191 Saving One s Face 



We have no king. The one we had was a poor makeshift, but 

 anything is better than no king. He would never take a repri- 

 mand. The number of heads of chief officers that dropped in 

 his reign was astonishing. He was mighty in having his own 

 way and keeping the people under. He used to say: "Don't 

 make a noise; don't talk about the government; don't fight 

 each other; don't send petitions to the Palace; just eat your 

 rice, do your work, and be good!" When the people tried to 

 carry on the "Independence Club," His Majesty put up a 

 notice in the Bell Kiosk: "Let there be no meeting nor shout- 

 talk of any kind in the street. You are commanded, every man, 

 to stay at home and mind your own business!" 



He handcuffed us, he robbed us, he paddled us, he hanged 

 and quartered us; he lived for himself alone and for his out- 

 worn superstitions. But it was better than no king, so deeply 

 is the patriarchal thought written in the heart. Bees could as 

 easily swarm without a queen bee as Korea lift up her head 

 without a ruler. . . . This is the tragedy of Korea; she went 

 down without saving her face. . . . Face is lost and eternal 

 shame is my portion forever.'^ 



After the annexation, Japan confined the Emperor 

 in his palace within a high-walled enclosure. Accord- 

 ing to my informant, a sum about equivalent to a 

 million dollars a year was then allotted him "to be 

 expended under Japanese advice," and mainly uti- 

 lized to make the city of Seoul sanitary and habitable. 



Meanwhile the dejected nobility with their troop Dejected 

 of sorcerers, three thousand of whom, it was said, ""*'% 

 remained in Seoul alone, saw "no longer any poetry 

 in millet and rice" and dropped lower and lower in 

 poverty and disgust. ^ 



Taking the Koreans of the middle class as indi- 



' As translated by James G. Gale. 



2 Statistics for 1910 show 54,000 Yang Ban heads of families, forbidden by 

 former law and present custom to engage in any but official service, and deprived 

 of the right of "squeeze." Only 17,000 offices being open to natives under 

 the Japanese regime, the majority of the Korean nobility are necessarily depend- 

 ent on their relations in office. 



C 395 3 



