Chap, III. 
the Kin^dotn C o R E A, 
loos 
If inftead of fo weak, fo fafh, and fo impolitick a 
Behavour, we had forborn every kind of Difpiite, fup- 
ported each others Settlements, and gone on in making 
Difcoveries, we had been in a much better Condition 
by this Time than we are. Thefe diftant Countries 
would have furnifhed us with Places enough to haVe 
difcharged thofe ufelefs Hands that we have employ- 
ed, not to terminate, but to continue our Difputes with 
each other. By their Labour, our Power, our Wealth, 
our Fame might have been extended, and thofe Coun- 
tries that are now poor and defolate, might have been 
riiade by us to commence a Trade with them i that 
this Trade might be made highly beneficial to the Na- 
tion ; that it is far from being improbable it might 
procure us both Chinefe and ’Ja^aT} Goods at a more 
reafonable Rate than We have them at prefent ^ and laft 
of all, that it muft open a Paffage to Difcoveries of 
much greater Confequence than any that have been 
yet made* 
2. The Pcninfula of Corea, fo little known to, and 
therefore fo little confidered by the Europeans, is one 
of the largeft^ and in all Refpeds one of the finefi:, no- 
then rich, populous and happy ; it is fome Excufe for bleft, and beft flcuated Peninfula^s upon the Globe. The 
Barbarians, that they live in continual Enmity againft, ‘TarlarSi who are at prefent poffeffed of China, and 
who, before they conquered that Empire, were Malters 
of the Country of which we are fpeaking, call it in 
their Language Solho KoUrofi, which is as much as to 
fay, the Kingdom of Solho. There is no Doubt that 
they have fome fufHcient ReafOn for this Appellation, 
though for Want of being acquainted with the Tartaf 
Hiftorians, we are able to fay no more, than that they 
are reported to call it fo by the Chinefe Geographers* 
As for this laft mentioned Nation, they have been plea- 
fed to beftow upon this Country the Name of Kao It hue, 
which we fhall endeavour to explain as well as we can. 
This Peninfula was originally inhabited by various Na- 
tions, each governed by its particular Chie-f, untill 
and in perpetual Wars with each other ; but in us who 
pretend to have Policy that teacheth us better, and pro- 
fefs a Religion that requires a Condud oppofite Irom 
this at our Hands, it is as impious and iniquitous as it 
is ridiculous and abfurd. We difclaim by this Beha- 
viour, all Title to Wifdom, Moral or Divine, and put 
ourfelves upon a Level with the Savages ; we defeend to, 
or rather fink ourfelves beneath them, by doing pre- 
cifely thofe Things, for which we efteem them Savages 
and defpife them. 
The only Apology we ever hear made for fo irra- 
tional a Pradice, is a very ill grounded Pretence of 
Keceflity ; our Anceftors, it is faid, have done fo much, _ , 
that there is nothing left for us to do ; they difeovered, they were all reduced under the Subjedion of one Mo- 
tbey conquered all, and thereby made Way for our narch, whofe Name was Kao. As for the Word //, it 
Dilutes with each other about Titles ; in fhort, they has many different Significations in the Chinefe Tongue, 
were fortunate and glorious, and we unhappy, and pre- and amongft the reft, it implies obeying, being fubjed 
eluded from acquiring Fame. to, or under the Obedience of. The Word Koue is 
But thefe are all the fimple Pretences of Indolence, properly tranftated by that of Kingdom ; fo that taking 
-or the falfe Colours of Avarice, which when we come this Title asitftands in the Chinefe ?vlaps Kao li koue al- 
to examine with impartial Stridfnefs by the Light of together, it may be very faithfully rendred thus, the 
Truth, will totally difappear. Amongft other Difeo- Kingdom ruled by Kao, or, in our Manner of fpeaking, 
veries of our Anceftors, we may reckon this as none of Kad’i Kingdom. It is true, that in the modern Records 
the leaft important, that they difeovered, that after all of the Chinefe it is called Tchao ffien, from another 
they had done, much more remained to be difeovered. Prince, or rather from another Race of Princes ; but 
What a Scandal is it then to us, that having not only however this Name has never grown into common Ufe 5 
their Example to encourage us, but their Conjedures to but the Chinefe, when-ever they mention it in Conver- 
inftrudus, we have neither followed the one, nor made fation, or in Writing, call Peninfula Kaoli, which 
ufe of the other. They left us an exad Survey of the they pronounce in fuch a Manner, that from thence by 
beft Part of America, and we have left the reft totally Corruption the Word Corea has been formed, by which 
unfurvey’d. They faw Reafon to believe that a South- it is univerfally known in Europe. 
