directed the construction of the rail- 

 way and telegraph lines to Akasheh. When prepa- 

 rations were completed an advance was made, and 

 at dawn on June 7, 1896, the dervishes were sur- 

 prised and routed at Ferkeh. After a delay of 

 three months the advance was resumed, and, the 

 dervishes having been defeated in an artillery action 

 on Sept. 19 at Hafir, Dongola was entered. For 

 these services Kitchener was specially promoted 

 major general, was created K. C. B., and received 

 the grand cordon of the Osmanieh. A further 

 period of preparation and organization having 

 passed, he completed his work in 1H9N by the defeat 

 of the dervishes near Omdurman (Sept. 2) and the 

 capture of Khartoum. 



KOKKA, an independent empire in continental 

 Asia, between Russia and China : area. H0,000 square 

 miles. It is separated from Russia by the Tumen 

 river, and from China and Manchuria by the Long 

 White mountains on the north and the Valu river 

 on the west. The population is estimated at 15.- 



000,000, almost wholly agricultural. The peddlers 

 and butchers form large and powerful societies, 

 and all the special industries are organized into 

 guilds. Above the great mass of the people are the 

 yang ban (civil and military class), who, for the 

 most part, live in idleness and successfully evade the 

 payment of taxes and tolls. Beneath the middle 

 mass are the seven degraded classes, which, since 

 A. D. 1450, have suffered many disabilities, but are 

 now improving in social status. They are the lower 

 servants or runners of the magistrates, buffoons or 

 t raveling singers, butchers, basket makers, sorcer- 

 esses, dancing girls, and handlers of leather. The 

 Buddhist priests, hitherto (from A. D. 1392) for- 

 bidden entrance within cities, are now allowed this 

 privilege, and the former serfs or slaves are practic- 

 ally free. 



Government. The direct royal line came to an 

 end in 1864, but the present King was nominated, 

 and during his minority the country was governed 

 by the late Tai-Wen-Kun for nearly twenty 'years. 

 Succession to the throne is hereditary, and the edict 

 of the sovereign is law. Not until 1898 was Korea 

 a free country. From the dawn of history she has 

 been claimed as a vassal by China, and for nearly 

 fifteen centuries has been tributary to Japan. By 

 the Japanese treaty of 1876, and the convention be- 

 tween Japan and China at Shimonoseki in 1895, 

 Korea was declared absolutely free. On Oct. 14, 

 1897, the King of Korea assumed the title of Empe- 

 ror and changed the name of the country to Dai- 

 Han (in contradistinction to the San-Han, or three 

 ancient kingdoms of the peninsula). He is assisted 

 to govern by a Council of State, consisting of a 

 Chancellor, 5 Councilors, 6 Ministers, and a chief 

 secretary. Nine ministers, those of the Royal 

 Household, Finance, Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 

 War, Justice, Agriculture, and Education, with a 

 Premier, assist the Emperor in ruling the 14 prov- 

 inces, over each of which there is a governor. In 

 each of the 360 districts there is a magistrate. The 

 army consists of about 5,000 men, but there is no 

 navy. Seven ports are open to foreign commerce. 



Finance. The budget for 1898 was laid before 

 his Majesty on Jan. 12. It was printed in a neat 

 pamphlet, in mixed Chinese and Korean script. 

 The total income is estimated at $4,527,476. and the 

 expenses at $4,525,530. The income is from four 

 sources: Government tax, $3,779,316; miscella- 

 neous income, $40,000; mint seigniorage. $200,000; 

 surplus from last year, $508,160. The chief items 

 in the income are 'land taxes, $2,227,758; customs 

 returned, $750,000: taxes in arrears, $358,000; 

 house registration, $229,558; ginseng monopoly, 

 $150,000; gold mines, $40.000: miscellaneous, $24,- 

 000. The land tax is an assessment on the grain- 

 bearing ability of the land under cultivation, all 

 the farming lands being divided into 13 classes, ac- 

 cording to the character of the crop and the fer- 

 tility of the soil. Formerly the farmers' taxes were 

 paid in kind, and the grain was stored in fire-proof 

 storehouses, and often the Government made popu- 

 lar loans, at small interest, from the surplus money 

 derived from the sale of the grain. The rule is non- 

 payment of taxes in coin. The scale of taxes gradu- 

 ated on the unit kye.l, or heap of grain, is from s<> 

 for first-class land, which includes the rich rice 

 swamps of the central and southern provinces. 

 down to 40 cents for the rocky and sterile regions 

 of the north. The central and southern provinces 

 fall within the first 3 classes, while the 2 north- 

 ern provinces are classed from the fifth down 

 to the thirteenth grade. The total revenue from 

 land should be $4,876,475, but on account of crop 

 failure and other causes t he sum is reduced to $4.- 

 455,516. Other causes, which reveal the difficulties 

 of good government, are seen in the fact that the 