weft Paffage might be found to the Eaji Indies they After adjufting as well as we can the Narrre, let us 
attempted and diTcovered it •, they left us better Reafons proceed to fay fomewhat of the Nature of this Country, 
to prove that there is a North Weft Paffage, and though which has been varioufly reprefented to us by different 
by Fits and Starts we have made Trials, yet ftill it Authors, fome treating it as a Kingdom diftind from, 
remains undifeovered. If we fet down and confider with others, as a Part of China % many affirming it to be an 
Attention, in how fhort a Trad of Time, from the Ifiand, but the beft modern Writers afferting it to be 
finding a Paffage by the Cape of Good Hope to the Ead what it really is at this Day, a Peninfula. At firft Sight 
Indies, all the fubfequent Difcoveries were made, how thefe Differences feem to be the, Effed of Ignorance, 
• fuddenly they ftopt, and how long it is fince any thing but at the Bottom there is fome Colour of I'riith for 
has been done of this Kind; it muft induce us to believe every one of thefe Reprefentations, According to the 
that we either fall very far fhort in Point of Courage moft ancient Fliftories, though the Thing is not 
and publick Spirit of our Forefathers, or that there is affirmed in dired Terms, yet it may be fairly inferred, 
fome fecretReafon why we are fo backward in fpite of the that was once joined to China on the We ft- fide. 
Encouragement we have received. This fecret Reafon though it is now divided from it by a large Gulph. 
is no other than our managing our Trade into thefe For thofe Hiftories fay, that the Ocean broke in with 
diftant Parts by exclufive Companies, fuch as the EaJi great Violence on that Side, and overwhelmed a vaft 
India, the African, the South Sea, and tht Hudfon*s Bay Trad of Country, and when this happened, it is not at 
Companies, the Difcoveries under the Aufpices of all all improbable, that Corea became an abfolute Ifiand. 
which, may I prefume be contained in a Volume of no For the fame Hiftories fay, that a very ancient Empe- 
exorbitanc Size. It may be asked, Do our Companies ror, whom they call Tu the Great, formed a Defign of 
I'eftrain the reft of the World ? To which I anfwer, recovering at leaft a Part of thefe Countries, by drawing 
No ; But their own Companies do, and that Difcoveries Canals to a vaft Channel, and by piercing a Mountain, 
are attempted in no Kingdom in Europe by an old opened a Paffage for the great River Hoang ho, which 
Company, but either where there are no Companies, or finding by this Means a Vent into the Sea, carried off a 
-by a Company exprefly ereded for that Purpofe. great Part of the Inland Waters, and thereby left the 
Now to fhew that fomething may be done without Northern Country dry, which now conneds Corea with 
any mighty Hazard towards extending our Trade and the Continent ; and in this Manner we are told it be- 
our Knowledge at the fame Time towards the North came a Peninfula. 
Eaft, I have, by the Affiftance of Lights and Memoirs 
communicated to me from Abroad, compofed the fol- 
lowing Defeription and Hiftory of the Peninfula of 
Corea ; from whence it will appear, that it is a fine and 
fertile Country ; that it is exceedingly populous, and 
inhabited by. a civil, humane, and courteous People ; 
that they are much given to Commerce, and would in 
This Country in the State it now is, is bounded on 
the North by the Country of Nieucheu, or the ancient 
hereditary Dominions of that Tartar Monarch, who is 
now Emperor of China ; on the Weft it has the Gulph 
of Leao tong, which feparates it from the Provinces of 
Pe tcheli and Chan tong, which are Part of China', on the 
Eaft lies the Sea' of Japan, and on the South it is wafh- 
all Probability rejoyce. at and encourage any Attempt ed by the It extends from thirty four Degrees 
thirt? 
